As the professional game wrestles with a series of ugly incidents and allegations of racial abuse, start-up agency Johnny Fearless has launched a timely social campaign to get youth and grass roots players to make a stand against racism in football.

2SOX1GOAL is a grass roots movement built around a simple but symbolic act – wearing one white sock and one black sock to show that colour doesn’t count in football. Johnny Fearless has put the social media channels in place, and unveiled its own online video, to capture the momentum and outrage that real football fans and players feel toward the racist incidents that have marred the professional game.

The two-and-a-half minute film ‘2SOX1GOAL – Love Football, Lose Racism’ launches on the 2SOX1GOAL YouTube Channel this week and, in parallel with the Facebook page acts as a call to action to youth and Sunday League teams to join in and post their own videos.

The stylish black and white film opens with the text “Racism still exists in football. If the adults can’t sort it out…” before cutting to slow motion footage of youth football and the white sock, black sock idea in action, all set to the hymn ‘Abide With Me’. In the final frames, the film flicks in to colour and we see a muddied black and white sock together on the pitch with the endline “Love Football. Lose Racism”.

Paul Domenet, Founding Partner at Johnny Fearless, says: “2SOX1GOAL is designed so that anyone can show that colour doesn’t count in football. A kid in the park or a Sunday League wannabe can be a running, jumping, heading, shooting symbol of integration in football – one white sock, one black sock, that’s all it takes.”

Credits:
Title: 2SOX1GOAL – Love Football, Lose Racism
Creative: Johnny Fearless
Directed and Produced by Joint Effort Studios
Additional Production by Smoke & Mirrors

MEC Manchester, a leading media agency, has been assigned by First4lawyers, one of the UK’s leading personal injury law specialists, to handle its media planning and buying for DRTV.

MEC’s first campaign will look to drive calls to First4lawyers from DRTV outreach. With a budget of £6m the new campaign will be targeted at anyone who may have suffered a personal injury as a result of an accident and requesting the expertise of a solicitor to recover compensation. The campaign creative will use Andrew Castle, the face of First4lawyers.

First4lawyers comments: “Throughout the pitch process, we were impressed by MEC’s rigorous approach to media planning. Added to this was the agency’s expertise in understanding our market, and they were the stand out agency for us. They are the perfect fit for ourselves and we are looking forward to working together.”

Mick Style, Managing Director, MEC Manchester, says: “We have a wealth of understanding and experience when it comes to customer acquisition and feel we can help First4lawyers achieve even greater success. We’re excited to be working with First4lawyers as they continue their growth strategy of carefully matching potential compensation claims customers with solicitors offering the expertise they require.”

Des Moines : Meredith Corporation  has reported fiscal 2012 second quarter earnings per share of $0.70, compared to $0.88 in the year-ago period.  Revenues were $329 million, compared to $366 million. Meredith recorded $21 million, or $0.28 per share, less of political advertising revenues in the second quarter of fiscal 2012 than in the year-ago period, which is expected in an off-election year.

"Our Local Media Group delivered an industry-leading 9 percent gain in non-political advertising revenues during the second quarter of fiscal 2012," said Meredith Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Stephen M. Lacy.  "While the advertising market remained challenging for our National Media Group, we're seeing an improving trend as we look to early calendar 2012, particularly in the food and home advertising categories."

Lacy noted Meredith's Total Shareholder Return financial strategy, announced on October 25, has been very well received by the investment community.  Key elements include (1) A 50 percent annual dividend increase to $1.53 from $1.02 per share that produced yields of 5 to 6 percent during the quarter; (2) A new $100 million share repurchase authorization; and (3) Ongoing strategic investments to drive incremental revenue and profit growth over time, such as today's announcement that Meredith would acquire Allrecipes.com from The Reader's Digest Association, Inc.

The addition of Allrecipes.com, the world's No. 1 digital food site, doubles the scale of the Meredith Women's Network in terms of both audience reach and revenues.  It also fulfills two of Meredith's previously stated criteria for strategic acquisitions: (1) National media brands that provide access to new audiences and advertising categories; and (2) Digital platforms that significantly increase scale.  With Allrecipes.com, the Meredith Women's Network will be the No. 1 premium owned and operated website in the Women's Lifestyle Category, according to the most recent comScore data. 

