Featureflash / Shutterstock.com

Nick Cannon seems to have his hands in everything—in front of the camera, behind the camera, in retail, on the radio. And now the AdColor Board of Directors has named Cannon as the 2013 AdColor All-Star.

Cannon will receive the honor at the upcoming AdColor Awards and Industry Conference on September 21. Other former AdColor All-Stars Earvin “Magic” Johnson, Russell Simmons, Cristina Saralegui, Queen Latifah, George Lopez, and Boris Kodjoe will be on hand.

The AdColor All-Star Award goes to creative professionals of multicultural backgrounds, who, a press release explains, “have mastered all aspects of the media, creative, digital and traditional advertising disciplines.” AdColor is a nonprofit organization whose mission is to celebrate diversity in the advertising, marketing, media, and public relations industries.

According to AdColor, Cannon is their pick this year because he “embodies the ‘Rise Up. Reach Back,’ mission of AdColor.”

This year Cannon returned for the fifth season as host of NBC’s America’s Got Talent and he serves as the chairman of Nickelodeon’s TeenNick television network as well as hosts his own nationally syndicated Top 40 weekend countdown radio show called “Cannon’s Countdown” with CBS Radio. Cannon also runs the multimedia company NCredible Entertainment, which produces TV and film projects. The company also has a product division that introduced the NCredible branded headphones last year in conjunction with Monster and expects 2013 sales to exceed $30 million.

And Cannon inked a multi-year, multi-million first-look production deal with NBC Networks to develop scripted and unscripted programs for the network earlier this year. His new sketch comedy show, Incredible Crew, premiered on Cartoon Network and has out-performed American Idol in all key kids demos.

Along wth Cannon, AdColor will honor 21 individuals and companies.

Shutterstock

In life, it all starts with a plan. Having a guided course of action can take you quite far in life as you hone in on your goals, track accomplishments and focus your efforts to stay on track. Without one, you may find yourself wasting precious time or not making the type of progress you wish to see.

If you are a business owner, you definitely need to have plans in place to make sure things go as smoothly as possible. You might hear fellow industry professionals talk about the almighty business plan that some need before approaching lending sources, or even opening up shop. There is, however, another plan worth a mention.

Have you heard of a marketing plan? Do you know how to make one? Should you find yourself a bit clueless on the subject matter, here are some tips to help you out.

via Kraft Foods

There’s a new Kool-Aid Man in town. The cherry red, smiley faced pitcher that’s been bursting through walls since 1954 is going to be computer-generated from now on. It was previously a person in a foam suit. Kool-Aid has been around for 94 years, according to Quartz.

Sales of Kool-Aid have slipped in recent years with the launch of other drink additions like MiO and Dasani Drops. However, Kool-Aid remains popular among minorities, particularly African Americans and Hispanics, The New York Times said back in 2011.

“In 2012, the brand’s U.S. sales were down 5 percent to $338 million, according to the market researcher Euromonitor International. That was following a 4 percent drop the previous year,” Crain’s Chicago Business reports.

According to the company’s senior brand manager, Erica Rendall, the makeover is meant to give the character a better-defined personality and make him more relatable. Not sure that a digital pitcher of Kool-Aid could ever be more “relatable,” but OK.

Besides his wall crushing and the tagline “Oh yeah!,” the character may be best known for his antics on Family Guy. Feel free to check it out below while we wait for the new commercial to launch.

A revised revenue prediction from eMarketer says that Twitter is expected to make $950 million in 2014 and then break a billion bucks ($133 billion, to be exact) the following year on advertising. This is the second upward revision from eMarketer in six months. Some people say it could be even more as Twitter is expected to go public in the next year.

“One question is how high Twitter can push its numbers without watering down its commitment to selling only ad units that feel native to its ecosystem. Facebook has been drifting farther and farther from its mission of using the social graph to revolutionize advertising,” writes Forbes.

