Labels maintain new music spend despite sales slump

LONDON (Reuters) – Record labels say they have maintained high levels of investment in new music despite sweeping changes to their business in the digital age and a decade of falling revenues caused by sliding album sales and online piracy.

According to a new study from industry body IFPI published on Monday, record companies invested $ 4.5 billion in A&R (artists and repertoire) and marketing in 2011.

That was down from $ 5 billion in 2008, partly due to a significant drop in the amount record labels were willing to spend on marketing up-and-coming talent at a time of shrinking income.

But the A&R side fell less sharply to $ 2.7 billion last year versus $ 2.8 billion in 2008 despite a decline of 16 percent in the trade value of the industry globally over the same period.

Presenting the report in London, Max Hole, COO of Universal Music Group International, said he was cautiously optimistic that the music business would return to growth soon, helped by the proliferation of digital platforms.

“The stats are getting better, the rate of decline is slowing,” he told reporters.

“There’s every reason to hope that in the next couple of years we’ll reach the low point and start to go back to growth.”

According to the IFPI, in the first nine months of 2012, global recorded music sales had fallen by around one percent year-on-year after a fall of three percent in 2011.

The industry peaked in 1999 when sales were $ 28.6 billion, but has shrunk every year since, reaching $ 16.6 billion in 2011.

“I just feel that we are at a tipping point of lots and lots of services coming on, and services that really are in touch with the consumer,” Hole said, adding that, crucially, the platforms were more attractive than illegal pirate sites.

BANDS WANT LABELS

The report showed that more than 70 percent of unsigned acts in Britain and Germany wanted a record deal, despite the perception that many artists are keen to go it alone with the help of social networking.

Major labels have been accused of being slow to adjust to the challenges posed by digital music and illegal downloads, and relying too heavily on older, established acts to make money.

But the IFPI report sought to underline their role in unearthing new talent in a notoriously risky business.

Revenues invested in A&R represent around 16 percent of industry turnover, compared with 15.3 percent in the pharmaceuticals and biotech sector and 9.6 percent in software and computing.

The IFPI estimated breaking a pop act in a major market typically costs from $ 750,000 to $ 1.4 million, including a $ 200,000 advance, $ 200-300,000 on recording, $ 50-300,000 on videos, $ 100,000 on touring and $ 200-500,000 on marketing.

The Internet has revolutionized the way record labels go about their business, the report said.

A&R representatives today rely on the Internet as much as they do on attending gigs up and down the country to discover the next best thing, although most still want to see an act live before making up their minds.

According to the report, record labels are providing far more digital content as part of their marketing and promotion, and tend to sign deals with artists which go well beyond the shrinking recorded music business.

Brand partnerships, offering songs for use on television, in film and in commercials, and linking up singers from different regions to generate cross-over interest are just some of the ways they can help establish a new act, the IFPI added.

Hole said the recent merger between Universal, already the world’s largest music label, and EMI, would not lead to less A&R spending, but more.

“We have stated quite categorically that our intention is to reinvest in EMI and boost it and we think it will result in more investment in A&R,” he said.

“We operate a multi-label structure and that was something that had declined at EMI,” he added. “We’re going to reverse that.”

(Editing by Steve Addison)

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Hathaway says ‘Les Mis’ made her feel deprived

NEW YORK (AP) — Anne Hathaway credits her new husband Adam Schulman for helping her get through the grueling filming of the screen adaptation of “Les Miserables.”

In “Les Mis,” the 30-year-old actress plays Fantine, a struggling, sickly mother forced into prostitution in 1800s Paris.

Hathaway lost 25 pounds and cut her hair for the role. She tells the December issue of Vogue, the part left her in a “state of deprivation, physical and emotional.” She felt easily overwhelmed and says Shulman was understanding and supportive.

The couple wed in September in Big Sur, Calif. Hathaway wore a custom gown by Valentino whom she collaborated with on the design. Working with the designer is a memory she says she will “treasure forever.”

The December issue of Vogue hits stores Nov. 20.

