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Fans protesting a possible Toyota sign at Wrigley Field on April 30, 2010. (Phil Velasquez/ Chicago Tribune)
From the Chicago Sun-Times | The city and the Chicago Cubs may have struck a deal to give a a permit to the team erect a Toyota billboard in left field at Wrigley Field in exchange for a four-year moratorium on towering outfield signs.
Get the full story: suntimes.com
The Corporate Accountability International brought clowns and retired spokesman Joe Camel to draw attention to its call for McDonald’s to retire Ronald McDonald. ( Alex Garcia/Chicago Tribune)
By Wailin Wong | A
corporate watchdog group renewed its call for McDonald’s to retire
Ronald McDonald, hoping to build on momentum from a recent White House
report recommending that food companies stop marketing junk food to
children.
Boston-based Corporate Accountability International, whose previous
campaigns include the retirement of Joe Camel, held a protest in
downtown Chicago on Wednesday that kicked off at Millennium Park and
ended at the retro McDonald’s restaurant at 600 N. Clark.
From the Louisiana Daily World | Sears Holdings said it plans to give a Sears Hometown Store to a military veteran returning in June. The offer includes The offer merchandise and renovations, plus the first 90 days of
lease payments and operating cash.
Get the full story: dailyworld.com
The site for the proposed Chicago Spire skyscraper sits abandoned on April 1, 2010 in Chicago, Illinois. Work was suspended after the builder ran into financial troubles in 2008. (Scott Olson/Getty Images)
By Mary Ellen Podmolik |
The developer behind the Chicago Spire closed its posh sales office over the weekend, relocating the marketing arm for the long-stalled project to a much less grand office space nearby.
Shelbourne Development Group, which has been battling the owner of the NBC Tower for nine months, consolidated the sales function into its own office space at 111 S. Wacker. A spokeswoman for Spire developer Garrett Kelleher denied that the move signaled that the project was dead.
By Wailin Wong | Chicago-based
social commerce site Groupon has acquired a European daily deal site,
expanding its reach to 140 cities in 18 countries.
Financial terms of the deal with Citydeal, the German company, were not
disclosed. In a Sunday statement, Groupon said Citydeal is the “world’s
largest Groupon clone.” While Groupon has dozens of copycat competitors
in the U.S., this transaction marks the first time the company has
acquired one of its imitators.
Associated Press via New York Times | Long a bastion of anonymity, Craigslist is putting a few of its users on camera. The San Francisco-based classified ads site on Thursday launched a weekly Web series that documents people using it. The videos are available on Craigslist and Google’s YouTube. They’re a kind of marketing tool to showcase the benefits of the site.
Get the full story: nytimes.com.
A Kohl’s store in Massachusetts. (AP Photo/Elise Amendola)
By Sandra M. Jones | Kohl’s Department Stores is going Hollywood.
The discount department store chain signed a deal with the Oprah Winfrey Network to sponsor the talk show diva’s new reality series. “Your Own Show: Oprah’s Search for the Next TV Star” and plans to hold auditions in its stores in June.
By Mary Ellen Podmolik
| If it seems like you’ve been inundated with online ads this year, you were.
U.S. Internet users received a record 1.1 trillion display ads during the year’s first quarter, a 15 percent increase versus a year ago, according to comScore’s Ad Metrix.
McClatchy-Tribune Newspapers | Indianapolis’ call for Chicago summer leisure travelers will be much stronger than it was the past two years.
Indianapolis tourism officials have ramped up marketing threefold in
Chicago, the highlight of an eight-city advertisement blitz that began
this week and runs through August. The blitz is $1.34 million, which
equals what Indianapolis spent in 2008 and 2009 combined for summer
promotions, the association said.
From Casino Gambling Web | Bookies are starting to set odds on what, if anything, Oprah Winfrey will give away on her last broadcast of “The Oprah Winfrey Show.” Odds are running 2-to-1 on a charitable donation while expensive jewelry is considered a long shot at 30-to-1. Winfrey, who gave everyone in the audience a car to kick off her 22nd season, wraps up the show at the end of the 2011 season.
Get the full story: casinogamblingweb.com.
From PR Week | PepsiCo selected PR agency Ruder Finn to work on “a couple
of very focused projects” for its Gatorade brand. The work, which will be done out of Ruder Finn’s Chicago office, has no specific duration.
Get the full story: prweek.com
By Wailin Wong | McDonald’s Corp. marketing chief Mary Dillon is leaving the fast food giant to take the top job at U.S. Cellular Corp., replacing John “Jack” Rooney as chief executive of the country’s sixth-largest wireless carrier.
Dillon, 48, will start her new role as president and CEO on June 1. She also will join Chicago-based U.S. Cellular’s board.
An employee working the coffee machine at a Wheaton McDonald’s. Mary Dillon’s vacancy comes at a time of strength for McDonald’s, which is powering ahead with help from espresso-based drinks and premium burgers. (Bill Hogan/Chicago Tribune)
Dow Jones Newswires | McDonald’s Corp. is launching a search for a new global marketing chief
following the departure of Mary Dillon, who’s taking the top job at U.S.
Cellular Corp.
On Monday, the Chicago-based wireless carrier named the 48-year-old as
president and chief executive, effective June 1, to replace John Rooney,
who is retiring after a decade at the helm.
Dillon’s departure opens one of the most high-profile marketing
positions in the world, and her successor will help shape the message of
the largest fast-food chain in the world, serving more than 60 million
customers a day. McDonald’s, with an annual advertising budget of about
$2 billion, according to Ad Age’s DataCenter, outspends all other
restaurant companies on marketing activities and ranks among the top 15
advertisers in the world.
From Ad Age | McDonald’s will be one of the first companies to use Facebook’s new location-based status updates for its users and marketers. McDonald’s, through digital agency Tribal DDB, Chicago, is building an app with Facebook that would allow users to check in at one of its restaurants and have a featured product appear in the post, such as an Angus Quarter Pounder, say executives close to the deal. .
Get the full story: adage.com
By Ameet Sachdev | The Chicago Cubs gained initial clearance to erect a large Toyota
advertisement at Wrigley Field, but the future of the sign is muddled because the alderman whose ward includes the landmarked ballpark opposes
it.
After the Chicago Landmarks
Commission approved the Toyota ad, Ald. Tom Tunney, 44th, said that the Cubs are still required to go
before the buildings committee of the City Council to get approval
because of the size of the sign. Without his support, council
authorization may be in doubt.
