Datacenter

AD AGE WORLD’S LARGEST ADVERTISERS 2018

Unlock Full Access - Become a Member

Click the first company link at the top of this page to see a sample listing. Click here for DataCenter subscription information.

Database of Ad Age World's Largest Advertisers (December 2018).

View the Ad Age World's 100 Largest Advertisers table.

Samsung overtakes P&G as world's largest advertiser
China's Alibaba and Tencent also ratchet up marketing as internet players power Ad Age World's Largest Advertisers
Analysis by Bradley Johnson

Ad Age Datacenter subscribers can click "+" signs to see expanded data. The first record can be viewed for free. To subscribe, go to AdAge.com/datathatleads.

Read About Ad Age World's Largest Advertisers 2018 at the bottom of this page.

Top 100 marketers by total worldwide advertising in 2017. Click Ad Age World's 100 Largest Advertisers to see ranking.

Tencent Holdings [This record free to all users]

  • TOTAL WORLDWIDE AD SPENDING
    WorldwideYear ended 12/31/2017Year ended 12/31/2016% chg
    Total worldwide advertising spending (U.S. dollars in millions)$2,022$1,38945.6
    Click the Profiles tab at the top of this page to read more about this marketer. Source: Ad Age Datacenter. Total worldwide advertising spending: Promotion and advertising expenses.
    WORLDWIDE AD SPENDING AS PERCENT OF SALES
    YearAd costs ($ in millions)Worldwide ad spending as percent of sales
    2014949.67.4
    2015935.65.7
    20161,388.66.1
    20172,022.15.7
    Ad costs:

    Stated worldwide "promotion and advertising expenses" converted to U.S. dollars by Ad Age Datacenter at average exchange rates.

    2017: 13.661 billion renminbi.
    2016: 9.219 billion renminbi.
    2015: 5.814 billion renminbi.
    2014: 5.833 billion renminbi.

    Ad spending as percent of sales:

    Worldwide "promotion and advertising expenses" as percent of worldwide "revenues."
    MEASURED-MEDIA SPENDING BY REGION IN 2017
    By region ($ in millions)20172016% chg
    Africa0.0NANA
    Asia and Pacific1.03.8-73.3
    Europe0.0NANA
    Latin America0.0NANA
    Middle East0.0NANA
    Canada0.0NANA
      Subtotal media outside the U.S.1.03.8-73.1
      U.S. media spending0.00.0NA
      Worldwide measured media$1.0$3.8-73.3
    For data sources by country, click Sources tab at top of page. U.S. measured media from Kantar Media.
    SALES AND EARNINGS ($ in millions from public documents)
    Tencent Holdings (HKG: 0700)
    WorldwideYear ended 12/31/2017Year ended 12/31/2016% chg
    Sales$35,193$22,88553.8
    Earnings10,5856,19071.0
    GEOGRAPHIC SALES (year ended 12/31/2017)
    Region ($ in millions)Year ended 12/31/2017Year ended 12/31/2016% chg
    Mainland China34,01021,74556.4
    Others1,1831,1403.8
    DIVISION SALES (year ended 12/31/2017)
    Division or segment sales ($ in millions)Year ended 12/31/2017Year ended 12/31/2016% chg
    Value-added services22,79316,23840.4
    Others6,4152,584148.2
    Online advertising5,9864,06247.4
    Connections
    Tencent Holdings
    Ticker: HKG 0700
    Tencent Coastal Building, No.33 Haitian 2nd Road, Nanshan District, Shenzhen, China 518054/Phone: 86 755 8601 3388.
    URL: http://www.tencent.com
    Divisions, key executives and agencies

21st Century Fox

  • TOTAL WORLDWIDE AD SPENDING
    WorldwideYear ended 6/30/2018Year ended 6/30/2017% chg
    Total worldwide advertising spending (U.S. dollars in millions)$2,300$2,2004.5
    Click the Profiles tab at the top of this page to read more about this marketer. Source: Ad Age Datacenter.
    21st Century Fox ranked No. 27 in 2017 total U.S. ad spending in Ad Age's Leading National Advertisers report. Click on 21st Century Fox to see U.S. ad spending, brands and agencies from Ad Age's Marketer Trees 2018.
    WORLDWIDE AD SPENDING AS PERCENT OF SALES
    YearAd costs ($ in millions)Worldwide ad spending as percent of sales
    20102,161.09.0
    20112,200.09.1
    20121,900.07.6
    20132,200.07.9
    20142,900.09.1
    20152,600.09.0
    20162,400.08.8
    20172,200.07.7
    20182,300.07.6
    Fiscal years ended June 30.

    2018: Year ended June 2018.

    Ad costs:

    Stated worldwide "advertising expenses."

    2012: Restated from $2.012 billion.
    2011: Restated from $2.310 billion.

    Ad spending as percent of sales:

    Worldwide "advertising expenses" as percent of worldwide "total revenues."
    MEASURED-MEDIA SPENDING BY REGION IN 2017
    By region ($ in millions)20172016% chg
    Africa0.0NANA
    Asia and Pacific87.2122.2-28.7
    Europe162.4177.0-8.3
    Latin America15.46.1152.2
    Middle East0.0NANA
    Canada14.119.4-27.2
      Subtotal media outside the U.S.279.0324.8-14.1
      U.S. media spending632.1619.22.1
      Worldwide measured media$911.2$944.0-3.5
    For data sources by country, click Sources tab at top of page. U.S. measured media from Kantar Media.
    SALES AND EARNINGS ($ in millions from public documents)
    21st Century Fox (Nasdaq: FOX)
    WorldwideYear ended 6/30/2018Year ended 6/30/2017% chg
    Sales$30,400$28,5006.7
    Earnings4,4642,95251.2
    GEOGRAPHIC SALES (year ended 6/30/2018)
    Region ($ in millions)Year ended 6/30/2018Year ended 6/30/2017% chg
    U.S.21,40020,4004.9
    Rest of world5,4004,73514.0
    Europe3,3603,1227.6
    Canada240243-1.2
    DIVISION SALES
    Division or segment sales ($ in millions)Year ended 6/30/2018Year ended 6/30/2017% chg
    Cable network programming17,94616,13011.3
    Filmed entertainment8,7478,2356.2
    TV5,1625,649-8.6
    Other, corporate and eliminations-1,455-1,514NA
    Connections
    21st Century Fox
    Ticker: Nasdaq FOX
    1211 Avenue of the Americas, New York, N.Y. 10036/Phone: (212) 852-7000.
    URL: http://www.21cf.com
    Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/21stcenturyfox
    Twitter: @21CF
    Divisions, key executives and agencies

Adidas Group

  • TOTAL WORLDWIDE AD SPENDING
    WorldwideYear ended 12/31/2017Year ended 12/31/2016% chg
    Total worldwide advertising spending (U.S. dollars in millions)$2,419$2,09115.7
    Click the Profiles tab at the top of this page to read more about this marketer. Source: Ad Age Datacenter.
    WORLDWIDE AD SPENDING AS PERCENT OF SALES
    YearAd costs ($ in millions)Worldwide ad spending as percent of sales
    20121,932.010.1
    20131,927.310.2
    20142,057.710.7
    20152,094.911.1
    20162,091.39.8
    20172,418.89.8
    Converted to dollars.

    Ad costs:

    Stated worldwide "marketing investments" ("marketing working budget").

    "Marketing investments" (formerly "marketing working budget") is Adidas term for promotion and communication spending including sponsorship contracts with teams and individual athletes; advertising; public relations; events; and other communications activities.

    "Marketing investments" excludes "point-of-sale investments" (expenses to support the company's sell-through development at point of sale; formerly "sales working budget") and "marketing overhead," expense lines the company breaks out separately.

    Worldwide "marketing investments" (formerly "marketing working budget"):

    2017: 2.141 billion euros.
    2016: 1.889 billion euros (restated in 2018 from 1.981 billion euros).
    2015: 1.886 billion euros.
    2014: 1.548 billion euros.
    2013: 1.451 billion euros (restated in 2015 from 1.457 billion).
    2012: 1.502 billion euros.
    2011: 1.362 billion euros.
    2010: 1.288 billion euros.
    2009: 1.028 billion euros.
    2008: 1.132 billion euros (restated in 2009 from 1.429 billion euros).

    Ad spending as percent of sales:

    Worldwide marketing investments (formerly marketing working budget) as percent of sales.
    MEASURED-MEDIA SPENDING BY REGION IN 2017
    By region ($ in millions)20172016% chg
    Africa0.0NANA
    Asia and Pacific190.1158.420.0
    Europe34.026.130.5
    Latin America0.0NANA
    Middle East0.60.436.3
    Canada0.0NANA
      Subtotal media outside the U.S.224.7184.921.5
      U.S. media spending35.352.6-32.9
      Worldwide measured media$260.0$237.69.5
    For data sources by country, click Sources tab at top of page. U.S. measured media from Kantar Media.
    SALES AND EARNINGS ($ in millions from public documents)
    Adidas Group (ETR: ADS)
    WorldwideYear ended 12/31/2017Year ended 12/31/2016% chg
    Sales$24,725$21,35715.8
    Earnings1,3251,12617.7
    GEOGRAPHIC SALES
    Region ($ in millions)Year ended 12/31/2017Year ended 12/31/2016% chg
    Western Europe6,6465,85813.5
    North America4,8303,77727.9
    Greater China4,2813,33228.5
    MEAA3,2842,97310.5
    Latin America2,1541,91612.4
    Other1,5871,633-2.8
    Japan1,1931,1157.0
    Russia/CIS746752-0.8
    DIVISION SALES
    Division or segment sales ($ in millions)Year ended 12/31/2017Year ended 12/31/2016% chg
    Discontinued operationsNA0NA
    HardwareNA1,861NA
    FootwearNA11,220NA
    ApparelNA8,277NA
    Connections
    Adidas Group
    Ticker: ETR ADS
    Adi-Dassler-Strasse 1, Herzogenaurach, Germany 91074/Phone: 49 9132 84 0.
    URL: http://www.adidas-group.com/en
    Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/adidas
    Twitter: @adidas
    Divisions, key executives and agencies

Aeon Co.

  • TOTAL WORLDWIDE AD SPENDING
    WorldwideYear ended 3/1/2018Year ended 02/28/2017% chg
    Total worldwide advertising spending (U.S. dollars in millions)$1,668$1,792-6.9
    Click the Profiles tab at the top of this page to read more about this marketer. Source: Ad Age Datacenter.
    WORLDWIDE AD SPENDING AS PERCENT OF SALES
    YearAd costs ($ in millions)Worldwide ad spending as percent of sales
    20141,596.32.4
    20151,614.92.4
    20161,792.22.4
    20171,668.02.2
    Fiscal years ended February.

    2017: Year ended Feb. 28, 2018.

    Ad costs:

    Aeon Co. Ltd.'s "advertising expense" converted to U.S. dollars by Ad Age Datacenter at average exchange rates.

    2017 (year ended February 2018): 184.715 billion yen.
    2016 (year ended February 2017): 193.753 billion yen.
    2015 (year ended February 2016): 194.798 billion yen.
    2014 (year ended February 2015): 172.196 billion yen.

    Ad spending as percent of sales:

    Aeon Co. Ltd.'s advertising expense as percent of Aeon Co. Ltd.'s total operating revenue.
    MEASURED-MEDIA SPENDING BY REGION IN 2017
    By region ($ in millions)20172016% chg
    Africa0.0NANA
    Asia and Pacific1,547.61,670.2-7.3
    Europe0.0NANA
    Latin America0.0NANA
    Middle East0.0NANA
    Canada0.0NANA
      Subtotal media outside the U.S.1,547.61,670.2-7.3
      U.S. media spending0.0NANA
      Worldwide measured media$1,547.6$1,670.2-7.3
    For data sources by country, click Sources tab at top of page. U.S. measured media from Kantar Media.
    SALES AND EARNINGS ($ in millions from public documents)
    Aeon Co. (TYO: 8267)
    WorldwideYear ended 3/1/2018Year ended 02/28/2017% chg
    Sales$75,762$75,944-0.2
    Earnings221104112.7
    GEOGRAPHIC SALES (year ended 3/1/2018)
    Region ($ in millions)Year ended 3/1/2018Year ended 02/28/2017% chg
    Japan69,30069,782-0.7
    ASEAN3,0252,8934.6
    China2,3672,2395.7
    Other1,0701,0303.9
    Connections
    Aeon Co.
    Ticker: TYO 8267
    1-5-1 Nakase, Mihama-ku, Chiba-shi, Chiba, Japan 261-8515/Phone: 81 43 212 6042.
    URL: http://www.aeon.info/en/
    Divisions, key executives and agencies

Alibaba Group Holding

  • TOTAL WORLDWIDE AD SPENDING
    WorldwideYear ended 3/31/2018Year ended 3/31/2017% chg
    Total worldwide advertising spending (U.S. dollars in millions)$2,681$1,308104.9
    Click the Profiles tab at the top of this page to read more about this marketer. Source: Ad Age Datacenter.
    WORLDWIDE AD SPENDING AS PERCENT OF SALES
    YearAd costs ($ in millions)Worldwide ad spending as percent of sales
    2013328.83.9
    2014665.25.4
    2015875.25.5
    20161,308.55.6
    20172,680.56.7
    Fiscal years ended March 31.
    2016: Year ended March 31, 2017.

    Ad costs:

    Stated worldwide "advertising and promotional expenses" converted to U.S. dollars by Ad Age Datacenter at average exchange rates.

    2017: 16.814 billion renminbi.
    2016: 8.799 billion renminbi.
    2015: 5.524 billion renminbi.
    2014: 4.090 billion renminbi.
    2013: 2.022 billion renminbi.

    Ad spending as percent of sales:

    Worldwide "advertising and promotional expenses" as percent of"revenue."
    MEASURED-MEDIA SPENDING BY REGION IN 2017
    By region ($ in millions)20172016% chg
    Africa0.0NANA
    Asia and Pacific81.662.929.7
    Europe0.0NANA
    Latin America0.0NANA
    Middle East0.0NANA
    Canada0.0NANA
      Subtotal media outside the U.S.81.662.929.7
      U.S. media spending0.8NANA
      Worldwide measured media$82.4$62.931.0
    For data sources by country, click Sources tab at top of page. U.S. measured media from Kantar Media.
    SALES AND EARNINGS ($ in millions from public documents)
    Alibaba Group Holding (NYSE: BABA)
    WorldwideYear ended 3/31/2018Year ended 3/31/2017% chg
    Sales$39,898$23,53769.5
    Earnings9,7906,13159.7
    DIVISION SALES
    Division or segment sales ($ in millions)Year ended 3/31/2018Year ended 3/31/2017% chg
    Core commerce34,11919,90971.4
    Digital media and entertainment3,1192,19142.4
    Cloud computing2,135991115.4
    Innovation initiatives and other52544617.8
    Connections
    Alibaba Group Holding
    Ticker: NYSE BABA
    969 West Wen Yi Road, Yu Hang District, Hangzhou, China 311121/Phone: 86 571 8502 2088.
    URL: https://www.alibabagroup.com
    Twitter: @AlibabaGroup
    Divisions, key executives and agencies

Alphabet (Google)

  • TOTAL WORLDWIDE AD SPENDING
    WorldwideYear ended 12/31/2017Year ended 12/31/2016% chg
    Total worldwide advertising spending (U.S. dollars in millions)$5,100$3,86831.9
    Click the Profiles tab at the top of this page to read more about this marketer. Source: Ad Age Datacenter.
    Alphabet (Google) ranked No. 9 in 2017 total U.S. ad spending in Ad Age's Leading National Advertisers report. Click on Alphabet (Google) to see U.S. ad spending, brands and agencies from Ad Age's Marketer Trees 2018.
    WORLDWIDE AD SPENDING AS PERCENT OF SALES
    YearAd costs ($ in millions)Worldwide ad spending as percent of sales
    2006188.41.8
    2007236.71.4
    2008266.41.2
    2009353.01.5
    2010772.02.6
    20111,544.04.1
    20121,992.04.3
    20132,389.04.3
    20143,004.04.6
    20153,186.04.2
    20163,868.04.3
    20175,100.04.6
    Ad costs:

    Stated worldwide "advertising and promotional expenses."

    2013: Restated from $2.848 billion to exclude Motorola.
    2012: Restated from $2.332 billion to exclude Motorola.

    Ad spending as percent of sales:

    Worldwide "advertising and promotional spending" as percent of "revenues."
    MEASURED-MEDIA SPENDING BY REGION IN 2017
    By region ($ in millions)20172016% chg
    Africa0.0NANA
    Asia and Pacific93.063.047.7
    Europe142.0119.418.9
    Latin America0.0NANA
    Middle East0.0NANA
    Canada11.63.5226.6
      Subtotal media outside the U.S.246.6185.932.6
      U.S. media spending476.7362.031.7
      Worldwide measured media$723.3$547.932.0
    For data sources by country, click Sources tab at top of page. U.S. measured media from Kantar Media.
    SALES AND EARNINGS ($ in millions from public documents)
    Alphabet (Google) (Nasdaq: GOOG)
    WorldwideYear ended 12/31/2017Year ended 12/31/2016% chg
    Sales$110,855$90,27222.8
    Earnings12,66219,478-35.0
    GEOGRAPHIC SALES (year ended 12/31/2017)
    Region ($ in millions)Year ended 12/31/2017Year ended 12/31/2016% chg
    U.S.52,44942,78122.6
    Europe, Middle East, Africa36,04630,30418.9
    Asia, Pacific16,23512,55929.3
    Other Americas6,1254,62832.3
    DIVISION SALES (year ended 12/31/2017)
    Division or segment sales ($ in millions)Year ended 12/31/2017Year ended 12/31/2016% chg
    Google properties77,78863,78522.0
    Google Network Members properties17,58715,59812.8
    Google other revenues14,27710,08041.6
    Other Bets1,20380948.7
    Connections
    Alphabet (Google)
    Ticker: Nasdaq GOOG
    1600 Amphitheatre Parkway, Mountain View, Calif. 94043/Phone: (650) 253-0000.
    URL: https://www.abc.xyz
    Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/google
    Twitter: @Google
    Divisions, key executives and agencies

Amazon

  • TOTAL WORLDWIDE AD SPENDING
    WorldwideYear ended 12/31/2017Year ended 12/31/2016% chg
    Total worldwide advertising spending (U.S. dollars in millions)$6,300$5,00026.0
    Click the Profiles tab at the top of this page to read more about this marketer. Source: Ad Age Datacenter.
    Amazon ranked No. 4 in 2017 total U.S. ad spending in Ad Age's Leading National Advertisers report. Click on Amazon to see U.S. ad spending, brands and agencies from Ad Age's Marketer Trees 2018.
    WORLDWIDE AD SPENDING AS PERCENT OF SALES
    YearAd costs ($ in millions)Worldwide ad spending as percent of sales
    2000172.06.2
    2001125.04.0
    2002114.02.9
    2003109.02.1
    2004141.02.0
    2005168.02.0
    2006226.02.1
    2007306.02.1
    2008420.02.2
    2009593.02.4
    2010890.02.6
    20111,400.02.9
    20122,000.03.3
    20132,400.03.2
    20143,300.03.7
    20153,800.03.6
    20165,000.03.7
    20176,300.03.5
    Ad costs:

    Stated worldwide "advertising and other promotional costs."

    Ad spending as percent of sales:

    Worldwide "advertising and other promotional spending" as percent of net sales.
    MEASURED-MEDIA SPENDING BY REGION IN 2017
    By region ($ in millions)20172016% chg
    Africa0.0NANA
    Asia and Pacific173.3144.819.6
    Europe687.2586.917.1
    Latin America2.0NANA
    Middle East0.0NANA
    Canada11.27.549.4
      Subtotal media outside the U.S.873.7739.218.2
      U.S. media spending563.6534.15.5
      Worldwide measured media$1,437.3$1,273.312.9
    For data sources by country, click Sources tab at top of page. U.S. measured media from Kantar Media.
    SALES AND EARNINGS ($ in millions from public documents)
    Amazon (Nasdaq: AMZN)
    WorldwideYear ended 12/31/2017Year ended 12/31/2016% chg
    Sales$177,866$135,98730.8
    Earnings3,0332,37127.9
    GEOGRAPHIC SALES (year ended 12/31/2017)
    Region ($ in millions)Year ended 12/31/2017Year ended 12/31/2016% chg
    U.S.120,48690,34933.4
    Rest of world17,15011,14653.9
    Germany16,95114,14819.8
    Japan11,90710,79710.3
    U.K.11,3729,54719.1
    DIVISION SALES (year ended 12/31/2017)
    Division or segment sales ($ in millions)Year ended 12/31/2017Year ended 12/31/2016% chg
    Online stores108,35491,43118.5
    Retail third-party seller services31,88122,99338.7
    AWS17,45912,21942.9
    Subscription services9,7216,39452.0
    Physical stores5,7980NA
    Other4,6532,95057.7
    Connections
    Amazon
    Ticker: Nasdaq AMZN
    410 Terry Ave. N, Seattle, Wash. 98109/Phone: (206) 266-1000.
    URL: http://www.amazon.com
    Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/amazon
    Twitter: @amazon
    Divisions, key executives and agencies

America Movil

  • TOTAL WORLDWIDE AD SPENDING
    WorldwideYear ended 12/31/2017Year ended 12/31/2016% chg
    Total worldwide advertising spending (U.S. dollars in millions)$1,524$1,5130.7
    Click the Profiles tab at the top of this page to read more about this marketer. Source: Ad Age Datacenter.
    WORLDWIDE AD SPENDING AS PERCENT OF SALES
    YearAd costs ($ in millions)Worldwide ad spending as percent of sales
    20131,545.62.5
    20141,638.82.6
    20151,559.92.8
    20161,513.32.9
    20171,523.52.8
    Ad costs:

    Worldwide "advertising expenses" converted to U.S. dollars by Ad Age Datacenter at average exchange rates.

    2017: 28.719 billion pesos.
    2016: 28.181 billion pesos.
    2015: 24.674 billion pesos.
    2014: 21.772 billion pesos.
    2013: 19.699 billion pesos.

    Ad spending as percent of sales:

    Worldwide "advertising expenses" as percent of worldwide "total revenues."
    MEASURED-MEDIA SPENDING BY REGION IN 2017
    By region ($ in millions)20172016% chg
    Africa0.0NANA
    Asia and Pacific0.0NANA
    Europe0.0NANA
    Latin America328.5245.034.1
    Middle East0.0NANA
    Canada0.0NANA
      Subtotal media outside the U.S.328.5245.034.1
      U.S. media spending242.1279.8-13.5
      Worldwide measured media$570.6$524.88.7
    For data sources by country, click Sources tab at top of page. U.S. measured media from Kantar Media.
    SALES AND EARNINGS ($ in millions from public documents)
    America Movil (BMV: AMXA)
    WorldwideYear ended 12/31/2017Year ended 12/31/2016% chg
    Sales$54,198$52,3803.5
    Earnings1,706649163.0
    GEOGRAPHIC SALES
    Region ($ in millions)Year ended 12/31/2017Year ended 12/31/2016% chg
    Brazil11,16910,4077.3
    Mexico10,08110,0490.3
    U.S.7,8837,5644.2
    Europe4,9684,6716.4
    Telmex4,7605,013-5.0
    Southern Cone4,3023,84212.0
    Colombia3,8433,6166.3
    Andean2,9922,998-0.2
    Central American2,3392,2623.4
    Caribbean1,8621,958-4.9
    Connections
    America Movil
    Ticker: BMV AMXA
    Lago Zurich 245, Telcel Building, Plaza Carso, Mexico City, Mexico 11529/Phone: 5255 25 81 37 00.
    URL: http://www.americamovil.com
    Divisions, key executives and agencies

American Express Co.

  • TOTAL WORLDWIDE AD SPENDING
    WorldwideYear ended 12/31/2017Year ended 12/31/2016% chg
    Total worldwide advertising spending (U.S. dollars in millions)$3,217$3,650-11.9
    Click the Profiles tab at the top of this page to read more about this marketer. Source: Ad Age Datacenter.
    American Express Co. ranked No. 11 in 2017 total U.S. ad spending in Ad Age's Leading National Advertisers report. Click on American Express Co. to see U.S. ad spending, brands and agencies from Ad Age's Marketer Trees 2018.
    WORLDWIDE AD SPENDING AS PERCENT OF SALES
    YearAd costs ($ in millions)Worldwide ad spending as percent of sales
    20072,562.09.3
    20082,430.08.6
    20092,010.08.3
    20103,147.011.4
    20112,996.010.0
    20122,890.09.2
    20132,939.08.9
    20143,216.09.4
    20153,109.09.5
    20163,650.011.4
    20173,217.09.6
    Ad costs:

    Stated worldwide marketing and promotion costs.

    2014: Restated from $3.320 billion.
    2013: Restated from $3.043 billion.
    2010: Restated.
    2009: Restated.

    Ad spending as percent of sales:

    Worldwide marketing and promotion spending as percent of total revenues net of interest expense.
    MEASURED-MEDIA SPENDING BY REGION IN 2017
    By region ($ in millions)20172016% chg
    Africa0.0NANA
    Asia and Pacific19.026.2-27.6
    Europe63.452.420.9
    Latin America0.0NANA
    Middle East0.00.0313.7
    Canada0.08.7-100.0
      Subtotal media outside the U.S.82.487.3-5.6
      U.S. media spending204.5304.2-32.8
      Worldwide measured media$286.9$391.5-26.7
    For data sources by country, click Sources tab at top of page. U.S. measured media from Kantar Media.
    SALES AND EARNINGS ($ in millions from public documents)
    American Express Co. (NYSE: AXP)
    WorldwideYear ended 12/31/2017Year ended 12/31/2016% chg
    Sales$33,471$32,1194.2
    Earnings2,7365,408-49.4
    GEOGRAPHIC SALES
    Region ($ in millions)Year ended 12/31/2017Year ended 12/31/2016% chg
    U.S.24,73724,1332.5
    Europe, Middle East, Africa3,5833,24810.3
    Japan, Asia Pacific, Australia3,2043,0525.0
    Latin America, Canada, Caribbean2,3962,2745.4
    Other/unallocated-449-588NA
    DIVISION SALES
    Division or segment sales ($ in millions)Year ended 12/31/2017Year ended 12/31/2016% chg
    U.S. card services12,93612,4204.2
    Global commercial services10,2849,8154.8
    International card services5,8305,4886.2
    Global merchant services4,5964,4732.7
    Corporate and other-175-77NA
    Connections
    American Express Co.
    Ticker: NYSE AXP
    200 Vesey St., Floor 50, New York, N.Y. 10285/Phone: (212) 640-2000.
    URL: http://www.americanexpress.com
    Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/americanexpress
    Twitter: @AmericanExpress
    Divisions, key executives and agencies

Anheuser-Busch InBev

  • TOTAL WORLDWIDE AD SPENDING
    WorldwideYear ended 12/31/2017Year ended 12/31/2016% chg
    Total worldwide advertising spending (U.S. dollars in millions)$6,209$5,9334.6
    Click the Profiles tab at the top of this page to read more about this marketer. Source: Ad Age Datacenter. Total worldwide advertising spending: Excludes SABMiller (acquired in October 2016).
    Anheuser-Busch InBev ranked No. 28 in 2017 total U.S. ad spending in Ad Age's Leading National Advertisers report. Click on Anheuser-Busch InBev to see U.S. ad spending, brands and agencies from Ad Age's Marketer Trees 2018.
    WORLDWIDE AD SPENDING AS PERCENT OF SALES
    YearAd costs ($ in millions)Worldwide ad spending as percent of sales
    20104,712.013.0
    20115,133.013.1
    20125,254.013.2
    20135,958.013.8
    20147,036.015.0
    20156,913.015.9
    20167,745.017.0
    20178,382.014.9
    Ad costs:

    Stated worldwide sales and marketing expenses.

    2012: Restated in 2014 from $5.258 billion.
    2011: Restated in 2014 from $5.143 billion.

    Ad spending as percent of sales:

    Worldwide sales and marketing expenses as percent of revenue.
    MEASURED-MEDIA SPENDING BY REGION IN 2017
    By region ($ in millions)20172016% chg
    Africa48.160.7-20.7
    Asia and Pacific79.560.531.3
    Europe136.7139.5-2.0
    Latin America262.6202.129.9
    Middle East0.0NANA
    Canada0.0NANA
      Subtotal media outside the U.S.526.9462.813.8
      U.S. media spending595.0677.6-12.2
      Worldwide measured media$1,121.9$1,140.4-1.6
    For data sources by country, click Sources tab at top of page. U.S. measured media from Kantar Media.
    SALES AND EARNINGS ($ in millions from public documents)
    Anheuser-Busch InBev (NYSE: BUD)
    WorldwideYear ended 12/31/2017Year ended 12/31/2016% chg
    Sales$56,444$53,9384.6
    Earnings7,996NANA
    GEOGRAPHIC SALES (year ended 12/31/2017)
    Region ($ in millions)Year ended 12/31/2017Year ended 12/31/2016% chg
    North America15,58815,698-0.7
    Europe, Middle East, Africa10,3446,01072.1
    Latin America North9,7758,46115.5
    Latin America West9,2385,18878.1
    Asia Pacific7,8046,07428.5
    Latin America South3,3632,85018.0
    Global export and holding companies3321,237-73.2
    Connections
    Anheuser-Busch InBev
    Ticker: NYSE BUD
    Brouwerijplein 1, Leuven, Belgium 3000/Phone: 32 16 27 61 11.
    URL: http://www.ab-inbev.com
    Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/abinbev
    Twitter: @AnheuserBusch
    Divisions, key executives and agencies

Apple

  • TOTAL WORLDWIDE AD SPENDING
    WorldwideYear ended 9/30/2017Year ended 9/26/2016% chg
    Total worldwide advertising spending (U.S. dollars in millions)$1,402$1,523-7.9
    Click the Profiles tab at the top of this page to read more about this marketer. Source: Ad Age Datacenter.
    Apple ranked No. 50 in 2017 total U.S. ad spending in Ad Age's Leading National Advertisers report. Click on Appleto see U.S. ad spending, brands and agencies from Ad Age's Marketer Trees 2018.
    WORLDWIDE AD SPENDING AS PERCENT OF SALES
    YearAd costs ($ in millions)Worldwide ad spending as percent of sales
    19792.04.2
    19804.53.8
    198118.85.6
    198245.67.8
    198377.87.9
    1984179.711.9
    1985187.59.8
    1986157.88.3
    1987222.48.4
    198897.12.4
    198991.21.7
    199090.91.6
    1991111.31.8
    1992134.11.9
    1993153.41.9
    1994158.21.7
    1995205.01.9
    1996183.01.9
    1997143.02.0
    1998152.02.6
    1999208.03.4
    2000281.03.5
    2001261.04.9
    2002209.03.6
    2003193.03.1
    2004206.02.5
    2005287.02.1
    2006338.01.7
    2007467.01.9
    2008486.01.3
    2009501.01.2
    2010691.01.1
    2011933.00.9
    20121,000.00.6
    20131,100.00.6
    20141,200.00.7
    20151,800.00.8
    20161,522.50.7
    20171,402.20.6
    Fiscal years ended September.

    Sales:

    2009: Restated.
    2008: Restated.
    2007: Restated.

    Ad costs:

    Stated worldwide advertising expenses (1979-2015). Estimated worldwide advertising expenses (starting 2016).

    1988: Restated.

    Ad spending as percent of sales:

    Stated worldwide advertising spending as percent of stated net sales (1979-2015). Estimated worldwide advertising spending as percent of stated net sales (2016).
    MEASURED-MEDIA SPENDING BY REGION IN 2017
    By region ($ in millions)20172016% chg
    Africa1.32.6-48.2
    Asia and Pacific207.5208.7-0.6
    Europe323.9394.5-17.9
    Latin America1.51.229.3
    Middle East5.65.43.5
    Canada28.029.5-5.1
      Subtotal media outside the U.S.567.7641.8-11.5
      U.S. media spending729.1765.7-4.8
      Worldwide measured media$1,296.8$1,407.5-7.9
    For data sources by country, click Sources tab at top of page. U.S. measured media from Kantar Media.
    SALES AND EARNINGS ($ in millions from public documents)
    Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL)
    WorldwideYear ended 9/30/2017Year ended 9/26/2016% chg
    Sales$229,234$215,6396.3
    Earnings48,35145,6875.8
    GEOGRAPHIC SALES (year ended 9/30/2017)
    Region ($ in millions)Year ended 9/30/2017Year ended 9/26/2016% chg
    Other countries100,13191,4809.5
    U.S.84,33975,66711.5
    China44,76448,492-7.7
    DIVISION SALES (year ended 9/30/2017)
    Division or segment sales ($ in millions)Year ended 9/30/2017Year ended 9/26/2016% chg
    iPhone141,319136,7003.4
    Services29,98024,34823.1
    Mac25,85022,83113.2
    iPad19,22220,628-6.8
    other12,86311,13215.5
    Connections
    Apple
    Ticker: Nasdaq AAPL
    1 Infinite Loop, Cupertino, Calif. 95014/Phone: (408) 996-1010.
    URL: http://www.apple.com
    Divisions, key executives and agencies

Astellas Pharma

  • TOTAL WORLDWIDE AD SPENDING
    WorldwideYear ended 3/31/2018Year ended 3/31/2017% chg
    Total worldwide advertising spending (U.S. dollars in millions)$1,373$1,3333.0
    Click the Profiles tab at the top of this page to read more about this marketer. Source: Ad Age Datacenter. Total worldwide advertising spending: Advertising and sales promotional expenses.
    WORLDWIDE AD SPENDING AS PERCENT OF SALES
    YearAd costs ($ in millions)Worldwide ad spending as percent of sales
    20141,267.311.1
    20151,408.612.3
    20161,332.911.0
    20171,373.511.7
    Years ended March 31.

    2017: Year ended March 31, 2018.

    Ad costs:

    Worldwide "advertising and sales promotional expenses" converted to U.S. dollars at average exchange rates by Ad Age Datacenter.

    2017: 152.1 billion yen.
    2016: 144.1 billion yen.
    2015: 169.1 billion yen.
    2014: 138.5 billion yen.

    Ad spending as percent of sales:

    Worldwide "advertising and sales promotional expenses" as percent of "sales."
    MEASURED-MEDIA SPENDING BY REGION IN 2017
    By region ($ in millions)20172016% chg
    Africa0.0NANA
    Asia and Pacific445.6490.4-9.1
    Europe7.410.4-29.0
    Latin America0.0NANA
    Middle East0.0NANA
    Canada0.0NANA
      Subtotal media outside the U.S.453.0500.7-9.5
      U.S. media spending19.124.5-21.8
      Worldwide measured media$472.1$525.2-10.1
    For data sources by country, click Sources tab at top of page. U.S. measured media from Kantar Media.
    SALES AND EARNINGS ($ in millions from public documents)
    Astellas Pharma (TYO: 4503)
    WorldwideYear ended 3/31/2018Year ended 3/31/2017% chg
    Sales$11,742$12,133-3.2
    Earnings1,8451,973-6.5
    GEOGRAPHIC SALES (year ended 3/31/2018)
    Region ($ in millions)Year ended 3/31/2018Year ended 3/31/2017% chg
    Americas3,9133,8152.6
    Japan3,8034,447-14.5
    EMEA3,1053,0601.5
    Asia and Oceana92181113.5
    Connections
    Astellas Pharma
    Ticker: TYO 4503
    2-5-1, Nihonbashi-Honcho, Chuo-Ku, Tokyo, Japan 103-8411/Phone: 81 3 3244 3000.
    URL: https://www.astellas.com/en/
    Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/astellasus
    Twitter: @AstellasUS
    Divisions, key executives and agencies

AT&T

  • TOTAL WORLDWIDE AD SPENDING
    WorldwideYear ended 12/31/2017Year ended 12/31/2016% chg
    Total worldwide advertising spending (U.S. dollars in millions)$6,300$6,1542.4
    Click the Profiles tab at the top of this page to read more about this marketer. Source: Ad Age Datacenter.
    AT&T ranked No. 3 in 2017 total U.S. ad spending in Ad Age's Leading National Advertisers report. Click on AT&T to see U.S. ad spending, brands and agencies from Ad Age's Marketer Trees 2018.
    WORLDWIDE AD SPENDING AS PERCENT OF SALES
    YearAd costs ($ in millions)Worldwide ad spending as percent of sales
    20073,430.02.9
    20083,050.02.5
    20092,787.02.3
    20102,982.02.4
    20113,135.02.5
    20122,910.02.3
    20133,268.02.5
    20143,272.02.5
    20153,632.02.5
    20163,768.02.3
    20173,772.02.3
    Ad costs:

    Stated worldwide advertising spending.

    2011: Restated.
    2010: Restated.

    In its 10-K for year ended December 2012, AT&T said it had 2011 worldwide ad expense of $3.135 billion. That was $776 million higher than what AT&T had previously disclosed as its 2011 ad expense in its 10-K for year ended December 2011; in that earlier 10-K, AT&T said it had 2011 ad expense of $2.359 billion. A spokeswoman for AT&T offered this explanation: "In Note 14 of our 2012 annual report, we updated our 2011 advertising expense to reflect a correction; this did not impact any of our financial results for 2011." In its 10-Ks for years ended December 2012 and December 2011, AT&T said it had 2010 worldwide ad expenses of $2.982 billion. In its 10-K for year ended December 2010, AT&T said it had 2010 worldwide ad expenses of $2.989 billion.

    Ad spending as percent of sales:

    Worldwide advertising spending as percent of sales.
    MEASURED-MEDIA SPENDING BY REGION IN 2017
    By region ($ in millions)20172016% chg
    Africa1.51.135.1
    Asia and Pacific28.424.715.4
    Europe247.2261.5-5.5
    Latin America118.494.924.8
    Middle East0.0NANA
    Canada23.021.95.2
      Subtotal media outside the U.S.418.6404.13.6
      U.S. media spending1,214.81,419.2-14.4
      Worldwide measured media$1,633.4$1,823.3-10.4
    For data sources by country, click Sources tab at top of page. U.S. measured media from Kantar Media.
    SALES AND EARNINGS ($ in millions from public documents)
    AT&T (NYSE: T)
    WorldwideYear ended 12/31/2017Year ended 12/31/2016% chg
    Sales$160,546$163,786-2.0
    Earnings29,84713,333123.9
    GEOGRAPHIC SALES (year ended 12/31/2017)
    Region ($ in millions)Year ended 12/31/2017Year ended 12/31/2016% chg
    U.S.149,841154,039-2.7
    Brazil2,9482,7975.4
    Mexico2,9132,47217.8
    Latin America other2,7432,34816.8
    Other2,1012,130-1.4
    DIVISION SALES (year ended 12/31/2017)
    Division or segment sales ($ in millions)Year ended 12/31/2017Year ended 12/31/2016% chg
    Business solutions69,40670,988-2.2
    Entertainment Group50,69851,295-1.2
    Consumer Mobility31,55233,200-5.0
    International8,2697,28313.5
    Corporate and other8641,043-17.2
    Certain significant items-243-23NA
    Connections
    AT&T
    Ticker: NYSE T
    208 S. Akard St., Dallas, Texas 75202/Phone: (210) 821-4105.
    URL: http://www.att.com
    Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/att
    Twitter: @ATT
    Divisions, key executives and agencies

Bank of America Corp.

  • TOTAL WORLDWIDE AD SPENDING
    WorldwideYear ended 12/31/2017Year ended 12/31/2016% chg
    Total worldwide advertising spending (U.S. dollars in millions)$1,746$1,7032.5
    Click the Profiles tab at the top of this page to read more about this marketer. Source: Ad Age Datacenter. Total worldwide advertising spending: Marketing expenses.
    Bank of America Corp. ranked No. 30 in 2017 total U.S. ad spending in Ad Age's Leading National Advertisers report. Click on Bank of America Corp. to see U.S. ad spending, brands and agencies from Ad Age's Marketer Trees 2018.
    WORLDWIDE AD SPENDING AS PERCENT OF SALES
    YearAd costs ($ in millions)Worldwide ad spending as percent of sales
    20072,356.03.5
    20082,368.03.3
    20091,933.01.6
    20101,963.01.8
    20112,203.02.4
    20121,873.02.2
    20131,834.02.1
    20141,829.02.1
    20151,811.02.2
    20161,703.02.0
    20171,746.02.0
    Ad costs:

    Stated worldwide marketing expenses.

    Ad spending as percent of sales:

    (Worldwide marketing spending) as percent of (total revenue net of interest expense).
    MEASURED-MEDIA SPENDING BY REGION IN 2017
    By region ($ in millions)20172016% chg
    Africa0.0NANA
    Asia and Pacific0.0NANA
    Europe0.0NANA
    Latin America0.0NANA
    Middle East0.0NANA
    Canada0.0NANA
      Subtotal media outside the U.S.0.0NANA
      U.S. media spending77.6130.3-40.4
      Worldwide measured media$77.6$130.3-40.4
    For data sources by country, click Sources tab at top of page. U.S. measured media from Kantar Media.
    SALES AND EARNINGS ($ in millions from public documents)
    Bank of America Corp. (NYSE: BAC)
    WorldwideYear ended 12/31/2017Year ended 12/31/2016% chg
    Sales$87,352$83,7014.4
    Earnings18,23217,8222.3
    GEOGRAPHIC SALES (year ended 12/31/2017)
    Region ($ in millions)Year ended 12/31/2017Year ended 12/31/2016% chg
    U.S.74,83072,4183.3
    Europe, Middle East and Africa7,9076,60819.7
    Asia3,4053,3651.2
    Latin America and the Caribbean1,2101,310-7.6
    Connections
    Bank of America Corp.
    Ticker: NYSE BAC
    100 N. Tryon St., Charlotte, N.C. 28255/Phone: (800) 432-1000.
    URL: http://www.bankofamerica.com
    Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/bankofamerica
    Twitter: @BankofAmerica
    Divisions, key executives and agencies

Bayer

  • TOTAL WORLDWIDE AD SPENDING
    WorldwideYear ended 12/31/2017Year ended 12/31/2016% chg
    Total worldwide advertising spending (U.S. dollars in millions)$3,346$3,2911.7
    Click the Profiles tab at the top of this page to read more about this marketer. Source: Ad Age Datacenter.
    Bayer ranked No. 55 in 2017 total U.S. ad spending in Ad Age's Leading National Advertisers report. Click on Bayer to see U.S. ad spending, brands and agencies from Ad Age's Marketer Trees 2018.
    WORLDWIDE AD SPENDING AS PERCENT OF SALES
    YearAd costs ($ in millions)Worldwide ad spending as percent of sales
    20092,594.06.0
    20102,698.35.8
    20112,894.35.7
    20122,920.75.7
    20133,178.56.0
    20143,311.26.0
    20153,316.86.5
    20163,288.16.4
    20173,277.78.3
    Converted to dollars.

    Ad costs:

    Stated worldwide "advertising and customer advice" expenses. Some figures restated by Bayer.

    2016: 2.970 billion euros.
    2015: 2.986 billion euros (restated from 3.006 billion euros).
    2014:2.491 billion euros.
    2013: 2.393 billion euros.
    2012: 2.271 billion euros.
    2011: 2.078 billion euros.
    2010: 2.032 billion euros.
    2009: 1.860 billion euros.

    Ad spending as percent of sales:

    Worldwide advertising and customer-advice spending as percent of sales.
    MEASURED-MEDIA SPENDING BY REGION IN 2017
    By region ($ in millions)20172016% chg
    Africa3.32.627.8
    Asia and Pacific35.034.12.5
    Europe473.2420.212.6
    Latin America43.563.3-31.2
    Middle East0.0NANA
    Canada19.08.9112.7
      Subtotal media outside the U.S.574.0529.18.5
      U.S. media spending554.8602.6-7.9
      Worldwide measured media$1,128.9$1,131.7-0.3
    For data sources by country, click Sources tab at top of page. U.S. measured media from Kantar Media.
    SALES AND EARNINGS ($ in millions from public documents)
    Bayer (ETR: BAYN)
    WorldwideYear ended 12/31/2017Year ended 12/31/2016% chg
    Sales$39,559$38,6852.3
    Earnings8,2885,01665.2
    GEOGRAPHIC SALES (year ended 12/31/2017)
    Region ($ in millions)Year ended 12/31/2017Year ended 12/31/2016% chg
    Europe, Middle East, Africa15,12514,4614.6
    North Ameirca11,45911,1442.8
    Asia/Pacific8,6288,2075.1
    Latin America4,3464,873-10.8
    DIVISION SALES (year ended 12/31/2017)
    Division or segment sales ($ in millions)Year ended 12/31/2017Year ended 12/31/2016% chg
    Pharmaceuticals19,03318,1794.7
    Crop Science10,82010,977-1.4
    Consumer health6,6236,684-0.9
    Animal health1,7751,6865.3
    Other segments1,2901,15411.8
    Corporate and reconcilliation187172.1
    Connections
    Bayer
    Ticker: ETR BAYN
    Kaiser-Wilhelm-Allee-1, Leverkusen, Germany 51373/Phone: 49 214 30 1.
    URL: http://www.bayer.com
    Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/bayerunitedstates
    Twitter: @Bayer
    Divisions, key executives and agencies

Berkshire Hathaway

  • TOTAL WORLDWIDE AD SPENDING
    WorldwideYear ended 12/31/2017Year ended 12/31/2016% chg
    Total worldwide advertising spending (U.S. dollars in millions)$2,012$1,9324.2
    Click the Profiles tab at the top of this page to read more about this marketer. Source: Ad Age Datacenter. Total worldwide advertising spending: Figures reflect estimated total U.S. ad spending.
    Berkshire Hathaway ranked No. 17 in 2017 total U.S. ad spending in Ad Age's Leading National Advertisers report. Click on Berkshire Hathaway to see U.S. ad spending, brands and agencies from Ad Age's Marketer Trees 2018.
    WORLDWIDE AD SPENDING AS PERCENT OF SALES
    YearAd costs ($ in millions)Worldwide ad spending as percent of sales
    20121,122.7NA
    20131,183.0NA
    2014663.8NA
    2015684.0NA
    2016743.3NA
    2017774.2NA
    Ad costs:

    Figures reflect what Berkshire Hathaway reported to regulators as "advertising" spending (including measured media and other forms of advertising) on the Combined Annual Statements of "National Indemnity Company and its affiliated insurers," a rollup where Geico accounts for virtually all the ad spending.

    Figures exclude ad spending for Berkshire Hathaway's non-insurance holdings.
    MEASURED-MEDIA SPENDING BY REGION IN 2017
    By region ($ in millions)20172016% chg
    Africa0.0NANA
    Asia and Pacific0.0NANA
    Europe0.00.010.6
    Latin America0.0NANA
    Middle East0.0NANA
    Canada12.017.1-29.9
      Subtotal media outside the U.S.12.017.1-29.9
      U.S. media spending1,763.71,690.14.4
      Worldwide measured media$1,775.6$1,707.14.0
    For data sources by country, click Sources tab at top of page. U.S. measured media from Kantar Media.
    SALES AND EARNINGS ($ in millions from public documents)
    Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE: BRK.B)
    WorldwideYear ended 12/31/2017Year ended 12/31/2016% chg
    Sales$242,137$223,6048.3
    Earnings44,94024,07486.7
    DIVISION SALES
    Division or segment sales ($ in millions)Year ended 12/31/2017Year ended 12/31/2016% chg
    Insurance group65,50850,40330.0
    Manufacturing50,44546,5068.5
    McLane Co.49,77548,0753.5
    Service and retailing26,31325,4783.3
    BNSF21,38719,8297.9
    Berkshire Hathaway Energy18,93917,8596.0
    Finance and financial products8,3767,6759.1
    Investment and derivative gains/losses2,1288,304-74.4
    Investments in Kraft Heinz0180NA
    Corporate, eliminations and other-734-705NA
    Connections
    Berkshire Hathaway
    Ticker: NYSE BRK.B
    3555 Farnam St., Suite 1440, Omaha, Neb. 68131/Phone: (402) 346-1400.
    URL: http://www.berkshirehathaway.com
    Divisions, key executives and agencies

BMW Group

  • TOTAL WORLDWIDE AD SPENDING
    WorldwideYear ended 12/31/2017Year ended 12/31/2016% chg
    Total worldwide advertising spending (U.S. dollars in millions)$3,122$3,127-0.2
    Click the Profiles tab at the top of this page to read more about this marketer. Source: Ad Age Datacenter.
    WORLDWIDE AD SPENDING AS PERCENT OF SALES
    YearAd costs ($ in millions)Worldwide ad spending as percent of sales
    20136,489.96.4
    20147,103.56.6
    20156,395.96.2
    20166,675.86.4
    20176,967.26.2
    Ad costs:

    Stated worldwide "selling expenses," which consist mainly of "marketing, advertising and sales personnel costs."

    "Selling expenses":

    2017: 6.167 billion euros.
    2016: 6.030 billion euros.
    2015: 5.758 billion euros.
    2014: 5.344 billion euros.
    2013: 4.886 billion euros.

    Ad spending as percent of sales:

    Selling expenses as percent of revenue.
    MEASURED-MEDIA SPENDING BY REGION IN 2017
    By region ($ in millions)20172016% chg
    Africa5.38.0-34.6
    Asia and Pacific28.935.3-18.0
    Europe810.3744.18.9
    Latin America0.0NANA
    Middle East16.313.817.8
    Canada0.05.8-100.0
      Subtotal media outside the U.S.860.8807.16.7
      U.S. media spending122.2210.4-41.9
      Worldwide measured media$983.0$1,017.5-3.4
    For data sources by country, click Sources tab at top of page. U.S. measured media from Kantar Media.
    SALES AND EARNINGS ($ in millions from public documents)
    BMW Group (ETR: BMW)
    WorldwideYear ended 12/31/2017Year ended 12/31/2016% chg
    Sales$111,482$104,2486.9
    Earnings9,8367,65028.6
    GEOGRAPHIC SALES
    Region ($ in millions)Year ended 12/31/2017Year ended 12/31/2016% chg
    Rest of Europe35,55733,8155.2
    China20,66918,39912.3
    U.S.19,33017,7149.1
    Germany15,31215,2510.4
    Rest of Asia12,91811,58711.5
    Rest of Americas4,3363,88311.7
    Other regions3,3613,599-6.6
    DIVISION SALES
    Division or segment sales ($ in millions)Year ended 12/31/2017Year ended 12/31/2016% chg
    Automotive100,07595,6804.6
    Financial services31,14428,4319.5
    Motorcycles2,5792,29112.6
    Other entities8719.1
    Eliminations-22,324-22,161NA
    Connections
    BMW Group
    Ticker: ETR BMW
    Petuelring 130, Munich, Germany 80788/Phone: 49 89 382 2 45 44.
    URL: https://www.bmwgroup.com
    Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/bmwgroup
    Twitter: @BMWGroup
    Divisions, key executives and agencies

Booking Holdings

  • TOTAL WORLDWIDE AD SPENDING
    WorldwideYear ended 12/31/2017Year ended 12/31/2016% chg
    Total worldwide advertising spending (U.S. dollars in millions)$4,533$3,77520.1
    Click the Profiles tab at the top of this page to read more about this marketer. Source: Ad Age Datacenter.
    Booking Holdings ranked No. 92 in 2017 total U.S. ad spending in Ad Age's Leading National Advertisers report. Click on Booking Holdings to see U.S. ad spending, brands and agencies from Ad Age's Marketer Trees 2018.
    WORLDWIDE AD SPENDING AS PERCENT OF SALES
    YearAd costs ($ in millions)Worldwide ad spending as percent of sales
    20121,309.124.9
    20131,926.128.4
    20142,591.530.7
    20153,011.932.7
    20163,775.035.1
    20174,533.435.7
    Ad costs:

    2014 and after: Stated worldwide advertising expenses (consisting of stated performance advertising expenses plus stated brand advertising expenses).

    Before 2014: Stated worldwide advertising expenses (consisting of stated online advertising expenses plus stated offline advertising expenses).

    Stated ad expenses include OpenTable starting with its July 24, 2014, acquisition; and Kayak starting with its May 21, 2013, acquisition.

    Ad spending as percent of sales:

    Worldwide advertising expenses as percent of total revenue.
    MEASURED-MEDIA SPENDING BY REGION IN 2017
    By region ($ in millions)20172016% chg
    Africa0.0NANA
    Asia and Pacific22.017.724.4
    Europe150.093.660.4
    Latin America50.6NANA
    Middle East0.0NANA
    Canada0.03.9-100.0
      Subtotal media outside the U.S.222.6115.193.4
      U.S. media spending107.361.474.7
      Worldwide measured media$329.9$176.586.9
    For data sources by country, click Sources tab at top of page. U.S. measured media from Kantar Media.
    SALES AND EARNINGS ($ in millions from public documents)
    Booking Holdings (Nasdaq: BKNG)
    WorldwideYear ended 12/31/2017Year ended 12/31/2016% chg
    Sales$12,681$10,74318.0
    Earnings2,3412,1359.6
    GEOGRAPHIC SALES (year ended 12/31/2017)
    Region ($ in millions)Year ended 12/31/2017Year ended 12/31/2016% chg
    Netherlands9,5407,78322.6
    U.S.1,6201,680-3.6
    Other1,5211,27918.9
    Connections
    Booking Holdings
    Ticker: Nasdaq BKNG
    800 Connecticut Ave., Norwalk, Conn. 06854/Phone: (203) 299-8000.
    URL: http://www.bookingholdings.com
    Twitter: @BookingHoldings
    Divisions, key executives and agencies

Capital One Financial Corp.

  • TOTAL WORLDWIDE AD SPENDING
    WorldwideYear ended 12/31/2017Year ended 12/31/2016% chg
    Total worldwide advertising spending (U.S. dollars in millions)$1,670$1,811-7.8
    Click the Profiles tab at the top of this page to read more about this marketer. Source: Ad Age Datacenter. Total worldwide advertising spending: Marketing expenses.
    Capital One Financial Corp. ranked No. 25 in 2017 total U.S. ad spending in Ad Age's Leading National Advertisers report. Click on Capital One Financial Corp. to see U.S. ad spending, brands and agencies from Ad Age's Marketer Trees 2018.
    WORLDWIDE AD SPENDING AS PERCENT OF SALES
    YearAd costs ($ in millions)Worldwide ad spending as percent of sales
    20061,444.311.9
    20071,347.89.2
    20081,118.28.0
    2009588.04.5
    2010958.05.9
    20111,337.08.2
    20121,364.06.4
    20131,373.06.1
    20141,561.07.0
    20151,744.07.4
    20161,811.07.1
    20171,670.06.1
    Ad costs:

    Stated worldwide "marketing" expense.

    Ad spending as percent of sales:

    "Marketing" expense as percent of "total net revenue" ("net interest income" plus "non-interest income").
    MEASURED-MEDIA SPENDING BY REGION IN 2017
    By region ($ in millions)20172016% chg
    Africa0.0NANA
    Asia and Pacific0.0NANA
    Europe20.07.7161.0
    Latin America0.0NANA
    Middle East0.0NANA
    Canada0.0NANA
      Subtotal media outside the U.S.20.07.7161.0
      U.S. media spending274.3283.1-3.1
      Worldwide measured media$294.3$290.81.2
    For data sources by country, click Sources tab at top of page. U.S. measured media from Kantar Media.
    SALES AND EARNINGS ($ in millions from public documents)
    Capital One Financial Corp. (NYSE: COF)
    WorldwideYear ended 12/31/2017Year ended 12/31/2016% chg
    Sales$27,237$25,5016.8
    Earnings1,9823,751-47.2
    DIVISION SALES (year ended 12/31/2017)
    Division or segment sales ($ in millions)Year ended 12/31/2017Year ended 12/31/2016% chg
    Credit card16,97316,0156.0
    Consumer banking7,1296,5628.6
    Commercial banking2,9692,7946.3
    Other16613027.7
    Connections
    Capital One Financial Corp.
    Ticker: NYSE COF
    1680 Capital One Drive, McLean, Va. 22102/Phone: (703) 720-2500.
    URL: http://www.capitalone.com
    Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/capitalone
    Twitter: @CapitalOne
    Divisions, key executives and agencies

Carrefour

  • TOTAL WORLDWIDE AD SPENDING
    WorldwideYear ended 12/31/2017Year ended 12/31/2016% chg
    Total worldwide advertising spending (U.S. dollars in millions)$1,099$1,0574.0
    Click the Profiles tab at the top of this page to read more about this marketer. Source: Ad Age Datacenter.
    WORLDWIDE AD SPENDING AS PERCENT OF SALES
    YearAd costs ($ in millions)Worldwide ad spending as percent of sales
    20141,151.11.2
    2015995.31.2
    20161,057.31.2
    20171,099.31.2
    Ad costs:

    Worldwide "advertising expense" converted to U.S. dollars at average exchange rates by Ad Age Datacenter.

    2017: 973 million euros.
    2016: 955 million euros.
    2015: 896 million euros.
    2014: 866 million euros.

    Ad spending as percent of sales:

    Worldwide "advertising expense" as percent of worldwide "net sales."
    MEASURED-MEDIA SPENDING BY REGION IN 2017
    By region ($ in millions)20172016% chg
    Africa0.5NANA
    Asia and Pacific0.0NANA
    Europe395.0403.9-2.2
    Latin America133.6118.812.4
    Middle East12.416.0-22.4
    Canada0.0NANA
      Subtotal media outside the U.S.541.5538.70.5
      U.S. media spending0.00.0NA
      Worldwide measured media$541.5$538.70.5
    For data sources by country, click Sources tab at top of page. U.S. measured media from Kantar Media.
    SALES AND EARNINGS ($ in millions from public documents)
    WorldwideYear ended 12/31/2017Year ended 12/31/2016% chg
    Sales$89,135$84,8545.0
    Earnings-409990NA
    GEOGRAPHIC SALES (year ended 12/31/2017)
    Region ($ in millions)Year ended 12/31/2017Year ended 12/31/2016% chg
    France40,48539,7191.9
    Rest of Europe23,85122,2367.3
    Latin America18,12416,06112.8
    Asia6,6736,837-2.4
    Connections
    Carrefour
    33 Avenue Emile Zola, Boulogne Billancourt, France 92100/Phone: 33 1 41 04 26 00.
    URL: http://www.carrefour.com
    Twitter: @CarrefourGroup
    Divisions, key executives and agencies

Charter Communications

  • TOTAL WORLDWIDE AD SPENDING
    WorldwideYear ended 12/31/2017Year ended 12/31/2016% chg
    Total worldwide advertising spending (U.S. dollars in millions)$2,420$2,3572.7
    Click the Profiles tab at the top of this page to read more about this marketer. Source: Ad Age Datacenter. Total worldwide advertising spending: Pro forma spending including Time Warner Cable and Bright House Networks (acquired in May 2016).
    Charter Communications ranked No. 8 in 2017 total U.S. ad spending in Ad Age's Leading National Advertisers report. Click on Charter Communications to see U.S. ad spending, brands and agencies from Ad Age's Marketer Trees 2018.
    WORLDWIDE AD SPENDING AS PERCENT OF SALES
    YearAd costs ($ in millions)Worldwide ad spending as percent of sales
    2010396.05.6
    2011387.05.4
    2012431.05.7
    2013557.06.8
    2014617.06.8
    2015629.06.4
    20161,707.05.9
    20172,420.05.8
    Ad costs:

    Stated marketing costs; includes Time Warner Cable and Bright House Networks starting May 18, 2016.

    2016: Restated from $1.699 billion.
    2015: Restated from $628 million.

    Ad spending as percent of sales:

    Stated marketing costs as percent of revenue; includes Time Warner Cable and Bright House Networks starting May 18, 2016.
    MEASURED-MEDIA SPENDING BY REGION IN 2017
    By region ($ in millions)20172016% chg
    Africa0.0NANA
    Asia and Pacific0.0NANA
    Europe0.0NANA
    Latin America0.0NANA
    Middle East0.0NANA
    Canada0.0NANA
      Subtotal media outside the U.S.0.0NANA
      U.S. media spending281.1283.9-1.0
      Worldwide measured media$281.1$283.9-1.0
    For data sources by country, click Sources tab at top of page. U.S. measured media from Kantar Media.
    SALES AND EARNINGS ($ in millions from public documents)
    Charter Communications (Nasdaq: CHTR)
    WorldwideYear ended 12/31/2017Year ended 12/31/2016% chg
    Sales$41,581$40,0233.9
    Earnings9,8953,522180.9
    Connections
    Charter Communications
    Ticker: Nasdaq CHTR
    400 Atlantic St., Floor 10, Stamford, Conn. 06901/Phone: (203) 905-7800.
    URL: http://www.spectrum.com/about.html
    Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/spectrum
    Twitter: @GetSpectrum
    Divisions, key executives and agencies

Citigroup

  • TOTAL WORLDWIDE AD SPENDING
    WorldwideYear ended 12/31/2017Year ended 12/31/2016% chg
    Total worldwide advertising spending (U.S. dollars in millions)$1,608$1,632-1.5
    Click the Profiles tab at the top of this page to read more about this marketer. Source: Ad Age Datacenter. Total worldwide advertising spending: Advertising and marketing spending.
    Citigroup ranked No. 59 in 2017 total U.S. ad spending in Ad Age's Leading National Advertisers report. Click on Citigroup to see U.S. ad spending, brands and agencies from Ad Age's Marketer Trees 2018.
    WORLDWIDE AD SPENDING AS PERCENT OF SALES
    YearAd costs ($ in millions)Worldwide ad spending as percent of sales
    20052,533.03.0
    20062,471.02.9
    20072,729.03.5
    20082,188.04.2
    20091,415.01.8
    20101,645.01.9
    20112,268.02.9
    20122,164.03.1
    20131,888.02.5
    20141,844.02.4
    20151,547.02.0
    20161,632.02.3
    20171,608.02.3
    Ad costs:

    Stated worldwide spending on advertising and marketing.

    2012: Restated in 2014 from $2.224 billion.
    2011: Restated in 2014 from $2.346 billion.
    2008: Year of global financial meltdown.

    Ad spending as percent of sales:

    Worldwide advertising and marketing spending as percent of total revenue net of interest expense.
    MEASURED-MEDIA SPENDING BY REGION IN 2017
    By region ($ in millions)20172016% chg
    Africa0.0NANA
    Asia and Pacific21.116.528.3
    Europe0.0NANA
    Latin America0.02.9-100.0
    Middle East0.51.2-56.5
    Canada0.0NANA
      Subtotal media outside the U.S.21.620.55.3
      U.S. media spending181.8218.0-16.6
      Worldwide measured media$203.5$238.5-14.7
    For data sources by country, click Sources tab at top of page. U.S. measured media from Kantar Media.
    SALES AND EARNINGS ($ in millions from public documents)
    Citigroup (NYSE: C)
    WorldwideYear ended 12/31/2017Year ended 12/31/2016% chg
    Sales$71,449$69,8752.3
    Earnings-6,79814,912NA
    GEOGRAPHIC SALES (year ended 12/31/2017)
    Region ($ in millions)Year ended 12/31/2017Year ended 12/31/2016% chg
    North America33,89832,2725.0
    Asia14,40613,7205.0
    Europe, Middle East, Africa10,6929,8558.5
    Latin America9,3688,8995.3
    Coporate/other3,0855,129-39.9
    DIVISION SALES (year ended 12/31/2017)
    Division or segment sales ($ in millions)Year ended 12/31/2017Year ended 12/31/2016% chg
    Institutional clients group35,66733,2277.3
    Global consumer banking32,69731,5193.7
    Corporate, other3,0855,129-39.9
    Connections
    Citigroup
    Ticker: NYSE C
    388 Greenwich St., New York, N.Y. 10013/Phone: (212) 559-1000.
    URL: http://www.citigroup.com/citi/
    Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/citi
    Twitter: @Citi
    Divisions, key executives and agencies

Coca-Cola Co.

  • TOTAL WORLDWIDE AD SPENDING
    WorldwideYear ended 12/31/2017Year ended 12/31/2016% chg
    Total worldwide advertising spending (U.S. dollars in millions)$3,958$4,004-1.1
    Click the Profiles tab at the top of this page to read more about this marketer. Source: Ad Age Datacenter.
    Coca-Cola Co. ranked No. 49 in 2017 total U.S. ad spending in Ad Age's Leading National Advertisers report. Click on Coca-Cola Co. to see U.S. ad spending, brands and agencies from Ad Age's Marketer Trees 2018.
    WORLDWIDE AD SPENDING AS PERCENT OF SALES
    YearAd costs ($ in millions)Worldwide ad spending as percent of sales
    20072,774.0NA
    20082,998.0NA
    20092,791.0NA
    20102,917.0NA
    20113,256.0NA
    20123,342.0NA
    20133,266.0NA
    20143,499.0NA
    20153,976.0NA
    20164,004.0NA
    20173,958.0NA
    Ad costs:

    Stated worldwide advertising expenses (including media and production).
    MEASURED-MEDIA SPENDING BY REGION IN 2017
    By region ($ in millions)20172016% chg
    Africa161.4140.115.2
    Asia and Pacific1,569.11,400.012.1
    Europe1,030.61,040.5-0.9
    Latin America239.8226.26.0
    Middle East94.6252.0-62.5
    Canada25.829.0-10.9
      Subtotal media outside the U.S.3,121.33,087.81.1
      U.S. media spending579.9544.96.4
      Worldwide measured media$3,701.3$3,632.71.9
    For data sources by country, click Sources tab at top of page. U.S. measured media from Kantar Media.
    SALES AND EARNINGS ($ in millions from public documents)
    Coca-Cola Co. (NYSE: KO)
    WorldwideYear ended 12/31/2017Year ended 12/31/2016% chg
    Sales$35,410$41,863-15.4
    Earnings1,2486,527-80.9
    GEOGRAPHIC SALES (year ended 12/31/2017)
    Region ($ in millions)Year ended 12/31/2017Year ended 12/31/2016% chg
    International20,68321,964-5.8
    U.S.14,72719,899-26.0
    Connections
    Coca-Cola Co.
    Ticker: NYSE KO
    1 Coca-Cola Plaza, Atlanta, Ga. 30313/Phone: (404) 676-2121.
    URL: http://www.coca-colacompany.com
    Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thecocacolaco
    Twitter: @CocaColaCo
    Divisions, key executives and agencies

Colgate-Palmolive Co.

  • TOTAL WORLDWIDE AD SPENDING
    WorldwideYear ended 12/31/2017Year ended 12/31/2016% chg
    Total worldwide advertising spending (U.S. dollars in millions)$1,573$1,42810.2
    Click the Profiles tab at the top of this page to read more about this marketer. Source: Ad Age Datacenter.
    WORLDWIDE AD SPENDING AS PERCENT OF SALES
    YearAd costs ($ in millions)Worldwide ad spending as percent of sales
    20051,194.010.5
    20061,320.010.8
    20071,546.011.2
    20081,650.010.8
    20091,534.010.0
    20101,656.010.6
    20111,734.010.4
    20121,792.010.5
    20131,891.010.9
    20141,784.010.3
    20151,491.09.3
    20161,428.09.4
    20171,573.010.2
    Ad costs:

    Stated worldwide advertising costs.

    Ad spending as percent of sales:

    Worldwide advertising spending as percent of sales.
    MEASURED-MEDIA SPENDING BY REGION IN 2017
    By region ($ in millions)20172016% chg
    Africa30.913.8124.1
    Asia and Pacific179.8159.013.1
    Europe176.7143.423.2
    Latin America166.5115.044.8
    Middle East12.55.7118.4
    Canada0.03.3-100.0
      Subtotal media outside the U.S.566.3440.128.7
      U.S. media spending131.5129.81.3
      Worldwide measured media$697.9$570.022.4
    For data sources by country, click Sources tab at top of page. U.S. measured media from Kantar Media.
    SALES AND EARNINGS ($ in millions from public documents)
    Colgate-Palmolive Co. (NYSE: CL)
    WorldwideYear ended 12/31/2017Year ended 12/31/2016% chg
    Sales$15,454$15,1951.7
    Earnings2,0242,441-17.1
    GEOGRAPHIC SALES
    Region ($ in millions)Year ended 12/31/2017Year ended 12/31/2016% chg
    Oral, personal and home care Latin America3,8873,6506.5
    Oral, personal and home care North America3,1173,183-2.1
    Oral, personal and home care Asia2,7812,796-0.5
    Oral, personal and home care Europe/South Pacific2,3942,3422.2
    Pet nutrition2,2922,2641.2
    Oral, personal and home care Africa/Eurasia9839602.4
    DIVISION SALES
    Division or segment sales ($ in millions)Year ended 12/31/2017Year ended 12/31/2016% chg
    Oral, personal and home care13,16212,9311.8
    Pet nutrition2,2922,2641.2
    Connections
    Colgate-Palmolive Co.
    Ticker: NYSE CL
    300 Park Ave., New York, N.Y. 10022/Phone: (212) 310-2000.
    URL: http://www.colgatepalmolive.com
    Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/colgate
    Twitter: @Colgate
    Divisions, key executives and agencies

Comcast Corp.

  • TOTAL WORLDWIDE AD SPENDING
    WorldwideYear ended 12/31/2017Year ended 12/31/2016% chg
    Total worldwide advertising spending (U.S. dollars in millions)$6,317$6,1073.4
    Click the Profiles tab at the top of this page to read more about this marketer. Source: Ad Age Datacenter.
    Comcast Corp. ranked No. 1 in 2017 total U.S. ad spending in Ad Age's Leading National Advertisers report. Click on Comcast Corp. to see U.S. ad spending, brands and agencies from Ad Age's Marketer Trees 2018.
    WORLDWIDE AD SPENDING AS PERCENT OF SALES
    YearAd costs ($ in millions)Worldwide ad spending as percent of sales
    20092,056.05.8
    20102,409.06.4
    20114,243.07.6
    20124,831.07.7
    20134,978.07.7
    20145,101.07.4
    20155,957.08.0
    20166,107.07.6
    20176,317.07.5
    Ad costs:

    Stated worldwide "advertising, marketing and promotion" costs.

    2016: Restated from $6.114 billion.
    2015: Restated from $5.963 billion and $5.943 billion,
    2014: Restated from $5.086 billion and $5.078 billion.
    2013:Restated from $4.969 billion.
    2012: Restated from $4.807 billion.
    2011: Restated from $4.231 billion (including about 11 months of NBC Universal costs; restated from $4.240 billion).
    2010: Not including NBC Universal; restated from $2.415 billion.

    Ad spending as percent of sales:

    Worldwide advertising, marketing and promotion spending as percent of revenue.
    MEASURED-MEDIA SPENDING BY REGION IN 2017
    By region ($ in millions)20172016% chg
    Africa0.0NANA
    Asia and Pacific23.723.60.5
    Europe209.5212.5-1.4
    Latin America8.94.1118.9
    Middle East61.732.589.9
    Canada0.024.3-100.0
      Subtotal media outside the U.S.303.9297.02.3
      U.S. media spending1,315.81,467.2-10.3
      Worldwide measured media$1,619.7$1,764.2-8.2
    For data sources by country, click Sources tab at top of page. U.S. measured media from Kantar Media.
    SALES AND EARNINGS ($ in millions from public documents)
    Comcast Corp. (Nasdaq: CMCSA)
    WorldwideYear ended 12/31/2017Year ended 12/31/2016% chg
    Sales$84,526$80,4035.1
    Earnings22,7148,695161.2
    GEOGRAPHIC SALES (year ended 12/31/2017)
    Region ($ in millions)Year ended 12/31/2017Year ended 12/31/2016% chg
    U.S.76,87473,8864.0
    Non-U.S. (from NBCU)7,6526,51717.4
    DIVISION SALES
    Division or segment sales ($ in millions)Year ended 12/31/2017Year ended 12/31/2016% chg
    Cable communications52,51950,0484.9
    NBCU: cable networks10,63110,4641.6
    NBCU: broadcast television9,54610,147-5.9
    NBCU: filmed entertainment7,6586,36020.4
    NBCU: theme parks5,4434,94610.0
    Corporate and other1,06075041.3
    NBCU: headquarters and other4520125.0
    NBCU: eliminations-326-344NA
    Comcast eliminations-2,050-1,988NA
    Connections
    Comcast Corp.
    Ticker: Nasdaq CMCSA
    1 Comcast Center, Philadelphia, Pa. 19103-2838/Phone: (215) 286-1700.
    URL: http://corporate.comcast.com
    Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/comcast
    Twitter: @comcast
    Divisions, key executives and agencies

Compagnie Financiere Richemont

  • TOTAL WORLDWIDE AD SPENDING
    WorldwideYear ended 3/31/2018Year ended 3/31/2017% chg
    Total worldwide advertising spending (U.S. dollars in millions)$1,452$1,3219.9
    Click the Profiles tab at the top of this page to read more about this marketer. Source: Ad Age Datacenter.
    MEASURED-MEDIA SPENDING BY REGION IN 2017
    By region ($ in millions)20172016% chg
    Africa0.0NANA
    Asia and Pacific8.311.0-24.8
    Europe73.489.4-17.9
    Latin America0.0NANA
    Middle East13.816.7-17.3
    Canada0.0NANA
      Subtotal media outside the U.S.95.5117.1-18.5
      U.S. media spending26.228.4-7.6
      Worldwide measured media$121.7$145.5-16.4
    For data sources by country, click Sources tab at top of page. U.S. measured media from Kantar Media.
    SALES AND EARNINGS ($ in millions from public documents)
    Compagnie Financiere Richemont (SWX: CFR)
    WorldwideYear ended 3/31/2018Year ended 3/31/2017% chg
    Sales$12,846$11,6889.9
    Earnings1,4291,3287.5
    GEOGRAPHIC SALES
    Region ($ in millions)Year ended 3/31/2018Year ended 3/31/2017% chg
    Asia Pacific6,2395,39315.7
    Europe3,4943,3683.7
    Americas2,1121,9558.0
    Middle East and Africa1,0029723.1
    DIVISION SALES
    Division or segment sales ($ in millions)Year ended 3/31/2018Year ended 3/31/2017% chg
    Jewellery maisons7,5436,50715.9
    Specialist watchmakers3,1753,1610.5
    Other2,1272,0215.2
    Connections
    Compagnie Financiere Richemont
    Ticker: SWX CFR
    50, chemin de la Chenaie, CP30, Bellevue, Geneva, Switzerland 1293/Phone: 41 22 721 3500.
    URL: https://www.richemont.com
    Divisions, key executives and agencies

Coty

  • TOTAL WORLDWIDE AD SPENDING
    WorldwideYear ended 6/30/2018Year ended 6/30/2017% chg
    Total worldwide advertising spending (U.S. dollars in millions)$2,206$2,1880.8
    Click the Profiles tab at the top of this page to read more about this marketer. Source: Ad Age Datacenter. Total worldwide advertising spending: Excludes ad spending for Procter & Gamble Co.'s beauty-products business, which merged into Coty in October 2016.
    Coty ranked No. 74 in 2017 total U.S. ad spending in Ad Age's Leading National Advertisers report. Click on Coty to see U.S. ad spending, brands and agencies from Ad Age's Marketer Trees 2018.
    WORLDWIDE AD SPENDING AS PERCENT OF SALES
    YearAd costs ($ in millions)Worldwide ad spending as percent of sales
    2009795.223.5
    2010806.423.2
    2011974.723.9
    20121,086.023.6
    20131,072.323.1
    20141,070.023.5
    20151,007.722.9
    2016967.622.2
    20171,883.324.6
    20182,206.323.5
    Fiscal years ended June 30.

    2018: Year ended June 30, 2018.

    Ad costs:

    Stated worldwide "advertising and promotional costs" (also called "advertising and consumer promotional costs").

    Included in advertising and promotional costs were costs for depreciation of marketing furniture and fixtures, such as product displays, of $120.9 million in fiscal 2018; $107.4 million in fiscal 2017; $65.0 million in fiscal 2016; $69.8 million in fiscal 2015; $67.5 million in fiscal 2014; $65.2 million in fiscal 2013;$57.8 million in 2012; $49.3 million in 2011; $46.1 in 2010; and $44.9 million in 2009.

    Ad spending as percent of sales:

    Worldwide advertising and promotional spending as percent of sales.
    MEASURED-MEDIA SPENDING BY REGION IN 2017
    By region ($ in millions)20172016% chg
    Africa0.0NANA
    Asia and Pacific6.67.0-6.0
    Europe377.2597.1-36.8
    Latin America0.0NANA
    Middle East0.50.5-14.6
    Canada0.0NANA
      Subtotal media outside the U.S.384.3604.7-36.5
      U.S. media spending222.5339.0-34.4
      Worldwide measured media$606.8$943.7-35.7
    For data sources by country, click Sources tab at top of page. U.S. measured media from Kantar Media.
    SALES AND EARNINGS ($ in millions from public documents)
    Coty (NYSE: COTY)
    WorldwideYear ended 6/30/2018Year ended 6/30/2017% chg
    Sales$9,398$7,65022.8
    Earnings-169-422NA
    GEOGRAPHIC SALES (year ended 6/30/2018)
    Region ($ in millions)Year ended 6/30/2018Year ended 6/30/2017% chg
    Europe4,2023,32626.3
    North America2,9662,50718.3
    Asia, Latin America, Middle East, Africa, Australia2,2301,81822.7
    DIVISION SALES (year ended 6/30/2018)
    Division or segment sales ($ in millions)Year ended 6/30/2018Year ended 6/30/2017% chg
    Consumer Beauty4,2683,68815.7
    Luxury3,2112,56725.1
    Professional Beauty1,9191,39637.5
    Connections
    Coty
    Ticker: NYSE COTY
    350 Fifth Ave., Floor 17, New York, N.Y. 10118/Phone: (212) 389-7300.
    URL: http://www.coty.com
    Twitter: @COTYInc
    Divisions, key executives and agencies

Daimler

  • TOTAL WORLDWIDE AD SPENDING
    WorldwideYear ended 12/31/2017Year ended 12/31/2016% chg
    Total worldwide advertising spending (U.S. dollars in millions)$2,878$2,8491.0
    Click the Profiles tab at the top of this page to read more about this marketer. Source: Ad Age Datacenter.
    Daimler ranked No. 68 in 2017 total U.S. ad spending in Ad Age's Leading National Advertisers report. Click on Daimler to see U.S. ad spending, brands and agencies from Ad Age's Marketer Trees 2018.
    WORLDWIDE AD SPENDING AS PERCENT OF SALES
    YearAd costs ($ in millions)Worldwide ad spending as percent of sales
    201314,677.39.4
    201415,331.68.9
    201513,492.68.1
    201613,535.48.0
    201714,647.37.9
    Ad costs:

    Stated worldwide "selling expenses" converted to dollars at average exchange rates by Ad Age Datacenter.

    2017: 12.965 billion euros.
    2016: 12.226 billion euros.
    2015: 12.147 billion euros.
    2014: 11.534 billion euros.
    2013: 11.050 billion euros.

    Ad spending as percent of sales:

    Selling expenses as percent of revenue.
    MEASURED-MEDIA SPENDING BY REGION IN 2017
    By region ($ in millions)20172016% chg
    Africa3.24.2-24.2
    Asia and Pacific28.929.7-2.7
    Europe602.9645.5-6.6
    Latin America0.0NANA
    Middle East6.711.4-41.3
    Canada0.05.9-100.0
      Subtotal media outside the U.S.641.7696.7-7.9
      U.S. media spending263.5351.6-25.0
      Worldwide measured media$905.2$1,048.3-13.6
    For data sources by country, click Sources tab at top of page. U.S. measured media from Kantar Media.
    SALES AND EARNINGS ($ in millions from public documents)
    Daimler (ETR: DAI)
    WorldwideYear ended 12/31/2017Year ended 12/31/2016% chg
    Sales$185,653$169,6759.4
    Earnings12,2749,72526.2
    GEOGRAPHIC SALES (year ended 12/31/2017)
    Region ($ in millions)Year ended 12/31/2017Year ended 12/31/2016% chg
    Europe77,31770,20910.1
    U.S.45,70943,3645.4
    Asia43,79639,37111.2
    Other markets11,53610,32011.8
    Rest of NAFTA7,3056,41113.9
    DIVISION SALES (year ended 12/31/2017)
    Division or segment sales ($ in millions)Year ended 12/31/2017Year ended 12/31/2016% chg
    Mercedes-Benz cars102,79994,9738.2
    Daimler trucks38,61735,11610.0
    Daimler financial services25,20421,43117.6
    Mercedes-Benz vans14,23613,6154.6
    Daimler buses4,7974,5405.7
    Connections
    Daimler
    Ticker: ETR DAI
    Mercedesstrasse 137, Stuttgart, Germany 70327/Phone: 49 711 17 0.
    URL: http://www.daimler.com
    Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/daimlertrucksnorthamerica
    Twitter: @Daimler
    Divisions, key executives and agencies

Danone

  • TOTAL WORLDWIDE AD SPENDING
    WorldwideYear ended 12/31/2017Year ended 12/31/2016% chg
    Total worldwide advertising spending (U.S. dollars in millions)$1,389$1,442-3.7
    Click the Profiles tab at the top of this page to read more about this marketer. Source: Ad Age Datacenter.
    WORLDWIDE AD SPENDING AS PERCENT OF SALES
    YearAd costs ($ in millions)Worldwide ad spending as percent of sales
    20146,924.124.6
    20156,305.925.3
    20166,157.725.3
    20176,654.323.9
    Ad costs:

    Worldwide ""selling expense," which "mainly comprise marketing spends and consumer promotions as well as sales force overheads," converted to U.S. dollars by Ad Age Datacenter at average exchange rates.

    2017: 5.890 billion euros.
    2016: 5.562 billion euros.
    2015: 5.677 billion euros.
    2014: 5.209 billion euros.

    Ad spending as percent of sales:

    Worldwide "selling expense" as percent of worldwide net sales.
    MEASURED-MEDIA SPENDING BY REGION IN 2017
    By region ($ in millions)20172016% chg
    Africa9.712.4-22.1
    Asia and Pacific81.774.210.2
    Europe428.7618.8-30.7
    Latin America73.7103.1-28.5
    Middle East27.035.7-24.4
    Canada0.06.2-100.0
      Subtotal media outside the U.S.620.8850.4-27.0
      U.S. media spending108.3177.8-39.1
      Worldwide measured media$729.1$1,028.2-29.1
    For data sources by country, click Sources tab at top of page. U.S. measured media from Kantar Media.
    SALES AND EARNINGS ($ in millions from public documents)
    Danone (EPA: BN)
    WorldwideYear ended 12/31/2017Year ended 12/31/2016% chg
    Sales$27,879$24,29414.8
    Earnings2,8962,02343.2
    Connections
    Danone
    Ticker: EPA BN
    17, boulevard Haussmann, Paris, France 75009/Phone: 33 1 44 35 20 20.
    URL: http://www.danone.com
    Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/danone/
    Twitter: @Danone
    Divisions, key executives and agencies

Deutsche Telekom (T-Mobile US)

  • TOTAL WORLDWIDE AD SPENDING
    WorldwideYear ended 12/31/2017Year ended 12/31/2016% chg
    Total worldwide advertising spending (U.S. dollars in millions)$2,711$2,5466.5
    Click the Profiles tab at the top of this page to read more about this marketer. Source: Ad Age Datacenter. Total worldwide advertising spending: Marketing expenses including spending for majority-owned T-Mobile US.
    Deutsche Telekom (T-Mobile US) ranked No. 21 in 2017 total U.S. ad spending in Ad Age's Leading National Advertisers report. Click on Deutsche Telekom (T-Mobile US) to see U.S. ad spending, brands and agencies from Ad Age's Marketer Trees 2018.
    WORLDWIDE AD SPENDING AS PERCENT OF SALES
    YearAd costs ($ in millions)Worldwide ad spending as percent of sales
    2011711.03.4
    2012949.04.8
    20131,000.04.1
    20141,400.04.7
    20151,600.04.9
    20161,700.04.5
    20171,800.04.4
    Figures shows are for T-Mobile US. Deutsche Telekom owns a majority stake in T-Mobile US.

    Ad costs:

    Stated "advertising expenses."

    2013: Including MetroPCS starting May 1, 2013.
    2012: Excluding MetroPCS.
    2011: Excluding MetroPCS.

    Ad spending as percent of sales:

    Stated "advertising expenses" as percent of "total revenue."
    MEASURED-MEDIA SPENDING BY REGION IN 2017
    By region ($ in millions)20172016% chg
    Africa0.0NANA
    Asia and Pacific0.0NANA
    Europe786.3655.020.0
    Latin America0.00.0-17.7
    Middle East0.0NANA
    Canada0.0NANA
      Subtotal media outside the U.S.786.3655.120.0
      U.S. media spending1,100.81,026.27.3
      Worldwide measured media$1,887.1$1,681.312.2
    For data sources by country, click Sources tab at top of page. U.S. measured media from Kantar Media.
    SALES AND EARNINGS ($ in millions from public documents)
    Deutsche Telekom (T-Mobile US) (NYSE: TMUS)
    WorldwideYear ended 12/31/2017Year ended 12/31/2016% chg
    Sales$84,672$80,9234.6
    Earnings3,9542,98932.3
    GEOGRAPHIC SALES (year ended 12/31/2017)
    Region ($ in millions)Year ended 12/31/2017Year ended 12/31/2016% chg
    North America40,55537,5478.0
    Germany27,74227,2981.6
    Rest of Europe15,71815,4002.1
    Other countries655679-3.4
    DIVISION SALES (year ended 12/31/2017)
    Division or segment sales ($ in millions)Year ended 12/31/2017Year ended 12/31/2016% chg
    Telecommunications76,47173,1224.6
    ICT solutions7,6097,1975.7
    Other592604-2.1
    Connections
    Deutsche Telekom (T-Mobile US)
    Ticker: NYSE TMUS
    Friedrich-Ebert-Allee 140, Bonn, Germany 53113/Phone: 49 228 181 0.
    URL: http://www.t-mobile.com
    URL: http://www.telekom.com
    Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/tmobile
    Twitter: @TMobile
    Divisions, key executives and agencies

Diageo

  • TOTAL WORLDWIDE AD SPENDING
    WorldwideYear ended 6/30/2018Year ended 6/30/2017% chg
    Total worldwide advertising spending (U.S. dollars in millions)$2,484$2,2818.9
    Click the Profiles tab at the top of this page to read more about this marketer. Source: Ad Age Datacenter. Total worldwide advertising spending: Marketing costs.
    Diageo ranked No. 62 in 2017 total U.S. ad spending in Ad Age's Leading National Advertisers report. Click on Diageo to see U.S. ad spending, brands and agencies from Ad Age's Marketer Trees 2018.
    WORLDWIDE AD SPENDING AS PERCENT OF SALES
    YearAd costs ($ in millions)Worldwide ad spending as percent of sales
    20082,493.015.4
    20092,123.014.3
    20102,228.014.5
    20112,418.315.5
    20122,648.415.7
    20132,775.715.7
    20142,634.915.8
    20152,567.415.1
    20162,319.214.9
    20172,281.314.9
    20182,484.215.5
    Converted to pounds.

    Fiscal years ended June. 2018: Year ended June 2018.

    Ad costs:

    Stated "marketing" costs converted to dollars.

    2018: 1.882 billion pounds.
    2017: 1.798 billion pounds.
    2016: 1.562 billion pounds.
    2015: 1.629 billion pounds.
    2014: 1.620 billion pounds.
    2013: 1.769 billion pounds (restated).
    2012: 1.671 billion pounds (restated).
    2011: 1.520 billion pounds (restated).
    2010: 1.419 billion pounds.
    2009: 1.327 billion pounds.
    2008: 1.244 billion pounds (restated).

    Ad spending as percent of sales:

    Worldwide marketing costs as percent of net sales.
    MEASURED-MEDIA SPENDING BY REGION IN 2017
    By region ($ in millions)20172016% chg
    Africa59.634.871.4
    Asia and Pacific9.48.214.7
    Europe63.564.7-1.9
    Latin America4.86.6-26.9
    Middle East0.0NANA
    Canada0.07.2-100.0
      Subtotal media outside the U.S.137.3121.413.1
      U.S. media spending77.864.420.9
      Worldwide measured media$215.1$185.815.8
    For data sources by country, click Sources tab at top of page. U.S. measured media from Kantar Media.
    SALES AND EARNINGS ($ in millions from public documents)
    Diageo (NYSE: DEO)
    WorldwideYear ended 6/30/2018Year ended 6/30/2017% chg
    Sales$16,055$15,2895.0
    Earnings4,1503,51718.0
    GEOGRAPHIC SALES (year ended 6/30/2018)
    Region ($ in millions)Year ended 6/30/2018Year ended 6/30/2017% chg
    North America5,4335,2802.9
    Europe, Russia and Turkey3,8703,5838.0
    Asia Pacific3,3043,0697.6
    Africa1,9681,974-0.3
    Latin America and Caribbean1,4111,3256.5
    Corporate695817.6
    DIVISION SALES
    Division or segment sales ($ in millions)Year ended 6/30/2018Year ended 6/30/2017% chg
    Spirits19,27918,0696.7
    Beer3,4943,3434.5
    Ready to drink1,1271,0844.0
    Other323384-15.9
    Wine1071034.0
    Excise duties-8,275-7,694NA
    Connections
    Diageo
    Ticker: NYSE DEO
    Lakeside Drive, Park Royal, London, U.K. NW10 7HQ/Phone: 44 20 8978 6000.
    URL: http://www.diageo.com
    Twitter: @Diageo_NA
    Divisions, key executives and agencies

eBay

  • TOTAL WORLDWIDE AD SPENDING
    WorldwideYear ended 12/31/2017Year ended 12/31/2016% chg
    Total worldwide advertising spending (U.S. dollars in millions)$1,300$1,2008.3
    Click the Profiles tab at the top of this page to read more about this marketer. Source: Ad Age Datacenter.
    eBay ranked No. 79 in 2017 total U.S. ad spending in Ad Age's Leading National Advertisers report. Click on eBayto see U.S. ad spending, brands and agencies from Ad Age's Marketer Trees 2018.
    WORLDWIDE AD SPENDING AS PERCENT OF SALES
    YearAd costs ($ in millions)Worldwide ad spending as percent of sales
    2009799.99.2
    2010808.48.8
    2011976.98.4
    20121,100.07.8
    2013844.010.2
    20141,000.011.4
    20151,000.011.6
    20161,200.013.4
    20171,300.013.6
    Ad costs:

    Stated worldwide advertising expense.

