Pacquiao gives away $1 million on tickets

LAS VEGAS–It’s easy to understand why Manny Pacquiao keeps on fighting.

He’s generous to a fault.

For this fight against Jessie Vargas alone, Pacquiao has spent $1 million (roughly P48 million) for 2,000 tickets given away to friends, relatives and fellow politicians.

That’s a huge amount, considering that he’ll not be receiving the guaranteed $20 million for his third fight against Timothy Bradley in April.

According to sources, Pacquiao will be receiving an undisclosed flat rate plus a percentage of the revenues from The Legend vs The Champ fight card promoted by Top Rank Inc.

Vargas, on the other hand, will get $2.8M outright.

With the lower prices, tickets to the 19,522-seater Thomas & Mack Center, are selling briskly, according to Top Rank honcho Bob Arum.

Despite the absence of HBO, which passed off this time, pay per view sales are expected to rise, hours before the card starts at the home of the UNLV Running Rebels, the 1990 US NCAA Division I champions.

In a mini press conference Thursday, Pacquiao disclosed that nearly 50 percent of whatever he earns from boxing is channeled back to the poor through free housing, hospitalization and other general services programs.

It’s a good thing, sponsors continue to trust Pacquiao’s global marketing appeal. Just this week, Anta, China’s giant sportswear firm, formally announced that it has made Pacquiao a chief endorser.

source: sports.inquirer.net

Bloomberg takes on AlDub’s influence on markets

The phenomenal loveteam of Alden Richards and Maine Mendoza a.k.a. Yaya Dub is undeniably one of the hottest pairings in the Philippine entertainment industry nowadays.

But after a show in the world’s largest indoor arena sold out 55,000 tickets in less than three days, and with a Twitter record of 41 million tweets with its hashtag in one day, AlDub has also caught global attention in both the mainstream and social media.

After the British Broadcasting Company dubbed them as a ‘social media phenomenon,’ international business news platform Bloomberg discussed how the unassuming and ‘bizarre’ Philippine show is affecting sales in different markets.



"The 'AlDub' phenomenon, (and) how it's becoming a mega hit on social media and how it's becoming a gold mine for anyone associated with it," read the blurb of the Bloomberg story.

In the article, Ehden Llave Pelaez, social media manager at iSentia Brandtology, described AlDub and the Kalyeserye segment from Philippines’ longest-running noontime show ‘Eat Bulaga’ as a brand new type of the typical Cinderella love story.

Pelaez said its appeal came from how it responded to the audience.

“Another nice thing, which is probably where social media comes in, is they get to listen to their fans. They story follows what the fans wanted to see. It's an open-ended series,” Pelaez said.

After only months of charming the Filipino audience, AlDub already starred in different commercials for a wide variety of brands, such as fast food, household cleaning agent, a telecommunications company, adult milk brand, cellphone brand, and many more.

Vice President for Marketing Communications at Golden Arches Development Corporation Margot Torres confirmed that the sales of McDonald’s grew significantly following the release of the #ALDUBkoto TV commercial.

"Our  growth is measured based on same-store sales and transactions. If we use the period when we sold Minions (which was a good month) as a base index of 100 and compare the same-store transactions growth figure with the period 3 weeks after we launched our chicken fillet a la king and the AlDub campaign, the figure is 470 versus base index," Torres told GMA News Online.

"This is a nationwide number,” she added.

"Needless to say, the launch of our Chicken Fillet a la King product with the AlDub campaign has positively impacted our business and sales for Chicken Fillet a la King have well exceeded its target," Torres said.

Within 24 hours of posting on September 11, the AlDub TVC was viewed 1.5 million times on the fast food chain’s Facebook page.

According to Pelaez, this remarkable increase in business is brought by the fact that the ‘AlDub phenomenon’ is not restricted to a particular class or industry.

Aside from being talked about in five out of seven continents, the love team’s reach also cuts across different markets because of their wide audience reach assisted not only by television but more importantly, by social media.

“They are cutting across different industries and segments. Beyond McDonald's and Talk N' Text, they have household cleansers and other upcoming TVCs,” Pelaez said.