"Allrecipes.com significantly enhances our digital platform," Lacy said.  "It increases our relevance with a large and loyal group of consumers, and strengthens our position in the marketplace by connecting advertisers with an audience of 100 million consumers.  It fits perfectly with our Total Shareholder Return Strategy, adding strategic value to Meredith, and is expected to drive incremental growth in revenues, profit and free cash flow over time."

The Arab Free Press Forum opened Monday in Tunisia with a celebration of the gains that have been made in Middle East press freedom, but with a reminder that much more needs to be done.

“If Tunisia is the country in the region that has most advanced in the construction of democracy, other countries in the region are still suffering under the yoke of authoritarianism,” said Moroccan journalist Aboubakr Jamai, opening the conference on behalf of the World Association of Newspapers and News Publishers (WAN-IFRA). “Reporters thus face different situations. Some have won — like their fellow citizens — their freedom of speech, while others continue to risk their freedom and even their lives.”

“Some are more advanced than others in constructing democratic society, but if the level of democritization differ, there is little doubt about the dynamics that have begun in our societies,” said Mr Jamai, laureate of WAN-IFRA’s Gebran Tueni Award. “There is a sense of history, one that leads to respect for liberty and dignity.”

More than 200 journalists, editors, publishers and others from the region and beyond gathered in Tunis for the two-day annual conference, organised by WAN-IFRA.

The event, supported by a partnership between WAN-IFRA and the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida), is unique among conferences in the region in that it brings together discussions about press freedom with practical strategic advice for building viable media businesses. More on WAN-IFRA’s media development work and the projects conducted under the partnership with Sida can be found at http://www.wan-ifra.org/microsites/media-development.

Other partners in the Arab Free Press Forum include UNESCO, the World Editors Forum, Google, Agence France-Presse, International Media Support, World Press Photo and the Dutch Ambassador to Tunisia.

WAN-IFRA, based in Paris, France, and Darmstadt, Germany, with subsidiaries in Singapore, India, Spain, France and Sweden, is the global organisation of the world’s newspapers and news publishers. It represents more than 18,000 publications, 15,000 online sites and over 3,000 companies in more than 120 countries. Its core mission is to defend and promote press freedom, quality journalism and editorial integrity and the development of prosperous businesses.

Nancy Rewis has been promoted to Vice President of Commerce Enterprise for TBS, TNT and Turner Classic Movies (TCM). In this newly created role, Rewis is responsible for overseeing all e-commerce and digital ad-sales integration for the three networks. Rewis, who most recently served as senior director of commerce enterprise for the networks, is based in Atlanta and reports to Dennis Adamovich, senior vice president of brand and digital activation/general manager of festivals for TBS, TNT and TCM.

As the new head of the Commerce Enterprise group, Rewis oversees all strategic marketing campaigns and promotions for the TBS, TNT and TCM's digital shops, as well as for any new business extensions. She also manages the relationship and communication between the networks' digital platforms group and digital ad sales/promotions group. In addition, Rewis is responsible for overseeing the networks' interaction with e-commerce vendors and studio partners, supervising cross-channel marketing strategy for e-commerce initiatives and identifying new revenue streams.

“Nancy is a highly creative, energetic and innovative marketer whose work has been vital in establishing TBS, TNT and TCM's presence in the digital retail space," Adamovich said. "In her new role, Nancy will lead the development of new revenue opportunities designed to forge an even stronger connection between our brands and consumers.”

Rewis joined the company in 1994, serving for three years as manager of international sales for Turner Publishing Company. She re-joined the company in February 2000 as senior marketing manager for TCM and was promoted to marketing director for the network in 2002. From 2006 to 2010, she held positions as senior director of brand partnerships and director of digital marketing for TBS, TNT and TCM, working extensively on the networks' initial digital retail strategies. She was named senior director of commerce enterprise in October 2010.

Prior to joining Turner, Rewis served an account executive at Atlanta's 94.9 FM radio station. She also worked as a sales and marketing coordinator for Humanics Publishing, Inc.

Rewis holds a bachelor's degree in broadcast journalism from the University of Mississippi. She is a member of the American Marketing Association (AMA) and Women in Cable and Telecommunications (WICT).

Turner Broadcasting System, Inc., a Time Warner company, creates and programs branded news, entertainment, animation and young adult media environments on television and other platforms for consumers around the world.
 