    2014: Restated in 2016 to $1.0 billion (from $1.3 billion, including $272 million for PayPal Holdings, spun off in July 2015).
    2013: Restated in 2016 to $844 million (from $1.0 billion, including $176 million for PayPal Holdings, spun off in July 2015).
    2012: Stated $1.1 billion included $193 million for PayPal Holdings (spun off in July 2015).

    Ad spending as percent of sales:

    Worldwide advertising spending as percent of sales.
    MEASURED-MEDIA SPENDING BY REGION IN 2017
    By region ($ in millions)20172016% chg
    Africa0.0NANA
    Asia and Pacific6.23.199.1
    Europe150.3118.127.3
    Latin America0.0NANA
    Middle East0.0NANA
    Canada0.0NANA
      Subtotal media outside the U.S.156.5121.229.1
      U.S. media spending102.254.886.6
      Worldwide measured media$258.8$176.047.0
    For data sources by country, click Sources tab at top of page. U.S. measured media from Kantar Media.
    SALES AND EARNINGS ($ in millions from public documents)
    eBay (Nasdaq: EBAY)
    WorldwideYear ended 12/31/2017Year ended 12/31/2016% chg
    Sales$9,567$8,9796.5
    Earnings-1,0127,266NA
    GEOGRAPHIC SALES (year ended 12/31/2017)
    Region ($ in millions)Year ended 12/31/2017Year ended 12/31/2016% chg
    U.S.4,0913,8665.8
    Rest of world2,6672,4588.5
    Germany1,4501,3408.2
    U.K.1,3591,3153.3
    DIVISION SALES (year ended 12/31/2017)
    Division or segment sales ($ in millions)Year ended 12/31/2017Year ended 12/31/2016% chg
    Transaction revenue7,4607,0445.9
    Marketing services and other2,1071,9358.9
    Connections
    eBay
    Ticker: Nasdaq EBAY
    2025 Hamilton Ave., San Jose, Calif. 95125/Phone: (408) 376-7400.
    URL: http://www.ebayinc.com
    Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ebay
    Twitter: @eBay
    Divisions, key executives and agencies

Estee Lauder Cos.

  • TOTAL WORLDWIDE AD SPENDING
    WorldwideYear ended 6/30/2018Year ended 6/30/2017% chg
    Total worldwide advertising spending (U.S. dollars in millions)$3,287$2,68922.2
    Click the Profiles tab at the top of this page to read more about this marketer. Source: Ad Age Datacenter.
    Estee Lauder Cos. ranked No. 44 in 2017 total U.S. ad spending in Ad Age's Leading National Advertisers report. Click on Estee Lauder Cos. to see U.S. ad spending, brands and agencies from Ad Age's Marketer Trees 2018.
    WORLDWIDE AD SPENDING AS PERCENT OF SALES
    YearAd costs ($ in millions)Worldwide ad spending as percent of sales
    20061,721.026.6
    20071,842.026.2
    20082,035.025.7
    20091,879.025.7
    20102,016.025.9
    20112,340.026.6
    20122,615.026.9
    20132,754.827.1
    20142,840.025.9
    20152,771.525.7
    20162,820.725.0
    20172,908.024.6
    20183,508.025.6
    Converted to dollars.

    Fiscal years ended June. 2018: Fiscal 2018 ended June 2018.

    Ad costs:

    Stated "global net expenses for advertising, merchandising, sampling, promotion and product development costs." These figures include activities relating to purchase-with-purchase promotions and gift-with-purchase promotions. The company records revenue generated from purchase-with-purchase promotions in net sales and costs of its purchase-with-purchase and gift-with-purchase promotions in cost of sales.

    2013: Restated from $2.798 billion.
    2012: Restated from $2.656 billion.

    Ad spending as percent of sales:

    Worldwide net spending for advertising, merchandising, sampling, promotion and product development as percent of sales.
    MEASURED-MEDIA SPENDING BY REGION IN 2017
    By region ($ in millions)20172016% chg
    Africa0.62.2-72.2
    Asia and Pacific152.965.9132.1
    Europe28.136.5-23.0
    Latin America0.00.0-62.0
    Middle East0.0NANA
    Canada0.0NANA
      Subtotal media outside the U.S.181.6104.673.6
      U.S. media spending43.429.149.5
      Worldwide measured media$225.1$133.768.4
    For data sources by country, click Sources tab at top of page. U.S. measured media from Kantar Media.
    SALES AND EARNINGS ($ in millions from public documents)
    Estee Lauder Cos. (NYSE: EL)
    WorldwideYear ended 6/30/2018Year ended 6/30/2017% chg
    Sales$13,683$11,82415.7
    Earnings11,8241,249846.7
    GEOGRAPHIC SALES
    Region ($ in millions)Year ended 6/30/2018Year ended 6/30/2017% chg
    Europe, Middle East and Africa5,6344,65021.2
    U.S.4,5314,2386.9
    Asia Pacific3,0422,35729.1
    Rest of Americas4844517.3
    Adjustments-8-2NA
    DIVISION SALES
    Division or segment sales ($ in millions)Year ended 6/30/2018Year ended 6/30/2017% chg
    Makeup5,6335,05411.5
    Skin care5,5954,52723.6
    Fragrance1,8261,63711.5
    Hair care5705395.8
    Other6769-2.9
    Adjustments-8-2NA
    Connections
    Estee Lauder Cos.
    Ticker: NYSE EL
    767 Fifth Ave., New York, N.Y. 10153/Phone: (212) 572-4200.
    URL: http://www.elcompanies.com
    Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/esteelaudercompanies
    Divisions, key executives and agencies

Expedia Group

  • TOTAL WORLDWIDE AD SPENDING
    WorldwideYear ended 12/31/2017Year ended 12/31/2016% chg
    Total worldwide advertising spending (U.S. dollars in millions)$3,300$2,70022.2
    Click the Profiles tab at the top of this page to read more about this marketer. Source: Ad Age Datacenter.
    Expedia Group ranked No. 20 in 2017 total U.S. ad spending in Ad Age's Leading National Advertisers report. Click on Expedia Group to see U.S. ad spending, brands and agencies from Ad Age's Marketer Trees 2018.
    WORLDWIDE AD SPENDING AS PERCENT OF SALES
    YearAd costs ($ in millions)Worldwide ad spending as percent of sales
    2009622.022.7
    2010694.022.9
    2011797.023.1
    2012890.022.1
    20131,200.025.2
    20141,600.027.8
    20152,100.031.5
    20162,700.030.8
    20173,300.032.8
    Ad costs:

    Stated worldwide "advertising expense." Stated worldwide advertising expense consist of offline costs, including TV and radio advertising, and online advertising. Ad expenses include media and production costs.

    2012: Restated in 2014 from $870 million.
    2011: Restated in 2014 from $796 million.

    Ad spending as percent of sales:

    Worldwide "advertising expense" as percent of "revenue."
    MEASURED-MEDIA SPENDING BY REGION IN 2017
    By region ($ in millions)20172016% chg
    Africa13.99.940.3
    Asia and Pacific319.5199.859.9
    Europe614.9458.534.1
    Latin America205.4150.936.0
    Middle East63.122.4182.3
    Canada26.323.810.6
      Subtotal media outside the U.S.1,243.0865.343.7
      U.S. media spending362.9283.228.2
      Worldwide measured media$1,606.0$1,148.439.8
    For data sources by country, click Sources tab at top of page. U.S. measured media from Kantar Media.
    SALES AND EARNINGS ($ in millions from public documents)
    Expedia Group (Nasdaq: EXPE)
    WorldwideYear ended 12/31/2017Year ended 12/31/2016% chg
    Sales$10,060$8,77414.7
    Earnings37828234.1
    GEOGRAPHIC SALES (year ended 12/31/2017)
    Region ($ in millions)Year ended 12/31/2017Year ended 12/31/2016% chg
    U.S.5,5345,0379.9
    All other countries4,5253,73721.1
    DIVISION SALES
    Division or segment sales ($ in millions)Year ended 12/31/2017Year ended 12/31/2016% chg
    Core OTA7,8817,08411.3
    HomeAway90668931.5
    Trivago75253839.7
    Egencia52046212.6
    Connections
    Expedia Group
    Ticker: Nasdaq EXPE
    333 108th Ave. NE, Bellevue, Wash. 98004/Phone: (425) 679-7200.
    URL: https://www.expediagroup.com
    Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/expedia
    Twitter: @Expedia
    Divisions, key executives and agencies

Fiat Chrysler Automobiles

  • TOTAL WORLDWIDE AD SPENDING
    WorldwideYear ended 12/31/2017Year ended 12/31/2016% chg
    Total worldwide advertising spending (U.S. dollars in millions)$3,754$3,938-4.7
    Click the Profiles tab at the top of this page to read more about this marketer. Source: Ad Age Datacenter.
    Fiat Chrysler Automobiles ranked No. 18 in 2017 total U.S. ad spending in Ad Age's Leading National Advertisers report. Click on Fiat Chrysler Automobiles to see U.S. ad spending, brands and agencies from Ad Age's Marketer Trees 2018.
    WORLDWIDE AD SPENDING AS PERCENT OF SALES
    YearAd costs ($ in millions)Worldwide ad spending as percent of sales
    20123,611.13.4
    20133,778.73.4
    20144,171.03.4
    20153,955.23.2
    20163,937.93.2
    20173,754.53.0
    Ad costs:

    "Advertising costs." Figures calculated by Ad Age Datacenter based on company disclosures. Figures converted to U.S. dollars by Ad Age Datacenter using average annual exchange rates.

    2015: Restated.
    2014:Restated.

    Ad spending as percent of sales:

    Approximate worldwide "advertising costs" as percent of "net revenues."
    MEASURED-MEDIA SPENDING BY REGION IN 2017
    By region ($ in millions)20172016% chg
    Africa2.74.0-32.9
    Asia and Pacific8.07.113.3
    Europe1,145.01,033.410.8
    Latin America107.3107.30.0
    Middle East7.214.4-49.8
    Canada52.052.1-0.3
      Subtotal media outside the U.S.1,322.31,218.48.5
      U.S. media spending868.8972.9-10.7
      Worldwide measured media$2,191.1$2,191.30.0
    For data sources by country, click Sources tab at top of page. U.S. measured media from Kantar Media.
    SALES AND EARNINGS ($ in millions from public documents)
    Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (BIT: FCA)
    WorldwideYear ended 12/31/2017Year ended 12/31/2016% chg
    Sales$125,329$122,9082.0
    Earnings3,9652,00897.5
    GEOGRAPHIC SALES
    Region ($ in millions)Year ended 12/31/2017Year ended 12/31/2016% chg
    NAFTA74,67076,450-2.3
    Europe, Middle East, Africa25,64624,0376.7
    Components11,4287,33955.7
    Latin America9,0436,81432.7
    Maserati4,5853,84119.4
    Asia Pacific3,6724,028-8.8
    Other821400105.5
    Unallocated items and eliminations-4,5350NA
    Connections
    Fiat Chrysler Automobiles
    Ticker: BIT FCA
    25 St. James's St., London, U.K. SW1A 1HA/Phone: 44 20 7766 0311.
    URL: http://www.fcagroup.com
    Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/fcafiatchryslerautomobiles
    Twitter: @fcagroup
    Divisions, key executives and agencies

Ford Motor Co.

  • TOTAL WORLDWIDE AD SPENDING
    WorldwideYear ended 12/31/2017Year ended 12/31/2016% chg
    Total worldwide advertising spending (U.S. dollars in millions)$4,100$4,300-4.7
    Click the Profiles tab at the top of this page to read more about this marketer. Source: Ad Age Datacenter.
    Ford Motor Co. ranked No. 7 in 2017 total U.S. ad spending in Ad Age's Leading National Advertisers report. Click on Ford Motor Co. to see U.S. ad spending, brands and agencies from Ad Age's Marketer Trees 2018.
    WORLDWIDE AD SPENDING AS PERCENT OF SALES
    YearAd costs ($ in millions)Worldwide ad spending as percent of sales
    20003,000.01.8
    20013,100.01.9
    20022,900.01.8
    20034,100.02.5
    20044,700.02.7
    20055,000.02.8
    20065,100.03.2
    20075,400.03.2
    20084,500.03.1
    20093,200.02.8
    20103,900.03.0
    20114,100.03.0
    20124,000.03.0
    20134,400.03.0
    20144,300.03.0
    20154,300.02.9
    20164,300.02.8
    20174,100.02.6
    Ad costs:

    Stated worldwide "advertising expenses" ("advertising costs").

    2009: Restated from $3.3 billion.
    2008: Restated from $4.6 billion.
    2004: Restated from $3.2 billion.
    2003: Restated from $2.7 billion.

    Ad spending as percent of sales:

    Worldwide "advertising expenses" as percent of "revenues."
    MEASURED-MEDIA SPENDING BY REGION IN 2017
    By region ($ in millions)20172016% chg
    Africa12.415.3-18.8
    Asia and Pacific132.8131.90.7
    Europe967.5902.57.2
    Latin America82.671.515.5
    Middle East18.367.3-72.9
    Canada57.862.0-6.8
      Subtotal media outside the U.S.1,271.31,250.51.7
      U.S. media spending1,173.41,172.80.1
      Worldwide measured media$2,444.6$2,423.30.9
    For data sources by country, click Sources tab at top of page. U.S. measured media from Kantar Media.
    SALES AND EARNINGS ($ in millions from public documents)
    Ford Motor Co. (NYSE: F)
    WorldwideYear ended 12/31/2017Year ended 12/31/2016% chg
    Sales$156,776$151,8003.3
    Earnings7,6284,60765.6
    GEOGRAPHIC SALES (year ended 12/31/2017)
    Region ($ in millions)Year ended 12/31/2017Year ended 12/31/2016% chg
    U.S.93,84493,4330.4
    All other35,46830,97614.5
    Canada10,58010,0285.5
    U.K.9,61910,041-4.2
    Germany7,2657,322-0.8
    DIVISION SALES (year ended 12/31/2017)
    Division or segment sales ($ in millions)Year ended 12/31/2017Year ended 12/31/2016% chg
    Automotive145,653141,5462.9
    Financial services11,11310,2538.4
    Connections
    Ford Motor Co.
    Ticker: NYSE F
    World Headquarters, 1 American Road, Dearborn, Mich. 48126/Phone: (313) 322-3000.
    URL: http://www.ford.com
    Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ford
    Twitter: @Ford
    Divisions, key executives and agencies

General Motors Co.

  • TOTAL WORLDWIDE AD SPENDING
    WorldwideYear ended 12/31/2017Year ended 12/31/2016% chg
    Total worldwide advertising spending (U.S. dollars in millions)$4,300$4,600-6.5
    Click the Profiles tab at the top of this page to read more about this marketer. Source: Ad Age Datacenter.
    General Motors Co. ranked No. 5 in 2017 total U.S. ad spending in Ad Age's Leading National Advertisers report. Click on General Motors Co. to see U.S. ad spending, brands and agencies from Ad Age's Marketer Trees 2018.
    WORLDWIDE AD SPENDING AS PERCENT OF SALES
    YearAd costs ($ in millions)Worldwide ad spending as percent of sales
    20104,742.03.5
    20115,209.03.5
    20125,372.03.5
    20135,500.03.5
    20145,200.03.3
    20154,400.03.2
    20164,600.03.1
    20174,300.03.0
    Sales:

    Worldwide sales (including automotive sales and GM Financial revenue).

    Ad costs:

    Stated worldwide "advertising and promotion" spending.

    2016: Restated in 2018 from $5.3 billion following 2017 divestiture of GM Europe.
    2015: Restated in 2018 from $5.1 billion following 2017 divestiture of GM Europe.

    Ad spending as percent of sales:

    Worldwide advertising and promotion spending as percent of "net sales and revenue" (including automotive sales and GM Financial revenue).
    MEASURED-MEDIA SPENDING BY REGION IN 2017
    By region ($ in millions)20172016% chg
    Africa12.19.724.7
    Asia and Pacific69.462.211.5
    Europe47.549.6-4.2
    Latin America114.7163.4-29.8
    Middle East20.248.9-58.7
    Canada78.989.7-12.0
      Subtotal media outside the U.S.342.8423.5-19.1
      U.S. media spending1,480.01,619.5-8.6
      Worldwide measured media$1,822.9$2,043.0-10.8
    For data sources by country, click Sources tab at top of page. U.S. measured media from Kantar Media.
    SALES AND EARNINGS ($ in millions from public documents)
    General Motors Co. (NYSE: GM)
    WorldwideYear ended 12/31/2017Year ended 12/31/2016% chg
    Sales$145,588$149,184-2.4
    Earnings-3,8809,427NA
    GEOGRAPHIC SALES (year ended 12/31/2017)
    Region ($ in millions)Year ended 12/31/2017Year ended 12/31/2016% chg
    U.S.111,163118,123-5.9
    Non-U.S.34,42531,06110.8
    DIVISION SALES
    Division or segment sales ($ in millions)Year ended 12/31/2017Year ended 12/31/2016% chg
    GM North America111,345119,113-6.5
    GM International21,92020,9434.7
    GM Financial12,1518,98335.3
    Corporate342149129.5
    Eliminations-170-4NA
    Connections
    General Motors Co.
    Ticker: NYSE GM
    300 Renaissance Center, P.O. Box 300, Detroit, Mich. 48265/Phone: (313) 556-5000.
    URL: http://www.gm.com
    Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/generalmotors
    Twitter: @GM
    Divisions, key executives and agencies

GlaxoSmithKline

  • TOTAL WORLDWIDE AD SPENDING
    WorldwideYear ended 12/31/2017Year ended 12/31/2016% chg
    Total worldwide advertising spending (U.S. dollars in millions)$1,741$1,7161.5
    Click the Profiles tab at the top of this page to read more about this marketer. Source: Ad Age Datacenter.
    GlaxoSmithKline ranked No. 42 in 2017 total U.S. ad spending in Ad Age's Leading National Advertisers report. Click on GlaxoSmithKline to see U.S. ad spending, brands and agencies from Ad Age's Marketer Trees 2018.
    WORLDWIDE AD SPENDING AS PERCENT OF SALES
    YearAd costs ($ in millions)Worldwide ad spending as percent of sales
    20071,489.33.3
    20081,493.43.3
    20091,445.43.3
    20101,501.53.4
    20111,460.03.3
    20121,329.93.2
    20131,264.43.0
    20141,105.92.9
    20151,619.44.4
    20161,715.84.5
    20171,741.04.5
    Converted to dollars.

    Ad costs:

    Stated worldwide advertising spending converted to dollars.

    2017: Based on average exchange rates; 1.351 billion pounds.
    2016: Based on average exchange rates; 1.265 billion pounds.
    2015: Based on average exchange rates; 1.059 billion pounds.
    2014: Based on average exchange rates; 671 million pounds.
    2013: Based on average exchange rates; 808 million pounds.
    2012: Based on average exchange rates; 839 million pounds.
    2011: 910 million pounds.
    2010: 971 million pounds.
    2009: 923 million pounds.
    2008: 805 million pounds.
    2007: 744 million pounds.

    Ad spending as percent of sales:

    Worldwide advertising spending as percent of sales.
    MEASURED-MEDIA SPENDING BY REGION IN 2017
    By region ($ in millions)20172016% chg
    Africa38.631.223.9
    Asia and Pacific464.1407.713.8
    Europe925.8798.016.0
    Latin America136.886.957.5
    Middle East68.187.6-22.3
    Canada20.211.477.7
      Subtotal media outside the U.S.1,653.71,422.716.2
      U.S. media spending620.8634.8-2.2
      Worldwide measured media$2,274.4$2,057.510.5
    For data sources by country, click Sources tab at top of page. U.S. measured media from Kantar Media.
    SALES AND EARNINGS ($ in millions from public documents)
    GlaxoSmithKline (NYSE: GSK)
    WorldwideYear ended 12/31/2017Year ended 12/31/2016% chg
    Sales$38,899$37,8272.8
    Earnings2,7951,44094.0
    GEOGRAPHIC SALES (year ended 12/31/2017)
    Region ($ in millions)Year ended 12/31/2017Year ended 12/31/2016% chg
    U.S.14,51413,8564.7
    International14,14913,8272.3
    Europe10,23610,1400.9
    DIVISION SALES (year ended 12/31/2017)
    Division or segment sales ($ in millions)Year ended 12/31/2017Year ended 12/31/2016% chg
    Pharmaceuticals22,26321,8431.9
    Consumer healthcare9,9879,7562.4
    Vaccines6,6496,2286.8
    Connections
    GlaxoSmithKline
    Ticker: NYSE GSK
    980 Great West Road, Brentford, Middlesex, U.K. TW8 9GS/Phone: 44 20 8047 5000.
    URL: http://www.gsk.com
    Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/gsk
    Twitter: @GSK
    Divisions, key executives and agencies

Heineken

  • TOTAL WORLDWIDE AD SPENDING
    WorldwideYear ended 12/31/2017Year ended 12/31/2016% chg
    Total worldwide advertising spending (U.S. dollars in millions)$2,449$2,3384.7
    Click the Profiles tab at the top of this page to read more about this marketer. Source: Ad Age Datacenter.
    Heineken ranked No. 99 in 2017 total U.S. ad spending in Ad Age's Leading National Advertisers report. Click on Heineken to see U.S. ad spending, brands and agencies from Ad Age's Marketer Trees 2018.
    WORLDWIDE AD SPENDING AS PERCENT OF SALES
    YearAd costs ($ in millions)Worldwide ad spending as percent of sales
    20153,060.213.4
    20163,139.713.6
    20173,291.013.3
    Ad costs:

    Stated worldwide "marketing and selling expenses" (formerly called "marketing, selling and distribution expenses").

    2017: 2.913 billion euros.
    2016: 2.836 billion euros.
    2015: 2.755 billion euros.

    Ad spending as percent of sales:

    Stated worldwide "marketing and selling expenses" as percent of worldwide "revenue."
    MEASURED-MEDIA SPENDING BY REGION IN 2017
    By region ($ in millions)20172016% chg
    Africa18.914.332.3
    Asia and Pacific15.514.84.9
    Europe378.3313.120.8
    Latin America34.736.0-3.8
    Middle East0.0NANA
    Canada0.0NANA
      Subtotal media outside the U.S.447.3378.218.3
      U.S. media spending170.5156.49.0
      Worldwide measured media$617.9$534.615.6
    For data sources by country, click Sources tab at top of page. U.S. measured media from Kantar Media.
    SALES AND EARNINGS ($ in millions from public documents)
    Heineken (AMS: HEIO)
    WorldwideYear ended 12/31/2017Year ended 12/31/2016% chg
    Sales$24,728$23,0197.4
    Earnings2,4321,92526.3
    GEOGRAPHIC SALES (year ended 12/31/2017)
    Region ($ in millions)Year ended 12/31/2017Year ended 12/31/2016% chg
    Europe10,75510,4313.1
    Americas7,0385,75722.3
    Africa Middle East & Eastern Europe3,4553,543-2.5
    Asia Pacific3,3933,2016.0
    Head office and eliminations8787-0.5
    Connections
    Heineken
    Ticker: AMS HEIO
    Tweede Weteringplantsoen 21, Amsterdam, Netherlands 1017 ZD/Phone: 31 20 523 92 39.
    URL: http://www.theheinekencompany.com
    Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/heinekenusa
    Twitter: @HEINEKENCorp
    Divisions, key executives and agencies

Henkel

  • TOTAL WORLDWIDE AD SPENDING
    WorldwideYear ended 12/31/2017Year ended 12/31/2016% chg
    Total worldwide advertising spending (U.S. dollars in millions)$2,114$2,0722.0
    Click the Profiles tab at the top of this page to read more about this marketer. Source: Ad Age Datacenter.
    WORLDWIDE AD SPENDING AS PERCENT OF SALES
    YearAd costs ($ in millions)Worldwide ad spending as percent of sales
    20145,517.725.3
    20155,118.525.5
    20165,131.424.8
    20175,508.724.3
    Ad costs:

    Worldwide "marketing, selling and distribution expenses" converted to U.S. dollars by Ad Age Datacenter at average exchange rates.

    Henkel's calendar 2017 financials explained this expense line: "In addition to marketing organization and distribution expenses, this item comprises, in particular, advertising, sales promotion and market research expenses. Also included here are the expenses of technical advisory services for customers, valuation allowances on trade accounts receivable and valuation allowances and impairment losses on trademarks and other rights."

    2017: 4.876 billion euros.
    2016: 4.635 billion euros.
    2015: 4.608 billion euros.
    2014: 4.151 billion euros.

    Ad spending as percent of sales:

    Worldwide "marketing, selling and distribution expenses" as percent of worldwide sales.
    MEASURED-MEDIA SPENDING BY REGION IN 2017
    By region ($ in millions)20172016% chg
    Africa0.13.7-98.4
    Asia and Pacific19.119.8-3.5
    Europe675.7904.7-25.3
    Latin America0.01.1-100.0
    Middle East23.538.5-39.1
    Canada0.01.9-100.0
      Subtotal media outside the U.S.718.4969.8-25.9
      U.S. media spending114.3137.1-16.7
      Worldwide measured media$832.6$1,106.9-24.8
    For data sources by country, click Sources tab at top of page. U.S. measured media from Kantar Media.
    SALES AND EARNINGS ($ in millions from public documents)
    Henkel (ETR: HEN)
    WorldwideYear ended 12/31/2017Year ended 12/31/2016% chg
    Sales$21,142$20,7182.0
    Earnings2,3192,2732.0
    GEOGRAPHIC SALES
    Region ($ in millions)Year ended 12/31/2017Year ended 12/31/2016% chg
    CorporateNA134NA
    Eastern EuropeNA3,004NA
    Latin AmericaNA1,168NA
    Africa/Middle EastNA1,526NA
    Asia PacificNA3,594NA
    North AmericaNA4,652NA
    Western EuropeNA6,641NA
    DIVISION SALES
    Division or segment sales ($ in millions)Year ended 12/31/2017Year ended 12/31/2016% chg
    Adhesives for consumers, craftsmen and buildingNA2,017NA
    CorporateNA134NA
    Industrial adhesivesNA7,904NA
    Laundry & home careNA6,416NA
    Beauty careNA4,249NA
    Connections
    Henkel
    Ticker: ETR HEN
    Henkelstrasse 67, Duesseldorf, Germany 40589/Phone: 49 211 797 0.
    URL: http://www.henkel.com
    Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/henkel
    Twitter: @Henkel
    Divisions, key executives and agencies

Honda Motor Co.

  • TOTAL WORLDWIDE AD SPENDING
    WorldwideYear ended 3/31/2018Year ended 3/31/2017% chg
    Total worldwide advertising spending (U.S. dollars in millions)$3,052$3,081-0.9
    Click the Profiles tab at the top of this page to read more about this marketer. Source: Ad Age Datacenter.
    Honda Motor Co. ranked No. 37 in 2017 total U.S. ad spending in Ad Age's Leading National Advertisers report. Click on Honda Motor Co. to see U.S. ad spending, brands and agencies from Ad Age's Marketer Trees 2018.
    MEASURED-MEDIA SPENDING BY REGION IN 2017
    By region ($ in millions)20172016% chg
    Africa1.51.8-16.7
    Asia and Pacific727.9702.83.6
    Europe117.7109.57.5
    Latin America31.80.01617795.2
    Middle East7.16.410.0
    Canada22.525.3-11.1
      Subtotal media outside the U.S.908.5845.97.4
      U.S. media spending512.1595.1-13.9
      Worldwide measured media$1,420.6$1,440.9-1.4
    For data sources by country, click Sources tab at top of page. U.S. measured media from Kantar Media.
    SALES AND EARNINGS ($ in millions from public documents)
    Honda Motor Co. (NYSE: HMC)
    WorldwideYear ended 3/31/2018Year ended 3/31/2017% chg
    Sales$138,711$129,4937.1
    Earnings9,5655,70367.7
    GEOGRAPHIC SALES (year ended 3/31/2018)
    Region ($ in millions)Year ended 3/31/2018Year ended 3/31/2017% chg
    North America72,80270,4673.3
    Asia34,05828,54319.3
    Japan17,33016,6484.1
    Other regions8,2827,9224.5
    Europe6,2395,9135.5
    DIVISION SALES (year ended 3/31/2018)
    Division or segment sales ($ in millions)Year ended 3/31/2018Year ended 3/31/2017% chg
    Automobile97,99593,3035.0
    Financial services business19,17217,37210.4
    Motorcycles18,41015,87516.0
    Power products and other3,1342,9436.5
    Connections
    Honda Motor Co.
    Ticker: NYSE HMC
    2-1-1, Minami-Aoyama, Minato-ku, Tokyo, Japan 107-8556/Phone: 81 3 3423 1111.
    URL: http://www.honda.com
    URL: http://world.honda.com
    Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/honda
    Twitter: @Honda
    Divisions, key executives and agencies

Hyundai Motor Co.

  • TOTAL WORLDWIDE AD SPENDING
    WorldwideYear ended 12/31/2017Year ended 12/31/2016% chg
    Total worldwide advertising spending (U.S. dollars in millions)$2,190$1,92014.0
    Click the Profiles tab at the top of this page to read more about this marketer. Source: Ad Age Datacenter. Total worldwide advertising spending: Advertisements and sales promotion expenses.
    Hyundai Motor Co. ranked No. 76 in 2017 total U.S. ad spending in Ad Age's Leading National Advertisers report. Click on Hyundai Motor Co. to see U.S. ad spending, brands and agencies from Ad Age's Marketer Trees 2018.
    WORLDWIDE AD SPENDING AS PERCENT OF SALES
    YearAd costs ($ in millions)Worldwide ad spending as percent of sales
    20131,920.22.4
    20141,950.42.3
    20151,843.92.3
    20161,920.52.4
    20172,189.72.6
    Converted to dollars.

    Ad costs:

    Stated worldwide "advertisements and sales promotion" expenses.

    2017: 2,460 billion won.
    2016: 2,233 billion won.
    2015: 2,072 billion won.
    2014: 2,053 billion won.
    2013: 2,087 billion won.
    2012: 2,164 billion won.
    2011: 2,205 billion won.
    2010: 2,047 billion won.

    Ad spending as percent of sales:

    Worldwide "advertisements and sales promotion" spending as percent of "sales."
    MEASURED-MEDIA SPENDING BY REGION IN 2017
    By region ($ in millions)20172016% chg
    Africa9.412.0-21.8
    Asia and Pacific347.8331.74.9
    Europe426.5349.722.0
    Latin America109.865.069.1
    Middle East34.634.6-0.1
    Canada36.540.5-9.8
      Subtotal media outside the U.S.964.7833.515.7
      U.S. media spending289.8327.4-11.5
      Worldwide measured media$1,254.5$1,160.98.1
    For data sources by country, click Sources tab at top of page. U.S. measured media from Kantar Media.
    SALES AND EARNINGS ($ in millions from public documents)
    Hyundai Motor Co. (KRX: 005380)
    WorldwideYear ended 12/31/2017Year ended 12/31/2016% chg
    Sales$85,775$80,5386.5
    Earnings4,0464,919-17.7
    GEOGRAPHIC SALES (year ended 12/31/2017)
    Region ($ in millions)Year ended 12/31/2017Year ended 12/31/2016% chg
    South Korea33,89432,7513.5
    North America27,41626,8552.1
    Europe14,46312,55615.2
    Asia7,2926,55011.3
    Other2,7101,82548.5
    DIVISION SALES (year ended 12/31/2017)
    Division or segment sales ($ in millions)Year ended 12/31/2017Year ended 12/31/2016% chg
    Vehicle66,29662,5086.1
    Finance13,71912,08513.5
    Other5,7595,946-3.1
    Connections
    Hyundai Motor Co.
    Ticker: KRX 005380
    12 Heolleung-ro, Seocho-gu, Seoul, South Korea 137-938/Phone: 82 2 3464 1114.
    URL: http://worldwide.hyundai.com
    Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/hyundaiworldwide
    Twitter: @Hyundai_Global
    Divisions, key executives and agencies

IAC (IAC/InterActiveCorp)

  • TOTAL WORLDWIDE AD SPENDING
    WorldwideYear ended 12/31/2017Year ended 12/31/2016% chg
    Total worldwide advertising spending (U.S. dollars in millions)$1,100$1,00010.0
    Click the Profiles tab at the top of this page to read more about this marketer. Source: Ad Age Datacenter.
    IAC (IAC/InterActiveCorp) ranked No. 58 in 2017 total U.S. ad spending in Ad Age's Leading National Advertisers report. Click on IAC (IAC/InterActiveCorp) to see U.S. ad spending, brands and agencies from Ad Age's Marketer Trees 2018.
    WORLDWIDE AD SPENDING AS PERCENT OF SALES
    YearAd costs ($ in millions)Worldwide ad spending as percent of sales
    2010371.222.7
    2011499.524.3
    2012774.127.6
    2013850.428.1
    2014994.732.0
    20151,200.037.1
    20161,000.031.8
    20171,100.033.3
    Ad costs:

    Stated worldwide "advertising expense."

    2014: Restated in 2016 from $971.8 million.
    2013: Restated in 2016 from $824.1 million; restated in 2015 from $828.8 million.
    2012: Restated in 2014 from $779.7 million.
    2011:Restated in 2014 from $497.2 million.
    2009: Restated.
    2008: Restated.
    2007: Restated.
    2006: Restated.

    Ad spending as percent of sales:

    Worldwide "advertising expense" as percent of "revenue."
    MEASURED-MEDIA SPENDING BY REGION IN 2017
    By region ($ in millions)20172016% chg
    Africa0.0NANA
    Asia and Pacific0.0NANA
    Europe18.720.3-8.0
    Latin America0.0NANA
    Middle East0.0NANA
    Canada0.02.4-100.0
      Subtotal media outside the U.S.18.722.7-17.8
      U.S. media spending131.0148.1-11.5
      Worldwide measured media$149.7$170.9-12.4
    For data sources by country, click Sources tab at top of page. U.S. measured media from Kantar Media.
    SALES AND EARNINGS ($ in millions from public documents)
    IAC (IAC/InterActiveCorp) (Nasdaq: IAC)
    WorldwideYear ended 12/31/2017Year ended 12/31/2016% chg
    Sales$3,307$3,1405.3
    Earnings305-41NA
    GEOGRAPHIC SALES (year ended 12/31/2017)
    Region ($ in millions)Year ended 12/31/2017Year ended 12/31/2016% chg
    U.S.2,3232,3190.2
    All other98482119.9
    DIVISION SALES
    Division or segment sales ($ in millions)Year ended 12/31/2017Year ended 12/31/2016% chg
    Match group1,3311,2238.8
    ANGI Home Services73649947.6
    Applications578604-4.3
    Publishing362407-11.2
    Video27722921.1
    Other24179-86.6
    Intersegment elimination0-1NA
    Connections
    IAC (IAC/InterActiveCorp)
    Ticker: Nasdaq IAC
    555 W. 18th St., New York, N.Y. 10011/Phone: (212) 314-7300.
    URL: http://www.iac.com
    Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/iacinteractive
    Divisions, key executives and agencies

IBM Corp.

  • TOTAL WORLDWIDE AD SPENDING
    WorldwideYear ended 12/31/2017Year ended 12/31/2016% chg
    Total worldwide advertising spending (U.S. dollars in millions)$1,445$1,3278.9
    Click the Profiles tab at the top of this page to read more about this marketer. Source: Ad Age Datacenter.
    IBM Corp. ranked No. 84 in 2017 total U.S. ad spending in Ad Age's Leading National Advertisers report. Click on IBM Corp. to see U.S. ad spending, brands and agencies from Ad Age's Marketer Trees 2018.
    WORLDWIDE AD SPENDING AS PERCENT OF SALES
    YearAd costs ($ in millions)Worldwide ad spending as percent of sales
    20121,339.01.3
    20131,294.01.3
    20141,307.01.4
    20151,290.01.6
    20161,327.01.7
    20171,445.01.8
    Ad costs:

    Stated worldwide "advertising and promotional expense" (including media, agency and promotional expenses).

    Ad spending as percent of sales:

    Worldwide advertising spending as percent of sales.
    MEASURED-MEDIA SPENDING BY REGION IN 2017
    By region ($ in millions)20172016% chg
    Africa0.0NANA
    Asia and Pacific150.4138.58.7
    Europe14.013.26.4
    Latin America0.0NANA
    Middle East0.0NANA
    Canada0.0NANA
      Subtotal media outside the U.S.164.4151.68.5
      U.S. media spending154.081.189.8
      Worldwide measured media$318.4$232.836.8
    For data sources by country, click Sources tab at top of page. U.S. measured media from Kantar Media.
    SALES AND EARNINGS ($ in millions from public documents)
    IBM Corp. (NYSE: IBM)
    WorldwideYear ended 12/31/2017Year ended 12/31/2016% chg
    Sales$79,139$79,919-1.0
    Earnings5,75311,872-51.5
    GEOGRAPHIC SALES (year ended 12/31/2017)
    Region ($ in millions)Year ended 12/31/2017Year ended 12/31/2016% chg
    Other41,14141,386-0.6
    U.S.29,75930,194-1.4
    Japan8,2398,339-1.2
    DIVISION SALES (year ended 12/31/2017)
    Division or segment sales ($ in millions)Year ended 12/31/2017Year ended 12/31/2016% chg
    Technology Services & Cloud Platforms34,27735,337-3.0
    Cognitive Solutions Solutions18,45318,1871.5
    Global Business Services16,34816,700-2.1
    Systems8,1947,7146.2
    Global Financing1,6961,6920.2
    Other171289-40.8
    Connections
    IBM Corp.
    Ticker: NYSE IBM
    1 New Orchard Road, Armonk, N.Y. 10504/Phone: (914) 499-1900.
    URL: http://www.ibm.com
    Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ibm
    Twitter: @IBM
    Divisions, key executives and agencies

Inner Mongolia Yili Industrial Group Co.

  • TOTAL WORLDWIDE AD SPENDING
    WorldwideYear ended 12/31/2017Year ended 12/31/2016% chg
    Total worldwide advertising spending (U.S. dollars in millions)$1,215$1,1505.6
    Click the Profiles tab at the top of this page to read more about this marketer. Source: Ad Age Datacenter. Total worldwide advertising spending: Estimated advertising and promotion expenses.
    WORLDWIDE AD SPENDING AS PERCENT OF SALES
    YearAd costs ($ in millions)Worldwide ad spending as percent of sales
    2014753.28.5
    20151,175.412.1
    20161,149.912.6
    20171,214.712.1
    Ad costs:

    2017, 2016: Stated "advertising expense" converted to U.S. dollars by Ad Age Datacenter at average exchange rates. 2015, 2014: Estimated worldwide advertising and promotion expenses derived from company's stated "A&P expense ratio" disclosures, converted to U.S. dollars by Ad Age Datacenter at average exchange rates.

    2017: 8.206 billion renminbi (stated).
    2016: 7.634 billion renminbi (stated).
    2015: 7.304 billion renminbi (estimated).
    2014: 4.627 billion renminbi(estimated).

    Ad spending as percent of sales:

    2017, 2016: Stated "advertising expense" as percent of "total revenue." 2015, 2014: Estimated worldwide advertising and promotion expenses as percent of worldwide operating revenue.
    MEASURED-MEDIA SPENDING BY REGION IN 2017
    By region ($ in millions)20172016% chg
    Africa0.0NANA
    Asia and Pacific279.6215.529.7
    Europe0.0NANA
    Latin America0.0NANA
    Middle East0.0NANA
    Canada0.0NANA
      Subtotal media outside the U.S.279.6215.529.7
      U.S. media spending0.0NANA
      Worldwide measured media$279.6$215.529.7
    For data sources by country, click Sources tab at top of page. U.S. measured media from Kantar Media.
    SALES AND EARNINGS ($ in millions from public documents)
    Inner Mongolia Yili Industrial Group Co. (SHA: 600887)
    WorldwideYear ended 12/31/2017Year ended 12/31/2016% chg
    Sales$10,074$9,12910.4
    Earnings8888534.2
    Connections
    Inner Mongolia Yili Industrial Group Co.
    Ticker: SHA 600887
    No. 8 Jinshan Road, Jinshan Development Zone, Hohhot, China 010110/Phone: 86 471 3350092.
    URL: http://www.yili.com
    Divisions, key executives and agencies

Intel Corp.

  • TOTAL WORLDWIDE AD SPENDING
    WorldwideYear ended 12/30/2017Year ended 12/26/2016% chg
    Total worldwide advertising spending (U.S. dollars in millions)$1,400$1,800-22.2
    Click the Profiles tab at the top of this page to read more about this marketer. Source: Ad Age Datacenter.
    WORLDWIDE AD SPENDING AS PERCENT OF SALES
    YearAd costs ($ in millions)Worldwide ad spending as percent of sales
    20002,000.05.9
    20011,600.06.0
    20021,700.06.4
    20031,800.06.0
    20042,100.06.1
    20052,600.06.7
    20062,320.06.6
    20071,900.05.0
    20081,860.04.9
    20091,390.04.0
    20101,800.04.1
    20112,100.03.9
    20122,000.03.7
    20131,900.03.6
    20141,800.03.2
    20151,800.03.3
    20161,800.03.0
    20171,400.02.2
    Ad costs:

    Stated worldwide advertising costs (including direct-marketing costs).

    Ad spending as percent of sales:

    Stated worldwide advertising costs (including direct-marketing costs) as percent of net revenue.
    MEASURED-MEDIA SPENDING BY REGION IN 2017
    By region ($ in millions)20172016% chg
    Africa0.0NANA
    Asia and Pacific0.0NANA
    Europe0.0NANA
    Latin America0.0NANA
    Middle East0.00.1-24.2
    Canada0.0NANA
      Subtotal media outside the U.S.0.00.1-24.2
      U.S. media spending79.696.0-17.1
      Worldwide measured media$79.7$96.1-17.1
    For data sources by country, click Sources tab at top of page. U.S. measured media from Kantar Media.
    SALES AND EARNINGS ($ in millions from public documents)
    Intel Corp. (Nasdaq: INTC)
    WorldwideYear ended 12/30/2017Year ended 12/26/2016% chg
    Sales$62,761$59,3875.7
    Earnings9,60110,316-6.9
    GEOGRAPHIC SALES (year ended 12/30/2017)
    Region ($ in millions)Year ended 12/30/2017Year ended 12/26/2016% chg
    China (including Hong Kong)14,79613,9775.9
    Singapore14,28512,78011.8
    U.S.12,54312,957-3.2
    Other countries10,6199,7209.2
    Taiwan10,5189,9535.7
    DIVISION SALES (year ended 12/30/2017)
    Division or segment sales ($ in millions)Year ended 12/30/2017Year ended 12/26/2016% chg
    Client Computing Group34,00332,9083.3
    Data Center Group19,06417,23610.6
    Non-Volatile Memory Solutions Group3,5202,57636.6
    Internet of Things3,1692,63820.1
    Programmable Solutions Group1,9021,66914.0
    All other1,1032,360-53.3
    Connections
    Intel Corp.
    Ticker: Nasdaq INTC
    2200 Mission College Blvd., Santa Clara, Calif. 95054/Phone: (408) 765-8080.
    URL: http://www.intel.com
    Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/intel
    Twitter: @intel
    Divisions, key executives and agencies

Johnson & Johnson

  • TOTAL WORLDWIDE AD SPENDING
    WorldwideYear ended 12/31/2017Year ended 01/01/2017% chg
    Total worldwide advertising spending (U.S. dollars in millions)$2,500$2,4004.2
    Click the Profiles tab at the top of this page to read more about this marketer. Source: Ad Age Datacenter.
    Johnson & Johnson ranked No. 19 in 2017 total U.S. ad spending in Ad Age's Leading National Advertisers report. Click on Johnson & Johnson to see U.S. ad spending, brands and agencies from Ad Age's Marketer Trees 2018.
    WORLDWIDE AD SPENDING AS PERCENT OF SALES
    YearAd costs ($ in millions)Worldwide ad spending as percent of sales
    20072,700.04.4
    20082,900.04.5
    20092,400.03.9
    20102,500.04.1
    20112,600.04.0
    20122,300.03.4
    20132,500.03.5
    20142,600.03.5
    20152,500.03.6
    20162,400.03.3
    20172,500.03.3
    Ad costs:

    Stated worldwide advertising expenses, consisting of "television, radio, print media and internet advertising." Stated ad spending does not include money Johnson & Johnson gives to retailers in the form of cooperative advertising allowances.

    Ad spending as percent of sales:

    Worldwide advertising spending as percent of sales.
    MEASURED-MEDIA SPENDING BY REGION IN 2017
    By region ($ in millions)20172016% chg
    Africa13.316.1-17.1
    Asia and Pacific196.1171.914.1
    Europe533.1479.111.3
    Latin America83.177.37.5
    Middle East61.860.32.6
    Canada38.836.36.8
      Subtotal media outside the U.S.926.2841.010.1
      U.S. media spending1,019.91,068.2-4.5
      Worldwide measured media$1,946.1$1,909.21.9
    For data sources by country, click Sources tab at top of page. U.S. measured media from Kantar Media.
    SALES AND EARNINGS ($ in millions from public documents)
    Johnson & Johnson (NYSE: JNJ)
    WorldwideYear ended 12/31/2017Year ended 01/01/2017% chg
    Sales$76,450$71,8906.3
    Earnings1,30016,540-92.1
    GEOGRAPHIC SALES (year ended 12/31/2017)
    Region ($ in millions)Year ended 12/31/2017Year ended 01/01/2017% chg
    U.S.39,86337,8115.4
    Europe17,12615,7708.6
    Asia Pacific, Africa13,42012,5756.7
    Western Hemisphere excluding U.S.6,0415,7345.4
    DIVISION SALES (year ended 12/31/2017)
    Division or segment sales ($ in millions)Year ended 12/31/2017Year ended 01/01/2017% chg
    Pharmaceutical36,25633,4648.3
    Medical devices and diagnostics26,59225,1195.9
    Consumer13,60213,3072.2
    Connections
    Johnson & Johnson
    Ticker: NYSE JNJ
    1 Johnson & Johnson Plaza, New Brunswick, N.J. 08933/Phone: (732) 524-0400.
    URL: http://www.jnj.com
    Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/jnj
    Twitter: @JNJNews
    Divisions, key executives and agencies

JPMorgan Chase & Co.

  • TOTAL WORLDWIDE AD SPENDING
    WorldwideYear ended 12/31/2017Year ended 12/31/2016% chg
    Total worldwide advertising spending (U.S. dollars in millions)$2,900$2,8970.1
    Click the Profiles tab at the top of this page to read more about this marketer. Source: Ad Age Datacenter. Total worldwide advertising spending: Marketing expenses.
    JPMorgan Chase & Co. ranked No. 13 in 2017 total U.S. ad spending in Ad Age's Leading National Advertisers report. Click on JPMorgan Chase & Co. to see U.S. ad spending, brands and agencies from Ad Age's Marketer Trees 2018.
    WORLDWIDE AD SPENDING AS PERCENT OF SALES
    YearAd costs ($ in millions)Worldwide ad spending as percent of sales
    20122,577.02.7
    20132,500.02.6
    20142,550.02.7
    20152,708.02.9
    20162,897.03.0
    20172,900.02.9
    Ad costs:

    Stated worldwide marketing spending.

    Ad spending as percent of sales:

    Worldwide marketing spending as percent of total net revenue (total revenue after subtracting interest expense).
    MEASURED-MEDIA SPENDING BY REGION IN 2017
    By region ($ in millions)20172016% chg
    Africa0.0NANA
    Asia and Pacific2.52.8-13.2
    Europe0.0NANA
    Latin America0.0NANA
    Middle East0.0NANA
    Canada0.0NANA
      Subtotal media outside the U.S.2.52.8-13.2
      U.S. media spending147.3216.3-31.9
      Worldwide measured media$149.8$219.1-31.6
    For data sources by country, click Sources tab at top of page. U.S. measured media from Kantar Media.
    SALES AND EARNINGS ($ in millions from public documents)
    JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE: JPM)
    WorldwideYear ended 12/31/2017Year ended 12/31/2016% chg
    Sales$99,624$95,6684.1
    Earnings24,44124,733-1.2
    GEOGRAPHIC SALES (year ended 12/31/2017)
    Region ($ in millions)Year ended 12/31/2017Year ended 12/31/2016% chg
    North American (substantially U.S.)77,39973,7554.9
    Europe, Middle East and Africa14,42613,8424.2
    Asia and Pacific5,8056,112-5.0
    Latin American and the Caribbean1,9941,9591.8
    DIVISION SALES
    Division or segment sales ($ in millions)Year ended 12/31/2017Year ended 12/31/2016% chg
    Consumer and community banking46,48544,9153.5
    Corporate and investment bank34,49335,216-2.1
    Asset management12,91812,0457.2
    Commericial banking8,6057,45315.5
    Corporate/private equity1,140-487NA
    Reconciling Items-4,017-3,474NA
    Connections
    JPMorgan Chase & Co.
    Ticker: NYSE JPM
    270 Park Ave., New York, N.Y. 10017/Phone: (212) 270-6000.
    URL: http://www.jpmorganchase.com
    Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/jpmorganchase
    Twitter: @jpmorgan
    Divisions, key executives and agencies

Kao Corp.

  • TOTAL WORLDWIDE AD SPENDING
    WorldwideYear ended 12/31/2017Year ended 12/31/2016% chg
    Total worldwide advertising spending (U.S. dollars in millions)$1,328$1,665-20.2
    Click the Profiles tab at the top of this page to read more about this marketer. Source: Ad Age Datacenter.
    WORLDWIDE AD SPENDING AS PERCENT OF SALES
    YearAd costs ($ in millions)Worldwide ad spending as percent of sales
    2013886.56.6
    2014876.06.6
    2015783.56.4
    2016898.46.7
    2017802.26.0
    Ad costs:

    Stated worldwide "advertising" expenses converted to U.S. dollars by Ad Age Datacenter at average exchange rates.

    2017: 89.935 billion yen.
    2016: 97.437 billion yen.
    2015: 94.745 billion yen (restated).
    2014: 92.410 billion yen.
    2013: 86.406 billion yen.

    Ad spending as percent of sales:

    Worldwide "advertising" expenses as percent of "net sales."
    MEASURED-MEDIA SPENDING BY REGION IN 2017
    By region ($ in millions)20172016% chg
    Africa0.0NANA
    Asia and Pacific983.01,253.6-21.6
    Europe2.23.7-39.7
    Latin America0.0NANA
    Middle East0.0NANA
    Canada0.02.3-100.0
      Subtotal media outside the U.S.985.21,259.6-21.8
      U.S. media spending108.2105.62.5
      Worldwide measured media$1,093.5$1,365.2-19.9
    For data sources by country, click Sources tab at top of page. U.S. measured media from Kantar Media.
    SALES AND EARNINGS ($ in millions from public documents)
    Kao Corp. (TYO: 4452)
    WorldwideYear ended 12/31/2017Year ended 12/31/2016% chg
    Sales$13,286$13,439-1.1
    Earnings1,3111,16712.4
    GEOGRAPHIC SALES
    Region ($ in millions)Year ended 12/31/2017Year ended 12/31/2016% chg
    Japan8,3688,896-5.9
    Asia2,5702,31710.9
    Americas1,1971,1147.5
    Europe1,1511,1123.5
    DIVISION SALES (year ended 12/31/2017)
    Division or segment sales ($ in millions)Year ended 12/31/2017Year ended 12/31/2016% chg
    Beauty care5,2275,547-5.8
    Fabric and home care2,9953,182-5.9
    Human health care2,6252,5184.3
    Chemicals2,4392,19211.3
    Connections
    Kao Corp.
    Ticker: TYO 4452
    1-14-10, Nihonbashi Kayabacho, Chuo-ku, Tokyo, Japan 103-8210/Phone: 81 3 3660 7111.
    URL: http://www.kao.com
    Divisions, key executives and agencies

Kering

  • TOTAL WORLDWIDE AD SPENDING
    WorldwideYear ended 12/31/2017Year ended 12/31/2016% chg
    Total worldwide advertising spending (U.S. dollars in millions)$1,382$1,03034.2
    Click the Profiles tab at the top of this page to read more about this marketer. Source: Ad Age Datacenter.
    MEASURED-MEDIA SPENDING BY REGION IN 2017
    By region ($ in millions)20172016% chg
    Africa0.0NANA
    Asia and Pacific168.6158.06.7
    Europe97.997.60.2
    Latin America0.0NANA
    Middle East4.811.8-59.1
    Canada0.0NANA
      Subtotal media outside the U.S.271.3267.41.4
      U.S. media spending125.7111.312.9
      Worldwide measured media$397.0$378.74.8
    For data sources by country, click Sources tab at top of page. U.S. measured media from Kantar Media.
    SALES AND EARNINGS ($ in millions from public documents)
    Kering (EPA: KER)
    WorldwideYear ended 12/31/2017Year ended 12/31/2016% chg
    Sales$12,228$9,11534.2
    EarningsNANANA
    GEOGRAPHIC SALES
    Region ($ in millions)Year ended 12/31/2017Year ended 12/31/2016% chg
    Western Europe5,7364,30233.3
    Asia Pacific (excluding Japan)4,7283,54733.3
    North America3,7353,03423.1
    Japan1,4591,3587.4
    Eastern Europe, Middle East and Africa1,15790228.3
    South America67256918.0
    DIVISION SALES
    Division or segment sales ($ in millions)Year ended 12/31/2017Year ended 12/31/2016% chg
    Luxury12,1979,37630.1
    Sport & Lifestyle4,9504,30015.1
    Corporate and other33935862.7
    Connections
    Kering
    Ticker: EPA KER
    40, rue de Sevres, Paris, France 75007/Phone: 33 1 45 64 61 00.
    URL: http://www.kering.com
    Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/keringgroup
    Twitter: @KeringGroup
    Divisions, key executives and agencies

Kia Motors Corp.

  • TOTAL WORLDWIDE AD SPENDING
    WorldwideYear ended 12/31/2017Year ended 12/31/2016% chg
    Total worldwide advertising spending (U.S. dollars in millions)$1,987$1,9561.6
    Click the Profiles tab at the top of this page to read more about this marketer. Source: Ad Age Datacenter.
    Kia Motors Corp. ranked No. 71 in 2017 total U.S. ad spending in Ad Age's Leading National Advertisers report. Click on Kia Motors Corp. to see U.S. ad spending, brands and agencies from Ad Age's Marketer Trees 2018.
    WORLDWIDE AD SPENDING AS PERCENT OF SALES
    YearAd costs ($ in millions)Worldwide ad spending as percent of sales
    2010843.02.7
    20111,096.72.8
    20121,141.72.7
    20131,129.72.6
    20141,034.42.3
    20151,096.92.5
    20161,146.72.5
    20171,153.32.4
    Ad costs:

    Stated worldwide "advertising" expenses converted to dollars.

    2017: 1,296 billion won.
    2016: 1,333 billion won.
    2015: 1,232 billion won.
    2014: 1,089 billion won.
    2013: 1,228 billion won.
    2012: 1,283 billion won.
    2011: 1,205 billion won.
    2010: 970 billion won.

    Ad spending as percent of sales:

    Worldwide advertising spending as percent of sales.
    MEASURED-MEDIA SPENDING BY REGION IN 2017
    By region ($ in millions)20172016% chg
    Africa6.27.0-11.2
    Asia and Pacific114.2121.2-5.7
    Europe338.8336.70.6
    Latin America2.324.0-90.5
    Middle East14.427.4-47.4
    Canada19.024.5-22.5
      Subtotal media outside the U.S.494.9540.8-8.5
      U.S. media spending376.1331.013.6
      Worldwide measured media$871.0$871.8-0.1
    For data sources by country, click Sources tab at top of page. U.S. measured media from Kantar Media.
    SALES AND EARNINGS ($ in millions from public documents)
    Kia Motors Corp. (KRX: 000270)
    WorldwideYear ended 12/31/2017Year ended 12/31/2016% chg
    Sales$47,647$45,3335.1
    Earnings8622,369-63.6
    GEOGRAPHIC SALES (year ended 12/31/2017)
    Region ($ in millions)Year ended 12/31/2017Year ended 12/31/2016% chg
    North America17,86817,2763.4
    South Korea15,58015,675-0.6
    Europe13,03511,47513.6
    Other region1,16490628.4
    Connections
    Kia Motors Corp.
    Ticker: KRX 000270
    12 Heolleung-ro, Seocho-gu, Seoul, South Korea 137-938/Phone: 82 2 3464 1114.
    URL: http://www.kia.com
    Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/kia
    Twitter: @Kia
    Divisions, key executives and agencies

Kohl's Corp.

  • TOTAL WORLDWIDE AD SPENDING
    WorldwideYear ended 2/3/2018Year ended 1/28/2017% chg
    Total worldwide advertising spending (U.S. dollars in millions)$1,124$1,164-3.4
    Click the Profiles tab at the top of this page to read more about this marketer. Source: Ad Age Datacenter.
    Kohl's Corp. ranked No. 39 in 2017 total U.S. ad spending in Ad Age's Leading National Advertisers report. Click on Kohl's Corp. to see U.S. ad spending, brands and agencies from Ad Age's Marketer Trees 2018.
    WORLDWIDE AD SPENDING AS PERCENT OF SALES
    YearAd costs ($ in millions)Worldwide ad spending as percent of sales
    2007981.06.0
    20081,037.06.3
    2009988.05.8
    20101,017.05.5
    20111,123.06.0
    20121,163.06.0
    20131,185.06.2
    20141,189.06.3
    20151,171.06.1
    20161,164.06.2
    20171,124.05.9
    Fiscal years. 2016: Year ended February 2018.

    Ad costs:

    Stated gross marketing costs (formerly gross advertising costs), including vendor allowances.

    Stated net marketing costs (gross marketing costs minus vendor allowances) for fiscal years:

    2017: $986 million.
    2016: $1.016 billion.
    2015: $1.011 billion.
    2014: $1.024 billion.
    2013: $1.013 billion.
    2012: $993 million.
    2011: $962 million.
    2010: $869 million.
    2009: $846 million.
    2008: $890 million.
    2007: $839 million.

    "Net marketing costs" was formerly "net advertising costs."

    Stated vendor allowances for fiscal years:

    2016: $148 million.
    2015: $160 million.
    2014: $165 million.
    2013: $172 million.
    2012: $170 million.
    2011: $161 million.
    2010: $148 million.
    2009: $142 million.
    2008: $147 million.
    2007: $142 million.

    Ad spending as percent of sales:

    Gross marketing costs as percent of net sales.
    MEASURED-MEDIA SPENDING BY REGION IN 2017
    By region ($ in millions)20172016% chg
    Africa0.0NANA
    Asia and Pacific0.0NANA
    Europe0.0NANA
    Latin America0.0NANA
    Middle East0.0NANA
    Canada0.0NANA
      Subtotal media outside the U.S.0.0NANA
      U.S. media spending257.4305.9-15.8
      Worldwide measured media$257.4$305.9-15.8
    For data sources by country, click Sources tab at top of page. U.S. measured media from Kantar Media.
    SALES AND EARNINGS ($ in millions from public documents)
    Kohl's Corp. (NYSE: KSS)
    WorldwideYear ended 2/3/2018Year ended 1/28/2017% chg
    Sales$19,095$18,6862.2
    Earnings85955654.5
    Connections
    Kohl's Corp.
    Ticker: NYSE KSS
    N56 W17000 Ridgewood Drive, Menomonee Falls, Wis. 53051/Phone: (262) 703-7000.
    URL: http://www.kohls.com
    Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/kohls
    Twitter: @Kohls
    Divisions, key executives and agencies

L'Oreal

  • TOTAL WORLDWIDE AD SPENDING
    WorldwideYear ended 12/31/2017Year ended 12/31/2016% chg
    Total worldwide advertising spending (U.S. dollars in millions)$8,643$8,3024.1
    Click the Profiles tab at the top of this page to read more about this marketer. Source: Ad Age Datacenter.
    L'Oreal ranked No. 14 in 2017 total U.S. ad spending in Ad Age's Leading National Advertisers report. Click on L'Oreal to see U.S. ad spending, brands and agencies from Ad Age's Marketer Trees 2018.
    WORLDWIDE AD SPENDING AS PERCENT OF SALES
    YearAd costs ($ in millions)Worldwide ad spending as percent of sales
    20138,795.329.9
    20148,718.429.1
    20158,174.929.1
    20168,301.829.0
    20178,643.329.4
    Converted to dollars.

    Ad costs:

    Stated worldwide "advertising and promotion" expenses. Company said advertising and promotion expenses "consist mainly of expenses relating to the advertisement and promotion of products to customers and consumers."

    2017: 7.651 billion euros.
    2016: 7.499 billion euros.
    2015: 7.360 billion euros.
    2014: 6.559 billion euros.
    2013: 6.622 billion euros (restated).
    2012: 6.532 billion euros (restated).
    2011: 6.292 billion euros.
    2011: 6.292 billion euros.
    2010: 6.029 billion euros.
    2009: 5.389 billion euros.
    2008: 5.269 billion euros.
    2007: 5.125 billion euros.

    Ad spending as percent of sales:

    Worldwide advertising and promotion spending as percent of sales.
    MEASURED-MEDIA SPENDING BY REGION IN 2017
    By region ($ in millions)20172016% chg
    Africa10.310.21.3
    Asia and Pacific556.0536.63.6
    Europe1,898.12,023.9-6.2
    Latin America123.4130.3-5.3
    Middle East53.2161.3-67.0
    Canada25.434.8-26.9
      Subtotal media outside the U.S.2,666.52,897.1-8.0
      U.S. media spending1,164.21,189.3-2.1
      Worldwide measured media$3,830.7$4,086.4-6.3
    For data sources by country, click Sources tab at top of page. U.S. measured media from Kantar Media.
    SALES AND EARNINGS ($ in millions from public documents)
    L'Oreal (ETR: LOR)
    WorldwideYear ended 12/31/2017Year ended 12/31/2016% chg
    Sales$29,401$27,5856.6
    Earnings4,3223,41426.6
    GEOGRAPHIC SALES (year ended 12/31/2017)
    Region ($ in millions)Year ended 12/31/2017Year ended 12/31/2016% chg
    New markets11,91610,8609.7
    Western Europe9,1808,8663.5
    North America8,3047,8595.7
    DIVISION SALES (year ended 12/31/2017)
    Division or segment sales ($ in millions)Year ended 12/31/2017Year ended 12/31/2016% chg
    Consumer products13,69113,2783.1
    L'Oreal luxe9,5718,48312.8
    Professional products3,7853,7640.6
    Active cosmetics2,3532,06014.2
    Connections
    L'Oreal
    Ticker: ETR LOR
    41, Rue Martre, Clichy, France 92117/Phone: 33 1 47 56 70 00.
    URL: http://www.lorealusa.com
    URL: http://www.loreal.com
    Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/lorealusa
    Twitter: @LOrealUSA
    Divisions, key executives and agencies

LG Electronics

  • TOTAL WORLDWIDE AD SPENDING
    WorldwideYear ended 12/31/2017Year ended 12/31/2016% chg
    Total worldwide advertising spending (U.S. dollars in millions)$1,837$1,7922.5
    Click the Profiles tab at the top of this page to read more about this marketer. Source: Ad Age Datacenter.
    WORLDWIDE AD SPENDING AS PERCENT OF SALES
    YearAd costs ($ in millions)Worldwide ad spending as percent of sales
    20131,108.22.1
    20141,095.52.0
    2015969.11.9
    20161,137.12.4
    20171,113.42.0
    Ad costs:

    Stated worldwide advertising expense converted to U.S. dollars at average exchange rates by Ad Age Datacenter.

    2017: 1,251,010 million won.
    2016: 1,322,215 million won.
    2015: 1,088,882 million won.
    2014: 1,153,182 million won.
    2013: 1,204,590 million won.

    Ad spending as percent of sales:

    Stated worldwide advertising expense as percent of net sales.
    MEASURED-MEDIA SPENDING BY REGION IN 2017
    By region ($ in millions)20172016% chg
    Africa1.33.8-64.5
    Asia and Pacific495.5377.331.3
    Europe59.766.3-9.9
    Latin America3.1NANA
    Middle East10.924.5-55.5
    Canada0.0NANA
      Subtotal media outside the U.S.570.5471.920.9
      U.S. media spending87.2130.8-33.3
      Worldwide measured media$657.7$602.69.1
    For data sources by country, click Sources tab at top of page. U.S. measured media from Kantar Media.
    SALES AND EARNINGS ($ in millions from public documents)
    LG Electronics (KRX: 066570)
    WorldwideYear ended 12/31/2017Year ended 12/31/2016% chg
    Sales$54,643$47,61614.8
    Earnings1,6641091431.7
    GEOGRAPHIC SALES
    Region ($ in millions)Year ended 12/31/2017Year ended 12/31/2016% chg
    South Korea18,03212,55043.7
    North America14,72314,2613.2
    Asia5,8095,4935.8
    Europe5,6105,04811.1
    South America3,9363,35017.5
    Middle Asia and Africa2,7743,150-11.9
    China2,2662,380-4.8
    Other1,4961,3848.1
    DIVISION SALES
    Division or segment sales ($ in millions)Year ended 12/31/2017Year ended 12/31/2016% chg
    Home appliance and air solution17,09414,81715.4
    Home entertainment16,60314,97810.9
    Mobile communications10,38210,0693.1
    Innotek6,0054,01549.6
    Vehicle components3,1052,38530.2
    Other segments1,4531,3537.4
    Connections
    LG Electronics
    Ticker: KRX 066570
    LG Twin Tower, 128 Yeoui-daero, Yeongdeungpo-gu, Seoul, South Korea 07336/Phone: 82 2 3777 1114.
    URL: http://www.lg.com/us
    URL: http://www.lg.com/global
    Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/lgusa
    Twitter: @LGUS
    Divisions, key executives and agencies

LVMH Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton

  • TOTAL WORLDWIDE AD SPENDING
    WorldwideYear ended 12/31/2017Year ended 12/31/2016% chg
    Total worldwide advertising spending (U.S. dollars in millions)$5,458$4,69616.2
    Click the Profiles tab at the top of this page to read more about this marketer. Source: Ad Age Datacenter.
    LVMH Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton ranked No. 35 in 2017 total U.S. ad spending in Ad Age's Leading National Advertisers report. Click on LVMH Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton to see U.S. ad spending, brands and agencies from Ad Age's Marketer Trees 2018.
    WORLDWIDE AD SPENDING AS PERCENT OF SALES
    YearAd costs ($ in millions)Worldwide ad spending as percent of sales
    20124,181.011.6
    20134,396.511.4
    20144,631.111.4
    20154,462.011.3
    20164,696.311.3
    20175,457.911.3
    Converted to dollars.

    Ad costs:

    Stated worldwide "advertising and promotion expenses."

    In its reference document for calendar 2017, LVMH said: "Advertising and promotion expenses include the costs of producing advertising media, purchasing media space, manufacturing samples and publishing catalogs, and in general, the cost of all activities designed to promote the Group's brands and products."

    2017: 4.831 billion euros.
    2016: 4.242 billion euros.
    2015: 4.017 billion euros.
    2014: 3.484 billion euros.
    2013: 3.310 billion euros (restated).
    2012: 3.251 billion euros (restated).
    2011: 2.711 billion euros.
    2010: 2.267 billion euros.
    2009: 1.809 billion euros.
    2008: 2.031 billion euros.
    2007: 1.953 billion euros.

    Ad spending as percent of sales:

    Worldwide "advertising and promotion expenses" as percent of "total revenue."
    MEASURED-MEDIA SPENDING BY REGION IN 2017
    By region ($ in millions)20172016% chg
    Africa0.0NANA
    Asia and Pacific452.0430.45.0
    Europe605.7546.210.9
    Latin America0.0NANA
    Middle East18.824.0-21.6
    Canada0.0NANA
      Subtotal media outside the U.S.1,076.51,000.67.6
      U.S. media spending360.0371.3-3.0
      Worldwide measured media$1,436.5$1,371.94.7
    For data sources by country, click Sources tab at top of page. U.S. measured media from Kantar Media.
    SALES AND EARNINGS ($ in millions from public documents)
    LVMH Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton (EPA: MC)
    WorldwideYear ended 12/31/2017Year ended 12/31/2016% chg
    Sales$48,168$41,62715.7
    Earnings6,3454,83031.4
    GEOGRAPHIC SALES (year ended 12/31/2017)
    Region ($ in millions)Year ended 12/31/2017Year ended 12/31/2016% chg
    Asia (excluding Japan)13,41810,98522.2
    U.S.12,07811,0759.1
    Europe (excluding France)9,0387,55619.6
    Other countries5,5804,88014.3
    France4,7134,14613.7
    Japan3,3412,98511.9
    DIVISION SALES
    Division or segment sales ($ in millions)Year ended 12/31/2017Year ended 12/31/2016% chg
    Fashion and leather goods17,48014,14323.6
    Selective retailing15,03813,25513.5
    Perfums and cosmetics6,2815,48314.6
    Wine and spirits5,7445,3537.3
    Watches and jewelry4,2993,83912.0
    Other and holding companies-673-447NA
    Connections
    LVMH Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton
    Ticker: EPA MC
    22, avenue Montaigne, Paris, France 75008/Phone: 33 1 44 13 22 22.
    URL: http://www.lvmh.com
    Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/lvmh
    Twitter: @LVMH
    Divisions, key executives and agencies

Macy's

  • TOTAL WORLDWIDE AD SPENDING
    WorldwideYear ended 2/3/2018Year ended 1/28/2017% chg
    Total worldwide advertising spending (U.S. dollars in millions)$1,397$1,547-9.7
    Click the Profiles tab at the top of this page to read more about this marketer. Source: Ad Age Datacenter.
    Macy's ranked No. 33 in 2017 total U.S. ad spending in Ad Age's Leading National Advertisers report. Click on Macy's to see U.S. ad spending, brands and agencies from Ad Age's Marketer Trees 2018.
    WORLDWIDE AD SPENDING AS PERCENT OF SALES
    YearAd costs ($ in millions)Worldwide ad spending as percent of sales
    20121,554.05.6
    20131,623.05.8
    20141,602.05.7
    20151,587.05.9
    20161,547.06.0
    20171,397.05.6
    Fiscal years. 2017: Year ended Feb. 3, 2018.

    Ad costs:

    Stated "gross advertising and promotional costs," including cooperative advertising allowances.

    2012: Restated in 2014 from $1.603 billion.
    2011: Restated in 2014 from$1.507 billion.

    Ad spending as percent of sales:

    Stated worldwide gross advertising and promotional spending as percent of sales.
    MEASURED-MEDIA SPENDING BY REGION IN 2017
    By region ($ in millions)20172016% chg
    Africa0.0NANA
    Asia and Pacific0.0NANA
    Europe0.0NANA
    Latin America0.00.0-53.1
    Middle East0.0NANA
    Canada0.0NANA
      Subtotal media outside the U.S.0.00.0-53.1
      U.S. media spending415.1590.9-29.8
      Worldwide measured media$415.1$590.9-29.8
    For data sources by country, click Sources tab at top of page. U.S. measured media from Kantar Media.
    SALES AND EARNINGS ($ in millions from public documents)
    Macy's (NYSE: M)
    WorldwideYear ended 2/3/2018Year ended 1/28/2017% chg
    Sales$24,837$25,778-3.7
    Earnings1,536611151.4
    DIVISION SALES (year ended 2/3/2018)
    Division or segment sales ($ in millions)Year ended 2/3/2018Year ended 1/28/2017% chg
    Women's Accessories, Intimate Apparel, Shoes, Cosmetics and Fragrances9,4389,796-3.7
    Women's Apparel5,7135,929-3.7
    Men's and Children's5,7135,929-3.7
    Home/Miscellaneous3,9744,124-3.6
    Connections
    Macy's
    Ticker: NYSE M
    7 W. Seventh St., Cincinnati, Ohio 45202/Phone: (513) 579-7000.
    URL: http://www.macysinc.com
    Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/macys
    Twitter: @Macys
    Divisions, key executives and agencies

Mars Inc.

  • TOTAL WORLDWIDE AD SPENDING
    WorldwideYear ended 12/31/2017Year ended 12/31/2016% chg
    Total worldwide advertising spending (U.S. dollars in millions)$3,500$3,5000.0
    Click the Profiles tab at the top of this page to read more about this marketer. Source: Ad Age Datacenter.
    Mars Inc. ranked No. 43 in 2017 total U.S. ad spending in Ad Age's Leading National Advertisers report. Click on Mars Inc. to see U.S. ad spending, brands and agencies from Ad Age's Marketer Trees 2018.
    MEASURED-MEDIA SPENDING BY REGION IN 2017
    By region ($ in millions)20172016% chg
    Africa10.97.153.9
    Asia and Pacific449.2455.0-1.3
    Europe622.2712.1-12.6
    Latin America6.44.542.0
    Middle East34.280.6-57.5
    Canada15.915.15.4
      Subtotal media outside the U.S.1,138.81,274.4-10.6
      U.S. media spending593.4667.3-11.1
      Worldwide measured media$1,732.2$1,941.7-10.8
    For data sources by country, click Sources tab at top of page. U.S. measured media from Kantar Media.
    SALES AND EARNINGS ($ in millions from public documents)
    WorldwideYear ended 12/31/2017Year ended 12/31/2016% chg
    Sales$35,000$35,0000.0
    Connections
    Mars Inc.
    6885 Elm St., McLean, Va. 22101/Phone: (703) 821-4900.
    URL: http://www.mars.com
    Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mars
    Twitter: @MarsGlobal
    Divisions, key executives and agencies

Maxingvest (Beiersdorf)

  • TOTAL WORLDWIDE AD SPENDING
    WorldwideYear ended 12/31/2017Year ended 12/31/2016% chg
    Total worldwide advertising spending (U.S. dollars in millions)$1,719$1,6563.8
    Click the Profiles tab at the top of this page to read more about this marketer. Source: Ad Age Datacenter. Beiersdorf's worldwide advertising and trade marketing expenses. Maxingvest owns 51% of Beiersdorf.
    WORLDWIDE AD SPENDING AS PERCENT OF SALES
    YearAd costs ($ in millions)Worldwide ad spending as percent of sales
    20141,975.323.6
    20151,698.422.9
    20161,656.222.2
    20171,719.521.6
    Ad costs:

    Beiersdorf's worldwide "advertising and trade marketing expenses" (also known as "advertising, retail (point of sale) marketing, and similar items") converted to U.S. dollars at average exchange rates by Ad Age Datacenter.

    2017: 1.522 billion euros.
    2016: 1.496 billion euros.
    2015: 1.529 billion euros.
    2014: 1.486 billion euros.

    Ad spending as percent of sales:

    Beiersdorf's worldwide "advertising and trade marketing expenses" (also known as"advertising, retail (point of sale) marketing, and similar items") as Beiersdorf's percent of worldwide net sales.
    MEASURED-MEDIA SPENDING BY REGION IN 2017
    By region ($ in millions)20172016% chg
    Africa39.335.610.4
    Asia and Pacific148.9166.9-10.8
    Europe1,090.21,131.7-3.7
    Latin America97.5117.3-16.9
    Middle East31.439.7-20.9
    Canada0.05.8-100.0
      Subtotal media outside the U.S.1,407.31,497.0-6.0
      U.S. media spending51.555.3-6.8
      Worldwide measured media$1,458.8$1,552.3-6.0
    For data sources by country, click Sources tab at top of page. U.S. measured media from Kantar Media.
    SALES AND EARNINGS ($ in millions from public documents)
    Maxingvest (Beiersdorf) (ETR: BEI)
    WorldwideYear ended 12/31/2017Year ended 12/31/2016% chg
    Sales$7,972$7,4756.6
    Earnings778805-3.3
    GEOGRAPHIC SALES
    Region ($ in millions)Year ended 12/31/2017Year ended 12/31/2016% chg
    Europe3,2323,1014.2
    Africa/Asia/Australia2,0571,9127.6
    North America1,2621,1935.7
    Latin America7807159.0
    Connections
    Maxingvest (Beiersdorf)
    Ticker: ETR BEI
    Alter Wandrahm 17/18, Hamburg, Germany 20457/Phone: 49 40 52 86 86 96.
    URL: http://www.maxingvest.de/index.php?id=1&language=2
    Divisions, key executives and agencies

Mazda Motor Corp.

  • TOTAL WORLDWIDE AD SPENDING
    WorldwideYear ended 3/31/2018Year ended 3/31/2017% chg
    Total worldwide advertising spending (U.S. dollars in millions)$1,081$1,0107.0
    Click the Profiles tab at the top of this page to read more about this marketer. Source: Ad Age Datacenter.
    WORLDWIDE AD SPENDING AS PERCENT OF SALES
    YearAd costs ($ in millions)Worldwide ad spending as percent of sales
    2012910.53.4
    20131,074.04.0
    20141,120.84.0
    20151,023.73.6
    20161,009.83.4
    20171,080.73.4
    Fiscal years ended March 31. Figures converted to dollars at average exchange rates by Ad Age Datacenter.

    2017: Year ended March 2018.
    2016: Year ended March 2017.
    2015: Year ended March 2016.
    2014: Year ended March 2015.
    2013: Year ended March 2014.
    2012: Year ended March 2013.

    Ad costs:

    Stated worldwide advertising costs.

    2017 (year ended March 2018): 119.684 billion yen ($1.081 billion) (3.4% of net sales).
    2016 (year ended March 2017):109.171 billion yen ($1.010 billion) (3.4%).
    2015 (year ended March 2016): 122.890 billion yen ($1.024 billion) (3.6%).
    2014 (year ended March 2015): 122.488 billion yen ($1.121 billion) (4.0%).
    2013 (year ended March 2014): 107.509 billion yen ($1.074 billion)(4.0%).
    2012 (year ended March 2013): 75.247 billion yen ($910 million) (3.4%).

    Stated worldwide spending on sales promotion:

    2017 (year ended March 2018): 50.304 billion yen ($454 million) (1.4% of net sales).
    2016 (year ended March 2017): 42.334 billion yen ($392 million) (1.3%).
    2015 (year ended March 2016): 25.652 billion yen ($214 million) (0.8%).
    2014 (year ended March 2015): 24.590 billion yen ($225 million) (0.8%).
    2013 (year ended March 2014): 24.958 billion yen ($249 million) (0.9%).
    2012 (year ended March 2013): 21.860 billion yen ($265 million) (1.0%).

    Sum: Stated worldwide advertising costs plus stated worldwide spending on sales promotion:

    2017 (year ended March 2018): 169.988 billion yen ($1.535 billion) (4.9% of net sales).
    2016 (year ended March 2017): 151.505 billion yen ($1.401 billion) (4.7%).
    2015 (year ended March 2016): 148.542 billion yen ($1.237 billion) (4.4%).
    2014 (year ended March 2015): 147.078 billion yen ($1.346 billion) (4.8%).
    2013 (year ended March 2014): 132.467 billion yen($1.323 billion) (4.9%).
    2012 (year ended March 2013): 97.107 billion yen ($1.175 billion) (4.4%).

    Ad spending as percent of sales:

    Worldwide advertising costs as percent of net sales.
    MEASURED-MEDIA SPENDING BY REGION IN 2017
    By region ($ in millions)20172016% chg
    Africa8.97.222.6
    Asia and Pacific194.7186.74.3
    Europe166.2164.31.2
    Latin America2.50.064046.9
    Middle East5.913.0-54.4
    Canada25.424.82.2
      Subtotal media outside the U.S.403.4396.01.9
      U.S. media spending200.5228.2-12.2
      Worldwide measured media$603.9$624.2-3.2
    For data sources by country, click Sources tab at top of page. U.S. measured media from Kantar Media.
    SALES AND EARNINGS ($ in millions from public documents)
    Mazda Motor Corp. (TYO: 7261)
    WorldwideYear ended 3/31/2018Year ended 3/31/2017% chg
    Sales$31,370$29,7335.5
    Earnings1,01286716.6
    GEOGRAPHIC SALES
    Region ($ in millions)Year ended 3/31/2018Year ended 3/31/2017% chg
    North America10,0629,9261.4
    Japan9,5739,4181.6
    Europe6,2785,45415.1
    Other areas5,4584,93510.6
    Connections
    Mazda Motor Corp.
    Ticker: TYO 7261
    3-1, Shinchi, Fuchu-cho, Aki-gun, Hiroshima, Japan 730-8670/Phone: 81 82 282 1111.
    URL: http://www.mazda.com
    Twitter: @MazdaUSA
    Divisions, key executives and agencies

McDonald's Corp.

  • TOTAL WORLDWIDE AD SPENDING
    WorldwideYear ended 12/31/2017Year ended 12/31/2016% chg
    Total worldwide advertising spending (U.S. dollars in millions)$3,636$3,4007.0
    Click the Profiles tab at the top of this page to read more about this marketer. Source: Ad Age Datacenter. Total worldwide advertising spending: Estimated worldwide systemwide ad spending including spending from franchisees and company-owned restaurants.
    McDonald's Corp. ranked No. 29 in 2017 total U.S. ad spending in Ad Age's Leading National Advertisers report. Click on McDonald's Corp. to see U.S. ad spending, brands and agencies from Ad Age's Marketer Trees 2018.
    WORLDWIDE AD SPENDING AS PERCENT OF SALES
    YearAd costs ($ in millions)Worldwide ad spending as percent of sales
    2010687.04.2
    2011768.64.2
    2012787.54.2
    2013808.44.3
    2014808.24.4
    2015718.74.4
    2016645.84.2
    2017532.94.2
    Ad costs:

    McDonald's Corp.'s stated worldwide advertising costs, which primarily are contributions to advertising cooperatives for company-owned stores. This spending excludes ad spending by franchisees.

    Ad spending as percent of sales:

    McDonald's Corp.'s stated worldwide advertising costs, which primarily are contributions to advertising cooperatives for company-owned stores, as percentage of "company-operated sales," also known as "sales by company-operated restaurants."
    MEASURED-MEDIA SPENDING BY REGION IN 2017
    By region ($ in millions)20172016% chg
    Africa13.516.8-19.8
    Asia and Pacific385.3432.3-10.9
    Europe792.8776.22.1
    Latin America117.182.442.1
    Middle East36.344.6-18.6
    Canada53.652.71.8
      Subtotal media outside the U.S.1,398.61,404.9-0.4
      U.S. media spending686.9756.7-9.2
      Worldwide measured media$2,085.4$2,161.5-3.5
    For data sources by country, click Sources tab at top of page. U.S. measured media from Kantar Media.
    SALES AND EARNINGS ($ in millions from public documents)
    McDonald's Corp. (NYSE: MCD)
    WorldwideYear ended 12/31/2017Year ended 12/31/2016% chg
    Sales$22,820$24,622-7.3
    Earnings5,1924,68710.8
    GEOGRAPHIC SALES (year ended 12/31/2017)
    Region ($ in millions)Year ended 12/31/2017Year ended 12/31/2016% chg
    U.S.8,0068,253-3.0
    International lead markets7,3407,2231.6
    High growth markets5,5336,161-10.2
    Foundational markets and corporate1,9412,985-35.0
    DIVISION SALES (year ended 12/31/2017)
    Division or segment sales ($ in millions)Year ended 12/31/2017Year ended 12/31/2016% chg
    Sales by company-operated restaurants12,71915,295-16.8
    Revenue from franchised restaurants10,1019,3278.3
    Connections
    McDonald's Corp.
    Ticker: NYSE MCD
    110 N. Carpenter St., Chicago, Ill. 60607/Phone: (630) 623-3000.
    URL: http://www.aboutmcdonalds.com/mcd.html
    Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mcdonalds
    Twitter: @McDonalds
    Divisions, key executives and agencies

Merck & Co.

  • TOTAL WORLDWIDE AD SPENDING
    WorldwideYear ended 12/31/2017Year ended 12/31/2016% chg
    Total worldwide advertising spending (U.S. dollars in millions)$2,200$2,1004.8
    Click the Profiles tab at the top of this page to read more about this marketer. Source: Ad Age Datacenter.
    Merck & Co. ranked No. 26 in 2017 total U.S. ad spending in Ad Age's Leading National Advertisers report. Click on Merck & Co. to see U.S. ad spending, brands and agencies from Ad Age's Marketer Trees 2018.
    WORLDWIDE AD SPENDING AS PERCENT OF SALES
    YearAd costs ($ in millions)Worldwide ad spending as percent of sales
    20122,800.05.9
    20132,500.05.7
    20142,300.05.4
    20152,100.05.3
    20162,100.05.3
    20172,200.05.5
    Ad costs:

    Stated worldwide "advertising and promotion" costs.

    Ad spending as percent of sales:

    Worldwide advertising and promotion spending as percent of sales.
    MEASURED-MEDIA SPENDING BY REGION IN 2017
    By region ($ in millions)20172016% chg
    Africa4.02.283.3
    Asia and Pacific181.2159.713.5
    Europe39.429.732.7
    Latin America0.01.8-99.8
    Middle East0.0NANA
    Canada0.011.0-100.0
      Subtotal media outside the U.S.224.7204.310.0
      U.S. media spending362.5366.6-1.1
      Worldwide measured media$587.2$571.02.8
    For data sources by country, click Sources tab at top of page. U.S. measured media from Kantar Media.
    SALES AND EARNINGS ($ in millions from public documents)
    Merck & Co. (NYSE: MRK)
    WorldwideYear ended 12/31/2017Year ended 12/31/2016% chg
    Sales$40,122$39,8070.8
    Earnings2,4183,941-38.6
    GEOGRAPHIC SALES (year ended 12/31/2017)
    Region ($ in millions)Year ended 12/31/2017Year ended 12/31/2016% chg
    U.S.17,42418,478-5.7
    Europe, Middle East and Africa11,47810,9534.8
    Asia Pacific4,3373,91810.7
    Japan3,1222,8469.7
    Latin America2,3392,1558.5
    Other1,4221,457-2.4
    DIVISION SALES (year ended 12/31/2017)
    Division or segment sales ($ in millions)Year ended 12/31/2017Year ended 12/31/2016% chg
    Pharmaceutical35,39035,1510.7
    Animal health3,8753,47811.4
    Other revenue8571,178-27.2
    Connections
    Merck & Co.
    Ticker: NYSE MRK
    2000 Galloping Hill Road, Kenilworth, N.J. 07033/Phone: (908) 740-4000.
    URL: http://www.merck.com
    Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/merckinvents
    Twitter: @Merck
    Divisions, key executives and agencies

Microsoft Corp.

  • TOTAL WORLDWIDE AD SPENDING
    WorldwideYear ended 6/30/2018Year ended 6/30/2017% chg
    Total worldwide advertising spending (U.S. dollars in millions)$1,600$1,5006.7
    Click the Profiles tab at the top of this page to read more about this marketer. Source: Ad Age Datacenter.
    Microsoft Corp. ranked No. 60 in 2017 total U.S. ad spending in Ad Age's Leading National Advertisers report. Click on Microsoft Corp. to see U.S. ad spending, brands and agencies from Ad Age's Marketer Trees 2018.
    WORLDWIDE AD SPENDING AS PERCENT OF SALES
    YearAd costs ($ in millions)Worldwide ad spending as percent of sales
    20031,060.03.3
    2004904.02.5
    2005995.02.5
    20061,230.02.8
    20071,330.02.6
    20081,200.02.0
    20091,400.02.4
    20101,600.02.6
    20111,900.02.7
    20121,600.02.2
    20132,600.03.3
    20142,300.02.6
    20151,900.02.0
    20161,600.01.8
    20171,500.01.6
    20181,600.01.4
    Fiscal years ended June 30.

    2018: Year ended June 30, 2018.

    Ad costs:

    Stated worldwide "advertising expense." Advertising expense is a subset of stated worldwide "sales and marketing expenses."

    Ad spending as percent of sales:

    Worldwide "advertising expense" as percent of sales.
    MEASURED-MEDIA SPENDING BY REGION IN 2017
    By region ($ in millions)20172016% chg
    Africa1.3NANA
    Asia and Pacific15.413.612.9
    Europe103.0134.2-23.2
    Latin America0.0NANA
    Middle East2.40.011324.2
    Canada0.05.4-100.0
      Subtotal media outside the U.S.122.1153.3-20.3
      U.S. media spending367.4630.5-41.7
      Worldwide measured media$489.5$783.8-37.5
    For data sources by country, click Sources tab at top of page. U.S. measured media from Kantar Media.
    SALES AND EARNINGS ($ in millions from public documents)
    Microsoft Corp. (Nasdaq: MSFT)
    WorldwideYear ended 6/30/2018Year ended 6/30/2017% chg
    Sales$110,360$96,57114.3
    Earnings16,57125,489-35.0
    GEOGRAPHIC SALES (year ended 6/30/2018)
    Region ($ in millions)Year ended 6/30/2018Year ended 6/30/2017% chg
    U.S.55,92651,0789.5
    Other countries54,43445,49319.7
    DIVISION SALES (year ended 6/30/2018)
    Division or segment sales ($ in millions)Year ended 6/30/2018Year ended 6/30/2017% chg
    More Personal Computing42,27639,2947.6
    Productivity and Business Processes35,86529,87020.1
    Intelligent Cloud32,21927,40717.6
    Connections
    Microsoft Corp.
    Ticker: Nasdaq MSFT
    1 Microsoft Way, Redmond, Wash. 98052-6399/Phone: (425) 882-8080.
    URL: http://www.microsoft.com
    Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/microsoft
    Twitter: @Microsoft
    Divisions, key executives and agencies

Molson Coors Brewing Co.

  • TOTAL WORLDWIDE AD SPENDING
    WorldwideYear ended 12/31/2017Year ended 12/31/2016% chg
    Total worldwide advertising spending (U.S. dollars in millions)$1,300$1,390-6.5
    Click the Profiles tab at the top of this page to read more about this marketer. Source: Ad Age Datacenter.
    Molson Coors Brewing Co. ranked No. 52 in 2017 total U.S. ad spending in Ad Age's Leading National Advertisers report. Click on Molson Coors Brewing Co. to see U.S. ad spending, brands and agencies from Ad Age's Marketer Trees 2018.
    WORLDWIDE AD SPENDING AS PERCENT OF SALES
    YearAd costs ($ in millions)Worldwide ad spending as percent of sales
    2012423.510.8
    2013447.010.6
    2014473.911.4
    2015401.611.3
    2016644.113.2
    20171,300.011.8
    Molson Coors on Oct. 11, 2016, increased its stake in MillerCoors to 100% from 42%; it began consolidating MillerCoors results on that day.