“Using these people as effective product ambassadors proves that their fanbase also cuts across different markets. So, you're touching different consumers, and it doesn't matter what industry you're in. You are able to connect to different kinds of audience," she added. —Bianca Rose Dabu/NB, GMA News

source: gmanetwork.com

Facebook to sell real-time Super Bowl ads, taking on Twitter

This Super Bowl Facebook is taking a page from Twitter's playbook, for the first time during a football championship selling ads that target people based on what they are talking about in real time.

These include video ads that will play automatically on Facebook's newsfeed, triggered by key words that members mention in their posts as they watch the American football game on Feb. 1.

Smartphones and tablets provide a second screen for the Super Bowl's 100 million television viewers to comment about the game as it proceeds, giving advertisers a more precise way to target messages.

Twitter is the leader in this arena that other social media networks are seeking to emulate. Mondelez International's Oreo sent out clever tweets when the lights went out during the Super Bowl in 2013, a stunt considered to be a marketing coup.

"Twitter has owned the mantel of being a real-time platform but the sophistication of Facebook's ad targeting is unparalleled," said Noah Mallin, head of social for north America at MEC, a media buying agency that is part of WPP.

"That is a big change."

At last year's Super Bowl, marketers on Facebook could target ads to segments of members based on their likes, profiles and demographic information. Facebook has introduced real-time targeting features since then, and this year the social network, with 155 million daily users in the United States and Canada, will customize audience clusters that advertisers can target in real time during the game.

Maura Tuohy, head of social media at the marketing agency Eleven Inc, said Facebook had to work hard to dispel the notion that people do not use the network while watching live tent pole events. "People are talking about these shows" on Facebook, she said.

For example, Toyota Motor Corp in the past had turned to social media to amplify its creative TV commercials running in the Super Bowl. Now, the Japanese automaker is making commercials specially for social media.

Dionne Colvin-Lovely, director of traditional and emerging media at Toyota, said the automaker is running two commercials during the Super Bowl but has turned to digital platforms like Facebook, Twitter, Google Inc's YouTube and Hulu to generate a conversation around car buying.

"There is a lot more fragmentation," Colvin-Lovely said. "TV is an important media; it's not as dominant. We need to make sure we have a strong presence online and in mobile. It's more complicated now."

WAR-ROOMS

Twitter is staffing "war rooms" of 13 advertisers for the Super Bowl, including PepsiCo and Anheuser Busch - triple the number of companies that worked directly with Twitter for last year's big game.

Staffers at the 13 companies will monitor social networks during the game and pump out videos, tweets and graphical ads. Some companies will have lawyers on hand to approve the spots.

A growing number of big brand advertisers want to create "unplanned" social ads for the Super Bowl, said Twitter Director of U.S. Brand Strategy Ross Hoffman.

Twitter and Facebook are hoping that by executing memorable real-time ads with a more precise way to reach consumers will be an additional tool in their long-time efforts to grab a bigger slice of the estimated $66 billion television advertising pie.

Many marketers are also turning to digital platforms, including YouTube.

While many agencies executives said social networks do not necessarily charge more for ads during tent pole events, total spending rises as advertisers target more people.

This year, NBC is charging a record $4.5 million on average for a 30-second commercial. So far the network, a division of Comcast Corp, has sold 95 percent of the game's inventory.

When the $5 million to $10 million cost to produce a TV commercial is factored in, digital advertising looks even more attractive.

"It's a much more complicated ecosystem than 2 years ago," said Winston Binch, partner, chief digital officer Deutsch North America. His firm created the iconic "The Force" Super Bowl TV ad featuring a little kid dressed up as Star Wars character Darth Vader in 2011 for Volkswagen (VOWG_p.DE), which is not airing a spot this year.

"The price tag keeps going up. It's not an easy decision now for big brands," he said.  — Reuters

IBM buys Internet marketing firm Silverpop

SAN FRANCISCO  - IBM on Thursday announced that it is buying Internet marketing firm Silverpop to enhance its portfolio of services for businesses out to target potential customers.

The technology veteran did not disclose financial terms of the deal to acquire Atlanta-based Silverpop, which specializes in pinpointing marketing messages based on real-time online activities from Web surfing to mobile device use or social networking.