Property website FindaProperty.com has launched a bold new £5 million advertising campaign aimed at cementing its reputation as the most memorable and helpful property website in the UK.

The campaign premiered on January 8, 2012 during ITV’s Dancing on Ice and brings humour and excitement to the search for a new home, featuring a number of characters who rap about their search for a property while using FindaProperty.com.

It’s the first time a property website has taken such a bold and unique approach to an advertising campaign.

The campaign stars RADA-trained actor Ross Green who plays nine different characters across three separate TV ads. The first advertisement stars expectant parents living in a cramped flat; the second ad, to be launched on February 5, stars a grandmother on a mobility scooter; and the third advertisement, to premiere later in the year, stars a burger-flipping father of four.

The television adverts were filmed in December over four days on location at a North London home. It took 25 hours worth of hair and makeup to transform Green into nine separate characters.

Sheraz Dar, marketing director of the Digital Property Group, the DMGT-owned company behind the FindaProperty.com brand, says:

“In a market where the TV ads focus on rational messaging, we are proud of the fact that FindaProperty.com is able to communicate the brand’s benefits in a fun and engaging way.

“With all the property websites expected back on TV in January we feel that doing something different will make us stand out and homebuyers take notice. So rather than re-running our 2011 ads, or creating something similar, we’ve gone for something completely unique.

“January is traditionally a peak time for online home searchers and our new campaign will remind them we’re here to help them find their new home in 2012.

“We’re proud of the fact this is a humorous, unusual and attention-grabbing campaign and we hope the stories of our rapping characters will show just how helpful FindaProperty.com can be for home hunters – whatever their age, gender or life stage.”

FindaProperty.com will unveil further elements of the campaign in the coming weeks including a competition to win fantastic prizes and test your rapping skills.

Hollywood: Paramount Pictures announced today it ended 2011 in the No. 1 position among all studios, having achieved the highest total combined gross of any studio for the year, earning a record $5.17 billion worldwide. The studio, which released a total of 16 new releases domestically this year, placed first in the North American market share with $1.96 billion, while also amassing record grosses at the international box office with $3.21 billion.

"This achievement reflects the combined efforts of our entire team across the globe and the careful process by which we select the projects and partners we believe in," said Paramount Pictures Chairman & CEO Brad Grey. "We produce pictures that aspire to entertain audiences around the world, while at the same time we have sought to find innovative ways to reach movie-goers in this changing entertainment environment.

"This year our studio reached some key milestones, including the release of three vibrant Paramount franchise pictures and our first original CGI animated film. Our studio had its first ever $1 billion worldwide grossing film in Michael Bay's hit 'Transformers: Dark of the Moon'; we successfully re-launched our 'Mission Impossible' franchise with Tom Cruise, JJ Abrams and Brad Bird; our latest installment in the 'Paranormal Activity' franchise had another $100 million dollar success; our first original animated film 'Rango,' from director Gore Verbinski, earned rave reviews and more than $100 million at the domestic box office; and  we released global phenomenon 'Super 8,' directed by JJ Abrams, who will now direct the newest 'Star Trek' for 2013. We also benefited from our distribution partnerships with DreamWorks Animation and Marvel and I want to thank them both.

"Film President Adam Goodman and his team in production and development, and Vice Chairman Rob Moore and his team in marketing and distribution, did outstanding work and truly delivered. "As we prepare to celebrate Paramount's 100th year in 2012, we are all grateful to be part of this wonderful institution as it continues to prosper," added Grey.

In 2012, Paramount's release slate highlights include "World War Z," a zombie thriller starring Brad Pitt and directed by Marc Forster, "G.I. Joe: Retaliation," the next installment in the global franchise starring Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson and Channing Tatum, a new chapter in the "Paranormal Activity" franchise, and "The Dictator," starring Sacha Baron Cohen and directed by Larry Charles, the team behind "Borat."