    Ad costs:

    Stated worldwide "advertising expense" for Molson Coors.

    2016: Includes MillerCoors from Oct. 11, 2016 (date of acquisition), through Dec. 31, 2016.
    2015 and earlier years: Molson Coors excluding MillerCoors.

    Ad spending as percent of sales:

    Stated "advertising expense" as percent of net sales.
    MEASURED-MEDIA SPENDING BY REGION IN 2017
    By region ($ in millions)20172016% chg
    Africa0.0NANA
    Asia and Pacific0.0NANA
    Europe33.537.5-10.7
    Latin America0.0NANA
    Middle East0.0NANA
    Canada16.525.6-35.4
      Subtotal media outside the U.S.50.063.1-20.7
      U.S. media spending429.0473.5-9.4
      Worldwide measured media$479.0$536.6-10.7
    For data sources by country, click Sources tab at top of page. U.S. measured media from Kantar Media.
    SALES AND EARNINGS ($ in millions from public documents)
    Molson Coors Brewing Co. (NYSE: TAP)
    WorldwideYear ended 12/31/2017Year ended 12/31/2016% chg
    Sales$11,003$10,9830.2
    Earnings1,413295379.5
    GEOGRAPHIC SALES (year ended 12/31/2017)
    Region ($ in millions)Year ended 12/31/2017Year ended 12/31/2016% chg
    U.S.7,4941,567378.3
    Canada1,3581,426-4.7
    U.K.1,1731,0719.5
    Other foreign countries97884715.5
    Connections
    Molson Coors Brewing Co.
    Ticker: NYSE TAP
    1801 California St., Suite 4600, Denver, Colo. 80202/Phone: (303) 927-2523.
    1555 Notre Dame St. E, Montreal, Quebec, Canada H2L 2R5/Phone: (514) 521-1786.
    URL: http://www.molsoncoors.com
    Twitter: @MolsonCoors
    Divisions, key executives and agencies

Mondelez International

  • TOTAL WORLDWIDE AD SPENDING
    WorldwideYear ended 12/31/2017Year ended 12/31/2016% chg
    Total worldwide advertising spending (U.S. dollars in millions)$1,248$1,396-10.6
    Click the Profiles tab at the top of this page to read more about this marketer. Source: Ad Age Datacenter.
    WORLDWIDE AD SPENDING AS PERCENT OF SALES
    YearAd costs ($ in millions)Worldwide ad spending as percent of sales
    20111,860.05.2
    20121,815.05.2
    20131,721.04.9
    20141,552.04.5
    20151,542.05.2
    20161,396.05.4
    20171,248.04.8
    Ad costs:

    Stated worldwide "advertising expense."

    Ad spending as percent of sales:

    Worldwide net advertising spending as percent of sales.
    MEASURED-MEDIA SPENDING BY REGION IN 2017
    By region ($ in millions)20172016% chg
    Africa21.224.4-12.9
    Asia and Pacific290.7299.8-3.0
    Europe754.9782.8-3.6
    Latin America73.465.512.1
    Middle East79.1153.6-48.5
    Canada0.020.5-100.0
      Subtotal media outside the U.S.1,219.41,346.7-9.5
      U.S. media spending159.8200.9-20.5
      Worldwide measured media$1,379.2$1,547.5-10.9
    For data sources by country, click Sources tab at top of page. U.S. measured media from Kantar Media.
    SALES AND EARNINGS ($ in millions from public documents)
    Mondelez International (Nasdaq: MDLZ)
    WorldwideYear ended 12/31/2017Year ended 12/31/2016% chg
    Sales$25,896$25,923-0.1
    Earnings2,9361,66975.9
    GEOGRAPHIC SALES
    Region ($ in millions)Year ended 12/31/2017Year ended 12/31/2016% chg
    Europe9,7949,7550.4
    North America6,7976,960-2.3
    AMEA5,7395,816-1.3
    Latin America3,5663,3925.1
    DIVISION SALES
    Division or segment sales ($ in millions)Year ended 12/31/2017Year ended 12/31/2016% chg
    Biscuits10,77210,5901.7
    Chocolate8,0997,7394.7
    Gum and candy3,6383,947-7.8
    Cheese and grocery2,0322,202-7.7
    Beverages1,3551,445-6.2
    Connections
    Mondelez International
    Ticker: Nasdaq MDLZ
    3 Parkway N, Suite 300, Deerfield, Ill. 60015/Phone: (847) 943-4000.
    URL: http://www.mondelezinternational.com
    Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mondelezinternational
    Twitter: @MDLZ
    Divisions, key executives and agencies

Nestle

  • TOTAL WORLDWIDE AD SPENDING
    WorldwideYear ended 12/31/2017Year ended 12/31/2016% chg
    Total worldwide advertising spending (U.S. dollars in millions)$7,163$7,343-2.5
    Click the Profiles tab at the top of this page to read more about this marketer. Source: Ad Age Datacenter.
    Nestle ranked No. 15 in 2017 total U.S. ad spending in Ad Age's Leading National Advertisers report. Click on Nestle to see U.S. ad spending, brands and agencies from Ad Age's Marketer Trees 2018.
    MEASURED-MEDIA SPENDING BY REGION IN 2017
    By region ($ in millions)20172016% chg
    Africa26.426.8-1.4
    Asia and Pacific524.8495.46.0
    Europe1,275.61,320.2-3.4
    Latin America94.1115.6-18.6
    Middle East75.1178.3-57.9
    Canada14.117.2-17.6
      Subtotal media outside the U.S.2,010.12,153.4-6.7
      U.S. media spending572.8621.3-7.8
      Worldwide measured media$2,582.9$2,774.7-6.9
    For data sources by country, click Sources tab at top of page. U.S. measured media from Kantar Media.
    SALES AND EARNINGS ($ in millions from public documents)
    Nestle (VTX: NESN)
    WorldwideYear ended 12/31/2017Year ended 12/31/2016% chg
    Sales$91,242$90,8710.4
    Earnings7,6609,022-15.1
    GEOGRAPHIC SALES (year ended 12/31/2017)
    Region ($ in millions)Year ended 12/31/2017Year ended 12/31/2016% chg
    Rest of world56,16655,6121.0
    U.S.27,10927,1220.0
    Greater China region6,6846,6380.7
    Switzerland1,2821,498-14.4
    DIVISION SALES (year ended 12/31/2017)
    Division or segment sales ($ in millions)Year ended 12/31/2017Year ended 12/31/2016% chg
    Powdered and liquid beverages20,73820,1023.2
    Nutrition and health science15,50415,2741.5
    Milk products and ice cream13,66414,556-6.1
    Petcare12,66312,2563.3
    Preparred dishes and cooking aids12,15012,338-1.5
    Confectionery8,9478,8151.5
    Water7,5757,5300.6
    Connections
    Nestle
    Ticker: VTX NESN
    Avenue Nestle 55, Vevey, Switzerland 1800/Phone: 41 21 924 1111.
    URL: http://www.nestle.com
    Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/nestle
    Twitter: @Nestle
    Divisions, key executives and agencies

Netflix

  • TOTAL WORLDWIDE AD SPENDING
    WorldwideYear ended 12/31/2017Year ended 12/31/2016% chg
    Total worldwide advertising spending (U.S. dollars in millions)$1,278$99129.0
    Click the Profiles tab at the top of this page to read more about this marketer. Source: Ad Age Datacenter.
    Netflix ranked No. 81 in 2017 total U.S. ad spending in Ad Age's Leading National Advertisers report. Click on Netflix to see U.S. ad spending, brands and agencies from Ad Age's Marketer Trees 2018.
    WORLDWIDE AD SPENDING AS PERCENT OF SALES
    YearAd costs ($ in millions)Worldwide ad spending as percent of sales
    2010212.49.8
    2011299.19.3
    2012351.09.7
    2013404.09.2
    2014533.19.7
    2015714.310.5
    2016842.49.5
    20171,091.19.3
    Ad costs:

    Stated worldwide "advertising expenses."

    2012: Restated in 2015 from $377.2 million.

    Ad spending as percent of sales:

    Worldwide "advertising expenses" as percent of "revenues."
    MEASURED-MEDIA SPENDING BY REGION IN 2017
    By region ($ in millions)20172016% chg
    Africa0.0NANA
    Asia and Pacific4.11.8134.5
    Europe80.461.630.4
    Latin America0.0NANA
    Middle East0.0NANA
    Canada0.0NANA
      Subtotal media outside the U.S.84.563.433.3
      U.S. media spending115.669.067.5
      Worldwide measured media$200.1$132.451.1
    For data sources by country, click Sources tab at top of page. U.S. measured media from Kantar Media.
    SALES AND EARNINGS ($ in millions from public documents)
    Netflix (Nasdaq: NFLX)
    WorldwideYear ended 12/31/2017Year ended 12/31/2016% chg
    Sales$11,693$8,83132.4
    Earnings559187199.4
    GEOGRAPHIC SALES (year ended 12/31/2017)
    Region ($ in millions)Year ended 12/31/2017Year ended 12/31/2016% chg
    U.S.6,6045,62017.5
    Rest of world5,0893,21158.5
    DIVISION SALES
    Division or segment sales ($ in millions)Year ended 12/31/2017Year ended 12/31/2016% chg
    Domestic streaming6,1535,07721.2
    International streaming5,0893,21158.5
    Domestic DVD450542-16.9
    Connections
    Netflix
    Ticker: Nasdaq NFLX
    100 Winchester Circle, Los Gatos, Calif. 95032/Phone: (408) 540-3700.
    URL: https://www.netflix.com
    Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/netflixus
    Twitter: @netflix
    Divisions, key executives and agencies

Nike

  • TOTAL WORLDWIDE AD SPENDING
    WorldwideYear ended 5/31/2018Year ended 5/31/2017% chg
    Total worldwide advertising spending (U.S. dollars in millions)$3,427$3,1678.2
    Click the Profiles tab at the top of this page to read more about this marketer. Source: Ad Age Datacenter.
    Nike ranked No. 32 in 2017 total U.S. ad spending in Ad Age's Leading National Advertisers report. Click on Nike to see U.S. ad spending, brands and agencies from Ad Age's Marketer Trees 2018.
    WORLDWIDE AD SPENDING AS PERCENT OF SALES
    YearAd costs ($ in millions)Worldwide ad spending as percent of sales
    20071,912.411.7
    20082,308.312.4
    20092,351.312.3
    20102,356.412.4
    20112,344.011.7
    20122,607.011.2
    20132,745.010.8
    20143,031.010.9
    20153,213.010.5
    20163,278.010.1
    20173,341.09.7
    20183,577.09.8
    Fiscal years ended May 31.

    2018: Year ended May 2018.

    Ad costs:

    Stated worldwide "advertising and promotion expenses" (also called "demand creation expense").

    2012: Restated from $2.711 billion.
    2011:Restated from $2.448 billion.

    Ad spending as percent of sales:

    Worldwide "advertising and promotion expenses" as percent of revenue.
    MEASURED-MEDIA SPENDING BY REGION IN 2017
    By region ($ in millions)20172016% chg
    Africa0.0NANA
    Asia and Pacific2.31.547.8
    Europe1.911.0-82.9
    Latin America0.0NANA
    Middle East0.0NANA
    Canada0.02.0-100.0
      Subtotal media outside the U.S.4.214.5-71.4
      U.S. media spending34.562.5-44.7
      Worldwide measured media$38.7$77.0-49.8
    For data sources by country, click Sources tab at top of page. U.S. measured media from Kantar Media.
    SALES AND EARNINGS ($ in millions from public documents)
    Nike (NYSE: NKE)
    WorldwideYear ended 5/31/2018Year ended 5/31/2017% chg
    Sales$36,397$34,3506.0
    Earnings1,9334,240-54.4
    GEOGRAPHIC SALES (year ended 5/31/2018)
    Region ($ in millions)Year ended 5/31/2018Year ended 5/31/2017% chg
    North America14,85515,216-2.4
    Europe, Middle East, Africa9,2427,97016.0
    Asia Pacific and Latin America5,1664,7379.1
    Greater China5,1344,23721.2
    Converse1,8862,042-7.6
    Global brand divisions887320.5
    Corporate2675-65.3
    DIVISION SALES (year ended 5/31/2018)
    Division or segment sales ($ in millions)Year ended 5/31/2018Year ended 5/31/2017% chg
    Footwear22,26821,0815.6
    Apparel10,7339,65411.2
    Converse1,8862,042-7.6
    Equipment1,3961,425-2.0
    Global Brand Divisions887320.5
    Corporate2675-65.3
    Connections
    Nike
    Ticker: NYSE NKE
    1 Bowerman Drive, Beaverton, Ore. 97005/Phone: (503) 671-6453.
    URL: http://www.nike.com
    Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/nike
    Twitter: @Nike
    Divisions, key executives and agencies

Nissan Motor Co.

  • TOTAL WORLDWIDE AD SPENDING
    WorldwideYear ended 3/31/2018Year ended 3/31/2017% chg
    Total worldwide advertising spending (U.S. dollars in millions)$2,748$2,899-5.2
    Click the Profiles tab at the top of this page to read more about this marketer. Source: Ad Age Datacenter.
    Nissan Motor Co. ranked No. 40 in 2017 total U.S. ad spending in Ad Age's Leading National Advertisers report. Click on Nissan Motor Co. to see U.S. ad spending, brands and agencies from Ad Age's Marketer Trees 2018.
    WORLDWIDE AD SPENDING AS PERCENT OF SALES
    YearAd costs ($ in millions)Worldwide ad spending as percent of sales
    20132,888.12.8
    20143,081.63.0
    20152,850.62.8
    20162,899.02.7
    20172,748.12.5
    Fiscal years ended March 31. Figures converted to dollars at average exchange rates by Ad Age Datacenter.

    2017: Year ended March 2018 (fiscal 2017).
    2016: Year ended March 2017.
    2015: Year ended March 2016).
    2014: Year ended March 2015.
    2013: Year ended March 2014.
    2012: Year ended March 2013.
    2011: Year ended March 2012.
    2010: Year ended March 2011.
    2009: Year ended March 2010.
    2008: Year ended March 2009.
    2007: Year ended March 2008.
    2006: Year ended March 2007.

    Ad costs:

    Stated worldwide "advertising expenses."

    2017: 304.328 billion yen.
    2016: 313.406 billion yen.
    2015: 342.213 billion yen.
    2014: 336.792 billion yen.
    2013: 289.098 billion yen.
    2012: 214.076 billion yen(restated from 229.067 billion yen or $2.772 billion).
    2011: 203.650 billion yen.
    2010: 187.490 billion yen.
    2009: 158.451 billion yen.
    2008: 223.542 billion yen.
    2007: 275.857 billion yen.
    2006: 274.833 billion yen.

    Ad spending as percent of sales:

    Worldwide "advertising expenses" as percent of "net sales."



    MEASURED-MEDIA SPENDING BY REGION IN 2017
    By region ($ in millions)20172016% chg
    Africa9.17.718.6
    Asia and Pacific349.7368.7-5.2
    Europe571.2605.4-5.6
    Latin America67.670.5-4.1
    Middle East14.642.8-65.7
    Canada49.649.40.3
      Subtotal media outside the U.S.1,061.91,144.5-7.2
      U.S. media spending591.7773.6-23.5
      Worldwide measured media$1,653.7$1,918.1-13.8
    For data sources by country, click Sources tab at top of page. U.S. measured media from Kantar Media.
    SALES AND EARNINGS ($ in millions from public documents)
    Nissan Motor Co. (TYO: 7201)
    WorldwideYear ended 3/31/2018Year ended 3/31/2017% chg
    Sales$107,919$108,410-0.5
    Earnings6,7446,1379.9
    GEOGRAPHIC SALES (year ended 3/31/2018)
    Region ($ in millions)Year ended 3/31/2018Year ended 3/31/2017% chg
    North America52,73453,721-1.8
    Europe16,66315,4507.9
    Japan16,62716,908-1.7
    Asia (excluding Japan)11,55311,664-0.9
    Other overseas countries10,34210,667-3.0
    DIVISION SALES (year ended 3/31/2018)
    Division or segment sales ($ in millions)Year ended 3/31/2018Year ended 3/31/2017% chg
    Automobile97,99399,628-1.6
    Sales financing9,9268,78213.0
    Connections
    Nissan Motor Co.
    Ticker: TYO 7201
    1-1, Takashima 1-chome, Nishi-ku, Yokohama-shi, Kanagawa, Japan 220-8686/Phone: 81 45 523 5523.
    URL: http://www.nissan-global.com/EN
    Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/nissan
    Twitter: @Nissan
    Divisions, key executives and agencies

Novartis

  • TOTAL WORLDWIDE AD SPENDING
    WorldwideYear ended 12/31/2017Year ended 12/31/2016% chg
    Total worldwide advertising spending (U.S. dollars in millions)$1,473$1,4561.2
    Click the Profiles tab at the top of this page to read more about this marketer. Source: Ad Age Datacenter.
    MEASURED-MEDIA SPENDING BY REGION IN 2017
    By region ($ in millions)20172016% chg
    Africa4.22.846.1
    Asia and Pacific68.872.0-4.4
    Europe257.2207.524.0
    Latin America0.00.0-60.1
    Middle East10.814.5-25.8
    Canada0.08.7-100.0
      Subtotal media outside the U.S.340.9305.511.6
      U.S. media spending373.7332.612.4
      Worldwide measured media$714.7$638.112.0
    For data sources by country, click Sources tab at top of page. U.S. measured media from Kantar Media.
    SALES AND EARNINGS ($ in millions from public documents)
    Novartis (VTX: NOVN)
    WorldwideYear ended 12/31/2017Year ended 12/31/2016% chg
    Sales$49,109$48,5181.2
    Earnings7,7036,69815.0
    GEOGRAPHIC SALES
    Region ($ in millions)Year ended 12/31/2017Year ended 12/31/2016% chg
    Europe17,49217,0792.4
    U.S.16,93517,117-1.1
    Asia, Africa and Australasia10,71810,4412.7
    Canada and Latin America3,9643,8812.1
    DIVISION SALES
    Division or segment sales ($ in millions)Year ended 12/31/2017Year ended 12/31/2016% chg
    Innovative Medicines32,02532,562-1.6
    Sandoz10,06010,144-0.8
    Alcon6,0245,8123.6
    Connections
    Novartis
    Ticker: VTX NOVN
    Forum 1, Novartis Campus, Basel, Switzerland CH-4056/Phone: 41 61 324 1111.
    URL: http://www.novartis.com
    Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/novartis
    Twitter: @Novartis
    Divisions, key executives and agencies

PepsiCo

  • TOTAL WORLDWIDE AD SPENDING
    WorldwideYear ended 12/26/2017Year ended 12/26/2016% chg
    Total worldwide advertising spending (U.S. dollars in millions)$2,400$2,500-4.0
    Click the Profiles tab at the top of this page to read more about this marketer. Source: Ad Age Datacenter.
    PepsiCo ranked No. 34 in 2017 total U.S. ad spending in Ad Age's Leading National Advertisers report. Click on PepsiCo to see U.S. ad spending, brands and agencies from Ad Age's Marketer Trees 2018.
    WORLDWIDE AD SPENDING AS PERCENT OF SALES
    YearAd costs ($ in millions)Worldwide ad spending as percent of sales
    20111,900.03.3
    20122,200.03.4
    20132,400.03.6
    20142,300.03.4
    20152,400.03.8
    20162,500.04.0
    20172,400.03.8
    Ad costs:

    Stated worldwide advertising expenses. These stated worldwide ad expenses include media, talent, production and promotional materials.

    Ad spending as percent of sales:

    Worldwide advertising spending as percent of net revenue.
    MEASURED-MEDIA SPENDING BY REGION IN 2017
    By region ($ in millions)20172016% chg
    Africa13.411.913.0
    Asia and Pacific231.5293.3-21.1
    Europe375.0335.411.8
    Latin America48.379.4-39.2
    Middle East51.092.6-44.9
    Canada26.426.5-0.5
      Subtotal media outside the U.S.745.6839.1-11.1
      U.S. media spending888.1978.2-9.2
      Worldwide measured media$1,633.7$1,817.3-10.1
    For data sources by country, click Sources tab at top of page. U.S. measured media from Kantar Media.
    SALES AND EARNINGS ($ in millions from public documents)
    PepsiCo (Nasdaq: PEP)
    WorldwideYear ended 12/26/2017Year ended 12/26/2016% chg
    Sales$63,525$62,7991.2
    Earnings4,8576,329-23.3
    GEOGRAPHIC SALES (year ended 12/26/2017)
    Region ($ in millions)Year ended 12/26/2017Year ended 12/26/2016% chg
    U.S.36,54636,732-0.5
    All other countries14,32914,2540.5
    Mexico3,6503,4316.4
    Russia3,2322,64822.1
    Canada2,6912,6920.0
    U.K.1,6501,737-5.0
    Brazil1,4271,3059.3
    DIVISION SALES (year ended 12/26/2017)
    Division or segment sales ($ in millions)Year ended 12/26/2017Year ended 12/26/2016% chg
    North American Beverages20,93621,312-1.8
    Frito-Lay North America15,79815,5491.6
    Europe Sub-Saharan Africa11,05010,2168.2
    Latin America7,2086,8205.7
    Asia, Middle East and North Africa6,0306,338-4.9
    Quaker Foods North America (QFNA)2,5032,564-2.4
    Connections
    PepsiCo
    Ticker: Nasdaq PEP
    700 Anderson Hill Road, Purchase, N.Y. 10577/Phone: (914) 253-2000.
    URL: http://www.pepsico.com
    Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pepsico
    Twitter: @PepsiCo
    Divisions, key executives and agencies

Pernod Ricard

  • TOTAL WORLDWIDE AD SPENDING
    WorldwideYear ended 6/30/2018Year ended 6/30/2017% chg
    Total worldwide advertising spending (U.S. dollars in millions)$2,053$1,84411.4
    Click the Profiles tab at the top of this page to read more about this marketer. Source: Ad Age Datacenter. Total worldwide advertising spending: Advertising and promotion.
    WORLDWIDE AD SPENDING AS PERCENT OF SALES
    YearAd costs ($ in millions)Worldwide ad spending as percent of sales
    20122,106.019.1
    20132,126.719.2
    20142,039.518.9
    20151,955.519.0
    20161,827.519.0
    20171,843.718.8
    20182,053.219.1
    Fiscal years.

    2018: Year ended June 30, 2018.
    2017: Year ended June 30, 2017.
    2016: Year ended June 30, 2016.
    2015: Year ended June 30, 2015.
    2014: Year ended June 30, 2014.
    2013: Year ended June 30, 2013.
    2012:Year ended June 30, 2012.

    Ad costs:

    Worldwide "advertising and promotion investments" converted to dollars by Ad Age Datacenter at average exchange rates.

    2018: 1.720 billion euros.
    2017: 1.691 billion euros.
    2016: 1.646 billion euros.
    2015: 1.625 billion euros.
    2014: 1.503 billion euros.
    2013: 1.644 billion euros.
    2012: 1.571 billion euros.

    Ad spending as percent of sales:

    Worldwide advertising and promotional expenses as percent of net sales.
    MEASURED-MEDIA SPENDING BY REGION IN 2017
    By region ($ in millions)20172016% chg
    Africa10.58.227.6
    Asia and Pacific0.0NANA
    Europe58.465.6-11.0
    Latin America0.0NANA
    Middle East0.0NANA
    Canada0.0NANA
      Subtotal media outside the U.S.68.973.8-6.7
      U.S. media spending23.118.227.0
      Worldwide measured media$92.0$92.00.0
    For data sources by country, click Sources tab at top of page. U.S. measured media from Kantar Media.
    SALES AND EARNINGS ($ in millions from public documents)
    WorldwideYear ended 6/30/2018Year ended 6/30/2017% chg
    Sales$10,728$9,8249.2
    Earnings1,9141,54923.5
    GEOGRAPHIC SALES (year ended 6/30/2018)
    Region ($ in millions)Year ended 6/30/2018Year ended 6/30/2017% chg
    Asia/Rest of world4,3553,89011.9
    Europe3,3333,0329.9
    Americas3,0392,9014.8
    DIVISION SALES
    Division or segment sales ($ in millions)Year ended 6/30/2018Year ended 6/30/2017% chg
    Strategic International Brands6,7126,05710.8
    Strategic Local Brands2,0501,8729.5
    Other products1,3921,3532.9
    Strategic Wines5735416.0
    Connections
    Pernod Ricard
    12 place des Etats-Unis, Paris, France 75783/Phone: 33 1 41 00 41 00.
    URL: http://pernod-ricard.com
    Twitter: @Pernod_Ricard
    Divisions, key executives and agencies

Pfizer

  • TOTAL WORLDWIDE AD SPENDING
    WorldwideYear ended 12/31/2017Year ended 12/31/2016% chg
    Total worldwide advertising spending (U.S. dollars in millions)$3,100$3,200-3.1
    Click the Profiles tab at the top of this page to read more about this marketer. Source: Ad Age Datacenter.
    Pfizer ranked No. 16 in 2017 total U.S. ad spending in Ad Age's Leading National Advertisers report. Click on Pfizer to see U.S. ad spending, brands and agencies from Ad Age's Marketer Trees 2018.
    WORLDWIDE AD SPENDING AS PERCENT OF SALES
    YearAd costs ($ in millions)Worldwide ad spending as percent of sales
    20122,800.05.1
    20133,000.05.8
    20143,100.06.2
    20153,100.06.3
    20163,200.06.1
    20173,100.05.9
    Ad costs:

    Stated worldwide advertising expenses (including TV, radio and print media costs and production costs).

    2012: Restated in 2014 from $2.9 billion.
    2011: Restated in 2013 from $3.9 billion.
    2010: Including 12 months of Wyeth advertising; restated in 2013 from $4.0 billion.
    2009: Including 2.5 months of Wyeth advertising.

    Ad spending as percent of sales:

    Worldwide advertising spending as percent of sales.
    MEASURED-MEDIA SPENDING BY REGION IN 2017
    By region ($ in millions)20172016% chg
    Africa5.14.222.3
    Asia and Pacific341.7293.316.5
    Europe278.2277.50.2
    Latin America23.341.4-43.7
    Middle East0.0NANA
    Canada16.114.88.4
      Subtotal media outside the U.S.664.3631.25.2
      U.S. media spending1,551.61,641.0-5.4
      Worldwide measured media$2,215.9$2,272.2-2.5
    For data sources by country, click Sources tab at top of page. U.S. measured media from Kantar Media.
    SALES AND EARNINGS ($ in millions from public documents)
    Pfizer (NYSE: PFE)
    WorldwideYear ended 12/31/2017Year ended 12/31/2016% chg
    Sales$52,546$52,824-0.5
    Earnings21,3087,215195.3
    GEOGRAPHIC SALES (year ended 12/31/2017)
    Region ($ in millions)Year ended 12/31/2017Year ended 12/31/2016% chg
    U.S.26,02626,369-1.3
    Emerging markets11,39910,4209.4
    Developed Europe8,5089,306-8.6
    Developed rest of world6,6126,729-1.7
    DIVISION SALES (year ended 12/31/2017)
    Division or segment sales ($ in millions)Year ended 12/31/2017Year ended 12/31/2016% chg
    Pfizer Innovative Health31,42229,1977.6
    Pfizer Essential Health21,12423,627-10.6
    Connections
    Pfizer
    Ticker: NYSE PFE
    235 E. 42nd St., New York, N.Y. 10017/Phone: (212) 733-2323.
    URL: http://www.pfizer.com
    Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pfizer
    Twitter: @pfizer
    Divisions, key executives and agencies

Procter & Gamble Co.

  • TOTAL WORLDWIDE AD SPENDING
    WorldwideYear ended 6/30/2018Year ended 6/30/2017% chg
    Total worldwide advertising spending (U.S. dollars in millions)$10,539$10,4550.8
    Click the Profiles tab at the top of this page to read more about this marketer. Source: Ad Age Datacenter.
    Procter & Gamble Co. ranked No. 2 in 2017 total U.S. ad spending in Ad Age's Leading National Advertisers report. Click on Procter & Gamble Co. to see U.S. ad spending, brands and agencies from Ad Age's Marketer Trees 2018.
    WORLDWIDE AD SPENDING AS PERCENT OF SALES
    YearAd costs ($ in millions)Worldwide ad spending as percent of sales
    19871,386.08.2
    19881,594.08.2
    19891,660.07.8
    19902,059.08.6
    19912,511.09.3
    19922,693.09.2
    19932,973.09.7
    19942,996.09.9
    19953,284.09.8
    19963,374.09.6
    19973,414.09.5
    19983,638.09.8
    19993,471.09.5
    20003,828.09.9
    20013,654.09.7
    20023,696.09.5
    20034,406.010.5
    20045,401.010.8
    20055,804.010.9
    20067,010.010.9
    20077,714.010.9
    20088,426.010.8
    20097,330.010.0
    20108,162.011.1
    20117,713.010.9
    20127,839.010.7
    20138,188.011.1
    20147,867.010.6
    20157,180.010.1
    20167,243.011.1
    20177,118.010.9
    20187,103.010.6
    Fiscal years ended June 30.

    2018: Year ended June 30, 2018.

    Sales and ad costs are from P&G 10-Ks and annual reports; some data reflect P&G's restated figures.

    Sales:

    Worldwide sales.

    2011-2015 restated in 2016.
    2010-2014 restated in 2015.
    2009-2013 restated in 2014.

    Ad costs:

    Stated worldwide "advertising expense." Stated advertising expense includes worldwide TV, print, radio, internet and in-store advertising expenses.

    2011-2015 restated in 2016.
    2015: Restated in 2016 from $8.290 billion.
    2014: Restated in 2016 from $8.979 billion.
    2013: Restated in 2016 from $9.364 billion.
    2012: Restated in 2016 from $8.981 billion.
    2011: Restated in 2016 from $8.868 billion.

    2010-2014 restated in 2015.
    2014 restated in 2015 from $9.236 billion.
    2013 restated in 2015 from $9.612 billion.
    2012 restated in 2015 from $9.222 billion.
    2011 restated in 2015 from $9.086 billion.
    2010 restated in 2015 from $8.338 billion.

    2009-2013 restated in 2014.
    2013 restated in 2014 from $9.729 billion.
    2012 restated in 2014 from $9.345 billion.
    2011 restated in 2014 from $9.210 billion.
    2010 restated in 2014 from $8.475 billion.
    2009 Restated in 2014 from $7.453 billion.

    Ad spending as percent of sales:

    Worldwide "advertising expense" as percent of net sales.
    MEASURED-MEDIA SPENDING BY REGION IN 2017
    By region ($ in millions)20172016% chg
    Africa50.749.91.7
    Asia and Pacific2,170.82,332.9-6.9
    Europe4,015.13,524.013.9
    Latin America397.1360.710.1
    Middle East365.7512.2-28.6
    Canada106.5110.8-3.8
      Subtotal media outside the U.S.7,106.06,890.53.1
      U.S. media spending2,659.92,296.915.8
      Worldwide measured media$9,765.9$9,187.46.3
    For data sources by country, click Sources tab at top of page. U.S. measured media from Kantar Media.
    SALES AND EARNINGS ($ in millions from public documents)
    Procter & Gamble Co. (NYSE: PG)
    WorldwideYear ended 6/30/2018Year ended 6/30/2017% chg
    Sales$66,832$65,0582.7
    Earnings9,75015,326-36.4
    GEOGRAPHIC SALES (year ended 6/30/2018)
    Region ($ in millions)Year ended 6/30/2018Year ended 6/30/2017% chg
    North America29,40629,2760.4
    Europe16,04014,9637.2
    Asia Pacific6,0155,8552.7
    Greater China6,0155,20515.6
    Latin America4,6785,205-10.1
    India, Middle East, Africa4,6784,5542.7
    DIVISION SALES (year ended 6/30/2018)
    Division or segment sales ($ in millions)Year ended 6/30/2018Year ended 6/30/2017% chg
    Fabric and home care21,44120,7173.5
    Baby, feminine and family care18,08018,252-0.9
    Beauty12,40611,4298.5
    Health care7,8577,5134.6
    Grooming6,5516,642-1.4
    Corporate497505-1.6
    Connections
    Procter & Gamble Co.
    Ticker: NYSE PG
    1 Procter & Gamble Plaza, Cincinnati, Ohio 45202/Phone: (513) 983-1100.
    URL: http://www.pg.com
    Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/proctergamble
    Twitter: @ProcterGamble
    Divisions, key executives and agencies

PSA Group (Peugeot, Citroen, Opel, Vauxhall)

  • TOTAL WORLDWIDE AD SPENDING
    WorldwideYear ended 12/31/2017Year ended 12/31/2016% chg
    Total worldwide advertising spending (U.S. dollars in millions)$2,471$2,3754.1
    Click the Profiles tab at the top of this page to read more about this marketer. Source: Ad Age Datacenter.
    MEASURED-MEDIA SPENDING BY REGION IN 2017
    By region ($ in millions)20172016% chg
    Africa1.80.6210.9
    Asia and Pacific3.61.8103.5
    Europe2,004.41,972.71.6
    Latin America9.434.9-73.1
    Middle East1.03.1-68.3
    Canada0.0NANA
      Subtotal media outside the U.S.2,020.22,013.10.4
      U.S. media spending0.0NANA
      Worldwide measured media$2,020.2$2,013.10.4
    For data sources by country, click Sources tab at top of page. U.S. measured media from Kantar Media.
    SALES AND EARNINGS ($ in millions from public documents)
    PSA Group (Peugeot, Citroen, Opel, Vauxhall) (EPA: UG)
    WorldwideYear ended 12/31/2017Year ended 12/31/2016% chg
    Sales$73,672$59,81723.2
    Earnings-269-297NA
    GEOGRAPHIC SALES
    Region ($ in millions)Year ended 12/31/2017Year ended 12/31/2016% chg
    Europe53,96043,13225.1
    Latin America5,3314,18627.4
    North America5,1265,0052.4
    China and South Asia3,8853,53310.0
    Middle East and Africa3,3722,57231.1
    India Pacific1,4541,01443.4
    Eurasia54337544.8
    DIVISION SALES
    Division or segment sales ($ in millions)Year ended 12/31/2017Year ended 12/31/2016% chg
    Automotive Peugeot Citrodn DS46,02141,03612.1
    Faurecia22,80120,71410.1
    Automotive Opel Vauxhall8,1770NA
    Other business and eliminations-3,327-1,933NA
    Connections
    PSA Group (Peugeot, Citroen, Opel, Vauxhall)
    Ticker: EPA UG
    Rueil Management Centre, 7, rue Henri Ste Claire Deville, Rueil-Malmaison, France 92563/Phone: 33 1 55 94 81 00.
    URL: https://www.groupe-psa.com/en/
    Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groupepsa
    Twitter: @groupePSA
    Divisions, key executives and agencies

Rakuten

  • TOTAL WORLDWIDE AD SPENDING
    WorldwideYear ended 12/31/2017Year ended 12/31/2016% chg
    Total worldwide advertising spending (U.S. dollars in millions)$1,359$1,11821.6
    Click the Profiles tab at the top of this page to read more about this marketer. Source: Ad Age Datacenter.
    WORLDWIDE AD SPENDING AS PERCENT OF SALES
    YearAd costs ($ in millions)Worldwide ad spending as percent of sales
    2014795.214.0
    2015831.614.1
    20161,118.315.5
    20171,359.316.1
    Ad costs:

    Stated worldwide "advertising and promotion expenditures" converted to U.S. dollars by Ad Age Datacenter at average exchange rates.

    2017: 152.383 billion yen.
    2016: 121.286 billion yen.
    2015: 100.554 billion yen.
    2014: 83.884 billion yen.

    Ad spending as percent of sales:

    Worldwide "advertising and promotion expenditures" as percent of "revenue."
    MEASURED-MEDIA SPENDING BY REGION IN 2017
    By region ($ in millions)20172016% chg
    Africa0.0NANA
    Asia and Pacific1,079.8894.520.7
    Europe0.0NANA
    Latin America0.0NANA
    Middle East0.0NANA
    Canada0.0NANA
      Subtotal media outside the U.S.1,079.8894.520.7
      U.S. media spending0.10.1-36.1
      Worldwide measured media$1,079.9$894.620.7
    For data sources by country, click Sources tab at top of page. U.S. measured media from Kantar Media.
    SALES AND EARNINGS ($ in millions from public documents)
    Rakuten (TYO: 4755)
    WorldwideYear ended 12/31/2017Year ended 12/31/2016% chg
    Sales$8,425$7,20916.9
    Earnings986350181.3
    GEOGRAPHIC SALES
    Region ($ in millions)Year ended 12/31/2017Year ended 12/31/2016% chg
    Japan6,6935,76716.1
    Americas1,3281,11219.4
    Europe23820814.6
    Others16612235.9
    DIVISION SALES (year ended 12/31/2017)
    Division or segment sales ($ in millions)Year ended 12/31/2017Year ended 12/31/2016% chg
    Other4,8523,86225.6
    Rakuten Ichiba and Rakuten Travel1,8841,7945.0
    Rakuten Card1,1301,00312.6
    Rakuten Bank5585501.6
    Connections
    Rakuten
    Ticker: TYO 4755
    Rakuten Crimson House, 1-14-1 Tamagawa, Setagaya-ku, Tokyo, Japan 158-0094/Phone: 81 50 5581 6910.
    URL: http://global.rakuten.com/en/
    Divisions, key executives and agencies

RB (Reckitt Benckiser Group)

  • TOTAL WORLDWIDE AD SPENDING
    WorldwideYear ended 12/31/2017Year ended 12/31/2016% chg
    Total worldwide advertising spending (U.S. dollars in millions)$2,435$2,458-0.9
    Click the Profiles tab at the top of this page to read more about this marketer. Source: Ad Age Datacenter.
    RB (Reckitt Benckiser Group) ranked No. 77 in 2017 total U.S. ad spending in Ad Age's Leading National Advertisers report. Click on RB (Reckitt Benckiser Group) to see U.S. ad spending, brands and agencies from Ad Age's Marketer Trees 2018.
    WORLDWIDE AD SPENDING AS PERCENT OF SALES
    YearAd costs ($ in millions)Worldwide ad spending as percent of sales
    20111,679.812.0
    20121,757.912.7
    20131,885.013.0
    20141,878.612.9
    20151,723.412.7
    20161,748.713.6
    20172,076.914.0
    Converted to dollars at average exchange rates.

    Figures exclude RB Pharmaceuticals, which RB in 2014 spun off as a separate company.

    Ad costs:

    Stated worldwide spending on "brand equity investment." Ad Age Datacenter calculated RB's worldwide brand equity investment based on RB disclosures, translating figures into dollars at average exchange rates.

    2017: 1.543 billion pounds.
    2016: 1.289 billion pounds (restated).
    2015: 1.127 billion pounds.
    2014: 1.140 billion pounds.
    2013: 1.205 billion pounds.
    2012: 1.109 billion pounds.
    2011: 1.047 billion pounds.

    Ad spending as percent of sales:

    Worldwide brand-equity spending as percent of revenue.
    MEASURED-MEDIA SPENDING BY REGION IN 2017
    By region ($ in millions)20172016% chg
    Africa52.458.7-10.6
    Asia and Pacific611.2533.614.5
    Europe1,620.91,523.76.4
    Latin America134.5124.28.3
    Middle East230.8266.1-13.3
    Canada10.04.6117.7
      Subtotal media outside the U.S.2,659.82,510.95.9
      U.S. media spending322.3314.12.6
      Worldwide measured media$2,982.1$2,825.05.6
    For data sources by country, click Sources tab at top of page. U.S. measured media from Kantar Media.
    SALES AND EARNINGS ($ in millions from public documents)
    RB (Reckitt Benckiser Group) (LON: RB)
    WorldwideYear ended 12/31/2017Year ended 12/31/2016% chg
    Sales$14,835$12,85815.4
    Earnings7,9752,490220.3
    GEOGRAPHIC SALES (year ended 12/31/2017)
    Region ($ in millions)Year ended 12/31/2017Year ended 12/31/2016% chg
    All other countries9,2288,7655.3
    U.S.3,6303,09117.4
    Greater China1,0540NA
    U.K.9231,002-7.9
    DIVISION SALES (year ended 12/31/2017)
    Division or segment sales ($ in millions)Year ended 12/31/2017Year ended 12/31/2016% chg
    Health6,5594,51945.1
    Hygiene5,5585,5150.8
    Home2,3972,479-3.3
    Portfolio brands321345-6.9
    Connections
    RB (Reckitt Benckiser Group)
    Ticker: LON RB
    103-105 Bath Road, Slough, Berkshire, U.K. SL1 3UH/Phone: 44 1753 217800.
    URL: http://www.rb.com
    Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/discoverrb
    Twitter: @discoverRB
    Divisions, key executives and agencies

Recruit Holdings Co.

  • TOTAL WORLDWIDE AD SPENDING
    WorldwideYear ended 3/31/2018Year ended 3/31/2017% chg
    Total worldwide advertising spending (U.S. dollars in millions)$1,647$1,41316.5
    Click the Profiles tab at the top of this page to read more about this marketer. Source: Ad Age Datacenter.
    WORLDWIDE AD SPENDING AS PERCENT OF SALES
    YearAd costs ($ in millions)Worldwide ad spending as percent of sales
    2011566.35.5
    2012688.85.5
    2013718.36.0
    2014720.16.1
    2015817.26.2
    20161,005.55.6
    20171,247.06.4
    Years ended March 31.

    2017: Year ended March 31, 2018.

    Recruit changed its accounting to International Financial Reporting Standards from Japanese generally accepted accounting principles effective for year ended March 2018.

    Ad costs:

    Worldwide "advertising expenses" converted to U.S. dollars by Ad Age Datacenter at average exchange rates.

    2017: 138.1 billion yen (IFRS).
    2016: 108.7 billion yen (IFRS); 104.1 billion yen (Japanese GAAP)
    2015: 98.1 billion yen (Japanese GAAP).
    2014: 78.7 billion yen (Japanese GAAP).
    2013: 71.9 billion yen (Japanese GAAP).
    2012: 57.4 billion yen (Japanese GAAP).
    2011: 44.7 billion yen (Japanese GAAP).

    Ad spending as percent of sales:

    Worldwide"advertising expenses" as percent of "revenue" (2016 and after); worldwide "advertising expenses" as percent of "net sales" (2011-2015).
    MEASURED-MEDIA SPENDING BY REGION IN 2017
    By region ($ in millions)20172016% chg
    Africa0.0NANA
    Asia and Pacific888.4800.311.0
    Europe0.0NANA
    Latin America0.0NANA
    Middle East0.0NANA
    Canada0.0NANA
      Subtotal media outside the U.S.888.4800.311.0
      U.S. media spending123.419.3538.9
      Worldwide measured media$1,011.8$819.623.4
    For data sources by country, click Sources tab at top of page. U.S. measured media from Kantar Media.
    SALES AND EARNINGS ($ in millions from public documents)
    Recruit Holdings Co. (TYO: 6098)
    WorldwideYear ended 3/31/2018Year ended 3/31/2017% chg
    Sales$19,626$17,9639.3
    Earnings1,3751,2698.4
    GEOGRAPHIC SALES (year ended 3/31/2018)
    Region ($ in millions)Year ended 3/31/2018Year ended 3/31/2017% chg
    Japan10,58510,1714.1
    Other5,5944,71618.6
    U.S.3,4463,07612.0
    DIVISION SALES (year ended 3/31/2018)
    Division or segment sales ($ in millions)Year ended 3/31/2018Year ended 3/31/2017% chg
    Staffing11,72810,8308.3
    Media & Solutions6,1396,0880.8
    HR Technology1,9731,22760.7
    Eliminations and adjustments-217-183NA
    Connections
    Recruit Holdings Co.
    Ticker: TYO 6098
    1-9-2 Marunouchi, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo, Japan 100-6640/Phone: 81 3 6835 1111.
    URL: http://www.recruit-holdings.com
    Divisions, key executives and agencies

Renault

  • TOTAL WORLDWIDE AD SPENDING
    WorldwideYear ended 12/31/2017Year ended 12/31/2016% chg
    Total worldwide advertising spending (U.S. dollars in millions)$1,859$1,7009.4
    Click the Profiles tab at the top of this page to read more about this marketer. Source: Ad Age Datacenter.
    MEASURED-MEDIA SPENDING BY REGION IN 2017
    By region ($ in millions)20172016% chg
    Africa18.37.9130.8
    Asia and Pacific85.794.3-9.1
    Europe1,191.41,153.83.3
    Latin America78.377.01.7
    Middle East18.613.835.3
    Canada0.0NANA
      Subtotal media outside the U.S.1,392.31,346.83.4
      U.S. media spending0.00.0119.5
      Worldwide measured media$1,392.3$1,346.83.4
    For data sources by country, click Sources tab at top of page. U.S. measured media from Kantar Media.
    SALES AND EARNINGS ($ in millions from public documents)
    Renault (EPA: RNO)
    WorldwideYear ended 12/31/2017Year ended 12/31/2016% chg
    Sales$66,396NANA
    Earnings5,886NANA
    GEOGRAPHIC SALES
    Region ($ in millions)Year ended 12/31/2017Year ended 12/31/2016% chg
    Europe40,95336,75011.4
    Eurasia8,5844,65984.3
    Americas7,6524,64364.8
    Africa, Middle East, India5,0974,6639.3
    Asia-Pacific4,1106,016-31.7
    DIVISION SALES (year ended 12/31/2017)
    Division or segment sales ($ in millions)Year ended 12/31/2017Year ended 12/31/2016% chg
    Automotive63,55754,24217.2
    sales financing2,8392,48914.1
    Connections
    Renault
    Ticker: EPA RNO
    13-15, quai Le Gallo, Boulogne-Billancourt, France 92100/Phone: 33 1 76 84 04 04.
    URL: http://www.group.renault.com
    Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/renault
    Twitter: @Groupe_Renault
    Divisions, key executives and agencies

Restaurant Brands International

  • TOTAL WORLDWIDE AD SPENDING
    WorldwideYear ended 12/31/2017Year ended 12/31/2016% chg
    Total worldwide advertising spending (U.S. dollars in millions)$1,179$1,0848.7
    Click the Profiles tab at the top of this page to read more about this marketer. Source: Ad Age Datacenter.
    Restaurant Brands International ranked No. 86 in 2017 total U.S. ad spending in Ad Age's Leading National Advertisers report. Click on Restaurant Brands International to see U.S. ad spending, brands and agencies from Ad Age's Marketer Trees 2018.
    WORLDWIDE AD SPENDING AS PERCENT OF SALES
    YearAd costs ($ in millions)Worldwide ad spending as percent of sales
    200787.5NA
    200891.5NA
    200993.3NA
    201091.3NA
    201178.2NA
    201248.3NA
    20136.2NA
    20142.4NA
    201513.7NA
    20165.5NA
    20177.4NA
    Years:

    2016: Calendar year.
    2015: Calendar year.
    2014: Calendar year.
    2013: Calendar year.
    2012: Calendar year.
    2011: Calendar year.
    2010: Fiscal year ended June 30, 2010.
    2009: Fiscal year ended June 30, 2009.
    2008: Fiscal year ended June 30, 2008.
    2007: Fiscal year ended June 30, 2007.

    Ad costs:

    2014 to present:

    Stated worldwide "advertising expense," consisting primarily of advertising contributions by company-owned restaurants based on a percentage of gross sales.

    2007-2013:

    Stated worldwide ad expense, net of (that is, excluding) franchisee contributions, for predecessor company Burger King Worldwide.
    MEASURED-MEDIA SPENDING BY REGION IN 2017
    By region ($ in millions)20172016% chg
    Africa2.41.929.3
    Asia and Pacific6.24.537.7
    Europe218.0179.921.2
    Latin America1.31.6-15.6
    Middle East1.84.2-56.5
    Canada68.166.32.6
      Subtotal media outside the U.S.297.9258.315.3
      U.S. media spending481.8516.0-6.6
      Worldwide measured media$779.6$774.40.7
    For data sources by country, click Sources tab at top of page. U.S. measured media from Kantar Media.
    SALES AND EARNINGS ($ in millions from public documents)
    Restaurant Brands International (NYSE: QSR)
    WorldwideYear ended 12/31/2017Year ended 12/31/2016% chg
    Sales$4,576$4,14610.4
    Earnings1,23595629.2
    GEOGRAPHIC SALES (year ended 12/31/2017)
    Region ($ in millions)Year ended 12/31/2017Year ended 12/31/2016% chg
    Canada2,8322,6726.0
    U.S.1,1901,00418.5
    Other55447017.9
    DIVISION SALES (year ended 12/31/2017)
    Division or segment sales ($ in millions)Year ended 12/31/2017Year ended 12/31/2016% chg
    Tim Hortons3,1553,0015.1
    Burger King1,2191,1446.5
    Popeyes Louisiana Kitchens2020NA
    Connections
    Restaurant Brands International
    Ticker: NYSE QSR
    226 Wyecroft Road, Oakville, Ontario, Canada L6K 3X7/Phone: (905) 845-6511.
    URL: http://www.rbi.com
    Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/burgerking
    Twitter: @BurgerKing
    Divisions, key executives and agencies

Rewe Group

  • TOTAL WORLDWIDE AD SPENDING
    WorldwideYear ended 12/31/2017Year ended 12/31/2016% chg
    Total worldwide advertising spending (U.S. dollars in millions)$1,172$1,1016.5
    Click the Profiles tab at the top of this page to read more about this marketer. Source: Ad Age Datacenter.
    WORLDWIDE AD SPENDING AS PERCENT OF SALES
    YearAd costs ($ in millions)Worldwide ad spending as percent of sales
    20141,143.22.0
    20151,025.42.1
    20161,100.62.2
    20171,172.02.1
    Ad costs:

    Worldwide "advertising expenses." Ad Age Datacenter translated figures into dollars at average exchange rates.

    2017: 1.037 billion euros.
    2016: 994 million euros.
    2015: 923 million euros (restated).
    2014: 860 million euros.

    Ad spending as percent of sales:

    Worldwide "advertising expenses" as percent of "revenue."
    MEASURED-MEDIA SPENDING BY REGION IN 2017
    By region ($ in millions)20172016% chg
    Africa0.0NANA
    Asia and Pacific0.0NANA
    Europe496.0491.21.0
    Latin America0.0NANA
    Middle East0.0NANA
    Canada0.0NANA
      Subtotal media outside the U.S.496.0491.21.0
      U.S. media spending0.0NANA
      Worldwide measured media$496.0$491.21.0
    For data sources by country, click Sources tab at top of page. U.S. measured media from Kantar Media.
    SALES AND EARNINGS ($ in millions from public documents)
    WorldwideYear ended 12/31/2017Year ended 12/31/2016% chg
    Sales$55,838$50,52410.5
    Earnings382512-25.5
    DIVISION SALES (year ended 12/31/2017)
    Division or segment sales ($ in millions)Year ended 12/31/2017Year ended 12/31/2016% chg
    Retail Germany32,33528,32914.1
    Retail International15,08614,0717.2
    Travel and Tourism5,2535,0673.7
    National Specialist Stores2,4072,3124.1
    Other7567441.6
    Connections
    Rewe Group
    Domstrasse 20, Cologne, Germany 50668/Phone: 49 221 149 0.
    URL: https://www.rewe-group.com/en/
    Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/rewegroup?fref=ts
    Twitter: @rewe_group
    Divisions, key executives and agencies

SAIC Motor Corp.

  • TOTAL WORLDWIDE AD SPENDING
    WorldwideYear ended 12/31/2017Year ended 12/31/2016% chg
    Total worldwide advertising spending (U.S. dollars in millions)$2,009$1,63023.2
    Click the Profiles tab at the top of this page to read more about this marketer. Source: Ad Age Datacenter.
    WORLDWIDE AD SPENDING AS PERCENT OF SALES
    YearAd costs ($ in millions)Worldwide ad spending as percent of sales
    2010806.91.5
    2011985.31.5
    20121,077.01.4
    20131,357.41.5
    20141,634.31.6
    20151,565.41.5
    20161,630.01.4
    20172,009.01.6
    Ad costs:

    Stated worldwide "advertising expenses" converted to dollars at average exchange rates by Ad Age Datacenter.

    Stated "advertising expenses" in RMB:

    2017: 13,572,320,163 RMB.
    2016: 10,821,718,109 RMB.
    2015: 9,726,993,437 RMB.
    2014: 10,039,144,659 RMB.
    2013: 8,402,066,316 RMB.
    2012: 6,788,821,826 RMB.
    2011: 6,358,710,653 RMB.
    2010: 5,454,217,737 RMB.

    Ad spending as percent of sales:

    Worldwide "advertising expenses" as percent of "total operating income" (revenue).
    MEASURED-MEDIA SPENDING BY REGION IN 2017
    By region ($ in millions)20172016% chg
    Africa0.0NANA
    Asia and Pacific218.2150.944.5
    Europe0.0NANA
    Latin America0.0NANA
    Middle East0.0NANA
    Canada0.0NANA
      Subtotal media outside the U.S.218.2150.944.5
      U.S. media spending0.0NANA
      Worldwide measured media$218.2$150.944.5
    For data sources by country, click Sources tab at top of page. U.S. measured media from Kantar Media.
    SALES AND EARNINGS ($ in millions from public documents)
    SAIC Motor Corp. (SHA: 600104)
    WorldwideYear ended 12/31/2017Year ended 12/31/2016% chg
    Sales$128,872$113,93113.1
    Earnings5,0934,8215.7
    GEOGRAPHIC SALES
    Region ($ in millions)Year ended 12/31/2017Year ended 12/31/2016% chg
    China123,929109,35413.3
    Others4,9434,5778.0
    DIVISION SALES
    Division or segment sales ($ in millions)Year ended 12/31/2017Year ended 12/31/2016% chg
    Automotive manufacturing126,998112,39813.0
    Financial services1,8741,53322.2
    Connections
    SAIC Motor Corp.
    Ticker: SHA 600104
    489 Weihai Road, Jing'an District, Shanghai, China 200041/Phone: 86 21 22011888.
    URL: http://www.saicmotor.com
    Divisions, key executives and agencies

Samsung Electronics Co.

  • TOTAL WORLDWIDE AD SPENDING
    WorldwideYear ended 12/31/2017Year ended 12/31/2016% chg
    Total worldwide advertising spending (U.S. dollars in millions)$11,225$9,90113.4
    Click the Profiles tab at the top of this page to read more about this marketer. Source: Ad Age Datacenter.
    Samsung Electronics Co. ranked No. 10 in 2017 total U.S. ad spending in Ad Age's Leading National Advertisers report. Click on Samsung Electronics Co. to see U.S. ad spending, brands and agencies from Ad Age's Marketer Trees 2018.
    WORLDWIDE AD SPENDING AS PERCENT OF SALES
    YearAd costs ($ in millions)Worldwide ad spending as percent of sales
    20092,135.32.0
    20102,856.02.1
    20112,713.91.8
    20124,349.52.4
    20133,832.11.8
    20143,585.01.8
    20153,428.71.9
    20163,811.62.2
    20174,762.22.2
    Ad costs:

    Stated worldwide "advertising" expenses converted to dollars at average exchange rates by Ad Age Datacenter.

    2017: 5,350,839 billion won.
    2016: 4,432.109 billion won.
    2015: 3,852.478 billion won.
    2014: 3,773.649 billion won.
    2013: 4,165.290 billion won.
    2012: 4,887.089 billion won.
    2011: 2,982.270 billion won.
    2010: 3,282.798 billion won.
    2009: 2,702.874 billion won.

    Ad spending as percent of sales:

    Worldwide "advertising" spending as percent of"revenue."
    MEASURED-MEDIA SPENDING BY REGION IN 2017
    By region ($ in millions)20172016% chg
    Africa23.523.40.6
    Asia and Pacific677.8591.014.7
    Europe885.5751.517.8
    Latin America94.462.850.3
    Middle East77.4128.6-39.8
    Canada11.311.4-0.6
      Subtotal media outside the U.S.1,769.91,568.712.8
      U.S. media spending706.8725.8-2.6
      Worldwide measured media$2,476.7$2,294.67.9
    For data sources by country, click Sources tab at top of page. U.S. measured media from Kantar Media.
    SALES AND EARNINGS ($ in millions from public documents)
    Samsung Electronics Co. (KRX: 005930)
    WorldwideYear ended 12/31/2017Year ended 12/31/2016% chg
    Sales$213,222$173,60522.8
    Earnings37,54619,54492.1
    GEOGRAPHIC SALES (year ended 12/31/2017)
    Region ($ in millions)Year ended 12/31/2017Year ended 12/31/2016% chg
    Americas72,10759,10722.0
    Europe39,53332,89820.2
    Asia and Africa39,38133,62617.1
    China34,12630,60211.5
    South Korea28,07517,37461.6
    Connections
    Samsung Electronics Co.
    Ticker: KRX 005930
    129, Samsung-ro, Yeongtong-gu, Gyeonggi-do, Suwon, South Korea 443-472/Phone: 82 2 2255 0114.
    URL: http://www.samsung.com
    Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/samsungus
    Twitter: @SamsungUS
    Divisions, key executives and agencies

Sanofi

  • TOTAL WORLDWIDE AD SPENDING
    WorldwideYear ended 12/31/2017Year ended 12/31/2016% chg
    Total worldwide advertising spending (U.S. dollars in millions)$1,584$1,4985.8
    Click the Profiles tab at the top of this page to read more about this marketer. Source: Ad Age Datacenter.
    Sanofi ranked No. 54 in 2017 total U.S. ad spending in Ad Age's Leading National Advertisers report. Click on Sanofi to see U.S. ad spending, brands and agencies from Ad Age's Marketer Trees 2018.
    MEASURED-MEDIA SPENDING BY REGION IN 2017
    By region ($ in millions)20172016% chg
    Africa1.40.6117.0
    Asia and Pacific57.418.0218.9
    Europe707.0576.922.6
    Latin America47.03.3NA
    Middle East0.0NANA
    Canada0.0NANA
      Subtotal media outside the U.S.812.8598.835.7
      U.S. media spending496.1488.51.6
      Worldwide measured media$1,308.9$1,087.320.4
    For data sources by country, click Sources tab at top of page. U.S. measured media from Kantar Media.
    SALES AND EARNINGS ($ in millions from public documents)
    Sanofi (EPA: SAN)
    WorldwideYear ended 12/31/2017Year ended 12/31/2016% chg
    Sales$39,604$37,4435.8
    Earnings9,5285,21382.8
    GEOGRAPHIC SALES (year ended 12/31/2017)
    Region ($ in millions)Year ended 12/31/2017Year ended 12/31/2016% chg
    U.S.13,39313,718-2.4
    Emerging markets11,58910,6209.1
    Europe10,7619,60912.0
    Rest of world3,8603,49610.4
    DIVISION SALES (year ended 12/31/2017)
    Division or segment sales ($ in millions)Year ended 12/31/2017Year ended 12/31/2016% chg
    Pharmaceuticals33,84132,3764.5
    Vaccines5,7635,06713.7
    Connections
    Sanofi
    Ticker: EPA SAN
    54 rue La Boetie, Paris, France 75008/Phone: 33 1 53 77 44 00.
    URL: http://en.sanofi.com
    Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/sanofius
    Twitter: @SanofiUS
    Divisions, key executives and agencies

Schwarz Gruppe

  • TOTAL WORLDWIDE AD SPENDING
    WorldwideYear ended 12/31/2017Year ended 12/31/2016% chg
    Total worldwide advertising spending (U.S. dollars in millions)$1,314$1,1999.6
    Click the Profiles tab at the top of this page to read more about this marketer. Source: Ad Age Datacenter.
    MEASURED-MEDIA SPENDING BY REGION IN 2017
    By region ($ in millions)20172016% chg
    Africa0.0NANA
    Asia and Pacific0.0NANA
    Europe2,142.11,917.711.7
    Latin America0.0NANA
    Middle East0.0NANA
    Canada0.0NANA
      Subtotal media outside the U.S.2,142.11,917.711.7
      U.S. media spending3.90.3NA
      Worldwide measured media$2,146.0$1,918.011.9
    For data sources by country, click Sources tab at top of page. U.S. measured media from Kantar Media.
    SALES AND EARNINGS ($ in millions from public documents)
    WorldwideYear ended 12/31/2017Year ended 12/31/2016% chg
    Sales$109,474$99,8869.6
    EarningsNANANA
    DIVISION SALES (year ended 12/31/2017)
    Division or segment sales ($ in millions)Year ended 12/31/2017Year ended 12/31/2016% chg
    Lidl84,2800NA
    Kaufland25,1940NA
    Connections
    Schwarz Gruppe
    Stiftsbergstrasse 1, Neckarsulm, Germany 74167/Phone: 49 7132 94 2000.
    URL: http://www.kaufland.com
    URL: http://www.lidl-info.com
    Divisions, key executives and agencies

Seven & i Holdings

  • TOTAL WORLDWIDE AD SPENDING
    WorldwideYear ended 2/28/2018Year ended 2/28/2017% chg
    Total worldwide advertising spending (U.S. dollars in millions)$1,232$1,483-16.9
    Click the Profiles tab at the top of this page to read more about this marketer. Source: Ad Age Datacenter. Total worldwide advertising spending: Advertising and decoration expenses.
    WORLDWIDE AD SPENDING AS PERCENT OF SALES
    YearAd costs ($ in millions)Worldwide ad spending as percent of sales
    20141,535.52.7
    20151,461.82.9
    20161,483.32.7
    20171,232.42.3
    Fiscal years ended February.

    2017: Year ended Feb. 28, 2018 (fiscal 2018).

    Ad costs:

    Stated worldwide "advertising and decoration expenses" converted to U.S. dollars at average exchange rates by Ad Age Datacenter.

    2017: 136.473 billion yen.
    2016: 160.355 billion yen.
    2015: 176.335 billion yen.
    2014: 165.645 billion yen.

    Ad spending as percent of sales:

    Worldwide advertising and decoration expenses as percent of revenue from operations.
    MEASURED-MEDIA SPENDING BY REGION IN 2017
    By region ($ in millions)20172016% chg
    Africa0.0NANA
    Asia and Pacific804.01,036.0-22.4
    Europe0.0NANA
    Latin America0.0NANA
    Middle East0.0NANA
    Canada0.0NANA
      Subtotal media outside the U.S.804.01,036.0-22.4
      U.S. media spending14.727.4-46.4
      Worldwide measured media$818.7$1,063.4-23.0
    For data sources by country, click Sources tab at top of page. U.S. measured media from Kantar Media.
    SALES AND EARNINGS ($ in millions from public documents)
    Seven & i Holdings (TYO: 3382)
    WorldwideYear ended 2/28/2018Year ended 2/28/2017% chg
    Sales$54,521$53,9801.0
    Earnings1,63689582.8
    GEOGRAPHIC SALES (year ended 2/28/2018)
    Region ($ in millions)Year ended 2/28/2018Year ended 2/28/2017% chg
    Japan35,28137,297-5.4
    North America18,21115,63716.5
    Others1,0291,046-1.6
    Connections
    Seven & i Holdings
    Ticker: TYO 3382
    8-8, Nibancho, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo, Japan 102-8452/Phone: 81 3 6238 3000.
    URL: http://www.7andi.com/en/
    Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/7eleven
    Twitter: @7eleven
    Divisions, key executives and agencies

SoftBank Group Corp. (Sprint Corp.)

  • TOTAL WORLDWIDE AD SPENDING
    WorldwideYear ended 3/31/2018Year ended 3/31/2017% chg
    Total worldwide advertising spending (U.S. dollars in millions)$1,567$1,38213.4
    Click the Profiles tab at the top of this page to read more about this marketer. Source: Ad Age Datacenter. Total worldwide advertising spending: Ad spending for Sprint Corp. and SoftBank Mobile.
    SoftBank Group Corp. (Sprint Corp.) ranked No. 38 in 2017 total U.S. ad spending in Ad Age's Leading National Advertisers report. Click on SoftBank Group Corp. (Sprint Corp.) to see U.S. ad spending, brands and agencies from Ad Age's Marketer Trees 2018.
    WORLDWIDE AD SPENDING AS PERCENT OF SALES
    YearAd costs ($ in millions)Worldwide ad spending as percent of sales
    20131,555.04.4
    20141,500.04.3
    20151,300.04.0
    20161,100.03.3
    20171,300.04.0
    Figures based on worldwide ad spending for Sprint Corp. and predecessor Sprint Nextel. SoftBank Group Corp. owns majority stake in Sprint Corp.

    2017: Fiscal year ended March 31, 2018.
    2016: Fiscal year ended March 31, 2017.
    2015:Fiscal year ended March 31, 2016.
    2014: Fiscal year ended March 31, 2015.
    2013: Calendar year.
    2012: Calendar year.
    2011: Calendar year.
    2010: Calendar year.
    2009: Calendar year.
    2008: Calendar year.
    2007: Calendar year.
    2006:Calendar year.
    2005: Calendar year; Sprint bought Nextel in 2005.
    2004: Calendar year.

    Ad costs:

    Sprint Corp. stated "advertising expenses" ("advertising costs") (included in selling, general and administrative expense). These advertising costs include production, media and other promotional and sponsorship costs.

    Ad spending as percent of sales:

    Sprint Corp. worldwide "advertising expenses" ("advertising costs") as percent of "net operating revenues."
    MEASURED-MEDIA SPENDING BY REGION IN 2017
    By region ($ in millions)20172016% chg
    Africa0.0NANA
    Asia and Pacific267.5282.0-5.2
    Europe0.0NANA
    Latin America0.0NANA
    Middle East0.0NANA
    Canada0.0NANA
      Subtotal media outside the U.S.267.5282.0-5.2
      U.S. media spending687.4688.1-0.1
      Worldwide measured media$954.9$970.1-1.6
    For data sources by country, click Sources tab at top of page. U.S. measured media from Kantar Media.
    SALES AND EARNINGS ($ in millions from public documents)
    SoftBank Group Corp. (Sprint Corp.) (NYSE: S)
    WorldwideYear ended 3/31/2018Year ended 3/31/2017% chg
    Sales$82,704$82,3340.4
    Earnings11,17713,638-18.0
    Connections
    SoftBank Group Corp. (Sprint Corp.)
    Ticker: NYSE S
    Tokyo Shiodome Building, 1-9-1, Higashi-shimbashi, Minato-ku, Tokyo, Japan 105-7303/Phone: 81 3 6889 2000.
    URL: http://www.softbank.jp/en/
    Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/sprint
    Twitter: @sprint
    Divisions, key executives and agencies

Sony Corp.

  • TOTAL WORLDWIDE AD SPENDING
    WorldwideYear ended 3/31/2018Year ended 3/31/2017% chg
    Total worldwide advertising spending (U.S. dollars in millions)$3,676$3,3659.2
    Click the Profiles tab at the top of this page to read more about this marketer. Source: Ad Age Datacenter.
    Sony Corp. ranked No. 56 in 2017 total U.S. ad spending in Ad Age's Leading National Advertisers report. Click on Sony Corp. to see U.S. ad spending, brands and agencies from Ad Age's Marketer Trees 2018.
    WORLDWIDE AD SPENDING AS PERCENT OF SALES
    YearAd costs ($ in millions)Worldwide ad spending as percent of sales
    20134,739.06.1
    20144,066.75.4
    20153,259.74.8
    20163,365.34.8
    20173,676.24.8
    Fiscal years ended March. Converted to dollars.

    2017: Year ended March 2018.
    2016: Year ended March 2017.
    2015: Year ended March 2016.
    2014: Year ended March 2015.
    2013: Year ended March 2014.
    2012: Year ended March 2013.
    2011: Year ended March 2012.
    2010: Year ended March 2011.
    2009: Year ended March 2010.
    2008: Year ended March 2009.
    2007: Year ended March 2008.

    Ad costs:

    Stated worldwide "advertising costs" (included in"selling, general and administrative expenses").

    2017: 407.106 billion yen.
    2016: 363.815 billion yen.
    2015: 391.326 billion yen.
    2014: 444.444 billion yen.
    2013: 474.372 billion yen.
    2012: 354.981 billion yen.
    2011: 357.106 billion yen.
    2010:396.425 billion yen.
    2009: 383.540 billion yen.
    2008: 436.412 billion yen.
    2007: 468.674 billion yen.

    Ad spending as percent of sales:

    Worldwide "advertising costs" as percent of sales.
    MEASURED-MEDIA SPENDING BY REGION IN 2017
    By region ($ in millions)20172016% chg
    Africa1.41.220.5
    Asia and Pacific1,184.71,101.77.5
    Europe404.4376.17.5
    Latin America6.46.5-1.1
    Middle East4.03.036.6
    Canada15.413.315.3
      Subtotal media outside the U.S.1,616.41,501.87.6
      U.S. media spending488.6485.70.6
      Worldwide measured media$2,105.0$1,987.55.9
    For data sources by country, click Sources tab at top of page. U.S. measured media from Kantar Media.
    SALES AND EARNINGS ($ in millions from public documents)
    Sony Corp. (NYSE: SNE)
    WorldwideYear ended 3/31/2018Year ended 3/31/2017% chg
    Sales$77,152$70,3309.7
    Earnings4,432678553.7
    GEOGRAPHIC SALES (year ended 3/31/2018)
    Region ($ in millions)Year ended 3/31/2018Year ended 3/31/2017% chg
    Japan23,70922,1337.1
    Europe16,62815,12110.0
    U.S.16,57615,4827.1
    Asia Pacific9,2488,01715.4
    China6,0935,16118.0
    Other areas4,8974,41510.9
    DIVISION SALES
    Division or segment sales ($ in millions)Year ended 3/31/2018Year ended 3/31/2017% chg
    Game and network services16,69015,2619.4
    Home entertainment and sound11,0329,61114.8
    Financial services11,02810,0599.6
    Pictures9,1228,3549.2
    Music7,0875,99118.3
    Semiconductors6,5647,151-8.2
    Mobile communications6,4477,022-8.2
    Imaging products and solutions5,8445,3629.0
    Other3,1743,470-8.5
    Connections
    Sony Corp.
    Ticker: NYSE SNE
    1-7-1, Konan 1-Chome, Minato-Ku, Tokyo, Japan 108-0075/Phone: 81 3 6748 2111.
    URL: http://www.sony.net
    Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/sony
    Twitter: @Sony
    Divisions, key executives and agencies

Suntory Holdings (Beam Suntory)

  • TOTAL WORLDWIDE AD SPENDING
    WorldwideYear ended 12/31/2017Year ended 12/31/2016% chg
    Total worldwide advertising spending (U.S. dollars in millions)$3,295$3,298-0.1
    Click the Profiles tab at the top of this page to read more about this marketer. Source: Ad Age Datacenter. Total worldwide advertising spending: Suntory Holdings including Beam Suntory.
    WORLDWIDE AD SPENDING AS PERCENT OF SALES
    YearAd costs ($ in millions)Worldwide ad spending as percent of sales
    20163,297.717.0
    20173,295.217.1
    Ad costs:

    Suntory Holdings' stated worldwide advertising and sales promotion expenses converted to U.S. dollars at average exchange rates by Ad Age Datacenter.

    2017: 369.414 billion yen.
    2016: 357.663 billion yen.

    Ad spending as percent of sales:

    Suntory Holdings' worldwide advertising and sales promotion expenses as percent of expenses as percent of "revenue (excluding excise taxes)."
    MEASURED-MEDIA SPENDING BY REGION IN 2017
    By region ($ in millions)20172016% chg
    Africa0.0NANA
    Asia and Pacific2,020.12,063.7-2.1
    Europe90.4108.9-17.0
    Latin America0.0NANA
    Middle East0.0NANA
    Canada0.0NANA
      Subtotal media outside the U.S.2,110.52,172.6-2.9
      U.S. media spending95.878.222.4
      Worldwide measured media$2,206.3$2,250.8-2.0
    For data sources by country, click Sources tab at top of page. U.S. measured media from Kantar Media.
    SALES AND EARNINGS ($ in millions from public documents)
    Suntory Holdings (Beam Suntory) (TYO: 2587)
    WorldwideYear ended 12/31/2017Year ended 12/31/2016% chg
    Sales$19,245$19,377-0.7
    Earnings2,2462,0549.4
    GEOGRAPHIC SALES
    Region ($ in millions)Year ended 12/31/2017Year ended 12/31/2016% chg
    Japan11,37311,643-2.3
    Europe2,7032,6272.9
    Americas2,6142,5562.2
    Asia and Oceana2,5562,5500.2
    DIVISION SALES (year ended 12/31/2017)
    Division or segment sales ($ in millions)Year ended 12/31/2017Year ended 12/31/2016% chg
    Beverages and food10,94011,061-1.1
    Alcoholic beverages6,4456,3561.4
    Other1,8601,960-5.1
    Connections
    Suntory Holdings (Beam Suntory)
    Ticker: TYO 2587
    2-3-3 Daiba, Minato-ku, Tokyo, Japan 135-8631/Phone: 81 3 5579 1000.
    URL: http://www.suntory.com
    Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/suntoryglobal
    Twitter: @SuntoryGlobal
    Divisions, key executives and agencies

Target Corp.

  • TOTAL WORLDWIDE AD SPENDING
    WorldwideYear ended 2/3/2018Year ended 1/28/2017% chg
    Total worldwide advertising spending (U.S. dollars in millions)$1,476$1,503-1.8
    Click the Profiles tab at the top of this page to read more about this marketer. Source: Ad Age Datacenter.
    Target Corp. ranked No. 31 in 2017 total U.S. ad spending in Ad Age's Leading National Advertisers report. Click on Target Corp. to see U.S. ad spending, brands and agencies from Ad Age's Marketer Trees 2018.
    WORLDWIDE AD SPENDING AS PERCENT OF SALES
    YearAd costs ($ in millions)Worldwide ad spending as percent of sales
    20071,318.02.1
    20081,421.02.3
    20091,346.02.1
    20101,490.02.3
    20111,589.02.3
    20121,620.02.3
    20131,623.02.3
    20141,647.02.3
    20151,472.02.0
    20161,503.02.2
    20171,476.02.1
    Fiscal years. 2017: Year ended Feb. 3, 2018.

    Ad costs:

    Worldwide gross advertising costs including stated net advertising costs plus stated vendor contributions (cooperative advertising money).

    Net advertising costs (gross advertising costs excluding vendor contributions):

    2015: $1.434 billion.
    2014: $1.600 billion.
    2013: $1.548 billion (restated from $1.668 billion).
    2012: $1.389 billion (restated $1.422 billion).
    2011: $1.360 billion.
    2010: $1.292 billion.
    2009: $1.167 billion.
    2008: $1.233 billion.
    2007: $1.195 billion.

    Ad spending as percent of sales:

    Worldwide gross advertising spending as percent of sales.
    MEASURED-MEDIA SPENDING BY REGION IN 2017
    By region ($ in millions)20172016% chg
    Africa0.0NANA
    Asia and Pacific0.0NANA
    Europe0.0NANA
    Latin America2.42.9-17.1
    Middle East0.0NANA
    Canada0.0NANA
      Subtotal media outside the U.S.2.42.9-17.1
      U.S. media spending461.1450.02.5
      Worldwide measured media$463.4$452.82.3
    For data sources by country, click Sources tab at top of page. U.S. measured media from Kantar Media.
    SALES AND EARNINGS ($ in millions from public documents)
    Target Corp. (NYSE: TGT)
    WorldwideYear ended 2/3/2018Year ended 1/28/2017% chg
    Sales$71,879$69,4953.4
    Earnings2,9342,7377.2
    Connections
    Target Corp.
    Ticker: NYSE TGT
    1000 Nicollet Mall, Minneapolis, Minn. 55403/Phone: (612) 304-6073.
    URL: http://www.target.com
    Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/target
    Twitter: @Target
    Divisions, key executives and agencies

Tata Motors

  • TOTAL WORLDWIDE AD SPENDING
    WorldwideYear ended 3/31/2018Year ended 3/31/2017% chg
    Total worldwide advertising spending (U.S. dollars in millions)$1,391$1,2997.1
    Click the Profiles tab at the top of this page to read more about this marketer. Source: Ad Age Datacenter.
    WORLDWIDE AD SPENDING AS PERCENT OF SALES
    YearAd costs ($ in millions)Worldwide ad spending as percent of sales
    20151,343.33.2
    20161,298.73.3
    20171,391.33.1
    Fiscal years ended March 31.

    2017: Year ended March 31, 2018 (fiscal 2018).

    Ad costs:

    Stated "publicity" expenses converted to U.S. dollars by Ad Age Datacenter at average exchange rates.

    2017 (year ended March 2018): 89,685.9 million rupees.
    2016 (year ended March 2017): 86,986.8 million rupees.
    2015 (year ended March 2016): 87,684.6 million rupees.

    Ad spending as percent of sales:

    "Publicity" expenses as percent of "total revenues."
    MEASURED-MEDIA SPENDING BY REGION IN 2017
    By region ($ in millions)20172016% chg
    Africa7.89.0-13.8
    Asia and Pacific40.333.520.1
    Europe260.7209.924.2
    Latin America0.0NANA
    Middle East0.44.0-90.7
    Canada0.02.2-100.0
      Subtotal media outside the U.S.309.1258.719.5
      U.S. media spending103.6130.8-20.8
      Worldwide measured media$412.7$389.56.0
    For data sources by country, click Sources tab at top of page. U.S. measured media from Kantar Media.
    SALES AND EARNINGS ($ in millions from public documents)
    Tata Motors (NYSE: TTM)
    WorldwideYear ended 3/31/2018Year ended 3/31/2017% chg
    Sales$44,715$39,66112.7
    Earnings1,05092913.0
    GEOGRAPHIC SALES
    Region ($ in millions)Year ended 3/31/2018Year ended 3/31/2017% chg
    India8,9716,30842.2
    Rest of world7,5186,77511.0
    China7,4716,13221.8
    Rest of Europe7,2947,0164.0
    U.S.6,9626,17312.8
    U.K.6,4987,257-10.5
    Connections
    Tata Motors
    Ticker: NYSE TTM
    Bombay House, 24, Homi Mody St., Mumbai, India 400 001/Phone: 91 22 66658282.
    URL: http://www.tatamotors.com
    Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/tatamotorsgroup
    Twitter: @TataMotors
    Divisions, key executives and agencies

Telefonica

  • TOTAL WORLDWIDE AD SPENDING
    WorldwideYear ended 12/31/2017Year ended 12/31/2016% chg
    Total worldwide advertising spending (U.S. dollars in millions)$1,368$1,391-1.6
    Click the Profiles tab at the top of this page to read more about this marketer. Source: Ad Age Datacenter.
    WORLDWIDE AD SPENDING AS PERCENT OF SALES
    YearAd costs ($ in millions)Worldwide ad spending as percent of sales
    20112,029.42.3
    20121,965.12.5
    20131,482.32.2
    20141,629.72.4
    20151,518.42.5
    20161,390.52.4
    20171,368.12.3
    Ad costs:

    Worldwide "advertising" expenses converted to U.S. dollars by Ad Age Datacenter at average exchange rates.

    2017: 1.211 billion euros.
    2016: 1.256 billion euros.
    2015: 1.367 billion euros (restated in 2017 from 1.166 billion euros).
    2014: 1.226 billion euros (restated in 2017 from 1.051 billion euros).
    2013: 1.116 billion euros (restated in 2016 from 1.290 billion euros).
    2012: 1.528 billion euros.
    2011: 1.457 billion euros.

    Ad spending as percent of sales:

    Worldwide "advertising" expenses as percent of worldwide revenue.
    MEASURED-MEDIA SPENDING BY REGION IN 2017
    By region ($ in millions)20172016% chg
    Africa0.0NANA
    Asia and Pacific0.0NANA
    Europe287.6318.2-9.6
    Latin America230.1240.6-4.4
    Middle East0.0NANA
    Canada0.0NANA
      Subtotal media outside the U.S.517.8558.9-7.4
      U.S. media spending0.00.0-95.2
      Worldwide measured media$517.8$558.9-7.4
    For data sources by country, click Sources tab at top of page. U.S. measured media from Kantar Media.
    SALES AND EARNINGS ($ in millions from public documents)
    Telefonica (NYSE: TEF)
    WorldwideYear ended 12/31/2017Year ended 12/31/2016% chg
    Sales$58,757$57,6092.0
    Earnings3,8162,65643.7
    GEOGRAPHIC SALES
    Region ($ in millions)Year ended 12/31/2017Year ended 12/31/2016% chg
    Hispano-America14,00213,6582.5
    Spain13,96813,8520.8
    Brazil13,55012,24510.7
    Germany8,1938,259-0.8
    U.K.7,3497,552-2.7
    Other1,6942,044-17.1
    Connections
    Telefonica
    Ticker: NYSE TEF
    Distrito Telefonica, Ronda de la Comunicacion, s/n, Madrid, Spain 28050/Phone: 34 900 111 004.
    URL: http://www.telefonica.com/en
    Twitter: @Telefonica
    Divisions, key executives and agencies

Toyota Motor Corp.

  • TOTAL WORLDWIDE AD SPENDING
    WorldwideYear ended 3/31/2018Year ended 3/31/2017% chg
    Total worldwide advertising spending (U.S. dollars in millions)$4,602$4,15110.9
    Click the Profiles tab at the top of this page to read more about this marketer. Source: Ad Age Datacenter.
    Toyota Motor Corp. ranked No. 22 in 2017 total U.S. ad spending in Ad Age's Leading National Advertisers report. Click on Toyota Motor Corp. to see U.S. ad spending, brands and agencies from Ad Age's Marketer Trees 2018.
    WORLDWIDE AD SPENDING AS PERCENT OF SALES
    YearAd costs ($ in millions)Worldwide ad spending as percent of sales
    20103,614.21.6
    20113,860.71.6
    20124,003.51.5
    20134,189.91.6
    20143,981.61.6
    20154,073.71.7
    20164,151.21.6
    Figures are for fiscal years ended March 31. Figures converted to dollars at average exchange rates by Ad Age Datacenter.

    2017: Year ended March 2018.
    2016: Year ended March 2017.
    2015: Year ended March 2016.
    2014: Year ended March 2015.
    2013: Year ended March 2014.
    2012: Year ended March 2013.
    2011: Year ended March 2012.
    2010: Year ended March 2011.
    2009: Year ended March 2010.
    2008: Year ended March 2009.
    2007: Year ended March 2008.
    2006: Year ended March 2007.

    Sales:

    Total net revenue.

    Ad costs:

    Stated worldwide "advertising costs." Advertising costs exclude Toyota's spending on sales incentives. Toyota's sales incentive programs principally consist of cash payments to dealers based on vehicle volume or a model sold by a dealer during a given period of time. Sales incentives are an integral part of Toyota's sales-promotion spending.

    Stated worldwide advertising costs in yen:

    2017: NA.
    2016: 448.780 billion yen.
    2015: 489.036 billion yen.
    2014: 435.150 billion yen.
    2013: 419.409 billion yen.
    2012: 330.870 billion yen.
    2011: 304.713 billion yen.
    2010: 308.903 billion yen.
    2009: 304.375 billion yen.
    2008: 389.242 billion yen.
    2007: 484.508 billion yen.
    2006: 451.182 billion yen.

    Ad spending as percent of sales:

    Worldwide "advertising costs" as percent of worldwide "total net revenue."
    MEASURED-MEDIA SPENDING BY REGION IN 2017
    By region ($ in millions)20172016% chg
    Africa20.917.122.5
    Asia and Pacific1,391.01,297.77.2
    Europe752.2701.87.2
    Latin America37.12.51403.5
    Middle East29.849.1-39.3
    Canada35.637.3-4.7
      Subtotal media outside the U.S.2,266.52,105.47.6
      U.S. media spending922.51,035.7-10.9
      Worldwide measured media$3,189.0$3,141.21.5
    For data sources by country, click Sources tab at top of page. U.S. measured media from Kantar Media.
    SALES AND EARNINGS ($ in millions from public documents)
    Toyota Motor Corp. (NYSE: TM)
    WorldwideYear ended 3/31/2018Year ended 3/31/2017% chg
    Sales$265,297$255,2743.9
    Earnings22,52116,93833.0
    GEOGRAPHIC SALES (year ended 3/31/2018)
    Region ($ in millions)Year ended 3/31/2018Year ended 3/31/2017% chg
    North America93,43692,8090.7
    Japan83,74181,3902.9
    Asia40,61139,5862.6
    Europe26,55023,28814.0
    Other20,95818,20115.2
    DIVISION SALES (year ended 3/31/2018)
    Division or segment sales ($ in millions)Year ended 3/31/2018Year ended 3/31/2017% chg
    Automotive237,915231,5482.7
    Financial services17,69216,4997.2
    Other9,6907,22734.1
    Connections
    Toyota Motor Corp.
    Ticker: NYSE TM
    1 Toyota-Cho, Toyota City, Aichi Prefecture, Japan 471-8571/Phone: 81 565 28 2121.
    URL: http://www.toyota-global.com
    Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/toyota
    Twitter: @Toyota
    Divisions, key executives and agencies

Unilever

  • TOTAL WORLDWIDE AD SPENDING
    WorldwideYear ended 12/31/2017Year ended 12/31/2016% chg
    Total worldwide advertising spending (U.S. dollars in millions)$8,548$8,559-0.1
    Click the Profiles tab at the top of this page to read more about this marketer. Source: Ad Age Datacenter.
    Unilever ranked No. 36 in 2017 total U.S. ad spending in Ad Age's Leading National Advertisers report. Click on Unilever to see U.S. ad spending, brands and agencies from Ad Age's Marketer Trees 2018.
    WORLDWIDE AD SPENDING AS PERCENT OF SALES
    YearAd costs ($ in millions)Worldwide ad spending as percent of sales
    20129,402.514.2
    20139,806.514.8
    20149,525.414.8
    20158,889.615.0
    20168,559.014.7
    20178,547.814.1
    Figures converted to U.S. dollars at average exchange rates by Ad Age Datacenter.

    Ad costs:

    Stated worldwide "brand and marketing investment" costs (2012 to present); stated worldwide "advertising and promotions" costs (2011 and earlier).

    Effective with calendar-year 2014, Unilever renamed "advertising and promotions" as "brand and marketing investment" (BMI) after moving sales equipment costs from cost of sales to BMI and moving cost of merchandisers and consumer engagement centers from overheads to BMI. Unilever restated its 2013 and 2012 ad and promo costs to put them in line with the new definition.

    2016: 7.731 billion euros brand and marketing investment.
    2015: 8.003 billion euros brand and marketing investment.
    2014: 7.166 billion euros brand and marketing investment.
    2013: 7.383 billion euros brand and marketing investment (restated from previous disclosure of 6.832 billion euros in advertising and promotions).
    2012: 7.311 billion euros brand and marketing investment (restated from previous disclosure of 6.763 billion euros in advertising and promotions).
    2011: 6.069 billion euros (advertising and promotions).
    2010: 6.069 billion euros (advertising and promotions).
    2009: 5.302 billion euros (advertising and promotions).
    2008: 5.055 billion euros (advertising and promotions).
    2007: 5.289 billion euros (advertising and promotions).

    Ad spending as percent of sales:

    Worldwide brand and marketing investment as percent of sales (2012 to present); advertising and promotions spending as percent of sales (2011 and earlier).
    MEASURED-MEDIA SPENDING BY REGION IN 2017
    By region ($ in millions)20172016% chg
    Africa101.4119.8-15.4
    Asia and Pacific2,515.62,334.07.8
    Europe1,784.01,734.32.9
    Latin America532.9533.3-0.1
    Middle East386.7491.4-21.3
    Canada19.517.113.7
      Subtotal media outside the U.S.5,340.15,230.02.1
      U.S. media spending729.7780.2-6.5
      Worldwide measured media$6,069.8$6,010.21.0
    For data sources by country, click Sources tab at top of page. U.S. measured media from Kantar Media.
    SALES AND EARNINGS ($ in millions from public documents)
    Unilever (NYSE: UN)
    WorldwideYear ended 12/31/2017Year ended 12/31/2016% chg
    Sales$60,685$58,3594.0
    Earnings7,3286,14119.3
    GEOGRAPHIC SALES (year ended 12/31/2017)
    Region ($ in millions)Year ended 12/31/2017Year ended 12/31/2016% chg
    Others46,69744,9833.8
    U.S.9,6399,1485.4
    Netherlands/U.K.4,3484,2282.8
    DIVISION SALES (year ended 12/31/2017)
    Division or segment sales ($ in millions)Year ended 12/31/2017Year ended 12/31/2016% chg
    Personal care23,38322,3324.7
    Foods14,13613,8651.9
    Home care11,94611,0817.8
    Refreshments11,22111,0801.3
    Connections
    Unilever
    Ticker: NYSE UN
    Weena 455, 3013AL, Rotterdam, Netherlands, /Phone: 31 10 217 4000.
    Unilever House, 100 Victoria Embankment, London, U.K. EC4Y 0DY/Phone: 44 207 822 5252.
    URL: http://www.unilever.com
    Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/unilever
    Twitter: @Unilever
    Divisions, key executives and agencies

Verizon Communications

  • TOTAL WORLDWIDE AD SPENDING
    WorldwideYear ended 12/31/2017Year ended 12/31/2016% chg
    Total worldwide advertising spending (U.S. dollars in millions)$2,643$2,744-3.7
    Click the Profiles tab at the top of this page to read more about this marketer. Source: Ad Age Datacenter.
    Verizon Communications ranked No. 6 in 2017 total U.S. ad spending in Ad Age's Leading National Advertisers report. Click on Verizon Communications to see U.S. ad spending, brands and agencies from Ad Age's Marketer Trees 2018.
    WORLDWIDE AD SPENDING AS PERCENT OF SALES
    YearAd costs ($ in millions)Worldwide ad spending as percent of sales
    20112,523.02.3
    20122,381.02.1
    20132,438.02.0
    20142,526.02.0
    20152,749.02.1
    20162,744.02.2
    20172,643.02.1
    Ad costs:

    Stated worldwide advertising expense. Figures include ad spending for Verizon Wireless.

    2004: Restated.
    2003: Restated.
    2002: Restated.
    2001: Restated.