___

Online:

http://www.vogue.com/

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Well: Can Foods Affect Colon Cancer Survival?

A new study suggests that what you eat may affect your chances of surviving colon cancer.

The research is among the first to look at the impact that specific nutrients have on the likelihood of disease recurrence in people with colon cancer, one of the leading causes of cancer death in the United States. It found that people treated for Stage 3 disease, in which tumor cells have spread to lymph nodes, had greatly increased chances of dying of it or experiencing a recurrence if their diets were heavy in carbohydrate-rich foods that cause spikes in blood sugar and insulin.

The patients who consumed the most carbohydrates and foods with high glycemic loads — a measure of the extent to which a serving of food will raise blood sugar — had an 80 percent greater chance of dying or having a recurrence during the roughly seven-year study period than those who had the lowest levels. Stage 3 colon cancer patients typically have a five-year survival rate of about 50 to 65 percent.

The study, however, was observational, meaning it could only highlight an association between carbohydrates and cancer outcomes without proving direct cause and effect. The researchers also obtained some of their data from food questionnaires that required patients to recall details about their diets, a method that can be unreliable.

Still, the researchers, who published their findings in The Journal of the National Cancer Institute, believe insulin may play a critical role in colon cancer recurrence. Chronically high insulin levels have been linked to cancer recurrence and mortality in previous research, and people with a history of Type 2 diabetes or elevated plasma C-peptide, a marker of long-term insulin production, have also been found to have an increased risk of colon cancer. One hypothesis is that insulin may fuel the growth of cancer cells and prevent cell death, or apoptosis, in cancer cells that have spread.

“It’s not simply that all carbs are bad or that you should avoid all sugar,” said Dr. Jeffrey A. Meyerhardt, the lead author of the study and an associate professor of medicine at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston. It’s not as simple as ‘sugar causes cancer to grow.’”

He added: “Different carbs and sugar lead to different responses in your body. I think people should focus on a well-balanced diet” and substitute foods associated with lower glycemic loads or carbs for foods that have higher levels.

Earlier research published by Dr. Meyerhardt’s group showed that Stage 3 colon cancer patients who most closely followed a Western-style diet — with high intakes of meat, fat, refined grains and sugary desserts — had a threefold increase in recurrence and death from the disease compared with those who most strongly deviated from Western patterns of eating.

For this study, Dr. Meyerhardt and his team wanted to see to what extent carbohydrate intake could influence the progression of the disease, so they followed about 1,000 Stage 3 colon cancer patients taking part in a clinical trial sponsored by the National Cancer Institute. The patients, who had all had surgery and chemotherapy as part of their treatments, provided information on their diets and lifestyle habits. But the researchers went beyond just carbohydrate and sugar intake, taking into account glycemic measures.

The glycemic index, an increasingly popular nutritional measure, looks at the rate at which carbohydrate-containing foods raise a person’s fasting level of blood sugar and subsequent need for insulin. Sugary drinks, white bread and other highly processed carbohydrates rank higher on the index, while those that are digested more slowly, like brown rice, many vegetables, unrefined grains and legumes, have a lower index value.

Another barometer, however, is the glycemic load, which refers to the blood sugar effect of a standard serving of a food. A glycemic load of 10 or less for a food is generally considered low, while 20 or more is high. The latest study showed that glycemic load and total carbohydrate intake were the best predictors of cancer recurrence and mortality, and the link was strongest in people who were overweight or obese.

Dr. Meyerhardt said the findings suggest that colon cancer patients would be wise to keep glycemic load in mind while making food decisions, looking for ways to work into their diets foods that rank lower on the scale.

“So if you think about beverages, most juices and certainly sodas have a higher glycemic load than flavored waters and tomato juice and things like that,” he said. “Fruits like a date or raisins have very high glycemic loads, whereas fresh fruits like an apple, orange or cantaloupe all have sugar but have a very low glycemic load. Substitute brown rice for white, whole grains instead of white bread, and instead of having a starchy potato as your side dish, substitute beans and vegetables.”

