Ad Spending

Gap Inc. said it increased ad spending 50% to $150 million this year as it added TV and billboards to its media mix. The blitz by the San Francisco-based retailer helped boost same-store sales 16% in August, with sales of Gap denim, khaki pants and polo shirts strong, along with Old Navy cargo pants. Gap for the first time promoted uniform styles for the back-to-school season.

Are the woes of old media infecting the new? Shares of Yahoo Inc. fell 11% on Tuesday after the online giant said weaker ad sales would hurt its quarterly results. "Yahoo finds itself not immune to the forces of gravity," said Leland Westerfield of BMO Capital Markets. "The challenges buffeting traditional media apply equally to the online space." The Sunnyvale, Calif.

Omnicom Group Inc., WPP Group and other advertising stocks have erased most, and in some cases all, the declines suffered after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, as investors bet ad spending will recover next year. "People are looking through the current difficulties and are saying perhaps the worst is over," said Chris Jeffrey, who helps manage $15.7 billion in securities, including WPP, at Royal London Asset Management in London.

Combined print and online advertising revenue at U.S. newspapers slid 1.5% to $11.8 billion in the third quarter, hurt by falling automobile and help-wanted classified sales, an industry group said Tuesday. The decline marks the first time that combined print and online spending fell since the Newspaper Assn. of America began measuring such revenue in 2004.

As the race for the White House enters its final two weeks, strategists for the two major candidates and their parties are readying their final waves of advertising in key states. To examine ad spending, The Times has contracted with the Campaign Media Analysis Group to track the television ad buys made by the candidates and the national parties on their behalf. The map looks at spending in some key states. Republicans are continuing to outspend the Democrats by more than 2-to-1.

Publicis Groupe, owner of ad firm Saatchi & Saatchi, said it is buying Microsoft Corp.'s Razorfish advertising agency for $530 million in cash and stock to expand in Internet advertising. Razorfish will continue to operate under its own name and Microsoft will continue using the agency for online advertising and marketing, the companies said in a joint statement. In buying Razorfish, Publicis expands its digital-ad business as demand slows for traditional print and television campaigns.

One of the bleakest eras in the history of Southern California's advertising industry appears to be ending. After nearly five years of hemorrhaging that resulted in more than a dozen shuttered agencies, hundreds of lost jobs and millions of dollars in lost billings, signs are emerging that--despite Southern California's unstable economy--the local ad business is starting to turn around. No one is projecting booming growth this year.

Maxwell House Coffee might sound as American as apple pie. But General Foods executives would also like to make it as Chinese as Peking duck. Likewise for some of its other products, like Kool Aid and Tang. Over the past year, General Foods has struck up ventures with three Chinese companies. The food giant is trying to introduce some of its brands to a nation of more than 1 billion. And it is beginning to advertise Maxwell House on Chinese television--which only has one national channel.

Bouncing back from disappointing trends in 2011, total advertising spending in the first quarter of this year inched up 2.6%, compared to the previous year period, according to a new report from Kantar Media. Expenditures for all media totaled $32.9 billion, Kantar said Monday. “After a sluggish start in January, the pace of measured ad spending quickly accelerated and grew at an average rate of more than four percent during February and March, the best performance in more than a year,” Jon Swallen, chief research officer at Kantar Media North America, said in a statement.