    Ad spending as percent of sales:

    Worldwide advertising expense as percent of sales.
    MEASURED-MEDIA SPENDING BY REGION IN 2017
    By region ($ in millions)20172016% chg
    Africa0.0NANA
    Asia and Pacific0.0NANA
    Europe0.0NANA
    Latin America0.0NANA
    Middle East0.0NANA
    Canada0.0NANA
      Subtotal media outside the U.S.0.0NANA
      U.S. media spending957.71,076.4-11.0
      Worldwide measured media$957.7$1,076.4-11.0
    For data sources by country, click Sources tab at top of page. U.S. measured media from Kantar Media.
    SALES AND EARNINGS ($ in millions from public documents)
    Verizon Communications (NYSE: VZ)
    WorldwideYear ended 12/31/2017Year ended 12/31/2016% chg
    Sales$126,034$125,9800.0
    Earnings30,55013,608124.5
    DIVISION SALES
    Division or segment sales ($ in millions)Year ended 12/31/2017Year ended 12/31/2016% chg
    Wireless87,51189,186-1.9
    Wireline30,68030,5100.6
    Corporate and other9,3877,77820.7
    Eliminations-1,544-1,494NA
    Connections
    Verizon Communications
    Ticker: NYSE VZ
    1095 Avenue of the Americas, New York, N.Y. 10036/Phone: (212) 395-1000.
    URL: http://www.verizon.com
    Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/verizon
    Twitter: @verizon
    Divisions, key executives and agencies

Viacom

  • TOTAL WORLDWIDE AD SPENDING
    WorldwideYear ended 9/30/2017Year ended 9/30/2016% chg
    Total worldwide advertising spending (U.S. dollars in millions)$1,335$98735.3
    Click the Profiles tab at the top of this page to read more about this marketer. Source: Ad Age Datacenter.
    Viacom ranked No. 45 in 2017 total U.S. ad spending in Ad Age's Leading National Advertisers report. Click on Viacom to see U.S. ad spending, brands and agencies from Ad Age's Marketer Trees 2018.
    WORLDWIDE AD SPENDING AS PERCENT OF SALES
    YearAd costs ($ in millions)Worldwide ad spending as percent of sales
    20061,201.010.6
    20071,628.012.1
    20081,603.011.5
    20091,248.09.4
    2010869.09.3
    20111,479.09.9
    20121,205.08.7
    20131,117.08.1
    20141,020.07.4
    2015748.05.6
    2016987.07.9
    20171,335.010.1
    2018917.07.1
    Fiscal years.

    2018: Year ended September 2018.
    2017: Year ended September 2017.
    2016: Year ended September 2016.
    2015: Year ended September 2015.
    2014: Year ended September 2014.
    2013: Year ended September 2013.
    2012: Year ended September 2012.
    2011: Year ended September 2011.
    2010: Nine months ended September 2010 (truncated fiscal 2010).
    2009: Calendar 2009.
    2008: Calendar 2008.
    2007: Calendar 2007.
    2006: Calendar 2006.

    Ad costs:

    Stated worldwide "advertising expenses."

    Ad spending as percent of sales:

    Worldwide advertising expenses as percent of revenue.
    MEASURED-MEDIA SPENDING BY REGION IN 2017
    By region ($ in millions)20172016% chg
    Africa0.81.2-32.7
    Asia and Pacific12.914.6-11.6
    Europe124.7144.8-13.9
    Latin America1.32.7-53.2
    Middle East0.0NANA
    Canada0.014.1-100.0
      Subtotal media outside the U.S.139.7177.5-21.3
      U.S. media spending344.3466.4-26.2
      Worldwide measured media$484.0$643.8-24.8
    For data sources by country, click Sources tab at top of page. U.S. measured media from Kantar Media.
    SALES AND EARNINGS ($ in millions from public documents)
    Viacom (Nasdaq: VIA)
    WorldwideYear ended 9/30/2017Year ended 9/30/2016% chg
    Sales$13,263$12,4886.2
    Earnings1,9191,47130.5
    GEOGRAPHIC SALES (year ended 9/30/2017)
    Region ($ in millions)Year ended 9/30/2017Year ended 9/30/2016% chg
    U.S.9,4979,3082.0
    Europe, Middle East, Africa2,2602,1823.6
    All other1,50699850.9
    DIVISION SALES
    Division or segment sales ($ in millions)Year ended 9/30/2017Year ended 9/30/2016% chg
    Media networks10,0969,9421.5
    Filmed entertainment3,2892,66223.6
    Eliminations-122-116NA
    Connections
    Viacom
    Ticker: Nasdaq VIA
    1515 Broadway, New York, N.Y. 10036/Phone: (212) 258-6000.
    URL: http://www.viacom.com
    Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/viacom
    Twitter: @Viacom
    Divisions, key executives and agencies

Vodafone Group

  • TOTAL WORLDWIDE AD SPENDING
    WorldwideYear ended 3/31/2018Year ended 3/31/2017% chg
    Total worldwide advertising spending (U.S. dollars in millions)$1,199$1,203-0.3
    Click the Profiles tab at the top of this page to read more about this marketer. Source: Ad Age Datacenter.
    MEASURED-MEDIA SPENDING BY REGION IN 2017
    By region ($ in millions)20172016% chg
    Africa57.960.0-3.6
    Asia and Pacific88.768.230.1
    Europe1,086.81,100.3-1.2
    Latin America0.0NANA
    Middle East158.2185.5-14.7
    Canada0.0NANA
      Subtotal media outside the U.S.1,391.61,414.0-1.6
      U.S. media spending0.00.0-97.6
      Worldwide measured media$1,391.6$1,414.0-1.6
    For data sources by country, click Sources tab at top of page. U.S. measured media from Kantar Media.
    SALES AND EARNINGS ($ in millions from public documents)
    Vodafone Group (Nasdaq: VOD)
    WorldwideYear ended 3/31/2018Year ended 3/31/2017% chg
    Sales$54,489$52,2894.2
    Earnings3,262-6,673NA
    DIVISION SALES (year ended 3/31/2018)
    Division or segment sales ($ in millions)Year ended 3/31/2018Year ended 3/31/2017% chg
    Germany12,63611,5789.1
    U.K.8,2497,5709.0
    Italy7,2206,6648.4
    Other AMAP6,7227,097-5.3
    Vodacom6,6525,81214.5
    Spain5,7815,4186.7
    Other Europe5,7176,661-14.2
    Common functions1,5131,4891.6
    Connections
    Vodafone Group
    Ticker: Nasdaq VOD
    Vodafone House, The Connection, Newbury, Berkshire, U.K. RG14 2FN/Phone: 44 1635 33251.
    URL: http://www.vodafone.com
    Twitter: @VodafoneGroup
    Divisions, key executives and agencies

Volkswagen

  • TOTAL WORLDWIDE AD SPENDING
    WorldwideYear ended 12/31/2017Year ended 12/31/2016% chg
    Total worldwide advertising spending (U.S. dollars in millions)$5,545$5,4841.1
    Click the Profiles tab at the top of this page to read more about this marketer. Source: Ad Age Datacenter.
    Volkswagen ranked No. 61 in 2017 total U.S. ad spending in Ad Age's Leading National Advertisers report. Click on Volkswagen to see U.S. ad spending, brands and agencies from Ad Age's Marketer Trees 2018.
    MEASURED-MEDIA SPENDING BY REGION IN 2017
    By region ($ in millions)20172016% chg
    Africa27.024.410.8
    Asia and Pacific182.0189.6-4.0
    Europe2,583.72,438.66.0
    Latin America94.098.5-4.7
    Middle East2.79.1-70.2
    Canada18.821.5-12.6
      Subtotal media outside the U.S.2,908.22,781.84.5
      U.S. media spending571.8612.8-6.7
      Worldwide measured media$3,480.0$3,394.62.5
    For data sources by country, click Sources tab at top of page. U.S. measured media from Kantar Media.
    SALES AND EARNINGS ($ in millions from public documents)
    Volkswagen (ETR: VOW)
    WorldwideYear ended 12/31/2017Year ended 12/31/2016% chg
    Sales$260,615$240,5368.3
    Earnings12,8275,695125.2
    GEOGRAPHIC SALES (year ended 12/31/2017)
    Region ($ in millions)Year ended 12/31/2017Year ended 12/31/2016% chg
    Europe/other markets111,191104,5606.3
    Germany50,08648,3073.7
    Asia Pacific44,20039,59111.6
    North America43,85539,25111.7
    South American11,2848,82727.8
    DIVISION SALES (year ended 12/31/2017)
    Division or segment sales ($ in millions)Year ended 12/31/2017Year ended 12/31/2016% chg
    Passenger cars191,509177,6467.8
    Financial services34,10930,87010.5
    Commercial vehicles31,21828,10411.1
    Power engineering3,7063,974-6.8
    Reconsiliation72-60NA
    Connections
    Volkswagen
    Ticker: ETR VOW
    Brieffach 1849, Wolfsburg, Germany 38436/Phone: 49 5361 9 0.
    URL: http://www.vw.com
    Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/vw
    Twitter: @VW
    Divisions, key executives and agencies

Walmart

  • TOTAL WORLDWIDE AD SPENDING
    WorldwideYear ended 1/31/2018Year ended 1/31/2017% chg
    Total worldwide advertising spending (U.S. dollars in millions)$3,100$2,9006.9
    Click the Profiles tab at the top of this page to read more about this marketer. Source: Ad Age Datacenter.
    Walmart ranked No. 12 in 2017 total U.S. ad spending in Ad Age's Leading National Advertisers report. Click on Walmart to see U.S. ad spending, brands and agencies from Ad Age's Marketer Trees 2018.
    WORLDWIDE AD SPENDING AS PERCENT OF SALES
    YearAd costs ($ in millions)Worldwide ad spending as percent of sales
    2000574.00.3
    2001618.00.3
    2002676.00.3
    2003966.00.4
    20041,400.00.5
    20051,600.00.5
    20061,900.00.6
    20071,800.00.5
    20082,100.00.5
    20092,400.00.6
    20102,500.00.6
    20112,300.00.5
    20122,300.00.5
    20132,400.00.5
    20142,400.00.5
    20152,500.00.5
    20162,900.00.6
    20173,100.00.6
    Fiscal years. 2016: Fiscal year ended Jan. 31, 2017 (Walmart's fiscal 2017). Walmart's fiscal years end Jan. 31.

    2017: Fiscal 2018.
    2016: Fiscal 2017.
    2015: Fiscal 2016.
    2014: Fiscal 2016.
    2014: Fiscal 2016.
    2013: Fiscal 2016.
    2012: Fiscal 2015.
    2011: Fiscal 2014.
    2010: Fiscal 2013.
    2011: Fiscal 2012.
    2011: Fiscal 2012.
    2010: Fiscal 2011.
    2009: Fiscal 2010.
    2008: Fiscal 2009.
    2007: Fiscal 2008.
    2006: Fiscal 2007.
    2005: Fiscal 2006.
    2004:Fiscal 2005.
    2003: Fiscal 2004.
    2002: Fiscal 2003.
    2001: Fiscal 2002.
    2000: Fiscal 2001.

    Ad costs:

    Stated worldwide "advertising costs."

    2008 (fiscal 2009): Restated from $2.3 billion.
    2007 (fiscal 2008): Restated from $2.0 billion.

    Ad spending as percent of sales:

    Worldwide "advertising costs" as percent of worldwide "net sales."
    MEASURED-MEDIA SPENDING BY REGION IN 2017
    By region ($ in millions)20172016% chg
    Africa0.0NANA
    Asia and Pacific0.0NANA
    Europe80.589.5-10.1
    Latin America101.578.529.3
    Middle East0.0NANA
    Canada18.217.72.8
      Subtotal media outside the U.S.200.2185.77.8
      U.S. media spending557.7508.49.7
      Worldwide measured media$757.8$694.19.2
    For data sources by country, click Sources tab at top of page. U.S. measured media from Kantar Media.
    SALES AND EARNINGS ($ in millions from public documents)
    Walmart (NYSE: WMT)
    WorldwideYear ended 1/31/2018Year ended 1/31/2017% chg
    Sales$500,343$485,8733.0
    Earnings9,86213,643-27.7
    GEOGRAPHIC SALES (year ended 1/31/2018)
    Region ($ in millions)Year ended 1/31/2018Year ended 1/31/2017% chg
    U.S.380,580367,7843.5
    Non-U.S. operations119,763118,0891.4
    DIVISION SALES (year ended 1/31/2018)
    Division or segment sales ($ in millions)Year ended 1/31/2018Year ended 1/31/2017% chg
    Walmart U.S.318,477307,8333.5
    Walmart International118,068116,1191.7
    Sam's Club59,21657,3653.2
    Membership and other income4,5824,5560.6
    Connections
    Walmart
    Ticker: NYSE WMT
    702 S.W. Eighth St., Bentonville, Ark. 72716/Phone: (479) 273-4000.
    URL: http://www.corporate.walmart.com
    Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/walmart
    Twitter: @Walmart
    Divisions, key executives and agencies

Walt Disney Co.

  • TOTAL WORLDWIDE AD SPENDING
    WorldwideYear ended 9/30/2017Year ended 10/1/2016% chg
    Total worldwide advertising spending (U.S. dollars in millions)$2,600$2,900-10.3
    Click the Profiles tab at the top of this page to read more about this marketer. Source: Ad Age Datacenter.
    Walt Disney Co. ranked No. 23 in 2017 total U.S. ad spending in Ad Age's Leading National Advertisers report. Click on Walt Disney Co. to see U.S. ad spending, brands and agencies from Ad Age's Marketer Trees 2018.
    WORLDWIDE AD SPENDING AS PERCENT OF SALES
    YearAd costs ($ in millions)Worldwide ad spending as percent of sales
    20002,000.07.9
    20012,200.08.7
    20022,300.09.1
    20032,500.09.2
    20043,000.09.8
    20052,900.09.2
    20062,500.07.4
    20072,600.07.3
    20082,900.07.7
    20092,700.07.5
    20102,600.06.8
    20112,800.06.8
    20122,500.05.9
    20132,600.05.8
    20142,800.05.7
    20152,600.05.0
    20162,900.05.2
    20172,600.04.7
    20182,800.04.7
    Fiscal years. 2018: Year ended Sept. 29, 2018.

    Ad costs:

    Stated worldwide "advertising expense."

    Ad spending as percent of sales:

    Worldwide "advertising expense" as percent of "revenues."
    MEASURED-MEDIA SPENDING BY REGION IN 2017
    By region ($ in millions)20172016% chg
    Africa3.74.5-18.7
    Asia and Pacific44.446.5-4.5
    Europe302.3324.3-6.8
    Latin America87.732.0173.8
    Middle East0.0NANA
    Canada29.632.6-9.0
      Subtotal media outside the U.S.467.8439.96.3
      U.S. media spending520.2714.9-27.2
      Worldwide measured media$987.9$1,154.9-14.5
    For data sources by country, click Sources tab at top of page. U.S. measured media from Kantar Media.
    SALES AND EARNINGS ($ in millions from public documents)
    Walt Disney Co. (NYSE: DIS)
    WorldwideYear ended 9/30/2017Year ended 10/1/2016% chg
    Sales$55,137$55,632-0.9
    Earnings8,9809,391-4.4
    GEOGRAPHIC SALES (year ended 9/30/2017)
    Region ($ in millions)Year ended 9/30/2017Year ended 10/1/2016% chg
    U.S. and Canada41,88142,616-1.7
    Europe6,5416,714-2.6
    Asia Pacific5,0754,58210.8
    Latin America and other1,6401,720-4.7
    DIVISION SALES (year ended 9/30/2017)
    Division or segment sales ($ in millions)Year ended 9/30/2017Year ended 10/1/2016% chg
    Media networks23,51023,689-0.8
    Parks and resorts18,41516,9748.5
    Studio entertainment8,3799,441-11.2
    Consumer products and interactive media4,8335,528-12.6
    Connections
    Walt Disney Co.
    Ticker: NYSE DIS
    500 S. Buena Vista St., Burbank, Calif. 91521/Phone: (818) 560-1000.
    URL: http://www.thewaltdisneycompany.com
    Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/disney
    Twitter: @WaltDisneyCo
    Divisions, key executives and agencies

Yum Brands

  • TOTAL WORLDWIDE AD SPENDING
    WorldwideYear ended 12/30/2017Year ended 12/26/2016% chg
    Total worldwide advertising spending (U.S. dollars in millions)$2,335$2,2463.9
    Click the Profiles tab at the top of this page to read more about this marketer. Source: Ad Age Datacenter. Total worldwide advertising spending: Estimated worldwide systemwide ad spending including spending from franchisees and company-owned restaurants. Yum Brands in November 2016 spun off China operations as Yum China Holdings.
    Yum Brands ranked No. 41 in 2017 total U.S. ad spending in Ad Age's Leading National Advertisers report. Click on Yum Brands to see U.S. ad spending, brands and agencies from Ad Age's Marketer Trees 2018.
    WORLDWIDE AD SPENDING AS PERCENT OF SALES
    YearAd costs ($ in millions)Worldwide ad spending as percent of sales
    2008584.0NA
    2009548.0NA
    2010557.0NA
    2011593.0NA
    2012608.0NA
    2013607.0NA
    2014261.0NA
    2015253.0NA
    2016260.0NA
    2017245.0NA
    Ad costs:

    Stated worldwide advertising costs. These stated worldwide advertising costs reflect ad spending for company-owned stores and contributions to advertising cooperatives for company-owned stores.

    2015: Restated from $255 million; previously restated from $581 million following 2016 spinoff of Yum China Holdings.
    2014: Restated from $589 million following 2016 spinoff of Yum China Holdings.
    MEASURED-MEDIA SPENDING BY REGION IN 2017
    By region ($ in millions)20172016% chg
    Africa16.622.4-25.8
    Asia and Pacific313.6421.5-25.6
    Europe110.1105.54.3
    Latin America4.99.4-48.4
    Middle East18.023.4-23.2
    Canada14.911.530.0
      Subtotal media outside the U.S.478.1593.8-19.5
      U.S. media spending856.3814.05.2
      Worldwide measured media$1,334.4$1,407.8-5.2
    For data sources by country, click Sources tab at top of page. U.S. measured media from Kantar Media.
    SALES AND EARNINGS ($ in millions from public documents)
    Yum Brands (NYSE: YUM)
    WorldwideYear ended 12/30/2017Year ended 12/26/2016% chg
    Sales$5,878$6,356-7.5
    Earnings1,3401,643-18.4
    DIVISION SALES
    Division or segment sales ($ in millions)Year ended 12/30/2017Year ended 12/26/2016% chg
    KFC3,1103,225-3.6
    Taco Bell1,8802,025-7.2
    Pizza Hut8931,108-19.4
    Unallocated0-2NA
    Connections
    Yum Brands
    Ticker: NYSE YUM
    1441 Gardiner Lane, Louisville, Ky. 40213/Phone: (502) 874-8300.
    URL: http://www.yum.com
    Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/yumbrands
    Twitter: @yumbrands
    Divisions, key executives and agencies

Marketer profiles for Ad Age World's 100 Largest Advertisers in 2017

Tencent Holdings [This record free to all users]

  • Marketer profile
    Click here to see company's total worldwide advertising spending, measured-media spending by region, key executives and agencies.

    Overview:

    Tencent Holdings Ltd. is an internet services firm operating in China.

    Tencent is incorporated in the Cayman Islands.

    Marketing spending:Worldwide ad spending:

    Total worldwide ad spending figures shown in the World's Largest Advertisers report and related database are Tencent's stated worldwide "promotion and advertising expenses" converted to U.S. dollars by Ad Age Datacenter at average exchange rates.

    Stated worldwide promotion and advertising expenses:

    2017: 13.661 billion renminbi ($2.022 billion).
    2016: 9.219 billion renminbi ($1.389 billion).
    2015: 5.814 billion renminbi ($936 million).
    2014: 5.833 billion renminbi ($950 million).

    Deals and strategic moves:

    Tencent Music Entertainment Group:

    Tencent Music Entertainment Group (Tencent Music), a subsidiary of Tencent Holdings, in October 2018 filed in the U.S. for an initial public offering of American depositary shares.

    Tencent Music operates Chinese music apps QQ Music, Kugou and WeSing.

    Snap:

    Snap, owner of U.S.-based messaging app Snapchat, in November 2017 disclosed that Tencent had purchased an approximately 12 percent stake in Snap.

    Tencent was an investor in pre-IPO Snap, which had its initial public offering in March 2017.

    In a U.S. regulatory filing in November 2017, Snap said:

    "We have long been inspired by the creativity and entrepreneurial spirit of Tencent and we are grateful to continue our longstanding and productive relationship that began over four years ago. For its part, Martin Lau, Tencent's president, informed us that Tencent is excited to deepen its shareholding relationship with us, and that it looks forward to sharing ideas and experiences."

    Tesla:

    Tencent as of year-end 2017 owned a 4.97 percent stake in Tesla, a U.S.-based marketer of electric cars and solar panels.

    Tencent as of March 2017 owned about a 5 percent stake in Tesla.

    Tencent initially bought about a 2.2 percent Tesla stake in 2016 for about $737 million and then acquired additional stock.

    Supercell:

    Tencent in October 2016 bought a 76.9 percent stake in Supercell, a mobile game developer in Finland.

    Stock:

    Naspers, an internet, entertainment and media company based in South Africa, owned a 33.17 percent stake in Tencent as of year-end 2017, according to Tencent's annual report.

    Naspers owned a 33.25 percent stake in Tencent as of year-end 2016, according to Tencent's annual report.

    Naspers owns its Tencent stake through a Naspers-controlled entity called MIH TC Holdings. Naspers in 2001 bought its stake in then-obscure Tencent for $32 million. That stake as of November 2017 was worth $166 billion.

    http://www.tencent.com

21st Century Fox

  • Marketer profile
    Click here to see company's total worldwide advertising spending, measured-media spending by region, key executives and agencies.

    Overview:

    21st Century Fox is a global media and entertainment company with interests in cable and broadcast TV, filmed entertainment, magazines and digital media.

    Walt Disney Co. in 2018 proceeded on a deal to buy 21st Century Fox, a transaction expected to be completed in the first half of calendar 2019.

    Disney on Dec. 14, 2017, signed a deal to buy the company. Under that agreement, 21st Century Fox prior to the acquisition would transfer its news, sports and broadcast businesses--including Fox News Channel, Fox Business Network, Fox Broadcasting Co., Fox Sports, Fox Television Stations Group, FS1, FS2, Fox Deportes and Big Ten Network--into a newly formed subsidiary, dubbed New Fox, and distribute all New Fox shares to shareholders of 21st Century Fox.

    21st Century Fox would retain--and so Disney would buy--all assets and liabilities not transferred to New Fox, which would include the 21st Century Fox film and TV studios, certain cable networks (including FX and National Geographic) and 21st Century Fox's international TV businesses. 21st Century Fox would end up as a wholly owned subsidiary of Disney.

    Comcast Corp. June 13, 2018, announced its own offer to buy 21st Century Fox, maneuvering to supplant the Disney deal. A bidding war ensued as Disney upped its offer. Comcast pulled its offer in July 2018, clearing the way for Disney to proceed with the acquisition.

    Business segments and operations:

    21st Century Fox operations as of June 2018 included:

    Cable network programming: U.S. cable TV channels, such as Fox News, FX and Fox Sports 1; Fox International Channels in Europe, Latin America, Africa and Asia; and Star India.

    Filmed entertainment: Twentieth Century Fox Film (Twentieth Century Fox, Fox 2000, Fox Searchlight Pictures, Twentieth Century Fox Animation, Fox International Productions; motion picture production and distribution); Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment (DVD, Blu-ray); Twentieth Century Fox Television, Fox21 Television Studios, Twentieth Television (TV programming, production and domestic syndicated distribution).

    Television: Fox Broadcasting Co. (Fox network); Master Distribution Service (MyNetworkTV programming service); 28 U.S. TV stations.

    The company (old News Corp.) on June 28, 2013 spun off its publishing and other operations into new News Corp. and then changed the name of old News Corp. to Twenty-First Century Fox, known as 21st Century Fox.

    Other holdings:

    National Geographic Partners: 21st Century Fox as of June 2018 held a 73 percent stake in National Geographic Partners (NGC Group Holdings); National Geographic Society, a non-profit organization, owned 27 percent. 21st Century Fox and National Geographic Society formed National Geographic Partners in November 2015. National Geographic Partners owns National Geographic TV channels, magazines, digital and social-media platforms and other ventures.

    Big Ten Network: The company's Fox Cable Networks as of 2018 owned about 51 percent of Big Ten Network, a cable network offering sports content related to the Big Ten Conference. Big Ten Network, launched in August 2007, operates as a joint venture between subsidiaries of the Big Ten Conference and Fox.

    Baby TV: Fox International Channels as of 2018 owned a 50.1 percent equity interest in Baby TV, a 24-hour channel dedicated to infants and toddlers under three years old. The Baby TV channel is shown in more than 100 countries including the United States.

    Sky: 21st Century Fox in October 2018 sold its 39.1 percent stake in Sky, a U.K.-based satellite TV firm, to Comcast after Comcast beat 21st Century Fox in an auction to acquire Sky. See "Deals and strategic moves" section.

    Hulu: 21st Century Fox, Disney and Comcast's NBC Universal each own 30 percent of online video service Hulu, according to Disney's 10-K for year ended Sept. 30, 2017. (Disney's 2018 deal to buy 21st Century Fox will give Disney a majority stake in Hulu.)

    21st Century Fox's 10-K for year ended June 2018 said: "The company has an approximate 30 percent equity interest in Hulu."

    Time Warner (now AT&T's WarnerMedia) joined 21st Century Fox, Disney and Comcast in August 2016 when it bought a 10 percent stake for $590 million in cash, including transaction costs.

    Disney's 10-K for year ended Sept. 30, 2017, said: "For not more than 36 months from August 2016, [Time Warner] may put its shares to Hulu or Hulu may call the shares from [Time Warner] under certain limited circumstances arising from regulatory review. [Disney] and [21st Century] Fox have agreed to make a capital contribution for up to approximately $300 million each if required to fund the repurchase of shares from [Time Warner]. The August 2016 transaction resulted in a deemed sale by the company of a portion of its interest in Hulu at a gain of approximately $175 million. [Disney] expects to recognize the gain if and when the put and call options expire."

    AT&T June 14, 2018, completed its acquisition of Time Warner, which it renamed WarnerMedia. This came after a federal judge June 12, 2018, ruled that AT&T could proceed with its takeover of Time Warner after the U.S. Justice Department in November 2017 filed a civil antitrust lawsuit to block the deal. AT&T signed its deal to buy Time Warner in October 2016.

    Before Time Warner made its investment in Hulu, 21st Century Fox, Disney and NBC Universal each owned one-third of Hulu, according to Disney's 10-K for year ended October 2015 and 21st Century Fox's 10-K for year ended June 2015.

    Hulu in 2013 weighed buyout offers from various suitors. Hulu's owners in July 2013 decided against a sale. In a July 2013 statement, 21st Century Fox, Disney and NBC Universal said they "will maintain their respective ownership positions in Hulu and together provide a cash infusion of $750 million" -- $250 million from 21st Century Fox -- "in order to propel future growth." Under this agreement, 21st Century Fox invested an additional $125 million in Hulu in July 2013 and another $125 million in May 2015.

    (Providence Equity Partners, a buyout firm, in October 2007 invested $100 million in Hulu. Providence in October 2012 sold its 10 percent Hulu stake back to Hulu for $200 million. As a result, stakes of the other investors increased in October 2012.)

    Sports programming:

    21st Century Fox has multi-year sports rights agreements, including contracts with Major League Baseball through calendar year 2021; National Football League through fiscal 2022; and National Association of Stock Car Auto Racing (Nascar) through calendar year 2024.

    New corporate headquarters:

    21st Century Fox and News Corp. in June 2015 announced a non-binding agreement with Silverstein Properties to locate each company's corporate headquarters at a new building to be developed by Silverstein Properties at 200 Greenwich St./2 World Trade Center in Lower Manhattan. The two companies have had their headquarters in an office building on Avenue of the Americas in Midtown Manhattan.

    Sales and earnings:

    21st Century Fox generated the following revenue for years ended June 30:

    2018: $30.400 billion ($21.400 billion or 70.4 percent from U.S.)
    2017: $28.500 billion ($20.400 billion or 71.6 percent from U.S.)
    2016: $27.326 billion ($19.100 billion or 69.9 percent from U.S.)
    2015: $28.987 billion ($18.200 billion or 62.8 percent from U.S.)
    2014: $31.867 billion ($17.400 billion or 54.6 percent from U.S.)
    2013: $27.675 billion ($15.600 billion or 56.4 percent from U.S.)
    2012: $25.051 billion (restated) ($14.900 billion or 59.5 percent from U.S.)
    2011: $24.232 billion (restated) ($14.300 billion or 59.0 percent from U.S.)
    2010: $23.971 billion (restated) ($13.600 billion or 56.7 percent from U.S.)

    Marketing spending:

    U.S. ad spending:

    Total U.S. advertising spending figures shown in the Leading National Advertisers report and Marketer Trees database are Ad Age Datacenter estimates.

    Worldwide ad spending:

    Total worldwide advertising spending figures shown in the World's Largest Advertisers report and related database are 21st Century Fox's stated worldwide "advertising expenses."

    21st Century Fox reported the following worldwide "advertising expenses" for years ended June 30:

    2018: $2.3 billion (7.6 percent of revenue)
    2017: $2.2 billion (7.7 percent)
    2016: $2.4 billion (8.8 percent)
    2015: $2.6 billion (9.0 percent)
    2014: $2.9 billion (9.1 percent)
    2013: $2.2 billion (7.9 percent)
    2012: $1.9 billion (7.6 percent)
    2011: $2.2 billion (9.1 percent)
    2010: $2.2 (billion (9.0 percent)

    Deals and strategic moves:

    Disney (2017-2018):

    Disney in 2018 proceeded on a deal to buy 21st Century Fox, a transaction expected to be completed in the first half of calendar 2019.

    Disney on Dec. 14, 2017, signed a deal to buy the company. Under that agreement, 21st Century Fox prior to the acquisition would transfer its news, sports and broadcast businesses--including Fox News Channel, Fox Business Network, Fox Broadcasting Co., Fox Sports, Fox Television Stations Group, FS1, FS2, Fox Deportes and Big Ten Network--into a newly formed subsidiary, dubbed New Fox, and distribute all New Fox shares to shareholders of 21st Century Fox.

    21st Century Fox would retain--and so Disney would buy--all assets and liabilities not transferred to New Fox, which would include the 21st Century Fox film and TV studios, certain cable networks (including FX and National Geographic) and 21st Century Fox's international TV businesses. 21st Century Fox would end up as a wholly owned subsidiary of Disney.

    Comcast Corp. June 13, 2018, announced its own offer to buy 21st Century Fox, maneuvering to supplant the Disney deal. A bidding war ensued as Disney upped its offer. Comcast pulled its offer in July 2018, clearing the way for Disney to proceed with the acquisition.

    Comcast made its move on 21st Century Fox the day after a federal judge June 12, 2018, ruled that AT&T could proceed with its acquisition of Time Warner. That ruling came after the U.S. Justice Department in November 2017 filed a civil antitrust lawsuit to block the deal, which AT&T and Time Warner signed in October 2016. AT&T June 14, 2018, completed its acquisition of Time Warner, which it renamed WarnerMedia

    21st Century Fox had rejected an offer from Comcast before signing the deal with Disney in December 2017.

    Sky (2016-2018):

    Comcast Corp. in September 2018 beat 21st Century Fox in an auction to acquire Sky, a U.K.-based satellite TV firm in a deal valued at 30.6 billion pounds ($40.0 billion).

    Comcast in October 2018 bought 21st Century Fox's 39.1 percent Sky stake for 11.6 billion pounds ($15.1 billion). Comcast acquired additional Sky shares in the public market, giving Comcast a greater than 75 percent stake in Sky as of October 2018. Comcast expected to buy the remaining Sky shares during fourth-quarter 2018; Comcast as of late October 2018 owned a 98 percent stake. Sky ceased trading on the London Stock Exchange in November 2018.

    Comcast in April 2018 made its first offer to buy Sky.

    Fox had been an investor in Sky and predecessors BSkyB and Sky Television since 1983.

    British Sky Broadcasting Group Plc (BSkyB) changed its name to Sky Plc in 2014.

    21st Century Fox in December 2016 signed a deal to buy the remaining Sky stake, subject to regulatory and shareholder approval. Disney had hoped to proceed with 21st Century Fox's Sky deal.

    Sky offers satellite across five countries (Italy, Germany, Austria, U.K., Ireland).

    21st Century Fox on Nov. 12, 2014, sold Sky Italia (satellite TV in Italy) and the company's 57.4 percent stake in Sky Deutschland (satellite TV in Germany and Austria) to Sky (formerly British Sky Broadcasting Group, or BSkyB). 21st Century Fox pegged the value it received at $8.8 billion ($8.2 billion cash; plus Sky's 21 percent stake in National Geographic Channels International, which raised 21st Century Fox's ownership to 73 percent from 52 percent). In addition, 21st Century Fox bought about $900 million in Sky stock, allowing 21st Century Fox to keep its Sky stake at 39 percent.

    Old News Corp. in year ended June 2010 made an offer to buy all of BSkyB. It withdrew the offer in July 2011.

    The company has been an investor in Sky and predecessors BSkyB and Sky Television since 1983.

    British Sky Broadcasting Group Plc (BSkyB) changed its name to Sky Plc in November 2014. U.K.-based Sky as of June 2016 served 21.814 million retail customers across five countries: Austria, Germany, Ireland, Italy and the U.K.

    Sky's stated worldwide revenue for fiscal years ended June 30:

    2018: 13.585 billion pounds ($17.932 billion)
    2017: 12.916 billion pounds ($16.388 billion)
    2016: 11.965 billion pounds ($17.765 billion)
    2015: 9.989 billion pounds ($15.743 billion)
    2014: 7.450 billion pounds ($12.117 billion)
    2013: 7.082 billion pounds ($11.112 billion)

    National Geographic Partners (2015):

    21st Century Fox as of 2018 owned a 73 percent stake in the for-profit National Geographic Partners (NGC Group Holdings). National Geographic Society, a non-profit organization, owned 27 percent.

    21st Century Fox (through 21st Century Fox America) and National Geographic Society formed National Geographic Partners (NGC Group Holdings) in November 2015 by taking the following steps:

    21st Century Fox and National Geographic Society contributed their interests in NGC Network US, NGC Network International and NGC Network Latin America, collectively known as NGC Networks.

    National Geographic Society handed over ownership of its publishing, travel and certain other businesses -- including National Geographic magazines; National Geographic Studios; related digital and social-media platforms; books; maps; children's media; and ancillary activities, including travel, location-based entertainment, archival sales, catalog, licensing and e-commerce businesses -- to National Geographic Partners in return for a $625 million payment from 21st Century Fox.

    Prior to the deal, 21st Century Fox owned a majority stake in NGC Networks. Specifically, 21st Century Fox owned a 70 percent interest in NGC Network US (National Geographic Channel, National Geographic Channel HD, Nat Geo Wild, Nat Geo Wild HD and Nat Geo Mundo in the U.S.); National Geographic Society owned the rest. 21st Century Fox owned a 73 percent stake in NGC International (NGC Network International and NGC Network Latin America; including National Geographic Channel, National Geographic Channel HD, Nat Geo Adventure channel, Nat Geo Wild channel and Nat Geo Music); National Geographic Society owned 27 percent. (21st Century Fox in November 2014 boosted its interest in NGC International to 73 percent from 52 percent by acquiring a 21 percent stake held by Sky for $650 million cash.)

    21st Century Fox and National Geographic Society had operated National Geographic U.S. and international cable TV channels as a joint venture since the late 1990s.

    Old News Corp. began consolidating financial results of National Geographic Channel in October 2007. In March 2011, old News Corp. and National Geographic launched a second channel, Nat Geo Wild, which replaced Fox Reality Channel.

    Time Warner takeover proposal (2014):

    21st Century Fox July 16, 2014, disclosed that it had made a formal proposal to Time Warner in June 2014 to acquire the rival company. Time Warner said in a statement July 16, 2014, that its board had rejected the offer - a combination of 1.531 of 21st Century Fox Class A non-voting common shares plus $32.42 a cash, or a total of $85 a share - and added that "it was not in the best interests of Time Warner or its stockholders to accept the proposal or to pursue any discussions with Twenty-First Century Fox. The board is confident that continuing to execute its strategic plan will create significantly more value for the Company and its stockholders and is superior to any proposal that Twenty-First Century Fox is in a position to offer." 21st Century Fox Aug. 5, 2014, said it had withdrawn its takeover proposal.

    AT&T in October 2016 signed a deal to buy Time Warner. AT&T June 14, 2018, completed its acquisition of Time Warner, which it renamed WarnerMedia.

    News Corp. breakup (2013):

    21st Century Fox took its current form on June 28, 2013, when old News Corp. spun off its publishing and other operations into new News Corp. and then changed the name of old News Corp. to Twenty-First Century Fox, known as 21st Century Fox. (See "History" section.)

    Other deals and strategic moves:

    The company in February 2016 bought the 7 percent interest it did not already own in Fox-BRV Southern Sports Holdings, which owned the Sports South and Fox Sports Net South regional sports networks, for $225 million in cash from Scripps Networks Interactive. 21st Century Fox now has 100 percent ownership.

    21st Century Fox in January 2016 agreed to buy a minority stake in San Francisco-based Osterhout Design Group, which makes and designs wearable technologies such as smart glasses.

    The company in December 2015 bought the broadcast business of MAA Television Network, a venture in India that broadcasts and operates Telugu language entertainment channels, for $346 million cash.

    21st Century Fox said it invested "approximately $150 million in cash" for a minority equity interest in daily fantasy sports company DraftKings in July 2015. 21st Century Fox in February 2016 revised that figure, saying its calendar-2015 investment was "approximately $160 million in cash."

    Coinciding with 21st Century Fox's investment, DraftKings committed to spend a minimum of $250 million for media placements on 21st Century Fox properties through December 2017.

    21st Century Fox in February 2016 disclosed: "As of December 31, 2015, based on information concerning DraftKings' current valuation in a recent financing transaction, the company determined that a portion of its [$160 million] investment in DraftKings was impaired and recorded a loss of approximately $95 million," meaning it reduced the carrying value of the investment by about $95 million to about $65 million.

    DraftKings on Nov. 17, 2016, announced plans to merge with daily fantasy sports rival FanDuel. DraftKings and FanDuel expected to complete the deal in 2017. DraftKings and FanDuel terminated the merger deal in July 2017. 21st Century Fox's Fox International Channels in July 2015 sold its 50 percent stake in MundoFox Broadcasting to joint-venture partner RCN MF Holdings for $75 million in cash, giving RCN 100 percent ownership. MundoFox Broadcasting is a Latin American TV network and production company that owns MundoFox, a Spanish-language broadcast TV network targeting the U.S. Hispanic market. Fox International Channels and Colombia-based RCN MF Holdings (RCN Television Group) in January 2012 formed MundoFox Broadcasting as a 50/50 joint venture to start MundoFox, which launched in August 2012. The network "will aim to bring a similar sensibility as the Fox Network to Latino audiences," a January 2012 press release said. (Fox International Channels' MundoFox.com began in 2009 as a Latin American online venture offering ad-supported, long-form video content in Spanish and Portuguese.)

    The company in February 2015 bought TrueX Media, a video advertising company specializing in consumer engagement and on-demand marketing campaigns, for about $175 million cash including deferred payments that are subject to the reaching service and performance conditions.

    21st Century Fox and buyout firm Apollo Global Management in December 2014 formed a 50/50 joint venture to own and manage three TV production companies -- 21st Century Fox's Shine Group and two Apollo businesses, Core Media Group and Endemol. 21st Century Fox contributed its interests in Shine Group and cash, comprising an aggregate carrying value of about $830 million.

    Old News Corp. in April 2011 had purchased Shine, a U.K. TV production and distribution business majority owned by Elisabeth Murdoch, daughter of Rupert Murdoch. The company paid about $480 million cash (with about $60 million of that "set aside in escrow to satisfy any indemnification obligations") and paid off Shine's $135 million debt load. Elisabeth Murdoch pocketed about $214 million of that $480 million "and is entitled to her proportionate share of amounts that are released from escrow," old News Corp. said in its annual reports for years ended June 2011 and June 2012. 21st Century Fox's 10-K for year ended June 2013 said Elisabeth Murdoch received "the proportionate share of amounts released from escrow"; the filing didn't say how much money she received from escrow.

    21st Century Fox in October 2014 acquired two San Francisco-Bay area television stations from Cox Enterprises' Cox Media Group in exchange for 21st Century Fox's Fox affiliates in Boston and Memphis, Tenn. 21st Century Fox, in a financial disclosure about the deal, said the two Bay area stations had "a fair value of approximately $220 million."

    21st Century Fox in July 2014 sold its minority stake in Bona Film Group, a film distributor in China, to founder and Chairman-CEO Dong Yu for about $70 million cash. Old News Corp. in May 2012 had purchased the stake for about $70 million cash.

    The company in year ended June 2014 sold, in separate transactions, its 50 percent interest in Stats LLC (U.S.-based sports statistics business), 47 percent interest in CMC-News Asia Holdings (TV content and distribution business in China) and 50 percent stake in Star CJ Network India (home-shopping network in India) for a total of about $255 million. During that fiscal year, the company also sold its remaining 12 percent stake in Phoenix Satellite Television Holdings (TV channel distributor in Hong Kong and China) for about $210 million.

    Stats had been a 50/50 venture of 21st Century Fox and the Associated Press; the two partners sold Stats to San Francisco buyout firm Vista Equity Partners in the second calendar quarter of 2014.

    The company in May 2014 boosted its stake in Asianet Communications (TV venture in India) to 100 percent from 87 percent.

    21st Century Fox in February 2014 raised its stake in Yankees Entertainment and Sports Network (YES) to 80 percent from 49 percent, at which point YES (including $1.7 billion in debt) became a consolidated entity of the company. 21st Century Fox bought that additional 31 percent stake for about $680 million, net of cash acquired. Yankee Global Enterprises owns the remaining 20 percent. YES is a regional sports network that features live coverage of New York Yankees baseball and Brooklyn Nets basketball games.

    The company in December 2012 bought its initial 49 percent stake in YES for about $584 million. The network's existing owners -- Yankee Global Enterprises, Goldman Sachs and other investors -- reduced their ownership in connection with the transaction. Coinciding with the closing of the transaction, old News Corp. paid about $250 million of what it called "upfront costs on behalf of YES" for a total investment of about $834 million. YES also signed a media rights agreement that will keep Yankees baseball on YES through 2042. Under terms of the YES deal, the company could boost its stake to 80 percent starting in December 2015 (though 21st Century Fox ended up boosting its ownership to that level in first-quarter 2014). Specifically, under the original pact, the other owners could require 21st Century Fox to buy up to an additional 31 percent interest. If the other owners didn't exercise that option, then 21st Century Fox had an option beginning in year ending June 2017 to buy up to an additional 31 percent interest (giving it up to an 80 percent stake), at which point Yankee Global Enterprises would retain a significant minority stake in the network.

    21st Century Fox in September 2013 launched FXX as a cable entertainment channel targeting the 18-34 demographic. FXX replaced the Fox Soccer channel.

    The company in September 2013 paid about $75 million cash for an additional 22 percent stake in Latin America Pay Television (LAPTV), increasing its ownership to 100 percent from 78 percent. LAPTV distributes premium and basic TV channels in Latin America. The channels mainly feature English-language movies from Twentieth Century Fox and three other studios dubbed in Spanish or shown with Spanish subtitles. The company in May 2012 had purchased an additional 23 percent interest in LAPTV for about $64 million in cash, increasing its stake to 78 percent.

    21st Century Fox in August 2013 launched Fox Sports 1, a national sports cable network, which took the place of Speed, a motor-sports network; and Fox Sports 2, a national sports cable network created by the rebranding of Fuel TV, another sports network.

    The company in June 2013 sold WUTB-TV, the MyNetworkTV affiliate in Baltimore, to Deerfield Media under a deal with Maryland-based Sinclair Broadcast Group, which owned the Fox affiliate in Baltimore and now runs WUTB under a local marketing agreement. That reduced the company's TV portfolio to 28 stations from 29.

    Fox Television Stations in April 2013 bought two Charlotte, N.C., TV stations -- the market's MyNetworkTV affiliate and the CW affiliate -- from Capitol Broadcasting Co. That CW affiliate became Charlotte's Fox network affiliate effective July 2013.

    The company in March 2013 sold its 44 percent interest in Sky Network Television, a pay TV service in New Zealand, for about $675 million.

    The company in December 2012 acquired SportsTime Ohio, a Cleveland-based regional sports network, from Major League Baseball's Cleveland Indians for about $285 million. Of that price tag, $135 million was in cash; the balance of the purchase price represented the fair value of deferred payments and payments contingent on achieving performance objectives.

    The company in November 2012 bought the remaining 50 percent interest in ESPN Star Sports from ESPN for about $220 million, net of cash acquired. ESPN Star Sports was a sports broadcaster in Asia that had been a 50/50 venture of old News Corp. and ESPN. (Disney owns 80 percent of ESPN; Hearst Corp. owns 20 percent.) The deal gave old News Corp. 100 percent ownership. At that point, old News Corp. began to consolidate results of ESPN Star Sports, which was renamed Fox Sports Asia.

    The company in November 2012 bought a controlling 51 percent stake in Eredivisie Media & Marketing for about $350 million ($325 million cash, $25 million contingent consideration). Eredivisie is a media company that owns media and sponsorship rights of the Dutch Premier League, a Netherlands football league. The remaining 49 percent is owned by the Dutch Premier League and the global TV production company Endemol.

    In July 2012, old News Corp. sold its 49 percent investment in NDS Group, a developer of video software and video content security solutions, to Cisco Systems for about $1.9 billion. Old News Corp. in year ended June 2012 entered into an asset acquisition agreement with a third party in exchange for a non-controlling stake in one of the company's majority-owned regional sports networks. The non-controlling owner has an option related to its ownership interest that is exercisable starting in year ending June 2015.

    The company in December 2011 bought the 67 percent stake it did not already own in Fox Pan American Sports for about $400 million. Fox Pan American is an international sports programming and production entity that owns and operates Fox Sports Latin America, a Spanish and Portuguese-language sports network in certain Caribbean and Central and South American nations. As a result of that transaction, old News Corp. gained 100 percent ownership of Fox Pan American as well as 100 percent of Fox Deportes, a U.S. Spanish-language sports programming service that had been co-owned with Fox Pan American. Old News Corp. consolidated financial results of Fox Pan American starting in December 2011.

    The company in December 2007 agreed to sell eight U.S. TV stations to Local TV LLC, a station group owned by buyout firm Oak Hill Capital Partners, for $1.1 billion cash. The deal closed in July 2008. Tribune Co.'s Tribune Broadcasting in December 2013 acquired Local TV -- a group of 19 stations -- for $2.725 billion. Tribune Broadcasting now is a subsidiary of Tribune Media.

    Old News Corp. in February 2013 sold IGN Entertainment to J2 Global's Ziff Davis for $50 million cash, subject to post-closing adjustments. The deal came three months after J2 acquired Ziff Davis in November 2012. Old News Corp. had purchased IGN, an internet media and services company offering video games and other digital entertainment, in October 2005 for about $650 million cash. Old News Corp. in May 2011 bought Hearst Corp.'s Ugo Entertainment, a group of video-game-related properties, making Ugo part of IGN Entertainment; Hearst took a 5.5 percent stake in IGN as part of that deal, leaving old News Corp. with a 94.5 percent interest.

    Old News Corp. on June 29, 2011, sold MySpace (now Myspace), its struggling social network, to Specific Media, a digital-media company formed in 1999. The price tag wasn't disclosed; media reports said News Corp. received $35 million plus a 5 percent stake in Specific Media. News Corp. reported a $254 million loss on the transaction.

    Old News Corp. in September 2005 had paid $580 million cash to buy Intermix Media, the 53 percent owner of MySpace. Intermix in July 2005 had exercised an option to acquire the remaining 47 percent of MySpace for about $70 million cash; that transaction closed in October 2005, giving Intermix -- and News Corp. -- 100 percent ownership in MySpace. Stated worldwide revenue of MySpace plunged to $108 million in year ended June 2011 from $397 million in year ended June 2010 and $605 million in year ended June 2009. MySpace had been part of Digital Media Group/Fox Interactive Media.

    Interactive Media Holdings, parent of Specific Media and Myspace, in January 2015 rebranded as Viant Technology. Publishing company Time Inc. in March 2016 paid $87 million (net of cash acquired) to buy the assets of Viant.

    Old News Corp. in December 2010 sold Fox Mobile Group to Jesta Group, an investment firm based in London, Paris, Montreal and New York. Fox Mobile Group had been part of News Corp.'s Digital Media Group. News Corp. earlier in 2010 had said it was considering the sale of Fox Mobile Group, whose brands included Jamba, Jamster, Mobizzo and iLove as well as Bitbop, a mobile video service and entertainment platform launched in the U.S. in early 2010. Fox Mobile Group was renamed and became a part of Jesta Mobile Holdings, with co-headquarters in Berlin and Beverly Hills, Calif.

    Old News Corp. had built up the mobile venture late in the last decade; the company in October 2008 bought VeriSign's 49 percent stake in Jamba, a mobile-entertainment venture, for about $200 million, giving News Corp. 100 percent ownership. News Corp. in 2007 had purchased a controlling interest in Jamba, buying a 51 percent stake from VeriSign. Jamba (known as Jamster in the U.S., Canada and U.K.) provided mobile entertainment, offering mobile products directly via mobile phones, including branded content from content providers around the world.

    Old News Corp. in June 2010 sold Beliefnet, an online community targeting consumers interested in faith and spirituality, to BN Media, an investment firm behind Cross Bridge (a distributor of video content), and Affinity4, an affinity marketing firm. News Corp. had acquired Beliefnet in December 2007. Beliefnet had been part of Digital Media Group/Fox Interactive Media.

    Old News Corp. in January 2010 sold Rotten Tomatoes, a movie-review analysis website, to Flixster, another movie site. News Corp. had acquired Rotten Tomatoes in October 2005 as part of the company's purchase of IGN Entertainment. News Corp. received a minority equity stake in Flixster as part of the Rotten Tomatoes sale. Rotten Tomatoes had been part of Fox Interactive Media/Digital Media Group. (Time Warner's Warner Bros. bought Flixster in May 2011. Warner Bros. in April 2016 sold its Flixster business, including Rotten Tomatoes, to Comcast's NBC Universal in exchange for a 25 percent stake in NBC Universal's Fandango.)

    The company in December 2009 struck a deal to merge photo site Photobucket with Ontela, a provider of imaging services for wireless carriers. News Corp. said it received "a significant equity stake" in the merged company, operating as Photobucket Corp. News Corp. also received a cash payment. In its 10-K for year ended June 2010, News Corp. said its interest in Photobucket Corp. was "not material." News Corp. recorded a loss of about $32 million on the transaction. News Corp. had acquired Photobucket in July 2007 for a total purchase price of about $287 million, of which $237 million was in cash and $50 million in deferred consideration; News Corp. paid the deferred consideration in calendar 2008 and calendar 2009. Photobucket had been part of Fox Interactive Media/Digital Media Group.

    Old News Corp. in January 2009 shut Flektor, a web offering that allowed users to create content mashups. News Corp. had purchased Flektor in May 2007 and made it part of Fox Interactive Media.

    The company in February 2008 completed an asset swap with Liberty Media Corp., a major shareholder run by media dealmaker John Malone. Liberty exchanged its 16.3 percent stake in old News Corp. for a package consisting of old News Corp.'s 41 percent interest in DirecTV Group, three regional sports networks (FSN Northwest, FSN Pittsburgh, FSN Rocky Mountain) and about $625 million in cash. Old News Corp. had purchased its DirecTV stake in December 2003. (AT&T bought DirecTV in July 2015.)

    Historic revenue of Digital Media Group:

    Old News Corp. did not disclose revenue for its Digital Media Group for year ended June 2012 but said the absence of revenue from MySpace (sold in June 2011) contributed to a 44 percent drop in News Corp.'s "Other" segment revenue.

    Worldwide revenue of the Digital Media Group businesses plunged to $207 million in year ended June 2011 from $549 million in year ended June 2010 and $825 million in year ended June 2009, according to Ad Age Datacenter's analysis.

    Old News Corp.'s 10-K for year ended June 2011 said revenue of the company's digital media properties fell $342 million in year ended June 2011, "principally due to lower advertising and search revenues at" MySpace. As noted, MySpace had revenue of $108 million in year ended June 2011, down from $397 million in year ended June 2010.

    For the year ended June 2010, old News Corp. said: "The revenue decrease at the company's digital media properties of $276 million was principally due to lower search and advertising revenues." As noted, MySpace had revenue of $397 million in year ended June 2010, down from $605 million in year ended June 2009.

    Digital revenue in year ended June 2010 was depressed by lower revenue at MySpace. Year-on-year revenue comparisons also were affected by the sale of several Digital Media Group properties: Photobucket (sold in December 2009), Rotten Tomatoes (sold in January 2010) and Beliefnet (sold in June 2010).

    Management and employees:

    Long-time Chairman-CEO Rupert Murdoch retired as CEO effective July 1, 2015, the start of the company's fiscal year. Murdoch became executive co-chairman. Murdoch was age 84 at the time.

    James Murdoch, age 42 at the time, moved to CEO from co-chief operating officer. Lachlan Murdoch, age 43 at the time, shifted to executive co-chairman from non-executive co-chairman.

    James and Lachlan are Rupert Murdoch's two sons.

    Chase Carey, the company's deputy chairman, president and chief operating officer since 2009, became executive vice chairman on July 1, 2015; he was age 61 at the time. Carey kept that title through June 30, 2016.

    The company in March 2014 had elevated Lachlan to non-executive co-chairman and James to co-chief operating officer as part of the family's planned management succession.

    See discussion in "Deals and strategic moves" regarding the company's 2011 acquisition of Shine Group, which was majority owned by Elisabeth Murdoch, daughter of Rupert Murdoch.

    21st Century Fox has purchased services from Freud Communications, a U.K. PR agency run by Matthew Freud, Elisabeth Murdoch's husband and Rupert Murdoch's son-in-law. The company paid Freud Communications $142,000 in year ended June 2014. Old News Corp. paid Freud Communications $138,000 in year ended June 2013; $195,000 in year ended June 2012; $202,000 in 2011; $350,000 in 2010; $473,000 in 2009; and $669,000 in 2008. Publicis Groupe, an agency company, previously owned a 56 percent stake in Freud Communications; it sold the agency back to Matthew Freud in 2011.

    Old News Corp., prior to May 2010, paid Murdoch's then-wife, Wendi Deng Murdoch, for advice on the development of the MySpace business in China, according to the 10-K filing for year ended June 2010. Wendi Deng Murdoch received $92,000 in fiscal year ended June 2010 and $100,000 in both the fiscal years ended June 2009 and June 2008. Rupert Murdoch and Wendi Deng Murdoch filed for divorce in June 2013.

    Stock:

    Sydney-based News Corp. Ltd. in November 1998 staged a U.S. initial public offering of its U.S. cable, broadcast and movie businesses, Fox Entertainment Group, which traded under the ticker FOX. News Corp. Ltd. continued to own a majority of Fox Entertainment after the IPO.

    Old News Corp. in November 2004 reincorporated in the United States, moving its legal headquarters to New York from Sydney and its primary stock listing to the New York Stock Exchange. Old News Corp. in March 2005 acquired Fox Entertainment Group for $6.3 billion in stock.

    Old News Corp. ditched the New York Stock Exchange in favor of Nasdaq in December 2008.

    Old News Corp. changed its name to 21st Century Fox in June 2013 when old News Corp. spun off its publishing and other operations into new News Corp. 21st Century Fox took the Nasdaq ticker FOX.

    21st Century Fox terminated its Australia stock listing May 8, 2014. As a result, 21st Century Fox shares (traded as Class A and Class B common shares) now are listed solely on the Nasdaq.

    History:

    Early News Corp., U.S. entry, Fox:

    Old News Corp. traces its origin to the incorporation in 1923 of News Ltd. to publish a daily newspaper in Adelaide, Australia. Keith Murdoch, a veteran Australian journalist and father of K. Rupert Murdoch, bought a minority stake in News Ltd. in 1949. Keith Murdoch died in 1952, when Rupert Murdoch was age 21. Rupert Murdoch took over at News Ltd. after his father's death and over the decades expanded the empire.

    The company expanded into the U.S. in 1973 with the acquisition of two newspapers in San Antonio, Texas.

    The company's U.S. unit, News America, in April 1985 acquired a 50 percent stake in Twentieth Century Fox Film Corp. for $250 million ($162.5 million purchase price plus a capital injection of $87.5 million) from oil billionaire Marvin Davis. News America bought Davis' remaining 50 percent stake in December 1985 for $325 million.

    Twentieth Century Fox Film Corp. was created by the 1935 merger of Twentieth Century Pictures (founded in 1933) and Fox Film Corp. (founded in 1915).

    Old News Corp. acquired six major-market U.S. TV stations (New York; Los Angeles; Chicago; Dallas; Washington, D.C.; Houston) from media firm Metromedia in March 1986 for $1.55 billion. Rupert Murdoch, who was born in Australia, had to become a U.S. citizen to get Federal Communications Commission approval for the station purchases. Murdoch became a naturalized U.S. citizen in 1985. The company in October 1986 launched Fox Broadcasting Co. as a rival to the big three U.S. broadcast networks (ABC, CBS, NBC). The stations acquired from Metromedia formed the cornerstone of the new network. Metromedia's stations had been part of an upstart network before -- the failed DuMont network back in the 1950s.

    Chairman-CEO Rupert Murdoch retired as CEO of 21st Century Fox on July 1, 2015. He took the new post of executive co-chairman and handed power to the next generation: Son James Murdoch became CEO; son Lachlan Murdoch became executive co-chairman.

    Old News Corp. ad spending:

    Old News Corp. reported worldwide "advertising expenses" for years ended June 30:

    2012: $2.4 billion (7.12 percent of worldwide revenue)
    2011: $2.7 billion (8.08 percent of worldwide revenue)
    2010: $2.5 billion (7.63 percent of worldwide revenue)
    2009: $2.5 billion (8.22 percent of worldwide revenue)
    2008: $2.5 billion (7.58 percent of worldwide revenue)
    2007: $2.4 billion (8.38 percent of worldwide revenue)

    Old News Corp. breakup:

    Old News Corp. on June 28, 2012, said it was considering breaking up into two companies, one focused on entertainment media and the other on publishing.

    In its 10-K filed in August 2012, News Corp. said: "The global media and entertainment company would consist of the company's cable and television assets, filmed entertainment and direct satellite broadcasting businesses. The global publishing company ... would consist of the company's current publishing businesses as well as its education division. ... The separation is expected to be completed in approximately one year."

    News Corp. in December 2012 announced more details about the breakup, affirming that the split was expected to be completed by around June 2013; the global publishing company would keep the name News Corp.; the global media and entertainment company would be called Fox Group.

    Old News Corp. in April 2013 scrapped the name Fox Group, opting instead for 21st Century Fox.

    The company completed its breakup on June 28, 2013, two weeks after, as it happened, the breakup of the third marriage of Rupert Murdoch (age 82 at the time), who filed for divorce from Wendi Deng Murdoch (age 44 at the time).

    Upon the corporate split, old News Corp. Chairman-CEO Rupert Murdoch became chairman-CEO of 21st Century Fox and executive chairman of new News Corp. Robert Thomson moved to CEO of new News Corp. from editor-in-chief of old News Corp.'s Dow Jones effective Jan. 1, 2013, six months before the official breakup. (Chairman-CEO Rupert Murdoch retired as CEO of 21st Century Fox on July 1, 2015. He took the new post of executive co-chairman and handed power to the next generation: Son James Murdoch became CEO; son Lachlan Murdoch became executive co-chairman.)

    New News Corp. operations before June 2013 breakup:

    New News Corp. reported worldwide revenue of $8.891 billion for year ended June 2013 and $8.654 billion for year ended June 2012. On a pro forma basis factoring in an acquisition in Australia, revenue fell to $9.088 billion for year ended June 2013 from $9.140 billion for year ended June 2012.

    New News Corp.'s 10-K for year ended June 2013 disclosed worldwide "advertising and promotional expenses" of $442 million for year ended June 2013 and restated figures for the two previous fiscal years -- $466 million for year ended June 2012 and $469 million for year ended June 2011.

    New News Corp. filings initially had disclosed worldwide ad and promotional expenses of $388 million for year ended June 2012; $390 million for year ended June 2011; and $339 million for year ended June 2010.

    New News Corp. launched with the following businesses that had been part of old News Corp.:

    News and information services: Including The Wall Street Journal, New York Post, Dow Jones Newswires, Factiva and News America Marketing Group (free-standing inserts) in the U.S.; Herald Sun in Australia; and The Sun and The Times in the U.K. Worldwide revenue in year ended June 2012: $7.058 billion.

    Book publishing: HarperCollins and other brands. Worldwide revenue in year ended June 2012: $1.189 billion.

    Australian TV: Fox Sports Australia (cable TV programming) and 50 percent stake in Foxtel (pay-TV service in Australia). (The remaining 50 percent of Foxtel is owned by Telstra Corp., a telecom firm in Australia.) Pro forma revenue for Fox Sports Australia for year ended June 2012: $484 million.

    Australian real-estate websites: 61.6 percent stake in REA Group, which operates real-estate property-listing websites in Australia. Revenue in year ended June 2012: $286 million.

    Digital-education services and products: Amplify. Worldwide revenue in year ended June 2012 for Amplify and "other" businesses: $121 million.

    http://www.21cf.com

Adidas Group

  • Marketer profile
    Click here to see company's total worldwide advertising spending, measured-media spending by region, key executives and agencies.

    Overview:

    Adidas Group is a sports products marketer based in Germany.

    The company's brands include Adidas and Reebok.

    The company in October 2017 sold three golf brands: TaylorMade, Adams and Ashworth.

    Adidas in September 2017 sold its CCM Hockey ice hockey business.

    Marketing spending:

    U.S. ad spending:

    Total U.S. advertising spending shown in the Leading National Advertisers report and Marketer Trees database is Ad Age Datacenter's estimate of the U.S. portion of the company's stated worldwide "marketing investments" (formerly called "marketing working budget").

    In the June 2018 LNA report, Ad Age revised its 2016 estimate to factor out divested businesses (TaylorMade, Adams, Ashworth, CCM Hockey).

    "Marketing investments" is Adidas' phrase for promotion and communication spending including sponsorship contracts with teams and individual athletes; advertising; public relations; events; and other communications activities.

    Marketing investments exclude "point-of-sale investments" (expenses to support the company's sell-through development at point of sale; formerly called "sales working budget") and "marketing overhead," expense lines the company breaks out separately.

    Worldwide ad spending:

    Total worldwide advertising spending figures shown in the World's Largest Advertisers report and related database are Adidas Group's stated worldwide "marketing investments."

    The company reported worldwide marketing investments of 2.141 billion euros ($2.419 billion).

    Combined spending on "marketing investments" and "point of sale investments" for Adidas Group:

    2017: 2.733 billion euros ($3.088 billion).
    2016: 2.410 billion euros (restated) ($2.668 billion).
    2015: 2.348 billion euros ($2.608 billion).
    2014: 1.923 billion euros ($2.556 billion).
    2013: 1.787 billion euros ($2.374 billion)

    In earlier reports, the company broke out marketing investments and point of sale spending by brand as follows:

    Combined spending on marketing investments and point of sale for Adidas brand (not shown in annual report starting with calendar 2017 results):

    2016: 2.102 billion euros ($2.327 billion).
    2015: 1.897 billion euros ($2.107 billion).
    2014: 1.533 billion euros ($2.038 billion).
    2013: 1.400 billion euros ($1.860 billion)

    Combined spending on marketing investments and point of sale for Reebok brand (not shown in annual report starting with calendar 2017 results):

    2016: 265 million euros ($293 million).
    2015: 267 million euros ($297 million).
    2014: 220 million euros ($292 million).
    2013: 203 million euros ($270 million)

    Marketing working budget for the Adidas brand (not shown in annual report starting with calendar 2015 results):

    2014: 1.245 billion euros ($1.655 billion).
    2013: 1.147 billion euros ($1.524 billion)

    Marketing working budget for the Reebok brand (not shown in annual report starting with calendar 2015 results):

    2014: 160 million euros ($213 million).
    2013: 150 million euros ($199 million)

    Deals and strategic moves:

    Adidas in October 2017 sold TaylorMade, a California-based golf equipment brand, and Adams and Ashworth, two smaller golf brands, to a newly formed affiliate of buyout firm KPS Capital Partners for $425 million. Adidas in May 2016, following a strategic review, had said it planned to sell the brands. Adidas continues to market golf apparel and footwear with its Adidas Golf label.

    Adidas in September 2017 sold CCM Hockey, an ice hockey business based in Canada, to a newly formed affiliate of buyout venture Birch Hill Equity Partners for $110 million. Adidas had previously announced it was seeking a buyer.

    Adidas in June 2016 sold its Mitchell & Ness business to Juggernaut Capital Partners, a buyout firm, for $75 million. Mitchell & Ness is a Philadelphia-based marketer of nostalgia headwear and apparel with longstanding licensing agreements with the National Basketball Association, National Hockey League, Major League Baseball and National Football League. Adidas bought Mitchell & Ness in November 2007.

    Adidas in August 2015 bought Runtastic, a European producer of health and fitness apps founded in 2009, for 213 million euros ($233 million).

    Adidas July 31, 2015, sold its Rockport business for $280 million to a new company, Rockport Group, formed by buyout firm Berkshire Partners and athletic shoe marketer New Balance. New Balance contributed its Drydock Footwear business to the new venture, which owns footwear brands Rockport and Drydock's Aravon, Dunham and Cobb Hill. (Drydock was formed in 2011 and assumed control of New Balance's men's and women's casual shoe brands, Dunham and Aravon. Drydock in 2012 launched Cobb Hill, a women's shoe brand.) Rockport Group in May 2018 filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganization. Rockport Group emerged from bankruptcy in July 2018 under a deal in which buyout firm Charlesbank Capital Partners acquired Rockport Group's assets.

    Adidas in May 2014 had disclosed it was putting its Rockport brand up for sale. Rockport had 2014 net sales of 283 million euros ($376 million). Rockport was founded in 1971 and purchased in 1986 by Reebok International, which Adidas bought in 2006.

    Nike in June 2015 secured rights to outfit the National Basketball Association starting in the 2017-2018 season, replacing Adidas. Nike's NBA contract will run for eight years.

    Media reports circulated in October 2014 that a group led by Jynwel Capital, a private-equity investor in Hong Kong, was preparing a proposal to buy Reebok. Jynwel at the time declined to comment on the speculation.

    Adidas acquired Reebok International in January 2006 for $3.6 billion, bringing Reebok and Rockport into the fold.

    Adidas in 2005 sold Salomon Group (including Salomon, Mavic, Bonfire, Cliche and Arc'Teryx) to Amer Sports. Adidas-Salomon then shortened its legal name to Adidas in 2006. Adidas in 1997 had purchased Salomon Group (including the Salomon, TaylorMade, Mavic and Bonfire brands); Adidas at that point took the name Adidas-Salomon.

    The company in November 2011 acquired Stone Age Equipment, the Redlands, Calif.-based marketer of Five Ten, an outdoor action-sports brand, for $25 million cash plus $13 million in contingency payments based on performance.

    History:

    Adidas was founded in 1949 by Adolph Dassler. The company is named after the founder: "Adi" from Adolf and "Das" from Dassler.

    http://www.adidas-group.com/en

Aeon Co.

  • Marketer profile
    Click here to see company's total worldwide advertising spending, measured-media spending by region, key executives and agencies.

    Overview:

    Aeon is a diversified retailing company based in Japan.

    Aeon's operations include retailing, financial services, shopping center development and services spanning 13 countries (12 in Asia plus Australia).

    Business segments and operations:

    Aeon includes Aeon Co. Ltd. (a holding company) and other operations.

    Rankings:

    Aeon ranked as the largest Japan-based retailer, and No. 12 worldwide, in the Top 250 ranking based on fiscal 2016 sales in Deloitte's Global Powers of Retailing 2018 report.

    Marketing spending:

    Worldwide ad spending:

    Total worldwide advertising spending figures shown in the World's Largest Advertisers report and related database are Aeon Co. Ltd.'s stated "advertising costs" converted to U.S. dollars at average exchange rates by Ad Age Datacenter.

    Aeon Co. Ltd.'s stated advertising costs:

    Year ended Feb. 28, 2018: 184.715 billion yen.

    Deals and strategic moves:

    Aeon in April 2018 made an investment in Boxed, a New York-based e-commerce venture founded in 2013.

    History:

    Aeon traces its roots to a Japanese venture formed in 1758 to trade kimono fabrics and accessories.

    The company evolved over time, adopting the name Jusco in 1969.

    Jusco Group in 1989 changed its name to Aeon Group. (The company said the word "aeon" has its origins in the Latin root meaning "eternity.")

    Jusco bought U.S. women's apparel retailer Talbots from General Mills in 1988. Jusco took Talbots public in 1993. Talbots bought Aeon's remaining stake in Talbots in 2010.

    Aeon Group in 2001 shortened its name to Aeon.

    http://www.aeon.info/en/

Alibaba Group Holding

  • Marketer profile
    Click here to see company's total worldwide advertising spending, measured-media spending by region, key executives and agencies.

    Overview:

    Alibaba Group Holding is an online retailer in China.

    The company is based in Hong Kong and registered in the Cayman Islands.

    Business segments and operations:

    Alibaba primarily gets its revenue from commerce-related businesses (including online marketing services, commissions from transactions on its marketplaces and fees from sale of memberships on its wholesale marketplaces).

    Alibaba also generates revenue from digital media and entertainment, cloud computing and other operations.

    Marketing spending:

    Worldwide ad spending:

    Total worldwide advertising spending figures shown in the World's Largest Advertisers report and related database are Alibaba's stated worldwide "advertising and promotional expenses" converted to U.S. dollars at average exchange rates by Ad Age Datacenter.

    Stated worldwide advertising and promotional expenses:

    2017 (year ended March 2018): 16.814 billion renminbi ($2.680 billion).
    2016 (year ended March 2017): 8.799 billion renminbi ($1.308 billion).
    2015 (year ended March 2016): 5.524 billion renminbi ($875 million).
    2014 (year ended March 2015): 4.090 billion renminbi ($665 million).
    2013 (year ended March 2014): 2.022 billion renminbi ($329 million).

    https://www.alibabagroup.com

Alphabet (Google)

  • Marketer profile
    Click here to see company's total worldwide advertising spending, measured-media spending by region, key executives and agencies.

    Overview:

    Alphabet is an internet and technology holding company. It is the parent company of Google.

    Google in October 2015 reorganized under a holding company. Under the new structure, Alphabet (Alphabet Inc.) replaced Google Inc. as the publicly traded stock, keeping the ticker symbol GOOG.

    Business segments and operations:

    Alphabet is the holding company for the Google segment and for other ventures and holdings that Alphabet collectively refers to as Other Bets.

    Google includes Alphabet's main products such as Ads, Android, Chrome, Commerce, Google Cloud, Google Maps, Google Play, Hardware, Search and YouTube.

    Technical infrastructure and some newer efforts such as virtual reality are also included in Google.

    The Google segment generates revenue primarily from advertising; sales of apps, in-app purchases, digital content products, and hardware; and licensing and service fees, including fees received for Google Cloud offerings

    Other Bets includes Access, Calico, CapitalG, GV, Nest, Verily, X and Waymo, the company's self-driving car venture.

    Alphabet manages the Other Bets ventures and holdings separately from the Google businesses.

    Other Bets revenue primarily comes from the sales of internet and TV services through Fiber, sales of Nest products and services, and licensing and research-and-development services through Verily.

    Google plays a key role in the mobile-technology space through its ownership of the Android operating system. Google briefly became a major global marketer of smartphones when it bought Motorola Mobility in May 2012. Google sold Motorola Mobility to China's Lenovo in October 2014.

    Sales and earnings:

    The company's stated U.S. revenue represented about 47 percent of worldwide revenue in 2017 and 2016; 46 percent in 2015; 43 percent in 2014; 45 percent in 2013; 46 percent in 2012 (restated); 46 percent in 2011; 48 percent in 2010; 47 percent in 2009; and 49 percent in 2008.

    Advertising revenue:

    Alphabet generated 86.0 percent of worldwide revenue from advertising in 2017; 87.9 in 2016; 89.9 percent in 2015; 90.3 percent in 2014 (restated); 92.0 percent in 2013 (restated); 94.9 percent in 2012; 96.4 percent in 2011; about 96 percent in 2010; and about 97 percent in 2009 and 2008. (Historic percentages are calculated on revenue excluding Motorola, which Google bought in 2012 and sold in 2014.)

    Alphabet disclosed worldwide traffic acquisition costs of $21.672 billion in 2017 (22.7 percent of advertising revenue); $16.793 billion in 2016 (21.2 percent of advertising revenue); $14.343 billion in 2015 (21.3 percent of advertising revenue); $13.497 billion in 2014 (22.6 percent of advertising revenue); $12.258 billion in 2013 (24.0 percent of advertising revenue); and $10.956 billion in 2012 (25.1 percent of advertising revenue). Traffic acquisition costs were $8.811 billion in 2011 and$7.317 billion in 2010. Google does not disclose U.S. advertising revenue or U.S. traffic acquisition costs.

    Traffic acquisition costs are payments made to other sites (Google Network members) and distribution partners under revenue-sharing agreements.

    Marketing spending:

    U.S. ad spending:

    Total U.S. advertising spending figures shown in the Leading National Advertisers report and Marketer Trees database are Ad Age Datacenter's estimate of U.S. advertising and promotional expenses.

    Worldwide ad spending:

    Total worldwide advertising spending figures shown in the World's Largest Advertisers report and related database are Alphabet's stated worldwide "advertising and promotional expenses."

    Like other major media companies, Alphabet is both a major ad seller and spender.

    The company's ad and promotion spending has rocketed in recent years.

    Alphabet reported worldwide sales and marketing expenses of:

    2017:$12.893 billion (11.63 percent of revenue)
    2016: $10.485 billion (11.61 percent of revenue)
    2015: $9.047 billion (12.06 percent of revenue)
    2014: $8.131 billion (12.32 percent of revenue)
    2013: $6.554 billion (restated; 11.80 percent of revenue)
    2012: $5.465 billion (restated; 11.87 percent of revenue)
    2011: $4.589 billion (12.11 percent of revenue). That consisted of $4.228 billion for the Google segment and $361 million for "Elimination and unallocated items."
    2010: $2.799 billion (9.55 percent of revenue)

    The 10-K for year ended December 2017 said sales and marketing expenses consist primarily of "advertising and promotional expenditures related to our products and services; and compensation expenses, including [stock-based compensation], and facilities-related costs for employees engaged in sales and marketing, sales support, and certain customer service functions."

    The 10-K for year ended December 2017 said:

    "Sales and marketing expenses increased $2,408 million from 2016 to 2017. The increase was primarily due to an increase in advertising and promotional expenses of $1,266 million, largely resulting from increases in marketing and promotion-related expenses for our hardware products, Cloud offerings, and YouTube. In addition, there was an increase in compensation expenses, including [stock-based compensation], and facilities-related costs of $853 million, largely resulting from a 6 percent increase in headcount.

    "Sales and marketing expenses increased $1,438 million from 2015 to 2016. The increase was primarily due to an increase in advertising and promotional expenses of $679 million, largely due to increases in marketing and promotion-related expenses for our hardware products. Additionally, there was an increase in labor and facilities-related costs of $482 million, and stock-based compensation expense of $179 million, both largely resulting from a 10 percent increase in sales and marketing headcount.

    The 10-K for year ended December 2016 said this regarding spending in 2015 vs. 2014:

    "Sales and marketing expenses increased $916 million and remained relatively flat as a percentage of revenues from 2014 to 2015. The increase in dollar amount was primarily due to an increase in labor and facilities-related costs of $329 million and an increase in stock-based compensation expense of $184 million, largely resulting from a 12 percent increase in sales and marketing headcount. In addition, there was an increase in advertising and promotional expenses of $184 million and an increase in professional service fees of $158 million due to additional expenses incurred for consulting and outsourced services."

    The 10-K for year ended December 2017 said: "We expect that sales and marketing expenses will increase in dollar amount and may fluctuate as a percentage of revenues in future periods."

    The 10-K for year ended December 2016 said: "We expect that sales and marketing expenses will increase in dollar amount and may fluctuate as a percentage of revenues in 2017 and future periods."

    The 10-K for year ended December 2015 said: "We expect that sales and marketing expenses will increase in dollar amount and may fluctuate as a percentage of revenues in 2016 and future periods."

    The 10-K for year ended December 2014 said: "We expect that sales and marketing expenses will increase in dollar amount and may increase as a percentage of revenues in 2015 and future periods."The 10-K for year ended December 2013 said: "We expect that sales and marketing expenses will increase in dollar amount and may increase as a percentage of total revenues in 2014 and future periods, as we expand our business globally, increase advertising and promotional expenditures in connection with new and existing products, and increase the level of service we provide to our advertisers, Google Network Members, and other partners."

    Motorola ad spending:

    As noted, Google (now Alphabet) acquired Motorola Mobility in May 2012 and sold it in October 2014.

    Before its acquisition in May 2012, Motorola Mobility disclosed worldwide advertising expenses of:

    2011: $560 million (4.29 percent of revenue).
    2010: $393 million (3.43 percent of revenue).
    2009: $264 million (2.39 percent of revenue).
    2008: $569 million (3.33 percent of revenue)

    Motorola Mobility said those expenses were "the external costs of marketing the company's products." The company reported 2011 worldwide revenue of $13.1 billion, including U.S. revenue of $6.8 billion; and a net loss of $249 million.

    Deals and strategic moves:

    Alphabet holding company:

    Google in August 2015 announced plans to reorganize later in 2015 under a holding company, Alphabet. The reorganization took effect Oct. 2, 2015. Under the new structure, Alphabet Inc. replaced Google Inc. as the publicly traded stock (ticker: GOOG).

    Alphabet is the holding company for the Google segment and for other ventures and holdings that Alphabet collectively refers to as Other Bets.

    HTC smartphone acquisition:

    Alphabet's Google in January 2018 completed a deal with Taiwan-based mobile phone maker HTC Corp. to buy part of HTC's smartphone team for $1.1 billion cash. Many of the employees that moved to Google already were working on Google's HTC-assembled Pixel smartphones. As part of the deal, Google received a non-exclusive license for HTC intellectual property.

    Motorola acquisition and divestiture:

    Alphabet (formerly Google) on Oct. 30, 2014, completed the sale of Motorola Mobility to Chinese computer firm Lenovo for $2.91 billion. Google announced its deal to sell to Lenovo Jan. 29, 2014. In that announcement, Google said it would retain ownership of "the vast majority of the Motorola Mobility patent portfolio, including current patent applications and invention disclosures." The sale announcement said: "As part of its ongoing relationship with Google, Lenovo will receive a license to this rich portfolio of patents and other intellectual property. Additionally Lenovo will receive over 2,000 patent assets, as well as the Motorola Mobility brand and trademark portfolio."

    The sale came just two years after Google acquired Motorola Mobility Holdings, a marketer of wireless phone and broadband networking products, for about $12.4 billion cash on May 22, 2012. The acquisition, announced in August 2011, included Motorola's valuable cache of patents and was intended to boost Android, Google's mobile operating-system platform. This was Google's largest acquisition to date.

    In announcing the Motorola acquisition, Google said the deal would "enable Google to supercharge the Android ecosystem and will enhance competition in mobile computing. Motorola Mobility will remain a licensee of Android and Android will remain open. Google will run Motorola Mobility as a separate business."

    Motorola Mobility CEO Sanjay Jha stepped down as CEO when the sale to Google closed. Dennis Woodside, formerly president of Google's Americas region, moved to CEO of Motorola Mobility. Woodside joined Google in 2003.

    Coinciding with the sale to Google, Woodside named a management team for Motorola that included executives from Motorola Mobility, Google and new hires. Among those joining Motorola was Gary Briggs, formerly Google VP-consumer marketing. Briggs replaced Bill Ogle as Motorola Mobility's chief marketer. Motorola Mobility Holdings had become an independent, publicly traded company on Jan. 4, 2011, when Motorola Inc. spun off Motorola Mobility to Motorola Inc. shareholders. The name of Motorola Inc. changed that day to Motorola Solutions Inc. Motorola Solutions sells communication infrastructure, devices, software and services focused on government and enterprise, or large-business, customers.

    Motorola Mobility products included mobile devices (including smartphones and media tablets), wireless accessories, set-top boxes and video-distribution systems and broadband-access infrastructure products.

    Motorola Mobility's largest customer before the sale to Google was Verizon Communications. Motorola Mobility generated 19 percent of 2011 revenue from Verizon Communications (including Verizon Wireless); 28 percent in 2010; 17 percent in 2009; and 13 percent in 2008.

    Motorola Mobility owned the Motorola and Moto trademarks. Motorola Mobility licensed the Motorola name to Motorola Solutions.

    Google in April 2013 sold Motorola Mobility's Motorola Home business to Arris Group, a telecom technology firm, for about $2.412 billion cash plus $175 million in shares representing a 7.8 percent stake in Arris. Motorola Home makes cable-TV set-top boxes and other equipment for home entertainment. Google referred to the remaining portion of Motorola Mobility as Motorola Mobile.

    Other deals:

    Alphabet in 2017 completed various acquisitions and purchases of intangible assets for total consideration of about $322 million.

    Alphabet in October 2016 bought Apigee Corp., a developer of application programming interface management, for about $571 million in cash.

    Alphabet in 2016 made other acquisitions and purchases of intangible assets for a total cost of $448 million.

    Alphabet in December 2015 bought bebop Technologies, a company with a cloud-based development platform for enterprise applications, in a deal valued at $272 million. During calendar 2015, Alphabet completed other acquisitions and purchases of intangible assets for a total of $263 million.

    The company in January 2015 invested $900 million in SpaceX, a space exploration and space transport company, to, Google (now Alphabet) explained, "support continued innovation in the areas of space transport, reusability, and satellite manufacturing."

    Google in August 2014 bought Skybox Imaging, a satellite imaging company, for about $478 million cash.

    Google in July 2014 bought Dropcam for about $517 million cash. Dropcam offers technology to let consumers and businesses monitor homes and offices via video,

    Google in February 2014 bought Nest Labs for $2.6 billion. Nest Labs markets advanced home thermostats and smoke alarms.

    Google paid about $1.466 billion in 2014 for other acquisitions.

    Google in 2013 bought Waze, a provider of a mobile-map application, for $969 million cash.

    In addition to Waze, Google in 2013 completed other acquisitions and purchases of intangible assets for $489 million cash.

    In addition to Motorola Mobility, Google in 2012 completed 52 other acquisitions and purchases of intangible assets for $1.2 billion.

    Google has made numerous acquisitions over the years. Among its deals:

    Google in August 2012 bought Frommer's, a publisher of travel books, from John Wiley & Sons. Google in April 2011 bought ITA Software, a flight information software company, for $676 million cash.

    In addition to the ITA deal, Google said it completed 78 other acquisitions in 2011 for total cash payouts of $1.3 billion. Among those 2011 acquisitions was restaurant-review firm Zagat Survey, which Google bought in September 2011 to increase Google's local-market play.

    In May 2010, Google bought AdMob, a privately held mobile display-advertising technology provider, for $681 million, consisting of about 1.2 million shares of Google stock and assumed vested options valued at $655 million, and $26 million cash.

    In February 2010, Google bought On2 Technologies, a publicly traded developer of video compression technology, for $123 million, consisting of about 174,000 shares of Google stock valued at $95 million and $28 million cash.

    In addition to AdMob and On2, Google during the first six months of 2010 completed 20 other acquisitions for total cash consideration of about $293 million.

    In calendar 2009, Google completed 10 acquisitions for total cash consideration of $91.6 million.

    Google in March 2008 completed its $3.2 billion acquisition of internet ad services business DoubleClick from buyout firm Hellman & Friedman. In August 2008, Google sold the search marketing business of Performics, a division of DoubleClick, to Publicis Groupe for about $53 million in cash (price per Google 10-K filings).

    The company in 2006 acquired YouTube, a video-sharing site, for $1.65 billion in Google stock.

    Google in 2004 bought Picasa, a photo management and photo sharing service.

    Google in 2003 bought Pyra Labs, the company behind Blogger, a blog-storage service.

    AOL relationship:

    Google's search-marketing relationship with AOL ended in December 2015. AOL (acquired by Verizon Communications June 23, 2015) on June 30, 2015, announced a deal in which Microsoft Corp.'s Bing, starting Jan. 1, 2016, replaced Google as the search engine providing 100 percent of the organic search results and search ads when people search on AOL's sites.

    Google and AOL in September 2010 had announced a five-year renewal and expansion of their search partnership through December 2015; that deal had been set to expire in December 2010. The companies' announcement said: "The global alliance, which has at its core Google's provision of search services to AOL's content network and properties, in exchange for a revenue-sharing arrangement between AOL and Google, will be expanded to include mobile search and [Google-owned] YouTube."

    Google in 2005 bought a 5 percent stake in Time Warner's AOL. Time Warner repurchased Google's 5 percent interest in AOL for $283 million in cash in July 2009. Time Warner spun off AOL in December 2009. Verizon Communications in June 2015 bought AOL. AT&T in June 2018 bought Time Warner.

    Management and employees:

    With the formation of Alphabet as the holding company for Google in October 2015, Google co-founder Larry Page moved to Alphabet CEO from Google CEO. Google co-founder and director Sergey Brin became president of Alphabet. Eric Schmidt moved to Alphabet executive chairman from Google executive chairman. Sundar Pichai shifted to CEO of Alphabet's Google businesses (Google Inc.) from senior VP-products at Google.

    Page succeeded Schmidt as Google CEO in April 2011, at which time Schmidt took the new role of executive chairman. Schmidt had been CEO since July 2001, when he succeeded Page in that role at the then-emerging company.

    Google has hired prominent marketing executives to fill out its global client and agency solutions division.

    In November 2013, it hired Kirk Perry as president, brand solutions, a new post reporting to Chief Business Officer Nikesh Arora. Perry joined Google from Procter & Gamble Co., where he was president of family care. In May 2014, Google hired Marc Speichert, reporting to Perry. Speichert joined Google from L'Oreal, where he was global CMO.

    Stock:

    Google Inc. went public in August 2004.

    Google in October 2015 reorganized under a holding company, Alphabet. Under the new structure, Alphabet Inc. replaced Google Inc. as the publicly traded company.

    Alphabet has three classes of shares:

    Class A: Nasdaq: GOOGL, with voting rights. Class B: Not publicly traded; owned by founders and insiders; has extra voting rights. Class C: Nasdaq: GOOG, with no voting rights.

    Class A and Class C shares were created when Google split its stock in April 2014.

    History:

    Google was incorporated in 1998 and went public in August 2004.

    Google in October 2015 reorganized under a holding company, Alphabet. Under the new structure, Alphabet Inc. replaced Google Inc. as the publicly traded stock. Alphabet became the holding company for Google businesses and for other ventures and holdings.

    https://www.abc.xyz

Amazon

  • Marketer profile
    Click here to see company's total worldwide advertising spending, measured-media spending by region, key executives and agencies.

    Overview:

    Amazon is a retailer based in Seattle.

    The company began as an online retailer and in recent years has expanded offline.

    Amazon in August 2017 bought Austin, Texas-based Whole Foods Market, a grocery store chain, in an all-cash transaction valued at about $13.2 billion, net of cash acquired. Whole Foods was Amazon's largest-ever acquisition.

    Amazon's 10-K for year ended December 2017 said:

    "We seek to be Earth's most customer-centric company. We are guided by four principles: customer obsession rather than competitor focus, passion for invention, commitment to operational excellence, and long-term thinking. In each of our segments, we serve our primary customer sets, consisting of consumers, sellers, developers, enterprises, and content creators. In addition, we provide services, such as advertising services and co-branded credit card agreements."

    Amazon first appeared in the 100 Leading National Advertisers report in June 2011, ranking No. 70 based on 2010 estimated U.S. ad spending of $487 million.

    Business segments and operations:

    Amazon operates through three segments:

    North America
    International
    Amazon Web Services

    The company allocates net sales into six buckets:

    Online stores
    Physical stores
    Third-party seller services (including commissions, related fulfillment and shipping fees, and other third-party seller services)
    Subscription services (including annual and monthly fees associated with Amazon Prime membership, as well as audiobook, e-book, digital video, digital music, and other non-Amazon Web Services subscription services)
    Amazon Web Services (including a range of global computing, storage, database and other services)
    Other (including sales not otherwise included above, such as advertising services and co-branded credit card agreements)

    Amazon Prime:

    Chairman-CEO Jeff Bezos in April 2018 disclosed that Amazon had more than 100 million Prime members globally.

    The 10-Ks for years ended December 2017, December 2016, December 2015, December 2014, December 2013 and December 2012 said:

    "While costs associated with Amazon Prime memberships and other shipping offers are not included in marketing expense, we view these offers as effective worldwide marketing tools, and intend to continue offering them indefinitely."

    Rankings:

    Amazon ranked as the world's sixth largest retailer in the Top 250 ranking based on fiscal 2016 sales in Deloitte's Global Powers of Retailing 2018 report.

    Sales and earnings:

    Amazon generated 59.7 percent of net sales from North America in 2017; 58.7 percent in 2016; 59.5 percent in 2015; 57.1 percent in 2014 (restated); 55.6 percent in 2013 (restated); 57.0 percent in 2012; 55.5 percent in 2011; 54.7 percent in 2010; 52.3 percent in 2009; and 53.4 percent in 2008.

    Advertising revenue:

    Amazon has become a significant media company with surging advertising revenue. The company's Amazon Media Group uses intelligence from Amazon's search results as a way to sell advertisers targeted ads on Amazon-owned sites (including Amazon.com and IMDb.com) as well as ads delivered through Amazon Advertising Platform, an ad network that includes Amazon-owned sites and third-party sites.