So quick question for you: Have you ever paid attention to the advertising on Twitter? I know I haven’t, even if I’ve noticed a promoted company among the trending list here and there. Moreover, it seems that companies, like Oreo, that manage to use Twitter as it was intended (with a tweet) in a clever way get way more out of the social network than advertisers. But maybe that’s just me.

In other “tech companies making money” news: AOLs stock is up 100 percent year-over-year. Last year, the stock price was $19.19. Yesterday it was trading at $38.90, reports Fishbowl NY. Seeking Alpha says that the company has made strides, including sales of some patents to Microsoft, but it’s overvalued given the competitive tech marketplace in the US.

“We have already accounted for display ad growth in our AOL valuation and think the turnaround the market expects will be difficult to execute in the coming years,” writes the site. “Our current price estimate stands at $25, which is approximately 30% below the current market price.”

Have you been tuning into American Idol? If not, you wouldn’t be alone. The ratings have been dipping and with Minaj the only one spicing things up, it just isn’t enough to lure in more viewers. But even with the rating dip, advertisers are still hanging on.

So far AI has lost about 20 percent of its audience this season to hit new lows, reports Billboard.  Shows like CBS’ Person of Interest and NCIS are beating the show and the former blockbuster has been overrun by the zombie action on AMC’s The Walking Dead.

But the 12th season of American Idol has retained its status as TV’s advertising leader and the its biggest advertisers, including Ford and Coca-Cola, have stuck with the show.

“It’s still a top 10 show,” Brad Adgate of media-buying firm Horizon Media told the entertanment trade magazine. “Compared to several years ago, it’s not the ratings force it once was… But even if it loses 20 percent” again, it’s still valuable to Fox.

Last season, American Idol grossed a leading $836 million in ad revenue. But the trajectory inevitably is headed down. The show reportedly commanded about $500,000 for a 30-second commercial on its Wednesday episodes. Things started to turn down when Phillip Phillips had been crowned the winner in 2012, and AI has its lowest-rated season since it debuted in summer 2002. This affected the advertising for this year. “The current 2012-13 season began with prices cut to $340,000 per spot for the higher-rated Wednesday performance night episode,” reports Billboard. The ad rates will most likely go up for the finale this year.

But there will be another ad test for the show in May. Every year at that time “upfronts” take place in New York, when broadcast networks pull in billions of dollars in advertising commitments for the following  season based on their series’ past and predicted viewership.

“You’re going to see a significant drop” in May, Deana Myers of SNL Kagan told the magazine about AI’s potential during the upfronts.

Idol is still averaging about 15 million weekly viewers this year, compared to its 2006 peak of 30 million, according to Nielsen figures. But its demo has changed drastically. The audience’s median age has jumped more than 18 years, to 50.4, from season one to last year. Not a good sign on Madison Avenue, which prefers ads targeting youth rather than seniors.

But don’t count AI out totally. As Billboard reports, not many shows can draw weekly audiences of 10 million-plus in today’s highly competitive TV world.

And AI has pulled out all the stops in keeping viewers tuning in. Fox and AI producer FremantleMedia North America paid close to $18 million to Carey, $12 million to Minaj, and a reported $6 million take for Urban.

Is AI washed up?

One of the pulled ads via Ford

Sometimes you really have to wonder what people are thinking when they do things that are so obviously wrong wrong wrong.

Ford has issued an apology for ads that went public in India for its Figo line of cars; ads that depict women bound and gagged in the trunk of the cars. The company’s ad agency in the region, JWT India, joined in the apology. The ads have since been taken down, but the Internet has a long memory.

In one of the three illustrated ads (below), Italy’s former Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi appears to be waving from the driver’s seat above the heads of three woman who are tied up in the trunk behind him. (Berlusconi has been embroiled in charges of illicit relations with underage girls and is known for his “bunga bunga” parties.) In another it looks like Paris Hilton is kidnapping the Kardashian sisters (image above). The caption is “Leave your worries behind with Figo’s extra-large boot,” boot being the British word for a car’s trunk. In a third ad, Formula One driver Michael Schumacher has three of his competitors in the trunk.