One expert who was not involved in the research, Somdat Mahabir, a nutritional epidemiologist with the National Cancer Institute’s division of cancer control and population sciences, said the findings from the latest study must be borne out in further research. But in the meantime, making dietary changes that reduce glycemic load is a reasonable recommendation for colon cancer patients, he said, since it can only be helpful, not harmful.

“The results of the current study need to be confirmed, but the current indications are that diet is important to colon cancer survival,” Dr. Mahabir said.

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United returning $5.6M in tax incentives

United Continental Holdings, parent of United Airlines, is giving back $5.6 million in City of Chicago tax incentives.

The incentive money is tied to United's 2007 move to its corporate headquarters at 77 W. Wacker Drive, along the Chicago River.

Because of United's recent plans to move out of that building and consolidate its headquarters into Willis Tower where it has other operations, the airline said it was "appropriate" to return the money. However, it wasn't necessary.

City officials said United had so far fulfilled its obligations for receiving the money, such as maintaining a minimum employment level in the 77 W. Wacker Drive building, and that the incentives would have traveled with the company as it moved several blocks down Wacker Drive to Willis Tower.

"I commend United Airlines on an incredible act of corporate citizenship that speaks to the unique role Chicago's business community plays in the future of the city," Mayor Rahm Emanuel said in a statement.

United said it will give back $5.6 million it already received in Tax Increment Financing, or TIF, a funding tool used by Chicago to promote investment in the city.

United will also forgo up to $9.7 million more in TIF money that the city would have paid the airline, for a total of $15.3 million. However, United probably wouldn't have received the remaining $9.7 million because the money was tied to its fuel consumption at O'Hare International Airport.

"We were unlikely to ever realize the incremental $9.7 million anyway because of our improving fuel efficiency and reduced capacity," United spokeswoman Christen David said, referring to the airline's business strategy of reducing its overall flying by operating fuller planes.

The giveback does not include $35.9 million in TIF money tied to a separate 2009 incentive agreement that involved moving 2,500 workers from Elk Grove Village to Willis Tower.

"Since we are vacating 77 W. Wacker, which we redeveloped with the help of city economic incentives, we feel it is appropriate to return the funds we used for that redevelopment," David said.

The airline decided it should not combine the incentive agreements for the two locations. "This decision does not have any impact on the agreement for Willis Tower," she said.

The move to return money might seem surprising, coming from a company with thin profit margins in an industry that has struggled. Flight cancellations during superstorm Sandy caused a financial setback of $90 million in revenue and $35 million in profit for the month of October, United said last week.

"I do think this is rare," Joe Schwieterman, a professor in the school of public service at DePaul University, said of giving back incentive money. But in general, companies like to maintain their flexibility and can be hamstrung by a requirement for a minimum employment level at a certain location, he said. United's TIF agreement called for a minimum employment of 315 over 10 years, starting in 2007 at 77 W. Wacker. A 10-year commitment "is an eternity in the topsy-turvy world" of business, he said. "And employment guarantees can be an albatross around senior management's neck."

When United finishes the move, it will have more than 4,000 employees in Willis Tower, far more than the approximately 2,800 they were required to have for both TIF agreements.

United CEO Jeff Smisek said in a letter to Emanuel last week that the airline will consolidate into Willis because it "will be a critical factor in building a common company culture and greater operational efficiency, which we view as keys to our success."

He said United has met the commitments in its incentive agreements on the headquarters building. "However, now that we are relocating co-workers to Willis Tower, we believe it is appropriate to terminate those agreements and repay the city funds we have received," Smisek said in the letter.

United currently leases about 625,000 square feet in Willis. The airline secured another 205,000 square feet in the building and extended the term of its lease through 2028, according to Smisek. The airline expects to finish building out the additional space by the second quarter of next year, according to Smisek's letter.

The mayor's office called United's Willis expansion "one of the largest office space commitments in Chicago's history."