    As noted, Amazon includes advertising revenue in its "Other" net sales bucket. Amazon reported worldwide "Other" net sales of:

    2017: $4.653 billion
    2016: $2.950 billion
    2015: $1.710 billion
    2014: $1.322 billion

    Amazon in April 2015 began disclosing revenue of Amazon Web Services. The company disclosed worldwide revenue from Amazon Web Services of:

    2017: $17.459 billion
    2016: $12.219 billion
    2015: $7.880 billion
    2014: $4.644 billion
    2013: $3.108 billion

    Marketing spending:

    U.S. ad spending:

    U.S. ad spending shown figures shown are Ad Age Datacenter's estimate of Amazon's U.S. "advertising and other promotional costs" extrapolated from Amazon's stated worldwide "advertising and other promotional costs."

    Ad Age Datacenter revised its Amazon U.S. ad spending model in 2016, resulting in a revision of the 2015 estimate.

    Amazon made its debut on Ad Age's 100 Leading National Advertisers ranking in June 2011 based on estimated U.S. ad and promotion spending in 2010. Amazon ranked as the nation's 70th-largest U.S. spender in that report.

    Worldwide ad spending:

    Worldwide ad spending figures shown are Amazon's stated worldwide "advertising and other promotional costs."

    Amazon boosted stated worldwide advertising and promotion spending by 26.0 percent in 2017; 31.6 percent in 2016; 15.2 percent in 2015; 37.5 percent in 2014; 20.0 percent in 2013: 42.9 percent in 2012; 57.3 percent in 2011; 50.1 percent in 2010; and 41.2 percent in 2009.

    Amazon disclosed the following worldwide marketing costs:

    2017: $10.069 billion (5.66 percent of net sales)
    2016: $7.233 billion (5.32 percent of net sales)
    2015: $5.254 billion (4.91 percent of net sales)
    2014: $4.332 billion (4.87 percent of net sales)
    2013: $3.133 billion (4.21 percent of net sales)
    2012: $2.408 billion (3.94 percent of net sales)
    2011: $1.630 billion (3.39 percent of net sales)
    2010: $1.029 billion (3.01 percent of net sales)
    2009: $680 million (2.77 percent of net sales)
    2008: $482 million (2.51 percent of net sales)

    The 10-K for year ended December 2017 said:

    "The increase in marketing costs in absolute dollars in 2016 and 2017, compared to the comparable prior year periods, is primarily due to payroll and related expenses, as well as increased spending on online marketing channels.

    The 10-K for year ended December 2016 said:

    "The increase in marketing costs in absolute dollars in 2014, 2015, and 2016, compared to the comparable prior year periods, is primarily due to increased spending on online marketing channels and television advertising, as well as payroll and related expenses."

    The 10-K for year ended December 2015 said:

    "The increase in marketing costs in absolute dollars in 2015, 2014, and 2013, compared to the comparable prior year periods, is primarily due to increased spending on online marketing channels, as well as payroll and related expenses."

    The 10-K for year ended December 2014 said:

    "The increase in marketing costs in absolute dollars in 2014, 2013, and 2012, compared to the comparable prior year periods, is primarily due to increased spending on online marketing channels, such as our sponsored search programs, payroll and related expenses, and television advertising."

    The 10-K for year ended December 2013 said:

    "The increase in marketing costs in absolute dollars in 2013, 2012, and 2011, compared to the comparable prior year periods, is primarily due to increased spending on online marketing channels, such as our sponsored search programs and our Associates program, payroll and related expenses, and television advertising."

    The 10-K for year ended December 2012 said:

    "The increase in marketing costs in absolute dollars in 2012, 2011, and 2010, compared to the comparable prior year periods, is primarily due to increased spending on online marketing channels, such as sponsored search programs and our Associates program, payroll and related expenses, and television advertising."

    Advertising and promotional costs account for the bulk of Amazon's stated marketing costs.

    Amazon's 10-K for year ended December 2017 said:

    "Marketing costs primarily consist of targeted online advertising, payroll and related expenses for personnel engaged in marketing and selling activities, and television advertising. We pay commissions to participants in our Associates program when their customer referrals result in product sales and classify such costs as 'Marketing' on our consolidated statements of operations. We also participate in cooperative advertising arrangements with certain of our vendors, and other third parties."

    See below for discussion of Whole Foods' historic ad spending.

    Amazon's 10-K for year ended December 2016 said:

    "Marketing costs primarily consist of targeted online advertising, television advertising, public relations expenditures, and payroll and related expenses for personnel engaged in marketing and selling activities. We pay commissions to participants in our Associates program when their customer referrals result in product sales and classify such costs as 'Marketing' on our consolidated statements of operations. We also participate in cooperative advertising arrangements with certain of our vendors, and other third parties."

    Amazon's 10-Ks for years ended December 2015, December 2014, December 2013 and December 2012 had similar wording.

    The 10-K for year ended December 2017 said:

    "We direct customers to our websites primarily through a number of targeted online marketing channels, such as our sponsored search, Associates program, social and online advertising, television advertising, and other initiatives. Our marketing costs are largely variable, based on growth in sales and changes in rates. To the extent there is increased or decreased competition for these traffic sources, or to the extent our mix of these channels shifts, we would expect to see a corresponding change in our marketing costs.

    The 10-K for year ended December 2016 said:

    "We direct customers to our websites primarily through a number of targeted online marketing channels, such as our Associates program, sponsored search, social and online advertising, television advertising, and other initiatives. Our marketing expenses are largely variable, based on growth in sales and changes in rates. To the extent there is increased or decreased competition for these traffic sources, or to the extent our mix of these channels shifts, we would expect to see a corresponding change in our marketing expense."

    The 10-K for year ended December 2015 said:

    "We direct customers to our websites primarily through a number of targeted online marketing channels, such as our Associates program, sponsored search, portal advertising, email marketing campaigns, direct sales, and other initiatives. Our marketing expenses are largely variable, based on growth in sales and changes in rates. To the extent there is increased or decreased competition for these traffic sources, or to the extent our mix of these channels shifts, we would expect to see a corresponding change in our marketing expense."

    Amazon's 10-Ks for years ended December 2014, December 2013 and December 2012 said:

    "We direct customers to our websites primarily through a number of targeted online marketing channels, such as our Associates program, sponsored search, portal advertising, email marketing campaigns, and other initiatives. Our marketing expenses are largely variable, based on growth in sales and changes in rates. To the extent there is increased or decreased competition for these traffic sources, or to the extent our mix of these channels shifts, we would expect to see a corresponding change in our marketing expense."

    Cooperative advertising:

    The 10-Ks for years ended December 2017, December 2016 and December 2015 said:

    "We have agreements with our vendors to receive funds for advertising services, cooperative marketing efforts, promotions, and volume rebates. We generally consider amounts received from vendors to be a reduction of the prices we pay for their goods, including property and equipment, or services, and therefore record those amounts as a reduction of the cost of inventory, cost of services, or cost of property and equipment. Vendor rebates are typically dependent upon reaching minimum purchase thresholds. We evaluate the likelihood of reaching purchase thresholds using past experience and current year forecasts. When volume rebates can be reasonably estimated, we record a portion of the rebate as we make progress towards the purchase threshold.

    "When we receive direct reimbursements for costs incurred by us in advertising the vendor's product or service, the amount we receive is recorded as an offset to "Marketing" on our consolidated statements of operations.

    The 10-K for year ended December 2014 and December 2013 discussed cooperative marketing:

    "We have agreements with our vendors to receive funds for cooperative marketing efforts, promotions, and volume rebates. We generally consider amounts received from vendors to be a reduction of the prices we pay for their goods or services, and therefore record those amounts as a reduction of the cost of inventory or cost of services. Vendor rebates are typically dependent upon reaching minimum purchase thresholds. We evaluate the likelihood of reaching purchase thresholds using past experience and current year forecasts. When volume rebates can be reasonably estimated, we record a portion of the rebate as we make progress towards the purchase threshold.

    "When we receive direct reimbursements for costs incurred by us in advertising the vendor's product or service, the amount we receive is recorded as an offset to 'Marketing" on our consolidated statements of operations."

    The 10-K for year ended December 2012 said this about cooperative marketing:

    "We have agreements to receive cash consideration from certain of our vendors, including rebates and cooperative marketing reimbursements. We generally consider amounts received from our vendors as a reduction of the prices we pay for their products and, therefore, record such amounts as a reduction of the cost of inventory we buy from them. Vendor rebates are typically dependent upon reaching minimum purchase thresholds. We evaluate the likelihood of reaching purchase thresholds using past experience and current year forecasts. When volume rebates can be reasonably estimated, we record a portion of the rebate as we make progress towards the purchase threshold.

    "When we receive direct reimbursements for costs incurred by us in advertising the vendor's product or service, the amount we receive is recorded as an offset to 'Marketing' on our consolidated statements of operations."

    Whole Foods Market historic ad spending:

    Amazon in August 2017 completed a deal to buy Whole Foods Market.

    Whole Foods disclosed the following ad costs:

    Year ended Sept. 25, 2016: $96.0 million (0.6 percent of sales of $15.7 billion)
    Year ended Sept. 27, 2015: $89.0 million (0.6 percent of sales of $15.4 billion)
    Year ended Sept. 28, 2014: $63.0 million (0.4 percent of sales of $14.2 billion)
    Year ended Sept. 29, 2013: $56.0 million (0.4 percent of sales of $12.9 billion)
    Year ended Sept. 30, 2012: $51.3 million (0.4 percent of sales of $11.7 billion)
    Year ended Sept. 25, 2011: $43.2 million (0.4 percent of sales of $10.1 billion)
    Year ended Sept. 26, 2010: $37.9 million (0.4 percent of sales of $9.0 billion)
    Year ended Sept. 27, 2009: $32.9 million (0.4 percent of sales of $8.0 billion)
    Year ended Sept. 28, 2008: $39.7 million (0.5 percent of sales of $8.0 billion)
    Year ended Sept. 30, 2007: $33.0 million (0.5 percent of sales of $6.6 billion)
    Year ended Sept. 24, 2006: $24.0 million (0.4 percent of sales of $5.6 billion)
    Year ended Sept. 25, 2005: $20.1 million (0.4 percent of sales of $4.7 billion)>

    Whole Foods' ad costs shown for 2013 through 2016 are stated "advertising expense." Ad costs shown for 2005 through 2012 are stated "advertising and marketing expense." All figures are net after subtracting cooperative advertising money that Whole Foods received from suppliers.

    Deals and strategic moves:

    Whole Foods Market:

    Amazon on Aug. 28, 2017, completed a deal announced June 16, 2017, to buy Whole Foods Market, a grocery store chain, in an all-cash transaction valued at about $13.2 billion, net of cash acquired. This was Amazon's largest-ever acquisition.

    Amazon planned to keep operating the stores under the Whole Foods name.

    At the time of the June 2017 announcement, Whole Foods operated more than 460 stores in U.S., Canada and the U.K.

    As of April 9, 2017, Whole Foods operated 461 stores: 440 stores in 42 U.S. states and the District of Columbia; 12 stores in Canada; and nine stores in the U.K.

    Whole Foods was incorporated in 1978 and opened the first Whole Foods Market store in 1980 in Austin, Texas.

    Quidsi:

    Amazon in March 2017 said it was closing Quidsi, a money-losing unit that included Diapers.com and Soap.com.

    Amazon in April 2011 completed its acquisition of Quidsi, parent of e-commerce sites Diapers.com, Soap.com and BeautyBar.com. Amazon in November 2010 had announced an agreement to buy Quidsi for about $500 million in cash plus assumption of about $45 million in debt. Investors in Quidsi had included Accel Partners, Bessemer Venture Partners, BEV Capital, MentorTech Ventures and NEA. Quidsi founder Marc Lore later launched Jet.com, an online retailer that he sold to Walmart in 2016 for $2.4 billion plus additional compensation of about $800 million over a five-year period. Jet.com is a New Jersey-based internet retailer.

    Amazon in early 2012 bought the casa.com domain name. Amazon's Quidsi later in 2012 launched Casa.com as a housewares e-commerce site.

    Other deals and strategic moves:

    Amazon in September 2018 bought PillPack, an online pharmacy, for about $753 million, net of cash acquired. PillPack sells pre-sorted doses of medications delivered to a consumer's home. Amazon in April 2018 bought Ring, a marketer of video doorbells and other products, for about $853 million, net of cash acquired.

    Amazon in May 2017 bought Souq Group, an e-commerce company based in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, for about $583 million, net of cash acquired.

    In addition to buying Whole Foods and Souq, Amazon in 2017 bought "certain other companies" for an aggregate price tag of $204 million. Amazon said: "The primary reason for our other 2017 acquisitions was to acquire technologies and know-how to enable Amazon to serve customers more effectively."

    Amazon's 10-K for calendar 2016 said: "During 2015 and 2016, we acquired certain companies for an aggregate purchase price of $690 million and $103 million. The primary reason for these acquisitions, none of which were individually material to our consolidated financial statements, was to acquire technologies and know-how to enable Amazon to serve customers more effectively."

    Amazon's 10-K for calendar 2015 said: "During 2015, we acquired certain companies for an aggregate purchase price of $690 million. The primary reasons for these acquisitions, none of which was individually material to our consolidated financial statements, were to acquire technologies and know-how to enable Amazon to serve customers more effectively."

    Amazon in September 2014 bought Twitch Interactive, a video-streaming venture, for about $842 million cash. Amazon said: "We acquired Twitch because of its user community and the live streaming experience it provides." Amazon said it also bought "certain other companies" in 2014 for a total of $20 million. "The primary reasons for our other 2014 acquisitions," Amazon said, "were to acquire technologies and know-how to enable Amazon to serve customers more effectively."

    Amazon in 2013 said it acquired "several" companies in cash transactions for an aggregate purchase price of $195 million. The company said: "The primary reasons for these acquisitions were to expand our customer base and sales channels and to obtain certain technologies to be used in product development."

    In a surprise move, Amazon Chairman-CEO Jeff Bezos in August 2013 signed a deal to buy The Washington Post for $250 million from Washington Post Co. (now Graham Holdings Co.). Bezos completed the acquisition Oct. 1, 2013. He acquired the paper personally, separate from Amazon. The transaction included The Washington Post and other publishing businesses, including the Express newspaper, The Gazette Newspapers, Southern Maryland Newspapers, Fairfax County Times, El Tiempo Latino and Greater Washington Publishing. The deal excluded Washington Post Co.'s Slate magazine, TheRoot.com, Foreign Policy, WaPo Labs and SocialCode businesses as well as the company's stake in Classified Ventures, an online ad business.

    Amazon in May 2012 bought Kiva Systems for $678 million. Amazon's 10-K for year ended December 2012 said: "The primary reason for this acquisition was to improve fulfillment center productivity." Kiva is a developer of warehouse order fulfillment systems that use robots.

    Amazon in 2011 paid $771 million for acquisitions. Amazon said: "The primary reasons for these acquisitions, none of which was individually material to our consolidated financial statements, were to expand our customer base and sales channels, including our consumer channels and subscription entertainment services."

    Amazon in 2010 paid $228 million for acquisitions.

    Amazon bought Zappos.com, an online shoe retailer, in fourth-quarter 2009.

    Amazon acquired Audible Inc. in 2008.

    History:

    Amazon.com Inc. was incorporated in 1994, opened its web store in July 1995 and staged its initial public offering in May 1997.

    http://www.amazon.com

America Movil

  • Marketer profile
    Click here to see company's total worldwide advertising spending, measured-media spending by region, key executives and agencies.

    Overview:

    America Movil is a telecom provider based in Mexico City.

    The company provides telecommunications services in 25 countries in the Americas and Europe. Services include wireless, fixed line, broadband and pay TV.

    America Movil's largest operations are in Mexico, Brazil and the U.S.

    Business segments and operations:

    America Movil operates under the Claro brand in South America, Central America and the Caribbean.

    In Mexico, America Movil operates as Telcel (wireless) and Telmex (fixed line).

    In the U.S., the company owns TracFone Wireless, a provider of prepaid wireless services under multiple brands (including TracFone, Net10 Wireless, Page Plus, Simple Mobile, StraightTalk, SafeLink, Telcel and Total Wireless).

    America Movil operates in Austria and Eastern Europe (Belarus, Bulgaria, Croatia, Macedonia, Serbia and Slovenia) through its Telekom Austria consolidated subsidiary. America Movil as of year-end 2017 owned 51.0 percent of Telekom Austria.

    Marketing spending:

    Worldwide ad spending:

    Total worldwide advertising spending figures shown in the World's Largest Advertisers report and related database are America Movil's stated worldwide "advertising expenses" converted to U.S. dollars at average exchange rates by Ad Age Datacenter.

    Stated worldwide advertising expenses:

    2017: 28.719 billion pesos.

    History:

    America Movil was established in September 2000 when Telefonos de Mexico, a fixed-line Mexican telecommunications operator privatized in 1990, spun off its wireless operations in Mexico and other countries.

    Since 2000, America Movil has made acquisitions in Latin America, the U.S., the Caribbean and Europe, and it has expanded its businesses organically.

    America Movil in 2010 acquired control of Mexico's Telmex and Telmex Internacional.

    http://www.americamovil.com

American Express Co.

  • Marketer profile
    Click here to see company's total worldwide advertising spending, measured-media spending by region, key executives and agencies.

    Overview:

    American Express Co., founded in 1850, is a bank holding company focused on global-payment services and travel-related services.

    American Express became a bank holding company in November 2008, changing its organizational structure in the wake of the financial markets' fall 2008 meltdown.

    Marketing spending:

    U.S. ad spending:

    Total U.S. advertising spending shown in the Leading National Advertisers report and Marketer Trees database is an Ad Age Datacenter estimate.

    Ad Age Datacenter estimates of U.S. unmeasured spending include spending on direct marketing for credit cards.

    Worldwide ad spending:

    Total worldwide advertising spending figures shown in the World's Largest Advertisers report and related database are the company's stated worldwide "marketing and promotion" costs.

    The 10-K filing for year ended December 2017 said worldwide "marketing and promotion expense decreased in 2017 compared to 2016 and increased in 2016 compared to 2015. The variances for both periods were primarily driven by higher levels of spending on growth initiatives in 2016 compared to the preceding and subsequent years."

    That 10-K filing said 2017 marketing and promotion expenses for its U.S. Consumer Services segment "decreased $112 million due to lower spending on growth initiatives." U.S. Consumer Services issues consumer cards and provides services to consumers in the U.S., including travel services.

    The 10-K filing for year ended December 2016 said worldwide "marketing and promotion expenses increased $541 million or 17 percent in 2016 compared to 2015, and decreased $107 million or 3 percent in 2015 compared to 2014 (increasing 1 percent on an FX-adjusted [foreign-exchange adjusted] basis), with higher levels of spending on growth initiatives in both periods."

    That 10-K filing said marketing and promotion expenses for its U.S. Consumer Services segment"increased $279 million or 25 percent in 2016 compared to 2015, reflecting elevated levels of spending on growth initiatives."

    The 10-K filing for year ended December 2015 said worldwide "marketing and promotion expenses decreased $107 million or 3 percent (although they increased 1 percent on an FX-adjusted basis) in 2015 compared to 2014 and increased $277 million or 9 percent in 2014 compared to 2013. Both periods reflect elevated levels of spending on growth initiatives." (The 10-K noted: "In the first quarter of 2015, the company changed the classification related to certain payments to partners, reducing both discount revenue and marketing and promotion expense. Prior period amounts have been reclassified to conform to the current period presentation. None of the prior period financial statements were materially misstated from these misclassifications. Certain other insignificant reclassifications of prior period amounts have been made to conform to the current period presentation.")

    The 10-K filing for year ended December 2014 said worldwide "marketing and promotion expenses increased $277 million or 9 percent in 2014 as compared to 2013, and $153 million or 5 percent in 2013 as compared to 2012. The increase in 2014 as compared to 2013 was primarily driven by the reinvestment of a portion of the gains from the business travel joint venture transaction and the sale of our investment in Concur [Technologies]." The filing said "the 2013 increase as compared to 2012 was driven by higher spend on Card Member acquisition marketing."

    The 10-K filing for year ended December 2013 said: "The Company continued to invest in growth opportunities in the U.S. and internationally as marketing and promotion expense grew by 5 percent as compared to the prior year. Operating expenses decreased 4 percent as compared to the prior year. ... The Company's aim is to have operating expenses grow at an annual rate of less than 3 percent in 2014."

    Worldwide marketing and promotion expenses "increased $153 million or 5 percent in 2013 as compared to 2012, and decreased $106 million or 4 percent in 2012 as compared to 2011," American Express said in the 10-K for year for ended December 2013. "The 2013 increase reflects higher spend on Card Member acquisition marketing. The 2012 decrease reflects lower loyalty and brand advertising."

    The 10-K for year ended December 2012 said: "The Company's aim is to grow operating expenses at an annual rate of less than 3 percent in both 2013 and 2014, with the 2012 operating expenses, excluding the restructuring charge, as the base. The Company will seek to invest in growth opportunities in the United States and internationally and will aim to keep marketing and promotion expenses at approximately 9 percent of revenues."

    Stated 2012 worldwide marketing and promotion expenses decreased $106 million or 4 percent, "primarily reflecting lower loyalty and brand spending," the company said in its 10-K for year ended December 2012.

    Stated 2011 worldwide marketing and promotion expenses decreased $151 million or 5 percent "due to lower product media and brand spending," the company said in its 10-K for year ended December 2011.

    Stated 2010 worldwide marketing and promotion spending jumped 59.6 percent as "improved credit and billing trends led to increased investment levels" in marketing and promotion, the company said in its 10-K for year ended December 2010. Worldwide marketing and promotion spending in 2010 surpassed the level of pre-recession 2007

    Agencies:

    American Express in June 2017 hired Dentsu Inc.'s McGarryBowen to handle creative and strategy, shifting work from WPP's Ogilvy, which had handled the account for more than 50 years.

    In making the moving, American Express said Ogilvy would remain on its roster and continue working with the company in the U.S. and international markets.

    Deals and strategic moves:

    Citigroup in June 2016 replaced American Express as the exclusive U.S. provider of credit cards for Costco Wholesale Corp.

    American Express in March 2011 paid $616 million for a controlling interest in Loyalty Partner, a marketing services company that operated loyalty programs in Germany, Poland, India and Mexico. Loyalty Partner also provided market analysis, operating platforms and consulting services that helped merchants grow their businesses. The company had an option to acquire the remaining non-controlling equity interest over a three-year period beginning at the end of 2013 at a price based on business performance, which had an estimated fair value of $148 million at the acquisition date.

    American Express in 2010 purchased Accertify for $151 million and Revolution Money for $305 million. Accertify is an online fraud solution provider. Revolution Money, which American Express rebranded as Serve, provides secure person-to-person payment services through an internet-based platform.

    Divestitures:

    American Express Co. on June 30, 2014, completed a deal to turn its wholly owned Global Business Travel division into a joint venture with Certares, a New York-based investment firm. American Express and Certares each own a 50 percent stake in the business travel agency, which will continue to operate under the "American Express Global Business Travel" brand under a trademark license with American Express. Certares paid American Express $900 million for a 50 percent stake using money from Qatar Investment Authority, BlackRock, Certares itself and Macquarie Capital. The Global Business Travel division was part of the company's Global Commercial Services segment before the spinoff.

    Time Inc. on Oct. 1, 2013, acquired American Express Publishing Corp. from American Express, which said banking regulations limited its ability to engage in non-financial activities. (Time Warner spun off Time Inc. as a standalone public company in June 2014.)

    American Express Publishing, now a subsidiary of Time Inc., at the time of the sale published five magazine brands: Travel & Leisure, Food & Wine, Departures, Executive Travel and Black Ink.

    The sale followed a 20-year relationship between Time Inc. and American Express Publishing during which Time Inc. provided management-services support. American Express Publishing magazines at the time of the sale were distributed in more than 70 countries. American Express Publishing became a subsidiary of American Express in 1968 after its purchase of U.S. Camera & Travel; that magazine relaunched in 1971 as Travel & Leisure. American Express Publishing introduced Food & Wine in 1978. Departures and Black Ink are published for American Express card holders. Following the sale to Time Inc., eligible American Express card holders continued to receive Departures, Black Ink and Executive Travel.

    American Express in September 2005 spun off its financial-planning and financial-services business, the former American Express Financial Corp., as Ameriprise Financial.

    Management and employees:

    American Express in October 2017 named Stephen J. Squeri chairman-CEO effective Feb. 1, 2018. Squeri, who had been vice chairman, succeeded Kenneth I. Chenault, who retired.

    Squeri, age 58 at the time of the October 2017 announcement, joined American Express in 1985 as a manager in the traveler's check group.

    Chenault, age 66 at the time of the announcement, had been chairman-CEO since 2001.

    http://www.americanexpress.com

Anheuser-Busch InBev

  • Marketer profile
    Click here to see company's total worldwide advertising spending, measured-media spending by region, key executives and agencies.

    Overview:

    Anheuser-Busch InBev, based in Belgium, is the largest marketer of beer in the U.S. and in the world.

    Anheuser-Busch InBev Oct. 10, 2016, bought rival SABMiller. As part of this deal, Anheuser-Busch InBev Oct. 11, 2016, sold SABMiller's 58 percent stake in MillerCoors to Molson Coors Brewing Co. for $12 billion.

    MillerCoors formerly was the U.S. joint venture of SABMiller and Molson Coors Brewing Co. Molson Coors ended up as 100 percent owner of MillerCoors. See "Deals and strategic moves."

    Rankings:

    According to data from Plato Logic, a beer-industry market-research firm, as quoted in a 20-F filing of Anheuser-Busch InBev, the world's five largest brewers based on volume in calendar 2016 were:

    Anheuser-Busch InBev (510.3 million hectoliters)
    Heineken (228.8 million)
    Carlsberg (119.8 million)
    CR Snow (117.2 million)
    Molson Coors Brewing Co. (96.5 million)

    These figures are pro forma to account for the October 2016 acquisition of SABMiller operations by Anheuser-Busch InBev and Molson Coors. SABMiller was the world's second largest brewer in 2015 with volume of 293.6 million hectoliters, according to Plato Logic data cited in a 20-F filing of Anheuser-Busch InBev. Sales and earnings:

    Worldwide sales and earnings shown are pro forma, factoring in the October 2016 acquisition of SABMiller and divestitures (most notably, SABMiller's MillerCoors business).

    Marketing spending:

    The company's 20-F for years ended December 2017, December 2016, December 2015, December 2014 and December 2013 explained:

    "We seek to provide media advertising, point-of-sale advertising and sales promotion programs to promote our brands. Where relevant, we complement national brand strategies with geographic marketing teams focused on delivering relevant programming addressing local interests and opportunities."

    U.S. ad spending:

    Total U.S. advertising spending shown in the Leading National Advertisers report and Marketer Trees database is an Ad Age Datacenter estimate.

    Spending shown for 2016 is restated pro forma estimate including SABMiller (acquired October 2016).

    Worldwide ad spending:

    Total worldwide advertising spending shown in the World's Largest Advertisers report and related database is an Ad Age Datacenter estimate of pro forma spending factoring in acquisitions and divestitures.

    Anheuser-Busch InBev's stated marketing expenses include all costs relating to the support and promotion of brands, including operating costs (such as payroll and office costs) of the marketing departments, advertising costs (such as agency costs and media costs), sponsoring and events and surveys and market research.

    The company's stated sales expenses include all costs relating to the selling of products, including operating costs (such as payroll and office costs) of the sales department and sales force.

    The company didn't disclose North American sales and marketing expenses in its 20-F filing for year ended December 2016. Earlier filings disclosed North American sales and marketing expenses of $2.293 billion in 2015; $2.136 billion in 2014; $1.908 billion in 2013; $1.794 billion in 2012 (restated in 2014 from $1.798 billion); $1.631 billion in 2011 (restated in 2014 from $1.640 billion); and $1.565 billion in 2010.

    The 20-F for year ended December 2013 discussed the company's global efforts to promote "responsible drinking": "We invested more than USD 112 million in 2011 and 2012 combined in responsible drinking advertising and programs. We aim to invest at least USD 300 million by the end of 2014."

    MillerCoors marketing spending:

    Stated marketing expenses (including advertising expenses), and stated marketing expenses as percent of net sales, for MillerCoors (former U.S. joint venture of SABMiller and Molson Coors Brewing Co.; 100 percent owned by Molson Coors as of Oct. 11, 2016):

    Jan. 1-Oct. 10, 2016: $746.3 million (12.2 percent)
    2015: $920.8 million (11.9 percent)
    2014: $889.1 million (11.3 percent)
    2013: $893.9 million (11.5 percent)
    2012: $896.6 million (11.6 percent)
    2011: $859.9 million (11.4 percent)
    2010: $866.2 million (11.4 percent)
    2009: $978.4 million (12.9 percent)
    2008 (six months ended Dec. 31, 2008): $540.0 million (14.6 percent)

    Agencies:

    Media agencies:

    Anheuser-Busch InBev in October 2017 completed a global media review that began in March 2017.

    Dentsu Inc.'s Dentsu Aegis Network emerged as the big winner in the review, with its Vizeum agency taking over media planning and buying duties in the U.S. from WPP's MediaCom. MediaCom had the account since late 2014.

    Vizeum also won Canada, Europe and Africa, giving it the largest chunk of media duties for the world's largest brewer.

    Elsewhere, Anheuser-Busch InBev spread its business among three other agency companies. WPP's MediaCom won Mexico, Honduras, El Salvador, Argentina, Bolivia, Uruguay and several Caribbean countries. Publicis Groupe's Starcom won China, South Korea, Japan, Colombia, Peru and Ecuador. Omnicom Group['s PHD won Australia, Vietnam and India.

    Deals and strategic moves:

    Anheuser-Busch InBev deal to buy SABMiller:

    Anheuser-Busch InBev on Oct. 10, 2016, completed its acquisition of SABMiller.

    Anheuser-Busch InBev and SABMiller on Nov. 11, 2015, announced an agreement for Belgium-based Anheuser-Busch InBev, the world's largest beer marketer, to buy London-based SABMiller, the world's second largest beer marketer, for 44 pounds a share or about 71 billion pounds (about $107 billion). The formal agreement followed an October 2015 agreement in principle, which came after SABMiller rejected earlier takeover proposals from Anheuser-Busch InBev.

    How the deal worked: "Newbelco SA/NV" (a Belgian company to be formed for the purposes of the deal) bought SABMiller; Anheuser-Busch InBev merged into Newbelco (also referred to as Newco). Upon completion of the deal, Newbelco became the new holding company for the combined group. Newbelco then was renamed Anheuser-Busch InBev; the former Anheuser-Busch InBev was dissolved.

    Anheuser-Busch InBev agreed to pay SABMiller a breakup fee of $3 billion if the deal failed to get regulatory clearances or the approval of Anheuser-Busch InBev shareholders.

    In a move to anticipate and address antitrust concerns, Anheuser-Busch InBev on Nov. 11, 2015, also announced a side deal to sell SABMiller's 50 percent voting interest and 58 percent stake in MillerCoors and the Miller global brand business to minority owner Molson Coors Brewing Co. for $12 billion. That transaction closed Oct. 11, 2016. Molson Coors, based in Denver and Montreal, ended up as 100 percent owner of Chicago-based MillerCoors.

    In that transaction, Molson Coors acquired full ownership of the Miller brand portfolio outside of the U.S. and perpetual licenses to the U.S. rights to all of the brands in the MillerCoors portfolio for the U.S. market, including import brands such as Peroni and Pilsner Urquell. The sale also included the global Miller brand, sold as of 2016 in more than 50 countries (including Australia, Argentina, Canada, Colombia, Ecuador, Mexico, Panama, Russia, South Africa and the United Kingdom), as well as related trademarks and other intellectual property rights.

    SABMiller was created by the combination of South African Breweries (SAB) and Miller Brewing Co. following SAB's 2002 purchase of Miller from Altria Group.

    SAB was founded in 1895.

    Frederick J. Miller founded Miller Brewing Co. in 1855. Philip Morris (predecessor to Altria) bought a 53 percent stake in Miller Brewing Co. in 1969 and acquired the rest in 1970.

    Molson Coors Brewing Co. was created by the February 2005 merger of Canada's Molson and U.S. brewer Adolph Coors Co. Molson Coors' non-U.S. operations (Canada, U.K., Europe, Asia) have operated separately from the MillerCoors joint venture. Molson was founded in 1786. Coors started in 1873.

    SABMiller and Molson Coors formed MillerCoors in June 2008 as a joint venture in the U.S. and Puerto Rico. SABMiller has had a 58 percent economic stake in MillerCoors; Molson Coors owned 42 percent. Each partner has had a 50 percent voting interest in MillerCoors.

    Anheuser-Busch InBev is the largest beer marketer in the U.S. Molson Coors' MillerCoors is the second largest.

    SABMiller on Dec. 3, 2015, said Anheuser-Busch InBev was exploring the sale of "a number of SABMiller's European premium brands and related businesses." SABMiller's December 2015 announcement said: "AB InBev will contact potential purchasers in the coming weeks to assess their interest in the Peroni and Grolsch brand families and their associated businesses in Italy, the Netherlands and the U.K. and, given the brand's premium positioning, U.K.-based Meantime." Meantime is a U.K. craft brewer that SABMiller bought earlier in 2015. SABMiller said Anheuser-Busch InBev was taking these steps "in line with its commitment to promptly and proactively address potential regulatory considerations."

    Anheuser-Busch Oct. 11, 2016, completed the sale of SABMiller's interest in Peroni, Grolsch and Meantime in Italy, the Netherlands, the U.K. and other international markets (excluding certain rights in the U.S.). (Anheuser-Busch in 2008 sold U.S. distribution rights for Dutch beer brand Grolsch to SABMiller. Anheuser-Busch had distributed Grolsch since February 2006; SABMiller bought brewer Royal Grolsch NV in February 2008.)

    Grupo Modelo deal:

    Anheuser-Busch InBev in June 2013 completed the acquisition of Mexican brewer Grupo Modelo.

    Anheuser-Busch InBev in June 2012 agreed to buy full ownership of Grupo Modelo, marketer of Corona Extra, for $20.1 billion cash. (Before that transaction, Anheuser-Busch InBev at year-end 2011 already owned a 50.35 percent direct and indirect equity interest in Modelo, Mexico's largest and the world's No. 7 brewer.)

    In the U.S., Modelo's beers were marketed by Crown Imports, which had been a 50/50 venture of Modelo and Constellation Brands. At the same time that Anheuser-Busch InBev announced its deal to buy 100 percent of Modelo, the Mexican brewer announced that Modelo would sell its 50 percent stake in Crown Imports to Constellation Brands for $1.85 billion. That meant Crown would continue to control marketing, distribution and pricing decisions stateside for Corona, as well as the other Modelo beers in its stable including Corona Light, Modelo Especial, Pacifico, Negra Modelo and Victoria.

    Under the original 2012 deal with Constellation, Anheuser-Busch InBev would have the right every 10 years, but not the obligation, to terminate Crown's U.S. distribution rights.

    The U.S. Justice Department Jan. 31, 2013, sued to block the deal, saying consumers would be harmed by the merger.

    Anheuser-Busch InBev, hoping to get its Modelo deal back on track with regulators, announced a revised pact with Constellation in February 2013: Constellation still would pay $1.85 billion for Modelo's 50 percent stake in Crown. But Constellation also would pay $2.9 billion for exclusive perpetual U.S. rights (specifically, rights to import and distribute Corona and all the Modelo brands that Crown distributed as of 2013; plus rights to develop brand extensions and innovations in the U.S.); as well as ownership of a modern Mexican brewery. In total, Constellation would pay $4.75 billion.

    The Justice Department in April 2013 agreed to those broad revised terms (along with some small changes), clearing the way for the deal.

    Anheuser-Busch InBev in June 2013 completed the $21.1 billion acquisition of Modelo; and the sale of Modelo's 50 percent stake in Crown for what Constellation later said was a final price of $5.226 billion after closing adjustments to the agreed upon $4.75 billion.

    Constellation's 100 percent ownership of Crown further moves Constellation into the beer business. Constellation's core operations have been wine and liquor, with brands such as Robert Mondavi, Clos du Bois, Kim Crawford and Svedka vodka.

    Other deals:

    Coca-Cola Co. and Anheuser-Busch InBev in October 2017 completed the sale of Anheuser-Busch InBev's 54.5 percent stake in Coca-Cola Beverages Africa to Coca-Cola for $3.15 billion. South Africa-based Coca-Cola Beverages Africa, the biggest Coca-Cola bottler in Africa, was formed in 2016 through the combination of African non-alcoholic ready-to-drink bottling interests of SABMiller, Coca-Cola Co. and Gutsche Family Investments. Anheuser-Busch InBev bought SABMiller in October 2016 and reached an agreement to sell its 54.5 percent equity stake in Coca-Cola Beverages Africa to Coca-Cola. The transaction made Coca-Cola the controlling shareowner of Coca-Cola Beverages Africa. Coca-Cola planned to refranchise Coca-Cola Beverages Africa.

    Anheuser-Busch InBev in July 2017 bought Hitball, a marketer of energy drinks and sparkling water under the Hitball and Alta Palla brands.

    Anheuser-Busch InBev in first-quarter 2017 entered a deal with Keurig Green Mountain to establish a joint venture to conducting research and development of an in-home alcohol drink system, focusing on the U.S. and Canadian markets. Anheuser-Busch InBev owns 70 percent of the voting and economic interest in the joint venture. (Dr Pepper Snapple Group and Keurig Green Mountain in July 2018 merged, forming Keurig Dr Pepper.)

    Anheuser-Busch InBev in April 2014 reacquired Oriental Brewery, a brewer in South Korea, from buyout firms KKR and Affinity Equity Partners for an enterprise value of $5.8 billion. Anheuser-Busch InBev had sold the business in July 2009 for $1.8 billion as part of a move to deleverage the balance sheet following InBev's acquisition of Anheuser-Busch. Under the 2009 deal, Anheuser-Busch InBev had the right to buy back Oriental in 2014.

    The company in 2014 bought China's Siping Ginsber Draft Beer Co., which owned the Ginsber brand, and also acquired three breweries in China. Aggregate purchase price was about $868 million. Anheuser-Busch InBev in 2014 bought 10 Barrel Brewing Co., a craft brewer in Bend, Ore., that sold about 40,000 barrels of beer in 2014. Anheuser-Busch InBev in 2014 also bought Blue Point Brewing Co., a craft brewer in Patchogue, N.Y., that sold about 60,000 barrels in 2013.

    Anheuser-Busch InBev in April 2013 bought four breweries in China for about $439 million.

    Ambev, Anheuser-Busch InBev's Brazilian subsidiary, in May 2012 formed a strategic alliance to combine Ambev Dominicana with Cerveceria Nacional Dominicana, creating a larger beverage operation in the Caribbean. As of year-end 2013, Ambev owned an indirect interest of 55.0 percent in Cerveceria Nacional Dominicana (CND).

    Anheuser-Busch InBev in May 2011 bought Goose Island Beer Co., a Chicago-based craft beer marketer, in a deal valued at $38.8 million. Goose Island's legal name was Fulton Street Brewery LLC.

    Anheuser-Busch InBev on Dec. 1, 2009, completed the sale of its theme-park business, Busch Entertainment Corp., to buyout firm Blackstone Capital Partners in a deal valued at up to $2.7 billion ($2.3 billion cash plus the right to participate in Blackstone's return on its initial investment, capped at $400 million). After the sale, Busch Entertainment changed its name to SeaWorld Parks & Entertainment. SeaWorld in April 2013 staged an initial public stock offering under the name SeaWorld Entertainment.

    Anheuser-Busch InBev in 2009 sold its 27 percent stake in Tsingtao, a Chinese beer company. InBev had acquired the stake with the acquisition of Anheuser-Busch, which had entered a strategic alliance with Tsingtao in 2003.

    Craft Brew Alliance stake:

    As of March 2014, Anheuser-Busch InBev owned 32.0 percent of Craft Brew Alliance, a Portland, Ore., craft-beer marketer whose portfolio includes Kona Brewing Co., Widmer Brothers Brewing, Redhook Brewery, Omission Beer and Square Mile Cider Co.

    Background on InBev's acquisition of Anheuser-Busch:

    InBev in November 2008 bought Anheuser-Busch Cos. for $52 billion and changed InBev's name to Anheuser-Busch InBev. InBev had been the world's No. 2 brewer (behind SABMiller); Anheuser-Busch had been No. 1 in the U.S. and No. 3 worldwide.

    InBev in June 2008 made its unsolicited takeover bid for Anheuser-Busch Cos. The two firms were complementary: A-B was big in the U.S. but a comparatively small factor elsewhere; InBev was a small player in the U.S. The companies had ties; in 2007, Anheuser-Busch became exclusive U.S. importer of a number of InBev's premium European brands including Stella Artois, Beck's, Bass Pale Ale, Hoegaarden and Leffe.

    To resolve antitrust issues in conjunction with the 2008 merger, Anheuser-Busch InBev had to find another firm to handle U.S. sales of Labatt, an InBev-owned Canadian brand. In March 2009, Anheuser-Busch InBev sold Labatt USA, the brand's importer, to KPS Capital Partners, a buyout firm. KPS obtained the right to import Labatt and to brew Labatt branded beer in the U.S. or Canada solely for sale in the U.S. KPS in 2009 formed North American Breweries, based in Rochester, N.Y., to market Labatt and KPS-owned brands including Genesee.

    SABMiller deals (historic):

    MillerCoors in February 2012 bought Minnesota-based Crispin Cider Co., giving it a play in the fast-growing U.S. cider category. MillerCoors folded Crispin into its Tenth and Blake division, which handles craft beer and imported brands.

    SABMiller in December 2011 bought Australian brewer Foster's Group for $10.2 billion (Australian $9.9 billion).

    MillerCoors has an agreement to brew, package and ship products for Pabst Brewing Co. through June 2020.

    Management and employees:

    Anheuser-Busch InBev in July 2018 replaced Chief Marketing Officer Miguel Patricio with Pedro Earp, who had been running the brewer's global innovation unit, ZX Ventures. Patricio, a 20-year veteran of the brewer who spent six years as global CMO, remained at the brewer and assumed a new role overseeing global marketing projects and reporting directly to the CEO. Earp continued to oversee ZX Ventures while adding global CMO duties.

    August Busch IV retired from his post as president-CEO of Anheuser-Busch Cos. after InBev in November 2008 bought Anheuser-Busch.

    Stock:

    Altria Group, the parent of cigarette marketer Philip Morris USA, owned a 9.57 percent stake in Anheuser-Busch InBev as of year-end 2017. Altria became a shareholder when Anheuser-Busch InBev in October 2016 bought SABMiller. Altria had been a shareholder in SABMiller since selling Miller Brewing Co. to SAB in 2002.

    History:

    InBev traces its roots to the Den Horen brewery in Belgium, dating back to 1366. Anheuser-Busch's roots date to 1860. South African Breweries (SAB) was founded in 1895.

    http://www.ab-inbev.com

Apple

  • Marketer profile
    Click here to see company's total worldwide advertising spending, measured-media spending by region, key executives and agencies.

    Overview:

    Apple is a marketer and retailer of wireless phones, computers, consumer electronics and consumer services.

    Business segments and operations:

    Products and services:

    Apple began selling HomePod, a voice-activated speaker, in February 2018.

    Apple began sales of Apple Watch (personal-electronic device) in April 2015; it unveiled the product in September 2014.

    Apple launched Apple Pay (a mobile-payment service) in the U.S. in October 2014. Apple in July 2014 bought Beats Electronics (Beats headphones) and Beats Music (subscription streaming-music service). (See "Deals and strategic moves.")

    Apple unveiled iCloud (online-storage service) in June 2011.

    Apple introduced iPad (tablet computer) in 2010.

    The company launched its iPhone in the U.S. in June 2007 under an exclusive deal with AT&T. Apple rolled iPhone into Europe in late calendar 2007 through deals with other wireless services.

    Apple in January 2011 added Verizon Wireless as its second U.S. distributor of iPhones. Apple in October 2011 added Sprint as its third major U.S. iPhone distributor. T-Mobile, the No. 4 U.S. wireless firm, began offering the iPhone in April 2013.

    Apple introduced iPod (portable music device) in 2001.

    Stores:

    The company said direct-distribution channels-Apple's retail and online stores and its direct sales force-accounted for 29 percent of net sales in year ended September 2018; 28 percent in year ended September 2017; and 25 percent in year ended September 2016. As of Sept. 26, 2015, Apple operated 463 stores worldwide with 5.3 million square feet of retail store space. Apple in year ended September 2015 changed its operating-segment structure and stopped disclosing detailed information about its store count and average revenue per store. The company did disclose that direct-distribution channels - its retail and online stores and its direct sales force - accounted for 26 percent of net sales in year ended September 2015.

    As of Sept. 27, 2014, Apple operated 259 U.S. retail stores and 178 international retail stores, or 437 stores worldwide. With an average of 424 and 403 open stores during 2014 and 2013, respectively, average revenue per store increased to $50.6 million in 2014 from $50.2 million in 2013.

    As of Sept. 28, 2013, Apple operated 254 U.S. retail stores and 162 international retail stores, or 416 stores worldwide. With an average of 403 and 365 open stores during fiscal 2013 and 2012, respectively, average revenue per store decreased to $50.2 million in 2013 compared to $51.5 million in 2012.

    As of Sept. 29, 2012, the company had 250 U.S. retail stores and 140 international retail stores, or 390 stores worldwide. With an average of 365 stores and 326 stores during fiscal 2012 and 2011, respectively, average revenue per store increased 19 percent to $51.5 million in 2012 compared to $43.3 million in 2011.

    Apple opened 40 new retail stores during fiscal 2011, 28 of which were outside the U.S., ending the fiscal year with 357 stores. As of Sept. 24, 2011, the company had a total of 245 U.S. retail stores and 112 international retail stores.

    Apple operated 317 stores worldwide as of September 2010, up from 273 stores as of September 2009.

    As of September 2011, the company operated 19 of its stores as "high-profile" venues to promote brand awareness and serve as vehicles for corporate sales and marketing activities. The company's 10-K for years ended September 2013 and September 2012 did not break out how many stores are "high-profile" venues. Apple reported 15 high-profile stores as of September 2010 and 11 as of September 2009.

    The 10-K filings for years ended September 2017, September 2016, September 2015, September 2014, September 2013 and September 2012 said:

    "Certain stores have been designed and built to serve as high-profile venues to promote brand awareness and serve as vehicles for corporate sales and marketing activities. Because of their unique design elements, locations and size, these stores require substantially more investment than the company's more typical retail stores."The 10-K for year ended September 2011 said: "The company has certain retail stores that have been designed and built to serve as high-profile venues to promote brand awareness and serve as vehicles for corporate sales and marketing activities. Because of their unique design elements, locations and size, these stores require substantially more investment than the company's more typical retail stores. The company allocates certain operating expenses associated with its high-profile stores to corporate expense to reflect the estimated company-wide benefit. The allocation of these operating costs to corporate expense is based on the amount incurred for a high-profile store in excess of that incurred by a more typical company retail location. The company had opened a total of 19 high-profile stores as of September 24, 2011. Amounts allocated to corporate expense resulting from the operations of high-profile stores were $102 million, $75 million and $65 million for 2011, 2010 and 2009, respectively." The comparable allocations were $53 million in fiscal 2008; and $39 million in fiscal 2007.

    Put another way, for every dollar Apple spent on worldwide advertising, it spent 11 cents on high-profile stores in fiscal 2011 and fiscal 2010; and 13 cents on high-profile stores in fiscal 2009.

    Apple changed its account for high-profiles stores in the year ended September 2012, stating: "Prior to 2012, the company allocated to corporate expenses certain costs associated with its high-profile retail stores that have been designed and built to promote brand awareness and serve as vehicles for corporate sales and marketing activities. Beginning in 2012, the company no longer allocates these costs to corporate expenses and reclassified $102 million and $75 million of such costs from corporate to Retail segment expenses for 2011 and 2010, respectively."

    Apple in October 2013 announced the hiring of Angela Ahrendts, CEO of Burberry, in the new post of senior VP-retail and online stores, effective in spring 2014. She was age 53 at the time of the announcement. Ahrendts became Burberry CEO in 2006. She earlier held senior posts at fashion marketers Liz Claiborne, Henri Bendel and Donna Karan International.

    Sales and earnings:

    Net sales:

    Apple disclosed the following worldwide net sales for fiscal years ended:

    September 2018: $265.6 billion
    September 2017: $229.2 billion
    September 2016: $215.6 billion
    September 2015: $233.7 billion
    September 2014: $182.8 billion
    September 2013: $170.9 billion
    September 2012: $156.5 billion
    September 2011: $108.2 billion
    September 2010: $65.2 billion
    September 2009: $42.9 billion
    September 2008: $37.5 billion
    September 2007: $24.6 billion
    September 2006: $19.3 billion
    September 2005: $13.9 billion
    September 2004: $8.3 billion
    September 2003: $6.2 billion
    September 2002: $5.7 billion
    September 2001: $5.4 billion
    September 2000: $8.0 billion
    September 1999: $6.1 billion
    September 1998: $5.9 billion
    September 1997: $7.1 billion
    September 1996: $9.8 billion
    September 1995: $11.1 billion
    September 1994: $9.2 billion
    September 1993: $8.0 billion
    September 1992: $7.1 billion
    September 1991: $6.3 billion
    September 1990: $5.6 billion
    September 1989: $5.3 billion
    September 1988: $4.1 billion
    September 1987: $2.7 billion
    September 1986: $1.9 billion
    September 1985: $1.9 billion
    September 1984: $1.5 billion
    September 1983: $982.8 million
    September 1982: $583.1 million
    September 1981: $334.8 million
    September 1980: $117.1 million
    September 1979: $47.9 million
    September 1978 $7.9 million
    September 1977: $774,000

    Net sales by region:

    Apple generated this percentage of worldwide net sales from the U.S. for fiscal years ended:

    September 2018: 36.9 percent
    September 2017: 36.8 percent
    September 2016: 35.1 percent
    September 2015: 35.0 percent
    September 2014: 37.7 percent
    September 2013: 38.7 percent
    September 2012: 38.9 percent
    September 2011: 38.6 percent
    September 2010: 43.9 percent
    September 2009: 52.0 percent
    September 2008: 55.7 percent
    September 2007: 59.7 percent
    September 2006: 59.5 percent
    September 2005: 58.8 percent
    September 2004: 59.1 percent
    September 2003: 58.4 percent
    September 2002: 57.0 percent
    September 2001: 54.7 percent
    September 2000: 51.9 percent
    September 1999: 55.3 percent
    September 1998: 55.3 percent
    September 1997: 49.5 percent
    September 1996: 48.2 percent
    September 1995: 52.4 percent
    September 1994: 54.2 percent
    September 1993: 55.0 percent
    September 1992: 54.8 percent
    September 1991: 55.2 percent
    September 1990: 58.3 percent
    September 1989: 64.4 percent
    September 1988: 67.9 percent
    September 1987: 72.9 percent
    September 1986: 74.2 percent
    September 1985: 77.7 percent
    September 1984: 78.4 percent
    September 1983: 77.8 percent
    September 1982: 75.6 percent
    September 1981: 72.9 percent
    September 1980: 75.0 percent
    September 1979: 76.0 percent

    Apple's second largest country by sales is China.

    Apple generated this amount of worldwide net sales from Greater China (including China, Hong Kong and Taiwan, starting in year ended September 2017; including China and Hong Kong but excluding Taiwan in earlier years) in years ended:

    September 2018: 19.6 percent (including China, Hong Kong and Taiwan)
    September 2017: 19.5 percent (including China, Hong Kong and Taiwan)
    September 2016: 21.5 percent (including China, Hong Kong, excluding Taiwan; 22.5 percent including China, Hong Kong and Taiwan)
    September 2015: 24.2 percent (including China, Hong Kong, excluding Taiwan; 25.1 percent including China, Hong Kong and Taiwan)
    September 2014: 16.8 percent (including China, Hong Kong, excluding Taiwan)
    September 2013: 15.2 percent
    September 2012: 14.6 percent
    September 2011: 11.5 percent
    September 2010: 4.2 percent
    September 2009: 1.8 percent

    Apple did not report China sales for years prior to fiscal 2009.

    The U.S. and China were the only countries that accounted for more than 10 percent of Apple's net sales in years ended September 2017, September 2016, September 2015, September 2014, September 2013, September 2012 and September 2011.

    Customers:

    No single customer accounted for more than 10 percent of net sales in fiscal 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015, 2014, 2013, 2012, 2011 or 2010.

    One Apple customer accounted for 11 percent of sales in fiscal 2009. No single customer accounted for more than 10 percent of net sales in fiscal 2008 or 2007.

    Marketing spending:

    U.S. ad spending:

    Total U.S. advertising spending shown in the Leading National Advertisers report and Marketer Trees database is an Ad Age Datacenter estimate.

    Worldwide ad spending:

    Ad Age Datacenter estimates Apple spent $1.402 billion(0.6 percent of net sales) on worldwide advertising in year ended September 2017.

    Apple stopped disclosing worldwide "advertising expense" in 10-K filings starting in year ended Sept. 24, 2016 (fiscal 2016).

    Total worldwide advertising spending figures shown in the World's Largest Advertisers report and related database for years ended Sept. 24, 2016 (fiscal 2016), and later years are Ad Age estimates.

    Apple said in its 10-K for year ended Sept. 29, 2018:

    "The year-over-year growth in selling, general and administrative expense in 2018"--SG&A expenses in 2018 rose $1.4 billion or 9.46 percent--was driven primarily by increases in in headcount-related expenses, professional services and infrastructure-related costs. The increase in selling, general and administrative expense in 2017 compared to 2016 was driven primarily by an increase in headcount-related expenses, variable selling expenses and infrastructure-related costs."

    Apple said in its 10-K for year ended Sept. 30, 2017:

    "The year-over-year growth in selling, general and administrative expense in 2017 compared to 2016"--SG&A expenses in 2017 rose $1.1 billion or 7.52 percent--"was driven primarily by an increase in headcount-related expenses, variable selling expenses and infrastructure-related costs. The decrease in selling, general and administrative expense in 2016 compared to 2015 was due primarily to lower discretionary expenditures and advertising costs, partially offset by an increase in headcount-related expenses."

    Apple said in its 10-K for year ended Sept. 24, 2016: "The decrease in selling, general and administrative expense in 2016 compared to 2015"--SG&A expenses in 2016 fell $135 million or 0.94 percent--"was due primarily to lower discretionary expenditures and advertising costs, partially offset by an increase in headcount and related expenses. The year-over-year growth in selling, general and administrative expense in 2015" -- when SG&A expenses surged $2.4 billion or 19.5 percent -- "was primarily due to increased headcount and related expenses, and higher spending on marketing and advertising."

    In its 10-K filings for years ended September 2018 and September 2017, Apple said:

    "The company believes ongoing investment in research and development, marketing and advertising is critical to the development and sale of innovative products, services and technologies."

    In its 10-K filing for year ended September 2016, Apple said:

    "The company believes ongoing investment in research and development, marketing and advertising is critical to the development and sale of innovative products and technologies."

    Apple reported (from a 10-K filing) fiscal 2015 worldwide "advertising expense" of $1.8 billion; ad spending as a percent of sales rose to 0.770 percent.

    Apple reported fiscal 2014 worldwide "advertising expense" of $1.2 billion; ad spending as a percent of sales rose slightly to 0.656 percent.

    Apple reported fiscal 2013 worldwide ad spending of $1.1 billion; ad spending as a percent of sales was up fractionally to 0.644 percent.

    Apple's worldwide ad spending reached $1 billion in fiscal 2012 for the first time. But advertising as a percent of net sales dropped to 0.639 percent in fiscal 2012, the lowest level on record for the company.

    Agencies:

    Apple has had long relationships with TBWA/Media Arts Lab and predecessors TBWA/Chiat/Day and Chiat/Day.

    Chiat/Day entered the Apple core in 1981 by purchasing the advertising operations of Apple PR and ad agency Regis McKenna. Chiat/Day went on to create the groundbreaking "1984" Super Bowl commercial introducing Macintosh in January 1984.

    Apple stumbled badly in 1985, beginning with its follow-up Super Bowl commercial, "Lemmings," a controversial spot that showed a line of executives plunging off a cliff one by one because they didn't question the way business had always been done. The macabre spot prematurely introduced "Macintosh Office," a series of office automation products that Apple hadn't finished developing, and it ushered in a disastrous year when Apple closed three of six factories, terminated 20 percent of employees and parted ways with co-founder Steve Jobs. Those moves presaged the 1986 firing of Chiat/Day and hiring of BBDO Worldwide; John Sculley, who joined Apple as president-CEO in 1983, knew BBDO from his previous posts at PepsiCo.

    Sculley left Apple in 1993.

    Apple went through dramatic changes in 1997. Early that year, Apple brought Jobs back as an adviser. The company put its U.S. advertising account in review in June 1997, prompting Omnicom Group's BBDO to quit the global account. Jobs became de facto chief after then-CEO Gil Amelio was ousted in July 1997. TBWA/Chiat/Day (successor to Chiat/Day), which initially declined an invitation to pitch the account, entered the review in mid-July at Jobs' request. TBWA/Chiat/Day won the account in August 1997 following a truncated review that came down to that agency and Arnold Communications. Apple formally named Jobs interim chief executive in September 1997.

    Jobs went on medical leave in January 2011. He resigned as Apple's CEO in August 2011 and was succeeded as CEO by Tim Cook, previously Apple's chief operating officer.

    Since at least early 2013, TBWA/Media Arts Lab (the unit of Omnicom's TBWA Worldwide that managed the Apple account) has faced mounting pressure from Apple. An early 2013 email from Apple Senior VP-Global Marketing Phil Schiller to Cook said the company "may need to start a search for a new agency. ... We are not getting what we need from them and haven't been in a while."

    Apple in April 2014 added four digital agencies to its roster: WPP's AKQA, Interpublic Group of Cos.' Huge and independents Area 17 and Kettle.

    Apple in 2013 and 2014 built a large in-house group to produce some Apple advertising; Apple in 2014 was telling recruits the in-house agency will eventually number 1,000 people.

    Apple has used in-house resources before. Apple in the 1980s had a prominent in-house group that worked on such functions as graphic design, a key discipline at the time for a company that prided itself on the simple design of its brochures, operating manuals and other print collateral materials.

    Up through 1987, Apple defined the advertising costs in its 10-K regulatory filings as including "salaries and other costs of in-house advertising, graphic design, and public relations departments, as well as costs of advertising in various media and outside advertising agencies." Starting in 1988, Apple changed its definition of ad costs, shrinking the figure to include "all direct costs of advertising in various media and outside advertising agencies."

    Awards:

    Ad Age in October 2010 named Apple the Marketer of the Decade.

    Deals and strategic moves:

    Apple in September 2018 bought Shazam, a U.K-based developer of music recognition applications used for smartphones, tablets and computers. Shazam generates its revenue largely by selling online ads and on commissions from music streaming and download services such as Apple Music, Spotify and Deezer.

    Apple in July 2014 bought Beats Electronics (marketer of Beats headphones, speakers and audio software) and Beats Music (a subscription streaming-music service) for $2.6 billion, mostly cash. In conjunction with the acquisitions, Apple issued Apple shares valued at about $485 million (of which shares valued at about $417 million will vest over time based on recipients' continued employment with Apple). As part of the acquisition, Beats co-founders Jimmy Iovine and Dr. Dre joined Apple. Beats was launched in 2008 by Iovine, chairman of Interscope Geffen A&M Records, and rap star Dr. Dre. Apple in January 2010 bought Quattro Wireless, a mobile ad network, for $250 million. In August 2010, Apple revealed it would close Quattro (effective Sept. 30, 2010) to focus on its proprietary iAd mobile ad platform for its own devices.

    Stock:

    Apple went public with an initial public offering Dec. 12, 1980 at $22.00 a share. The stock has split four times since the IPO. On a split-adjusted basis, the IPO share price was 39 cents a share. (Apple did a seven-for-one stock split June 6, 2014; and two-for-one stock splits May 15, 1987; June 21, 2000; and Feb. 18, 2005.)

    R&D:

    Apple disclosed the following worldwide research and development expenses, and R&D expenses as percent of worldwide net sales, for fiscal years ended:

    September 2018: $14.2 billion (5.4 percent)
    September 2017: $11.6 billion (5.1 percent)
    September 2016: $10.0 billion (4.7 percent)
    September 2015: $8.1 billion (3.5 percent)
    September 2014: $6.0 billion (3.3 percent)
    September 2013: $4.5 billion (2.6 percent)
    September 2012: $3.4 billion (2.2 percent)
    September 2011: $2.4 billion (2.2 percent)
    September 2010: $1.8 billion (2.7 percent)
    September 2009: $1.3 billion (3.1 percent)
    September 2008: $1.1 billion (3.0 percent)
    September 2007: $782.0 million (3.2 percent)
    September 2006: $712.0 million (3.7 percent)
    September 2005: $535.0 million (3.8 percent)
    September 2004: $491.0 million (5.9 percent)
    September 2003: $471.0 million (7.6 percent)
    September 2002: $446.0 million (7.8 percent)
    September 2001: $430.0 million (8.0 percent)
    September 2000: $380.0 million (4.8 percent)
    September 1999: $314.0 million (5.1 percent)
    September 1998: $303.0 million (5.1 percent)
    September 1997: $485.0 million (6.8 percent)
    September 1996: $604.0 million (6.1 percent)
    September 1995: $614.0 million (5.6 percent)
    September 1994: $564.0 million (6.1 percent)
    September 1993: $665.0 million (8.3 percent)
    September 1992: $602.0 million (8.5 percent)
    September 1991: $583.0 million (9.2 percent)
    September 1990: $478.0 million (8.6 percent)
    September 1989: $420.0 million (7.9 percent)
    September 1988: $273.0 million (6.7 percent)
    September 1987: $192.0 million (7.2 percent)
    September 1986: $127.8 million (6.7 percent)
    September 1985: $72.5 million (3.8 percent)
    September 1984: $71.1 million (4.7 percent)
    September 1983: $60.0 million (6.1 percent)
    September 1982: $38.0 million (6.5 percent)
    September 1981: $21.0 million (6.3 percent)
    September 1980: $7.3 million (6.2 percent)
    September 1979: $3.6 million (7.5 percent)

    Apple's 10-K for year ended September 2018 said: "The year-over-year growth in R&D expense in 2018 was driven primarily by increases in headcount-related expenses, infrastructure-related costs and material costs to support expanded R&D activities. R&D expense increased during 2017 compared to 2016 due primarily to increases in headcount-related expenses and material costs to support expanded R&D activities. The company continues to believe that focused investments in R&D are critical to its future growth and competitive position in the marketplace, and to the development of new and updated products and services that are central to the Company's core business strategy."

    Apple's 10-K for year ended September 2017 said: "The year-over-year growth in R&D expense in 2017 and 2016 was driven primarily by increases in headcount-related expenses and material costs to support expanded R&D activities. The company continues to believe that focused investments in R&D are critical to its future growth and competitive position in the marketplace, and to the development of new and updated products and services that are central to the company's core business strategy."

    Apple's 10-K for year ended September 2016 said: "The year-over-year growth in R&D expense in 2016 and 2015 was driven primarily by an increase in headcount and related expenses, and material costs to support expanded R&D activities. The Company continues to believe that focused investments in R&D are critical to its future growth and competitive position in the marketplace, and to the development of new and updated products that are central to the Company's core business strategy."

    Apple's 10-K for year ended September 2015 said: "The year-over-year growth in R&D expense in 2015 and 2014 was driven primarily by an increase in headcount and related expenses, including share-based compensation costs, and material costs to support expanded R&D activities. The Company continues to believe that focused investments in R&D are critical to its future growth and competitive position in the marketplace and are directly related to timely development of new and updated products that are central to the Company's core business strategy."

    Apple's 10-K for year ended September 2014 said: "The year-over-year growth in 2014 and 2013 R&D expense was driven primarily by an increase in headcount and related expenses, including share-based compensation costs and machinery and equipment to support expanded R&D activities. The company continues to believe that focused investments in R&D are critical to its future growth and competitive position in the marketplace and are directly related to timely development of new and enhanced products that are central to the Company's core business strategy. As such, the company expects to make further investments in R&D to remain competitive."

    History:

    Apple was founded in 1976 and incorporated Jan. 3, 1977.

    Apple unveiled the Macintosh computer in 1984 with its game-changing Super Bowl commercial, "1984."

    Co-founder Steve Jobs resigned in 1985. Jobs rejoined Apple (initially as "interim CEO") in September 1997, when the company was struggling with losses and declining sales.

    Jobs went on medical leave in January 2011. He resigned as Apple's CEO on Aug. 24, 2011, and was succeeded as CEO by Tim Cook, previously Apple's chief operating officer.

    Jobs died Oct. 5, 2011, at age 56 after a battle with pancreatic cancer.

    http://www.apple.com

Astellas Pharma

  • Marketer profile
    Click here to see company's total worldwide advertising spending, measured-media spending by region, key executives and agencies.

    Overview:

    Astellas Pharma is a pharmaceutical marketer based in Japan.

    Business segments and operations:

    Astellas Pharma's operations include Astellas Pharma US, a Northbrook, Ill.-based unit that serves as headquarters for the Americas.

    Sales and earnings:

    Astellas Pharma reported worldwide sales of $11.7 billion (converted to U.S. dollars from yen at average exchange rates by Ad Age Datacenter) in the year ended March 2018.

    Marketing spending:

    Worldwide ad spending:

    Total worldwide advertising spending figures shown in the World's Largest Advertisers report and related database are the company's stated worldwide "advertising and sales promotional expenses" converted to U.S. dollars at average exchange rates by Ad Age Datacenter.

    Worldwide advertising and sales promotional expenses:

    2017: 152.1 billion yen.
    2016: 144.1 billion yen.
    2015: 169.1 billion yen.
    2014: 138.5 billion yen.

    Deals and strategic moves:

    GlaxoSmithKline previously had a joint venture with Astellas Pharma's Astellas Pharma U.S. to market Vesicare, a treatment for overactive bladder. The joint venture ended in first-quarter 2012, making Astellas the exclusive marketer.

    History:

    Astellas Pharma was formed April 1, 2005, through the merger of Japanese drug marketers Fujisawa Pharmaceutical Co. and Yamanouchi Pharmaceutical Co.

    Fujisawa Pharmaceutical Co. was founded in 1894 as Fujisawa Shoten. The company changed its name to Fujisawa Pharmaceutical Co. in 1943.

    Yamanouchi Pharmaceutical Co. was founded in 1923 as Yamanouchi Yakuhin Shokai. The company changed its name to Yamanouchi Pharmaceutical Co. in 1940.

    The company's U.S. presence dates to the founding of U.S.-based Fujisawa Pharmaceutical Corp. in 1977 and Yamanouchi Pharma America in 2001.

    https://www.astellas.com/en/

AT&T

  • Marketer profile
    Click here to see company's total worldwide advertising spending, measured-media spending by region, key executives and agencies.

    Overview:

    AT&T is a telecommunications company based in Dallas.

    AT&T June 14, 2018, completed its acquisition of Time Warner, which it renamed "Warner Media, LLC" (branded as WarnerMedia). This came after a federal judge June 12, 2018, ruled that AT&T could proceed with its takeover of Time Warner after the U.S. Justice Department in November 2017 filed a civil antitrust lawsuit to block the deal. AT&T signed its deal to buy Time Warner, the parent of Warner Bros. Entertainment, Turner and Home Box Office, in October 2016.

    AT&T in July 2015 bought satellite TV provider DirecTV.

    The company markets services and products under the AT&T, Cricket, DirecTV, Sky and Unefon brand names.

    Business segments and operations:

    AT&T Entertainment Group:

    After buying DirecTV in July 2015, AT&T combined the DirecTV business with AT&T's U-verse and related offerings into a unit called AT&T Entertainment Group (formerly AT&T Entertainment and Internet Services).

    AT&T's Entertainment Group at year-end 2017 had 20,458,000 satellite video connections, 3,631,000 U-verse video connections and 1,155,000 DirecTV Now connections, or a total of 25,244,000 video connections.

    The Entertainment Group at year-end 2016 had 21,012,000 satellite video connections, 4,253,000 U-verse video connections and 267,000 DirecTV Now connections, or a total of 25,532,000 video connections.

    The Entertainment Group at year-end 2015 had 19,784,000 satellite video connections and 5,614,000 U-verse video connections, or a total of 25,398,000 video connections.

    The Entertainment Group 14,179,000 broadband connections at year-end 2016; 14,286,000 broadband connections at year-end 2015; 14,444,000 at year-end 2014; and 14,313,000 at year-end 2013.

    Historic DirecTV:

    Prior to its 2015 acquisition by AT&T, DirecTV operated two pay TV services, DirecTV U.S. and DirecTV Latin America. It also owned and operated two U.S. regional sports networks and had a 42 percent interest in Game Show Network, or GSN, a U.S. cable network. (Sony Corp. owned the rest of GSN.) The DirecTV U.S. segment, the company's domestic satellite-TV service, was sometimes referred to in regulatory filings as DirecTV Holdings. AT&T at year-end 2017 continued to own the 42 percent GSN stake.

    DirecTV reported $33.3 billion in 2014 worldwide revenue (including $26.4 billion from the U.S.).

    DirecTV had 20,352,000 U.S. subscribers at year-end 2014; and 20,253,000 at year-end 2013. Prior to its acquisition by AT&T, DirecTV was the nation's largest satellite-TV service and second largest pay-TV provider based on subscribers (after Comcast Corp.).

    DirecTV Latin America had 12,471,000 subscribers at year-end 2014; 11,568,000 at year-end 2013; and 10,328,000 at year-end 2012. Includes PanAmericana (Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Puerto Rico, Venezuela and other countries in the region) and 93 percent stake in Sky Brasil.

    DirecTV Latin America owned 41 percent of Innova, S. de R.L. de C.V., or Sky Mexico (Mexico, certain countries in Central America and the Dominican Republic). Grupo Televisa owned 59 percent of Sky Mexico.

    Historic AT&T U-verse:

    AT&T U-verse revenue -- video, high-speed internet and phone -- totaled $14.5 billion in 2014; $11.8 billion in 2013; $9.249 billion in 2012; and $6.664 billion in 2011.

    AT&T said it had 16,028,000 total wireline broadband connections at year-end 2014; 16,425,000 at year-end 2013; 16,390,000 at year-end 2012; 16,427,000 at year-end 2011; 16,309,000 at year-end 2010; and 15,789,000 at year-end 2009. Wireline broadband includes DSL, U-verse high-speed internet and satellite broadband.

    AT&T said U-verse had 5,943,000 video connections (TV subscribers) at year-end 2014; 5,460,000 at year-end 2013; 4,536,000 at year-end 2012; 3,791,000 at year-end 2011;2,987,000 at year-end 2010; 2,065,000 at year-end 2009; 1,045,000 at year-end 2008; and 231,000 at year-end 2007.

    Marketing spending:

    U.S. ad spending:

    Total U.S. ad spending figures shown are Ad Age Datacenter's estimate of AT&T U.S. ad spending.

    Worldwide ad spending:

    Total worldwide ad spending figures shown in the World's Largest Advertisers report and related database are Ad Age Datacenter estimates of combined AT&T and Time Warner ad spending. Estimated pro forma ad spending:

    2017: $6.300 billion
    2016: $6.154 billion

    AT&T reported 2017 worldwide ad spending of $3.772 billion.

    Time Warner reported 2017 worldwide ad spending of $2.528 billion (8.1 percent of revenue).

    AT&T's stated worldwide ad spending includes spending for Vrio Corp., an AT&T satellite TV subsidiary that operates Latin American digital entertainment services. Vrio disclosed the following "advertising costs":

    2017: $161 million (2.9 percent of revenue)
    2016: $140 million (2.8 percent of revenue)
    2015: $171 million (2.9 percent of revenue)

    Historic DirecTV ad spending:

    DirecTV (acquired in July 2015) disclosed the following worldwide "advertising costs for print and media related to national advertising campaigns, net of payments received from programming content providers for marketing support":

    2014: $578.0 million (1.7 percent of sales)
    2013: $548.0 million (1.7 percent)
    2012: $514.0 million (1.7 percent)
    2011: $464.0 million (1.7 percent)
    2010: $396.0 million (1.6 percent)
    2009: $363.0 million (1.7 percent)

    Stated worldwide ad costs for 2010 and 2009 shown above for DirecTV are revisions of what DirecTV initially reported. DirecTV initially reported worldwide "advertising expenses, net of payments received from programming content providers for marketing support," of $342 million in 2010, $317 million in 2009 and $301 million in 2008.

    DirecTV U.S. (DirecTV's U.S. satellite service) reported U.S. advertising expenses, net of money received from programming content providers for marketing support, of $229 million in 2010, $222 million in 2009 and $211 million in 2008. DirecTV U.S. did not disclose ad spending for 2014, 2013, 2012 or 2011.

    Agencies:

    AT&T in August 2016 consolidated its creative, digital and media accounts with Omnicom Group after an agency-company-level review that began in June 2016. Omnicom won responsibility for the vast majority of AT&T's creative, media, digital, data and analytics in the U.S.; the scope of its assignment also included Mexico. Omnicom's BBDO Worldwide became the lead agency on creative, which included brand work for AT&T and DirecTV. Hearts & Science, a media agency formed by Omnicom in early 2016, became the carrier's media agency.

    The consolidation at Omnicom came after an agency-company review in which AT&T considered proposals from Omnicom and WPP. Incumbents were BBDO for creative on the AT&T brand; WPP's MEC for media; and WPP's Grey for creative for DirecTV.

    Deals and strategic moves:

    Time Warner:

    AT&T June 14, 2018, completed its acquisition of Time Warner, which it renamed WarnerMedia. An AT&T filing said the company completed the deal "at 5:57 p.m. Eastern time."

    This came after a federal judge June 12, 2018, ruled that AT&T could proceed with its takeover of Time Warner after the U.S. Justice Department in November 2017 filed a civil antitrust lawsuit to block the deal. In the lawsuit, the Justice Department said the acquisition "would substantially lessen competition, resulting in higher prices and less innovation for millions of Americans."AT&T Oct. 22, 2016, announced the deal to buy Time Warner in a stock-and-cash transaction valued at $85.4 billion ($107.50 a share), or $108.7 billion including Time Warner's net debt.

    Time Warner was the parent of Warner Bros. Entertainment, Turner and Home Box Office.

    AppNexus:

    AT&T in August 2018 bought AppNexus, a technology company that offers products for digital advertising for publishers, agencies and marketers.

    Vrio Corp.:

    AT&T in April 2018 withdrew plans for an initial public offering of Vrio Corp., an AT&T satellite TV subsidiary that operates Latin American digital entertainment services . Vrio offers services in Brazil under the Sky brand; and in Argentina, Barbados, Chile, Colombia, Curacao, Ecuador, Peru, Trinidad and Tobago, Uruguay and Venezuela under the DirecTV brand.

    DirecTV:

    AT&T completed its acquisition of DirecTV July 24, 2015.

    AT&T and DirecTV on May 18, 2014, struck a deal for AT&T to buy DirecTV, the nation's No. 2 multichannel video programming distributor, for $48.5 billion in stock and cash (and an enterprise value of $67.1 billion, factoring in DirecTV's net debt); the announcement said the companies expected to complete the transaction "within approximately 12 months."

    AT&T signed its deal to buy DirecTV after Comcast, the nation's largest cable-systems operator, in February 2014 agreed to buy Time Warner Cable, the No. 2 cable firm. Comcast and Time Warner Cable in April 2015, terminated that deal in the wake of strong pushback from the Federal Communications Commission. Charter Communications, another cable firm, in May 2015 reached a deal to buy Time Warner Cable; Charter completed the deal in May 2016.

    AT&T Corp., predecessor to today's AT&T, once was the top player in cable TV: It bought Tele-Communications Inc. in 1999 and MediaOne in 2000, combining them to create the nation's largest cable-systems operator, AT&T Broadband. AT&T sold AT&T Broadband to Comcast in 2002, making Comcast No. 1 in cable systems. Comcast initially planned to use the name "AT&T Comcast" but ditched "AT&T" and kept the name "Comcast Corp." when the deal closed in November 2002.

    America Movil:

    When AT&T in 2014 announced its deal to buy DirecTV, AT&T said it intended to sell AT&T's stake in America Movil, a Mexico-based telecom firm that competes with DirecTV in the Latin American pay-TV market. AT&T owned an 8.7 percent stake in America Movil at year-end 2013. AT&T completed the sale of that stake in 2014 for about $5.9 billion.

    Leap Wireless:

    AT&T on March 13, 2014, completed its $1.2 billion acquisition of Leap Wireless International, a U.S. prepaid wireless-service provider that went to market under the Cricket brand. AT&T planned to keep the Cricket brand, which had 4.57 million customers as of Feb. 28, 2014. AT&T announced the Leap deal on July 12, 2013; at that time, AT&T expected to close the deal in six to nine months, implying a closing in January 2014 to April 2014. AT&T in May 2014 killed Aio Wireless (a prepaid-wireless service that AT&T launched in April 2013) to focus on the Cricket brand for prepaid services.

    T-Mobile:

    AT&T, facing strong opposition from the Justice Department and Federal Communications Commission, on Dec. 19, 2011, ended its bid to acquire T-Mobile USA, the then-No. 4 U.S. wireless firm, from Germany's Deutsche Telekom.

    Deutsche Telekom and Texas-based MetroPCS Communications on Oct. 3, 2012, signed a deal to combine T-Mobile USA with No. 6 wireless firm MetroPCS. Deutsche Telekom completed the deal May 1, 2013, merging T-Mobile USA with MetroPCS to form T-Mobile US. Deutsche Telekom owned a 74 percent stake; MetroPCS shareholders received a 26 percent stake. Post-merger, T-Mobile US remained the fourth largest U.S. wireless firm. (T-Mobile in October 2018 changed the name of MetroPCS to "Metro by T-Mobile.")

    AT&T on March 20, 2011, had announced a deal to buy T-Mobile USA in a cash-and-stock transaction valued at about $39 billion. The T-Mobile acquisition would have made AT&T the nation's biggest wireless marketer, displacing Verizon Wireless. Under terms of the deal, Deutsche Telekom would have received up to an 8 percent stake in AT&T.

    The U.S. Justice Department on Aug. 31, 2011, filed a civil antitrust lawsuit to block AT&T's acquisition of T-Mobile USA, stating that combining the second- and fourth largest U.S. cell phone companies would harm competition and likely raise prices for consumers. AT&T and Deutsche Telekom said they would push forward on the deal. The two companies terminated the deal on Dec. 19, 2011.

    T-Mobile US in April 2018 signed a deal to buy Sprint Corp., controlled by Japan's SoftBank Group Corp., in a move to combine the No. 3 (T-Mobile) and No. 4 (Sprint) U.S. wireless firms.

    Yellow pages:

    AT&T in May 2012 sold a majority stake in its yellow pages business to buyout firm Cerberus Capital Management for $940 million ($740 million cash after closing adjustments; plus a $200 million note that was repaid in 2013). Cerberus owned a 53 percent stake in the business, called YP Holdings; AT&T owned the rest. The AT&T yellow pages business had 2011 revenue of $3.3 billion, down 16.3 percent from 2010 (and down from $5.4 billion in 2008).

    YP Holdings was the nation's biggest yellow pages publisher, but it -- and the sector -- have been in rapid decline as publishers struggle with a transition from print directories to online and mobile solutions.

    The sale to Cerberus included about 1,200 The Real Yellow Pages directories reaching about 150 million homes and businesses in 22 states; YP.com; YP Local Ad Network, which includes more than 300 mobile and online publisher websites; and YPmobile app.

    The Cerberus deal included assets of AT&T Advertising Solutions, which delivers sales and customer support, and AT&T Interactive, which conducts interactive product development. The sale did not include AT&T AdWorks, a New York-based operation that sold advertising offerings across three screen platforms (online, mobile, TV).

    Dex Media, a rival yellow pages publisher, in June 2017 bought YP Holdings. The combined company took the name DexYP.

    Other moves:

    AT&T on Jan. 16, 2015, completed its $2.5 billion acquisition (including acquired debt of about $700 million) of Mexican wireless provider GSF Telecom Holdings (operating under the brands Ilusacell and Unefon) from Grupo Salinas. AT&T bought all of GSF Telecom's wireless properties including licenses, network assets, retail stores and about 9.2 million subscribers. Later in January 2015, AT&T entered a deal with bankrupt NII Holdings to buy NII's wireless business in Mexico for $1.875 billion (less approximately $427 million of net debt and other adjustments). NII's Mexican wireless business operated under the name Nextel Mexico; the deal included spectrum licenses, network assets, retail stores and about 3 million subscribers. AT&T completed the Nextel Mexico acquisition in April 2015. AT&T then combined Iusacell and Nextel Mexico.

    AT&T in October 2014 sold its local phone operations in Connecticut for $2.0 billion.

    AT&T in September 2013 bought Atlantic Tele-Network's U.S. retail wireless operations operating under the Alltel brand for $806 million cash. The acquired business had about 550,000 subscribers.

    This was AT&T's second Alltel deal. Rival Verizon Wireless in January 2009 acquired wireless provider Alltel Corp. To satisfy regulators, Verizon Wireless in second-quarter 2010 sold 79 Alltel markets to AT&T (1.6 million former Alltel subscribers) for $2.4 billion) and 26 markets to Atlantic Tele-Network for $200 million; Atlantic Tele-Network obtained the right from Verizon Wireless to use the Alltel brand for 28 years.

    AT&T in November 2009 bought Centennial Communications, a regional wireless firm with about 865,000 customers as of December 31, 2009. AT&T paid $2.96 billion in cash and assumed debt.

    AT&T in November 2007 paid about $2.5 billion to acquire Dobson Communications Corp., which marketed wireless services under the Cellular One brand and had provided roaming services to AT&T subsidiaries since 1990. Dobson had 1.7 million subscribers across 17 states, mostly in rural and suburban areas. AT&T rebranded Dobson's services as AT&T.

    In November 2005, SBC Communications bought AT&T Corp., the one-time parent of AT&T Wireless (before AT&T Corp. spun off AT&T Wireless in July 2001); SBC then adopted a new name, AT&T Inc. AT&T Inc. then bought BellSouth Corp., completing the acquisition in December 2006. Yellowpages.com formerly was a joint venture of AT&T Inc. and BellSouth.

    Almost immediately after buying BellSouth, AT&T began to phase out the brand of Cingular Wireless (owned 60 percent by AT&T Inc. and 40 percent by BellSouth) in favor of AT&T. Cingular Wireless LLC became AT&T Mobility LLC.

    Cingular began in October 2000 as a joint venture of SBC and BellSouth. In October 2004, Cingular paid about $41 billion cash for standalone firm AT&T Wireless Services, which Cingular rebranded as Cingular.

    Historic Time Warner:

    AT&T June 14, 2018, completed its acquisition of Time Warner, which it renamed "Warner Media, LLC" (branded as WarnerMedia). Time Warner was a media company that owned Warner Bros. Entertainment, Turner and Home Box Office.

    Ad Age ranked Time Warner as the nation's largest media company from 1995 through 2008. Time Warner dropped from the top spot after it completed the spinoff of Time Warner Cable in 2009. Comcast Corp. is now the largest U.S. media company.

    Time Warner reported the following worldwide advertising spending:

    2017: $2.528 billion (8.1 percent of revenue)
    2016: 2.386 billion (8.1 percent)
    2015: 2.586 billion (9.2 percent)
    2014: 2.430 billion (8.9 percent)
    2013: 2.447 billion (9.2 percent)
    2012: 2.314 billion (9.1 percent)
    2011: 2.980 billion (10.3 percent)
    2010: 2.824 billion (10.5 percent)
    2009: 2.562 billion (10.1 percent)Earlier Time Warner 10-K filings showed the following worldwide advertising costs, including spending for Time Warner Cable and AOL (both spun off in 2009): $3.531 billion in 2008; $4.253 billion in 2007; $4.525 billion in 2006; $5.112 billion in 2005; $5.265 billion in 2004; $4.678 billion in 2003; and $4.271 billion in 2002.

    In the years before its acquisition by AT&T, Time Warner narrowed its focus by spinning off major units. It spun off as separate public companies Time Inc. in 2014 (acquired by Meredith Corp. in 2018); AOL in 2009 (acquired by Verizon Communications in 2015); and Time Warner Cable in 2009 (acquired by Charter Communications in 2016).

    Historic DirecTV:

    DirecTV Group and Liberty Media Corp. on Nov. 19, 2009, completed a merger of DirecTV Group and Liberty Entertainment, a company split off from Liberty Media. The companies in May 2009 had announced plans for that restructuring. The merged company took the name DirecTV.

    DirecTV emerged from the 2009 deal as owner of the DirecTV satellite service; three cable regional sports networks; and a 65 percent interest in GSN, a cable channel.

    DirecTV in March 2011 sold a 5 percent interest in GSN to Sony Corp.'s Sony Pictures Entertainment for $60 million, reducing DirecTV's stake to 60 percent and giving Sony a 40 percent stake. DirecTV in December 2012 sold an 18 percent interest in GSN to Sony for $234 million, reducing DirecTV's stake to 42 percent and giving Sony a 58 percent stake.

    The 2009 reorganization followed Liberty Media Chairman John Malone's February 2008 asset swap with News Corp. In that deal, Liberty Media exchanged its 16.3 percent stake in News Corp. for a package consisting of News Corp.'s then-41 percent interest in DirecTV Group, three regional sports networks (FSN Northwest, FSN Pittsburgh, FSN Rocky Mountain) and about $625 million in cash. Liberty and News Corp. originally announced the asset swap in December 2006. News Corp. bought its DirecTV stake in December 2003. (News Corp. in June 2013 spun off its publishing business into a company called News Corp.; the remaining company, focused on TV and movies, took the name 21st Century Fox.)

    DirecTV rebranded its three FSN regional-sports networks as Root Sports in April 2011. It owns two of them, in Denver and Pittsburgh. DirecTV transferred ownership of the third one, in Seattle, to NW Sports Net in April 2013; the Seattle Mariners have a majority interest in NW Sports Net, and DirecTV retained a minority stake.

    History:

    AT&T Inc. now owns four of the seven Baby Bells that on Jan. 1, 1984, broke off from American Telephone & Telegraph Co. (which became AT&T Corp.): Ameritech, BellSouth, Pacific Bell and Southwestern Bell (which became SBC).

    Rival Verizon Communications (majority owner of Verizon Wireless) is a rollup of two Baby Bells -- Nynex and Bell Atlantic -- and GTE.

    Qwest Communications in 2000 acquired the seventh Baby Bell, U S West. Telecom rollup CenturyLink (formerly CenturyTel) in April 2011 acquired Qwest.

    http://www.att.com

Bank of America Corp.

  • Marketer profile
    Click here to see company's total worldwide advertising spending, measured-media spending by region, key executives and agencies.

    Overview:

    Bank of America Corp. is a bank holding company and financial holding company based in Charlotte, N.C.

    Marketing spending:

    U.S. ad spending:

    Total U.S. advertising spending shown in the Leading National Advertisers report and Marketer Trees database is Ad Age Datacenter's estimate of Bank of America's U.S. marketing spending.

    Worldwide ad spending:

    Total worldwide advertising spending shown in the World's Largest Advertisers report and related database is Bank of America's stated worldwide marketing spending.

    Bank of America reported worldwide marketing expenses of $1.746 billion in 2017; $1.703 billion in 2016; $1.811 billion in 2015; $1.829 billion in 2014; $1.834 billion in 2013; and $1.873 billion in 2012.

    Agencies:

    Bank of America in December 2015 moved its consumer banking business from a dedicated WPP team to Interpublic Group of Cos.' Hill Holliday, which already served as lead creative on enterprise and global wealth management. Publicis Groupe kept media planning and buying and digital work.

    Bank of America in May 2012 shifted brand advertising duties to a WPP agency consortium (Team BAC) from Omnicom Group's BBDO Worldwide following a review that began in January 2012. WPP's Brand Union already was on Bank of America's roster. WPP did not land the entire Bank of America account. Interpublic Group of Cos.' Hill Holliday, for example, continued to work on Bank of America.

    The WPP hiring marked the third time that Bank of America made an agency holding company-level hiring.

    In August 2005, Omnicom issued a press release stating: "Bank of America has selected Omnicom Group to handle its marketing and media services business."

    In October 2002, Bank of America issued a press release stating: "Bank of America today announced that it has selected Interpublic Group (IPG) and its representative agencies as the bank's holding company of record responsible for providing full service capabilities to serve all of the bank's creative and communications needs."

    Deals and strategic moves:

    Bank of America on Jan. 1, 2009, completed a deal to buy Merrill Lynch & Co. for stock valued at $29.1 billion, adding expansive investment banking and brokerage services to the bank's product and service portfolio. Bank of America in September 2008 struck a deal to buy the investment firm amid Wall Street's financial meltdown. (Rival Citigroup, meanwhile, in May 2009 spun off Citi's brokerage business, Smith Barney.)

    Bank of America on July 1, 2008, completed a $4.2 billion stock deal to buy Countrywide Financial Corp., absorbing the troubled marketer of home mortgages. Bank of America in spring 2009 rebranded Countrywide as Bank of America Home Loans.

    Bank of America completed its acquisition of LaSalle Bank Corp. in October 2007, acquiring the Chicago-based bank from Dutch bank ABN AMRO for $21 billion cash.

    Bank of America in July 2007 completed its acquisition of U.S. Trust for $3.3 billion in cash from Charles Schwab Corp. U.S. Trust is a money manager for affluent families. Schwab bought it in May 2000. (Schwab, coincidentally, was owned by a Bank of America predecessor, San Francisco-based BankAmerica Corp., from 1983 to 1987.)

    Bank of America bought credit card issuer MBNA Corp. Jan. 1, 2006, for $34.6 billion.

    Management and employees:

    Bank of America named Brian T. Moynihan as president-CEO, effective Dec. 31, 2009. Moynihan had been president of consumer and small business banking. Moynihan joined Bank of America in 2004 when it bought FleetBoston Financial, where he had worked since 1993.

    Moynihan succeeded President-CEO Ken Lewis, who retired after 40 years with the bank. Lewis started in 1969 at Bank of America predecessor North Carolina National Bank.

    The company in April 2010 named Charles (Chad) O. Holliday Jr. as chairman, succeeding Walter E. Massey. Holliday joined Bank of America's board as a director in September 2009. He was a former chairman-CEO of DuPont Co.