The ads were never meant to see the light of day, according to The Wall Street Journal’s India Real Time blog. “It was not intended for publication, but circulated widely after it was uploaded on an industry website by JWT employees. This was done without their company’s or Ford’s authorization,” the blog writes.

These ads have appeared at a time when India is strengthening laws against sexual assault against women in the wake of a brutal attack that caused the death of a young woman in that country.

The Huffington Post has a comment from WPP, JWT India’s parent company, saying, “We deeply regret the publishing of posters that were distasteful and contrary to the standards of professionalism and decency within WPP Group.”

“This was the result of individuals acting without proper oversight and appropriate actions have been taken within the agency where they work to deal with the situation,” the statement continues.

In a statement to the Journal, Ford says the ads are “the posters are contrary to the standards of professionalism and decency within Ford and our agency partners.”

Twitter lit up with criticism of the ads, and rightfully so. We understand the ads weren’t meant for publication, but the question is why they were created in the first place. Where in the world would this be appropriate?

via Ford

AP Photo/Jeff Chiu

Facebook unveiled a redesigned news feed today that included more and larger photos, greater prominence for video, and reorganized content that combines status updates and other info. Alongside these changes, users are being given the reins to better control the appearance of info on their feed pages.

Comparing the news feed to a “personalized newspaper,” CEO Mark Zuckerberg said during the news conference today that, “We believe the best personalized newspaper should have a broad diversity of content. It should have high quality public content from world renown news sources and locally and socially relevant updates from family and friends and the people around you.”

The Wall Street Journal includes a number of photos from the feed, noting that it appears to be taking cues from the mobile interface. (Mobile is a big part of the company’s strategy.)

It also draws from Instagram, which the company purchased for $1 billion last year, “focusing [on] larger visuals while still having a level of interactivity.” Those who would like to incorporate content from places like Pinterest will also be able to do with greater ease and flair, says the Journal.

The redesign, BusinessWeek says, is also meant to attract more advertisers. Facebook, remember, is a public company and though it is the most popular social network in the world, there’s recent data showing that young people are splitting their time a little more between Facebook and other networks like Snapchat. Also, there’s recent research from Pew showing that more people are taking Facebook breaks.

Rex Features via AP Images

The reviews came in and (at least one in particular) panned Rihanna’s new line for British label River Island. But guess what? Her fans don’t give a flying fig.

Buzzfeed has pulled out a number of fan tweets praising the collection, with many promising to buy pieces when they become available on March 5. Actually, one fan with money to burn writes: “Love Rihanna’s River Island collection!!! Can’t wait to buy everything.”

Now that the collection has launched, the advertising is beginning. Vogue UK has some of the shots from the ad campaign, starring Jourdan Dunn. The campaign was shot by fashion photographer Mario Sorrenti. We’ve got one image below.

And click through for a couple more looks from the collection. It’ll be available online, so you could purchase pieces if you wanted to. Do you want to?

Volkswagen was the latest company to step into a pile of controversy over an ad that some considered racist. In the ad, which ran during last night’s Super Bowl though some suspected it wouldn’t, a white man walks around his office speaking in a Jamaican accent, encouraging people to “get happy,” as the ad campaign’s motto says.

Many people, including many Jamaicans and other minorities, didn’t actually find the ad offensive.

“Personally, I was not offended. As half Guyanese, I thought it was funny,” Monique Nelson, CEO and chairman UniWorld Group, a multicultural marketing agency told us in an email. “Furthermore, after doing a little research, I found out that Volkswagen employed a Jamaican linguist on the set to verify the accent. In my opinion, that showed respect for the culture and their audience.” As the Today  show also pointed out, a Volkswagen spokesperson said the company consulted with a focus group comprised of Jamaicans to make sure it wouldn’t cause offense.

Respect for the audience — the whole audience — is the first necessity for any marketing campaign. But there has to be more as well.

“Whenever companies are working with a concept that is foreign to their core competency, my recommendation is to work with a subject or cultural expert,” Nelson continues. “More research and more diversity on the team may not alleviate all of the issues, but some of them.”