The 2011 box office results seen from the studio were built on a wide reaching range of titles, including the following (with current domestic grosses): "True Grit" ($85 mil this year, $171.2 million total), Ivan Reitman's "No Strings Attached" ($70.7 mil), Jon Chu's "Justin Bieber: Never Say Never" ($73 mil), Gore Verbinski's "Rango"  ($123.5 mil), Marvel Studio's "Thor" ($181 mil), DreamWorks Animation's "Kung Fu Panda 2" ($165.2 mil), JJ Abrams "Super 8"  ($127 mil), Michael Bay's "Transformers:  Dark of the Moon" ($352.4 mil), Marvel Studio's "Captain America: The First Avenger"  ($176.7 mil), Craig Brewer's "Footloose" ($51.7 mil), the third installment in the hit "Paranormal Activity" franchise ($104 mil), DreamWorks Animation's "Puss In Boots" ($145.8 mil), Sundance prize-winner "Like Crazy" ($3.4 mil), Martin Scorsese and GK Films' "Hugo" ($50.2 mil), Jason Reitman's "Young Adult" ($12.8 mil), Brad Bird's "Mission: Impossible — Ghost Protocol" ($142.8 mil) and Steven Spielberg's "Tintin" ($51.4 mil).

SMM Advertising has engaged Kate Nielsen as Account Supervisor. Nielsen is an experienced manager who most recently served in a similar capacity at BBDO Worldwide, where she had responsibility for the E*Trade Financial and America Online accounts. Before being recruited by BBDO, she worked as an account executive for several Boston agencies, Including ISM, Arnold Worldwide, and Digitas. Her various account responsibilities included such recognizable names as Emirates Airline, Fidelity Investments, AT&T Wireless, and the Massachusetts Port Authority.

Charlie MacLeod, President of SMM, described Kate as, “… an exceptionally accomplished advertising and marketing professional whom we expect will significantly enhance our client service capabilities, and contribute materially to the successes of our clients.”

Nielsen will be deeply involved with the agency’s growth plans and new business development, as well as overseeing and guiding the agency’s account services resources. She is a resident of Long Beach, NY, where she lives with her husband and two young daughters.
 

Draftfcb West Coast Chief Creative Officer Chris Ford announced today that the agency’s San Francisco and Seattle offices have welcomed three new creative hires: Matt Gilmore as an associate creative director in Seattle and associate creative directors Chris Hancock and Scott Drey in San Francisco.

“We are excited to welcome Scott, Chris and Matt; they're talented dudes, and I'm glad to have them on board,” said Ford. “They each bring an impressive portfolio of work, along with the requisite flannel shirts and well-worn collection of hats. Hancock has even been known to sport a cowl, which I believe is some type of self-wrapping scarf though I cannot be sure.”

Scott Drey, an art director, joins Draftfcb San Francisco after working at Downtown Partners in Chicago as an associate creative director, art director. For Drey, this is a homecoming of sorts as he previously worked with Draftfcb Chicago, working on clients such as Coors and DiGiorno.

During his 12+ year career, Drey has also done work for Walgreens, Northwestern Mutual, Disney and Butterfinger while at JWT and Leo Burnett. His “Let Your Worries Go” campaign for Northwestern Mutual was recognized with a Webby, W3 Awards Best of Show, Communicator Award of Excellence and WMA Web Award; it was also named FWA “Site of the Day.”

At Draftfcb, Drey will work alongside Hancock on the agency’s Dockers and EA accounts.

Chris Hancock joins Draftfcb San Francisco as a copywriter after working at the agency as a freelancer for several months. Prior to joining the agency, he worked at Butler, Shine, Stern & Partners in Sausalito, Calif.

Hancock began his career at Arnold Worldwide in Boston, and over the course of his career his work for brands like MINI, Priceline and Greyhound have been recognized by the Effies, OBIEs, Communication Arts, Creativity and the One Show.

He is a graduate of Boston College and the Creative Circus in Atlanta.

Matt Gilmore joins Draftfcb Seattle from Blast Radius and will work with the agency’s HP client as a copywriter while also helping on the agency’s new business pitches.

An 11-year industry veteran, Gilmore’s career includes stints at agencies such as DDB Seattle, The Richards Group in Dallas and Temerlin McClain while working on a broad spectrum of clients from The North Face and Starbucks to Clorox and T-Mobile. His work has been recognized with Effies, Cannes Lions, Clios and at the One Show.

Most recently at Blast Radius, Gilmore worked on digital projects for Starbucks that included a social media scavenger hunt featuring Lady Gaga and the Magic Cup App, which uses augmented reality to bring the Starbucks holiday characters on their cups to life.

He is a graduate of Texas A&M University and currently serves as an instructor at the School of Visual Concepts in Seattle.