Wal-Mart Reopens Account Review

After the abrupt departure of Julie Roehm, the Wal-Mart executive in charge of the recent agency review, the mega-store is back in the market for a new agency.

Wal-Mart parted ways with longtime agency Bernstein-Rein of Kansas City when it selected DraftFCB as it's new suitor in October. However, DraftFCB is now out and will not participate in round two of the fight for the $580 million account. No word from GSD&M or local powerhouse Bernstein-Rein about the possibility of getting back together with their ex.

KC Coffee Morning This Friday

After contemplating if I should use my powers for good or for awesome, I decided to join forces with the boys over at American Copywriter to promote KC Coffee Mornings.

We'll be at Coffee Girls Friday morning from 7:30 a.m. - 8:30 a.m. for some caffeine and conversation. So get up early and get in on the fun.

NFL Network v. Cable Companies

The battle between NFL Network and cable companies has raged for some time. NFL owners want ridiculous amounts of money for exclusive football games and cable companies are challenging the network to survive without them.

To combat this, the NFL Network ran ads asking people to call their cable companies and request that they carry the channel. Next, Kansas City cable companies started running ads attacking each other. Everest Cable ran ads imploring people to switch from rival Time Warner to Everest so they could watch the NFL Network. However, Everest does not actually air any of the football games on the channel because they are blacked out. Talk about false advertising.

Although Everest was wrong to deceitfully advertise the network, the greedy NFL owners are really to blame. We see enough negative and attack-filled ads during elections, no one wants to see multi-million dollar cable companies and wealthy NFL owners slug it out in the same fashion. If we learn anything from this, it should be that people want their advertising scantily clad women, elephants and toilet humor, not bickering millionaires.

Outreach Interational Digs Black Friday

This year Black Friday at the Country Club Plaza, or just off the Plaza at JC Memorial Nichols Fountain, was marked with shovels.

Rodgers Townsend planted hundreds of shovels with messages on the handle as part of a guerrilla effort for Outreach International. Operatives headed out at the crack of dawn to turn some of Kansas City's prime shopping ground into a hardware store. Video was posted on YouTube, a minisite was created, it made the paper and it's a really good idea.

What I love the most about this one is the minisite. Although I wish it gave more information about the covert shovel operation, the site helps Outreach International make ripples, not just a splash. The site explains the purpose of the effort, provides a measurable element to the campaign and most importantly, tells people what they can do to help.

Via: AdRants

KC Coffee Morning Part II: Electric Boogaloo

A who's who of Kansas City ad bloggers assembled this morning at Coffee Girls for a second round of caffeine and conversation. I know, if the group was so elite how did I get there? If you missed out, here's everything you need to know.

The roll call featured everyone's favorite Brazilian art director, Sethy G, JJ of American Copywriter fame, Andrew Purviance and Steve Hall's favorite blogger, Ariel.

The conversation mainly focused on important advertising topics including two Brittney Spears references, too many 80's music mentions to count and the best corporate karaoke session ever, which apparently has drawn the ire of U2's lawyers. Russel Davies was on to something when he thought this one up.

Barkley Blasts Off

The largest independent employee-owned agency in the country, Barkley Evergreen & Partners is doing an extreme makeover: advertising edition. Yesterday, they officially changed their name to Barkley and introduced their new rocket logo, a tribute to the three-story rocket which will top their new location.

The rocket is a throwback to the Disney-"Imagineered" Moonliner, which sat atop the former TransWorld Airlines headquarters for years. Barkley renovated the building, which is located in the Crossroads district of Kansas City, MO, and will officially move in on Halloween. The rocket will be unveiled this Friday during the Crossroad District's First Fridays.

Via BE&P employee, Jeremy Fuksa at The Martini Shaker.

Kansas City Advertising Blogs

During last week's blogging sabbatical, my bloglines was riddled with unread blogposts. As I tried to sort through them all, I realized that many of the blogs I follow came from the Kansas City area. So I thought it only fitting to give a little shout out to all the locals. Here's my list.

American Copywriter - Creative directors John January of Sullivan Higdon & Sink and Tug McTighe of Callahan Creek give us something to nibble on between podcasts. Not only are they AdverCelebs, they're also the shit. Seriously.

Smoke & Meers - If you're looking for a good story with an advertising moral, Sam Meers is your man. He runs the show over at Meers Marketing Communications and always has a good take.

Shake Well Before Use - This young lady from VML has burst onto the ad blog scene with force. She's got the attention of some serious bloggers, such as Steve Hall over at AdRants and Hidden Persuader, so you'd better get a little piece of Ariel's RSS love.

Carpe per Diem - More Meers' love from copywriter Dan Duff. He writes about marketing, but more importantly, he used to drive the Oscar Mayer Weinermobile.

K City - It's not really about advertising, but Bruno Pieroni from SHS has an awesome comic strip. Plus, he's Brazilian, so I get style points by merely mentioning him.

If you didn't make the list, hit me up with an email, leave a comment or threaten to take me and my blog down. It's all welcome.

Wal-Mart Casts A Large Shadow in Kansas City

Wal-Mart's review of its advertising agencies not only threatens local powerhouse Bernstein-Rein, it also threatens lots of Kansas City shops that rely on Wal-Mart projects from Bernstein-Rein. Local production houses like Bark Productions, Liquid 9, Substation K, Take 2, Third Eye Productions, Wheeler Audio, and Walter Bryant Music have all had their hands in the Wal-Mart cookie jar. And though they're not actually fighting to keep the Wal-Mart account like local 300-pound gorilla, Bernstein-Rein, the loss of that business could hurt these smaller production houses.

I'm not trying to suggest that the loss of Wal-Mart would bankrupt these shops. But Bernstein-Rein's efforts to keep work in-town has been well documented. So when the biggest agency in town loses its biggest client, who provides an awful lot of work for local production houses, the little guys will feel the results.

So on behalf of these shops and all those recent college grads seeking employment, I just want to let Bernstein-Rein know we're rooting for you.