That issue of diversity in the advertising industry is one that continues to impact the finished marketing product, particularly at a time when the consumer is increasingly diverse. Before the Volkswagen issue even reared its head, Ad Age published an op-ed by Lincoln Stephens, the founder and executive director of the Marcus Graham Project. In the article, Stephens gives tips for both aspiring marketers and the marketing industry to increase diversity in the industry. He says it’s something that both sides should work on together, with future staffers being persistent and constantly improving their skills while the execs look beyond family, friends, and assorted acquaintances for new talent.

Claudine Moore, founder of C Moore Media, an international public relations firm, agrees that there needs to be more diversity in the industry. “I have been in the business in America for the last 13 years, and the persistent lack of diversity continues to astound me, especially at senior levels. America is not changING, it has changED, and the industry needs to change too…and quickly,” she told us via email.

At the same time, Moore, a British woman of Jamaican descent who didn’t find the Volkswagen ad offensive, says we ought to be careful about labeling everything “offensive” or “racist.”

“I thought it was light-hearted and humorous, plus the actors accent was really very good,” she wrote. “I think we have to be very careful about what we deem offensive. If everything that pokes a bit of fun is taken as seriously offensive, then humor and creativity will be zapped out of the industry.”

True enough. Many of the ads that ran last night relied heavily on humor, a clever turn of phrase, or an old-fashioned sight gag. But, as Tony Balasandiran, an account supervisor at Flowers Communications Group tells us, it’s most important to understand where an attempt at humor is going to upset an audience you’re trying to reach with your message.

“The key to pushing the envelope with your marketing, without crossing the line, is actually knowing your target audience,” he wrote to us. “Effective marketing relies on the message – verbal or visual – resonating with your intended audience. Knowing means understanding – as in, understanding the cultural nuances of your audience. Without this understanding, brands will continue to find themselves on, hovering over, and inevitably crossing, the line.”

Of course, some companies, like Go Daddy, purposely court controversy as a way to stand out. “Understanding that the media landscape is cluttered and very hard to break through, marketers are taking chances with advertising that many may see as controversial, but that marketers may simply see as disruptive,” UniWorld Group’s Nelson added.

But there is a point where you can push the levels of taste, propriety, or straight up decency so far that you can alienate people. Based on the feedback we’ve been hearing about that lip-smacking Go Daddy ad, they could have done just that last night.

A still from Kate Upton’s Super Bowl ad for Carl’s Jr.

The Super Bowl is more than a football game. During commercial breaks and on YouTube, companies are playing a Super Bowl of their own, competing to capture the world’s attention without embarrassing themselves. Any Real Housewives Of Atlanta fan can tell you how difficult that game is to master.

First possession of 2013 goes to Volkswagen. If you haven’t seen their ad featuring a proud Minnesotan talking like he works weekend shifts at the Jerk Pit, you clearly don’t work in a cubicle. Catch up, so you can engage in one of America’s favorite pastimes, a round of “Is That Racist?”

Does it matter that 100 Jamaicans are okay with the ad? Would it make it better if White Jamaicans existed? Do they exist? (FYI, they’re 3.2 percent of the country’s population. Yes, I Google’d and YouTube’d it. I was intrigued.) None of this really means anything. Some people find the commercial offensive. They may or may not be Jamaican.

Volkswagen knows their happy little commercial has a little edge to it. Edgy enough to talk to 100 Jamaicans. And make a back up ad. But standing out this time of year sometimes requires taking a little more risk. Success is determined by a simple premise: If the controversy outshines the product, you lose.

When the controversy puts an ad at the top of the news hour across the country, and the world collectively says, “Oh, that’s not so bad.” Companies like Volkswagen win. Bonus points if a few people say, “I love this ad” or “That’s a nice car he was driving.”

Here are a few attempts from Super Bowls past where companies have pushed the envelope to varying degrees, with varying levels of success. Is it a touchdown, or did they fumble the advertising budget?