United is the fourth company to return TIF funds recently, according to the mayor's office. The others are CME Group, CNA Group and Bank of America, which together returned some $34 million in TIF money last year. CNA and Bank of America fell short of the 2,700 or so jobs each was required to keep in exchange for the tax breaks, which helped them update buildings. However, they returned the money earlier than they had to, a city spokesman said.

The returned money goes back into the TIF program and will be used for other projects.

gkarp@tribune.com

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F in attendance for city schools

A Tribune investigation has found that nearly 32,000 Chicago students in public elementary schools — or roughly 1 in 8 — missed four weeks or more of class during the 2010-11 year, as the cash-strapped district does little to stem a devastating problem.

For the Chicago Public Schools, the empty seats undermine efforts to boost achievement and cost the district millions in attendance-based funding.

For children born into poverty, the flood of missed days threatens to swallow any hope for a better life.

The investigation is based on internal attendance data on about 247,000 elementary-level CPS students from 2010-11, the most recent year available. To assess the total number of missed classroom days per student, the Tribune analyzed both excused and unexcused absences, as well as gaps in enrollment.

Among the paper's findings:

• The crushing pattern of detachment from school often begins in kindergarten, when no child can be said to have a choice in the matter. In the 2010-11 school year, 19 percent of Chicago kindergartners were officially listed as chronic truants because they racked up nine or more unexcused absences.

• Absenteeism in the elementary grades is especially acute in African-American communities on the South and West sides. Counting truancy, excused absences and gaps in enrollment, more than 20 percent of black elementary school students missed at least four weeks of school in 2010-11, compared with 7 percent of whites and 8 percent of Hispanics.

• Children with a learning or emotional disability also miss class in disproportionate numbers, despite federal laws designed to keep such students in school. About 42 percent of K-8 students with an emotional disability missed four weeks of classes in 2010-11, compared with 12 percent of students without a disability.

• The district's official attendance statistics obscure the depth of the problem because officials are required to count a child as absent only if he or she is actively enrolled. The Tribune identified thousands of students who were out of school for four weeks or more because their families enrolled them late, pulled them out early or lost time while transferring between Chicago schools. But those missed days aren't counted as absences.

CPS spokeswoman Robyn Ziegler acknowledged that "there are far too many children who are missing more than four weeks of school in a given year, and that really eliminates any ability to establish a routine and a sense of belonging or for any degree of continuity in learning."

The cash-strapped school system could reap close to $9 million if it boosted attendance by just 1 percent, according to Tribune calculations confirmed by state education officials. Yet city officials have steadily choked off anti-truancy resources amid massive budget shortfalls and a frequent churning of top administrators.

"These are the kids who most need the help, and principals just don't have the resources," said Julious Lawson, principal of Von Humboldt Elementary on the Northwest Side. "We don't have truant officers. We don't ... hold parents accountable when their kids are not in school."

Read the full story, “An empty-desk epidemic,” as a digitalPLUS member. To view videos and photos, and for a look ahead at the rest of the series, visit chicagotribune.com/truancy

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Will “The Simpsons” finally win an Oscar?

NEW YORK (TheWrap.com) – “The Simpsons” may get another shot at an Oscar thanks to a short starring Maggie Simpson, the youngest member of the yellow family from Springfield.

The Academy has narrowed its list for the Animated Short Award from 56 to 10, it announced on Friday, and that list includes “Maggie Simpson in ‘The Longest Daycare.’” The short, written by “Simpsons” lifers like James L. Brooks and Matt Groening, aired before screenings of “Ice Age: Continental Drift.”

The four-and-a-half-minute 3D short pits Maggie against her nemesis, Baby Gerald.

The Academy shut “The Simpsons Movie” out of the 2008 awards, prompting the legendary animated show to mock the Oscars before the 2011 awards.

The nominations for the 85th Academy Awards will be announced January 10, 2013 and the awards themselves will take place February 24 at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood.

Here are the nine other short-list nominees for best animated short:

“Adam and Dog,” Minkyu Lee, director (Lodge Films)

“Combustible,” Katsuhiro Otomo, director (Sunrise Inc.)

