Advertising

As an opening gambit, Microsoft's campaign for its new Bing search engine accuses Google of causing global economic ruin. That's cheeky. The 60-second commercial titled "Manifesto" (JWT Worldwide), which began airing last week, opens with scenes of random YouTube nuttiness (videos of Perez Hilton, the keyboard-playing cat, OK Go's treadmill shtick, etc.). Then the mood darkens. The narrator says: "While everyone was searching, there was bailing. . . .

On opening day at Anaheim's Angel Stadium, as baseball players stretched their hamstrings on the grass, an unassuming "A" with a halo took flight from behind the outfield wall. A few Angels pointed at the team's logo as it drifted higher. The ushers watched with arms folded. A few seconds later, up floated another. Behind the outfield wall, Roy Batson stood chuckling Monday as the machines in front of him spit out a new form of advertising: bubble clouds.

A U.S. official and some colleges are telling the brewer of Bud Light to can it. Bud Light rolled out a marketing gimmick, "Fan Can," with the beer cans decorated with college team colors in selected markets just as the schools -- and their football teams -- were gearing up for a new season. But the campaign drew criticism from Janet Evans, a senior attorney with the Federal Trade Commission who oversees alcohol advertising, and from certain colleges because the cans could encourage underage drinking on their campuses.

Google Inc. said Tuesday that it would shut down an advertising partnership with more than 800 newspapers, a key part of the Internet giant's effort to expand into offline media, because it didn't make enough money. The Print Ads program, which launched with 50 newspapers in November 2006, allowed advertisers to use Google's online services to bid on space in print much as they do for search-engine ads. The service ends Feb. 28.

This promises to be the Silent Spring for big print media. Already this year we've lost the Rocky Mountain News and the Seattle Post-Intelligencer. Dozens of other papers have been driven to the brink by double-digit losses in circulation and print advertising revenue and an overburden of untenable corporate debt. My beloved L.A. Times, owned by the bankrupted Tribune Co.

Barry Diller, who warned last week at a media industry conference that the transition from old media to new media would be "bloody," is turning to Ben Silverman for help with triage.

In the auto business, there are few challenges tougher than marketing a brand that has few new cars to promote. No matter how good the current product, consumers like to see the latest stuff. That's the conundrum at Ford Motor Co., which after a solid run of product launches now faces a roughly six-month gap without a significant new rollout. The last 12 months at the Blue Oval have been a salesman's dream, with introductions of the Taurus full-size sedan, the Transit Connect van, the Fusion and Mercury Milan mid-size sedans, the 2010 Mustang and the redesigned F-150 pickup.

Television's reigning champion, "American Idol," returns this week and the talent contest is expected to be more popular -- and profitable -- than ever. The Fox show begins its seventh season Tuesday against the walking wounded. As the strike by the Writers Guild of America grinds into its 11th week, rival networks are scrambling to stay alive.

Computer game maker Electronic Arts Inc. said Monday that it would offer a free shooting video game on the Internet -- the company's first Web-based title to be supported by advertising sales. "Battlefield Heroes" will be released for download on personal computers this summer and will feature cartoon-style graphics, according to the Redwood City, Calif., company. The new product is part of a strategy to fuel growth with online ad revenue. Competitor Activision Inc.

European regulators are likely to approve Google Inc.'s $3.1-billion takeover of ad firm DoubleClick Inc., despite rivals' worries that the deal could squeeze them and make Web advertising more expensive. The European Commission, which is in charge of preserving competition in the 27-country European Union, is about to decide whether it will express serious doubts about the deal, which would combine Mountain View, Calif.