Office Depot launches review

Office Depot has launched a review for its 95 million account. The client previously consolidated the bulk of its advertising with BBDO New York for creative, Zimmerman Partners for retail and OMD for planning and buying. The review was reportedly in part a result of a client conflict from FedEx Kinko's move into the office supplies business. Joanne Davis Consulting NY will handle the review. The office supply retailer spent 39.4 million in advertising from January through May of 2005 and 95.8 million for 2004, per TNS Media Intelligence.

NBC Universal narrows buying review to six

NBC Universal's broadcast and cable TV programming division has reportedly narrowed its media services review to six: The Media Kitchen, MediaVest, Horizon Media, IPG's Deutsch and Initiative Media units, and another unnamed agency. Before the merger, Horizon handled buying for NBC networks, as well as USA Network and the Sci-Fi Channel group. The Media Kitchen is the incumbent for planning for USA Networks and MediaVest is the incumbent for planning for NBC networks. The review is only for NBC's TV properties. Planning and buying for the Universal Pictures account, now at OMD, is not under review. A final decision is expected in September.

Incumbent TracyLocke wins 7-Eleven review

7-Eleven has reportedly selected Omnicom Group incumbent TracyLocke for its 40 million advertising account. Agency teams from WPP Group and Interpublic Group also contended.

WFTL-AM new home for the Gators in SoFla

The James Crystal Radio Group announced that WFTL-AM, "Live 85" is the new, exclusive home for the Florida Gators for all of South Florida. WFTL studios are in Fort Lauderdale and with our 50kw signal, cover two markets, both West Palm Beach-Boca Raton and Miami-Fort Lauderdale. The first football game of the season is 9/3. WFTL will also broadcast the one-hour coach's show each Thursday night at 7pm.

Cousin Brucie launching on Sirius this Saturday

Legendary New York radio personality Bruce Morrow, aka "Cousin Brucie," will host two weekly music programs exclusively on Sirius Satellite Radio beginning 8/27. Cousin Brucie's Saturday Night Party on Sirius will continue the program of the same name that Morrow started back in 1958 on WINS/New York. Each Saturday from 8 pm ET to 12 midnight ET, he'll play popular hit music from the '50s, '60s and '70s, and will broadcast listener phone calls, emails and play dedications, on Sirius' channel 6, '60s Vibrations. The program will also feature Cousin Brucie's Love Hour at 11:30 pm ET, which will focus on love songs.

Morrow will also host Wednesday Night with the Cuz each Wednesday from 8 pm ET to 11 pm ET. Morrow joined Sirius following the 6/3 reformatting of WCBS-FM NY, where he had been one of the city's most popular on-air hosts since 1984.

Bush administration refocuses drug war

The Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) has been focusing its efforts on marijuana since 2002 - - but that's about to change. Responding to general criticism and, in particular, a National Association of Counties (NACo) study, the office is going to put new effort into the battle against methamphetamines, a move which will affect how a 120M advertising budget is used. NACo's study strongly suggested that the focus on marijuana was misplaced. It surveyed 500 law enforcement agencies. Of them, 87% reported increase meth-related arrests, and 58% reported meth as being their biggest drug problem, well ahead of cocaine (19%), marijuana (17%) and heroin (3%). NACo expressed support for the administration's actions, but lobbied for further efforts and also the administration's proposed elimination of the Justice Assistance Grant program, which it says is an important facet of the front-line war on drugs. According to AdAge.com, the 120M ONDCP advertising budget is down from 145M in 2004. It says ONDCP gets to run one free ad for every one it pays for.

RAB presenting "Focus On Radio" seminars on RAEL consumer research

As part of its Focus On Radio Series, The RAB will present two Radio Ad Effectiveness Lab (RAEL) seminars at the Museum of Television & Radio during Advertising Week 2005.

The two deeply informative sessions are based on empirical consumer research from RAEL and help define how Radio works, why it works, and how it can help advertisers and agencies maximize their media investment. All RAEL research is designed with significant input from advertisers and agency representatives who are on the RAEL Research Committee.

The Benefits of Synergy: Moving Money Into Radio: RAEL tested the effects of replacing one of two TV or newspaper ads with two ads for Radio. The net increase in ad impact was substantial.

Session held on 9/28, 9:00-10:30 a.m.: Radio's ROI Advantage: In a nutshell, this four-advertiser, six-month test in "the real world" found that Radio delivered 49% better ROI than television for the advertisers in this study.

Session held on Thursday, 9/29, 9:00-10:30 a.m.: The sessions will be presented by Jim Peacock, President, Peacock Research, RAEL Consultant, and Mary Bennett, EVP/RAB, and Vice Chair of the RAEL Research Committee. Both seminars are free of charge: [email protected] or 221-681-7212.