“Dripped,” Léo Verrier, director (ChezEddy)

“The Eagleman Stag,” Mikey Please, director, and Benedict Please, music scores and sound design (Royal College of Art)

“The Fall of the House of Usher,” Raul Garcia, director, and Stephan Roelants, producer (Melusine Productions, R&R Communications Inc., Les Armateurs, The Big Farm)

“Fresh Guacamole,” PES, director (PES)

“Head Over Heels,” Timothy Reckart, director, and Fodhla Cronin O’Reilly, producer (National Film and Television School)

“Maggie Simpson in “The Longest Daycare”,” David Silverman, director (Gracie Films)

“Paperman,” John Kahrs, director (Disney Animation Studios)

“Tram,” Michaela Pavlátová, director, and Ron Dyens, producer (Sacrebleu Productions)

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Mind Faded, Darrell Royal’s Wisdom and Humor Intact Till End

Three days before his death last week at 88, Darrell Royal told his wife, Edith: “We need to go back to Hollis” — in Oklahoma. “Uncle Otis died.”

“Oh, Darrell,” she said, “Uncle Otis didn’t die.”

Royal, a former University of Texas football coach, chuckled and said, “Well, Uncle Otis will be glad to hear that.”

The Royal humor never faded, even as he sank deeper into Alzheimer’s disease. The last three years, I came to understand this as well as anyone. We had known each other for more than 40 years. In the 1970s, Royal was a virile, driven, demanding man with a chip on his shoulder bigger than Bevo, the Longhorns mascot. He rarely raised his voice to players. “But we were scared to death of him,” the former quarterback Bill Bradley said.

Royal won 3 national championships and 167 games before retiring at 52. He was a giant in college football, having stood shoulder to shoulder with the Alabama coach Bear Bryant. Royal’s Longhorns defeated one of Bryant’s greatest teams, with Joe Namath at quarterback, in the 1965 Orange Bowl. Royal went 3-0-1 in games against Bryant.

Royal and I were reunited in the spring of 2010. I barely recognized him. The swagger was gone. His mind had faded. Often he stared aimlessly across the room. I scheduled an interview with him for my book “Courage Beyond the Game: The Freddie Steinmark Story.” Still, I worried that his withering mind could no longer conjure up images of Steinmark, the undersize safety who started 21 straight winning games for the Longhorns in the late 1960s. Steinmark later developed bone cancer that robbed him of his left leg.

When I met with Royal and his wife, I quickly learned that his long-term memory was as clear as a church bell. For two hours, Royal took me back to Steinmark’s recruiting trip to Austin in 1967, through the Big Shootout against Arkansas in 1969, to the moment President Richard M. Nixon handed him the national championship trophy in the cramped locker room in Fayetteville. He recalled the day at M. D. Anderson Hospital in Houston the next week when doctors informed Steinmark that his leg would be amputated if a biopsy revealed cancer. Royal never forgot the determined expression on Steinmark’s face, nor the bravery in his heart.

The next morning, Royal paced the crowded waiting room floor and said: “This just can’t be happening to a good kid like Freddie Steinmark. This just can’t be happening.”

With the love of his coach, Steinmark rose to meet the misfortune. Nineteen days after the amputation, he stood with crutches on the sideline at the Cotton Bowl for the Notre Dame game. After the Longhorns defeated the Fighting Irish, Royal tearfully presented the game ball to Steinmark.

Four decades later, while researching the Steinmark book, I became close to Royal again. As I was leaving his condominium the day of the interview, I said, “Coach, do you still remember me?” He smiled and said, “Now, Jim Dent, how could I ever forget you?” My sense of self-importance lasted about three seconds. Royal chuckled. He pointed across the room to the message board next to the front door that read, “Jim Dent appt. at 10 a.m.”

Edith and his assistant, Colleen Kieke, read parts of my book to him. One day, Royal told me, “It’s really a great book.” But I can’t be certain how much he knew of the story.