    History:

    Bank of America Corp. grew out of a series of mergers cobbled together since the 1980s by what was originally North Carolina National Bank. Over the years, the company morphed its name and brand from NCNB to NationsBank to Bank of America.

    http://www.bankofamerica.com

Bayer

  • Marketer profile
    Click here to see company's total worldwide advertising spending, measured-media spending by region, key executives and agencies.

    Overview:

    Bayer is a marketer of pharmaceuticals, consumer health care products, agricultural chemicals and animal health products. The company is based in Germany.

    Business segments and operations:

    Bayer's operations are organized as:

    Pharmaceuticals: Prescription drugs.

    Consumer Health: Brands including Afrin, Aleve/Flanax, Alka-Seltzer, Bayer Aspirin, Bepanthen/Bepanthol, Canesten, Claritin, Coppertone, Dr. Scholl's, Miralax, One A Day and Supradyn.

    Crop Science: Agricultural chemicals and non-agricultural pest control products. (Bayer in June 2018 completed a deal to buy Monsanto Co., a U.S.-based agricultural products company, for about $63 billion.)

    Animal Health: Animal-health products.

    Marketing spending:

    U.S. ad spending:

    Total U.S. advertising spending shown in the Leading National Advertisers report and Marketer Trees database is an Ad Age Datacenter estimate.

    Figures are estimated pro forma ad spending including Monsanto Co. (acquired June 2018) and excluding Covestro (deconsolidated in 2017).

    Worldwide ad spending:

    Total worldwide advertising spending figures shown in the World's Largest Advertisers report and related database are Ad Age Datacenter's estimate of worldwide "advertising and customer advice" expenses.

    Figures are estimated pro forma ad spending including Monsanto Co. (acquired June 2018) and excluding Covestro (deconsolidated in 2017).

    Bayer stopped disclosing "advertising and customer advice" expenses in its annual report for year ended December 2017. Bayer had disclosed figures in previous annual reports.

    Deals and strategic moves:

    Monsanto deal:

    Bayer June 7, 2018, completed a deal to buy Monsanto Co., a Missouri-based agricultural products company, for a total cost of $63 billion (including assumption of Monsanto's outstanding debt) in a move to expand Bayer's agricultural business.

    Bayer announced the deal in September 2016.

    To address potential regulatory issues, Bayer in October 2017 signed an agreement to sell selected Crop Science businesses to BASF.

    European and U.S. regulators approved the deal in 2018. To satisfy regulators, Bayer agreed to divest businesses that generated 2017 revenue of 2.2 billion euros ($2.5 billion) for a sale price of 7.6 billion euros ($8.9 billion).

    Including Monsanto and taking divestitures into account, Bayer said, the health and agriculture businesses would have been roughly equal in size in 2017, with total pro forma sales of about 45 billion euros ($50.8 billion) including combined Crop Science sales of about 20 billion euros ($22.6 billion).

    Bayer said the acquisition doubled the size of its agriculture business.

    Merck deal:

    Bayer on Oct. 1, 2014, completed the acquisition of Merck & Co.'s Merck Consumer Care business for $14.2 billion (less contingent amounts held back that would be payable upon antitrust approvals in Mexico and South Korea).

    Under terms of the agreement, announced in May 2014, Bayer purchased Merck's over-the-counter business. At the same time, the two companies agreed to collaborate on developing some prescription drugs and therapies.

    Merck Consumer Care in 2013 had worldwide sales of $1.9 billion (about 70 percent from the U.S.), accounting for 4.3 percent of Merck's total worldwide sales. The deal also included prescription versions of Afrin and Claritin in countries where those products are still prescription-only. In total, Bayer said, the acquired business had 2013 pro forma revenue of about $2.2 billion ($1.5 billion from North America).

    Bayer said the acquisition of the Merck brands would give Bayer the global No. 2 position in non-prescription (over-the-counter) products. The deal included such brands as Claritin (allergy), Coppertone (sun care), Dr. Scholl's (foot health), Miralax (gastrointestinal) and Afrin (cold). (RB, or Reckitt Benckiser Group, owns the Scholl foot-care brand outside North America and Latin America. RB in August 2014 licensed the Scholl brand to German investment firm Aurelius for use in the footwear market. RB kept the Scholl-brand foot-care business, such as insoles.)

    Bayer said pro forma sales of the combined Bayer/Merck consumer businesses in 2013 were $7.4 billion (about 40 percent from North America). That's second to the combined consumer businesses of GlaxoSmithKline and Novartis, which in April 2014 announced plans to merge the GlaxoSmithKline Consumer Healthcare and Novartis OTC segments into a worldwide joint venture, majority owned by GlaxoSmithKline, with 2013 pro forma worldwide sales of about $10.2 billion.

    Merck gained its over-the-counter portfolio in Merck's $41 billion acquisition of Schering-Plough, another major global pharmaceutical company, in 2009.

    Merck's consumer brands appear in the U.S. measured-media spending by brand listings in this record.

    Other deals:

    Bayer in November 2018 said it would "review its strategic options in the coming months with a view to exiting the sun care (Coppertone) and foot care (Dr. Scholl's) product lines." Bayer acquired those brands with its October 2014 purchase of Merck's Merck Consumer Care business. (As noted, RB owns the Scholl foot-care brand outside North America and Latin America.) The company also said it "intends to exit the Animal Health business and is assessing available options." Finally, Bayer said it planned to divest its 60 percent stake in German site services provider Currenta.

    Bayer in September 2014 announced plans to make its MaterialScience business a separate company. MaterialScience changed its name to Covestro effective Sept. 1, 2015. Covestro in October 2015 held its initial public offering, becoming a publicly traded independent company. In the IPO, Bayer reduced its stake in Covestro to 69 percent from 100 percent. Bayer as of year-end 2017 owned a 24.6 percent stake in Covestro; Bayer stopped consolidating Covestro financials in 2017. Following additional share sales, Bayer as of May 2018 owned a 6.8 percent of Covestro, which markets polycarbonates, polyurethanes and coatings.

    Bayer's Bayer HealthCare unit in August 2014 sold its Interventional device business to Boston Scientific for about $416 million (315 million euros). The sale included the AngioJet (thrombectomy) and Jetstream (atherectomy) systems and the Fetch2 Aspiration Catheter used in cardiology, radiology and vascular procedures. Bayer's Interventional business had 2013 worldwide sales of about $120 million. Closing of the sale was expected in second-half 2014.

    Bayer bought German drug marketer Schering for $17 billion in 2006.

    http://www.bayer.com

Berkshire Hathaway

  • Marketer profile
    Click here to see company's total worldwide advertising spending, measured-media spending by region, key executives and agencies.

    Overview:

    Berkshire Hathaway is a conglomerate assembled by renowned investor Warren Buffett. The company markets everything from Duracell and Dairy Queen to Geico insurance and Ginsu knives.

    Business segments and operations:

    Berkshire's biggest sources of revenue in 2017 were insurance (led by Geico); manufacturing; McLane Co., a grocery and food-service distribution company; service and retailing; BNSF (railroad); and finance and financial products.

    Berkshire said in its 10-K for the year ended December 2017:

    "Berkshire's operating businesses are managed on an unusually decentralized basis. There are essentially no centralized or integrated business functions (such as sales, marketing, purchasing, legal or human resources) and there is minimal involvement by Berkshire's corporate headquarters in the day-to-day business activities of the operating businesses. Berkshire's corporate senior management team participates in and is ultimately responsible for significant capital allocation decisions, investment activities and the selection of the Chief Executive to head each of the operating businesses. It also is responsible for establishing and monitoring Berkshire's corporate governance practices, including, but not limited to, communicating the appropriate 'tone at the top' messages to its employees and associates, monitoring governance efforts, including those at the operating businesses, and participating in the resolution of governance-related issues as needed."

    Berkshire consumer-brand businesses include:

    Apparel: Fruit of the Loom, Garan, Russell, Spalding, Vanity Fair.

    Auto dealerships: Berkshire Hathaway Automotive.

    Batteries: Duracell.

    Fast food: International Dairy Queen.

    Footwear: Brooks Sports, H.H. Brown Shoe Group, Highland Shoe Co., Justin Brands.

    Housing-related goods and services: Benjamin Moore (paint); Clayton Homes (manufactured homes; HomeServices of America (Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices, Prudential, Real Living real estate brokerage); Johns Manville (building supplies); Shaw Industries Group (carpet and flooring);

    Recreational vehicles: Forest River.

    Retail: Ben Bridge Jeweler, Borsheims, Cort (furniture rental), Detlev Louis Motorrad (European retailer of motorcycle apparel and equipment), Helzberg Diamonds, Jordan's Furniture, Nebraska Furniture Mart, Pampered Chef, See's Candies, Oriental Trading Co., Star Furniture Co. and R.C. Willey Home Furnishings.

    Miscellaneous: Ginsu knives, World Book Encyclopedia and Kirby vacuum cleaners, all part of Scott Fetzer Co., a mini-conglomerate owned by Berkshire.

    Customers:

    Walmart is a key Berkshire customer. Berkshire generated about $14 billion (10.5 percent of its consolidated sales and service revenue) from Walmart in 2017; $14 billion (11.1 percent) in 2016; $13 billion (11.6 percent) in 2015; $13 billion (12.7 percent) in 2014; $13 billion (13.3 percent) in 2013; and$12 billion (14.0 percent) in 2012.

    Berkshire said it generated "a significant portion" of Fruit of the Loom's 2017 revenue from Walmart. The retailer accounted for about 41 percent of 2016 and 2015 revenue for Fruit of the Loom; about 35 percent of 2014 revenue; and about 33 percent of 2013 revenue.

    Costco Wholesale Corp. and Walmart together represented about 25 percent of Duracell's 2017 annual revenue. Costco and Walmart in 2016 each represented 10 percent of Duracell's annual revenue. Walmart accounted for about 25 percent of McLane's revenue in 2017 and 2016; 24 percent in 2015 and 2014; and about 25 percent in 2013. Walmart used to own McLane.

    Garan generated more than 90 percent of its 2017, 2016 and 2015 sales from Walmart.

    Marketing spending:

    U.S. ad spending:

    Total U.S. advertising spending shown in the Leading National Advertisers report and Marketer Trees database is Ad Age Datacenter's pro forma estimate of total U.S. ad spending for Berkshire Hathaway including acquisitions and including systemwide ad spending for Dairy Queen and Orange Julius (including ad money contributed by franchisees).

    Berkshire appears in Ad Age's Leading National Advertisers ranking and in this profile based mainly on Geico's ad spending.

    Geico scored No. 1 on Ad Age's ranking of the nation's most-advertised brands based on 2017 U.S. measured-media ad spending--totaling $1.4 billion--from Kantar Media.

    Geico ranked No. 1 in 2016; No. 2 in 2015; No. 3 in 2014 and 2013; No. 5 in ad spending in 2012; No. 7 in 2011; No. 10 in 2010 and 2009; No. 12 in 2008; No. 14 in 2007; No. 18 in 2006; No. 27 in 2005; No. 49 in 2004; No. 87 in 2003; No. 85 in 2002; No. 64 in 2001; No. 35 in 2000; No. 55 in 1999; and No. 140 in 1998. Measured spending totaled $77.1 million in 1998. Measured spending in 1997 ($30.4 million) was too low to make Ad Age's ranking of the 200 most-advertised brands.

    Geico's U.S. measured-media spending (and rank among most-advertised U.S. brands):

    2017: (1) $1.396 billion
    2016: (1) $1.353 billion
    2015: (2) $1.138 billion
    2014: (3) $1.109 billion
    2013: (3) $1.014 billion
    2012: (5) $921 million
    2011: (7) $769 million
    2010: (10) $741 million
    2009: (10) $613 million
    2008: (12) $619 million
    2007: (14) $557 million
    2006: (18) $500 million
    2005: (27) $403 million
    2004: (49) $262 million
    2003: (87) $167 million
    2002: (85) $143 million
    2001: (64) $165 million
    2000: (35) $261 million
    1999: (55) $171 million
    1998: (140) $77 million
    1997: (N/A) $30 million

    Worldwide ad spending:

    Total worldwide advertising spending shown in the World's Largest Advertisers report and related database is Ad Age Datacenter's pro forma estimate of total U.S. ad spending for Berkshire Hathaway including acquisitions and including systemwide ad spending for Dairy Queen and Orange Julius (including ad money contributed by franchisees). Berkshire's operations and revenue are heavily U.S.-centric.

    Deals and strategic moves:

    Berkshire summarized its deal-making strategy in its 10-K for year ended December 2017:

    "Our long-held acquisition strategy is to acquire businesses at sensible prices that have consistent earning power, good returns on equity and able and honest management."

    2017:

    Berkshire in October 2017 bought a 38.6 percent stake in Tennessee-based Pilot Travel Centers, which does business as Pilot Flying J, a chain of truck stops. Pilot Flying J calls itself the largest operator of travel centers in North America, with locations in 44 states in 2017.

    In its deal announcement, Berkshire said Pilot Flying J had more than $20 billion in revenue. The Haslam family through 2022 will hold a majority interest with 50.1 percent ownership in Pilot Flying J; the Maggelet family through 2022 will retain 11.3 percent ownership. In 2023, Berkshire will become the majority shareholder by acquiring an additional 41.4 percent, raising its stake to 80 percent; the Haslam family will keep a 20 percent stake.

    2016:

    Berkshire on Feb. 29, 2016, completed a deal to buy Duracell from Procter & Gamble Co. The companies had announced the deal Nov. 13, 2014. That came after P&G Oct. 24, 2014, disclosed its intent to divest the battery business as a separate company, though the October announcement said P&G would consider "any alternative exit scenario -- including a spin-off, divestiture or other offer -- that generates equal or better value." The Berkshire deal worked this way: P&G contributed about $1.9 billion cash to a recapitalized Duracell Co.; Berkshire then traded all the shares it owned in P&G -- worth about $4.7 billion as of November 2014 (and $4.2 billion as of Dec. 31, 2015) -- for Duracell Co. As part of the exit of the battery business, P&G in November 2014 also sold its interest in a China-based battery joint venture. P&G acquired Duracell in P&G's 2005 purchase of Gillette Co. In the deal announcement, Berkshire Chairman-CEO Warren Buffett said: "I have always been impressed by Duracell, as a consumer and as a long-term investor in P&G and Gillette. Duracell is a leading global brand with top quality products, and it will fit well within Berkshire Hathaway."

    Berkshire in January 2016 bought Precision Castparts Corp. in a transaction valued at about $32.7 billion. This was Berkshire's largest-ever acquisition. Berkshire announced the deal in August 2015. Portland, Ore.-based Precision Castparts makes metal components, castings, forgings and other products primarily for the aerospace and power industries. It had worldwide revenue of $10.0 billion in year ended March 2015; 70 percent of revenue came from aerospace, 17 percent from power and 13 percent from general industrial and other. The company's 10-K for year ended March 2015 said: "A substantial portion of our business is conducted with a relatively small number of large direct and indirect customers, including General Electric Company, United Technologies Corporation, Rolls Royce plc, Airbus, Spirit AeroSystems, and The Boeing Company. General Electric accounted for approximately 13 percent of our total sales for fiscal 2015 . No other customer directly accounted for more than 10 percent of total sales; however, Boeing, Airbus, Rolls Royce, Spirit AeroSystems, and United Technologies are also considered key customers."

    2015:

    Berkshire in March 2015 acquired Van Tuyl Group, the nation's largest privately owned dealership group, for $4.1 billion. Berkshire renamed the business Berkshire Hathaway Automotive. At the time of the acquisition, Van Tuyl operated 81 dealerships in 10 states (Arizona, California, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Missouri, Nebraska, New Mexico and Texas). Automotive News ranked Van Tuyl the nation's fourth largest dealership group based on 2014 new-vehicle unit retail sales. Berkshire planned to use Dallas-based Berkshire Hathaway Automotive as a vehicle for more dealer acquisitions.

    2014:Berkshire on July 1, 2014, said it had completed a deal with Graham Holdings (formerly Washington Post Co.) under which Berkshire acquired Graham's WPLG-TV (ABC affiliate in Miami), most of the Berkshire shares held by Graham and cash in exchange for about 1.6 million Graham shares owned by Berkshire. Berkshire had been an investor in Graham for about 40 years; Graham in 2013 sold the Washington Post to Amazon founder Jeff Bezos.

    Berkshire at year-end 2013 owned about a 23 percent stake in Graham Holdings. At year-end 2013, Graham owned Berkshire stock worth $444.2 million.

    Berkshire said it paid about $1.8 billion in 2014, $1.1 billion in 2013 and $3.2 billion in 2012 for "several smaller-sized business acquisitions, most of which were considered as 'bolt-on' acquisitions to several of our existing business operations."

    2013:

    Berkshire's MidAmerican Energy Holdings Co. in December 2013 bought NV Energy for about $5.6 billion. NV Energy is an energy holding company with about 1.3 million electric and natural gas customers in Nevada. Berkshire in April 2014 changed the name of MidAmerican Energy Holdings Co. to Berkshire Hathaway Energy.

    Berkshire in April 2013 bought the remaining non-controlling interests of Israel-based IMC International Metalworking Cos., parent of Israeli tool maker Iscar, for $2.05 billion, raising Berkshire's IMC stake to 100 percent from 80 percent.

    Berkshire's Justin Brands, a footwear marketer, in May 2013 bought Highland Shoe Co., a small Maine-based manufacturer of hand-sewn shoes.

    2012:

    Berkshire in November 2012 bought Omaha-based Oriental Trading Co., a direct retailer of value-priced party supplies, arts and crafts, school supplies, toys and novelties. Berkshire's HomeServices of America in October 2012 announced a partnership with Brookfield Asset Management, an investment firm, to launch Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices, a real-estate brokerage franchise brand. HomeServices of America already was a major real-estate brokerage firm owned by Berkshire's MidAmerican Energy Holdings. Under the deal with Brookfield, HomeServices of America bought a majority stake in two Brookfield-owned real-estate franchising businesses, Prudential Real Estate and Real Living Real Estate. HomeServices of America ended up as the 66.7 percent owner of the Irvine, Calif.-based joint venture, HSF Affiliates, which planned to rebrand the Prudential and Real Living franchise networks as Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices.

    2011:

    Berkshire in June 2011 bought the remaining 19.9 percent stake in Wesco Financial Corp., giving the company 100 percent ownership of Wesco. Wesco operates three businesses: insurance; furniture rental (Cort Business Services Corp.); steel service centers.

    Berkshire in September 2011 acquired Lubrizol Corp. in a deal valued at $9.7 billion, including assumption of debt. Lubrizol is a specialty chemical company with 2010 revenue of $5.4 billion. It is based in Ohio and was founded in 1928. This was one of Berkshire's largest acquisitions to date.

    2010:

    Berkshire in February 2010 bought Burlington Northern Santa Fe Corp., a railroad based in Fort Worth, Texas, in a deal valued at $44 billion (including $10 billion of the railroad's outstanding debt). BNSF was Berkshire's largest-ever acquisition.

    2008:

    Berkshire in March 2008 paid $4.5 billion for a 60 percent interest in the Pritzker family's Marmon Holdings, an industrial group that operated 130 manufacturing and service businesses across 11 business sectors. Berkshire increased its stake over time; it owned substantially all of Marmon's outstanding common stock as of year-end 2013.

    Mars, the candy and food company, in October 2008 bought Wm. Wrigley Jr. Co., the gum marketer, for $23 billion. Mars received financial backing from Berkshire. Berkshire's investment consisted of $4.4 billion of subordinated Wrigley notes due in 2018 and $2.1 billion of preferred Wrigley stock. Mars on Oct. 1, 2013, paid $5.1 billion to buy back the Wrigley notes, but Berkshire kept its minority ownership stake in Wrigley. Mars in 2016 bought Berkshire's entire equity interest in Wrigley. (Berkshire also owns chocolate retailer and direct-marketer See's.)

    Amid the fall 2008 global financial crisis, Berkshire made a $5 billion investment in Goldman Sachs Group on Oct. 1, 2008, and a $3 billion investment in General Electric Co. on Oct. 16, 2008.

    2007:

    Berkshire in April 2007 acquired VF Corp.'s women's intimate apparel (Vanity Fair, Lily of France, Vassarette, Bestform, Curvation and licensed Ilusion brands) for $350 million cash.

    2006:

    In August 2006, Berkshire bought Russell Corp., a marketer of athletic apparel and sporting goods, for about $600 million.

    The company in February 2006 acquired Business Wire, a distributor of press releases and regulatory filings.

    2005:

    In August 2005, Berkshire bought Forest River, a manufacturer of recreational vehicles and trailers. Forest River has paid homage to its parent with a top-of-the-line motor home, the Berkshire, and a line of Berkshire pontoon boats.

    Newspaper acquisitions:

    Berkshire starting in 2011 made a significant expansion into the declining newspaper industry.

    Berkshire has been a long-time media investor, with holdings including the Buffalo News (acquired in 1977) and a big stake in Graham Holdings Co. (formerly Washington Post Co.), though Berkshire in March 2014 signed a cut its investment in Graham (see above).

    Berkshire expanded its newspaper holdings beginning in 2011.

    First, Berkshire in November 2011 struck a deal to buy Omaha World-Herald Co., publisher of Buffett's hometown newspaper, for about $150 million cash plus $50 million in assumed debt. Berkshire completed the Omaha World-Herald deal in late 2011.

    Then Berkshire in June 2012 bought all newspapers owned by Media General, with the exception of the Tampa, Fla., group, for gross proceeds of $141 million including certain working capital adjustments and other specified items. The deal included 63 daily and weekly titles in Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina and Alabama, in addition to digital assets, including websites and mobile and tablet applications.

    Berkshire's acquired Media General newspapers and related digital properties had actual revenue of $241.287 million in 2011 and $257.187 million in 2010, according to Media General.

    (Media General in fourth-quarter 2012 sold its Tampa print properties and associated websites to Tampa Media Group, a new company formed by Revolution Capital Group, for gross proceeds of $1.3 million including working capital adjustments and other specified items. Media General then focused its business on local TV stations. Media General in December 2014 bought TV station operator LIN Media. Nexstar Media Group, another TV station owner, in January 2017 bought Media General.)

    Berkshire in June 2012 bought the Bryan-College Station Eagle in Texas from South Carolina-based Evening Post Publishing Co., which had purchased the paper in 2001 from A.H. Belo Corp. Berkshire in July 2012 bought the Tribune-Herald in Waco, Texas, from a local family.

    The company in December 2012 closed a small daily newspaper (acquired in the Media General deal) in Manassas, Va.

    The company in 2013 bought four daily newspapers: Greensboro (N.C.) News & Record and Roanoke (Va.) Times, both acquired from Landmark Media Enterprises; Tulsa World in Oklahoma; and The Press in Atlantic City, N.J.

    As of year-end 2016, Berkshire owned 32 daily and 46 weekly newspapers in upstate New York, New Jersey, Nebraska, Iowa, Oklahoma, Texas, Virginia, Tennessee, North Carolina, South Carolina, Alabama and Florida. It had owned just one daily newspaper, the Buffalo News, in November 2011.

    Most of the papers operate as part of Berkshire's BH Media Group.

    In the Media General newspaper purchase announcement, Berkshire Chairman Warren Buffett said: "In towns and cities where there is a strong sense of community, there is no more important institution than the local paper. The many locales served by the newspapers we are acquiring fall firmly in this mold and we are delighted they have found a permanent home with Berkshire Hathaway."

    In a letter explaining his interest in the newspaper industry, Buffett told his publishers and editors in May 2012: "I read five newspapers daily. Call me an addict."

    Kraft, Heinz and Burger King deals:

    H.J. Heinz Co. (H.J. Heinz Holding Corp.) in July 2015 bought Kraft Foods Group in a deal orchestrated by investment firm 3G Capital and Berkshire. In the deal, 3G Capital and Berkshire contributed $10 billion to pay a special dividend to existing Kraft shareholders. Heinz shareholders ended up with a 51 percent stake in the combined company; existing Kraft shareholders got 49 percent. Heinz and Kraft announced the deal in March 2015. At the closing of the merger, H.J. Heinz Holding Corp. was renamed Kraft Heinz Co. The merged company trades on Nasdaq (ticker: KHC).

    Berkshire and 3G Capital are major shareholders in the merged company. As of February 2018, Berkshire owned 26.7 percent of Kraft Heinz; 3G Capital owned 23.8. percent.

    A newly formed joint venture of Berkshire and global investment firm 3G Capital in June 2013 bought H.J. Heinz Co. for $72.50 in cash for each outstanding share of common stock (or about $23.25 billion for the stock). That transaction was valued at about $28 billion including assumption of Heinz debt. Berkshire and 3G Capital each bought $4.12 billion of the joint venture's common stock; Berkshire also bought $8 billion of the joint venture's preferred stock that pays a 9 percent dividend. The joint venture used that cash and borrowed additional money to complete the deal. Berkshire and 3G Capital each ended up with a 50 percent voting interest in Heinz.

    Kraft brands include Kraft, Capri Sun, Jell-O, Kool-Aid, Lunchables, Maxwell House, Oscar Mayer, Philadelphia, Planters and Velveeta. Heinz brands included Heinz (ketchup, sauces, soups, beans, pasta and infant foods), Ore-Ida potato products, Weight Watchers Smart Ones entrees, T.G.I. Friday's snacks and Plasmon infant nutrition.

    Ad Age Datacenter excludes Kraft Heinz ad spending from Ad Age's estimate of Berkshire's ad spending.

    Kraft reported worldwide ad spending of $652 million in 2014; $747 million in 2013; $640 million in 2012; $535 million in 2011; $540 million in 2010; and $477 million in 2009.

    Heinz reported worldwide ad spending (including production and communication costs) of $386.2 million in the year ended Dec. 28, 2014; $267.5 million for the period from Feb. 8, 2013, through Dec. 29, 2013 (a partial year that reflects Heinz's shift of its fiscal year; restated); $439.3 million in year ended April 2013 (restated); $416.9 million in year ended April 2012 (restated); $368.6 million in year ended April 2011; and $375.8 million in year ended April 2010. Of that ad spending, Heinz recorded the following amounts (rounded) as a component of selling, general and administrative expenses: $241.3 million in year ended Dec. 28, 2014; $190.2 million for Feb. 8, 2013, through Dec. 29, 2013 (restated); $304.5 million in year ended April 2013 (restated); $281.0 million in year ended April 2012 (restated); $249.6 million in year ended April 2011; and $266.9 million in year ended April 2010.

    Heinz recorded the remaining portion of that ad spending (rounded) as a reduction of revenue: $144.9 million in year ended Dec. 28, 2014; $77.2 million for Feb. 8, 2013, through Dec. 29, 2013 (restated); $134.6 million in year ended April 2013 (restated); $136.0 million in year ended April 2012 (restated); $119.0 million in year ended April 2011; and $108.9 million in year ended April 2010.

    These Heinz ad-spending figures are rounded.

    Kraft Heinz Co. on Feb. 17, 2017, disclosed a $143 billion offer to buy Unilever. Kraft Heinz withdrew its offer just two days later, on Feb. 19, 2017, after Unilever rejected its takeover overtures. 3G Capital's other holdings include a major stake in Restaurant Brands International, a company formed in December 2014 when Miami-based Burger King Worldwide acquired Canadian restaurant chain Tim Hortons. 3G Capital previously was majority owner of Burger King Worldwide. Restaurant Brands is based in Oakville, Ontario, Canada. Under this so-called corporate inversion, legal headquarters moved to Canada, cutting Burger King's tax rate. Burger King's August 2014 press release announcing the deal said: "Berkshire Hathaway has committed $3 billion of preferred equity financing. Berkshire is simply a financing source and will not have any participation in the management and operation of the business."

    Management and employees:

    Berkshire and its subsidiaries at year-end 2017 employed about 377,000 people worldwide.

    The company's Omaha, Neb., corporate headquarters had 25 employees, according to its 10-K filing for year ended December 2015. The 10-Ks for years ended December 2017 and December 2016 didn't report a headquarters count.

    Buffett in October 2010 hired Todd Combs, a little-known hedge fund manager from Connecticut, to help run the company's investment portfolio, making Combs the leading candidate to succeed Buffett as the firm's chief investment officer at whatever point Buffett steps down. At the time of Combs' hiring, Combs was age 39 and Buffett was age 80.

    Buffett has indicated his son, Howard Buffett, could become non-executive chairman, taking over Warren Buffett's position as chairman.

    History:

    Berkshire Hathaway's name comes from a now-defunct New England textile business. Buffett began investing in the textile mill in the early 1960s and took control in the mid-'60s. The company's final textile factory closed in the 1980s.

    http://www.berkshirehathaway.com

BMW Group

  • Marketer profile
    Click here to see company's total worldwide advertising spending, measured-media spending by region, key executives and agencies.

    Overview:

    BMW Group is an auto and motorcycle marketer based in Germany.

    Business segments and operations:

    BMW's brands include BMW, Mini and Rolls-Royce.

    Marketing spending:

    U.S. ad spending:

    Total U.S. advertising spending shown in the Leading National Advertisers report and Marketer Trees database is an Ad Age Datacenter estimate.

    Spending estimate in June 2018 report based on a revision to Ad Age's spending model.

    Worldwide ad spending:

    Total worldwide advertising spending shown in the World's Largest Advertisers report and related database is an Ad Age Datacenter estimate.

    BMW Group disclosed the following worldwide "selling expenses":

    2017: 6.167 billion euros ($6.967 billion).
    2016: 6.030 billion euros ($6.676 billion).
    2015: 5.758 billion euros ($6.396 billion).

    Selling expenses are mainly marketing, advertising and sales personnel costs.

    Deals and strategic moves:

    BMW in 1994 bought the U.K.'s Rover Group, whose brands included Land Rover, Rover, MG, Triumph and Mini. BMW in 2000 divested Rover Group, except for Mini. (Ford Motor Co. in 2000 bought Land Rover from BMW; Ford in 2008 sold Land Rover to India's Tata Motors. MG now is owned by China's SAIC Motor Corp.) BMW relaunched the Mini brand in 2001.

    BMW in 1998 bought brand and naming rights for Rolls-Royce automobiles from Rolls-Royce Plc, which sells jet engines.

    History:

    Bayerische Flugzeugwerke AG began in 1916; became Bayerische Motoren Werke GmbH in 1917; and became Bayerische Motoren Werke Aktiengesellschaft (BMW AG) in 1918.

    Today's BMW Group comprises BMW AG and subsidiaries.

    https://www.bmwgroup.com

Booking Holdings

  • Marketer profile
    Click here to see company's total worldwide advertising spending, measured-media spending by region, key executives and agencies.

    Overview:

    Booking Holdings is a global online travel-services marketer based in Norwalk, Conn.

    The company in February 2018 changed its name to Booking Holdings from The Priceline Group. Booking.com, acquired in 2005, is the company's biggest brand.

    Business segments and operations:

    Booking Holdings markets consumer travel-reservation services through Booking.com (worldwide), Priceline.com (U.S.) and Agoda.com (Asia Pacific).

    The company offers rental-car reservations at Rentalcars.com (worldwide). Rentalcars.com, starting Jan. 1, 2018, operates as part of Booking.com.

    Booking Holdings also owns Kayak, a travel-reservation comparison site (primarily U.S.), and OpenTable (primarily U.S.), a provider of online restaurant reservations.

    Booking Holdings' international business (the substantial majority of which is generated by Booking.com) in 2017 represented about 89 percent of the company's consolidated gross profit.

    Marketing spending:

    U.S. ad spending:

    Total U.S. advertising spending shown in the Leading National Advertisers report and Marketer Trees database is an Ad Age Datacenter estimate.

    Worldwide ad spending:

    Total worldwide advertising spending figures shown in the World's Largest Advertisers report and related database are Booking Holdings' stated worldwide advertising expenses consisting of the sum of "performance advertising" expenses and "brand advertising" expenses.

    Performance advertising expenses consist primarily of the costs of search engine keyword purchases (primarily Alphabet's Google); referrals from meta-search and travel research websites; affiliate programs; and other performance-based advertisements.

    Brand advertising expenses are related primarily to the company's Booking.com, Kayak, Priceline.com and Agoda.com businesses and consist mainly of costs to produce and run TV advertising, online video advertising (including Facebook and Alphabet's YouTube) and online display advertising.

    Booking Holdings disclosed the following worldwide advertising expenses:

    Performance advertising expenses:

    2017: $4,141,771,000 (33.3 percent of gross profit)
    2016: $3,479,287,000 (33.7 percent of gross profit)
    2015: $2,738,218,000 (31.9 percent of gross profit)
    2014: $2,334,453,000 (30.8 percent of gross profit)

    Brand advertising expenses:

    2017: $391,584,000 (3.2 percent of gross profit)
    2016: $295,698,000 (2.9 percent of gross profit)
    2015: $273,704,000 (3.2 percent of gross profit)
    2014: $257,077,000 (3.4 percent of gross profit)

    Gross profit was the commission or net margin that Booking Holdings earned on its services. Booking Holdings effective Jan. 1, 2018, adopted a new revenue recognition accounting standard. Under its new accounting, Booking Holdings no longer reports gross profit.

    Booking Holdings' 10-K for year ended December 2017 said: "We intend to continue a strategy of promoting brand awareness through both online and offline advertising efforts, including by expanding brand campaigns into additional markets."

    That 10-K discussed performance advertising:

    "We rely on performance advertising channels to generate a significant amount of traffic to our websites. Performance advertising expenses consist primarily of the costs of: (1) search engine keyword purchases; (2) referrals from meta-search and travel research websites; (3) affiliate programs; and (4) other performance-based advertisements.

    "For the year ended December 31, 2017 , performance advertising expenses increased compared to the year ended December 31, 2016 , to generate increased gross bookings and gross profit.

    "We adjust our performance advertising spend based on our growth and profitability objectives and the expected performance of our performance advertising channels. Performance advertising expense as a percentage of gross profit for the year ended December 31, 2017 decreased compared to the year ended December 31, 2016 due to the timing of performance advertising spend relative to when associated revenue is recognized, as well as changes in the share of traffic by channel. In addition, during the third and fourth quarters of 2017, we pursued a strategy of improving our performance advertising ROIs, which positively impacted performance advertising efficiency."

    That 10-K also discussed brand advertising:

    "Brand advertising expenses consist mainly of television advertising, online video advertising (including the airing of our television advertising online) and online display advertising. For the year ended December 31, 2017 , brand advertising expenses increased by 32.4 percent compared to the year ended December 31, 2016 , primarily due to increased brand advertising by Booking.com, Kayak, which includes expenses related to the Momondo Group since its acquisition on July 24, 2017, and Priceline.com. We increased our brand advertising expense in order to increase awareness of our brands and grow the number of customers that come directly to our websites."

    The 10-K for year ended December 2016 said: "Performance advertising as a percentage of gross profit for the year ended December 31, 2016 increased compared to the year ended December 31, 2015 due to growth of paid traffic channels, a year-over-year decline in advertising ROIs and timing of booking versus travel resulting from acceleration in gross bookings growth during the year."

    That 10-K also said: "For the year ended December 31, 2016, brand advertising expenses increased compared to the year ended December 31, 2015, primarily due to increased online video and television advertising, including associated production costs, at Booking.com, partially offset by lower television advertising at Kayak and Priceline.com."

    Booking Holdings in 2016 changed its financial reporting presentation of advertising expenses to a "performance advertising" bucket and a "brand advertising" bucket from an "advertising - online" bucket and an "advertising - offline" bucket. The change in presentation did not change total reported advertising expenses.

    Under this change, Booking Holdings shifted brand advertising in online channels of $59.0 million in 2015 and $25.8 million in 2014 to "brand advertising" from "advertising - online."

    Booking Holdings said in its 10-K for year ended December 2016: "The company believes its new presentation is helpful because it separates performance advertising that is typically managed on a return on investment basis from brand advertising that is generally spent to build brand awareness and managed to a targeted spending level."

    Historic advertising expenses disclosures:

    Booking Holdings disclosed the following worldwide advertising expenses:

    Online advertising expenses:

    2015: $2,797,237,000 (32.6 percent of gross profit)
    2014: $2,360,221,000 (31.1 percent of gross profit)
    2013: $1,798,645,000 (31.5 percent of gross profit)
    2012: $1,273,637,000 (31.2 percent of gross profit)

    Offline advertising expenses:

    2015: $214,685,000 (2.5 percent of gross profit)
    2014: $231,309,000 (3.0 percent of gross profit)
    2013: $127,459,000 (2.2 percent of gross profit)
    2012: $35,492,000 (0.9 percent of gross profit)

    "Online advertising" expenses primarily consisted of costs of the following: search engine keyword purchases (primarily on Google); referrals from meta-search and travel research websites; affiliate programs; banner, pop-up and other internet and mobile advertisements.

    "Offline advertising expenses" were primarily related to Booking.com, Kayak and Priceline.com businesses and primarily consisted of TV advertising.

    The 10-Ks for years ended December 2015 and 2014 said: "We intend to continue a strategy of aggressively promoting brand awareness, primarily through online means although we also intend to increase our offline advertising efforts, including by expanding offline campaigns into additional markets."

    The 10-K for year ended December 2015 said worldwide online advertising expenses increased 18.5 percent in 2015, "primarily due to increased spending on online performance marketing to generate increased gross bookings."

    The 10-K for year ended December 2015 said worldwide offline advertising offline advertising decreased 7.2 percent in 2015, "primarily due to lower spending at Kayak and, to a lesser extent, Priceline.com."

    The 10-K for year ended December 2014 said worldwide online advertising expenses increased 31.2 percent in 2014 "primarily to generate increased gross bookings." ("Gross bookings" is a non-GAAP measure referring to the total dollar value, generally including taxes and fees, of travel services purchased by Priceline Group customers.)

    The 10-K for year ended December 2014 said worldwide offline advertising increased 81.5 percent in 2014 "due to the launch of offline advertising campaigns by Booking.com in Germany, the United Kingdom and Canada in 2014 and Australia in the fourth quarter of 2013, as well as incremental offline advertising by Kayak," which the company has included in its financial reporting since acquiring Kayak May 21, 2013.

    Kayak marketing:

    Kayak in 2012 spent $153.3 million, or 52.4 percent of revenue, on "marketing" expenses, including brand marketing (TV, outdoor, and online display advertising, creative development and research costs); online marketing fees (search engine fees and advertising placements on other travel search services); and other marketing (affiliate marketing, public relations and other general marketing costs.)

    Deals and strategic moves:

    HotelsCombined:

    Booking Holdings in July 2018 agreed to buy HotelsCombined, a hotel metasearch site based in Australia. HotelsCombined reports into Booking's Kayak. FareHarbor:

    Booking Holdings in April 2018 bought FareHarbor, a local activities and experiences booking software provider founded in Hawaii in 2013 and now based in Denver.

    Momondo Group:

    Booking Holdings in July 2017 bought Momondo Group for $555.5 million. U.K.-based Momondo operated travel meta-search sites Momondo and Cheapflights. Momondo is managed as part of Booking Holdings' Kayak business.

    AS Digital:

    Booking Holdings in September 2015 bought AS Digital, a provider of restaurant table and reservation management services. Australia-based AS Digital at the time of its acquisition offered its software service (ResPak) in more than 40 countries. The company rolled AS Digital into Priceline's OpenTable brand. Price tag wasn't disclosed.

    Ctrip:

    Booking Holdings in May 2015 made an additional $250 million investment in Ctrip.com International, a Nasdaq-listed online travel company based in China. Priceline would have up to a 15 percent stake in Ctrip if Priceline converted its Ctrip convertible bonds into stock. The two companies have had a commercial relationship since 2012.

    PriceMatch:

    Booking Holdings in May 2015 bought PriceMatch, a cloud-based data and analytics service for hotels. Price tag wasn't disclosed. Priceline integrated PriceMatch into BookingSuite, a division of Priceline's Booking.com.

    OpenTable:

    Booking Holdings July 24, 2014, bought OpenTable, a provider of online restaurant reservations, for about $2.5 billion (about $2.4 billion net of cash acquired).

    Kayak:

    Booking Holdings May 21, 2013, bought Kayak Software Corp., which operated the Kayak travel-reservation comparison site, for $2.1 billion ($1.9 billion net of cash acquired).

    TravelJigsaw:

    Booking Holdings in 2010 bought TravelJigsaw, a multinational rental car venture that now is known as Rentalcars.com.

    Agoda.com:

    Booking Holdings in 2007 bought Agoda.com, an Asia-based hotel reservations service.

    Booking.com:

    Booking Holdings in 2005 bought Booking.com, a Europe-based hotel booking website.

    History:

    The company launched its business in the United States in 1998 under the Priceline.com brand.

    The company April 1, 2014, changed its name to The Priceline Group from priceline.com.

    The Priceline Group Feb. 21, 2018, changed its name to Booking Holdings.

    http://www.bookingholdings.com

Capital One Financial Corp.

  • Marketer profile
    Click here to see company's total worldwide advertising spending, measured-media spending by region, key executives and agencies.

    Overview:

    Capital One Financial Corp. is a credit card and bank company based in McLean, Va.

    Marketing spending:

    U.S. ad spending:

    Total U.S. advertising spending shown in the Leading National Advertisers report and Marketer Trees database is Ad Age Datacenter's estimate of U.S. marketing expenses including spending on advertising and on direct marketing for credit cards.

    Worldwide ad spending:

    Total worldwide advertising spending figures shown in the World's Largest Advertisers report and related database are Capital One's stated worldwide marketing expenses.

    Capital One said in its 10-K for year ended December 2017: "We expect that marketing expense in 2018 will be higher than 2017."

    Capital One reduced marketing spending 7.8 percent in 2017, the first drop since 2009.

    Capital One increased marketing spending 3.8 percent in 2016; 11.7 percent in 2015; 13.7 percent in 2014; 0.7 percent in 2013; 2.0 percent in 2012; 39.6 percent in 2011; and 62.9 percent in 2010.

    Marketing spending surged in 2010 as credit markets began to recover from the recession and 2008's global financial crisis.

    Deals and strategic moves:

    Capital One in December 2015 bought $8.3 billion in health care-related loans and the Healthcare Financial Services business from General Electric Co.'s General Electric Capital Corp. for $8.9 billion net of cash acquired. The venture provides financing for companies in various health care sectors including health care services, seniors housing, hospitals, medical offices, pharmaceuticals and medical devices.

    Capital One in November 2013 bought Beech Street Capital, a firm that originates and services Federal National Mortgage Association (Fannie Mae), Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corp. (Freddie Mac) and Federal Housing Authority (FHA) multifamily commercial real estate loans.

    The company in September 2013 sold the Best Buy private-label and co-branded credit card portfolio to Citigroup's Citibank.

    Capital One in May 2012 completed a deal to buy HSBC's U.S. credit card business, including about $28.3 billion of outstanding credit card receivables as well as $327 million in other net assets. Capital One paid $31.1 billion cash for that business.

    Capital One in February 2012 completed a deal to buy ING Direct, a U.S. online bank, from ING Groep, an Amsterdam-based financial firm, for $9.0 billion in cash and stock ($6.3 billion cash and about 54 million Capital One shares, representing a 9.7 percent ownership stake). The deal expanded Capital One's consumer bank operations. The company rebranded ING Direct as Capital One 360.

    Capital One in February 2009 bought Chevy Chase Bank FSB, a Washington, D.C., area bank, for $476 million. Capital One in December 2006 bought North Fork Bancorporation, a commercial bank operating in metropolitan New York, for $13.2 billion; it rebranded North Fork Bank as Capital One Bank in March 2008.

    Capital One in November 2005 acquired Hibernia Corp., a Louisiana bank it rebranded as Capital One Bank.

    History:

    Richard D. Fairbank, the company's chairman-CEO, founded Capital One in 1988.

    http://www.capitalone.com

Carrefour

  • Marketer profile
    Click here to see company's total worldwide advertising spending, measured-media spending by region, key executives and agencies.

    Overview:

    Carrefour is a global retailer based in France.

    Business segments and operations:

    Carrefour operated 12,300 stores in more than 30 countries as of year-end 2017.

    Carrefour operates multiple retail formats under multiple banners (store names).

    Carrefour retail formats:

    Hypermarkets (average size of 7,345 square meters with 20,000 to 80,000 products).

    Supermarkets (average size of 1,319 square meters with about 20,000 products).

    Convenience stores (60 to 900 square meters with about 6,500 products).

    Cash and carry (targeting restaurant and shop owners; average size of 4,121 square meters with about 8,000 products).

    E-commerce.

    Rankings:

    Carrefour ranked No. 9 worldwide in the Top 250 ranking based on fiscal 2016 sales in Deloitte's Global Powers of Retailing 2018 report.

    Sales and earnings:

    Carrefour reported calendar 2017 worldwide net sales of 78.897 billion euros ($89.1 billion).

    Carrefour's net sales by region in 2017 by market:

    France: 45.4 percent.
    Rest of Europe: 26.8 percent.
    Latin America: 20.3 percent.
    Asia: 7.5 percent.
    Total: 100.0 percent.

    Carrefour for a short time operated U.S. hypermarkets. It opened its first U.S. store, near Philadelphia, in 1988. It opened a second U.S. store, in New Jersey, in 1992. It closed both stores in 1994.

    Marketing spending:

    Worldwide ad spending:

    Total worldwide advertising spending shown in the World's Largest Advertisers report and related database is Carrefour's stated worldwide "advertising expense" converted to U.S. dollars at average exchange rates by Ad Age Datacenter.

    History:

    Carrefour launched as a supermarket retailer in 1959. The company explains: "The first supermarket was located at the junction of five streets and roads. That's why this revolutionary new French-style self-service store was named Carrefour, the French word for crossroads."

    Carrefour opened its first hypermarket in 1963, offering a large selection of products at low prices.

    http://www.carrefour.com

Charter Communications

  • Marketer profile
    Click here to see company's total worldwide advertising spending, measured-media spending by region, key executives and agencies.

    Overview:

    Charter Communications is the nation's second largest cable-systems operator.

    Charter on May 18, 2016, completed its acquisitions of cable-systems operators Time Warner Cable and Bright House Networks. Charter announced the deals in May 2015 after Comcast Corp. and Time Warner Cable scrapped an earlier merger.

    The combination of Charter, Time Warner Cable and Bright House created a cable and broadband services powerhouse with more than 25 million customers in 41 states at the time of the deals' closing.

    The acquisitions made Charter the nation's No. 2 cable-systems player, behind Comcast.

    Charter in 2014 rolled out Spectrum as its new, national brand.

    Charter dropped the Time Warner Cable and Bright House brands in favor of the Spectrum brand (including Charter Spectrum, Spectrum TV, Spectrum Internet and Spectrum Voice).

    Business segments and operations:

    Charter at year-end 2017 had about 27.2 million residential and business customers.

    The company sells video, internet, voice and mobile services, often in a bundle of two or more services. About 59 percent of its customers subscribed to a bundle of services, according to Charter's 10-K for year ended December 2017.

    Charter had about 16.6 million residential video customers as of Dec. 31, 2017.

    Charter at year-end 2015 had about 6.7 million residential and small- and medium-business customers (before acquisition of Time Warner Cable and Bright House Networks).

    About 61 percent of its customers subscribed to a bundle of services as of year-end 2015.

    Charter had about 4.3 million residential video customers as of Dec. 31, 2015.

    Time Warner Cable:

    Time Warner Cable had 15.1 million residential customers and 752,000 business-services customers as of Dec. 31, 2015, and was the nation's No. 2 cable-systems operator before its acquisition by Charter.

    Time Warner Cable at year-end 2015 served about 15.9 million residential and business customers that subscribed to one or more of its primary services (video; high-speed data; voice); 15.2 million at year-end 2014; 15.0 million at year-end 2013; 15.2 million at year-end 2012; and 14.5 million at year-end 2011.

    Time Warner Cable had 10.8 million residential video customers at year-end 2015 and 2014; 11.2 million at year-end 2013; 12.0 million at year-end 2012; and 11.9 million at year-end 2011.

    Bright House Networks:

    Bright House Networks, before its acquisition by Charter, was the sixth largest owner and operator of cable systems in the U.S., with operations in Florida, Alabama, Indiana, Michigan and California. Bright House Networks at the time of the deal had about 2.5 million customers that subscribed to one or more of its video, high-speed data, home security and automation and voice services.

    Marketing spending:

    Worldwide ad spending:

    Total worldwide advertising spending figures shown for 2017 in the World's Largest Advertisers report and related database are Charter's stated "marketing" costs.

    Total worldwide advertising spending figures shown for 2016 are Ad Age Datacenter's pro forma estimates of marketing cost including Time Warner Cable and Bright House Networks.

    U.S. ad spending:

    Total U.S. advertising spending figures shown for 2017 in the Leading National Advertisers report and Marketer Trees database are Charter's stated "marketing" costs.

    Total U.S. advertising spending figures shown for 2016 are Ad Age Datacenter's pro forma estimates of marketing cost including Time Warner Cable and Bright House Networks.

    Charter disclosed the following marketing costs, and marketing costs as percentage of revenue:

    2017: $2.420 billion (5.8 percent)
    2016: $1.707 billion (restated) (5.9 percent) (non-pro forma; includes Time Warner Cable and Bright House Networks starting May 18, 2016)
    2015: $629 million (restated) (6.4 percent)

    Those marketing costs represent the costs of marketing to current and potential commercial and residential customers including labor costs.

    See accompanying table for stated marketing costs back to 2010.

    Charter historic advertising costs:

    Charter's stated "advertising costs," and ad costs as percentage of revenue, for years prior to its 2016 acquisitions of Time Warner Cable and Bright House Networks:

    2015: $389.0 million (4.0 percent )
    2014: $380.0 million (4.2 percent)
    2013: $357.0 million (4.4 percent)
    2012: $325.0 million (4.3 percent)
    2011: $285.0 million (4.0 percent)
    2010: $267.0 million (3.8 percent

    Time Warner Cable:

    Time Warner Cable disclosed the following "marketing expense" (including advertising):

    2015: $720.0 million (3.0 percent of revenue)
    2014: $684.0 million (3.0 percent)
    2013: $676.0 million (3.1 percent)
    2012: $653.0 million (3.1 percent)
    2011: $635.0 million (3.2 percent)
    2010: $629.0 million (3.3 percent)
    2009: $563.0 million (3.2 percent)
    2008: $569.0 million
    2007: $499.0 million
    2006: $414.0 million
    2005: $306.0 million
    2004: $272.0 million

    Time Warner Cable's stated marketing costs were net of reimbursements from programming suppliers. Time Warner Cable receives money from programming vendors for reimbursement of some marketing costs; the company accounts for that money as a reduction of marketing expenses.

    Bright House Networks:

    Bright House Networks disclosed the following "marketing expense" (including advertising):

    2015: $96.2 million (2.5 percent of revenue)
    2014: $93.0 million (2.5 percent
    2013: $83.7 million (2.4 percent)

    Deals and strategic moves:

    Wireless rollout:

    Charter in September 2018 began offering a mobile phone service, Spectrum Mobile, for new and existing Spectrum Internet subscribers across Charter's markets. The company had staged a soft launch in summer 2018.

    Charter and cable provider Comcast in May 2017 agreed to cooperate on an expansion into wireless services. The companies announced "an agreement to explore potential opportunities for operational cooperation in their respective wireless businesses to accelerate and enhance each company's ability to participate in the national wireless marketplace. The companies, which have each separately activated a mobile virtual network operator (MVNO) reseller agreement with Verizon Wireless, have agreed to explore working together in a number of potential operational areas in the wireless space, including: creating common operating platforms; technical standards development and harmonization; device forward and reverse logistics; and emerging wireless technology platforms."

    Comcast was one of four cable-systems companies -- Bright House, Comcast, Cox Communications (part of Cox Enterprises), Time Warner Cable -- that struck a deal with Verizon Wireless in December 2011 allowing the cable companies to sell Verizon Wireless-branded wireless service and Verizon Wireless to sell each cable company's services. After a four-year period, the cable companies had the option to offer wireless service under their own brands using the Verizon network. In addition, Verizon and three of the cable companies -- Bright House, Comcast, Time Warner Cable -- agreed to form an innovation technology joint venture to better integrate wireless and cable services. Charter acquired Bright House and Time Warner Cable in May 2016.

    Time Warner Cable and Bright House Networks acquisitions:

    Charter on May 18, 2016, completed its acquisitions of cable-systems operators Time Warner Cable and Bright House Networks.

    Charter on May 23, 2015, agreed to buy Time Warner Cable for a total enterprise value of about $79 billion (including cash, equity and Time Warner Cable debt to be assumed) and signed a revised deal to buy Bright House Networks for about $10.5 billion (about $6 billion in Charter stock, $2.5 billion in preferred units of Charter Holdings and about $2 billion in cash). (Charter in March 2015 had reached an initial agreement to buy Bright House.)

    Charter shareholder Liberty Broadband Corp. helped finance the deals and ended up with a between 17 percent and 19 percent stake in Charter.

    The Charter/Time Warner Cable merger was among the big moves in the rapidly consolidating pay-TV market. AT&T, which operates the U-verse TV service, in July 2015 completed a deal (announced in May 2014) to buy DirecTV. (AT&T Corp., predecessor to today's AT&T, had been the No. 1 cable-systems operator until selling that business, AT&T Broadband, to Comcast in 2002.)

    Charter's agreement with Time Warner Cable came just a month after Comcast and Time Warner Cable on April 24, 2015, terminated a deal for Comcast, the nation's largest cable-systems operator, to buy Time Warner Cable.

    Comcast and Time Warner Cable in February 2014 had announced the deal, valued at about $45.2 billion, but that merger faced strong pushback from the Federal Communications Commission and the Justice Department. At the time of the original deal announcement, Comcast said it hoped to complete the acquisition by the end of 2014. Time Warner Cable had agreed to that Comcast 2014 deal after rejecting takeover proposals from Charter.

    To help address potential regulatory issues for a Comcast/Time Warner Cable merger, Comcast in April 2014 said it would divest some subscribers under a complex three-step deal with Charter.

    First, Comcast agreed to sell Time Warner Cable systems with about 1.4 million cable customers to Charter.

    Second, Comcast agreed to swap about 1.6 million Time Warner Cable customers for 1.6 million Charter customers to streamline the geographic presence of both companies.

    Third, Comcast agreed to spin off systems covering about 2.5 million Comcast customers into a new public company; Charter would provide management services to that spinoff; Comcast shareholders would get a 67 percent stake in the spinoff, and Charter would get 33 percent.

    As a result, the combined customer count of Comcast and Time Warner Cable would drop by 3.9 million customers, keeping post-merger Comcast below 30 percent of U.S. multichannel video programming distributor subscribers; Comcast had hoped that would help head off potential pushback from regulators.

    Coinciding with the termination of the Time Warner Cable deal, Comcast terminated the Charter transactions in April 2015.

    Time Warner Cable:Time Warner on March 12, 2009, spun off Time Warner Cable as an independent company.

    AT&T in October 2016 signed a deal to buy Time Warner, whose holdings included Warner Bros. Entertainment, Turner and Home Box Office. AT&T June 14, 2018, completed its acquisition of Time Warner, which it renamed WarnerMedia.

    Bright House:

    Before its acquisition by Charter, privately held Bright House was controlled by Advance/Newhouse Partnership, a partnership between two Newhouse family ventures, Advance Publications and Newhouse Broadcasting Corp.

    Under the Charter deal, Advance/Newhouse was expected to end up with a 13 percent to 14 percent stake in the new Charter (the combined Charter, Time Warner Cable and Bright House).

    Bright House itself was a spinoff of Time Warner's cable systems.

    The Bright House relationship with Time Warner dated to September 1994, when Time Warner Entertainment Co. (a limited partnership then controlled by Time Warner) struck a deal with Advance/Newhouse. Advance/Newhouse contributed cable systems it had cobbled together over time (with about 1.4 million subscribers), and Time Warner Entertainment contributed cable systems with about 2.8 million subscribers. Time Warner Entertainment got a two-thirds stake; Advance/Newhouse got one-third.

    In 2002, Time Warner Entertainment and Advance/Newhouse restructured their deal. First, the partnership carved out cable systems with 2.1 million subscribers, mostly in Florida. Then, Advance/Newhouse traded its interest in the partnership (and a 17 percent stake in Road Runner, Time Warner Cable's broadband service) for an interest that tracks the economic performance of the spun-off systems, which took the name Bright House Networks.

    Time Warner disclosed that the spun-off systems had 2001 revenue of $1.247 billion with operating profits of $313 million. The systems had first-half 2002 revenue of$715 million and operating profits of $206 million. Privately held Advance doesn't reveal revenue or profits. Cable industry revenue, though, has surged since the 2002 spinoff.

    Advance/Newhouse oversaw Bright House's day-to-day operations. Advance/Newhouse paid Time Warner Cable to provide some management functions, including help on programming and engineering-related matters.

    Time Warner Entertainment became a legal entity wholly owned by and folded into Time Warner Cable, the cable-systems giant that Time Warner spun off in 2009. Advance/Newhouse for all practical purposes owns Bright House.

    Stock:

    Charter became a publicly traded company on Nasdaq in 1999.

    History:

    Charter was founded in 1993.

    Charter filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganization March 27, 2009. Charter emerged from bankruptcy Nov. 30, 2009.

    The company in May 2016 acquired cable-systems operators Time Warner Cable and Bright House Networks, making Charter the nation's second largest cable-systems player, behind Comcast.

    http://www.spectrum.com/about.html

Citigroup

  • Marketer profile
    Click here to see company's total worldwide advertising spending, measured-media spending by region, key executives and agencies.

    Overview:

    Citigroup is a financial-services company based in New York.

    Citigroup has about 200 million customer accounts and does business in more than 160 countries and jurisdictions, according to its 10-K for the year ended December 2017.

    Marketing spending:

    U.S. ad spending:

    Total U.S. advertising spending shown in the Leading National Advertisers report and Marketer Trees database is an Ad Age Datacenter estimate.

    Ad Age Datacenter's estimate of U.S. spending for Citigroup includes spending on direct marketing for credit cards.

    Worldwide ad spending:

    Total worldwide advertising spending shown in the World's Largest Advertisers report and related database is Citigroup's stated worldwide spending on "advertising and marketing."

    Citigroup decreased its stated worldwide advertising and marketing spending by 1.5 percent in 2017.

    Citigroup increased its stated worldwide advertising and marketing spending by 5.5 percent in 2016. In its 10-K for year ended December 2016, Citigroup said: "Higher corporate-wide advertising and marketing expenses primarily related to Citi's sponsorship of the U.S. Olympic team."

    Deals and strategic moves:

    Citigroup in 2016 replaced American Express Co. as the exclusive U.S. provider of credit cards for Costco Wholesale Corp.

    Citigroup in November 2015 sold OneMain Financial Holdings, its consumer subprime-lending unit, to Springleaf Holdings. Springleaf is a publicly traded lender backed by buyout firm Fortress Investment Group. With that deal, Citigroup abandoned a plan for a OneMain initial public offering. Citigroup in October 2014 had filed for that IPO, a step toward a spinoff of the business. OneMain operated as CitiFinancial before a 2011 name change. In IPO filings, OneMain reported "advertising and marketing" expenses of $55 million in the first nine months of 2014; $46 million in the first half of 2013; $66 million in 2013; $67 million in 2012; and$83 million in 2011.

    Smith Barney sale:

    Citigroup in 2009 sold Smith Barney, its brokerage business, to a joint venture formed with Morgan Stanley in exchange for a 49 percent stake in the joint venture and an upfront cash payment of $2.7 billion from Morgan Stanley. The deal closed in May 2009.

    The joint venture was called Morgan Stanley Smith Barney Holdings. It combined Morgan Stanley's Global Wealth Management Group with Citigroup's Smith Barney in the U.S., Quilter in the U.K. and Smith Barney Australia.

    Morgan Stanley had the right to increase its stake in the joint venture after three years -- that is, starting in 2012 -- but the companies in June 2009 said Citigroup "will continue to own a significant stake through at least year five" (2014). Morgan Stanley in June 2012 exercised its initial option for the purchase from Citigroup of an additional 14 percent interest in the joint venture.

    Morgan Stanley in September 2012 announced an agreement with Citigroup to increase Morgan Stanley's majority ownership of the brokerage business so that Morgan Stanley will assume full control by June 2015. Later in September 2012, Morgan Stanley changed the name of Morgan Stanley Smith Barney to Morgan Stanley Wealth Management (though the broker-dealer designation for Morgan Stanley Wealth Management remained "Morgan Stanley Smith Barney LLC").

    Morgan Stanley in June 2013 bought the remaining 35 percent stake in Morgan Stanley Smith Barney Holdings for $4.7 billion, giving Morgan Stanley 100 percent ownership.

    Other deals:

    Amid the deep global financial crisis, Citigroup in fall 2008 agreed to buy troubled Wachovia Corp. in a deal facilitated by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. But rival Wells Fargo jumped in with a higher bid without FDIC aid, landing the North Carolina bank in a deal that closed Dec. 31, 2008.

    Citigroup in June 2008 sold Diners Club International, a credit card payments network, to Discover Financial Services for $168 million. Citigroup continues to issue Diners Club cards, though it no longer owns the brand.

    Government bailout:

    The U.S. government rescued Citigroup with $45 billion in TARP money in the wake of the 2008 implosion in financial markets. The government and Citigroup in June 2009 proceeded with a swap of preferred stock into common stock; as a result, the government ended up with a 34 percent equity stake in Citigroup.

    Citigroup in December 2009 repaid $20 billion of TARP money. As of year-end 2009, the government owned 27 percent of Citigroup common stock. The government in May 2010 sold about one-fifth of its Citigroup common shares and said it "expects to continue selling its shares in the market in an orderly fashion." The government completed the sale of all of its Citigroup shares in December 2010.

    Management and employees:

    Michael Corbat was named CEO in October 2012 following the resignation of Vikram Pandit. Corbat, a 29-year veteran of Citigroup when he took the top post, previously was CEO of Europe, Middle East and Africa. Pandit had been CEO since 2007.

    Stock:

    Citigroup in May 2011 executed a reverse stock split, converting 10 shares into one share; the move increased the price per share by shrinking the number of shares outstanding.

    Dow Jones & Co. removed Citigroup from the Dow Jones Industrial Average in June 2009, replacing it with Travelers Cos., successor to an insurance company that Citi spun off in 2002.

    http://www.citigroup.com/citi/

Coca-Cola Co.

  • Marketer profile
    Click here to see company's total worldwide advertising spending, measured-media spending by region, key executives and agencies.

    Overview:

    Coca-Cola Co. bills itself as "the world's largest beverage company."

    The company said in its 10-K for year ended December 2017: "The Coca-Cola Company is the world's largest beverage company. We own or license and market more than 500 nonalcoholic beverage brands, which we group into the following category clusters: sparkling soft drinks; water, enhanced water and sports drinks; juice, dairy and plant-based beverages; tea and coffee; and energy drinks. We own and market four of the world's top five nonalcoholic sparkling soft drink brands: Coca-Cola, Diet Coke, Fanta and Sprite. Finished beverage products bearing our trademarks, sold in the United States since 1886, are now sold in more than 200 countries."

    That 10-K said: "We make our branded beverage products available to consumers throughout the world through our network of Company-owned or -controlled bottling and distribution operations as well as independent bottling partners, distributors, wholesalers and retailers - the world's largest beverage distribution system. Beverages bearing trademarks owned by or licensed to us account for more than 1.9 billion of the approximately 60 billion servings of all beverages consumed worldwide every day."

    Business segments and operations:

    Coca-Cola said this about competitors in its 10-K filing for calendar 2017:

    "In many of the countries in which we do business, including the United States, PepsiCo, Inc. is one of our primary competitors. Other significant competitors include, but are not limited to, Nestle S.A., Dr Pepper Snapple Group, Groupe Danone, Mondelez International, The Kraft Heinz Company, Suntory Beverage & Food Limited and Unilever. We also compete against numerous regional and local companies and, in some markets, against retailers that have developed their own store or private label beverage brands."

    Dr Pepper Snapple Group and Keurig Green Mountain in July 2018 merged, forming Keurig Dr Pepper.

    Marketing costs:

    U.S. ad spending:

    Total U.S. advertising spending shown in the Leading National Advertisers report and Marketer Trees database is an Ad Age Datacenter estimate.

    Worldwide ad spending:

    Total worldwide advertising spending figures shown in the World's Largest Advertisers report and related database are Coca-Cola's stated worldwide advertising expenses (including media and production).

    Coca-Cola reported worldwide advertising expenses of $3.958 billion in 2017, down from $4.004 billion in 2016.

    The company said this in its 10-K for calendar 2017: "The decrease in selling and distribution expenses and advertising expenses during 2017 reflects the impact of divestitures. Additionally, advertising expenses during 2017 decreased 1 percent as a result of foreign currency exchange rate fluctuations. ... Foreign currency exchange rate fluctuations have a more significant impact on both advertising and other operating expenses as compared to our selling and distribution expenses since they are generally transacted in local currency."

    The company said this in its 10-K for calendar 2016: "The increase in advertising expenses reflects the company's increased investments to strengthen our brands, partially offset by a foreign currency exchange impact of 3 percent. ... The decrease in other operating expenses reflects the shift of the company's marketing spending to more consumer-facing advertising expenses as well as savings from our productivity and reinvestment initiatives."

    The company said this in its 10-K for calendar 2015: "The increase in advertising expenses reflects the company's increased investments to strengthen our brands, partially offset by a foreign currency exchange impact of 13 percent. ... The decrease in other operating expenses reflects the shift of the company's marketing spending to more consumer-facing advertising expenses as well as savings from our productivity and reinvestment initiatives."

    In its 10-Ks for calendar 2014 and 2013, Coca-Cola noted a move toward non-media forms of marketing: "Advertising expenses were impacted by shifts in our marketing and media spend strategies, primarily due to spending more marketing dollars toward in-store activations, loyalty points programs and point-of-sale marketing. Many of these strategies impact net operating revenues instead of marketing expenses."

    In its 10-K for calendar 2012, the company said: "Advertising expenses increased during the year and reflect the company's continued investment in the health and strength of our brands and building market execution capabilities while simultaneously capturing incremental marketing efficiencies."

    In its 10-K for calendar 2011, the company said: "Advertising expenses increased during the year and reflect the company's continued investment in the health and strength of our brands and building market execution capabilities."

    In its 10-K for calendar 2010, the company said: "The increase in advertising expenses [in 2010] reflected the company's continued investment in our brands and building market execution capabilities."

    In its 10-K for calendar 2009, the company said: "Advertising expenses [in 2009] were impacted by shifts in our marketing and media spend strategies, primarily due to spending more marketing dollars toward in-store activations, loyalty points programs and point-of-sale marketing. Many of these strategies impact net operating revenues instead of marketing expenses."

    The 10-K for calendar 2017 said about consumer marketing:

    "Marketing investments are designed to enhance consumer awareness of, and increase consumer preference for, our brands. Successful marketing investments produce long-term growth in unit case volume, per capita consumption and our share of worldwide nonalcoholic beverage sales. Through our relationships with our bottling partners and those who sell our products in the marketplace, we create and implement integrated marketing programs, both globally and locally, that are designed to heighten consumer awareness of and product appeal for our brands. In developing a strategy for a Company brand, we conduct product and packaging research, establish brand positioning, develop precise consumer communications and solicit consumer feedback. Our integrated marketing activities include, but are not limited to, advertising, point-of-sale merchandising and sales promotions.

    "We are focusing on marketing strategies to drive volume growth in emerging markets, increase our brand value in developing markets and grow net revenues and profit in our developed markets. In emerging markets, we are investing in infrastructure programs that drive volume through increased access to consumers. In developing markets, where consumer access has largely been established, our focus is on differentiating our brands. In our developed markets, we continue to invest in brands and infrastructure programs but generally at a slower rate than gross profit growth."

    That 10-K also said:

    "In addition to conducting our own independent advertising and marketing activities, we may provide promotional and marketing support and/or funds to our bottlers. In most cases, we do this on a discretionary basis under the terms of commitment letters or agreements, even though we are not obligated to do so under the terms of the bottler's or distribution agreements between our Company and the bottlers. Also, on a discretionary basis in most cases, our Company may develop and introduce new products, packages and equipment to assist the bottlers. Likewise, in many instances, we provide promotional and marketing services and/or funds and/or dispensing equipment and repair services to fountain and bottle/can retailers, typically pursuant to marketing agreements. The aggregate amount of funds provided by our Company to bottlers, resellers or other customers of our Company's products, principally for participation in promotional and marketing programs, was $ 6.2 billion in 2017."

    That compared to spending of $6.6 billion in 2016; $6.8 billion in 2015; $7.0 billion in 2014; $6.9 billion in 2013; $6.1 billion in 2012; $5.8 billion in 2011; $5.0 billion in 2010; and $4.5 billion in 2009. Awards:

    Ad Age named Coca-Cola Co. the 2011 Marketer of the Year in November 2011.

    Deals and strategic moves:

    Coca-Cola in August 2018 signed a deal to buy coffee marketer Costa Ltd. from Whitbread in a deal valued at 3.9 billion pounds ($5.1 billion). Costa, founded in London in 1971, as of 2018 operated 4,000 retail outlets, a coffee vending business, for-home coffee formats and a roastery. At the time of the acquisition, Costa operated in Europe, Asia Pacific, the Middle East and Africa. Coca-Cola expected to complete the deal in the first half of 2019.

    Coca-Cola in August 2018 struck a deal to buy a minority stake in Bodyarmor, a U.S.-based marketer of a premium sports drink. The deal made Coca-Cola the second-largest shareholder in Bodyarmor, behind co-founder and Chairman Mike Repole.

    The company in 2017 sold (refranchised) its China bottling operations as well as some bottling territories in North America.

    Coca-Cola Co. and Anheuser-Busch InBev in October 2017 completed the sale of Anheuser-Busch InBev's 54.5 percent stake in Coca-Cola Beverages Africa to Coca-Cola for $3.15 billion. South Africa-based Coca-Cola Beverages Africa, the biggest Coca-Cola bottler in Africa, was formed in 2016 through the combination of African non-alcoholic ready-to-drink bottling interests of SABMiller, Coca-Cola Co. and Gutsche Family Investments. Anheuser-Busch InBev later in 2016 bought SABMiller and reached an agreement to sell its 54.5 percent equity stake in Coca-Cola Beverages Africa to Coca-Cola. Anheuser-Busch InBev and Coca-Cola in October 2017 completed the sale of Anheuser-Busch InBev's stake in Coca-Cola Beverages Africa for $3.15 billion. The transaction made Coca-Cola the controlling shareowner of Coca-Cola Beverages Africa. Coca-Cola planned to refranchise Coca-Cola Beverages Africa.

    Unilever in March 2017 sold AdeS, a soy beverage business in Latin America, to Coca-Cola Co. and Coca-Cola Femsa for $575 million.

    Coca-Cola in 2016 bought Xiamen Culiangwang Beverage Technology Co., Ltd. (China Green). Coca-Cola in April 2015 had signed a deal to buy the company for about $400 million including debt. China Culiangwang was founded in 1998 and markets plant-based protein drinks in China.

    Coca-Cola Co. in May 2016 completed a deal to merge Coca-Cola Erfrischungsgetranke (the largest German bottler and a wholly owned subsidiary of Coca-Cola Co. ) with Coca-Cola Enterprises (a U.S.-based independent bottling company operating in Western Europe) and Coca-Cola Iberian Partners (an independent bottling company operating in Spain, Portugal and Andorra) into Coca-Cola European Partners, a new London-based company that became the world's largest independent Coca-Cola bottler based on net revenue. Coca-Cola Enterprises' shareowners ended up with a 48 percent stake in Coca-Cola European Partners; Coca-Cola Iberian Partners' shareowners own 34 percent; Coca-Cola Co. owns 18 percent.

    The company in June 2015 bought a 16.7 percent stake in Monster Beverage Corp. as part of a new long-term strategic partnership with the energy-drink marketer. The deal expanded an existing distribution agreement between Coca-Cola and Monster that dated to 2008. In announcing the deal, Coca-Cola said: "The partnership strategically aligns both companies for the long-term by combining the strength of The Coca-Cola Company's worldwide bottling system with Monster's dedicated focus and expertise as a leading energy player globally." Under the deal, Coca-Cola paid $2.15 billion cash to Monster. In addition, Coca-Cola transferred ownership of its worldwide energy business, including NOS, Full Throttle, Burn, Mother, BU, Gladiator, Samurai, Nalu, BPM, Play and Power Play, to Monster; Monster transferred its non-energy business, including Hansen's Natural Sodas, Peace Tea, Hubert's Lemonade and Hansen's Juice Products, to Coca-Cola.

    Coca-Cola in February 2014 announced a 10-year agreement with Green Mountain Coffee Roasters to collaborate on the development and introduction of Green Mountain's planned Keurig Cold at-home beverage system. As part of the deal, Coca-Cola that month paid about $1.25 billion for a 10 percent stake in Green Mountain, developer of Keurig single-serve coffee machines. Green Mountain Coffee Roasters in March 2014 changed its name to Keurig Green Mountain. Coca-Cola and Keurig Green Mountain in September 2014 expanded their agreement to offer certain Coca-Cola-owned beverage brands in the Keurig hot brewing system in the U.S. and Canada.

    An investor group led by European investor JAB Holding Co. on March 3, 2016, bought Keurig Green Mountain for $92 a share in cash or a total equity value of about $13.9 billion, completing a deal announced in December 2015. JAB acquired Keurig Green Mountain in partnership with strategic minority investors that were already shareholders in European coffee marketer Jacobs Douwe Egberts, including Mondelez International and entities affiliated with BDT Capital Partners. At the close of the transaction, Keurig Green Mountain continued to be operated independently by the company's management team and employees.

    Dr Pepper Snapple Group and Keurig Green Mountain in July 2018 merged, forming Keurig Dr Pepper. JAB is controlling shareholder. Mondelez, which had a stake in Keurig Green Mountain, owned an approximately 13 percent to 14 percent stake.

    Mondelez and Acorn Holdings' D.E. Master Blenders in July 2015 had combined their coffee businesses into a new company, Jacobs Douwe Egberts. JAB Holding-backed Acorn owned a 56 percent stake in Jacobs Douwe Egberts; Mondelez received 3.8 billion euros ($4.2 million) in cash and a 44 percent stake.

    Coca-Cola in November 2013 bought the remaining ownership stake in Zico Beverages, marketer of Zico Pure Premium Coconut Water. Coca-Cola Co. made its first investment in Zico in 2009 and bought a majority stake in 2012. El Segundo, Calif.-based Zico was founded in 2004.

    Coca-Cola in March 2011 bought the remaining 60 percent stake in Honest Tea Inc. Coca-Cola in February 2008 had purchased 40 percent of premium tea marketer Honest Tea with an option to buy the rest after three years. Honest Tea had 2010 sales of $72 million.

    The company in October 2010 bought the North American operations of Coca-Cola Enterprises, the world's largest bottler of Coca-Cola products. Coca-Cola Enterprises accounted for about 47 percent of the company's U.S. concentrate sales in 2009. The two firms already were closely aligned; as of year-end 2009, Coca-Cola Co. owned a 34 percent stake in Coca-Cola Enterprises. (Rival PepsiCo also acquired key Pepsi bottling operations in 2010.)

    Coca-Cola in June 2007 paid $4.1 billion for Energy Brands, also known as Glaceau, the marketer of "enhanced" water brands including Vitaminwater, Fruitwater and Smartwater.

    Coca-Cola in first-quarter 2007 bought Fuze Beverage, a U.S.-based marketer of Fuze enhanced juices and teas, and Leao Junior, a Brazilian herbal beverage company.

    The company in December 2001 acquired Odwalla, a U.S. marketer of juices, smoothies, dairy-free shakes, spring water and food bars.

    Management and employees:

    CEO:

    James Quincey, Coca-Cola's president and chief operating officer, succeeded Muhtar Kent as CEO May 1, 2017. Kent continued as chairman. Quincey was age 51 when Coca-Cola on Dec. 9, 2016, announced his promotion to CEO.

    Quincey joined Coca-Cola in Atlanta in 1996 as director, learning strategy, for the Latin America Group.

    Prior to joining Coca-Cola, Quincey was a partner in strategy consulting at Kalchas Group, a spin off from Bain & Co. and McKinsey. Quincey, who is bilingual in English and Spanish, received a bachelor's degree in electronic engineering from the University of Liverpool.

    Kent in December 2007 was named president-CEO effective July 1, 2008; Chairman-CEO E. Neville Isdell relinquished the CEO post but remained as chairman until April 2009, when Kent added the chairman's post.

    Chief growth officer, chief marketing officer:

    Coca-Cola in March 2017 combining global marketing, customer and commercial leadership, and strategy functions into one job, chief growth officer. Francisco Crespo, a 28-year company veteran, moved into that new role from president of Coca-Cola's Mexico business unit.

    Coinciding with its March 2017 management restructuring, Coca-Cola said CMO Marcos De Quinto was retiring after a nearly 35-year Coca-Cola career.

    De Quinto became the company's CMO effective Jan. 1, 2015. He had served as president of the Iberia Business Unit and VP-Europe Group since 2000. Previously, De Quinto held various Coca-Cola division marketing jobs across Spain, Southeast and West Asia, and Germany, as well as general management roles in Singapore and Malaysia.

    As CMO, De Quinto succeeded Joseph V. Tripodi, who then retired from Coca-Cola at the end of February 2015. (Tripodi in November 2015 joined Subway as CMO.)

    Tripodi joined Coca-Cola in July 2007 as chief marketing and commercial officer. He took over marketing duties formerly handled by Mary Minnick, who left in February 2007 as executive VP-president of marketing, strategy and innovation. Minnick had been in the running for the company's president-COO post but was passed over in December 2006 when the company named Muhtar Kent to that post.

    Before joining Coca-Cola, Tripodi was senior VP-CMO at Allstate Insurance Co. Before coming to Allstate in November 2003, he was CMO at Bank of New York. He earlier served as CMO for Seagram Spirits & Wine Group (1999-2002) and executive VP-global marketing, products and services for MasterCard International (1989-1998).

    History:

    Coca-Cola was founded in 1886.

    http://www.coca-colacompany.com

Colgate-Palmolive Co.

  • Marketer profile
    Click here to see company's total worldwide advertising spending, measured-media spending by region, key executives and agencies.

    Overview:

    Colgate-Palmolive Co. is a consumer products marketer that sells its goods in more than 200 countries and territories.

    Business segments and operations:

    New York-based Colgate splits its business into two product segments: oral, personal and home care; and pet nutrition.

    Oral, personal and home care products accounted for 48 percent, 19 percent and 18 percent, respectively, of total worldwide sales in 2017; 47 percent, 20 percent and 18 percent in 2016; 47 percent, 20 percent and 19 percent in 2015; 46 percent, 21 percent and 20 percent in 2014 and 2013; 44 percent, 22 percent and 21 percent in 2012; 43 percent, 22 percent and 22 percent, in 2011 and 2010; and 41 percent, 22 percent and 23 percent of sales in 2009 and 2008.

    Pet nutrition brought in 15 percent of worldwide revenue in 2017 and 2016; 14 percent in 2015; 13 percent in 2014, 2013, 2012, 2011 and 2010; and 14 percent of revenue in 2009 and 2008.

    Colgate's oral-care products include Colgate toothpastes; Colgate manual toothbrushes; and Colgate Plax, Meridol and Colgate Total mouthwashes. Colgate also owns Tom's of Maine.

    Personal care brands include Caprice, Irish Spring, Lady Speed Stick, Palmolive, Protex, Sanex, Softsoap and Speed Stick.

    Home care brands include Ajax, Cuddly, Fabuloso, Murphy's Oil Soap, Palmolive, Soupline and Suavitel.

    Colgate, through its Hill's Pet Nutrition unit, sells premium pet food in more than 80 countries. Hill's markets pet foods primarily under three brands: Science Diet, sold by authorized pet supply retailers and veterinarians for everyday nutritional needs; Prescription Diet, sold by veterinarians to help nutritionally manage disease conditions in dogs and cats; and Hill's Ideal Balance. (Rival Procter & Gamble Co. in 2014 sold most of its pet food business, including Iams, to Mars Inc.)

    Sales and earnings:

    Sales to Walmart (oral, personal and home care products) accounted for about 11 percent of the company's net sales in 2017, 2016 and 2015. No other customer represented more than 10 percent of the company's net sales in 2017 and 2016.

    No single customer accounted for 10 percent or more of the company's 2015, 2014, 2013, 2012, 2011, 2010 or 2009 sales.

    Marketing spending:

    U.S. ad spending:

    Total U.S. advertising spending shown in the Leading National Advertisers report and Marketer Trees database is an Ad Age Datacenter estimate.

    Colgate said 2017 North America oral, personal and home care ad spending as percent of net sales increased 60 basis points (0.6 percentage points).

    The company said 2016 North America oral, personal and home care ad spending as percent of net sales decreased 30 basis points (0.3 percentage points), "in part reflecting a shift from advertising investment to in-store promotional activities."

    Worldwide ad spending:

    Total worldwide advertising spending figures shown in the World's Largest Advertisers report and related database are Colgate's stated worldwide advertising costs.

    Colgate reported 2017 worldwide advertising costs of $1.573 billion.

    Colgate said in its 10-K for calendar 2017: "In 2017, advertising investment increased 10.2 percent to $1,573 [million] as compared with $1,428 [million] in 2016, and increased as a percentage of net sales to 10.2 percent from 9.4 percent in 2016."

    Colgate said in its 10-K for calendar 2016: "In 2016, advertising investment decreased 4.2 percent to $1,428 [million] as compared with $1,491 [million] in 2015, while as a percentage of net sales, it increased to 9.4 percent from 9.3 percent in 2015."

    Colgate said in its 10-K for calendar 2015: "In 2015 , advertising investment decreased 16.4 percent to $1,491 [million] as compared with $1,784 [million] in 2014 , largely reflecting the impact of negative foreign exchange, and decreased as a percentage of net sales to 9.3 percent from 10.3 percent in 2014, in part reflecting a shift from advertising investment to in-store promotional activity."

    Colgate markets its products through advertising and other promotional activities. The company includes advertising costs in selling, general and administrative expenses.

    Stated advertising costs exclude money that Colgate gives to retailers for cooperative advertising.

    The company's net sales reflect sales after deducting the following costs: coop advertising; product listing allowances; volume-based sales incentives given to trade customers; consumer coupons.

    Deals and strategic moves:

    Colgate in January 2018 bought two professional skin care businesses--Physicians Care Alliance, marketer of the PCA Skin brand, and Elta MD Holdings, marketer of the EltaMD brand-for about $730 million. Colgate said estimated 2017 worldwide net sales (including U.S., China and certain other international markets) for the two brands was about $100 million. In its deal announcement, Colgate said: "These acquisitions will enable Colgate to enter the highly attractive professional skin care category while complementing its existing global personal care businesses. PCA Skin is a leader in medical-grade in-office and take-home skin care products, and has strong support from dermatologists, plastic surgeons and aestheticians. EltaMD is a leading physician-dispensed sun care brand with a unique positioning around broad-spectrum, everyday use, physician-dispensed sunscreen."

    The company in August 2015 sold its laundry detergent business in the South Pacific to Henkel for about 310 Australian dollars (U.S. $221 million).

    Colgate in October 2014 bought an oral-care business in Myanmar for $62 million plus additional payments based on performance targets.

    Colgate in June 2011 bought Sanex, a European personal care brand, from Unilever for $966 million cash. As part of that agreement, Unilever then in July 2011 acquired Colgate's laundry detergent operation in Colombia for $215 million, expanding Unilever's detergent sales in that country. Unilever acquired Sanex in December 2010 as part of Unilever's acquisition of Sara Lee Corp.'s body-care and European detergents businesses; European Commission regulators had required Unilever to sell Sanex as part of the terms for approving the Sara Lee deal.

    Colgate in May 2006 bought 84 percent of Tom's of Maine for about $100 million. Colgate in 2012 bought the remaining 16 percent stake for $18 million. Tom's of Maine markets toothpaste and deodorant in health-food stores and other outlets.

    Earlier acquisitions included Mennen Co., marketer of Speed Stick (1992); Murphy-Phoenix Co., marketer of Murphy's Oil Soap (1991); Softsoap (1987); and Hill's (1976).

    Management and employees:

    Ian Cook became CEO in 2007 and took over as chairman-CEO effective January 1, 2009, succeeding Reuben Mark, who retired after 22 years as chairman.

    Cook joined Colgate in the United Kingdom in 1976.

    History:

    Colgate was founded in 1806 and incorporated in 1923.

    http://www.colgatepalmolive.com

Comcast Corp.

  • Marketer profile
    Click here to see company's total worldwide advertising spending, measured-media spending by region, key executives and agencies.

    Overview:

    Comcast Corp. is the nation's biggest media company and the biggest U.S. advertiser.

    Comcast has three primary businesses: Comcast Cable, the largest U.S. cable-systems business; NBC Universal, a TV, film and theme parks business; and Sky, a pay TV service in Europe.

    Comcast in September 2018 beat rival 21st Century Fox in an auction to acquire Sky. Comcast in October 2018 bought Fox's 39.1 percent Sky stake. Comcast acquired additional Sky shares in the public market, giving Comcast a greater than 75 percent stake in Sky as of October 2018. Comcast expected to buy the remaining Sky shares during fourth-quarter 2018; Comcast as of late October 2018 owned a 98 percent stake. Sky ceased trading on the London Stock Exchange in November 2018.

    The Sky acquisition came after Comcast in July 2018 abandoned a short-lived attempt to acquire 21st Century Fox. Comcast's exit cleared the way for Walt Disney Co. and Fox to proceed with a deal for Disney to acquire Fox, a transaction expected to be completed in the first half of calendar 2019.

    Business segments and operations:

    Coinciding with its purchase of a controlling stake in NBC Universal, Comcast in 2011 restaged itself into five reportable Business segments and operations: Cable Communications, Cable Networks, Broadcast Television, Filmed Entertainment and Theme Parks.

    Cable Communications is Comcast's cable-systems business. NBC Universal makes up the remaining four segments.

    NBC Universal's cable networks include NBC Universal legacy networks (including Bravo, CNBC, MSNBC, Oxygen, Syfy and USA) and networks contributed to NBC Universal by Comcast in January 2011 (E! Entertainment Television, G4 (shut down in 2014), Golf Channel, Style Network (replaced by Esquire Network in September 2013) and Versus (rebranded as NBC Sports Network in January 2012) plus regional sports networks). (Esquire Network in 2017 dropped its cable channel and converted to a digital-only service.)

    NBC Universal owns two broadcast networks -- NBC and Spanish-language network Telemundo -- plus local TV stations.

    NBC Universal's Filmed Entertainment segment consists of the operations of Universal Pictures, which produces filmed entertainment in various media formats for theatrical, home entertainment, television and other distribution platforms. Films are marketed under the Universal Pictures, Illumination, DreamWorks Animation and Focus Features brands.

    The Theme Parks segment includes the Universal Studios Hollywood theme park near Los Angeles and Universal Studios Florida; Universal's Islands of Adventure in Orlando, Fla.; and Universal Studios Japan in Osaka, Japan.

    Sky operates satellite pay TV services and provides communications services including residential high-speed internet, phone and wireless services. Sky also operates the Sky News broadcast network and sports and entertainment networks; produces original content; and has content rights.

    Cable systems:

    As of December 31, 2017, Comcast cable systems had 29.3 million total customer relationships, of which 27.2 million were residential customer relationships; served 22.4 million video customers, 25.9 million high-speed internet customers and 11.6 million voice customers; and passed more than 57 million homes and businesses.

    As of December 31, 2016, Comcast cable systems had 28.6 million total customer relationships, of which 26.5 million were residential customer relationships; served 22.5 million video customers, 24.7 million high-speed internet customers and 11.7 million voice customers; and passed more than 56 million homes and businesses.

    As of December 31, 2015, Comcast cable systems served 22.3 million video customers, 23.3 million high-speed internet customers and 11.5 million voice customers, with 27.7 million total customer relationships, and passed 55.7 million homes and businesses.

    As of December 31, 2014, Comcast cable systems served 22.4 million video customers, 22.0 million high-speed internet customers and 11.2 million voice customers, with 27.0 million total customer relationships, and passed 54.7 million homes and businesses.

    As of December 31, 2013, Comcast cable systems served 21.7 million video customers, 20.7 million high-speed internet customers and 10.7 million voice customers and passed 53.8 million homes and businesses.

    As of December 31, 2012, Comcast cable systems served 22.0 million video customers, 19.4 million high-speed internet customers and 10.0 million voice customers and passed 53.3 million homes and businesses.

    As of Dec. 31, 2011, Comcast cable systems served approximately 22.3 million video customers, 18.1 million high-speed internet customers and 9.3 million phone customers and passed 52.5 million homes and businesses in 39 states and the District of Columbia.

    As of Dec. 31, 2010, Comcast cable systems served approximately 22.8 million video customers, 17.0 million high-speed internet customers and 8.6 million phone customers and passed 51.9 million homes and businesses in 39 states and the District of Columbia.

    As of Dec. 31, 2009, Comcast cable systems served about 23.6 million video customers, 15.9 million high-speed internet customers and 7.6 million phone customers in 39 states and the District of Columbia.

    Marketing spending:

    Worldwide ad spending:

    Total worldwide advertising spending figures shown in the World's Largest Advertisers report and related database are Comcast's stated worldwide expenses for "advertising, marketing and promotion."

    U.S. ad spending:

    Total U.S. advertising spending figures shown in the Leading National Advertisers report and Marketer Trees database are Ad Age Datacenter's estimate of Comcast's U.S. expenses for "advertising, marketing and promotion."

    Ad Age Datacenter revised the 2015 spending estimate to capture estimated spending for advertising, marketing and promotion. Ad Age previously used a different benchmarking model to estimate Comcast's U.S. advertising spending.

    Cable Communications:

    Comcast reported the following "advertising, marketing and promotion" costs for its Cable Communications (cable systems) segment:

    2017: $3.562 billion (6.78 percent of revenue)
    2016: $3.540 billion (restated) (7.07 percent of revenue)
    2015: $3.363 billion (restated) (7.17 percent of revenue)
    2014: $3.098 billion (restated) (7.01 percent of revenue)
    2013: $2.905 billion (restated) (6.94 percent of revenue)
    2012: $2.731 billion (6.90 percent of revenue)
    2011: $2.430 billion (6.53 percent of revenue) (pro forma)

    Comcast's 10-K for year ended December 2017 said: "Advertising, marketing and promotion expenses were relatively flat in 2017 compared to 2016 . Advertising, marketing and promotion expenses in 2016 included an increase in advertising expenses associated with the 2016 Rio Olympics."

