Path: bloom-picayune.mit.edu!snorkelwacker.mit.edu!news.media.mit.edu!americast.com!americast.com!usa-post Newsgroups: usa-today.ads From: usa-post@AmeriCast.Com Organization: American Cybercasting Approved: usa-post@AmeriCast.com Subject: ads Wed, May 27 1992 Date: Wed, 27 May 92 05:20:54 EDT Message-ID: 05-27 0000 DECISIONLINE: Advertising USA TODAY Update May 27, 1992 Source: USA TODAY:Gannett National Information Network MAGAZINES SEE BRIGHTER TIMES: Magazines, suffering an ad slump since January 1990, finally see better times ahead. Ad pages in April were up 3% over April '91, reports the Publishers Information Bureau. Of the 20 top magazines for ad pages, 16 reported gains last month vs. three a year ago. Catherine Hennessy, associate publisher of Emerge, says, "What we're hearing is what we would call cautious optimism." (For more, see special Magazine package below.) PENNZOIL ORDERED TO PULL ADS: Federal District Judge Alfred M. Wolin of Newark, N.J., Tuesday ordered Pennzoil Company and Pennzoil Products Company to halt an ad campaign claiming Pennzoil "outperforms any leading motor oil against viscosity breakdown." In a suit brought by Castrol Inc., Wolin ordered Pennzoil to stop broadcasting after May 29 a series of five television advertisements. MEN TAKE IT ALL OFF FOR FASHION: Men shaving their body hair, a craze among athletes spawned by the fitness frenzy of the '80s, is growing into a '90s trend in high fashion and advertising. Hairless hunk models such as Marcus Schenkenberg (wearing wet denim in Calvin Klein's ads) and Gianni Versace's Brian Buzzini and John Francis are showing up more frequently in high fashion magazine ads. FALL FOCUS IS ON BLACKS: Next fall, Fox will offer "Martin" to precede "Beverly Hills 90210." It's about a host at a black talk radio station in Detroit. NBC will compete with "Rhythm and Blues," about a white disc jockey at a black Detroit radio station. Several other fall offerings focus on blacks, who "watch more television than whites," says Joel Segal of McCann-Erickson ad agency. FOX TO HAVE `90210' TIMES TWO: Fox will try some summer stunts this fall. Special "summer" episodes of "Beverly Hills, 90210" air Wednesdays starting July 15 to boost "90210's" spinoff, "Melrose Place," which will start airing Wednesdays on July 8. In "90210's" Thursday slot this summer, Fox will air episodes from the first season. FORECAST GOOD FOR INTERPUBLIC: Chicago's Northern Investment Counselors portfolio manager David McHugh sees good things ahead for the Interpublic Group of Companies. Interpublic, the world's third largest group of ad agencies, gets about 70% of its revenue and profits from overseas. McHugh sees rising ad revenue as world economies pick up, with Intergroup likely to prosper. INTERACTIVE AD MAY COME TO USA: That first-ever interactive ad - an actress is planted in the movie audience - got British filmgoers to drop their popcorn when it ran in theaters this spring. British Airways plans to run a similar interactive ad in Hong Kong and may do a U.S. version. "Knowing how successful it was, it's something we're definitely looking at," says Woody Harford, U.S. advertising manager. ERNEST PUTS ON A DRESS: Bunny Jeanette may be the beautician from hell. Bunny, now appearing in about 20 regional ads, is cousin to Ernest Worrell, the truly irritating ad character created by actor Jim Varney. Bunny - basically Ernest in eyeliner - "is really a middle America inside joke," he says. Bunny also offers beauty tips: "Pores are like convenience stores - they never close." PEROT SEEKS HELP WITH CAMPAIGN: Ross Perot, who's selling himself as the presidential campaign's ultimate outsider, is looking to Madison Avenue for help. He's trying to lure heavy hitters like Ed Rollins, Ronald Reagan's 1984 campaign manager and White House political director. "I have been talked to," says Rollins. "Anybody who believes in change ... has to be tempted." RIVERA'S SHOW GETS CUT: Three first-run syndication casualties: Geraldo Rivera's "Now It Can Be Told" will not return next fall as a daily series. Instead, it will be reformatted as a series of specials called "Geraldo Now." A talk show hosted by celebrity writer Kitty Kelley died before it even aired, apparently because of a lack of sales. It was to start in September. Also gone: "Candid Camera." SPECIAL PACKAGE ON MAGAZINE: SOME OPTIMISM IS CAUTIOUS: Edward Kosner, the publisher of New York magazine, thinks the magazine ad slump is over "in the sense that the decline is clearly finished, but the vigor of the recovery" is questionable, he says. Doug McIntyre of Financial Worlds is more positive. "It's over," he says of the slump. "Through May, our pages are double last year. The recovery, he says, is "very broad-based." KOSNER SEES POSITIVE SIGNS: Kosner says he is not sure how strong a recovery advertising will make. New York, because of its mix of national, big retail and many local advertisers, is considered a barometer for the industry, Kosner says: When ad spending picks up at New York, other magazines follow in three to six months. He sees positive signs in travel, national apparel, imported cars and cosmetics ads. COOKING LIGHT SEES REBOUND: Jeffrey Ward, publisher of Cooking Light, says the magazine's largest ad category, food, is rebounding. And he says automotive, household appliance and mail-order advertising is up significantly. Tom Losee, publishing director of Knapp Communications, says the ad climate is getting better, but progress is spotty. Knapp's Architectural Digest had page gains in February, March and April. PLAYBOY IS IN GOOD SHAPE: Playboy associate publisher Jim Spanfeller says the mag was hit by the recession later than most. Its 1991 ad pages were up 4% over 1990. But through April this year, pages were down 19%. Retail and liquor advertisers tightened budgets as the recession worsened and dented the magazine's previous gains, Spanfeller says. "I think we've got a pretty good shot at making up the loss," he says. (End of package.) Advertising Editor: Ed Kelleher. (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