Like others, I was troubled to see Royal’s memory loss. He didn’t speak for long stretches. He smiled and posed for photographs. He seemed the happiest around his former players. He would call his longtime friend Tom Campbell, an all-Southwest Conference defensive back from the 1960s, and say, “What are you up to?” That always meant, “Let’s go drink a beer.”

As her husband’s memory wore thin, Edith did not hide him. Instead, she organized his 85th birthday party and invited all of his former players. Quarterback James Street, who engineered the famous 15-14 comeback against Arkansas in 1969, sat by Royal’s side and helped him remember faces and names. The players hugged their coach, then turned away to hide the tears.

In the spring of 2010, I was invited to the annual Mexican lunch for Royal attended by about 75 of his former players. A handful of them were designated to stand up and tell Royal what he meant to them. Royal smiled through each speech as his eyes twinkled. I was mesmerized by a story the former defensive tackle Jerrel Bolton told. He recalled that Royal had supported him after the murder of his wife some 30 year earlier.

“Coach, you told me it was like a big cut on my arm, that the scab would heal, but that the wound would always come back,” Bolton said. “It always did.”

Royal seemed to drink it all in. But everyone knew his mind would soon dim.

The last time I saw him was June 20 at the County Line, a barbecue restaurant next to Bull Creek in Austin. Because Royal hated wheelchairs and walkers, the former Longhorn Mike Campbell, Tom’s twin, and I helped him down the stairs by wrapping our arms around his waist and gripping the back of his belt. I ordered his lunch, fed him his sandwich and cleaned his face with a napkin. He looked at me and said, “Was I a college player in the 1960s?”

“No, Coach,” I said. “But you were a great player for the Oklahoma Sooners in the late 1940s. You quarterbacked Oklahoma to an 11-0 record and the Sooners’ first national championship in 1949.”

He smiled and said, “Well, I’ll be doggone.”

After lunch, Mike Campbell and I carried him up the stairs. We sat him on a bench outside as Tom Campbell fetched the car. In that moment, the lunch crowd began to spill out of the restaurant. About 20 customers recognized Royal. They took his photograph with camera phones. Royal smiled and welcomed the hugs.

“He didn’t remember a thing about it,” Tom Campbell said later. “But it did his heart a whole lot of good.”

Jim Dent is the author of “The Junction Boys” and eight other books.

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Phil Rosenthal: Forming a Bond with brands

On the big screen, a hero's mettle is established by showing how much punishment the star can withstand and how daunting the obstacles are while ultimately getting the job done.

Early in the latest James Bond movie, "Skyfall," an assassin seeks to escape on a train speeding through the Turkish countryside. His tireless pursuer is pelted with bullets, swats away bugs and, when the bad guy disconnects the trailing car, extends an arm to literally hold on to the rest of the train so the chase can continue.

And the pursuer is, in fact, tireless because it is a modified Caterpillar 320D L excavator that Daniel Craig's Bond has commandeered. The bullets are bullets, but the bugs are Volkswagen Beetles, some swept off the train, others crushed. The logo-covered excavator's arm not only holds onto the rest of the train but provides Bond a perch from which to leap into the carriage, fixing the cuffs in his Tom Ford suit as he goes after the villain.

"For (the filmmakers), it wasn't an excavator, it wasn't what they would in the U.K. call a digger — it was for them a 'hero machine' because it was something that actually saves Bond," said Robert Woodley, the marketing executive for Peoria-based Caterpillar Inc., from his office in Geneva.

Woodley arranged and oversaw Cat's "Skyfall" star turn. "It's not just having the brand out there. It's seeing what light it's going to be viewed in."

"Skyfall" is practically "Skymall," what with all the brands and products mentioned and showcased.

The practice is neither new nor isolated. Yet even by the license-to-shill standards of increasingly commercialized James Bond movies, this one has an awful lot of brand exposure. All that's missing are the NASCAR-style logo patches for Bond, no slouch behind the wheel.

Especially now that the fictional covert operator is the focal point of an extremely overt ad campaign for beer, albeit Heineken.

