Wrigley works with MEC in 10 countries around the world, including China and the UK.

Said Stephen Li, CEO, MEC South & South East Asia “We are proud to have earned Wrigley’s business in these 4 new markets, and we look forward to leveraging our experience with the Wrigley brand in other parts of the world.”

David Glass, APAC Regional Marketing Director for Wrigley said  “Following a rigorous process we are delighted to announce the appointment of MEC as our media planning and buying agency in these four markets. We look forward to working together to ensure we have the best possible model consistent with our future brand and business plans. We’re convinced that MEC represents our best agency solution for the challenges ahead.”

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Go to admeter.usatoday.com to see full USA TODAY Super Bowl Ad Meter results, watch all the Super Bowl ads, rate the ads yourself and see what others think. Complete results are also available in today’s editions of USA TODAY.

The top five ads and final ratings are:
1.  Mars Snickers – Betty White and Abe Vigoda in casual football game – 8.68
2.  Frito-Lay Doritos – Dog with bark collar rules – 8.27
3.  Anheuser-Busch Bud Light – Man builds a house out of beer cans – 7.91
4.  Anheuser-Bush – Clydesdale’s friend – 7.82
5.  Coca-Cola – Sleepwalker going through rough terrain gets cold Coke – 7.36

USA TODAY created the Super Bowl Ad Meter in 1989 to gauge consumers’ opinions about TV’s most expensive commercials. This year Ad Meter was held in McLean, Va. and San Diego, Calif. 246 volunteers charted their second-by-second reactions to national Super Bowl commercials using hand-held meters to register how much they liked or disliked an ad. A computer averaged the scores continuously.

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Two-thirds of respondents said that they intended to log onto the Internet on Super Bowl Sunday with the majority indicating they would do so before the game (77 percent) or after the game (53 percent). More than three out of ten also indicated they would log on during the game itself (32 percent) or during halftime (30 percent).

When asked for which activities, if any, they planned to log onto the Internet on game day, 45 percent said they planned to log on for purposes unrelated to the Super Bowl. 19 percent said they intended to send email and/or instant messages to friends or family about the Super Bowl, while 14 percent planned to look for recipe and party ideas and 14 percent said they would view video clips of old Super Bowl ads. 13 percent said they planned to visit the Web sites of Super Bowl advertisers.

Watching ads continues to be an important part of Super Bowl Sunday, with 22 percent of respondents indicating that watching the ads, over watching the game itself, is their favorite part of the day’s festivities. When asked which three companies’ ads they were most looking forward to, respondents demonstrated a strong preference for beverage brands. The most anticipated brand’s ads were Bud/Bud Light (63 percent of respondents) and Coca Cola (43 percent), with Doritos (25 percent) coming in third. Controversial perennial Super Bowl advertiser GoDaddy.com ranked fourth with 18 percent of respondents, while Taco Bell rounded out the top five at 16 percent.

Consumers were also asked, in light of the current economic environment, how they felt about marketers spending a reported $3 million to air a 30-second Super Bowl ad. 37 percent of respondents indicated they disapproved of the extravagant marketing expenditure, compared to just 21 percent who indicated they approved. The remaining 41 percent did not care one way or the other.

When asked which team they expected to win the Super Bowl, the Colts were selected by 54 percent of respondents compared to 34 percent who thought the Saints would win (with 11 percent undecided). However, when asked which of the teams they would prefer to see win, the results were reversed with 52 percent selecting the Saints and 33 percent selecting the Colts (with 13 percent undecided).

Respondents were also asked to choose the most likely candidate for Super Bowl MVP. Not surprisingly, Colts quarterback and league MVP Peyton Manning was the overall top choice, garnering 50 percent of the vote. Saints quarterback Drew Brees ranked a distant second with 15 percent of the vote, followed by Saints running back Reggie Bush at 8 percent.

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The photographs show the screen legend with poet Carl Sandburg in December 1961 in New York.

Pictures were clicked by photographer Len Steckler when Monroe unexpectedly arrived at his apartment to see the Pulitzer-prize winning poet Sandburg, reports mirror.co.uk.

Steckler is offering them for a sale as a limited edition series called “Marilyn Monroe: The Visit”.

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Fifty-six-year-old Stern, called America’s “shock jock”, currently hosts the “uncensored’ Sirius XM Radio show.

Cowell, who became famous or notorious for his nasty put-downs on the show and was paid $50 million a year, is moving to start the US version of The X Factor – the hit British talent show – next year.

Rated seventh on Forbes’ “World’s Most Powerful Celebrity” list, Stern is on a $100-million-a-year contract with the radio station.

His contract expires in January next year – well before the “American Idol” season.

The “shock jock”, who is also author of two bestsellers titled “Private Parts” and “Miss America” – says he has already been approached to host a TV show from next year.

But he is reportedly unwilling to travel across the US – as the job at the “American Idol” entails.

Were the country’s most celebrated radio jockey were to come on board the most celebrated show, he would make a deadly team with the lesbian co-host Ellen DeGeneres who replaced Paula Abdul this year, sources in the US entertainment industry say.

