Spuds MacKenzie returns, sort of. Plus, a Big Tech antitrust probe: Wednesday Wake-Up Call

Plus, NBC is bullish about ad sales for the 2020 Olympics Having trouble viewing this email? [See the online version]( July 24, 2019 Important to Important People [image]( [Spuds MacKenzie returns, sort of. Plus, a Big Tech antitrust probe: Wednesday Wake-Up Call]( By Angela Doland Welcome to Ad Age’s Wake-Up Call, our daily roundup of advertising, marketing, media and digital news. You can get an audio version of this briefing on your Alexa device; sign up [here](. [The reincarnation of Spuds MacKenzie]( Spuds MacKenzie was Bud Light's pitchman (errr, pitchdog?) in the '80s; now a brand of dog treats is using the famous name. A company called Spuds Ventures holds the trademark registrations for the name when it comes to pet products, and its planned lineup includes dog treats infused with hemp seed, hemp oil and CBD, Ad Age’s Jessica Wohl [writes](. The first product is “Spuds MacKenzie Anti-Anxiety & Calming Smoky Bacon Dog Treats." But following a trademark suit settlement, the company says it can't use the same dog imagery that Bud Light used. So while the original Spuds was portrayed by a female bull terrier named Honey Tree Evil Eye (may she [rest in peace]( the new pup mascot is a rescue dog with an unknown mix of breeds. It’s unclear what Bud Light parent Anheuser-Busch InBev thinks of all this; it declined to comment. [An antitrust probe for Big Tech]( Bad news for Apple, Google, Facebook and Amazon: The Justice Department says it is launching a sweeping antitrust review on whether major online platforms have hurt competition, stifled innovation or harmed consumers in other ways. The Wall Street Journal [reports]( that the move could ratchet up the already considerable regulatory pressures facing the top U.S. tech firms. The review is designed to go above and beyond recent plans for scrutinizing the tech sector that were crafted by the department and the Federal Trade Commission. Meanwhile, there’s other big news expected out of Washington D.C. soon, with the FTC set to announce a record-breaking $5 billion fine for Facebook for violating user privacy. It frankly could have been much worse for Facebook: The Washington Post [reports]( that officials originally hoped for a fine of “tens of billions of dollars, and imposing more direct liability for the company’s chief executive, Mark Zuckerberg.” To put things in perspective, Facebook [made]( $55 billion in ad revenue last year. Region Middle Position 4 [NBC’s 2020 Olympics forecast]( The 2020 Tokyo Summer Olympics open exactly one year from today. And NBC says it’s on track to exceed the record $1.2 billion in ad sales that the 2016 Games in Rio brought in, Ad Age’s Anthony Crupi [writes](. NBC is pitching the event as a highly brand-safe environment for advertisers. The Tokyo Games, to be held July 24 to Aug. 9, 2020, will take place between the Democratic and Republican National Conventions. And Crupi writes that “If nothing else, the competition could prove to be an oasis in a sea of political ugliness on the home front.” Just briefly: Big deal: Zion Williamson, No. 1 pick of the pro basketball draft, just signed an endorsement deal with Nike’s Jordan brand. In February, Williamson’s Nike shoe famously ripped apart on the court while he was playing for Duke University, but apparently everyone's moved past that. Read more from [Bloomberg News](. Adland earnings: Interpublic Group of Cos. reported organic growth of 3 percent for the second quarter, but investors were unimpressed. “IPG shares fell more than 2 percent on Tuesday morning as a slowdown in the U.S. appears to be weighing on overall results,” Ad Age’s Lindsay Rittenhouse [writes](. Agency moves: Britt Nolan, who announced his departure from Leo Burnett last week, will become DDB’s North American chief creative officer, Ad Age’s Lindsay Rittenhouse [reports](. He replaces Ari Weiss, who is promoted to global chief creative officer. Also, Christian Juhl [will be the next global CEO]( of WPP’s GroupM, effective Oct. 1. Juhl, previously global CEO of GroupM's Essence, takes over for Kelly Clark. On a roll: “Snapchat added 13 million daily users in a breakout second quarter, thanks to the viral explosion of a pair of augmented-reality filters,” Ad Age’s Garett Sloane [writes](. Snapchat has emerged from a rough patch, and its success is “boosting credibility with advertisers, who are starting to pile into the platform.” Well, this is unexpected: Frank Abagnale, the one-time con man played by Leonardo DiCaprio in the movie “Catch Me If You Can,” has changed course and dedicated himself for decades to teaching FBI agents how to spot fraud. Now, in a video from digital agency Levelwing, he offers some thoughts about fraud in the ad industry. [Read more]( by Ad Age’s Jack Neff. Unwanted freebie: “Forever 21 customers are fuming after the company added free Atkins diet bars to some online orders in the US,” BuzzFeed News [reports](. After a backlash, the company says it removed the freebie from orders. Podcast of the day: Dhanusha Sivajee, chief marketing officer at The Knot Worldwide, talks about why she loves hosting themed costume parties. But if you ever get an invitation, beware: “I turn people away if they don’t come dressed up. These are my friends, they should know better. There’s no room for lameness at my parties.” Listen to her conversation with Ad Age’s Alfred Maskeroni and I-Hsien Sherwood [here]( and subscribe to their Ad Block podcast via [iTunes]( and [Spotify](. Product of the day: Kellogg is partnering with House Wine to offer up a special limited-time pairing: a box of red wine and a box of Cheez-Its, CNN [reports](. It’s a wine-and-cheese party in a box—two boxes, to be precise. Creativity pick of the day: How do you get people to stop peeing in public? At a train station in Mureaux, in suburban Paris, Ogilvy Paris painted charming murals on walls where people were relieving themselves; the paintings include images of kids, to remind potential urinators that children frequent the station, Ad Age’s Ann-Christine Diaz reports. The effort has reportedly led to an 88 percent reduction in public urination (but we don’t really want to know exactly how they measured that). Check out the campaign [here](. If you're reading this online or in a forwarded email, here's [the link]( to sign up for our Wake-Up Call newsletters. AdAge AdAge company/ad-age/ Copyright © 1992-2019 AdAge, 685 Third Ave., New York, NY 10017 United States [Unsubscribe]( [Email Preferences]( [Subscribe]( [Advertise](