Never mind the other products basking in the superspy's aura, such as Sony mobile phones and Vaio laptop computers, Macallan single-malt Scotch, Honda cycles, Bollinger Champagne, Globe-Trotter suitcases, Crockett & Jones footwear, Walther guns, Aston Martin cars, Swarovski jewelry, Omega watches, OPI nail polish, Land Rovers and Range Rovers and all the rest.

Some pay for the privilege, some make other arrangements. Some, like the new James Bond fragrance hawked by Procter & Gamble, aren't in the film. But all told, sponsorship and other ancillary deals for "Skyfall" are said to have brought in $45 million, about a third of what it cost to produce the film, one of the best in the Bond series.

"We have relationships with a number of companies so that we can make this movie," Craig told Moviefone on the "Skyfall" set this spring. "The simple fact is that, without them, we couldn't do it. It's unfortunate, but that's how it is."

The 007 tradition of brand integration, brand cameos, product placement or whatever you want to call it dates back to the original Ian Fleming stories. Some would say it's in the name of verisimilitude. But it's said Bond, originally a reader exclusively of The Times of London, also began reading the rival Daily Express when that paper began serializing Fleming's work.

Through a half-century of 007 films, the practice has grown as producers realized the potential economic windfall and marketers recognized the unique opportunity of association with the 007 franchise — as well as other entertainment.

"The challenge with product placement is it has to fit," said Timothy Calkins, a marketing professor at Northwestern University's Kellogg School of Management. "When it works, there's a natural connection between the brand and the story and when it doesn't work, there's an inconsistency, and both parties are worse for the deal."

Today's sophisticated media consumer expects to see brands in TV shows, movies and even video games, according to Tom Weeks, senior vice president at LiquidThread (formerly known as Starcom Entertainment), the branded entertainment and content development operation within Chicago's Starcom MediaVest Group. But proper context — proper casting — is a must.

"Brands are stars, too," Weeks said. "They've got their own Twitter accounts. They've got their own Facebook pages. And they're invited into content as part of the experience. But it has to be done right, in a way that's not obtrusive and doesn't interrupt the digestion of that content."

Some Bond aficionados scoff at the Heineken tie-in, preferring to think of their man as a martini and Dom Perignon man. But there was Red Stripe beer in 1962's "Dr. No." And besides the familiar green-bottled Heineken (whose logo also is emblazoned on an unlikely wooden crate toppled in an early chase scene) and a lightly sipped martini, there is a memorable scene built around 50-year-aged Macallan.

"When I was at Kraft, there were times when a film would come out and our brands would be in the film and we'd be delighted … or not," he said. "I never saw a time when one of our brands was used in a way that made us cringe, but it could happen."

Case in point: the VW Beetles, out-of-stock models, crushed in "Skyfall." "While we always look for opportunities for exposure in the form of product placement, we were not involved with this placement," Corey Proffitt, who handles product communications for Volkswagen of America, told the Tribune by email.

Caterpillar, which first tied up with 007 in 1999's "The World is Not Enough," hopes the "Skyfall" connection boosts brand awareness, particularly in emerging markets like China, which seems a manageable goal.

A theme of "Skyfall" is that today's world is changing faster than ever, which is as true of advertising as it is of espionage. That's why you're only going to see more brand cameos, a la the Bond films.

"The traditional tools of advertising are fading and marketers are looking for new things to do," Calkins said. "Product placement becomes one of those things that can engage people where other methods have no effect."

Talk about daunting obstacles to overcome while ultimately getting the job done.

philrosenthal@tribune.com

Twitter @phil_rosenthal

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7 shot on South, West sides

A 19-year-old man was shot behind the ear Friday night in a church parking lot on the West Side, police said, one of at least seven people shot since about 7:40 p.m.

The bullet came out of his neck and the man is still alive, police said. Police taped off the parking lot, which sits between the 2600 blocks of Adams Street and Jackson Boulevard, while detectives and evidence technicians began their investigation. 

