Plight of CMO Explained

Author and marketing luminary Seth Godin explains the myth behind the Chief Marketing Officer and why blame for bad marketing should not always be heaped upon the person in this position.

Hall's to Offer 'New' Print Product Placement Tool

Retooling what it has done for years, Hall's Reports LLC which tracks editorial content, ad to edit ratios and brands mentioned in print, is re-purposing its service and offering it as a web-based print product placement tracking service for media planners. Called "Hall's Reports: Editorial Credits," the service will monitor print and photographic editorial mention of brands in 130 magazines beginning in late March.

Woman Sues Estee Lauder Because Ads Said She'd Stop Aging

Fourty-seven year old Debra Scheufler has filed suit against Estee Lauder and other cosmetic companies claiming their advertising makes false claims with respect to their "anti-aging" properties. Scheuffler, refreshingly, wants only for the alleged false advertising to stop and to be reimbursed an estimated $1,000 she spent on the products.

"The real question is, what does anti-aging mean? If a product has a sunscreen in it, it has anti-aging properties," she said. "And moisturizers can give the appearance of decreasing wrinkles. Or if you have dead skin that's exfoliated, the light reflects better and skin looks younger and better."

The answer is simple. Anti-aging means one stops getting older and no product has, to date, been able to accomplish that.

Kraft Ends Junk Food Advertising to Young Kids, Still Makes Older Kids Fat

Under the delusion that junk food, apparently, makes only young kids fat, Kraft Foods has, rather than actually introduce healthy foods, decided to placate those concerned with childhood obesity by ceasing the advertising of it's snack foods to children under 12. Perhaps no one's told Kraft that media isn't yet quite that exact when it comes to targeting and kids under 12 are still very likely to see ads aimed at older kids.

Kraft PR mouthpiece Mark Berlind said, "We do recognize that people and parents are concerned about advertising to young children. We hope this will address that concern." Mark, tell management that an Oreo cookie has the same amount of fat in it whether it's eaten by a 5 year old or a 50 year old.

Monster Will Not Advertise on Super Bowl

After a six year run, job site Monster will not advertise on this year's Super Bowl and will instead use local radio, television and online marketing. Radio advertising on 180 stations will include a partnership with Infinity Broadcasting consisting of one minute Monster Career Moments featuring Monster founder Jeff Taylor and interview clips from business people, athletes and celebrities. Monster has also partnered with online local TV network Internet Broadcasting Systems to provide career content on the education, technology, business and family pages of IBS television websites.