Mucinex move to MPG

Adams Respiratory Therapeutics, which markets the Mucinex brand, has placed its media planning and buying account at Havas' MPG. Their former agency was Interpublic Group's Initiative. In 2007, the company spent over $85 million in their ad spending. That is $20 million more money spent on ads then in 2006. The switch will take place in a few months. The article doesn't disclose why exactly Adams is making the switch. I feel that switching an ad agency could be a big deal. It must take a real good reason to switch your ad agency. I'm not sure if it really is a good idea to be switching your ad agencies. I feel it could really mess up the ad campaign you already have. Also the new agency could and most likely will have a different style and image than the last one and this could change your ads. If this is what your company wants or needs this could be a good thing. But if your company is doing good with the way your ads our now then I'm not sure if it is smart to change agencies. I just hope that the Adams' company knows what they are getting themselves into by switching agencies. I would like to know the reason why just to understand where they are coming from on this move. If I knew the why they chose to switch then I could talk more about the reasoning behind it. I can't wait til more information comes out to find out the reason why the Adams' company moved their ad account from Interpublic Group's Initiative to Havas' MPG.

Old Navy attempts re-positioning

According to Ad-age's interview with VP of marketing, Michael Cape, about revamping Old-Navy's image. While many people, myself included, enjoyed their previous "family friendly,"often campy campaigns, it's easy to notice that they may not have been reaching out to the right audience. Over half of the clothing in old navy is geared towards young women, so advertising to everyone could be seen as a bit of a waste.

So, while Old-Navy continues to court parents via circulars, radio, and direct mail, this spring their Television and online advertising will be aimed directly at twenty-somethings. When the campaign begins of February 14th, they will reveal a new logo and a new, "sexier" image. Cape claims that this new campaign will be fully integrated, meaning it will be seen in-store as well as in television and print.

Mr. Cape had this to say about their previous tactics, "We were trying to be all things to all people before," he said. "We really need to resonate with who we're going after." While this is true, I believe Old-Navy is taking quite a risk by changing their tactics. I've never shopped at Old Navy much. Besides the fact that their pants never fit me and seem tailor made for Amazon women who are eight feet tall, the clothes are simply more conservative than what I would wear. Their image does not equate to "fashionable." It is, however, synonymous with "affordable," at least in my mind. It's clear they're trying to seem more fashion-forward to try and capture a larger part of the market. But if their new customers are slow in recognizing this, and they lose the "family" aspect by focusing too much on sex-appeal, they could end up doing real damage.


here's the link: http://adage.com/article?article_id=124924