But in a survey by TVGuide.com, 37 percent people wanted “X Factor” and “America’s Got Talent” judge Piers Morgan to replace Simon Cowell.

Another 15 percent favoured “Sing-Off” judge Ben Folds to replace Cowell.

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According to imdb.com, “Dear John”, Hollywood’s fifth adaptation of Nicholas Sparks’ novel, proved to be a far more formidable opponent than anyone expected, bringing in an estimated $32.4 million in its 2,969 locations.

That’s a per-screen average of $10,900 – good enough to help “Dear John” become the all-time US domestic box office champ for a Super Bowl weekend release.

“Avatar” probably hasn’t fared badly this weekend. Last Tuesday, the film crossed the final achievement off of its box office to-do list, replacing “Titanic” as the all-time leader at the US domestic box office with an astounding $601 million earned in just 47 days.

It took “Titanic” more than 250 days to reach its domestic high of $600.8 million back in 1998 – though when inflation, higher 3D ticket prices and estimated theatre attendance is factored in, “Titanic” still looks pretty unsinkable.

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“We need to be part of the solution. This whole drill is about inspiring efficiency and value. But the current process is incredibly inefficient and has little to do with value.  Our people should be spending their time building brands,” said Tom Carroll, President and CEO TBWA Worldwide. “Having Neal focused on compensation will make the process less contentious and more productive.”

Grossman said of the challenge of creating value-based compensation models: “The biggest challenge of delivering value-based models is finding the right balance of tradeoffs between risk and reward. If we are serious about wanting a new model, we will have to be honest about how we quantify our value and our risk in a way that is equitable to both agencies and clients.”

“Linked to the whole definition of value is the ownership or additional participation in the benefits derived from ideas when they extend beyond advertising, whether it’s a TV show or a new product. As brands themselves become the message and that increasingly becomes a vehicle for advertisers to engage their customers, agencies will want to have conversations related to agency participation in new revenue streams to advertisers not dissimilar to those that other content providers would expect to have.”

“Also, as agency compensation has been squeezed to the level it has, the need to define the scope of work in more detail has become more important. Agencies are not used to saying no to their clients; however, based upon where the industry is today, the scope of work needs to be managed more tightly and additional fees need to be requested, before work commences, when scope of work extends beyond what was originally agreed. My concern is that while this may cause a greater strain on agency/client relations, everyone needs to understand that we are in business to make a profit just like our clients and we can’t afford to give away work for free.”

Neal first joined Chiat\Day as its Corporate Controller in 1986. In 1992, he was promoted to Senior Vice President/Finance prior to his appointment as Chief Financial Officer of the Los Angeles office in 1995. In 2001, Neal was named Chief Financial Officer of TBWA Worldwide, North America and served in that position until 2003 when he was named Chief Operating Officer of TBWA\Chiat\Day Los Angeles. 

Neal is an active member of the advertising community and is currently Chairman of the 4A’s Large Agency Finance Committee. He has served as Founding Chairman of the American Association of Advertising Agencies’ (AAAA’s) Western Finance Committee and as the Treasurer and a member of the Board of Directors of thinkLA. He has served on the Association of National Advertisers (ANA) and AAAA joint task forces related to guidelines for effective client/agency agreements (2002) and agency compensation guide (2006); the AAAA’s task force on guiding principles for consultants; and the AAAA’s task force which was successful in lobbying major sales tax reform in the state of California (passed into law May 2000). He is also one of the cofounders of the Art & Design Academy, a program jointly developed with the Light-Bringer Project (a nonprofit arts organization) to give high school students an understanding of creative and technical roles in the advertising agency world.

Prior to joining the agency, Neal worked at the public accounting firm of Coopers & Lybrand (currently PricewaterhouseCoopers). Neal is a Certified Public Accountant (CPA) and has a master’s degree in business administration (MBA).

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Statistics show that divorce rates have rise since the advent of Facebook and it has sharply increased marital infidelity, Sheikh Abdel Hamid al-Atras said.

“It’s an instrument that destroys the family because it encourages spouses to have relations with other people which break Islamic sharia law,” said al-Atrash, quoted by pan-Arab daily Al-Sharq al-Awsat.

He is the former head of the fatwa commission at Cairo’s Al-Azhar University.

“While one or other of the spouses is at work, the other is chatting online with someone else, wasting their time and flouting the Sharia. This endangers the Muslim family,” said al-Atrash.

The edict followed the publication earlier this week of a study claiming one out of five of divorces in Egypt had been caused by liaisons begun on Facebook or other social networking sites.

Like satellite TV, social networking sites are a “double-edged sword”, al-Atrash said.

“While they permit the spread of Islam, they allow people forbidden love and relations.

“That is why whoever uses such websites must be considered a sinner,” he said.

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The letter comes ahead of an expected visit this weekend by Cambodia’s Prime Minister Hun Sen to the temple, which is situated on land claimed by both Cambodia and neighbouring Thailand.

Government spokesman Phay Siphan told DPA he had sent an initial letter to Google three years ago asking it to remedy the problem, but had received no response.