People gathered at the rented-out church for a birthday party when someone shot the man. Police said the partygoers apparently didn't see what happened. The man is a gang member from Cabrini Green on the Near North Side, police said.

He was taken to John H. Stroger Jr. Hospital of Cook County, where friends and family awaited news of his condition from hospital staff.

About 4:45 a.m. a 22-year-old man was shot in the leg by someone inside a dark SUV in the 2400 block of South Homan Avenue. His shooter used a large-caliber handgun that officers in the area heard from four blocks away, north of the train tracks that cross Cermak Road near Homan Avenue. 

The man was taken to Mount Sinai Hospital, though he and a witness aren't cooperating with investigators, police said. He was standing on a corner with another person when shot, police said, and he identifies with a local gang.

Several shots were fired in his direction but police only found one shell casing, suggesting that others casings may have discharged from back into the SUV, police said. The shooting happened around the block from Farragut Career Academy, a Chicago public high school.

About 1:30 a.m. a 20-year-old man was shot in the 4700 block of West Ohio Street, police said. Police described him as "uncooperative" and said he was taken to an area hospital with a gunshot wound to the leg. 

About 11:30 p.m. Friday, a 19-year-old man was shot near Pulaski Road on Grenshaw Street. He called police from there and was taken to Mount Sinai Hospital, police said, with a graze wound to the back. 

A 32-year-old man was shot in the leg about 9:30 p.m. in the 3300 block of West Walnut Street in the East Garfield Park neighborhood, police said. He was taken to Mount Sinai Hospital. 

About a half hour earlier, a 24-year-old woman was shot in the ankle in the 3100 block of West 39th Place in the Brighton Park neighborhood. She was taken to Mount Sinai Hospital in good condition.

At 7:40 p.m. a 19-year-old man was shot in the leg in the Calumet Heights neighborhood. He was shot in the 9000 block of South Colfax Avenue, ran home, called police and was taken to Advocate Christ Medical Center in good condition.

As of about 8:50 a.m. Saturday, everyone was expected to survive.

Check back for more information.

pnickeas@tribune.com
Twitter: @peternickeas

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Justice Department antitrust chief Wayland to step down next week

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The acting head of the U.S. Justice Department’s Antitrust Division, Joseph Wayland, will step down as of November 16, a department spokeswoman said on Thursday.

No one has been named to be the acting assistant attorney general for antitrust, said the spokeswoman, Gina Talamona.

The position has been without a confirmed chief since Christine Varney left in mid-2011. Since then, the nomination of William Baer to succeed her has stalled in the Senate.

Charles Grassley, an Iowa Republican Senator, has opposed Baer’s nomination but has not publicly said why.

Baer, a prominent attorney with the law firm Arnold & Porter LLP, was nominated in early February.

Wayland, whose family lives in New York, will return there, according to The Wall Street Journal, which first reported he was leaving. Before coming to the Justice Department, he specialized in complex business litigation, including antitrust and securities cases.

The Justice Department recruited Wayland in September 2010 to lead litigation efforts at the division, a hire that appears to have paid off.

President Barack Obama‘s Justice Department successfully opposed AT&T Inc’s planned $ 39 billion deal to acquire wireless rival T-Mobile USA and stopped NASDAQ OMX Group and IntercontinentalExchange Inc from buying NYSE Euronext.

But the department reached compromises on other deals, such as Ticketmaster’s purchase of Live Nation in 2010, Google Inc’s acquisitions of ticketing software company ITA and smartphone handset maker Motorola Mobility, and Verizon Wireless’ controversial plan to buy airwaves from cable operators.

The division is looking at price-fixing in industries as disparate as auto parts, optical disk drives and the derivatives market, as well as interest-rate manipulation and whether cable companies are trying to prevent the rise of Internet video as an alternative to television.

It has also sued Apple and two publishers – Verlagsgruppe Georg von Holtzbrinck GmbH’s Macmillan and Pearson Plc’s Penguin Group – accusing them of fixing prices of electronic books.

(Editing by Lisa Von Ahn)

Wireless News Headlines – Yahoo! News

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