    Comcast's 10-K for year ended December 2016 said: "Advertising, marketing and promotion expenses increased in 2016 and 2015 primarily due to increases in spending associated with attracting new residential and business services customers and encouraging existing customers to add additional or higher-tier services."

    Comcast's 10-K for year ended December 2015 said: "Advertising, marketing and promotion expenses increased in 2015 and 2014 primarily due to increases in spending associated with attracting new residential and business services customers and encouraging existing customers to add additional or higher-tier services."

    Comcast's 10-K for year ended December 2014 said: "Advertising, marketing and promotion expenses increased in 2014 and 2013 primarily due to increases in spending associated with attracting new residential and business services customers and encouraging existing customers to add additional or higher-tier services."

    Comcast's 10-K for year ended December 2013 said: "Advertising, marketing and promotion expenses increased in 2013 and 2012 primarily due to increases in spending associated with attracting new residential and business services customers and expanding our services to existing customers."

    In earlier 10-Ks, Comcast reported the following "marketing" costs for its Cable Communications segment:

    2012: $2.707 billion (6.84 percent of revenue)
    2011: $2.407 billion (restated) (6.47 percent of revenue)
    2010: $2.155 billion (restated) (6.09 percent of revenue)
    2009: $1.820 billion (restated) (5.43 percent of revenue)
    2008: $1.628 billion (restated; for Comcast's former Cable segment) (4.99 percent of revenue)

    Cable Networks:

    Comcast reported the following "advertising, marketing and promotion" costs for its Cable Networks segment. For this segment, these costs consist primarily of the costs associated with promoting cable networks programming and costs associated with related digital media properties.

    2017: $531 million (4.99 percent of revenue)
    2016: $513 million (4.90 percent of revenue)
    2015: $540 million (5.61 percent of revenue)
    2014: $501 million (5.24 percent of revenue)
    2013: $508 million (5.52 percent of revenue)
    2012: $459 million (5.26 percent of revenue)
    2011: $465 million (5.51 percent of revenue) (pro forma)

    Comcast's 10-K for year ended December 2017 said: "Advertising, marketing and promotion expenses increased in 2017 primarily due to increased spending on marketing related to programming on our cable networks and our new digital platforms. Advertising, marketing and promotion expenses decreased in 2016 primarily due to increased spending on marketing in 2015 related to the launch of new programming on our cable networks."

    Comcast's 10-K for year ended December 2016 said: "These expenses decreased in 2016 and increased in 2015 primarily due to increased spending on marketing in 2015 related to the launch of new programming on our cable networks."

    Comcast's 10-K for year ended December 2015 said: "Advertising, marketing and promotion expenses increased in 2015 primarily due to an increase in marketing expenses related to the launch of new programming on our cable networks."

    Comcast's 10-K for year ended December 2014 said: "Advertising, marketing and promotion expenses remained relatively flat in 2014. Advertising, marketing and promotion expenses increased in 2013 primarily due to increased spending on marketing related to the launch of new programming on our cable networks."

    Broadcast Television:

    Comcast reported the following "advertising, marketing and promotion" costs for its Broadcast Television segment. For this segment, these costs consist primarily of costs associated with promoting owned and licensed TV programming, as well as the marketing of DVDs and costs associated with digital properties.

    2017: $481 million (5.04 percent of revenue)
    2016: $462 million (4.55 percent of revenue)
    2015: $524 million (6.14 percent of revenue)
    2014: $482 million (5.64 percent of revenue)
    2013: $379 million (5.32 percent of revenue)
    2012: $345 million (4.21 percent of revenue)
    2011: $289 million (4.48 percent of revenue) (pro forma)

    Comcast's 10-K for year ended December 2017 said: "These expenses increased in 2017 primarily due to increased spending on marketing related to our entertainment and news programming. Advertising, marketing and promotion expenses decreased in 2016 primarily due to increased spending in 2015 for marketing of our NBC primetime lineup."

    Comcast's 10-K for year ended December 2016 said: "These expenses decreased in 2016 and increased in 2015 primarily due to increased spending on marketing in 2015 associated with our NBC primetime lineup."

    Comcast's 10-K for year ended December 2015 said: "Advertising, marketing and promotion expenses increased in 2015 and 2014 primarily due to increased spending on marketing associated with our NBC primetime lineup."

    Comcast's 10-K for year ended December 2014 said: "Advertising, marketing and promotion expenses increased in 2014 and 2013 primarily due to increased spending on marketing associated with our primetime lineup."

    Comcast's 10-K for year ended December 2013 said: "Advertising, marketing and promotion expenses [for Broadcast TV] increased in 2013 and 2012 primarily due to increased spending on marketing associated with our primetime schedule."

    Filmed Entertainment:

    Comcast reported the following "advertising, marketing and promotion" costs for its Filmed Entertainment segment.

    The company's 10-K for year ended December 2017 said:

    "Advertising, marketing and promotion expenses consist primarily of expenses associated with advertising for our theatrical releases and the marketing of our films on DVDs and in digital formats. We incur significant marketing expenses before and throughout the release of a film in movie theaters. As a result, we typically incur losses on a film prior to and during the film's exhibition in movie theaters and may not realize profits, if any, until the film generates home entertainment and content licensing revenue. The costs associated with marketing films have generally increased in recent years and may continue to increase in the future."

    2017: $1.559 billion (20.36 percent of revenue)
    2016: $1.600 billion (25.16 percent of revenue)
    2015: $1.693 billion (23.23 percent of revenue)
    2014: $1.117 billion (22.30 percent of revenue)
    2013: $1.271 billion (23.31 percent of revenue)
    2012: $1.426 billion (27.64 percent of revenue)
    2011: $1.274 billion (27.74 percent of revenue) (pro forma)

    Comcast's 10-K for year ended December 2017 said: "Advertising, marketing and promotion expenses decreased in 2017 due to a higher number of releases in 2016. Advertising, marketing and promotion expenses decreased in 2016 primarily due to higher promotional costs associated with our larger 2015 film slate. The decrease in 2016 was partially offset due to advertising in 2016 for our domestic and international film slate."

    Comcast's 10-K for year ended December 2016 said: "Advertising, marketing and promotion expenses decreased in 2016 and increased in 2015 primarily due to higher promotional costs associated with our larger 2015 film slate. The decrease in 2016 was partially offset due to advertising in 2016 for our domestic and international film slate. Advertising, marketing and promotion expenses also increased in 2015 due to increased advertising expenses associated with Fandango."

    Comcast's 10-K for year ended December 2015 said: "Advertising, marketing and promotion expenses increased in 2015 primarily due to higher promotional costs associated with our larger 2015 film slate and increased advertising expenses for Fandango."

    Comcast's 10-K for year ended December 2014 said: "Advertising, marketing and promotion expenses decreased in 2014 and 2013 primarily due to fewer significant theatrical releases compared to their respective prior years."

    Comcast's 10-K for year ended December 2013 said: "Advertising, marketing and promotion expenses [for Filmed Entertainment] decreased in 2013 primarily due to fewer significant theatrical releases in 2013 compared to 2012. Advertising, marketing and promotion expenses increased in 2012 primarily due to an increase in marketing costs associated with our 2012 theatrical and DVD releases."

    NBC Universal ("NBCUniversal Media, LLC") disclosed the following worldwide "advertising, marketing and promotion" costs:

    2017: $2.799 billion (8.48 percent of revenue)
    2016: $2.767 billion (8.76 percent of revenue)
    2015: $2.795 billion (9.82 percent of worldwide revenue)
    2014: $2.158 billion (8.49 percent of worldwide revenue)
    2013: $2.199 billion (9.30 percent of worldwide revenue)
    2012: $2.232 billion (9.37 percent of worldwide revenue)
    2011: $2.002 billion (9.48 percent of worldwide revenue)
    2010: $1.474 billion (from August 2011 filing that also reported "advertising costs" of $1.435 billion) (8.88 percent of worldwide revenue)
    2009: $1.493 billion (from August 2011 filing that reported "advertising costs" of $1.435 billion) (9.90 percent of worldwide revenue)
    2008: $1.911 billion (from August 2011 filing that reported "advertising costs" of $1.909 billion) (11.37 percent of worldwide revenue)

    NBC Universal said Comcast's "Comcast Content Business" had 2010 "advertising costs" of $164 million. The Comcast Content Business (national cable networks, regional sports networks, selected websites) became part of NBC Universal in January 2011.

    Deals and strategic moves:

    Sky:

    Comcast in September 2018 beat rival 21st Century Fox in an auction to acquire Sky, a U.K.-based satellite TV firm in a deal valued at 30.6 billion pounds ($40.0 billion).

    This came after Comcast in April 2018 made an initial offer to buy Sky.

    Comcast in October 2018 bought Fox's 39.1 percent Sky stake for 11.6 billion pounds ($15.1 billion). Comcast acquired additional Sky shares in the public market, giving Comcast a greater than 75 percent stake in Sky as of October 2018. Comcast expected to buy the remaining Sky shares during fourth-quarter 2018; Comcast as of late October 2018 owned a 98 percent stake. Sky ceased trading on the London Stock Exchange in November 2018.

    Fox in December 2016 had signed a deal to buy the remaining Sky stake, subject to regulatory and shareholder approval. Disney had hoped to proceed with Fox's Sky deal.

    Fox had been an investor in Sky and predecessors BSkyB and Sky Television since 1983.

    Sky offers satellite across five countries (Italy, Germany, Austria, U.K., Ireland).

    British Sky Broadcasting Group Plc (BSkyB) changed its name to Sky Plc in 2014.

    Sky's stated worldwide revenue for fiscal years ended June 30:

    2018: 13.585 billion pounds ($17.932 billion)
    2017: 12.916 billion pounds ($16.388 billion)
    2016: 11.965 billion pounds ($17.765 billion)
    2015: 9.989 billion pounds ($15.743 billion)
    2014: 7.450 billion pounds ($12.117 billion)
    2013: 7.082 billion pounds ($11.112 billion)

    21st Century Fox:

    The Sky acquisition came after Comcast in July 2018 abandoned a short-lived attempt to acquire 21st Century Fox. Comcast's exit cleared the way for Walt Disney Co. and Fox to proceed with a deal for Disney to acquire Fox, a transaction expected to be completed in the first half of calendar 2019.

    Comcast June 13, 2018, announced an offer to buy Fox, maneuvering to supplant a Fox takeover deal that Disney signed in December 2017. A bidding war ensued as Disney upped its offer.

    Comcast's offer for Fox came the day after a federal judge June 12, 2018, ruled that AT&T could proceed with its acquisition of Time Warner. That ruling came after the U.S. Justice Department in November 2017 filed a civil antitrust lawsuit to block the deal, which AT&T and Time Warner signed in October 2016. AT&T completed the deal June 14, 2018, and changed Time Warner's name to WarnerMedia.

    Comcast had proposed to buy the same Fox businesses that were in the Disney deal.

    Under the Disney deal signed in December 2017, 21st Century Fox-prior to completing the sale to Disney-would transfer its news, sports and broadcast businesses (including Fox News Channel, Fox Business Network, Fox Broadcasting Co., Fox Sports, Fox Television Stations Group, FS1, FS2, Fox Deportes and Big Ten Network) into a newly formed subsidiary, dubbed New Fox, and distribute all New Fox shares to shareholders of 21st Century Fox.

    Disney proceeded with its Fox acquisition after Comcast abandoned its offer. The transaction was expected to be completed in the first half of calendar 2019.

    Under that deal, 21st Century Fox retained all assets and liabilities not transferred to New Fox, including the 21st Century Fox film and TV studios, certain cable networks (including FX and National Geographic), Fox Sports Regional Networks and 21st Century Fox's international TV businesses. 21st Century Fox ended up as a wholly owned subsidiary of Disney.

    21st Century Fox had rejected an offer from Comcast before signing the deal with Disney in December 2017.

    DreamWorks:

    Comcast in August 2016 bought DreamWorks Animation for $3.8 billion cash. DreamWorks Animation became part of Universal Filmed Entertainment Group, which includes Universal Pictures, Fandango and NBCUniversal Brand Development. DreamWorks Animation characters and franchises include Shrek, Madagascar, Kung Fu Panda and How to Train Your Dragon. DreamWorks Animation earlier was part of DreamWorks SKG; DreamWorks Animation spun off as a separate public company in 2004.

    NBC Universal had an existing relationship with DreamWorks. Amblin Partners, formerly known as DreamWorks Studios, in December 2015 announced a five-year distribution deal with Universal Pictures.

    Amblin Partners was a continuation of the DreamWorks Studios venture formed in 1994 by Steven Spielberg, Jeffrey Katzenberg and David Geffen.

    DreamWorks Studios previously had a distribution deal with Disney (2009-2016). Before that, DreamWorks had a distribution deal with Viacom's Paramount, which in January 2006 paid $1.9 billion to buy DreamWorks SKG. The DreamWorks principals in October 2008 reached an agreement with Viacom to exit from DW Studios (formerly DreamWorks LLC), ending their relationship with Paramount. Spielberg joined with Reliance Big in fall 2009 to form a motion picture venture. Reliance Big is part of India's Reliance Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group. Participant Media, a U.S. entertainment company, in December 2015 became the biggest financial backer for the renamed Amblin Partners.

    Termination of Time Warner Cable acquisition:

    Comcast and Time Warner Cable on April 24, 2015, terminated a deal for Comcast to buy Time Warner Cable, the nation's No. 2 cable-systems operator and No. 4 multichannel video programming distributor (behind Comcast, DirecTV and Dish Network Corp.). The companies in February 2014 had announced the deal, valued at about $45.2 billion, but the merger faced strong pushback from the Federal Communications Commission and the Justice Department.

    Just a month after Comcast and Time Warner Cable scrapped their transaction, smaller cable player Charter Communications on May 26, 2015, announced its own deal to buy Time Warner Cable and a revised deal to buy cable-systems operator Bright House Networks. (Charter in March 2015 had reached an initial agreement to buy Bright House.) Charter on May 18, 2016, completed its acquisitions of Time Warner Cable and Bright House Networks.

    These moves played into a rapidly consolidating market for U.S. pay TV. AT&T, which operates the U-verse TV service, in July 2015 completed a deal (announced in May 2014) to buy satellite firm DirecTV. (AT&T Corp., predecessor to today's AT&T Inc., had been the No. 1 cable-systems operator until selling that business, AT&T Broadband, to Comcast in 2002.)

    Time Warner spun off Time Warner Cable as a separate public company in March 2009. (AT&T in October 2016 signed a deal to buy Time Warner. The U.S. Justice Department in November 2017 filed a civil antitrust lawsuit to block the deal. A federal judge June 12, 2018, ruled that AT&T could proceed with its acquisition of Time Warner.) AT&T completed the deal June 14, 2018, and changed Time Warner's name to WarnerMedia.

    Acquisition of NBC Universal:

    Comcast on March 19, 2013, bought General Electric Co.'s remaining 49 percent stake in NBC Universal for about $16.7 billion, giving Comcast 100 percent ownership of NBC Universal. At the same time, Comcast purchased from GE the properties used by NBC Universal at 30 Rockefeller Plaza in New York and CNBC's headquarters in Englewood Cliffs, N.J., for about $1.4 billion.

    Comcast acquired its initial 51 percent stake from GE on Jan. 28, 2011, allowing Comcast to consolidate NBC Universal's financials with Comcast's financials. At that time, NBC Universal changed its legal name to NBCUniversal Media LLC, which became a wholly owned subsidiary of NBCUniversal Holdings. Comcast calculated the purchase price at $24.1 billion. GE retained a 49 percent stake until the March 2013 sale.

    Olympics broadcast rights:

    The International Olympic Committee in May 2014 awarded NBC Universal U.S. broadcast rights for the Olympic Games through 2032. The broadcast rights cover all media platforms, including free-to-air TV, subscription TV, internet and mobile. The IOC valued the agreement for 2021-2032 rights at $7.65 billion (plus an additional $100 million "signing bonus").

    NBC Universal already owned broadcast rights through 2020. The IOC in June 2011 awarded NBC Universal the U.S. media rights to the 2014 Sochi Olympic Games, 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympic Games, 2018 Pyeongchang Olympic Games and 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games for $4.38 billion, extending NBC's Olympic run. NBC Universal's previous broadcast contract had been set to end after the 2012 London Summer Olympics, NBC's 13th Olympic Games broadcast and seventh consecutive Olympics broadcast.

    At the conclusion of the 2020 Summer Olympics, NBC will have broadcast 17 Olympic Games, including 11 consecutive Olympic Games.

    By 2032, NBC Universal will have covered 23 Olympic Games since the network's first Games broadcast in Tokyo in 1964.

    Wireless:

    Comcast in 2017 expanded into wireless services under the Xfinity Mobile brand. Comcast's 10-K for year ended December 2017 said: "We launched (mobile phone service) in the second quarter of 2017 using our virtual network operator rights to provide the service over Verizon's wireless network and our existing network of in-home and outdoor Wi-Fi hotspots."Comcast and cable provider Charter in May 2017 agreed to cooperate on an expansion into wireless services. The two companies announced "an agreement to explore potential opportunities for operational cooperation in their respective wireless businesses to accelerate and enhance each company's ability to participate in the national wireless marketplace. The companies, which have each separately activated a mobile virtual network operator (MVNO) reseller agreement with Verizon Wireless, have agreed to explore working together in a number of potential operational areas in the wireless space, including: creating common operating platforms; technical standards development and harmonization; device forward and reverse logistics; and emerging wireless technology platforms."

    Comcast was one of four cable-systems companies -- Bright House, Comcast, Cox Communications (part of Cox Enterprises), Time Warner Cable -- that struck a deal with Verizon Communications' Verizon Wireless in December 2011 allowing the cable companies to sell Verizon Wireless-branded wireless service and Verizon Wireless to sell each cable company's services. After a four-year period, the cable companies had the option to offer wireless service under their own brands using the Verizon network. In addition, Verizon and three of the cable companies -- Bright House, Comcast, Time Warner Cable -- agreed to form an innovation technology joint venture to better integrate wireless and cable services. Charter Communications acquired Bright House and Time Warner Cable in May 2016.

    Other deals:

    NBC Universal and two buyout firms, Blackstone Group and Bain Capital, previous owned Weather Co., parent of the Weather Channel. NBC Universal bought its stake in 2008 and owned a 25 percent interest as of 2013. IBM Corp. in January 2016 bought Weather Co.'s business-to-business, mobile and cloud-based web properties, including WSI, weather.com, Weather Underground and The Weather Company brand, for $2.278 billion cash. IBM didn't buy the cable TV segment (The Weather Channel); the cable channel licenses weather forecast data and analytics from IBM under a long-term contract. Entertainment Studios, an independent TV and movie producer and distributor, in March 2018 acquired the Weather Channel cable channel from NBC Universal, Blackstone and Bain. Entertainment Studios is owned by former comedian Byron Allen.

    NBC Universal in April 2017 bought the remaining 49 percent stake in Universal Studios Japan for about $2.3 billion, giving it 100 percent ownership. It had purchased a 51 percent stake for $1.5 billion in November 2015

    Esquire Network in spring 2017 dropped its cable channel and converted to a digital-only service. NBC Universal in February 2013 had announced a deal to rebrand G4, a channel focused on video games, as Esquire Network under an agreement with Hearst Corp.'s Esquire magazine. NBC Universal later switched gears, replacing Style with the Esquire channel Sept. 23, 2013. G4 shut down in 2014.

    Comcast in March 2017 made an investment valued at $662 million in Snap, which operates the Snapchat camera app, as part of Snap's initial public offering.

    Comcast in February 2017 ceased operations of Cloo, a digital cable network. Cloo had been known as Sleuth before it was rebranded as Cloo in 2011.

    Comcast's NBC Universal in November 2016 made a second $200 million equity investment in BuzzFeed, a technology-driven global media company. NBC Universal made an initial $200 million investment in August 2015; as part of that deal, NBC Universal and BuzzFeed also planned to explore strategic partnerships across both organizations.

    Time Warner's Warner Bros. in April 2016 sold its Flixster business (including Rotten Tomatoes, a movie-review analysis website) ) to Comcast's NBC Universal in exchange for a 25 percent stake in NBC Universal's Fandango.

    Comcast had contributed Fandango and another website, DailyCandy, to NBC Universal in January 2011. DailyCandy, acquired by Comcast in 2008, is a website devoted to style, food and fashion. Fandango, acquired by Comcast in 2007, is a website that sells tickets to movie theaters and offers video content.

    Warner Bros. in May 2011 had purchased Flixster, parent of Rotten Tomatoes. (News Corp. in January 2010 sold Rotten Tomatoes to Flixster. News Corp. had acquired Rotten Tomatoes in October 2005 as part of the company's $650 million purchase of IGN Entertainment, an internet venture focused on the video-game and entertainment enthusiast markets. News Corp. received a minority equity stake in Flixster as part of the Rotten Tomatoes sale. Rotten Tomatoes had been part of Fox Interactive Media/Digital Media Group.)

    Comcast's NBC Universal in August 2015 made a $200 million equity investment in Vox Media, a digital-media company. Vox's eight media brands at the time of the deal were SB Nation, Polygon, The Verge, Vox.com, Eater, Racked, Curbed, and Re/Code.

    Comcast in April 2015 sold its 47.5 percent stake in cable channel TV One to Radio One for about $221.7 million. The deal increased Radio One's stake in TV One to 99.6 percent. TV One, a cable channel targeting African-American households, launched in January 2004 with backing from Radio One, Comcast and other investors.

    NBC Universal in February 2015 rebranded Mun2, a Spanish-language cable TV network, as NBC Universo.

    Comcast in April 2014 bought out the stakes in Fearnet formerly owned by Lions Gate Entertainment Corp. and Sony Corp.'s Sony Pictures Entertainment, giving Comcast 100 percent ownership of the former joint venture. Comcast folded Fearnet, a brand focused on thriller, suspense and horror content, into other holdings of NBC Universal.

    NBC Universal in November 2013 bought full ownership of preschool cable TV network Sprout by acquiring the stakes held by PBS and Apax Funds' HIT Television Ventures. NBC Universal previously owned a 47 percent stake. The channel launched in 2005 as PBS Kids Sprout, a joint venture of Comcast, PBS, HIT Entertainment and Sesame Workshop. Sesame Workshop sold its interest in 2012.

    NBC Universal and LIN Media (LIN TV Corp.) in February 2013 ended a joint venture that owned NBC network affiliates in Dallas and San Diego. LIN transferred its stake in the venture to Comcast. (Media General, another TV-station operator, in December 2014 bought LIN. Nexstar Broadcasting Group in January 2017 bought Media General.)

    NBC Universal in March 2012 exercised an option to sell its 15.8 percent stake in A&E Television Networks (owner of the A&E and Lifetime cable channels) to partners Disney and Hearst Corp. for $3.025 billion. The transaction was completed in August 2012. Following the transaction, Disney and Hearst each own 50 percent of A&E, up from 42.1 percent. (NBC Universal's Oxygen channel competes with Lifetime.)

    Microsoft Corp. and NBC Universal formerly were partners in MSNBC. The MSNBC cable-news channel and MSNBC.com news site launched in July 1996 as a 50/50 joint venture.

    NBC Universal in December 2005 bought an additional 32 percent stake in the cable channel, giving it 82 percent ownership, with an option to buy Microsoft's remaining 18 percent stake.

    NBC Universal in July 2012 bought Microsoft's 50 percent stake in MSNBC.com, giving NBC Universal 100 percent ownership. NBC Universal said total purchase price was $195 million (after subtracting $100 million of cash and cash equivalents on MSNBC.com's books). Coinciding with that transaction, NBC Universal rebranded MSNBC.com as NBCNews.com. Microsoft, meanwhile, in July 2012 disclosed plans to staff up its own news operation at MSN.com.

    NBC Universal, 21st Century Fox and Disney each own 30 percent of online video service Hulu, according to Disney's 10-K for year ended Sept. 30, 2017. Time Warner (now AT&T's WarnerMedia) joined that trio in August 2016 when it bought a 10 percent stake for $583 million ($590 million in cash, including transaction costs).

    Disney's 2018 deal to buy 21st Century Fox, noted earlier, will give Disney a majority stake in Hulu.

    Comcast's 10-K for year ended December 2017 said: "In August 2016, Time Warner Inc. acquired a 10 percent interest in Hulu, LLC, which diluted our interest in Hulu from 33 percent to 30 percent."

    Disney's 10-K for year ended Sept. 30, 2017, said: "For not more than 36 months from August 2016, [Time Warner] may put its shares to Hulu or Hulu may call the shares from [Time Warner] under certain limited circumstances arising from regulatory review. [Disney] and Twenty-First Century Fox, Inc. have agreed to make a capital contribution for up to approximately $300 million each if required to fund the repurchase of shares from [Time Warner]."

    Before Time Warner bought its Hulu stake, NBC Universal, Disney and 21st Century Fox previously each owned one-third of Hulu, according to Disney's 10-K for year ended October 2015 and 21st Century Fox's 10-K for year ended June 2015. The owners in 2013 considered selling Hulu and evaluated various buyout proposals before deciding against a sale. In a July 2013 statement, the three owners said they "will maintain their respective ownership positions in Hulu and together provide a cash infusion of $750 million in order to propel future growth."

    NBC Universal effective July 1, 2011, paid $1.025 billion to buy the 50 percent interest held in Universal Studios' Florida theme parks from buyout firm Blackstone Group, which had purchased the stake in 2000 from Rank Group. NBC Universal now owns 100 percent of the Florida venture.

    NBC Universal CEO Steve Burke said in a June 2011 statement: "The [Florida] acquisition consolidates our ownership and confirms our long-term commitment to Universal Orlando and the theme park business. Universal Orlando is a consistent and significant driver of operating and free cash flow and is performing extremely well. It has a superb management team and exciting growth opportunities. This purchase of the Blackstone interest is attractively valued and represents strong financial returns for NBC Universal."

    NBC Universal gets licensing fees and other revenue from third parties that own and operate a Universal Studios theme park in Singapore.

    Disney in November 2006 sold Disney's 39.5 percent interest in E! to Comcast for $1.23 billion, giving Comcast full ownership of the cable channel.

    Comcast in 2005 bought a stake in movie distributor Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. As of November 2010, Comcast had a 21 percent equity stake. MGM, burdened by debt, filed for bankruptcy reorganization in November 2010. Comcast's stake was wiped out in bankruptcy. MGM emerged from bankruptcy in December 2010 under new ownership.

    Stock:

    Comcast on April 1, 1969, filed with the SEC for an initial public offering. Comcast completed its IPO in 1972.

    History:

    Comcast traces its roots to 1963 when Ralph Roberts (father of current CEO Brian Roberts), through International Equity Corp., bought American Cable Systems, a 1,200-subscriber cable system in Tupelo, Miss.

    Ralph Roberts had formed International Equity Corp. to invest in new businesses after he sold Pennsylvania-based Pioneer Suspender Co., which made belts and suspenders.

    American Cable Systems in 1969 was renamed Comcast (short for "communications" and "broadcasting") and incorporated in Pennsylvania; at the time Comcast continued to do business through the American Cable Systems division.

    Ralph Roberts died June 18, 2015, at age 95.

    Comcast displaced Time Warner as the nation's largest media company after Time Warner completed its spinoff of Time Warner Cable in March 2009. Time Warner had held the top spot in Advertising Age's 100 Leading Media Companies report since 1995.

    Comcast, GE and NBC have historical connections. In 1919, GE led a consortium, consisting of GE, American Telephone & Telegraph Co., Westinghouse and United Fruit (an early investor in radio technology), to form a radio manufacturer, Radio Corporation of America.

    In 1926, RCA began to build a network of radio stations, delivering content to affiliates over AT&T long-distance lines. To avoid antitrust issues, AT&T sold New York station WEAF to RCA and dropped out of the RCA owners' consortium.

    RCA formed National Broadcasting Co. (50 percent owned by RCA, 30 percent by GE, 20 percent by Westinghouse) to serve affiliates of WEAF (now WFAN-AM, owned by CBS Corp.), over Red Network, and WJZ (now WABC-AM, owned by Cumulus Media), over Blue Network.

    In 1930, the Justice Department brought antitrust action against RCA, GE and Westinghouse. Under a consent decree in 1932, GE and Westinghouse agreed to sell their stakes in RCA.

    To resolve antitrust issues, RCA in 1943 sold Blue Network, which became American Broadcasting Co. (Disney in 1996 bought Capital Cities/ABC, bringing ABC into the Disney fold. Disney spun off the ABC radio network and radio stations in 2007 to Citadel Broadcasting Corp., which was acquired by Cumulus Media in 2011.)

    In 1986, GE bought RCA Corp., parent of NBC. The next year, GE sold RCA's consumer electronics business.

    In December 2001, Comcast signed a deal to buy AT&T Broadband, the cable-systems business of AT&T Corp. (successor to American Telephone & Telegraph Co.), making Comcast No. 1 in cable systems. The press release announcement issued by AT&T Corp. and Comcast said: "The new company, to be called AT&T Comcast Corporation, will be one of the leading and most powerful communications, media and entertainment companies in the world." While Comcast initially planned to use the name "AT&T Comcast" it ditched "AT&T" and kept the name "Comcast Corp." when the deal closed in November 2002.

    Today's AT&T Inc., a successor to AT&T Corp., now competes against Comcast and other cable-systems companies with DirecTV, a satellite TV service, and U-verse, a video, broadband and voice service. AT&T in July 2015 acquired DirecTV, the nation's largest satellite TV service.

    AT&T in June 2018 bought Time Warner (now WarnerMedia), the parent of Warner Bros. Entertainment, Turner and Home Box Office.

    http://corporate.comcast.com

Compagnie Financiere Richemont

  • Marketer profile
    Click here to see company's total worldwide advertising spending, measured-media spending by region, key executives and agencies.

    Overview:

    Compagnie Financiere Richemont is a luxury-goods marketer based in Geneva.

    Business segments and operations:

    Richemont's activities and products include jewelry, expensive watches and premium accessories.

    The businesses operate in three areas:

    Jewellery Maisons: Cartier, Van Cleef & Arpels.

    Specialist watchmakers: A. Lange & Sohne, Baume & Mercier, IWC Schaffhausen, Jaeger-LeCoultre, Officine Panerai, Piaget, Roger Dubuis and Vacheron Constantin, as well as the Ralph Lauren Watch and Jewelry joint venture.

    Other businesses: Alaia, Alfred Dunhill, Chloe, Montblanc, Peter Millar, Purdey.

    Marketing spending:

    U.S. ad spending:

    Total U.S. advertising spending shown in the Leading National Advertisers report and Marketer Trees database is an Ad Age Datacenter estimate.

    Worldwide ad spending:

    Total worldwide advertising spending shown in the World's Largest Advertisers report and related database is an Ad Age Datacenter estimate.

    Deals and strategic moves:

    Yoox Net-A-Porter Group:

    Richemont in March 2018 began a tender offer for all shares of e-commerce venture Yoox Net-A-Porter Group. Richemont as of May 2018 controlled about 95 percent of the venture.

    Richemont from 2015 until the tender offer had been an investor in Yoox Net-A-Porter Group.

    Specifically, Richemont in October 2015 completed a deal to merge an e-commerce subsidiary, Net-A-Porter Group, with Italy-based Yoox, a publicly traded global internet retailing partner for fashion brands. Richemont received a 50 percent stake in the merged venture, Yoox Net-A-Porter Group; Richemont's voting rights were limited to 25 percent. Richemont had been controlling shareholder of Net-A-Porter since 2010 and was a minority shareholder before that.

    History:

    Richemont was created in 1988 by the spinoff of the international assets owned by Rembrandt Group of South Africa (now known as Remgro. Rembrandt Group, established in the 1940s, owned interests in tobacco, financial services, wines and spirits, gold and diamond mining industries as well as luxury goods investments that, along with an investment in tobacco marketer Rothmans International, would form Richemont.

    https://www.richemont.com

Coty

  • Marketer profile
    Click here to see company's total worldwide advertising spending, measured-media spending by region, key executives and agencies.

    Overview:

    Coty is a beauty products marketer that markets, sells and distributes its products in more than 150 countries and territories.

    Coty in October 2016 completed a deal with Procter & Gamble Co. to merge P&G's beauty products business (salon professional, hair color, cosmetics, fragrances, selected hair-styling brands) into Coty. The deal doubled the size of Coty.

    Business segments and operations:

    Coty is organized in three divisions, which also are its operating and reportable segments:

    Consumer Beauty: Primarily focused on color cosmetics, retail hair coloring and styling products, body care and mass fragrances.

    Luxury: Primarily focused on prestige fragrances, premium skincare and premium cosmetics.

    Professional Beauty: Primarily focused on hair and nail care products for salon professionals.

    Customers:

    Coty said Walmart, its top retailer, accounted for 6 percent of net revenue in year ended June 2018; 7 percent in years ended June 2017, June 2016 and June 2015; 6 percent in year ended June 2014; and 7 percent in years ended June 2013 and June 2012.

    Coty said no customer or group of affiliated customers accounted for more than 10 percent of worldwide net revenue in fiscal 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015, 2014, 2013, 2012, 2011, 2010 or 2009.

    In its 10-K for year ended June 2018, Coty said:

    "We have a balanced multi-channel distribution strategy which complements our product category focused divisions.

    "The Consumer Beauty division primarily sells products through hypermarkets, supermarkets, drug stores and pharmacies, mid-tier department stores, and traditional food and drug retailers. Certain products are sold through our own branded e-commerce websites and direct to consumer websites and third party operated e-commerce websites.

    "The Luxury division primarily sells products through prestige retailers, including upscale perfumeries, upscale department stores and duty-free shops, with travel retail sales channels accounting for 14 percent of the division's net revenues.

    "The Professional Beauty division primarily sells products to nail and hair salons, nail and hair professionals and professionals stores. We also sell our products through third-party distributors in countries and territories where we do not have direct distribution.

    "In fiscal 2017, no retailer accounted for more than 10 percent of our global net revenues; however, certain retailers accounted for more than 10 percent of net revenues within certain geographic markets and segments."

    Coty stopped listing key retail customers in its 10-K for year ended June 2017. In its 10-K for year ended June 2016, Coty said:

    "Our principal retailers in the mass distribution channel include CVS, Shoppers Drug Mart, Target, Walgreens and Wal-Mart in the Americas; Auchan, Carrefour, DM Drogerie Markt, Tesco and Watson's in EMEA (Europe, the Middle East and Africa); and Chemist Warehouse Group, Priceline Pharmacies and Watsons in Asia Pacific. Our principal retailers in the prestige distribution channel include Macy's and Ulta in the Americas; Beauty Alliance, Boots, Mueller, Parfumerie Douglas and Watson in EMEA; Chemist Warehouse Group and Priceline Pharmacies in Asia Pacific; and Sephora in multiple geographic regions. Other principal retailers include Kohl's and QVC in the Americas."

    "In fiscal 2016, no retailer accounted for more than 10 percent of our global net revenues; however, certain retailers accounted for more than 10 percent of net revenues within certain geographic markets. In fiscal 2016, our top ten retailers combined accounted for 29 percent of our net revenues and Wal-Mart, our top retailer, accounted for 7 percent of our net revenues."

    (Walgreen Co. in December 2014 bought Boots parent Alliance Boots, creating Walgreens Boots Alliance.)

    In its 10-K for year ended June 2015, Coty said:

    "Our principal retailers in the mass distribution channel include CVS, Rite Aid, Target, Walgreens and Wal-Mart in the U.S. and Boots, DM, Carrefour and Watson's in Europe. Our principal retailers in the prestige distribution channel include Macy's, Ulta, Dillard's, BonTon and Nordstrom in the U.S., AS Watson and Douglas in Europe and Sephora in multiple geographic regions. Other principal retailers include Kohl's and QVC.

    "In fiscal 2015, no retailer accounted for more than 10 percent of our global net revenues; however, certain retailers accounted for more than 10 percent of net revenues within certain geographic markets. In fiscal 2015, our top ten retailers combined accounted for 29 percent of our net revenues and Wal-Mart, our top retailer, accounted for 7 percent of our net revenues."

    In its 10-K for year ended June 2014, Coty said:

    "Our principal retailers in the mass distribution channel include CVS, Kmart, Target, Walgreens and Wal-Mart in the U.S. and Boots, DM, Carrefour and Watson's in Europe. Our principal retailers in the prestige distribution channel include Macy's, Neiman Marcus, Nordstrom and Saks Fifth Avenue in the U.S., AS Watson and Douglas in Europe and Sephora in multiple geographic regions.

    "In fiscal 2014, no retailer accounted for more than 10 percent of our global net revenues; however, certain retailers accounted for more than 10 percent of net revenues within certain geographic markets. In fiscal 2014, our top ten retailers combined accounted for 29 percent of our net revenues and Wal-Mart, our top retailer, accounted for 6 percent of our net revenues."

    In its 10-K for year ended June 2013, Coty said:

    "Our principal retailers in the mass distribution channel include CVS, Kmart, Target, Walgreens and Wal-Mart in the United States and Boots, DM, Carrefour and Watson's in Europe. Our principal retailers in the prestige distribution channel include Macy's, Neiman Marcus, Nordstrom and Saks Fifth Avenue in the United States, AS Watson and Douglas in Europe and Sephora in multiple geographic regions. ... In fiscal 2013, our top ten retailers combined accounted for 29 percent of our net revenues and Wal-Mart, our top retailer, accounted for 7 percent of our net revenues."

    In a 2013 IPO filing, Coty said:

    "Our principal retailers in the mass distribution channel include CVS, Kmart, Target, Walgreens and Wal-Mart in the United States and Boots, DM, Carrefour and Watson's in Europe. Our principal retailers in the prestige distribution channel include Macy's, Neiman Marcus, Nordstrom and Saks Fifth Avenue in the United States, AS Watson and Douglas in Europe and Sephora in multiple geographic regions. In fiscal 2012, no retailer accounted for more than 10 percent of our global net revenues; however, certain retailers accounted for more than 10 percent of net revenues within certain geographic markets. In fiscal 2012, our top ten retailers combined accounted for 29 percent of our net revenues and our top retailer accounted for 7 percent of our net revenues."

    Competition:

    In its 10-K for year ended June 2018, Coty listed the following companies in its "peer group" as relates to its stock market performance: L'Oreal, Avon Products, Estee Lauder Cos. and Revlon.

    In a 2013 IPO filing, Coty said: "Our principal global competitors include L'Oreal S.A., Avon Products, Inc., Beiersdorf AG, The Estee Lauder Companies Inc., Elizabeth Arden, Inc., Interparfums, Inc., Kose Corporation, Revlon Consumer Products Corporation and Shiseido Co., Ltd. And the beauty divisions of Unilever, LVMH Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton and The Procter & Gamble Company."

    Licensing:

    Coty said in its 10-K for year ended June 2018:

    "Products representing 39 percent of our fiscal 2018 net revenues are manufactured and marketed under exclusive license agreements granted to us for use on a worldwide and/or regional basis. As of June 30, 2018, we maintained 31 brand licenses."

    Coty said in its 10-K for year ended June 2017:

    "Products representing a significant portion of our net revenues are manufactured and marketed under exclusive license agreements granted to us for use on a worldwide and/or regional basis. As of June 30, 2017, we maintained 37 brand licenses. In fiscal 2017, 39 percent of our net revenues were generated from licensed brands."

    Coty said in its 10-K for year ended June 2016:

    "The rights to market and sell certain fine fragrance brands are derived from licenses from unaffiliated third parties and its business is dependent upon the continuation and renewal of those licenses on favorable terms. As of June 30, 2015, P&G Beauty Brands maintained 12 brand license agreements, which collectively accounted for 36 percent of its net sales in fiscal 2015. As of June 30, 2016, we maintained 29 brand license agreements, which collectively accounted for 53 percent of our net revenues in fiscal 2016.

    "In addition to our brand licenses, we also have other arrangements in place granting us rights to use trademarks and certain other intellectual property in products marketed under both our licensed and owned brands. In fiscal 2016, our top six licensed brands collectively accounted for 39 percent of our net revenues, and each represented between 3 percent and 16 percent of net revenues."

    Coty said in its 10-K for year ended June 2015:

    "Products covering a significant portion of our net revenues are marketed under exclusive license agreements which grant us and/or our subsidiaries the rights to use certain intellectual property (trademarks, trade dress, names and likeness, etc.) in certain fields on a worldwide and/or regional basis. As of June 30, 2015, we maintained 33 brand license agreements, which collectively accounted for 57 percent of our net revenues in fiscal 2015.

    "In addition to our brand licenses, we also have other arrangements in place granting us rights to use trademarks and certain other intellectual property in products marketed under both our licensed and owned brands.

    "In fiscal 2015, our top six licensed brands collectively accounted for 41 percent of our net revenues, and each represented between 3 percent and 17 percent of net revenues."

    Coty said in its 10-K for year ended June 2014:

    "Products covering a significant portion of our net revenues are marketed under exclusive license agreements which grant us and/or our subsidiaries the rights to use certain intellectual property(trademarks, trade dress, names and likeness, etc.) in certain fields on a worldwide and/or regional basis. As of June 30, 2014, we maintained 34 brand license agreements, which collectively accounted for 60 percent of our net revenues in fiscal 2014.

    "In addition to our brand licenses, we also have other arrangements in place granting us rights to use trademarks and certain other intellectual property in products marketed under both our licensed and owned brands.

    "In fiscal 2014, our top six licensed brands collectively accounted for 43 percent of our net revenues, and each represented between 4 percent and 17 percent of net revenues."

    A 2013 IPO filing said: "As of June 30, 2012, we maintained 48 license agreements, which collectively accounted for 60 percent of our net revenues in fiscal 2012. In fiscal 2012, our top six licensed brands collectively accounted for 41 percent of our net revenues, and each represented between 3 percent and 17 percent of net revenues."

    Sales and earnings:

    Coty reported worldwide net revenue for years ended June 30:

    2018: $9.398 billion ($2.705 billion or 28.8 percent from U.S.)
    2017: $7.650 billion ($2.220 billion or 29.0 percent from U.S.)
    2016: $4.349 billion ($1.256 billion or 28.9 percent from U.S.)
    2015: $4.395 billion ($1.343 billion or 30.6 percent from U.S.)
    2014: $4.552 billion ($1.339 billion or 29.4 percent from U.S.)
    2013: $4.649 billion ($1.537 billion or 33.1 percent from U.S.)
    2012: $4.611 billion ($1.511 billion or 32.8 percent from U.S.)
    2011: $4.086 billion ($1.190 billion or 29.1 percent from U.S.)
    2010: $3.483 billion (26.82 percent from U.S.)
    2009: $3.379 billion (28.57 percent from U.S.)
    2008: $3.822 billion
    2007: $3.115 billion

    Coty reported pro forma worldwide net revenue (including the acquired P&G beauty brands) for year ended June 30:

    2017: $8.889 billion
    2016: $8.220 billion.

    P&G beauty brands generated 29.9 percent of sales from the U.S. in year ended June 2016; 27.8 percent in year ended June 2015; and 25.6 percent in year ended June 2014.

    Coty explained revenue in a 2013 IPO filing:

    "Net revenues comprise gross revenues less customer discounts and allowances, actual and expected returns (estimated based on returns history and position in product life cycle) and various trade spending activities. Trade spending activities primarily relate to advertising, product promotions and demonstrations, some of which involve cooperative relationships with customers. Reflected in Net revenues are returns and trade spending activities of $706.5, $590.4 and $521.0 for fiscal 2012, 2011 and 2010, respectively. ... Trade spending activities recorded as a reduction to gross revenue after customer discounts and allowances represent 9.8 percent, 9.0 percent and 9.0 percent (of gross revenue) for fiscal 2012, 2011 and 2010, respectively."

    Trade spending activities recorded as a reduction to gross revenue after customer discounts and allowances represented 7 percent in fiscal 2017; 8 percent in fiscal 2016; 9.3 percent in fiscal 2015; and 9.4 percent in fiscal 2014 and 2013.

    Marketing spending:

    U.S. ad spending:

    Total U.S. advertising spending figures shown in the Leading National Advertisers report and Marketer Trees database are Ad Age Datacenter estimates of Coty's pro forma U.S. "advertising and promotional costs" (also called "advertising and consumer promotional costs").

    Worldwide ad spending:

    Total worldwide advertising spending figures shown in the World's Largest Advertisers report and related database are Ad Age Datacenter estimates of Coty's pro forma worldwide advertising and promotional costs" (also called "advertising and consumer promotional costs").

    Coty disclosed worldwide advertising and promotional costs of $2.206 billion in year ended June 2018; $1.883 billion in year ended June 2017 (including acquired Procter & Gamble brands starting in October 2016); and $967.6 million in the year ended June 2016.

    Included in stated advertising and promotional costs were costs for depreciation of marketing furniture and fixtures, such as product displays, of $120.9 million in fiscal 2018; $107.4 million in fiscal 2017; $65.0 million in fiscal 2016; $69.8 million in fiscal 2015; $67.5 million in fiscal 2014; $65.2 million in 2013; $57.8 million in 2012; $49.3 million in 2011; $46.1 in 2010; and $44.9 million in 2009.

    P&G Beauty Brands:

    Coty acquired Procter & Gamble's beauty brands business in October 2016.

    Coty said P&G beauty brands had worldwide "advertising costs" for years ended June 30:

    2016: $958 million (19.51 percent of net sales)
    2015: $1.080 billion (19.57 percent of net sales)
    2014: $1.096 billion (18.26 percent of net sales)

    Coty described its marketing in a 2013 IPO filing:

    "Our marketing efforts ... benefit from cooperative advertising programs with retailers, often in connection with in-store marketing activities. Such activities are designed to attract consumers to our counters, displays and walls and make them try, or purchase, our products. We also engage in sampling and 'gift-with-purchase' programs designed to stimulate product trials.

    "We have more recently been expanding our digital marketing efforts, including through websites we do not control or operate, with a multi-pronged strategy that ranges from brand sites, social networking campaigns and blogs, to e- commerce. Forty-five of our brands currently have marketing sites, 46 have social networking activities and the philosophy brand website, which we own and operate, has e-commerce capabilities. We also partner with key 'brick and mortar' retailers in their expansion into e-commerce.

    "Our in-house creative teams perform and oversee most of our creative marketing work. Together with our brand partners and renowned advertising agencies, our creative staff designs packaging and develops advertising and in-store displays for all our brands."

    Agencies:

    Coty in June 2015 named Publicis Groupe's ZenithOptimedia (now Zenith) to handle print and TV media in additional markets. Zenith kept its business in Germany and Austria and expanded its 10-year relationship with Coty by adding another 13 markets around the world. The global contract covered North America, Western Europe and Central and Eastern Europe.

    Deals and strategic moves:

    JAB Holding relationship:

    See "Stock" and "History" sections.

    Coty deals and strategic moves:

    Procter & Gamble's beauty business:

    Procter & Gamble Co. in October 2016 completed a deal with Coty to divest P&G's beauty products business(salon professional, hair color, cosmetics, fragrances, selected hair-styling brands) into Coty, doubling the size of Coty.

    Purchase price was $ 11.57 billion, consisting of $ 9.63 billion in total equity consideration and $1.94 billion in assumed debt.

    P&G signed the Coty deal in July 2015. Effective with P&G's fiscal year that began July 1, 2015, P&G reported the beauty products business as a discontinued operation in both current and prior-year periods, stripping out beauty-product sales and expenses (such as ad costs) from P&G's stated results.

    P&G shareholders ended up with an approximately 54 percent stake in the expanded Coty, while Coty's existing shareholders owned 46 percent.

    Under the deal, P&G divested four categories (hair care and color; retail hair color; cosmetics; fine fragrance) including 41 beauty brands (including CoverGirl, Clairol and Wella Professional).

    Coty said the P&G beauty brands business was mainly established from P&G's acquisition of Noxell Corp. (marketer of CoverGirl) in 1989, the trade name purchase of Max Factor in 1991, the acquisition of Clairol in 2001, the acquisition of Wella AG in September 2003 and later brand and license acquisitions.

    Brands included in the transaction were Wella Professionals (and its sub-brands), Sebastian Professional, Clairol Professional, Sassoon Professional, Nioxin, SP (System Professional), Koleston, Soft Color, Color Charm, Wellaton, Natural Instincts, Nice & Easy, VS Salonist, VS ProSeries Color, Londa/Kadus, Miss Clairol, L'image, Bellady, Blondor, Welloxon, Shockwaves, New Wave, Design, Silvikrin, Wellaflex, Forte, Wella Styling, Wella Trend, Balsam Color, Hugo Boss, Gucci, Lacoste, Bruno Banani, Escada, Gabriela Sabatini, James Bond 007, Mexx, Stella McCartney, Alexander McQueen, Max Factor and CoverGirl.

    The deal initially was to include Dolce & Gabbana and Christina Aguilera fragrances. P&G ended up selling the Christina Aguilera fragrance to another buyer in calendar 2016. Dolce & Gabbana and Shiseido Group in June 2016 signed a worldwide license agreement for the Dolce & Gabbana beauty business.

    In all, the brands involved in the divestiture to Coty had 2014 U.S. measured-media spending of about $300 million, according to Kantar Media.

    Coty has been controlled by JAB Holding, an investment group based in the Netherlands. JAB Holding (JAB Cosmetics) and related parties owned 96.6 percent voting power in Coty as of September 2015 through JAB's ownership of all of Coty's Class B common stock, according to Coty's proxy statement.

    JAB Holding (JAB Cosmetics) owned 97.5 percent voting power in Coty as of August 2016 through JAB's ownership of all of Coty's Class B common stock, according to Coty's 10-K for year ended June 2016.

    As part of the deal with P&G, JAB converted its Coty shares into Coty Class A common stock. Following that conversion, Coty's common stock would consist of a single class. After the deal, JAB remained the largest individual shareholder, owning about 36 percent of the expanded Coty. As of August 2017, JAB owned about 37 percent of Coty's fully diluted shares of Class A common stock.

    As of August 2018, JAB owned 39.0 percent of Coty's Class A common stock.

    P&G said in its July 9, 2015, announcement:

    "Although a final decision has not been made on the form of deal, P&G expects to do a split-off or spin-off transaction. P&G's current preference is for a Reverse Morris Trust split-off transaction in which P&G shareholders could elect to participate in an exchange offer to exchange P&G shares for shares of Coty. P&G shareholders would have the option of exchanging all, some or none of their P&G shares. If executed as a split-merge, P&G would establish a separate entity to hold the RMT Brands, which would be transferred to electing P&G shareholders in a tax-efficient transaction with a simultaneous merger of the new entity with Coty. We expect to finalize the details of the transaction in the coming months and to close the transaction in the second half of calendar year 2016, pending regulatory approvals."

    Other deals and strategic moves:

    Coty in October 2017 bought long-term exclusive global license rights for Burberry Beauty luxury fragrances, cosmetics and skin care for 191.7 million pounds ($256.3 million). Under the agreement, Coty will develop, manufacture and distribute a range of Burberry Beauty products globally. U.K.-based Burberry said Burberry Beauty had revenue of 203 million pounds ($306 million) in year ended March 2016.

    Coty in February 2017 bought a 60 percent stake in Younique, an online peer-to-peer social selling platform in beauty, for $600 million cash, net of acquired cash and debt assumed. Younique's founders kept 40 percent.

    Coty in November 2016 bought GHD ("Good Hair Day"), a global premium brand in high-end hair styling appliances, from Lion Capital for about 430.2 million pounds ($531.5 million) in cash. Coty in June 2016 sold its international Cutex businesses, which primarily operated in Australia and the U.K., to Revlon for $29.2 million. The deal came after Revlon in October 2015 bought the U.S. Cutex business and related assets from Cutex Brands. Cutex is a line of nail products. With these moves, Revlon completed the global consolidation of the Cutex brand's worldwide operations under Revlon management.

    Coty in February 2016 bought the personal care and beauty business of Brazil-based Hypermarcas for $901.9 million.

    Coty in October 2015 bought Beamly, a digital-marketing firm based in New York and London, for $17.9 million.

    Coty on April 1, 2015, bought the Bourjois cosmetics brand from Chanel, a luxury-goods marketer based in Paris, for $376.8 million in stock. Bourjois was founded in 1863.

    Coty in January 2014 bought Lena White, a U.K. distribution business, for about $11.0 million.

    Coty in July 2013 bought StarAsia Group, a regional distribution company in South East Asia, for $23.5 million.

    Coty in April 2012 announced an unsolicited offer to buy ailing beauty products marketer Avon Products for $10 billion; Coty had privately made takeover overtures to Avon in March 2012. Avon, with $11.3 billion in 2011 revenue, was more than two times the size of Coty, which had worldwide sales of $4.6 billion in the year ended June 2012.

    Coty in May 2012 raised its Avon offer to $10.7 billion. Later in May 2012, Coty dropped the bid.

    Coty made a series of acquisitions in 2010, acquiring OPI Products, a nail-polish marketer; Philosophy, a skin care and cosmetics company; Dr. Scheller Cosmetics, a German beauty company; and TJoy, a Chinese men's and women's skin-care product marketer (majority stake).

    Coty acquired Del Laboratories in December 2007 for an undisclosed amount. In announcing the Del Labs acquisition, Coty said: "The acquisition ... brings Coty closer to its quest of becoming a $5 billion beauty company." Del Laboratories' brands included Sally Hansen nail-care products, La Cross beauty implements, N.Y.C. New York Color cosmetics and Orajel oral analgesics.

    Coty in July 2008 sold Del Laboratories' Del Pharmaceuticals over-the-counter products business, including Orajel, to Church & Dwight Co. for $383.4 million. Del Pharmaceuticals had 2007 revenue of about $100 million; more than three fourths of that revenue came from Orajel.

    Coty in 2005 purchased Unilever's global prestige fragrance business, Unilever Cosmetics International. Calvin Klein fragrances, Vera Wang fragrances, Rimmel and Lagerfeld were among the brands that came in the deal. Coty and Karl Lagerfeld in October 2012 mutually agreed to end the fragrance license.

    Management and employees:

    Camillo Pane became Coty's CEO following the October 2016 completion of Coty's deal with Procter & Gamble Co.

    Pane succeeded interim CEO Lambertus J.H. (Bart) Becht, who continued as chairman.

    Prior to joining Coty, Pane spent 20 years with Reckitt Benckiser (RB), most recently as head of its global health and personal care business.

    Coty on April 20, 2015, said it had hired Elio Leoni Sceti, CEO of European frozen-foods marketer Iglo Group, as Coty's CEO effective July 1, 2015, taking over for interim CEO Becht. Coty on June 23, 2015, decided not to hire Sceti; it paid Sceti $1.75 million in severance and bought back his Coty preferred shares for about $55,000. Becht continued as chairman and interim CEO.

    Becht became interim CEO in September 2014 after CEO Michele Scannavini resigned for personal reasons. Scannavini had been CEO since Aug. 1, 2012. Prior to becoming CEO, Scannavini was president of the company's Coty Prestige unit, a position he had held since 2002. Scannavini began his career at P&G.

    Stock:

    Coty went public in June 2013 at $17.50 a share.

    Ownership:

    As of August 2018, JAB Holding (JAB Cosmetics) owned 39.0 percent of Coty's Class A common stock.

    As of August 2017, JAB owned about 37 percent of Coty's fully diluted shares of Class A common stock.

    JAB owned about 36 percent of the expanded Coty in October 2016 after Procter & Gamble Co. completed a deal to divest P&G's beauty products into Coty.

    Prior to that deal, JAB had owned 97.5 percent voting power in Coty as of August 2016 through JAB's ownership of all of Coty's Class B common stock, according to Coty's 10-K for year ended June 2016. As part of the deal with P&G, JAB converted its Coty shares into Coty Class A common stock.

    JAB Holding, an investment group based in the Netherlands, controlled Coty before and after Coty's June 2013 initial public offering. JAB as of May 2013 (before the IPO) owned 81.9 percent of common stock and had 84.9 percent voting power. Research and development:

    The company reported R&D costs for fiscal years ended June 30:

    2018: $174.6 million (1.86 percent of worldwide net revenue)
    2017: $139.2 million (1.82 percent)
    2016: $47.7 million (1.10 percent)
    2015: $47.4 million (1.08 percent)
    2014: $46.5 million (1.02 percent)
    2013: $44.6 million (0.96 percent)
    2012: $40.3 million (0.87 percent)
    2011: $36.7 million (0.90 percent)
    2010: $32.4 million (0.93 percent)
    2009: $35.9 million (1.06 percent)

    History:

    Coty:

    Coty was started in 1904 in Paris by Francois Coty.

    JAB Holding:

    JAB Holding, Coty's largest shareholder, is a private venture holding the investments of the Johan A. Benckiser family.

    Johan A. Benckiser in 1823 founded what would evolve into household products marketer Reckitt Benckiser.

    Drugmaker Pfizer bought Coty in 1963.

    In June 1992, the Benckiser family company (operating as Joh. A. Benckiser G.m.b.H.) bought Coty from Pfizer for gross proceeds of about $440 million. Coty had been Pfizer's fragrance and cosmetics division.

    Two years prior to the 1992 Coty purchase, Benckiser had expanded into prestige fragrances when it bought Lancaster Group from SmithKline Beecham (now GlaxoSmithKline).

    Joh. A. Benckiser in 1996 split its package goods holdings into two companies: Coty, the beauty products marketer; Benckiser, a cleaning products marketer.

    The cleaning products business in 1997 went public in the Netherlands as Benckiser NV. In 1999, Benckiser NV (then 59 percent owned by JAB) merged with the U.K.'s Reckitt & Colman to form Reckitt Benckiser (RB). JAB Holding held a 6.0 percent stake om RB in March 2018.

    The Benckiser family also owns Labelux Group, a luxury-goods marketer founded in 2007. Labelux holdings include Solange Azagury-Partridge (London-based jeweler acquired in 2008); Bally (Swiss luxury brand acquired in 2008); Belstaff (English outerwear company acquired in 2011); Derek Lam (New York apparel label acquired in 2008); and Zagliani (Italian accessories brand acquired in 2009). Labelux sold Derek Lam in 2012. The family previously controlled Jimmy Choo (London-based luxury brand acquired in 2011); Jimmy Choo was sold to Michael Kors in July 2017.

    Berkshire Partners, a Boston buyout firm, and Rhone, a buyout firm with offices in New York, London and Paris, made minority investments in Coty in January 2011.

    JAB Beech, an indirect controlled subsidiary of JAB Holding Co. in which BDT Capital Partners is a minority investor, in July 2016 bought Krispy Kreme Doughnuts, a chain of donut stores, in a deal with a total equity value of about $1.35 billion. Krispy Kreme continues to operate from Krispy Kreme's current headquarters in Winston-Salem, N.C.

    JAB in May 2018 signed a deal to buy Pret A Manger, a U.K.-based sandwich restaurant chain, from majority owner Bridgepoint, a London-based buyout firm, and minority shareholders. JAB completed the deal later in 2018. Price tag wasn't announced. Pret was founded in London in 1986 and as of May 2018 had 530 locations (including 381 in the U.K., 92 in the U.S., 26 in Hong Kong and 24 in France). McDonald's Corp. owned a 33 percent stake in Pret from 2001 until April 2008, when it sold its stake to Bridgepoint.

    JAB in July 2017 bought Panera Bread Co., a U.S, restaurant chain, in a transaction valued at about $7.5 billion, including assumption of about $340 million of net debt. JAB bought Panera through JAB BV, an investment vehicle of JAB Consumer Fund and JAB Holding Co. Entities affiliated with BDT Capital Partners also invested alongside JAB BV. Panera in November 2017 signed a deal to buy Au Bon Pain Holding Co., parent company of restaurant chain Au Bon Pain.

    JAB Holding Co. (sometimes referred to as Joh. A. Benckiser) in recent years became a major global player in coffee.

    JAB Holding in September 2013 bought D.E. Master Blenders 1753, a European coffee and tea marketer, for 7.5 billion euros ($9.8 billion). (Oak Leaf, a newly formed subsidiary of JAB Holding, technically acquired D.E. Master Blenders. As of 2014, D.E. Master Blenders was owned by Acorn Holdings. Acorn is owned by an investor group led by JAB Holding in partnership with BDT Capital Partners, Quadrant Capital Advisors and Societe Familiale d'Investissements.)

    JAB Holding previously was a minority shareholder in D.E. Master Blenders, which was created when Sara Lee Corp. in June 2012 spun off Sara Lee's international coffee and tea business. (At the same time, Sara Lee Corp. changed its name to Hillshire Brands Co. Tyson Foods in August 2014 bought Hillshire Brands.)

    Mondelez International and Acorn Holdings' D.E. Master Blenders in July 2015 combined their coffee businesses into a new company, Jacobs Douwe Egberts. JAB Holding-backed Acorn owned a 56 percent stake in Jacobs Douwe Egberts; Mondelez received 3.8 billion euros ($4.2 million) in cash and a 44 percent stake. In announcing the closing of the deal, Mondelez and D.E. Master Blenders said Jacobs Douwe Egberts had "annual revenues of more than 5 billion euros" ($5.6 billion). Mondelez in March 2016 reduced its Jacobs Douwe Egberts stake to 26.5 percent by trading some of that holding for an interest in Keurig Green Mountain (see below).

    Mondelez's coffee brands, sold outside North America, included Jacobs, Carte Noire, Gevalia, Kenco, Tassimo, Millicano and Maxwell House.

    (Kraft Heinz Co. markets Maxwell House, Gevalia and Tassimo in North America. Kraft Foods Group and Mondelez International until 2012 operated as one company, Kraft Foods. H.J. Heinz Holding Corp. in July 2015 bought Kraft Foods Group, forming Kraft Heinz Co.)

    JAB Beech, an indirect controlled subsidiary of JAB Holding Co. in which BDT Capital Partners is a minority investor, in July 2016 bought Krispy Kreme Doughnuts, a chain of donut stores, in a deal with a total equity value of about $1.35 billion. Krispy Kreme continues to operate from Krispy Kreme's current headquarters in Winston-Salem, N.C.

    An investor group led by JAB Holding Co. on March 3, 2016, bought Keurig Green Mountain for $92 a share in cash or a total equity value of about $13.9 billion, completing a deal announced in December 2015. JAB acquired Keurig Green Mountain in partnership with strategic minority investors that were already shareholders in European coffee marketer Jacobs Douwe Egberts, including Mondelez International and entities affiliated with BDT Capital Partners. At the close of the transaction, Keurig Green Mountain continued to be operated independently by the company's management team and employees.

    Dr Pepper Snapple Group and Keurig Green Mountain in July 2018 merged, forming Keurig Dr Pepper. JAB Holding Co. is controlling shareholder. Mondelez, which had a stake in Keurig Green Mountain, owned an approximately 13 percent to 14 percent stake.

    JAB Holding in October 2012 bought Peet's Coffee & Tea, another U.S. retailer, for about $1 billion. Peet's in October 2015 bought a majority stake in Intelligentsia, a Chicago-based coffee marketer and retailer. Also in October 2015, Peet's bought Stumptown Coffee Roasters, a coffee retailer based in Portland, Ore., from a group including majority owner TSG Consumer Partners, a buyout firm. Peet's in August 2014 bought Mighty Leaf Tea, a specialty-tea marketer, in partnership with Next World Group, a private investment firm.

    JAB Holding in January 2013 acquired Caribou Coffee Co., a U.S. coffee retailer, for about $340 million. BDT Capital Partner, a Chicago investment firm, took a minority stake in Caribou as part of that acquisition.

    JAB also owns Einstein Noah Restaurant Group, Inc., a U.S.-based chain of bagel stores; Espresso House, a coffee shop chain in Scandinavia; and Baresso Coffee, a coffee shop chain in Denmark.

    http://www.coty.com

Daimler

  • Marketer profile
    Click here to see company's total worldwide advertising spending, measured-media spending by region, key executives and agencies.

    Overview:

    Daimler is an auto and truck marketer based in Germany.

    Daimler operates through these divisions: Mercedes-Benz Cars, Daimler Trucks, Mercedes-Benz Vans, Daimler Buses and Daimler Financial Services.

    Business segments and operations:

    Mercedes-Benz Cars sells vehicles under the brand names Mercedes-Benz (luxury) and Smart (small cars).

    Daimler Trucks distributes trucks under the brand names Mercedes-Benz, Freightliner, Western Star, BharatBenz (launched in India in 2012), Thomas Built Buses and Fuso. (As of 2018, Daimler owned 89.29 percent of Japan-based Mitsubishi Fuso Truck and Bus Corp.)

    The company sells vans primarily sold under the name Mercedes-Benz. It sells some vans in the U.S. under the Freightliner nameplate.

    Daimler Buses goes to market under the brand names Mercedes-Benz and Setra.

    Daimler Financial Services segment supports the sales of the above vehicle segments worldwide with financing and leasing packages for consumers and dealers.

    Discontinued brands:

    Daimler in 2011 announced it would discontinue Maybach, a slow-selling luxury nameplate. Maybach now exists as Mercedes-Maybach, a luxury sub-brand of the Mercedes-Benz Cars division.

    Daimler dropped a truck brand, Sterling, in 2009. (Daimler had introduced the Sterling brand after buying, and rebranding, Ford Motor Co.'s heavy-truck operation in 1997.)

    Marketing spending:

    U.S. ad spending:

    Total U.S. advertising spending shown in the Leading National Advertisers report and Marketer Trees database is an Ad Age Datacenter estimate.

    Ad Age restated 2016 spending based on a revision to Ad Age's spending model.

    Worldwide ad spending:

    Total worldwide advertising spending shown in the World's Largest Advertisers report and related database is an Ad Age Datacenter estimate.

    Ad Age restated 2016 spending based on a revision to Ad Age's spending model.

    Deals and strategic moves:

    Daimler in December 2013 entered a technology partnership with U.K. luxury automaker Aston Martin Lagonda. Daimler as of 2015 owned a 5 percent stake in Aston Martin. Mercedes-Benz took over distribution of Smart in the U.S. effective July 1, 2011. Daimler ended a three-year deal in which Penske Automotive Group, a separate company, handled Smart distribution in the United States. Concept for the tiny car originally came from Nicolas G. Hayek, the late CEO of SMH (now Swatch Group), marketer of the Swatch watch; the name "Smart" played off the first letters of Swatch and Mercedes plus "art."

    Daimler has an alliance with France's Renault and Japan's Nissan Motor Co. Daimler owns 3.10 percent of Renault and 3.10 percent of Nissan. Renault and Nissan each own 1.55 percent of Daimler. Together with Renault and Nissan, Daimler is building an assembly plant in Mexico that will begin manufacturing compact vehicles of the Mercedes-Benz brand in 2018.

    Chrysler deal:

    Daimler previously owned Chrysler. Daimler-Benz and Chrysler Corp. on May 7, 1998, announced plans for what they dubbed a "merger of equals." The companies completed the deal in late 1998, forming DaimlerChrysler. The Germans ended up in control, but the merger didn't work.

    DaimlerChrysler on May 14, 2007, announced it would sell Chrysler Group to buyout firm Cerberus Capital Management. The sale closed in August 2007. Cerberus got an 80.1 percent stake; DaimlerChrysler kept 19.9 percent. DaimlerChrysler Oct. 4, 2007, renamed itself Daimler.

    Chrysler filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganization April 30, 2009, under a plan arranged and bankrolled by the U.S. government to hand control to Italy's Fiat. As part of Chrysler's bankruptcy restructuring, Daimler--under an agreement with Chrysler, Cerberus and the U.S. Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp.--gave up its 19.9 percent equity interest in Chrysler on June 3, 2009.

    Fiat on June 10, 2009, closed a deal to buy Chrysler's key assets, paving the way for Chrysler to emerge from a quick chapter in bankruptcy. Chrysler that day took a new corporate name, Chrysler Group LLC. Chrysler became a private company managed by Fiat, which took a minority ownership stake. Fiat over time added to its holding.

    Fiat became majority owner of Chrysler in 2011. Fiat in 2014 formed Fiat Chrysler Automobiles, or FCA, combining the companies after Fiat acquired 100 percent ownership of Chrysler Group.

    http://www.daimler.com

Danone

  • Marketer profile
    Click here to see company's total worldwide advertising spending, measured-media spending by region, key executives and agencies.

    Overview:

    Danone is a global food marketer based in France. It is focused on fresh dairy products, water, baby food and medical nutrition.

    Danone products are available in more than 120 countries, according to the company's website.

    Danone more than doubled in size in the U.S. with its April 2017 acquisition of WhiteWave Foods Co. (Silk, International Delight, Horizon Organic, Wallaby Organic, Earthbound Farm).

    Marketing spending:

    U.S. ad spending:

    Total U.S. advertising spending figures shown in the Leading National Advertisers report and Marketer Trees database are Ad Age Datacenter pro forma estimates including WhiteWave Foods Co. (acquired in April 2017).

    Worldwide ad spending:

    Total worldwide advertising spending figures shown in the World's Largest Advertisers report and related database are Ad Age Datacenter pro forma estimates including WhiteWave.

    WhiteWave:

    As noted, Danone in April 2017 bought WhiteWave Foods Co., a U.S.-based food marketer. WhiteWave disclosed the following worldwide "advertising expense":

    2016: $227.7 million.
    2015: $216.7 million.
    2014: $194.4 million.

    Deals and strategic moves:

    WhiteWave:

    Danone more than doubled in size in the U.S. when it bought Colorado-based WhiteWave Foods Co. on April 12, 2017, for $12.1 billion.

    WhiteWave's brands included Silk, International Delight, Horizon Organic, Wallaby Organic and Earthbound Farm.

    Following the deal, Danone operated in North America under the name DanoneWave. The company in 2018 changed the name of its North American operation to Danone North America.

    WhiteWave disclosed 2016 worldwide sales of $4.2 billion (including $3.4 billion from the U.S.).

    To help win regulatory approval for the WhiteWave acquisition, Danone agreed to sell Stonyfield, a U.S. dairy products business. Danone in August 2017 sold Stonyfield to Lactalis, a French dairy products marketer, for $875 million. Danone said Stonyfield generated 2016 turnover of about $370 million.

    Management and employees:

    Emmanuel Faber moved to chairman-CEO from CEO effective Dec. 1, 2017. Faber had been CEO since 2014. He succeeded Franck Riboud as chairman.

    History:

    Danone traces its origins to 1966, when two French glass makers, Glaces de Boussois and Verrerie Souchon Neuvesel, merged to form Boussois Souchon Neuvesel, or BSN.

    BSN in 1970 diversified into the food and beverage industry by buying three of its primary glass container customers: Brasseries Kronenbourg, Societe Europeenne de Brasseries and Societe Anonyme des Eaux Minerales d'evian.

    Those acquisitions made BSN France's market leader in beer, bottled water and baby food.

    BSN in 1973 merged with Gervais Danone, a French food and beverage group specializing in dairy and pasta products.

    During the 1970s and 1980s, after selling off its flat glass operations, BSN expanded its food and beverage portfolio, acquiring breweries, Generale Biscuit (owner of LU and other European biscuit brands), biscuit subsidiaries of Nabisco and Italian cheese maker Galbani.

    BSN in 1981 bought U.S. yogurt marketer Dannon from Beatrice Co., which had owned the brand since 1959. BSN in the 1990s bought Volvic, expanding Danone's bottled water business, and set the groundwork for international expansion by making various acquisitions outside Western Europe.

    BSB in 1994 changed its name to Groupe Danone.

    Groupe Danone beginning in the late '90s made divestitures in its grocery, pasta, prepared foods, confectionery products, beer, sauces and Italian cheese and meats businesses. The company also sold BSN Glasspack, its glass container business.

    The company in 2007 sold nearly all of its biscuit and cereal products holdings and acquired Numico, adding baby food and medical nutrition to its portfolio.

    Groupe Danone in 2009 shortened its name to Danone.

    Danone in 2017 more than doubled in size in the U.S. with its acquisition of WhiteWave Foods Co.

    http://www.danone.com

Deutsche Telekom (T-Mobile US)

  • Marketer profile
    Click here to see company's total worldwide advertising spending, measured-media spending by region, key executives and agencies.

    Overview:

    Deutsche Telekom is a global telecom company based in Germany.

    Its largest markets by revenue are Germany and (through T-Mobile US) the U.S.

    T-Mobile US is a U.S.-based provider of wireless phone services controlled by Deutsche Telekom. The company's key wireless brands are T-Mobile and Metro by T-Mobile (formerly MetroPCS).

    T-Mobile US in April 2018 signed a deal to buy Sprint Corp., controlled by Japan's SoftBank Group Corp., in a move to combine the No. 3 (T-Mobile) and No. 4 (Sprint) U.S. wireless firms.

    Rankings:

    T-Mobile US in 2016 moved past Sprint to become No. 3 in the U.S. wireless market based on number of customers, behind AT&T and Verizon Communications' Verizon Wireless.

    Sales and earnings:

    Worldwide sales and earnings figures shown in the Leading National Advertisers' Marketer Trees are for Deutsche Telekom.

    Marketing spending:

    U.S.:

    T-Mobile US:

    Total U.S. advertising spending shown in the Leading National Advertisers report and Marketer Trees database is stated "advertising expense" for T-Mobile US.

    Predecessor T-Mobile USA disclosed the following advertising expenses (pre-merger, excluding MetroPCS):

    2012: $949 million (4.81 percent of total revenue)
    2011: $711 million (3.45 percent of total revenue)
    2010: $582 million (2.73 percent of total revenue)

    MetroPCS disclosed the following advertising costs (pre-merger):

    2012: $199.5 million (3.91 percent of revenue)
    2011: $194.3 million (4.01 percent of total revenue)
    2010: $187.3 million (4.60 percent of total revenue)
    2009: $150.8 million (4.33 percent of total revenue)

    Worldwide ad spending:

    Total worldwide advertising spending figures shown in the World's Largest Advertisers report and related database are Deutsche Telekom's stated worldwide "marketing expenses" (including T-Mobile US) converted to dollars at average exchange rates by Ad Age Datacenter.

    Deutsche Telekom disclosed worldwide marketing expenses (sometimes referred to as "marketing costs") of 2.400 billion euros ($2.711 billion) in 2017; 2.300 billion euros ($2.546 billion) in 2016; 2.579 billion euros ($2.865 billion) in 2015; 2.465 billion euros ($3.277 billion) in 2014; and 2.386 billion euros ($3.169 billion) in 2013.

    In its annual report for calendar 2017, Deutsche Telekom said: "Marketing communication in our Group mainly takes the form of product and brand campaigns, such as Family Card, Stream On, Entertain, SmartHome, or of corporate campaigns such as our network build-out campaign. ... The marketing expenses comprise expenses incurred through market research, market analysis, target market studies, determining marketing strategies, designing the marketing mix, and carrying out and managing marketing initiatives. They also include expenses arising from customer retention programs, market planning and segmentation, and product forecasts."

    In its annual report for calendar 2015, Deutsche Telekom said: "Marketing expenses in the reporting year relate among other things to expenses for sponsoring, advertising, trade fairs, and other agency fees."

    Deals and strategic moves:

    T-Mobile US:

    Sprint Corp. acquisition:

    T-Mobile US April 29, 2018, announced a deal to buy Sprint Corp., controlled by Japan's SoftBank, in a move to combine the No. 3 (T-Mobile) and No. 4 (Sprint) U.S. wireless firms.

    Based on closing share prices before the announcement, T-Mobile US would buy Sprint in an all-stock deal with an enterprise value of about $59 billion.

    In announcing the deal, the companies said they expected to complete the transaction no later than the first half of calendar 2019.

    Deutsche Telekom and SoftBank expected to hold 41.7 percent and 27.4 percent of diluted economic ownership of the combined company, respectively, with the remaining 30.9 percent held by the public.

    Deutsche Telekom owned a 62.3 percent stake in T-Mobile US as of April 2018. SoftBank as of April 2018 owned 83.0 percent of Sprint Corp.

    The deal came after Deutsche Telekom, SoftBank, T-Mobile and Sprint had discussed earlier potential mergers of T-Mobile and Sprint.

    In a Nov. 4, 2017, press release, T-Mobile US said: "T-Mobile and Sprint today jointly announced that they have ceased talks to merge as the companies were unable to find mutually agreeable terms."

    That press release quoted T-Mobile US President-CEO John Legere as follows: "The prospect of combining with Sprint has been compelling for a variety of reasons, including the potential to create significant benefits for consumers and value for shareholders. However, we have been clear all along that a deal with anyone will have to result in superior long-term value for T-Mobile's shareholders compared to our outstanding stand-alone performance and track record. Going forward, T-Mobile will continue disrupting this industry and bringing our proven Un-carrier strategy to more customers and new categories--ultimately redefining the mobile Internet as we know it. We've been out-growing this industry for the last 15 quarters, delivering outstanding value for shareholders, and driving significant change across wireless. We won't stop now."

    Deutsche Telekom said in a Nov. 4, 2017, statement: "Following this year's spectrum auction in the U.S., T-Mobile US and Sprint Corp., together with their majority shareholders Deutsche Telekom AG and SoftBank [Group] Corp., talked about a potential combination of their businesses. An agreement about the general framework of such a merger could not be reached. Therefore, the talks were now put to an end."

    In its own Nov. 4, 2017, press release, Sprint said "it has ceased talks to merge with T-Mobile as the companies were unable to find mutually agreeable terms."

    That press release quoted Sprint President-CEO Marcelo Claure as follows: "While we couldn't reach an agreement to combine our companies, we certainly recognize the benefits of scale through a potential combination. However, we have agreed that it is best to move forward on our own. We know we have significant assets, including our rich spectrum holdings, and are accelerating significant investments in our network to ensure our continued growth. As convergence in the connectivity marketplace continues, we believe significant opportunities exist to establish strong partnerships across multiple industries. We are determined to continue our efforts to change the wireless industry and compete fiercely. We look forward to continuing to take the fight to the duopoly and newly emerging competitors."

    Sprint in early August 2014 abandoned its pursuit of T-Mobile amid indications a Sprint/T-Mobile merger could face tough regulatory scrutiny.

    Sprint and T-Mobile earlier in 2014 had discussed terms of a deal for Sprint to acquire T-Mobile. The two companies hoped a merger would create a stronger No. 3 player behind Verizon and AT&T.

    Sprint had eyed T-Mobile for several years. Sprint weighed making an offer before AT&T in March 2011 signed a deal to acquire T-Mobile from Deutsche Telekom. AT&T, facing strong opposition from the Justice Department and Federal Communications Commission, in December 2011 aborted its deal to acquire T-Mobile.

    Iliad proposal:

    Iliad, the No. 4 French wireless firm, in late July 2014 made an offer to buy T-Mobile US, entering the fray as Sprint Corp. continued to pursue T-Mobile. Iliad in October 2014 dropped its proposal to buy T-Mobile.

    MetroPCS acquisition:

    Deutsche Telekom's T-Mobile USA on April 30, 2013, merged with MetroPCS Communications, forming T-Mobile US, which began trading on the New York Stock Exchange the next day under the ticker symbol "TMUS."

    Under this deal, publicly traded MetroPCS staged a 1-for-2 reverse stock split; made a cash payment of $1.5 billion to MetroPCS stockholders (about $4.05 a share prior to the reverse stock split); acquired T-Mobile USA from Deutsche Telekom; and changed the name of "MetroPCS Communications Inc." to "T-Mobile US Inc."

    Deutsche Telekom ended up with about a 74 percent stake in T-Mobile US common stock. Former MetroPCS shareholders had a 26 percent stake.

    In announcing the closing of the deal, T-Mobile US said the combined company would operate T-Mobile and MetroPCS as separate brands.

    Deutsche Telekom and MetroPCS Communications on Oct. 3, 2012, had announced a deal to combine T-Mobile USA with MetroPCS, a smaller U.S. wireless firm. The agreement came nearly a year after AT&T ended a deal to buy T-Mobile USA. The companies said in their deal announcement: "This transaction will create the leading value carrier in the U.S. wireless marketplace."

    T-Mobile USA had U.S. market share of 8.4 percent in December 2012 while No. 6 MetroPCS had a 3.2 percent share, according to ComScore MobiLens. The combined firm remained No. 4 behind Sprint, which had a 15.7 percent share in December 2012, according to ComScore.

    T-Mobile in October 2018 changed the name of MetroPCS to "Metro by T-Mobile."

    AT&T deal:

    AT&T, facing strong opposition from the Justice Department and Federal Communications Commission, on Dec. 19, 2011, ended a bid to buy T-Mobile USA.

    AT&T on March 20, 2011, had announced a deal to buy T-Mobile USA from Deutsche Telekom in a cash-and-stock transaction valued at about $39 billion. AT&T said it would take about 12 months to complete the deal, indicating a target date of about March 2012. AT&T later in 2011 pushed back the expected closing to first-half 2012.

    Under terms of the deal, Deutsche Telekom would have received an approximately 8 percent stake in AT&T. However, AT&T had the right to increase the cash portion of the purchase price by up to $4.2 billion with a corresponding reduction in the stock component, as long as Deutsche Telekom received at least a 5 percent equity stake in AT&T.

    AT&T's agreement to buy T-Mobile followed reports that Sprint Nextel Corp. (now Sprint Corp.) was interested in acquiring T-Mobile.

    The T-Mobile acquisition would have made AT&T the nation's biggest wireless marketer, displacing Verizon Wireless.

    The U.S. Justice Department on Aug. 31, 2011, filed a civil antitrust lawsuit to block AT&T's acquisition of T-Mobile USA, stating that combining the second- and fourth largest U.S. cell phone companies would harm competition and likely raise prices for consumers. AT&T and Deutsche Telekom said they would push forward on the deal. The two companies terminated the deal on Dec. 19, 2011.

    Other T-Mobile deals:

    T-Mobile in February 2008 bought SunCom Wireless Holdings, a small U.S. wireless firm, for $1.6 billion. T-Mobile already had a roaming agreement with SunCom, which had about 1.1 million users in the Southeast, Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands.

    Stock:

    T-Mobile US:

    Deutsche Telekom owned a 63.17 percent stake in T-Mobile US as of March 2018 (and 62.3 percent as of April 2018); 64.32 percent as of March 2017; 65.11 percent as of March 2016; 65.95 percent as of March 2015; 66.7 percent as of March 2014; and about 74 percent as of April 2013.

    Management and employees:

    T-Mobile US:

    John J. Legere joined T-Mobile USA as president-CEO in September 2012 and became president-CEO of the merged T-Mobile US on April 30, 2013. Before joining T-Mobile USA, Legere was CEO of Global Crossing, a telecom firm, from 2001 to 2011.

    History:

    T-Mobile US:

    T-Mobile US's principal operating subsidiary, T-Mobile USA, was formed in 1994 as VoiceStream Wireless PCS, a subsidiary of Western Wireless Corp. VoiceStream was spun off from Western Wireless in May 1999, acquired by Deutsche Telekom on May 31, 2001 and renamed T-Mobile USA in July 2002.

    MetroPCS was established in 1996 as General Wireless. The company changed its name to MetroPCS Communications in 1998. MetroPCS Communications changed its name to T-Mobile US as part of the merger with T-Mobile USA on April 30, 2013. T-Mobile in October 2018 changed the name of MetroPCS to "Metro by T-Mobile."

    http://www.t-mobile.com

Diageo

  • Marketer profile
    Click here to see company's total worldwide advertising spending, measured-media spending by region, key executives and agencies.

    Overview:

    Diageo is an alcohol marketer with a bevy of brands across spirits and beer.

    Brands include Smirnoff vodka, Johnnie Walker scotch, Captain Morgan rum, Baileys Original Irish Cream liqueur, J&B scotch, Tanqueray gin, Guinness stout and Tequila Don Julio tequila.

    Diageo sells products in more than 180 countries.

    Marketing spending:

    Worldwide ad spending:

    Total worldwide advertising spending shown in the World's Largest Advertisers report and related database is Diageo's stated worldwide marketing spending converted to dollars by Ad Age Datacenter.

    U.S. ad spending:

    Total U.S. advertising spending shown in the Leading National Advertisers report and Marketer Trees database is Ad Age Datacenter's estimate of U.S. marketing spending.

    Diageo disclosed the following North America (U.S. and Canada) marketing spending:

    Year ended June 2018 (fiscal 2018): 662 million pounds ($874 million); 16.1 percent of net sales
    Year ended June 2017 (fiscal 2017): 642 million pounds ($815 million); 15.4 percent of net sales
    Year ended June 2016 (fiscal 2016): 541 million pounds ($803 million); 15.2 percent of net sales
    Year ended June 2015 (fiscal 2015): 542 million pounds ($854 million); 15.7 percent of net sales
    Year ended June 2014 (fiscal 2014): 540 million pounds ($878 million); 15.7 percent of net sales
    Year ended June 2013 (fiscal 2013): 581 million pounds (restated from 585 million pounds) ($912 million); 15.6 percent of net sales
    Year ended June 2012 (fiscal 2012): 548 million pounds ($869 million); 15.4 percent of net sales
    Year ended June 2011 (fiscal 2011): 508 million pounds ($808 million); 15.1 percent of net sales
    Year ended June 2010 (fiscal 2010): 472 million pounds ($741 million); 14.3 percent of net sales
    Year ended June 2009 (fiscal 2009): 431 million pounds ($690 million); 13.1 percent of net sales
    Year ended June 2008 (fiscal 2008): 369 million pounds (restated) ($740 million); 14.6 percent of net sales

    CEO Ivan Menezes told the Wall Street Journal in June 2014: "We will be moving about 25 percent of our media spend into the digital space" from about 17 percent in 2013.

    Deals and strategic moves:

    Diageo in November 2018 signed a deal to sell 19 spirits brands to Sazerac Co., a Louisiana-based alcoholic beverage marketer, for $550 million. Diageo expected to complete the sale in early 2019. The deal included these brands: Seagram's VO, Seagram's 83, Seagram's Five Star, Myers's, Parrot Bay, Romana Sambuca, Popov, Yukon Jack, Goldschlager, Stirrings, The Club, Scoresby, Black Haus, Peligroso, Relska, Grind, Piehole, Booth's and John Begg. In a statement announcing the deal, Diageo CEO Ivan Menezes said: "The disposal of these brands enables us to have even greater focus on the faster growing premium and above brands in the U.S. spirits portfolio." Diageo on Aug. 15, 2017, bought Casamigos, a super-premium tequila brand in the U.S. The transaction valued Casamigos at $1 billion, with an initial payment of $700 million and the remaining $300 million contingent on performance over 10 years. Casamigos was created in 2013 by founders Rande Gerber, George Clooney and Mike Meldman.

    Diageo on Jan. 1, 2016, sold its major wine interests (U.S.-based Chateau and Estate Wines; U.K.-based Percy Fox) to Treasury Wine Estates for $552 million. Following this deal, Diageo's wine interests were limited to Justerini & Brooks Wine Merchants, the Argentinian wine business of Navarro Correas, the wine brands of Mey Icki and USL, the Chalone brand and assets and the Acacia winery and vineyard. In a statement, CEO Ivan Menezes said: "Diageo's strategy is to drive stronger, sustained performance through focus on our core portfolio and today's announcement is another element of that strategy in action. Wine is no longer core to Diageo and this sale gives us greater focus."

    Diageo in October 2015 sold its 57.87 percent interest in Desnoes & Geddes (Jamaican Red Stripe business) to Heineken (increasing Heineken's stake to 73.32 percent); sold its 49.99 percent stake in GAPL (Guinness Anchor Berhad) to Heineken (increasing Heineken's interest to 100 percent); and bought Heineken's 20 percent stake in Guinness Ghana Breweries (raising Diageo's stake to 72.42 percent). GAPL holds 51 percent of Guinness Anchor Berhad in Malaysia and is the licensee for Guinness and ABC Stout distribution in Singapore.

    Diageo in September 2015 said it intended to increase its equity stake in Guinness Nigeria up to a maximum of 70.0 percent from 54.3 percent.

    Diageo in July 2015 said it, Heineken and the Ohlthaver & List Group of Cos. (majority shareholder of Namibia Breweries Limited) had agreed to restructure their South African and Namibian joint ventures. After the transaction, Diageo will operate in South Africa and Namibia through wholly owned subsidiaries.

    Diageo in April 2015 agreed to buy the remaining 50 percent stake in United National Breweries' traditional sorghum beer business in South Africa from Pestello Investments. Diageo bought its initial 50 percent stake in that business in January 2013.

    Diageo in February 2015 bought the remaining 50 percent stake in Tequila Don Julio, an ultra-premium tequila brand that had been owned 50/50 by Diageo and Mexico's Jose Cuervo. That gave Diageo full ownership of the brand. In return, Diageo sold Bushmills, an Irish whisky brand, to Jose Cuervo. The transaction resulted in a net payment of $408 million to Diageo. This asset swap came after Diageo's decades-old deal to distribute Jose Cuervo-branded tequila in North America expired in June 2013; Diageo declined to pursue a new distribution agreement after it was unsuccessful in negotiations to buy Jose Cuervo, the world's top-selling tequila brand, from Mexico's Beckmann family. Proximo Spirits, also owned by the Beckmann family, took over North American distribution effective July 2013.

    Diageo in April 2014 globally launched Haig Club Single Grain Scotch Whisky in partnership with retired soccer star David Beckham and British entrepreneur Simon Fuller. Diageo said: "Working alongside Diageo, Beckham and Fuller will play a fundamental role in developing the brand, its strategy and positioning." The product builds on the brand name of Haig, a Scotch whisky owned by Diageo.

    Diageo in January 2014 bought Peligroso, a super-premium tequila brand; and DeLeon, an ultra-premium tequila brand that Diageo acquired through a new 50/50 joint venture with rap star Sean Combs.

    Management and employees:

    Ivan Menezes moved to CEO from chief operating officer on July 1, 2013, succeeding Paul Walsh. Menezes joined Diageo in 1997. Walsh served as CEO for 13 years.

    Diageo promoted Syl Saller to CMO from global innovation director effective July 1, 2013. Saller joined the company in 1999. As CMO, she succeeded Andy Fennell, who moved to president and chief operating officer, Africa. Fennell had been CMO since October 2008.

    History:

    Diageo, based in London, was formed in 1997 following the merger of U.K. firms Grand Metropolitan and Guinness.