Friday’s letter called on Google to withdraw the map, calling its demarcation of the border “radically misleading and totally misguided” for showing “almost half of the temple in Thailand”.

The International Court of Justice awarded Preah Vihear temple to Cambodia in 1962, but did not rule on nearby land that is claimed by both nations.

Google’s map, which shows the yellow border line running through the contested temple, “is devoid of truth and reality and professionally irresponsible, if not pretentious”, the letter stated.

Over the past 18 months Thai nationalists have used the Preah Vihear issue to stoke tensions, to which the visit by Hun Sen may add.

Phay Siphan said he had no official confirmation that Hun Sen would visit Preah Vihear temple at the weekend, but said people expected him to be there.

“Everyone is talking about it and expects to see (Hun Sen) on the top (of the temple) to pay his respects to Cambodian culture,” Phay Siphan said late Friday.

He added that the area was “very stable, and there are no irregularities. Soldiers are chitchatting with each other”.

The relationship between Cambodia and Thailand has been tense for more than a year with sporadic clashes between troops in the area around the temple. Much of the border between the two countries has yet to be demarcated.

Diplomatic relations plunged to a new low in October after Phnom Penh appointed Thailand’s fugitive ex-premier Thaksin Shinawatra as a government adviser.

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2010 looks set to be one of the most exciting seasons yet with World Champions from the last two years – Jenson Button and Lewis Hamilton – driving as team mates in McLaren and F1 legend Michael Schumacher returning to the track for Mercedes.

Plus, there are new teams, new rules and new venues to add into the mix.

The BBC TV presentation team returns with anchor Jake Humphrey joined by Eddie Jordan and David Coulthard as expert pundits.

Commentary comes courtesy of Martin Brundle and Jonathan Legard with reporters Lee McKenzie and Ted Kravitz bringing all the interviews and action from the pits.

Plus the legendary F1 voice Murray Walker is once again part of the team with online blogs/reports at regular intervals during the season.

The BBC Radio 5 Live commentary team is led by David Croft alongside Formula 1 driver Anthony Davidson, providing a driver’s perspective to events, and pit lane reporter Holly Samos with all the news and reaction as it happens.

The BBC’s Head of Formula 1 Ben Gallop says: “We’re delighted with the way 2009 went and we can’t wait for the 2010 season to start.

“The BBC Sport team will once again be bringing great coverage across all our platforms, meaning F1 fans can follow the action and interact wherever they are, whenever they want.

“We’re proud to offer our audiences the opportunity to follow the great stories and share all the excitement of this fantastic sport.”

TV Coverage
Live coverage of every qualifying session and all 19 races live on BBC One [1]:

■All races and qualifying sessions that finish before 10.00am to have full repeat on terrestrial TV later in the day
■One-hour evening highlights programme on BBC Three
BBC Radio 5 Live and 5 Live Sports Extra
Live commentary of every race plus:

■Coverage of all the stories as they break plus big name interviews from the drivers, owners and personalities
■5 Live Formula 1 on 5 Live Sport every Friday night prior to a race, previewing all the action with expert analysis and the latest news from the track
■Coverage of practice and qualifying sessions
■Chequered Flag podcast available to download at bbc.co.uk/5live with expert analysis and reaction from the circuit
BBC Radio 5 Live’s Formula 1 coverage is produced by USP Content.

You can listen to 5 Live and 5 Live Sports Extra via DAB digital radio, Digital TV and online at bbc.co.uk/5live; 5 Live is also on 693 & 909 MW.

BBC Red Button
Live coverage of all on-track sessions including practice sessions plus the following options:

■Network feed with choice of commentary from 5 Live or TV for qualifying and Grands Prix
■In-car camera feed and leaderboard
■Rolling highlights
■Coverage of Friday and Saturday practice sessions
■Up to an hour of analysis on the red button immediately after all races with Jake Humphrey, David Coulthard, Eddie Jordan and Martin Brundle. Viewers are invited to e-mail/text in, ask questions and interact
BBC Sport Website
Live video streaming of all on-track sessions, including:

■Network TV feed with choice of commentary from 5 Live or TV
■Option to choose a high-quality video stream
■In-car camera feed
■Rolling highlights
■Jake Humphrey, David Coulthard, Eddie Jordan and Martin Brundle provide up to an hour of analysis available immediately after all races, with viewers invited to e-mail/text in, ask questions and interact
Editorial coverage to include:

■Latest leaderboard
■Full statistics from all on-track sessions
■Distinctive live text commentary
■News stories
■Martin Brundle, Mark Webber, Mark Hughes, Ted Kravitz and Lee McKenzie columns
■Blogs by Jonathan Legard, Jake Humphrey and journalists Andrew Benson and Sarah Holt
■Murray Walker regular post-race video summary and Q&A
■Interactive world venue map and circuit guides, including animated laps of tracks
■Driver and team profiles
■Chequered Flag podcast available to download at bbc.co.uk/5live
The BBC has a five year deal to broadcast F1, which runs from 2009 to 2013 inclusive, and includes exclusive rights to TV, radio, full broadband and mobile.

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