"By engineering a solution that uniquely delivers personalization through automation, our team has solved one of the most complex challenges facing marketers today," Silverpop chief executive Bill Nussey said in a release.

Better targeted marketing translate into less annoying 'spam' messages, IBM reasoned. 


Silverpop and its easy-to-use tools will be added to IBM's suite of software offered as services in the Internet "cloud."

"Now, nearly any marketing, commerce or customer service professional from any business will have the ability to deliver the kinds of personalized customer experiences that make a measurable impact on the brand experience and the bottom line," IBM industry cloud services general manager Craig Hayman said in a release.

The take-over, if approved by regulators, was expected to be completed by mid-year.  — Agence France-Presse

source: gmanetwork.com

Publicis, Omnicom to merge to create advertising giant

PARIS - Publicis and Omnicom have announced merger plans to create the world's biggest advertising group, worth $35.1 billion, a tie-up that could put pressure on rivals to do deals to keep pace.

The transaction marks a return of jumbo-sized M&A among the world's "Big Six" advertising groups, which have spent the past few years buying up much smaller targets in emerging markets and among web marketing specialists.

The French and U.S. company presented the deal as a "merger of equals" in which Publicis and Omnicom shareholders will each hold about 50 percent of the new company's equity.

Publicis said the transaction was expected to create "significant value for shareholders", with expected synergies of $500 million. The merged group would keep its head offices in Paris and New York, it said.

"(Omnicom head John Wren) and I have conceived this merger to benefit our clients by bringing together the most comprehensive offering of analog and digital services," Publicis Chief Executive Maurice Levy said in a statement. Levy also said the French government was supportive of the merger.

The deal is likely to push the remaining advertising agencies to consider mergers to keep up. Current leader WPP may make a move for U.S.-based Interpublic, France's Havas or Japan's Dentsu, said Pivotal Research analyst Brian Weiser in a note.

"What would have been unthinkable previously would now make sense," he said.

Together, Publicis and Omnicom had combined 2012 revenue of $22.7 billion, with more than 130,000 employees, and they would overtake WPP, worth $24.1 billion.

The deal would bring together Publicis brands such as Saatchi & Saatchi and Leo Burnett with Omnicom's BBDO Worldwide and DDB Worldwide.

Wren and Levy will be joint CEOs for an initial integration and development period of 30 months, after which Levy will become non-executive chairman and Wren sole CEO, Publicis said.

Publicis shareholders will receive one newly-issued ordinary share of Publicis Omnicom Group for each Publicis share they own, plus a special dividend of 1.00 euro per share.

Earnings boost

Omnicom shareholders will receive 0.813 newly issued ordinary shares of Publicis Omnicom Group for each Omnicom share they own, together with a special dividend of $2.00 per share. They will also receive up to two regular quarterly dividends of $0.40 per share.

The companies said the transaction would be a cross-border merger of equals under Netherlands-based holding company Publicis Omnicom Group, with stock market listings in both New York and Paris.

Publicis said the deal, which had been unanimously approved by the boards of both companies, was expected to close in the fourth quarter of 2013 or the first quarter of 2014.

Levy said the merger would boost adjust earnings per share and that the new company would keep its BBB+ debt rating.

The head of rival agency Havas questioned the logic of the merger earlier on Sunday, saying digital business and technology had made scale irrelevant, and that the uncertainties associated with large mergers would distract staff away from clients.

"I'm not sure this is in the best interests of their clients or their talent," David Jones said. "Clients today want us to be faster, more agile, more nimble and more entrepreneurial, not bigger and more bureaucratic and more complex."

The CGT union said the merger would fly in the face of the government's ambitions to preserve French brands, adding that the merged group would be dominated by the U.S. in many areas.

The union called on the French government and competition authorities to avoid a monopoly situation being created, adding that it would mobilise to protect jobs.

Levy said he did not expect resistance to the deal from the French government. "We don't expect that the French government will have anything else other than great support," he said.

Moelis is acting as financial advisor to Omnicom, while Rothschild is advising Publicis on the deal. — Reuters

 source: gmanetwork.com