All posts tagged: mars

Saturn & Stargazing

2009 is a special year in the night sky. The Earth is exactly at the same level as Saturn in space,Β allowing us Earthlings to catch a vertical view of the second largest planet in our solar system, a one in 15 years phenomenon. To celebrate the International Year of Astronomy, the Science Center in Singapore has opened up its Observatory for free stargazing sessions every Friday night. This week, the main telescope was aligned to focus on Saturn and its moons, and it made for a spectacular sight. In the magnified view of the telescope, Saturn appears exactly like it was depicted in secondary school geography textbooks, complete with the rings. The rings, which are really pieces of dust and ice moving at tremendous speeds, look gorgeous! Of the 62 moons of Saturn, only 4 of the brighter ones were visible through the telescope, and appeared as though they were protecting the rings of Saturn. To the naked eye, or through a pair of binoculars, Saturn only appears as a bright star in the sky. …

When Mars met Wrigley

The merger that will kick Nestle’s ass, and Hershey’s and Cadbury’s. If it goes through of course. Same was said of the fizzled out Wrigley-Hershey’s deal once. Anyway, more than their merger, the fact that Mars is being supported in funding by Warren Buffet whose also getting a stake in Wrigley, is the reason for all the buzz. Wrigley will add to its Juicyfruit, Eclipse, Orbit by taking over Mars’ non-choco business (read skittles for the most part). Besides sheer power in the industry, Mars+Wrigley implies an increase, not in the advertising spend alone, but in the advertising heads, if both retain their agencies. Pedigree (a Mars brand) owes its the-way-we-know-it-today identity to TBWA. The other Mars agency is BBDO, which also has Wrigley as its client. And DDB is Wrigley’s second agency. So the Marsley (from my affection for word blends – Mars + Wrigley = Marsley) marriage means three ad-heads, tons of marketing platform, and more leverage for both. Let’s hope for a wedded brand too, of the nature of Snorbit (Snickers + …