Path: bloom-picayune.mit.edu!snorkelwacker.mit.edu!americast.com!americast.com!usa-post Newsgroups: usa-today.ads,americast.usa-today.ads From: usa-post@AmeriCast.Com Organization: American Cybercasting Approved: usa-post@AmeriCast.com Subject: ads Tue, Oct 27 1992 Date: Tue, 27 Oct 92 04:59:45 EST Message-ID: 10-27 0000 DECISIONLINE: Advertising USA TODAY Update Oct. 27, 1992 Source: USA TODAY:Gannett National Information Network AMEX REHIRES OGILVY & MATHER: Like a wayward but repentant spouse, American Express has dumped its flashy ad agency of less than a year and renewed its 30-year partnership with Ogilvy & Mather. AmEx hired Chiat:Day:Mojo last November to create advertising for its charge card, replacing Ogilvy, which since 1962 created AmEx's best ads including its "Portraits" magazine ads and "Do you know me?" TV spots. (For more, see special AmEx package below.) BUSH AD RECALLS GULF GLORY: President Bush's newest campaign advertisement recalls the glory of his Gulf War victory, juxtaposing images of missiles, foreign leaders and faux-newscasters talking about the "new challenges facing the president." The ad conveys a sense of crisis and confusion, while raising Bush's main campaign theme: that Bill Clinton does not have the experience or character to be president. KIDS MAGAZINE WINS AWARD: Sports Illustrated for Kids, the monthly magazine launched in 1989 by Time Inc. Magazine Co., won the Acres of Diamonds Award by Temple University as the best new magazine to have appeared in the last five years. William Donnelly, former senior vice president at Young & Rubicam and founder of the award, said the magazine "is rooted in research on how kids read." GOLDSTON PUSHES LA GEAR: Mark Goldston, 37, is the CEO of LA Gear, a company which has fallen way behind top athletic shoe companies Nike and Reebok. He told USA Today Monday that the company is marketing a new line called LA Tech. Athletic specialty outlets such as Foot Locker and Athlete's Foot will carry Tech, while the Gear line will go to broad-based marketers such as J.C. Penney and Nordstrom. LA GEAR LAUNCHES NEW SHOE: This month, LA Tech, the high-end offshoot of LA Gear, is introducing Light Gear, a Lycra-based sneaker, with a twist. "We've invented a cartridge," says CEO Mark Goldston, "a 3-volt battery and an LED light - made of the same material as the brake light in the rear window of your car." When the shoe's heel strikes, a red laser beam can be spotted for two miles. `VICKI' HAS GOOD RATINGS: Don't look for mothers of skinheads who kill cross dressers on "Vicki!" when the November sweeps start Thursday. Vicki Lawrence's new syndicated talk show will feature reunions for cast members of the "Carol Burnett Show" plus famous TV co-stars like Tom Bosley and Marion Ross of "Happy Days." So far, the show has done well in the ratings, garnering an average of 2.5. CYRUS GETS TV DEAL: Billy Ray Cyrus - this year's country music sensation - has signed with ABC to do two prime time specials and a TV movie, ABC said Monday. The network has big plans for Cyrus, with Entertainment President Bob Iger saying he hopes "this is the beginning of a long relationship between Billy Ray and ABC." ABC hopes the concerts will air sometime in 1992. EXPANSION BOOSTS RATINGS: What a difference a half-hour makes. So says Tim Russert, host of NBC's "Meet The Press," which expanded to an hour Sept. 30. Since the change, Russert said Monday, the show's ratings are up 30%. Sunday's show - with the three presidential campaign chairmen as guests - drew 22% of viewers in Washington, D.C., the highest that anyone at NBC could remember. FOX KEEPS "HERMAN'S HEAD": Of all the series that Fox introduced at the beginning of last season, just one, "Herman's Head," came back for a second year. The show, which plays Sundays at 9:30 p.m. ET:PT, stars William Ragsdale as an aspiring writer in New York whose innermost thoughts are acted out as he daydreams characters in his brain - Angel, Animal, Wimp and Genius - to show how behavior works. SPECIAL PACKAGE ON AMEX: ADS FOCUS ON BUSINESSES: Last week, American Express fired Chiat:Day:Mojo from its ad account estimated at $60 million a year. Instead, it will run ads from Ogilvy & Mather originally created to persuade businesses to accept the AmEx card. The Ogilvy ads, which feature Charles Lazarus of Toys R Us and restaurateurs like the Brennan family of New Orleans, appeal to both retailers and consumers AmEx says. AMEX WANTED BROAD APPEAL: While Chiat also had created new green card ads, "we had to make a decision on which campaign would serve our objectives in the most broad way," says spokeswoman Gail Wasserman. A Chiat spokeswoman said only that the agency is disappointed, but at Ogilvy, triumph reigned. "We do feel good," says president Shelly Lazarus. She says regaining the AmEx account was a top priority. CHIAT ADS WERE TOO '80s: Chiat's ads, which showed oversized versions of the green card popping up on a golf course or as the tail of a Concorde, were soundly criticized as inappropriately reminiscent of the free-spending 1980s. Chiat's ads were "incongruous with that smooth, polished image that Ogilvy delivered so well," says Jim Daly of Credit Card News. He says AmEx's $55 fee is a tough sell. (End of package.) Advertising Editor: Martin Baucom. (1-919-855-3491) Making copies of USA TODAY Update (Copyright, 1992) for further distribution violates federal law. This article is copyright 1992 Gannett News Service. Redistribution to other sites is not permitted except by arrangement with American Cybercasting Corporation. For more information, send-email to usa@AmeriCast.COM