Ad News and Views from Around the Web

“Mad Men” action figures; “Bing” it on up; a call for calls to action; St. Pat’s day beer bust, and more

Those “Mad Men” are such dolls
AdAge reports, via the New York Times, that Mattel will introduce a line of “Mad Men” action figures—or perhaps “inaction figures” would be the more appropriate term. The line will include Don Draper, Roger Sterling and Joan Holloway. Some ad execs apparently don’t like the idea, or the show, all that much. Writes AdAge’s Ken Wheaton, “I guess I’d be ticked off if the work of my younger days was swiped or, worse, bashed in a TV show. And if I weren’t, in fact, a booze-soaked lout myself, I might be miffed that the show portrays the entire industry as drunken, oversexed womanizers.” C’mon, Ken. Lighten up, buddy. The three-martini lunch is on us next time.

Bing on the up and up
By now you’ve no doubt heard about the Yahoo! and Microsoft Search alliance. There have been a lot of questions about it, naturally. But it looks like we’ve chosen a good ally. Microsoft’s Bing showed a 15 percent increase in traffic last month over January’s numbers, says Neilsen. Thanks to Search Engine Land for this intelligence.

Agencies’ “consultant phobia” unfounded
Agencies have feared the encroachment on their turf by big consultancies for years. But says, BNET Advertising’s Jim Edwards, they need not worry. He states, “While clients may periodically swoon in [consultancies’] presence, they ultimately return to agencies when they actually need to get the job done. The lesson here is that specialization and good old-fashioned inertia can actually be an agency’s friend.”

Just what is behavioral targeting?
It’s one of the hottest things going right now—and it’s expected to grow from more than 26 percent this year over last year, according to ClickZ’s Amy Manus. But what it is it and, more importantly, what is it not?

Are Brit ads better that Yank ones?
Maybe, says BNET Advertising’s Jim Edwards. But there are pretty sound reasons why, and they’re not all good ones. Creativity is almost enforced, he says, by “the U.K.’s often comically restrictive advertising rules.”

Creative Spotlight: BBDO’s St. Pat’s Day responsible drinking PSA

Guinness

It’s definitely St. Patrick’s Day. Just saw a man in a Kelly green “Utilikilt” saunter down the street. Fortunately for onlookers he had the gams for it. Anyway, BBDO, in what is both a celebration of the kiss-me-I’m-Irish holiday and a warning about the potential dangers of looking at the world through your beer goggles, has just come out with a PSA campaign that features cans of Guinness stout with blurry lettering. Tip o’ the Tam o’ Shanter to AdFreak’s Tim Nudd for his gift ‘o the gab on this one.

— Michael O’Mattis

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