    Diageo (and predecessor Guinness) since 1994 has owned 34 percent of Moet Hennessy, the wine and spirits holding company of LVMH Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton.

    Vivendi Universal (now Vivendi) in 2001 sold Seagram's wine and spirit businesses to Diageo and Pernod Ricard. (Vivendi Universal was formed in December 2000 through a three-way merger of Vivendi, Canal Plus S.A. and Seagram Co. Seagram was a spirits company that in 1985 had purchased MCA (Universal Studios and MCA Music Entertainment Group, now Universal Media Group).)

    Diageo in October 2001 sold Pillsbury, its packaged-foods business, to General Mills for $10.4 billion.

    http://www.diageo.com

eBay

  • Marketer profile
    Click here to see company's total worldwide advertising spending, measured-media spending by region, key executives and agencies.

    Overview:

    EBay is an internet company whose businesses include the eBay online marketplace, the StubHub ticket business and online classifieds.

    EBay in 2015 narrowed its focus by divesting two units, PayPal Holdings and eBay Enterprise.

    Marketing spending:

    U.S. ad spending:

    Total U.S. advertising spending shown in the Leading National Advertisers report and Marketer Trees database is an Ad Age Datacenter estimate.

    Worldwide ad spending:

    Total worldwide advertising spending shown in the World's Largest Advertisers report and related database is eBay's stated worldwide advertising expense.

    In its 10-K filing for year ended December 2017, eBay disclosed 2017 worldwide advertising expense of $1.3 billion.

    EBay said in its 10-K for year ended December 2017:

    "We expense the costs of producing advertisements at the time production occurs and expense the cost of communicating advertisements in the period during which the advertising space or airtime is used, in each case as sales and marketing expense. Internet advertising expenses are recognized based on the terms of the individual agreements, which are generally over the greater of the ratio of the number of impressions delivered over the total number of contracted impressions, on a pay-per-click basis, or on a straight-line basis over the term of the contract. PayPal Holdings:

    In filings relating to its July 2015 spinoff from eBay, PayPal said:

    "[PayPal's] advertising expense totaled $272 million, $176 million and $193 million for the years ended December 31, 2014, 2013, and 2012, respectively.

    "Sales and marketing expenses consist primarily of customer acquisition, business development, advertising, marketing programs, and employee compensation and contractor costs to support these programs. Sales and marketing expenses increased by $207 million, or 26 percent, in 2014 compared to 2013.

    "Sales and marketing expenses increased by $129 million, or 19 percent, in 2013 compared to 2012. The increase in sales and marketing expenses in 2014 and 2013 was due primarily to higher spend to support our strategic initiatives.

    "In 2014, we redesigned our PayPal logo and made significant investments in campaigns designed to enhance our global brand recognition and drive consumer engagement.

    In its 10-K filing for year ended December 2015, PayPal Holdings disclosed 2015 worldwide advertising expenses of $303 million.

    Deals and strategic moves:

    EBay Enterprise:

    EBay in November 2015 sold eBay Enterprise for $925 million to an investor group consisting of Sterling Partners, Longview Asset Management and Innotrac Corp., a Sterling Partners portfolio company, in partnership with Permira Funds. EBay announced the deal in July 2015.

    EBay in January 2015 had said it was exploring strategic options for eBay Enterprise, including a possible sale or initial public offering of the business. In announcing that possible move, eBay said: "Enterprise is a strong business and a leading partner for large retailers, managing mission critical components of their e-commerce initiatives. However, it has become clear that it has limited synergies with either business and a separation will allow both to focus exclusively on their core markets, as we create two independent world class companies."

    EBay Enterprise formerly operated as GSI Commerce. EBay acquired GSI Commerce for about $2.4 billion on June 17, 2011, making GSI Commerce one of eBay's operating segments. In June 2013 eBay rebranded GSI Commerce as eBay Enterprise, and rebranded GSI Marketing Services as eBay Enterprise Marketing Solutions. EBay Enterprise Marketing Solutions as of 2015 was going to market under the shortened name of eBay Enterprise.

    PayPal Holdings:

    EBay completed the spinoff of PayPal Holdings in July 2015. EBay in September 2014 had announced it would split eBay and PayPal into separate public companies in 2015.

    Other deals:

    In its 10-K for year ended December 2017, eBay said: "Acquisition activity in 2017 was immaterial."

    EBay in 2016 completed six acquisitions -- Cargigi, Expertmaker, SalesPredict, Ticketbis, Ticket Utils and Corrigon -- for a total of $212 million.

    EBay said 2015 acquisition activity was immaterial.

    EBay in June 2015 sold its 28.4 percent stake in Craigslist, a network of local community sites, back to Craigslist. Under a confidential settlement agreement, eBay and Craigslist also ended long-standing litigation between the two firms. EBay bought the stake in Craigslist in 2004.

    EBay in 2014 completed three small acquisitions, all in its Marketplaces segment, for an aggregate purchase price of about $58 million.

    EBay in December 2013 bought Braintree, a global payment platform, for about $713 million.

    EBay made six other acquisitions in 2013, with four in its Marketplaces segment and two in its Payments segment, for a total price tag of about $164 million, mostly cash.

    EBay in 2012 completed three small acquisitions (two in its Marketplaces segment and one in its Payments segment) for a total price of $149 million, mainly cash.

    EBay in May 2012 sold Rent.com, an apartment rental site, for about $145 million to Primedia, a media company whose holdings include ApartmentGuide.com and Rentals.com.

    In addition to its GSI purchase, eBay in 2011 completed 12 other acquisitions including Where.com, a location-based media company with headquarters in Boston; Brands4friends, an online shopping club for fashion and lifestyle in Germany; a controlling stake in GittiGidiyor, an online marketplace in Turkey; and Zong, a provider of payment services through mobile carrier billing.

    EBay in December 2010 bought Milo, a local shopping engine based in Palo Alto, Calif.

    Other eBay acquisitions include Gmarket (2009); Fraud Sciences, Den Bla Avis and BilBasen, and Bill Me Later (2008); StubHub (2007); Tradera.com (2006); Shopping.com (2005); and Rent.com (2005). (As noted, eBay sold Rent.com in 2012.)

    EBay used to own Skype, an internet phone service. EBay in October 2005 bought Skype for $2.6 billion in cash and stock plus potential performance-based payments of up to $1.3 billion. EBay in October 2007 took a $1.4 billion impairment write-down on the value of Skype. EBay sold Skype in November 2009 to an investor group led by private investment firm Silver Lake for $1.9 billion in cash, a note valued at $125 million and a 30 percent equity stake in Skype. (At the time of that sale, eBay said fair value of its 30 percent equity stake was about $620.0 million, implying Skype at the time had an equity valuation of about $2.067 billion.) Skype filed for an initial public offering in August 2010 but did not go through with that IPO. Microsoft Corp. in October 2011 bought Skype for $8.6 billion cash.

    History:

    EBay launched in September 1995 and went public in September 1998.

    http://www.ebayinc.com

Estee Lauder Cos.

  • Marketer profile
    Click here to see company's total worldwide advertising spending, measured-media spending by region, key executives and agencies.

    Overview:

    Estee Lauder Cos. is a New York-based marketer of skin-care, makeup, fragrance and hair care products.

    Key brands include Estee Lauder, Clinique, Origins, M.A.C, Bobbi Brown, La Mer, Jo Malone London, Aveda and Too Faced. The company also is the global licensee for fragrances and/or cosmetics sold under brand names such as Tommy Hilfiger, Donna Karan New York, DKNY, Michael Kors and Tom Ford.

    Estee Lauder markets products in more than 150 countries and territories.

    Sales and earnings: Largest customer:

    Estee Lauder stopped disclosing its largest customer in its 10-K for fiscal 2018 (year ended June 2018).

    In earlier 10-K filings, the company said its largest customer was Macy's (parent of Macy's and Bloomingdale's), accounting for 8 percent of net sales in fiscal 2017 (year ended June 2017); 9 percent in fiscal 2016; 10 percent in fiscal 2015 and 2014; 11 percent in fiscal 2013, 2012, 2011 and 2010; 12 percent in 2009; 12 percent in 2008; 14 percent in fiscal 2007; and 16 percent in fiscal 2006.

    Marketing spending:

    U.S. ad spending:

    Total U.S. advertising spending figures shown in the Leading National Advertisers report and Marketer Trees database are Ad Age Datacenter's estimate of Estee Lauder's U.S. advertising, merchandising, sampling, promotion and product development expenses excluding the effect of purchase with purchase and gift with purchase promotions.

    Worldwide ad spending:

    Total worldwide advertising spending figures shown in the World's Largest Advertisers report and related database are the company's stated worldwide "advertising, merchandising, sampling, promotion and product development" expenses (which are included in selling, general and administrative expenses) "excluding the impact of purchase with purchase and gift with purchase promotions." (Estee Lauder records revenue generated from purchase-with-purchase promotions in net sales and costs of its purchase-with-purchase and gift-with-purchase promotions in cost of sales.)

    Stated worldwide "advertising, merchandising, sampling, promotion and product development" expenses "excluding the impact of purchase with purchase and gift with purchase promotions":

    Year ended June 2018: $3.287 billion (24.02 percent of net sales)
    Year ended June 2017: $2.689 billion (22.74 percent)
    Year ended June 2016: $2.607 billion (23.15 percent)
    Year ended June 2015: $2.559 billion (23.73 percent)
    Year ended June 2014: $2.618 billion (23.87 percent)
    Year ended June 2013: $2.541 billion (restated from $2.584 billion) (24.96 percent)
    Year ended June 2012: $2.418 billion (restated from $2.459 billion) (24.89 percent)
    Year ended June 2011: $2.161 billion (24.53 percent)
    Year ended June 2010: $1.819 billion (23.33 percent)
    Year ended June 2009: $1.693 billion (23.12 percent)
    Year ended June 2008: $1.836 billion (23.21 percent)
    Year ended June 2007: $1.641 billion (23.32 percent)
    Year ended June 2006: $1.514 billion (23.42 percent)

    Estee Lauder also discloses "global net expenses for advertising, merchandising, sampling, promotion and product development." That figure totaled $3.508 billion in year ended June 2018. See this record's Worldwide Ad Spending as Percent of Sales section for those expenses.

    In addition to its stated advertising and promotion expenses, Estee Lauder spends heavily on cooperative advertising.

    The 10-K for year ended June 2018 explained:

    "The company enters into transactions related to demonstration, advertising and counter construction, some of which involve cooperative relationships with customers. These activities may be arranged either with unrelated third parties or in conjunction with the customer. To the extent the company receives an identifiable benefit in exchange for consideration and the fair-value of the benefit can be reasonably estimated, the company's share of the counter depreciation and the other costs of these transactions (regardless of to whom they were paid) are reflected in Selling, general and administrative expenses."

    Those expenses were about:

    Year ended June 2018: $1.491 billion (10.90 percent of net sales)
    Year ended June 2017: $1.405 billion (11.88 percent)
    Year ended June 2016: $1.387 billion (12.32 percent)
    Year ended June 2015: $1.378 billion (12.78 percent)
    Year ended June 2014: $1.410 billion (12.85 percent)
    Year ended June 2013: $1.412 billion (13.87 percent)
    Year ended June 2012: $1.343 billion (13.83 percent)
    Year ended June 2011: $1.152 billion (13.08 percent)
    Year ended June 2010: $1.070 billion (13.73 percent)
    Year ended June 2009: $1.074 billion (14.66 percent)
    Year ended June 2008: $1.098 billion (13.88 percent)
    Year ended June 2007: $978 million (13.90 percent)
    Year ended June 2006: $912 million (14.11 percent)

    Marketing strategy and execution:

    Most of the company's creative marketing work is done by in-house creative teams. The creative staff designs and produces the sales materials, advertisements and packaging for products in each brand.

    Estee Lauder said this about marketing in its 10-K for year ended June 2018:

    "Our strategy to market and promote our products begins with our well-diversified portfolio of more than 25 distinctive brands across four product categories. Our portfolio can be deployed in multiple distribution channels, key travel corridors and geographies where our global reputation and awareness of our brands benefit us. Our geographic and distribution channel diversity allows us to engage local consumers across an array of developed and emerging markets by emphasizing products and services with the greatest local relevance, inclusiveness and appeal. This strategy is built around 'Bringing the Best to Everyone We Touch.' Our founder, Mrs. Estee Lauder, formulated this unique marketing philosophy to provide 'High-Touch' service and high quality products as the foundation for a solid and loyal consumer base. Our 'High-Touch' approach is demonstrated through our integrated consumer engagement models that leverage our product specialists and technology to provide the consumer with a distinct and truly personalized experience that can include personal consultations with beauty advisors, in person or online, who demonstrate and educate the consumer on product usage and application. We plan to continue to leverage our core strengths, including the quality of our products, our 'High-Touch' care to consumers and a diversified portfolio of brands, channels and geographies.

    "Our marketing strategies vary by brand, local market and distribution channel. We have a diverse portfolio of brands, and we employ different engagement models suited to each brand's equity, distribution, product focus, understanding of the core consumer and local relevance. This enables us to elevate the consumer experience as we attract new consumers, build loyalty, drive consumer advocacy and address the transformation of consumer shopping behaviors. Our marketing planning approach leverages local insights to optimize allocation of resources across different media outlets and retail touch points to resonate with our most discerning consumers most effectively. This includes strategically deploying our brands and tailoring product assortments and communications to fit local tastes and preferences in cities and neighborhoods. Most of our creative marketing work is done by in-house teams, in collaboration with external resources, that design and produce the sales materials, social media strategies, advertisements and packaging for products in each brand. For a number of products, we create and deploy 360 degree integrated consumer engagement programs. We build brand equity and drive traffic to retail locations and to our own and authorized retailers' websites through digital and social media, magazines and newspapers, television, billboards in cities and airports, and direct mail and email. In addition, we seek editorial coverage for our brands and products in digital and social media and print, to drive influencer amplification.

    "We are increasing our brand awareness and sales through our strategic emphasis on technology, by continuing to elevate our digital presence encompassing ecommerce and m-commerce, as well as digital, social media and influencer marketing. We are investing in new analytical capabilities to promote a more personalized experience across our distribution channels. We continue to innovate to better meet consumer online shopping preferences (e.g., how-to videos, ratings and reviews and mobile phone and tablet applications), support e-commerce and m-commerce businesses via digital and social marketing activities designed to build brand equity and 'High-Touch' consumer engagement, in order to continue to offer unparalleled service and set the standard for prestige beauty shopping online. We also support our authorized retailers to strengthen their e-commerce businesses and drive sales of our brands on their websites. We have opportunities to expand our brand portfolio online around the world, and we are investing in and testing new omnichannel concepts in the United States, China and other markets to increase brand loyalty by better serving consumers as they shop across channels and travel corridors. We have dedicated resources to implement creative, coordinated, brand-enhancing strategies across all online activities to increase our direct access to consumers.

    "Promotional activities and in-store displays are designed to attract new consumers, build demand and loyalty and introduce existing consumers to other product offerings from the respective brands. Our marketing efforts also benefit from cooperative advertising programs with some retailers, some of which are supported by coordinated promotions, such as sampling programs, including purchase with purchase and gift with purchase, and we continue to believe that the quality and perceived benefits of sample products have been effective inducements to purchases by new and existing consumers. Such activities attract consumers to our counters and websites and keep existing consumers engaged. Our marketing and sales executives spend considerable time in the field meeting with consumers, retailers, beauty advisors and makeup artists at the points of sale to enable us to offer a seamless experience across channels of distribution."

    Estee Lauder said this about marketing in its 10-K for year ended June 2017:

    "Our strategy to market and promote our products begins with our well-diversified portfolio of more than 25 distinctive brands across four product categories. Our portfolio can be deployed in multiple distribution channels and geographies where our global reputation and awareness of our brands benefit us. Our geographic and distribution channel diversity allows us to engage local consumers across an array of developed and emerging markets by emphasizing products and services with the greatest local relevance and appeal. This strategy is built around 'Bringing the Best to Everyone We Touch.' Our founder, Mrs. Estee Lauder, formulated this unique marketing philosophy to provide 'High-Touch' service and high quality products as the foundation for a solid and loyal consumer base. Our 'High-Touch' approach is demonstrated through our integrated consumer engagement models that leverage our product specialists and technology to provide the consumer with a distinct experience that can include personal consultations with beauty advisors, in person or online, who demonstrate and educate the consumer on product usage and application. We plan to continue to leverage our core strengths, including the quality of our products, our 'High-Touch' care to consumers and a diversified portfolio of brands, channels and geographies.

    "Our marketing strategies vary by brand, local market and distribution channel. Our diverse portfolio of brands employ different engagement models suited to each brand's equity, distribution, product focus and understanding of the core consumer. This enables us to elevate the consumer experience as we attract new customers, build loyalty, drive consumer advocacy and address the transformation of consumer shopping behaviors. Our marketing planning approach leverages local insights to optimize allocation of resources across different media outlets and retail touch points to resonate with our most discerning consumers most effectively. This includes strategically deploying our brands and tailoring product assortments and communications to fit local tastes and preferences in cities and neighborhoods. Most of our creative marketing work is done by in-house teams that design and produce the sales materials, social media strategies, advertisements and packaging for products in each brand. We build brand equity and drive traffic to retail locations and to our own and authorized retailers' websites through digital and social media, magazines and newspapers, television, billboards in cities and airports, and direct mail and email. In addition, we seek editorial coverage for our brands and products in digital and social media and print, to drive influencer amplification.

    "We are increasing our brand awareness and sales by continuing to elevate our digital presence encompassing e-commerce and m-commerce, as well as digital, social media and influencer marketing. We continue to innovate to better meet consumer online shopping preferences (e.g., how-to videos, ratings and reviews and mobile phone and tablet applications), support e-commerce and m-commerce businesses via digital and social marketing activities designed to build brand equity and 'High-Touch' consumer engagement, in order to continue to offer unparalleled service and set the standard for prestige beauty shopping online. We also support our authorized retailers to strengthen their e-commerce businesses and drive sales of our brands on their websites. We have opportunities to expand our brand portfolio online around the world, and we are investing in and testing new omnichannel concepts in the United States and other established markets to increase brand loyalty by better serving consumers as they shop across channels. We have dedicated resources to implement creative, coordinated, brand-enhancing strategies across all online activities to increase our direct access to consumers.

    "Promotional activities and in-store displays are designed to attract new consumers and introduce existing consumers to other product offerings from the respective brands. Our marketing efforts also benefit from cooperative advertising programs with some retailers, some of which are supported by coordinated promotions, such as sampling programs, including purchase with purchase and gift with purchase, and we continue to believe that the quality and perceived benefits of sample products have been effective inducements to purchases by new and existing consumers. Such activities attract consumers to our counters and websites and keep existing consumers engaged. Our marketing and sales executives spend considerable time in the field meeting with consumers, retailers, beauty advisors and makeup artists at the points of sale to enable us to offer a seamless experience across channels of distribution."

    Estee Lauder said this about marketing in its 10-K for year ended June 2016:

    "Our strategy to market and promote our products begins with our well-diversified portfolio of more than 25 distinctive brands across four product categories. This portfolio enhances our presence in the multiple geographies and distribution channels where our products are sold and our brands' global reputations benefit us when entering into emerging markets. Our geographic and distribution channel diversity allows us to engage local consumers across an array of developed and emerging markets by emphasizing products and services with the greatest local appeal. This strategy is built around 'Bringing the Best to Everyone We Touch.' Our founder, Mrs. Estee Lauder, formulated this unique marketing philosophy to provide 'High-Touch' service and high quality products as the foundation for a solid and loyal consumer base. Our 'High-Touch' approach is demonstrated through our integrated consumer engagement models that leverage our product specialists and technology to provide the consumer with a distinct experience that can include personal consultations with beauty advisors, in person or online, who demonstrate and educate the consumer on product usage and application.

    "Our marketing strategies vary by brand and local market. Our diverse portfolio of brands employ different engagement models suited to each brand's equity, distribution, product focus and understanding of the core consumer. This enables us to elevate the consumer experience as we attract new customers, build loyalty, drive consumer advocacy and address the transformation of consumer shopping behaviors. Our marketing planning approach leverages local insights to optimize allocation of resources across different media outlets and retail touch points to resonate with our most discerning consumers most effectively. This includes strategically deploying our brands and tailoring product assortments and communications to fit local tastes and preferences in cities and neighborhoods. Most of our creative marketing work is done by in-house teams that design and produce the sales materials, social media strategies, advertisements and packaging for products in each brand. We build brand equity and drive traffic to retail locations and to our own and authorized retailers' websites through digital and social media, magazines and newspapers, television, billboards in cities and airports, and direct mail and email. In addition, we seek editorial coverage for our brands and products not only in publications and other traditional media, but increasingly in digital and social media, leveraging significant opportunities for amplification.

    "We are increasing our brand awareness and sales by continuing to elevate our digital presence encompassing e-commerce and m-commerce, as well as digital and social media. In order to continue to offer unparalleled service and set the standard for prestige beauty shopping online, we continue to innovate to better meet consumer online shopping preferences (e.g., how-to videos, ratings and reviews and mobile phone and tablet applications), support e-commerce and m-commerce businesses via digital and social marketing activities designed to build brand equity and consumer engagement, and support our authorized retailers to strengthen their e-commerce businesses and drive sales of our brands on their websites. We have opportunities to expand our balanced brand portfolio online around the world, and we are investing in and testing new omnichannel concepts in the United States and other established markets to increase brand loyalty by better serving consumers as they shop across channels. We have dedicated resources to implement creative, coordinated, brand-enhancing strategies across all online activities to increase our direct access to consumers.

    "Promotional activities and in-store displays are designed to attract new consumers and introduce existing consumers to other product offerings from the respective brands. Our marketing efforts also benefit from cooperative advertising programs with some retailers, some of which are supported by coordinated promotions, such as sampling programs, including purchase with purchase and gift with purchase, and we continue to believe that the quality and perceived benefits of sample products have been effective inducements to purchases by new and existing consumers. Such activities attract consumers to our counters and websites and keep existing consumers engaged. Our marketing and sales executives spend considerable time in the field meeting with consumers, retailers, beauty consultants and makeup artists at the points of sale to enable us to offer a seamless experience across channels of distribution."

    Estee Lauder said this about marketing in its 10-K for year ended June 2015:

    "Our strategy to market and promote our products begins with our well-diversified portfolio of more than 25 distinctive brands across four product categories. We strive to be locally relevant with the marketing and visual merchandising of our products and services across an array of developed and emerging markets within the channels of distribution in which we operate. This strategy is built around 'Bringing the Best to Everyone We Touch.' Mrs. Estee Lauder formulated this unique marketing philosophy to provide 'High-Touch' service and high quality products as the foundation for a solid and loyal consumer base. Our 'High-Touch' approach is demonstrated through our integrated consumer engagement models that leverage our product specialists and technology to provide the consumer with a distinct experience that can include personal consultations with beauty advisors, in person or online, who demonstrate and educate the consumer on product usage and application.

    "Our marketing strategies vary by brand and local market. Our diverse portfolio of brands employ different engagement models suited to each brand's equity, distribution, product focus and understanding of the core consumer. This enables us to elevate the consumer experience as we attract new customers, build loyalty and drive advocacy. Our marketing planning approach leverages local insights to optimize allocation of resources across different media outlets and retail touch points to resonate with our most discerning consumers most effectively. Most of our creative marketing work is done by in-house creative teams that design and produce the sales materials, advertisements and packaging for products in each brand. We build brand equity and drive traffic to retail locations and to our websites through magazines and newspapers, digital and social media, television, billboards in cities and airports, and direct mail and email. In addition, we seek editorial coverage for our brands and products not only in publications and other traditional media, but increasingly in digital and social media, leveraging significant opportunities for amplification.

    "We are increasing our brand awareness and sales by expanding our digital presence encompassing e-commerce and m-commerce, as well as digital and social media. In order to continue to offer unparalleled service and set the standard for prestige beauty shopping online, we continue to innovate to better meet consumer online shopping preferences (e.g., how-to videos, ratings and reviews and mobile phone and tablet applications), support e-commerce and m-commerce businesses via digital and social marketing activities designed to build brand equity and consumer engagement, and support our authorized retailers to strengthen their e-commerce businesses and drive sales of our brands on their websites. We have opportunities to expand our balanced brand portfolio online around the world, and we are in the early stages of developing and testing omnichannel concepts to better serve consumers as they shop across channels. We have dedicated resources to implement coordinated, brand-enhancing strategies across all online activities to increase our direct access to consumers.

    "Promotional activities and in-store displays are designed to attract new consumers and introduce existing consumers to other product offerings from the respective brands. Our marketing efforts also benefit from cooperative advertising programs with some retailers, some of which are supported by coordinated promotions, such as purchase with purchase and gift with purchase. Such activities attract consumers to our counters and keep existing consumers engaged. Our marketing and sales executives spend considerable time in the field meeting with consumers, retailers, beauty consultants and makeup artists at the points of sale. We pioneered gift with purchase as a sampling program. We conduct extensive sampling programs, and continue to believe that the quality and perceived benefits of sample products have been effective inducements to purchases by new and existing consumers."

    Estee Lauder said this about marketing in its 10-K for year ended June 2014:

    "Our marketing strategy is built around 'Bringing the Best to Everyone We Touch.' Mrs. Estee Lauder formulated this marketing philosophy to provide 'High-Touch' service and high quality products as the foundation for a solid and loyal consumer base. Our marketing efforts focus principally on communicating the quality, value and benefits of our products. Each of our brands is distinctively positioned, and is promoted with consistent logos, packaging and advertising designed to enhance its image and differentiate it.

    "We regularly advertise our products on television, in magazines and newspapers, by digital and social media, on billboards and through direct mail and photo displays at international airports and seek editorial coverage for our brands and products in publications and other media.

    "Promotional activities and in-store displays are designed to attract new consumers and introduce existing consumers to different products in the line. Our marketing efforts also benefit from cooperative advertising programs with some retailers, some of which are supported by coordinated promotions, such as purchase with purchase and gift with purchase. Such activities attract consumers to our counters and allow us to introduce them to our products.

    "Our marketing and sales executives spend considerable time in the field meeting with consumers, retailers and beauty consultants at the points of sale. These include Estee Lauder Beauty Advisors, Clinique Consultants, Aramis Selling Specialists, Origins Guides and M.A.C and Bobbi Brown Makeup Artists. At in-store counters, consumers are offered a "High-Touch" experience with personal consultations to market individual products as well as to provide education on their use and application. We conduct extensive sampling programs, and we pioneered gift with purchase as a sampling program. We believe that the quality and perceived benefits of sample products have been effective inducements to purchases by new and existing consumers.

    "Our 'High-Touch; approach promotes the total value we offer by leveraging our in-person and virtual assets, as well as merchandising and education, to provide a customized consumer experience. To support this initiative, we continue to expand our online strategy into a multipronged digital strategy that encompasses e-commerce, m-commerce, as well as digital and social media. We have dedicated resources to implement coordinated, brand-enhancing strategies across all online activities to increase our direct access to consumers.

    "We continue to use the Internet to educate and inform consumers about certain of our brands. Currently, 16 of our brands have marketing websites. In order to continue to offer unparalleled service and set the standard for prestige beauty shopping online, we partner with key 'brick and mortar' retailers to strengthen their e-commerce business and drive sales of our brands on their websites, continue to innovate to better meet consumer online shopping preferences (e.g., how-to videos, ratings and reviews and mobile phone and tablet applications), and support e-commerce and m-commerce business via digital and social marketing activities designed to build brand equity and consumer engagement.

    "Most of our creative marketing work is done by in-house creative teams. The creative staff designs and produces the sales materials, advertisements and packaging for products in each brand."

    Estee Lauder said this about marketing in its 10-K for year ended June 2013:

    "Our marketing strategy is built around 'Bringing the Best to Everyone We Touch.' Mrs. Estee Lauder formulated this marketing philosophy to provide 'High-Touch' service and high quality products as the foundation for a solid and loyal consumer base. Our marketing efforts focus principally on communicating the quality, value and benefits of our products. Each of our brands is distinctively positioned, and is promoted with consistent logos, packaging and advertising designed to enhance its image and differentiate it from other brands.

    "We regularly advertise our products on television, in magazines and newspapers, by digital and social media, on billboards and through direct mail and photo displays at international airports and seek editorial coverage for our brands and products in publications and other media.

    "Promotional activities and instore displays are designed to attract new consumers and introduce existing consumers to different products in the line. Our marketing efforts also benefit from cooperative advertising programs with retailers, some of which are supported by coordinated promotions, such as purchase with purchase and gift with purchase. Such activities attract consumers to our counters and allow us to introduce them to our products.

    "Our marketing and sales executives spend considerable time in the field meeting with consumers, retailers and beauty consultants at the points of sale. These include Estee Lauder Beauty Advisors, Clinique Consultants, Aramis Selling Specialists, Origins Guides and M.A.C and Bobbi Brown Makeup Artists. At in-store counters, consumers are offered a 'High-Touch' experience with personal consultations to market individual products as well as to provide education on their use and application. We conduct extensive sampling programs and we pioneered gift with purchase as a sampling program. We believe that the quality and perceived benefits of sample products have been effective inducements to purchases by new and existing consumers.

    "Our 'High-Touch' approach promotes the total value we offer by leveraging our in-person and virtual assets, as well as merchandising and education, to provide a customized consumer experience. To support this initiative, we continue to expand our online strategy into a multipronged digital strategy that encompasses e-commerce, m-commerce, as well as digital and social media.

    "We have dedicated resources to implement coordinated, brand-enhancing strategies across all online activities to increase our direct access to consumers. We continue to use the Internet to educate and inform consumers about certain of our brands. Currently, 18 of our brands have marketing sites. In order to continue to offer unparalleled service and set the standard for prestige beauty shopping online, we partner with key "brick and mortar" retailers to strengthen their e-commerce business and drive sales of our brands on their websites, continue to innovate to better meet consumer online shopping preferences (e.g., how-to videos, ratings and reviews and mobile phone and tablet applications), and support e-commerce and m-commerce business via digital and social marketing activities designed to build brand equity and consumer engagement."

    Estee Lauder said this about marketing in its 10-K for year ended June 2012:

    "Our marketing efforts focus principally on promoting the quality, value and benefits of our products. Each of our brands is distinctively positioned, has a single global image, and is promoted with consistent logos, packaging and advertising designed to enhance its image and differentiate it from other brands. We regularly advertise our products on television, in upscale magazines and newspapers, online, on billboards and through direct mail and photo displays at international airports. In addition, our products receive extensive editorial coverage in prestige publications and other media worldwide. Promotional activities and in-store displays are designed to attract new consumers and introduce existing consumers to different products in the line. Our marketing efforts also benefit from cooperative advertising programs with retailers, some of which are supported by coordinated promotions, such as purchase with purchase and gift with purchase. Such activities attract consumers to our counters and allow us to introduce them to our products. Our marketing and sales executives spend considerable time in the field meeting with consumers and key retailers and consulting with demonstrators at the points of sale."

    That explanation was changed slightly from what Lauder said about marketing in its 10-K for year ended June 2011:

    "Our marketing efforts focus principally on promoting the quality, value and benefits of our products. Each of our brands is distinctively positioned, has a single global image, and is promoted with consistent logos, packaging and advertising designed to enhance its image and differentiate it from other brands. We regularly advertise our products on television and radio, in upscale magazines and newspapers, the internet, and through direct mail and photo displays at international airports. In addition, our products receive extensive editorial coverage in prestige publications and other media worldwide. Promotional activities and in-store displays are designed to introduce existing consumers to different products in the line and to attract new consumers. Our marketing efforts also benefit from cooperative advertising programs with retailers, some of which are supported by coordinated promotions, such as purchase with purchase and gift with purchase. Such activities attract consumers to our counters and allow us to introduce them to our products. Our marketing and sales executives spend considerable time in the field meeting with consumers and key retailers and consulting with demonstrators at the points of sale."

    Deals and strategic moves:

    Estee Lauder in June 2017 made an investment in Deciem, a vertically integrated multi-brand beauty products marketer. Terms weren't disclosed. Deciem was founded in 2013 in Toronto. Deciem markets a range of products across price points through its own multi-brand stores, department stores, e-commerce, TV shopping networks and select retailers, primarily in the U.S., U.K. and Canada.

    The company on Dec. 19, 2016, bought Too Faced, a makeup brand, for $1.476 billion. Estee Lauder said Too Faced net sales were expected to reach more than $270 million in 2016. The company booked Too Faced net sales of $165 million from date of acquisition through June 30, 2017. Too Faced launched in 1998. Estee Lauder in November 2016 bought Becca Cosmetics, a makeup brand launched in 2001. Price tag wasn't disclosed.

    The company in February 2016 bought By Kilian, a Paris-based prestige fragrance founded in 2007 by Kilian Hennessy. Price tag wasn't disclosed.

    Estee Lauder in December 2015 made an investment in Have & Be Co., a South Korea-based company that markets skin-care brands Dr. Jart+ and Do The Right Thing. Have & Be Co. was founded in 2015. Terms weren't disclosed.

    Estee Lauder in January 2015 bought Glamglow, a "Hollywood skin-care brand focused on fast-acting treatment masks designed to deliver stunning, camera-ready results." Glamglow was founded in 2010. Price tag wasn't disclosed.

    Also in January 2015, the company bought Editions de Parfums Frederic Malle, a French fragrance brand launch in 2000. Terms weren't disclosed.

    Estee Lauder in November 2014 bought Le Labo, a high-end fragrance launched in 2006, for an undisclosed price.

    The company in October 2014 acquired Rodin Olio Lusso, a New York-based luxury skin care brand founded in 2007. Terms weren't disclosed.

    The company in October 2012 launched Osiao, a brand Lauder said it "developed for the unique needs of Asian skin." The brand debuted that month in Hong Kong.

    The company bought Smashbox Beauty Cosmetics on July 1, 2010, for about $250 million. Estee Lauder said Smashbox is a "photo studio inspired prestige cosmetics company based in Los Angeles. Smashbox sells its products principally in the United States through specialty stores and the Internet, as well as internationally through distributors and select retailers."

    The company ended global distribution of its Prescriptives brand in the quarter ended March 31, 2010.

    Lauder in July 2008 launched Eyes by Design, a makeup brand for the eyes that it developed for home-shopping channel HSN and HSN.com.

    Lauder in June 2007 terminated the Gloss.com joint venture in which it had owned a majority stake. The beauty e-commerce site shut down July 1, 2007.

    In fiscal 2007, Lauder signed a deal with Coach Inc. to create fragrances and related products to be sold in Coach's leather-goods stores. In May 2007, the company entered into a license agreement with Ford Motor Co. to create a fragrance using the name Mustang.

    Lauder in 2007 bought Ojon Corp., a Canadian company that Lauder explained, markets "naturally derived, wildcrafted hair and skin care beauty products using ingredients found in the world's rainforests."

    History:

    Estee Lauder Cos. was founded in 1946 by Estee and Joseph Lauder.

    http://www.elcompanies.com

Expedia Group

  • Marketer profile
    Click here to see company's total worldwide advertising spending, measured-media spending by region, key executives and agencies.

    Overview:

    Expedia Group is a global online travel company based in Bellevue, Wash.

    Business segments and operations:

    The company's brands include:

    Expedia, a full-service online travel agency with sites in 33 countries.

    CarRentals.com, an online car rental booking company.

    CheapTickets, a U.S. online travel site.

    Classic Vacations, a luxury travel specialist.

    ebookers, a European travel brand.

    Egencia, a corporate travel management company.

    Expedia Affiliate Network, a private-label business-to-business brand.

    Expedia CruiseShipCenters, a seller of cruise vacations (80 percent owned by Expedia).

    Expedia Local Expert, a provider of online and in-market concierge services, activities and services.

    HomeAway, an operator of vacation-rental sites.

    Hotels.com, a hotel-only booking service.

    Hotwire.com, a discount travel provider.

    Orbitz, a U.S. online travel site.

    SilverRail Technologies, a global rail retail and distribution platform connecting rail carriers and suppliers to online and offline travel distributors.

    Travelocity, an online travel provider operating in the U.S. and Canada.

    Trivago, a hotel metasearch company.

    Wotif Group, an operator of travel brands in the Asia-Pacific region.

    Marketing spending:

    U.S. ad spending:

    Total U.S. advertising spending shown in the Leading National Advertisers report and Marketer Trees database is estimated by Ad Age Datacenter.

    Expedia made its 100 LNA debut in Ad Age's June 2012 ranking of the 100 Leading National Advertisers (based on estimated 2011 U.S. ad spending).

    Worldwide ad spending:

    Total worldwide advertising spending shown in the World's Largest Advertisers report and related database is Expedia's stated worldwide ad expense.

    Stated worldwide advertising expenses consist of offline costs, including TV and radio advertising, and online advertising. Ad expenses include media and production costs.

    Expedia disclosed 2017 worldwide advertising expenses of $3.3 billion.

    Deals and strategic moves:

    Liberty Expedia Holdings:

    Liberty Interactive Corp. in November 2016 split off Liberty Expedia Holdings (Nasdaq: LEXEA, LEXEB) as a separate company.

    Liberty Expedia Holdings is a bodybuilding and travel-services play.

    Liberty Expedia Holdings' principal assets are ownership of Vitalize LLC (formerly Bodybuilding.com LLC), an e-commerce venture that had been owned by Liberty Interactive, and a stake in Expedia Group.

    Liberty Expedia Holdings disclosed advertising costs of $3.312 billion in 2017; $439 million in 2016 (including ad spending for Expedia from Nov. 4, 2016, through Dec. 31, 2016; and ad spending for Vitalize for all of 2016); $9.4 million in 2015; $8.3 million in 2014; and $7.0 million in 2013. Figures for 2013, 2014 and 2015 reflect ad spending only for Bodybuilding.com.

    Trivago:

    Expedia in 2013 bought a 63 percent equity stake in Trivago, a hotel metasearch company based in Germany, for 477 million euros ($634 million).

    Trivago staged an initial public offering of stock in December 2016.

    Before the IPO, Expedia owned a 63.5 percent stake in Trivago.

    After the IPO, Expedia owned a 59.7 percent stake (and 64.7 percent voting interest) in Trivago as of Dec. 31, 2016.

    Expedia as of year-end 2017 owned a 59.6 percent stake in Trivago.

    Trivago disclosed the following worldwide advertising expense:

    2017: 884.7 million euros ($999.5 million) (85.4 percent of total worldwide revenue)
    2016: 623.5 million euros ($690.3 million) (82.7 percent of total worldwide revenue)
    2015: 432.2 million ($480.1 million) (87.6 percent of total worldwide total revenue)
    2014: 271.4 million ($360.8 million) (87.7 percent of total worldwide revenue).

    Other deals and strategic moves:

    Expedia in August 2018 bought the remaining 25 percent stake in AAE Travel for $60 million, giving Expedia 100 percent ownership of the Asian travel venture. AAE Travel had been a joint venture formed by the two firms in March 2011; Expedia had held a 75 percent stake since 2015.

    Expedia in June 2017 bought a majority stake in SilverRail Technologies. The two firms had worked together since 2010, when Egencia, Expedia's corporate travel brand, began using SilverRail to offer rail inventory in the U.S. SilverRail distributes rail tickets for various global rail providers and carriers.

    Expedia said it had "nominal acquisition activity during the year ended December 31, 2016."

    Expedia in December 2015 bought HomeAway, an Austin, Texas-based operator of vacation-rental sites, for $3.6 billion in cash and Expedia stock. HomeAway disclosed worldwide "advertising expenses" of $59.978 million in 2014 (13.4 percent of total revenue); $39.138 million in 2013 (11.3 percent); and $37.559 million in 2012 (13.4 percent). HomeAway said in its 10-K for calendar 2014: "We are focused on a combination of marketing strategies including pay-per-click advertising, search engine optimization, and brand and display advertising, with a goal of driving more travelers and bookings to our websites as well as increasing the exposure of the vacation rental category. We expect spending in sales and marketing to increase over time as we add online and offline marketing campaigns to increase our brand awareness to travelers and property owners and managers, and as we increase our marketing support for our growing performance-based listing base."

    Expedia in September 2015 acquired rival Orbitz Worldwide for about $1.8 billion, including assumption of debt. The deal included consumer travel planning sites Orbitz (orbitz.com), ebookers (ebookers.com), HotelClub(hotelclub.com) and CheapTickets (cheaptickets.com). Orbitz reported worldwide marketing expenses of $334 million in 2014 (35.8 percent of net revenue); $292 million in 2013 (34.5 percent); $253 million in 2012 (32.5 percent); $242 million in 2011 (31.6 percent); and $233 million in 2010 (30.8 percent). Orbitz said in its 10-K for year ended December 2014: "Our marketing expense is primarily composed of online marketing costs, such as search engine marketing and travel research; offline marketing costs, such as television, radio and print advertising; and commissions to affiliates, including distribution partners. Our online marketing spending is significantly greater than our offline marketing spending."

    Expedia in May 2015 sold its 62.4 percent stake in eLong, a travel booking site in China, to several purchasers based in China, including Ctrip.com International, Keystone Lodging Holdings, Plateno Group and Luxuriant Holdings, for about $671 million ($666 million net of costs to sell and other transaction expenses).

    Expedia in January 2015 acquired online-travel business Travelocity from Sabre Corp. for $280 million cash. The deal followed a long-term strategic marketing agreement announced in August 2013 under which Expedia powered the technology platforms for Travelocity's existing websites in the U.S. and Canada. In conjunction with the 2013 marketing agreement, Expedia and Travelocity owner Sabre Holdings Corp. agreed to certain options in which Expedia could buy, or Sabre could require Expedia to buy, certain assets relating to the Travelocity business.

    Stock:

    Liberty Expedia Holdings has a majority voting stake in Expedia.

    Liberty Interactive Corp. in November 2016 split off Liberty Expedia Holdings (Nasdaq: LEXEA, LEXEB) as a separate company.

    As of April 2018, Liberty Expedia Holdings owned 15.72 percent of Expedia outstanding common stock (and a 52.31 percent voting interest, by way of owning both Expedia common stock and 100 percent of Expedia class B common stock).

    History:

    1996: Microsoft Corp.'s Travel Technology Group launched Expedia.com in October 1996.

    1999: Microsoft staged initial public offering for Expedia Inc. under ticker EXPE.

    1999: IAC/InterActiveCorp (then known as USA Networks Inc.) bought Hotel Reservations Network (later renamed Hotels.com).

    2000: IAC staged initial public offering for Hotels.com; IAC kept a stake.

    2002: IAC bought controlling interest in Expedia Inc. (including Expedia.com).

    2003: IAC bought all of Hotels.com.

    2003: IAC bought all of Expedia.

    2003: IAC bought anyway.com.

    2003: IAC bought Hotwire.

    2004: IAC bought egencia.com (which became Expedia Corporate Travel-Europe).

    2004: IAC bought TripAdvisor, an online travel-information media company.

    2004: IAC bought minority stake in eLong, a travel booking site in China.

    2005: IAC bought majority control of eLong.

    2005: IAC spun off its travel-related businesses as Expedia Inc., a public company listed on Nasdaq.

    2011: Expedia spun off TripAdvisor as a standalone, Nasdaq-listed online media company.

    2012: Expedia acquired Via Travel, a travel-management company in the Nordics.

    2013: Expedia bought a 63 percent stake in Trivago, a hotel metasearch company based in Germany, for 477 million euros ($634 million).

    2014: Expedia bought Auto Escape Group, an online car-rental reservation company in Europe.

    2014: Expedia purchased Wotif.com Holdings (Wotif Group), an Australia-based online travel company.

    2015: Expedia acquired online travel venture Travelocity, building on a long-term strategic marketing agreement announced in 2013.

    2015: Expedia sold its majority stake in eLong.

    2015: Expedia acquired Orbitz Worldwide, a U.S.-based online travel company.

    2015: Expedia bought HomeAway, a U.S.-based operator of vacation-rental sites.

    2017: Expedia bought a majority stake in SilverRail Technologies, a distributor of rail tickets for various global rail providers and carriers.

    2018: Expedia Inc. in March 2018 changed its corporate name to Expedia Group Inc.

    https://www.expediagroup.com

Fiat Chrysler Automobiles

  • Marketer profile
    Click here to see company's total worldwide advertising spending, measured-media spending by region, key executives and agencies.

    Overview:

    Fiat Chrysler Automobiles is a global automaker based in London.

    Fiat Chrysler Automobiles, or FCA, took shape in January 2014 after Fiat S.p.A., an automaker based in Turin, Italy, acquired 100 percent ownership of Michigan-based Chrysler Group LLC (now FCA US LLC).

    Business segments and operations:

    Fiat Chrysler Automobiles officially launched Oct. 12, 2014, when Fiat S.p.A. merged into Fiat Investments N.V., which at that point was renamed Fiat Chrysler Automobiles N.V., or FCA NV.

    FCA is incorporated under Dutch law and is a "resident for tax purposes" in the United Kingdom, with corporate headquarters in London.

    Auburn Hills, Mich.-based FCA US LLC operates as a unit of FCA.

    Fiat announced its plans to reorganize as FCA on Jan. 29, 2014, after completing its acquisition of Chrysler Group (now FCA US) on Jan. 21, 2014.

    Fiat formed a global alliance with Chrysler in June 2009, buying a minority stake in the then-bankrupt automaker. Fiat became Chrysler's majority owner in July 2011 and then acquired 100 percent ownership of Chrysler in January 2014.

    The company in December 2014 changed the name of its primary U.S.-based unit to FCA US LLC from Chrysler Group LLC.

    FCA US LLC is part of FCA's "NAFTA" segment; the other primary parts of the NAFTA segment are FCA Canada Inc. (formerly Chrysler Canada Inc.) and FCA Mexico S.A. de C.V. (formerly Chrysler de Mexico S.A. de C.V.). The NAFTA segment markets FCA's mass-market autos and light trucks -- Chrysler, Dodge, Fiat, Jeep, Ram, Alfa Romeo -- in the U.S., Canada, Mexico and the Caribbean.

    FCA Italy S.p.A. includes Italian auto brands Fiat, Alfa Romeo, Lancia and Abarth and Fiat Professional light commercial vehicles. The company in December 2014 changed the name of its Italian unit to FCA Italy S.p.A. from Fiat Group Automobiles S.p.A.

    FCA also owns Italian luxury auto brand Maserati.

    Fiat acquired Lancia in 1978; Alfa Romeo in 1984; Maserati in 1993; and Chrysler Group starting in 2009.

    FCA previously owned Italian luxury auto brand Ferrari. FCA in October 2015 staged an initial public offering for Ferrari (ticker: RACE) by selling a minority stake. FCA spun off its remaining stake in Ferrari on Jan. 3, 2016. Fiat acquired Ferrari in 1975.

    The Fiat brand reentered the U.S. in 2011, marketed by Chrysler Group (now FCA US). The Alfa Romeo brand reentered the U.S. in 2014, marketed by FCA US.

    Fiat in June 2011 became the general distributor of Chrysler Group vehicles and service parts in Europe, selling FSA US vehicles through a network of newly appointed dealers. Fiat also distributes FSA US vehicles in South America.

    Fiat in January 2011 split off its non-auto operations -- Trucks & Commercial Vehicles, Agricultural & Construction Equipment -- through a "demerger" into a separate company, Fiat Industrial. Fiat Industrial in September 2013 completed a merger with CNH Global, forming Essex, U.K.-based CNH Industrial N.V. (CNH Global was created by the 1999 merger of heavy-equipment manufacturers Case Corp. and New Holland.)

    Sales and earnings:

    Worldwide revenue shown is FCA's stated worldwide net revenue (converted to U.S. dollars by Ad Age).

    FCA doesn't disclose U.S. revenue. Instead, FCA discloses revenue for a "NAFTA" segment that includes FCA's mass-market autos and light trucks in U.S., Canada, Mexico and the Caribbean.

    FCA also discloses North America geographic revenue, including NAFTA (mass-market autos and light trucks) and luxury vehicles (Maserati).

    The NAFTA segment's primary units are FCA US (formerly Chrysler Group LLC), FCA Canada Inc. (formerly Chrysler Canada Inc.) and FCA Mexico S.A. de C.V. (formerly Chrysler de Mexico S.A. de C.V.).

    The U.S. accounted for 85.4 percent of the NAFTA segment's mass-market vehicle sales in 2017; 85.9 percent in 2016; 85.6 percent in 2015 (restated); 85.2 percent in 2014 (restated); 83.8 percent in 2013; and 83.1 percent in 2012.

    Marketing spending:

    U.S. ad spending:

    U.S. ad spending figures shown in Marketer Trees and Leading National Advertisers reflect estimated U.S. spending for FCA.

    Worldwide ad spending:

    In 20-F regulatory filings, FCA said worldwide advertising costs accounted for about 45 percent of "selling, general and other costs" in 2017, 47 percent in 2016, 47 percent in 2015 (restated) and 45 percent in 2014.

    That implies worldwide ad spending of about 3.323 billion euros ($3.754 billion) in 2017, 3.557 billion euros ($3.938 billion) in 2016, 3.561 billion euros ($3.955 billion) in 2015 (restated) and 3.138 billion euros ($4.171 billion) in 2014 (restated). "Selling, general and other costs" includes advertising, personnel and administrative costs. FCA's 20-F filings also disclosed worldwide "advertising and promotion expenses" of:

    2017: 5.661 billion euros ($6.396 billion)
    2016: 6.478 billion euros ($7.172 billion)
    2015: 5.855 billion euros ($6.504 billion)
    2014: 4.916 billion euros ($6.535 billion)
    2013: 4.808 billion euros ($6.386 billion)

    FCA's 2017 worldwide selling, general and other costs decreased 2.4 percent to 7.385 billion euros ($8.343 billion).

    The 20-F filing for year ended December 2017 said:

    "The decrease in selling, general and other costs in 2017 as compared with 2016 primarily relates to (i) lower advertising and marketing costs, primarily in NAFTA [U.S., Canada, Mexico and Caribbean islands], (ii) foreign exchange translation effects and (iii) cost efficiencies, mainly in NAFTA and EMEA [Europe, Middle East, Africa], which were partially offset by increased launch costs for Alfa Romeo in NAFTA, APAC [Asia Pacific] and EMEA."

    The 20-F filing for year ended December 2016 said:

    "Selling, general and other costs in 2016 was consistent with 2015 and primarily reflected (i) higher advertising costs in NAFTA to support product launches, mainly related to the all-new Chrysler Pacifica, (ii) higher advertising costs in EMEA, mainly for new product launches, particularly the Alfa Romeo brand, and (iii) an increase in Maserati for commercial launch activities, which were offset by (iv) lower marketing costs in APAC, which are now incurred by the GAC FCA JV as a result of the shift to localized production in China, and (v) lower costs in LATAM [South America and Central America] primarily driven by continued cost reduction initiatives to right-size to market volume."

    GAC Fiat Chrysler Automobiles Co., or GAC FCA JV, is a joint venture with Guangzhou Automobile Group Co. that assembles Jeep vehicles for the Chinese market.

    In its 20-F regulatory filing for year ended December 2015, FCA said worldwide advertising costs accounted for about 46 percent of "selling, general and administrative costs" in 2015 and about 45 percent in 2014 (restated). That implies worldwide ad spending of about 3.555 billion euros ($3.949 billion) in 2015 and 3.126 billion euros ($4.155 billion) in 2014 (restated). The 20-F said 2014 ad spending rose 293 million euros; that implies 2013 ad spending of 2.833 billion euros ($3.763 billion). In its 20-F regulatory filing for year ended December 2014, FCA said worldwide advertising costs accounted for about 44.0 percent of selling, general and administrative costs in 2014 and about 43.0 percent in 2013. That implies worldwide ad spending of 3.117 billion euros ($4.143 billion) in 2014 and 2.882 billion euros ($3.828 billion) in 2013. That in turn implies 2014 worldwide ad costs rose 235 million euros in 2014; however, that implied increase doesn't reconcile with another FCA disclosure that worldwide ad expenses in 2014 rose 293 million euros. The 20-F filing for year ended December 2014 said 2013 worldwide ad expenses rose 37 million euros.

    The 20-F filing for calendar 2014 said this about ad spending in 2014: "The increase in advertising expenses was largely attributable to the APAC"-Asia Pacific-"and NAFTA segments to support the growth of the business in their respective markets. In addition, advertising expenses increased within the NAFTA segment for new product launches, including the all-new 2014 Jeep Cherokee and the all-new 2015 Chrysler 200. There were additional increases in advertising expenses for the EMEA segment"-Europe, Middle East, Africa-"related to the Jeep brand growth and new product launches, including the all-new 2014 Jeep Cherokee and Renegade."

    The 20-F filing for calendar 2014 said this about ad spending in the previous year (2013): "In particular, advertising expenses increased in 2013 due to the product launches in the NAFTA segment (2014 Jeep Grand Cherokee, the all-new 2014 Jeep Cherokee and the all-new Fiat 500L), in the APAC segment (Dodge Journey) and the Maserati segment (Quattroporte and Ghibli), which continued following launch to support the growth in their respective markets, which were partially offset by a decrease in advertising expenses for the EMEA segment as a result of efforts to improve the focus of advertising campaigns."

    FCA US ad spending:

    FCA made separate financial filings for FCA US through November 2015, when FCA ceased making filings for FCA U.S. FCA US (formerly Chrysler Group) is 100 percent owned by FCA,

    In those financial disclosures, FCA US and predecessor Chrysler Group disclosed the following worldwide advertising spending:

    2015 (first nine months of year): $2.248 billion (3.44 percent of net revenue)
    2014 (first nine months of year): $2.220 billion (3.69 percent)
    2014: $3.157 billion (3.80 percent)
    2013: $2.788 billion (3.86 percent)
    2012: $2.742 billion (4.17 percent)
    2011: $2.560 billion (4.66 percent)
    2010: $1.721 billion (4.10 percent)
    Post-bankruptcy period of June 10, 2009, to Dec. 31, 2009: $677 million (3.82 percent)
    Jan. 1, 2009, to June 9, 2009 (predecessor company): $376 million (3.39 percent)

    FCA US's 10-Q for the nine months ended September 2015 said: "Advertising expenses consist primarily of national and regional media campaigns, as well as marketing support in the form of trade and auto shows, events and sponsorships."

    In disclosures, FCA US said advertising costs accounted for about 57 percent of adjusted worldwide selling, administrative and other expenses (a bucket that includes advertising, personnel, warehousing and other costs) in the first nine months of 2015; 56 percent in the first nine months of 2014; and 60 percent in calendar 2014. Advertising costs as percentage of worldwide selling, administrative and other expenses was 53 percent in 2013; 53 percent in 2012; 54 percent in 2011; and 44 percent in 2010.

    In its 10-K for year ended December 2014, FCA US said: "In 2014, our advertising expenses supported the vehicle launch for the all-new 2015 Chrysler 200, and we continued our advertising spending for the all-new 2014 Jeep Cherokee to build upon the success of the vehicle, along with continued marketing support in international markets. In 2013, we launched the significantly refreshed 2014 Jeep Grand Cherokee, the all-new 2014 Jeep Cherokee and the all-new Fiat 500L."

    In its 10-K for year ended December 2013, Chrysler Group said: "We are continuing to focus heavily on building the value of our brands as a means to increase sales of our vehicles and service parts to minimize our reliance on sales incentives. This effort has included our multi-year campaigns to strengthen our Chrysler, Jeep, Dodge and Mopar brands, to develop Ram as a separate brand, to add the SRT designation for select performance vehicles, and to reintroduce the Fiat brand in the U.S. and Canadian markets.

    "In 2013, we continued to invest in our brands and our advertising campaigns emphasize the distinct features of each brand, such as the long-standing relationship of the Ram brand and the Future Farmers of America organization. The Dodge brand teamed with Paramount Pictures to launch the successful Ron Burgundy marketing campaign for the new 2014 Dodge Durango. Further, we strengthened the global footprint of the Jeep brand in 2013 through concerted advertising and marketing campaigns which included an emphasis on the brand's historical ties to the U.S. military and many high-profile sponsorships. Jeep brand worldwide sales set an all-time record in 2013 of approximately 732,000 vehicles, with continued growth outside of North America."

    The 10-K for year ended December 2013 continued: "Each brand is headed by an individual with responsibility for the brand's identity and product portfolio and advertising strategy. The head of each brand is responsible for ensuring that each vehicle within that brand's product lineup reflects brand attributes such as distinct appearance, capability, performance, content, ride and handling differentiation. In addition, we have separated advertising and marketing efforts for each brand to further underscore brand differentiation. We believe our substantial investment in marketing contributed to the nine percent increase in our U.S. vehicle sales in 2013 over 2012."

    In its 10-K for year ended December 2012, Chrysler Group said: "We are continuing to focus heavily on building the value of our brands as a means to increase sales of our vehicles and service parts to minimize our reliance on sales incentives. This effort has included our multi-year campaign to strengthen our Chrysler, Jeep, Dodge and Mopar [parts] brands, to develop Ram [pickup] as a separate brand, to add the SRT designation for select performance vehicles, and to reintroduce the Fiat brand in the U.S. and Canadian markets.

    "Our marketing efforts, particularly our 'Imported from Detroit' campaign, garnered significant attention and accolades for us throughout 2011 and 2012. Though the campaign centered on the Chrysler brand, the momentum of the advertisements elevated all our brands and enhanced our company image. In 2012, we launched additional campaigns to support the launch of the Dodge Dart, to increase global awareness of the Jeep brand and to better target potential Ram buyers. During that year, we had record worldwide Jeep brand sales. ... We believe our substantial investment in marketing has contributed to the 21 percent increase in [Chrysler Group] U.S. vehicle sales in 2012."

    The year-end December 2012 10-K continued: "We have continued to have each brand headed by a single individual with responsibility for the brand's identity and product portfolio. The head of each brand is responsible for ensuring that each vehicle within that brand's product lineup reflects brand attributes such as distinct appearance, capability, performance, content, ride and handling. In addition, we have separated advertising and marketing efforts for each brand to further underscore brand differentiation.

    "In 2013, we will continue to invest in our brands and are turning our focus to 'giving back,' a theme captured in our recently launched campaigns that emphasize the historical ties of the Jeep brand to the U.S. military and the long-standing relationship of the Ram brand and the Future Farmers of America Organization.

    "As with our own brands, our management of the Fiat brand for the North American market is headed by a single individual," the 10-K for year ended December 2012 said. "We and Fiat are jointly responsible for determining strategies, policies and plans relating to this part of our portfolio and Chrysler Group is responsible for management and implementation of such plans and policies."

    Agencies:

    FCA US agencies:

    Chrysler Group (predecessor to FCA US) from December 2009 through late 2010 brought on a new cast of agencies, ending a relationship with Omnicom Group agencies that dated to 1926.

    In December 2009, Chrysler Group named Interpublic Group of Cos.' UM as agency of record for media planning and buying as well as retail advertising trafficking for the Ram Truck, Dodge, Chrysler and Jeep brands in the U.S., Canada and Mexico.

    Also in December 2009, Chrysler Group said Meredith Corp.'s Meredith Integrated Marketing would manage customer-relationship-management initiatives in the U.S. and Canada. (Meredith already had a custom-publishing relationship with Chrysler.)

    Omnicom's PHD previously handled Chrysler Group's media services; Omnicom's BBDO Detroit had handled CRM work.

    The automaker in December 2009 hired Publicis Groupe's Fallon as agency for the Chrysler brand, succeeding BBDO. Fallon resigned the Chrysler account months later, in July 2010, to take on General Motors Co.'s Cadillac. (GM in June 2013 moved Cadillac to Rogue, an agency set up by Interpublic to handle Cadillac, following a review that included Fallon.)

    The company in January 2010 named independent Richards Group, Dallas, as creative agency of record for the Ram Truck brand, formerly at BBDO.

    Interpublic's Gotham, New York, in May 2010 was brought on to work on image ads for the company.

    Chrysler Group in September 2010 named The Licensing Co., a licensing agency, as worldwide licensing agency for the Chrysler and Jeep brands.

    Chrysler Group in November 2010 awarded dealer/retail advertising to independent Doner, Southfield, Mich., shortly after Doner lost the Mazda account.

    Chrysler Group in 2010 restructured agency assignments, separating agencies by job rather than brand. Wieden leads on all national branding for Chrysler and Dodge. GlobalHue became lead agency on Jeep, though Wieden produced the launch campaign for Jeep Grand Cherokee in 2010. Richards retained Ram. Doner, as noted, handled retail-driven ads. GlobalHue handled multicultural ads for the Chrysler, Dodge, Jeep and Ram brands.

    FCA US (formerly Chrysler Group) handles marketing for the Fiat brand in North America. Chrysler in early 2011 reintroduced the Fiat brand in the market. Fiat, which had exited the U.S. market in 1984, returned with its retro-cool Fiat 500. The launch campaign was produced by Impatto Custom Marketing, an independent agency in Southfield, Mich. Fiat ended its relationship with Impatto later in 2011. Chrysler roster shops Doner and Richards Group produced Fiat advertising later in 2011.

    Chrysler in March 2011 dropped Meredith Corp.-owned New Media Strategies over a Twitter debacle in which an agency staffer made an f-bomb tweet. Chrysler in August 2011 named independent Ignite as its new social media agency of record.

    FCA US in August 2015 began creative reviews for agencies for its Alfa Romeo and Jeep brands. FCA earlier in 2015 parted with Jeep agency GlobalHue, which had been creative agency of record for Jeep since January 2010. Jeep was handled by BBDO before the brand moved to GlobalHue.

    FCA in October 2015 moved online advertising for Chrysler, Dodge, Fiat North America, Jeep and Ram to Interpublic's Huge following a review. Publicis Groupe-owned SapientNitro, digital agency of record since May 2010 (when the account moved from Omnicom's Organic), saw its assignment reduced in the 2015 review, though SapientNitro continued to handle website creative and development. SapientNitro in November 2016 became SapientRazorfish.

    FCA in March 2016 confirmed the selection of Omnicom's DDB as agency of record for Jeep and Alfa Romeo, bringing Omnicom back into the fold.

    DDB and Cheil Worldwide's Iris Worldwide in early 2016 had produced Super Bowl commercials for FCA's Jeep. FCA in early 2016 also added Interpublic's FCB to the roster for Jeep and Fiat.

    DDB in early 2016 also produced U.S. work for Alfa Romeo.

    Independent Translation in early 2016 also worked on Jeep projects.

    FCA in March 2016 confirmed the selection of FCB, Chicago, as official agency of record for its Fiat brand in North America, replacing Richards Group, which remained agency of record for the Ram brand.

    FCA in parted with independent Wieden & Kennedy in March 2016. Wieden had worked on brands across the FCA portfolio--including Jeep and Maserati--but was considered the agency of record for Chrysler and Dodge. The company in January 2010 had named Wieden as creative agency of record for the Dodge brand, formerly at BBDO. Wieden took on Chrysler brand work after Fallon's resignation in July 2010.

    FCA in May 2016 hired Omnicom's GSD&M as lead agency on Dodge, replacing Wieden. While GSD&M will be lead agency, sources said the automaker also could use work from other agencies. GSD&M was a former agency for BMW and Land Rover.

    FCA in December 2016 hired Omnicom's Goodby, Silverstein & Partners as creative agency for Chrysler following an extended review. Goodby's auto experience included a stint working on Chevrolet for General Motors Co. that ended in 2013 when Interpublic Group of Cos.' McCann took the lead on the account. Goodby worked on Porsche in the 1990s and Hyundai and GM's Saturn in the early 2000s.

    Goodby shifted lanes in March 2018, signing on as BMW's U.S. lead creative agency following a review.

    FCA in May 2018 began a U.S. media agency review. Incumbent was Interpublic's UM. FCA told Ad Age: "FCA confirms it is requesting quotes for its media agency services as part of a bid process in the ordinary course of business. We value our partnership with UM and we hold its team in high regard. They will be included as a candidate in the bid process." Chrysler agencies (historic BBDO and Omnicom relationship):

    Chrysler's decades-long relationship with BBDO ended in January 2010.

    Omnicom shops had worked with Chrysler units since 1926, when Dodge Brothers Corp. hired the Ross Roy agency (acquired by Omnicom in 1995 and folded into BBDO in 2001). Chrysler bought Dodge in 1927 and added Ross Roy to the Chrysler roster.

    BBDO itself joined the Chrysler roster in 1943. Newly arrived Chrysler boss Lee Iacocca fired BBDO in 1979 but rehired the agency in 1982.

    After Daimler bought Chrysler in 1998, DaimlerChrysler's Chrysler Group consolidated advertising in late 2000 at PentaMark Worldwide, a dedicated Chrysler agency set up by BBDO. PentaMark Worldwide changed its U.S. name to BBDO Detroit in 2002. (It kept the PentaMark name outside the U.S.)

    BBDO got some good news in January 2009 when Chrysler moved Jeep brand back to BBDO Detroit from sibling Cutwater, San Francisco. Cutwater opened in 2007 with Jeep as its first account, shifted from BBDO. (Cutwater later became an independent agency, not connected to Omnicom.)

    Cracks in the BBDO relationship became apparent in August 2009 when Chrysler invited shops from different holding companies and independent agencies to pitch creative work in a series of "jump ball" pitches.

    In October 2009, more challenges in Chrysler's relationship with Omnicom became evident as the automaker reached out to media agencies at other holding companies, a blow to Omnicom's PHD, media agency of record for Chrysler, Jeep and Dodge.

    BBDO Worldwide President-CEO Andrew Robertson in November 2009 told staffers that BBDO and Chrysler had been unable to negotiate a new contract and that BBDO Detroit would close at the end of January 2010, marking the end of the agency's Motor City presence and leaving 485 employees to find new work.

    Challenges at BBDO Detroit had been apparent for some time. BBDO Detroit in November 2008 cut 22 percent of its staff in response to Chrysler's bearing down on costs. The agency eliminated 145 positions across all functions. Those layoffs were "driven by the reduced level of activity and changes in the nature of planned activities" by Chrysler, according to a press release from the agency.

    Chrysler remained a significant revenue source for Omnicom in 2008, accounting for a bit less than 2.1 percent, or a little less than $281 million, of Omnicom's worldwide revenue, according to Ad Age's analysis.

    An Omnicom spokeswoman told Ad Age in April 2009: "We continue to provide great services and creative to our client. Chrysler has not been our largest client since 2005. In 2009, the account will represent less than 1 percent of revenue."

    Omnicom President-CEO John Wren said on an October 2009 earnings call: "We have our challenges with Chrysler, which for 2009 will contribute about 1 percent of our revenue"; 1 percent of Omnicom's $11.721 billion worldwide revenue meant that Chrysler generated about $117 million in 2009 revenue for Omnicom. Wren in February 2010 reiterated that its then-former client Chrysler had accounted for "approximately 1 percent of our overall revenue."

    Omnicom in March 2010 created a new agency, Retail 3, with some former employees of BBDO Detroit. Retail 3 changed its name to Agency 720 in April 2011, when the agency took over selected local advertising and marketing work for General Motors Co.'s Chevrolet.

    Deals and strategic moves:

    Ferrari:

    FCA previously owned Italian luxury auto brand Ferrari. FCA in October 2015 staged an initial public offering for Ferrari (ticker: RACE) by selling a minority stake. FCA distributed its remaining ownership interest in Ferrari to FCA shareholders on Jan. 3, 2016. Fiat acquired Ferrari in 1975.

    General Motors:

    Then-FCA CEO Sergio Marchionne in 2015 sent an email to General Motors Co., the world's third largest and nation's biggest automaker, to propose a tie-up of the two automakers. GM CEO Mary Barra in June 2015 said GM was not interested in a merger.

    Chrysler bankruptcy and the Fiat deal:

    Chrysler from 2007 through 2010 went through an upheaval including bankruptcy, changes in ownership and management, and a wholesale makeover of agencies.

    Then-struggling Chrysler filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganization April 30, 2009, under a plan arranged and bankrolled by the U.S. government to hand control to Fiat.

    Fiat on June 10, 2009, closed a deal to buy Chrysler's key assets, paving the way for Chrysler to emerge from a quick chapter in bankruptcy. Chrysler that day took a new corporate name: Chrysler Group LLC.

    Sergio Marchionne, Fiat's CEO, on June 10, 2009, added the title of CEO at Chrysler Group. He succeeded Robert L. Nardelli as Chrysler CEO. (Marchionne died in July 2018, a few days after he stepped down as CEO.)

    Fiat initially had a 20 percent stake. It raised that to 25 percent in January 2011 and 30 percent in April 2011.

    Chrysler on May 24, 2011, repaid its $7.6 billion in outstanding U.S. and Canadian government loans ($5.9 billion to the U.S. Treasury; $1.7 billion to Export Development Canada). The governments originally made the loans to bail out Chrysler in June 2009. Chrysler repaid the loans using money from new borrowings plus $1.3 billion from an equity call option exercised by Fiat. Exercising that option gave Fiat an additional 16 percent stake, raising Fiat's ownership stake in Chrysler to 46 percent.

    Fiat North America, a subsidiary of Fiat, on July 21, 2011, bought the U.S. government's Chrysler stake (6 percent stake on a fully diluted basis) for $500 million and the Canadian government's stake (1.5 percent stake on a fully diluted basis) for $125 million, making Fiat the majority owner of Chrysler with a 55.3 percent equity stake (or 53.5 percent on a fully diluted basis).

    Fiat on July 21, 2011, also paid $75 million -- $60 million to the U.S. government and $15 million to the Canadian government -- for an option to buy the United Auto Workers retiree trust's stake in Chrysler.

    Fiat increased its Chrysler stake to 58.5 percent in January 2012. The remaining 41.5 percent of Chrysler remained owned by the UAW Retiree Medical Benefits Trust.

    Fiat in July 2012 and January 2013 exercised an option to buy a portion of the UAW trust's Chrysler stake. The transaction was delayed because Fiat and the UAW trust disagreed on the value of the trust's Chrysler stake.

    Under demands from the UAW trust, Chrysler in September 2013 filed for an initial public offering under which the trust would sell Chrysler shares. The trust would receive all proceeds from the IPO. Coinciding with the IPO, Chrysler Group LLC would become a publicly traded company, Chrysler Group Corp. The company would be traded on the New York Stock Exchange under ticker symbol CGC. Fiat would continue to own a majority stake in Chrysler after the IPO.

    Fiat wanted to buy the UAW trust's shares rather than seeing Chrysler proceed with the IPO.

    Chrysler in November 2013 delayed its IPO from late 2013 into 2014. Fiat said in a November 2013 announcement that Chrysler's board "has determined that it will not be practicable for Chrysler Group to launch and complete an initial public offering prior to the end of 2013. Fiat remains supportive of Chrysler Group's efforts to meet its contractual obligations to the [UAW trust] and expects Chrysler Group to continue working on the necessary steps to enable an initial public offering to be launched in the first quarter of 2014. No assurance can be given as to whether or when an offering will be launched as any launch will be subject to market conditions and other relevant considerations."

    Fiat on Jan. 1, 2014, announced an agreement with the UAW trust to buy the trust's 41.5 percent stake. The deal closed Jan. 21, 2014, giving Fiat 100 percent ownership of Chrysler Group LLC. The UAW trust received $3.650 billion cash ($1.900 billion paid to the trust by Chrysler; $1.750 billion paid by Fiat). In addition, Chrysler agreed to pay the trust a total of $700 million in four annual installments starting in January 2014.

    Chrysler Group LLC changed its name to FCA US LLC on Dec. 15, 2014.

    Fiat's Mazda deal:

    Fiat and Japan's Mazda Motor Corp. in January 2013 signed a final agreement for the development and manufacture of a new roadster for the Mazda and Alfa Romeo brands based on Mazda's next-generation MX-5 (Miata).

    Earlier deals:

    The Fiat deal marked a return to foreign control of Chrysler brands.

    French automaker Renault in 1979 agreed to make a minority investment in American Motors Corp., parent of Jeep (which American Motors bought in 1970). By the early '80s, Renault owned 49 percent of American Motors, at the time Detroit's No. 4 automaker. Chrysler bought American Motors (including Renault's stake) in 1987.

    Daimler, the German parent of Mercedes-Benz, owned Chrysler for about a decade. Daimler-Benz and Chrysler Corp. on May 7, 1998, announced plans for what they dubbed a "merger of equals." The companies completed the deal in late 1998, forming DaimlerChrysler. The Germans ended up in control, but that merger didn't work.

    DaimlerChrysler on May 14, 2007, announced it would sell Chrysler to buyout firm Cerberus Capital Management. The sale closed in August 2007. Cerberus obtained an 80.1 percent stake; DaimlerChrysler kept 19.9 percent. DaimlerChrysler on Oct. 4, 2007, renamed itself Daimler.

    After the Chrysler acquisition, Cerberus installed Nardelli, an ex-Home Depot CEO, as Chrysler chairman-CEO. In September 2007, Chrysler hired away Jim Press, president-chief operating officer of Toyota Motor Sales USA (and Toyota's top North American executive), as vice chairman-president, overseeing marketing, sales and product strategy. Press joined Chrysler weeks after Deborah Wahl (Deborah Wahl Meyer) resigned as VP-marketing at Toyota's Lexus division to become chief marketing officer at Chrysler in August 2007.

    The Chrysler/Cerberus deal ran aground as auto sales plunged in 2008 amid the tight credit market, tumult in financial markets and the recession. The U.S. government rescued Chrysler with a financial bailout in late 2008 and then pushed Chrysler into a restructuring that led to the bankruptcy filing and sale to Fiat.

    Chrysler in December 2008 announced an executive realignment of its sales and marketing operations, eliminating Wahl's position. Wahl later worked as CMO at homebuilder PulteGroup; she then joined McDonald's Corp. as CMO of McDonald's USA in 2014. Wahl left McDonald's in April 2017. She joined General Motors Co.'s Cadillac as CMO in March 2018.

    Press left Chrysler in November 2009.

    Financial services:

    General Motors Corp. on Nov. 30, 2006, sold 51 percent of financial arm GMAC for $7.4 billion to a group led by Cerberus. GMAC received a U.S. taxpayer bailout in 2009 as part of a broader plan for GMAC to replace Chrysler Financial as a source of financing for Chrysler dealers and Chrysler customers.

    GMAC in 2010 changed its name to Ally Financial and rebranded its auto finance operation as Ally.

    Ally Financial provided financial services to Chrysler customers and dealers until April 30, 2013.

    Chrysler Group (now FCA US) reentered the auto finance business on May 1, 2013, with the launch of Chrysler Capital, which is run by Santander Consumer USA under a 10-year private-label agreement. Santander Consumer USA gave Chrysler Group a non-refundable upfront payment of $150 million cash; Chrysler Group also gets a share of the new venture's revenue. Santander Consumer USA created a separate business unit to provide financial services using the Chrysler Capital brand name. Santander Consumer USA is majority owned by Banco Santander, a bank in Spain.

    FCA in June 2018 said it intended to establish a U.S. financial-services operation either through a transaction or by doing a startup. FCA has an option to buy all or part of the equity in Chrysler Capital from Santander Consumer USA.

    Management and employees:

    FCA in July 2018 named Michael (Mike) Manley as CEO after Sergio Marchionne stepped down following complications from surgery.

    Marchionne died July 25, 2018.

    Manley's previous positions included head of Jeep brand, head of Ram brand and chief operating officer for the Asia Pacific region. Manley joined predecessor company DaimlerChrysler in 2000 as director-network development, DaimlerChrysler U.K.

    Stock:

    FCA (ticker: FCAU) made its debut on the New York Stock Exchange on Oct. 12, 2014. FCA has an additional stock listing in Milan.

    History:

    Fiat was founded in 1899 in Turin as Societa Anonima Fabbrica Italiana di Automobili Torino -- F.I.A.T.

    Walter Chrysler founded Chrysler Corp. in 1925 as successor to Maxwell Motor Co.

    Chrysler Group LLC changed its name to FCA US LLC on Dec. 15, 2014.

    http://www.fcagroup.com

Ford Motor Co.

  • Marketer profile
    Click here to see company's total worldwide advertising spending, measured-media spending by region, key executives and agencies.

    Overview:

    Ford Motor Co. is a global automaker based in Dearborn, Mich.

    Rankings:

    Ford in 2017 retained its position as the No. 2 auto marketer in the U.S., behind General Motors Co.

    Ford became the top-selling nameplate in the U.S. in 2010 and kept that position in 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016 and 2017.

    Ford was alone among the Detroit 3 in managing through the industry's stunning downturn in 2008 and 2009 without taking a U.S. taxpayer bailout. Rivals General Motors and Chrysler went through bankruptcy reorganizations in 2009 as part of government-engineered restructurings.

    Italy's Fiat in 2011 increased its ownership interest in Chrysler Group to a majority stake from minority stake, leaving Ford and General Motors Co. as the only major U.S.-owned automakers. Fiat in 2014 gained 100 percent ownership of Chrysler Group; the combined company operates as Fiat Chrysler Automobiles.

    Sales and earnings:

    The U.S. portion of the company's worldwide total revenue was 59.9 percent in 2017; 61.6 percent in 2016; 62.3 percent in 2015; 57.4 percent in 2014; 58.2 percent in 2013; 56.9 percent in 2012; 52.2 percent in 2011; 49.1 percent in 2010; 46.1 percent in 2009; and 42.1 percent in 2008.

    Marketing spending:

    U.S. ad spending:

    Total U.S. advertising spending shown in the Leading National Advertisers report and Marketer Trees database is an Ad Age Datacenter estimate.

    Ad Age restated 2016 spending based on a revision to Ad Age's spending model.

    Worldwide ad spending:

    Total worldwide advertising spending figures shown in the World's Largest Advertisers report and related database are Ford's stated worldwide advertising costs.

    The company reported worldwide advertising costs in 2017 of $4.1 billion or 2.62 percent of total revenue, the lowest percentage since 2003 (2.49 percent).

    Agencies:

    Global creative review (2018):

    Ford in October 2018 hired Omnicom Group's BBDO Worldwide as its lead global brand creative agency, completing a global creative review it began in April 2018.

    The shift was a big loss for the incumbent, WPP's Global Team Blue (GTB).

    Ford kept WPP for significant pieces of the business, including media planning and buying, shopper marketing and CRM. WPP also retained Ford's multicultural and so-called "tier 2" dealer advertising. Independent Wieden & Kennedy came aboard as a creative and innovation partner for specific projects, according to Ford; W&K won lead creative duties on a U.S. brand campaign in August 2018.

    In its October 2018 announcement, Ford also said it would bolster its in-house marketing with 100 global marketing positions tied to brand design, media tools, technologies and partnerships as well as digital labs and customer experience.

    Satish Korde, CEO of WPP's GTB, informed employees of the changes in an October 2018 internal memo. The memo said WPP "was informed that we have been named the global brand activation agency for Ford Motor Company. WPP, through its global Ford agency GTB, will handle all the digital, media buying and planning, and production aspects of the Ford advertising business. This also includes Tier II advertising work in the U.S., the China advertising operations with the joint venture partner, all Lincoln advertising, and all the Ford public affairs businesses. WPP/GTB did not, however, retain the omnichannel or creative portion of the business."

    In an April 2018 memo, WPP's GTB notified employees of the pending review. "WPP will have an opportunity to compete with other firms to retain these portions of the business, and will remain Ford's agency of record in some other key areas," Korde said in the memo. Excluded from the review were Ford's China business, public affairs, the U.S. dealer business and Ford's luxury Lincoln brand, which was handled by WPP's Hudson Rogue, according to the memo. "We will be enthusiastically responding to Ford's request for review in the days ahead, and have every confidence we will retain a substantial proportion, if not all, of the business under review," Korde stated in the memo.

    Ford in an April 2018 statement confirmed it was "going to place some portions of our advertising business up for bid with other agencies, including WPP, beginning in the coming weeks. No decisions have been made." The automaker added it was "committed to driving greater marketing efficiency, effectiveness and customer insight, leveraging the latest tools and technology."

    The review upended one of the longest-running agency-client relationships across all industries. Ford had continuously worked with WPP agencies since 1943, when it hired J. Walter Thompson. JWT earlier worked on Ford from 1910-1912 in the Model T era.

    WPP created a multiagency dedicated Ford entity called Team Detroit in 2006 as a joint venture of five WPP-owned Ford agencies (JWT, Ogilvy & Mather, Y&R, Wunderman, Mindshare). WPP in May 2016 brought together its three Ford teams--Team Detroit, Blue Hive and Retail First--under the name GTB, or Global Team Blue. (Retail First was Team Detroit's dealer division. WPP in 2010 set up Blue Hive as a Ford agency in Europe. Blue Hive later expanded to Brazil, South America, China, India, Australia and the Middle East.)

    Ford notified WPP in late 2017 that it was re-evaluating its "future internal and external marketing model," according to a regulatory filing.

    Awards:

    Advertising Age named Ford Motor Co. the 2010 Marketer of the Year.

    Deals and strategic moves:

    Ford, focusing on its core lines, has dramatically reduced its global auto-brand holdings.

    Ford ended production of Mercury vehicles in fourth-quarter 2010, allowing the company to focus on the Ford and Lincoln brands. Ford introduced Mercury in 1939 as its mid-priced brand, between Ford and Lincoln, but Mercury's sales, and relevance to the company, had faded in recent years.

    Ford on Aug. 2, 2010, sold Volvo Car Corp. (commonly referred to as Volvo Cars) to Zhejiang Geely Holding Group Co., a Chinese automaker, for $1.8 billion. Ford bought Volvo on March 31, 1999, for $6.45 billion.

    Ford previously owned a stake in Japan's Mazda Motor Corp. Mazda's financial statements for year ended March 2016 said:

    "Mazda formed a global partnership with the Ford Motor Company in 1979, and since then both companies have further developed and strengthened their cooperative relationship. An agreement was concluded in 1996 to further bolster that relationship with an increase in Ford's equity in Mazda's total shares outstanding to 33.4 percent. As a consequence of subsequent gradual sales by Ford of its stake in Mazda, Ford no longer has a stake in Mazda currently. However, the two companies have agreed to continue their strategic partnership and will continue to collaborate on areas of mutual benefit, such as key joint ventures."

    Ford owned a 2.1 percent stake in Mazda as of March 31, 2015; 2.1 percent as of Sept. 30, 2014; 2.1 percent as of March 31, 2014; 2.1 percent as of March 31, 2013; 2.1 percent as of March 31, 2012; and 3.5 percent as of March 31, 2011.

    Ford on Nov. 19, 2010, reduced its stake in Mazda to 3.5 percent from 11 percent. In a statement, Ford said: "The decision to reduce its ownership stake in Mazda allows [Ford] to increase flexibility as it continues to pursue growth in key emerging markets. . . . [Ford] plans to remain one of Mazda's largest shareholders and remains committed to its strategic partnership with Mazda, which spans more than 30 years. Ford and Mazda will continue to cooperate in areas of mutual benefits such as key joint ventures and exchange of technology information."

    Amid the 2008 global financial crisis, Ford in fourth-quarter 2008 sold a portion of its equity in Mazda, reducing its stake to 11 percent from 33.4 percent.

    Ford had been Mazda's largest shareholder since 1979, when Ford acquired a 25 percent stake in Mazda. With the November 2010 sale, Ford no longer was Mazda's largest shareholder.

    Ford has sold off other brands. The company on June 2, 2008, completed the sale of British luxury brands Jaguar and Land Rover to India's Tata Motors. Tata paid $2.4 billion in cash. Ford contributed about $600 million to Jaguar and Land Rover pension plans. So Ford received net cash of about $1.8 billion.

    Ford bought Jaguar for $2.5 billion in December 1989. The automaker bought Land Rover from BMW for $2.6 billion in June 2000.

    Ford in May 2007 sold its low-volume luxury car brand Aston Martin to a Kuwaiti investment group led by David Richards. Investindustrial, a buyout fund in Italy, bought a 37.5 percent stake in Aston Martin in December 2012.

    Management and employees:

    CEO:

    Ford on May 22, 2017, named Jim Hackett president-CEO as part of a sweeping management shakeup.

    Hackett, age 62 at the time of his appointment, replaced President-CEO Mark Fields, who left the company; Fields was 56. Fields had been president-CEO since July 1, 2014, when he succeeded Alan Mulally.

    Hackett, a former CEO of office furniture marketer Steelcase, had been executive chairman of Ford's Ford Smart Mobility LLC unit since March 2016.

    http://www.ford.com

General Motors Co.

  • Marketer profile
    Click here to see company's total worldwide advertising spending, measured-media spending by region, key executives and agencies.

    Overview:

    General Motors Co. is the nation's largest and world's third largest vehicle marketer.

    GM market autos and trucks under these key brands: Buick, Cadillac, Chevrolet, GMC and Holden.

    GM has equity stakes through regional subsidiaries, mainly in Asia, that market vehicles under the Baojun, Buick, Cadillac, Chevrolet, Jiefang and Wuling brands.

    GM in July 2017 sold Opel/Vauxhall, its European unit, to French automaker PSA Group.

    Rankings:

    GM ranked No. 3 behind Volkswagen and Toyota Motor Corp. in worldwide vehicle sales in 2017 and 2016; No. 2 behind Toyota in 2015; No. 3 behind Toyota and Volkswagen in worldwide sales in 2014 and 2013; and No. 2 behind Toyota in worldwide sales in 2012. GM in 2011 had reclaimed the top global spot that it lost to Toyota in 2007. Toyota was No. 1 from 2007 through 2010.

    GM said it sold 9.600 million vehicles worldwide in 2017 for a global market share of 10.2 percent; 10.008 million vehicles worldwide in 2016 (10.8 percent); 9.959 million vehicles worldwide in 2015 (11.1 percent); 9.932 million vehicles worldwide in 2014 (11.3 percent); 9.714 million vehicles worldwide in 2013 (11.5 percent); 9.294 million vehicles in 2012 (11.5 percent); 9.0 million vehicles in 2011 (11.9 percent); 8.4 million vehicles in 2010 (11.5 percent); 7.5 million vehicles in 2009 (11.6 percent); and 8.4 million vehicles in 2008 (12.3 percent). GM sold 9.4 million vehicles worldwide in 2007, the eve of the global recession.

    Geographic sales:

    GM said its U.S. market share was 17.1 percent in 2017; 17.0 percent in 2016; 17.3 percent in 2015; 17.4 percent in 2014; 17.5 percent in 2013 and 2012; and 19.2 percent in 2011.

    GM's stated U.S. market share in 2016 (17.0 percent) was the lowest since 1922 (17.2 percent), according to data from Automotive News Data Center. GM's U.S. share peaked at 51.1 percent in 1962 and was above 40 percent (40.8 percent) as recently as 1985, according to Automotive News. China starting in 2010 and continuing since then has been GM's biggest country for vehicle sales, ahead of the U.S.

    GM sold 4.0 million vehicles in China in 2017 (including sales through joint ventures); 3.9 million in 2016; 3.7 million in 2015; 3.5 million in 2014; 3.2 million in 2013; 2.8 million in 2012; and 2.5 million in 2011.

    In order, GM's largest markets by country for vehicle sales in 2017 were: China, U.S. and Brazil, according to GM's 10-K for year ended December 2017. The report did not break out unit sales in the United Kingdom and Germany, which GM had disclosed in previous 10-Ks; GM sold its European operations in 2017.

    In order, GM's largest markets by country for vehicle sales in 2016 were: China, U.S., Brazil, United Kingdom and Germany, according to GM's 10-K for year ended December 2016.

    In order, GM's largest markets by country for vehicle sales in 2015 were: China, U.S., Brazil, United Kingdom, Germany and Russia, according to GM's 10-K for year ended December 2015. GM in March 2015 announced plans to exit Russia.

    In order, GM's largest markets by country for vehicle sales in 2014 were: China, U.S., Brazil, United Kingdom, Germany and Russia, according to GM's 10-K for year ended December 2014.

    In order, GM's largest markets by country for vehicle sales in 2013 were: China, U.S., Brazil, United Kingdom, Russia, and Germany, according to GM's 10-K for year ended December 2013. The report did not break out unit sales in Canada, which GM had disclosed in previous 10-Ks.

    In order, GM's largest markets by country for vehicle sales in 2012 were: China, U.S., Brazil, Russia, United Kingdom, Germany and Canada.

    In order, GM's largest markets by country for vehicle sales in 2011 were: China, U.S., Brazil, Germany, United Kingdom, Russia and Canada.

    In order, GM's largest markets by country for vehicle sales in 2010 were: China, U.S., Brazil, United Kingdom, Germany, Canada and Russia.

    Marketing spending:

    U.S. ad spending:

    Total U.S. ad spending shown in the Leading National Advertisers report and Marketer Trees database is an Ad Age Datacenter estimate of U.S. advertising and promotion spending.

    Worldwide ad spending:

    Total worldwide ad spending shown in the World's Largest Advertisers report and related database is stated advertising and promotion spending.

    GM reported 2017 worldwide advertising and promotion expenditures of $4.3 billion.

    GM began to round the "advertising and promotion" figures in its 10-K for year ended December 2013.

    Historic "advertising expense" figures:

    GM previously offered disclosures on worldwide "advertising expense" and "advertising and sales promotion expenses."

    In previous SEC filings, GM reported the following worldwide "advertising expense":

    2011: $4.478 billion (2.98 percent of net sales and revenue)
    2010: $4.259 billion (3.14 percent)
    2009: $3.581 billion (3.42 percent)
    2008: $5.303 billion (3.56 percent)
    2007: $5.5 billion
    2006: $5.4 billion
    2005: $5.8 billion
    2004: $5.2 billion.

    For calendar 2011 (as reported in its February 2012 10-K), GM disclosed worldwide "advertising and sales promotion expenses" of $5.6 billion. GM did not disclose advertising and sales promotion expenses by region for calendar 2011.

    For calendar 2010 (as reported in its March 2011 10-K), GM reported worldwide "advertising and sales promotion expenses of $5.1 billion to support media campaigns for our products, including expenses in GMNA (GM North America) of $3.4 billion, in GME (GM Europe) of $0.8 billion, in GMIO (GM International Operations) of $0.6 billion and in GMSA (GM South America) of $0.3 billion." In addition, it reported "selling and marketing expenses of $1.4 billion primarily to support our dealerships including expenses in GMNA of $0.6 billion, in GME of $0.5 billion, in GMIO of $0.2 billion and in GMSA of $0.1 billion."

    For perspective, in 2010, GM North America (U.S., Canada, Mexico) accounted for 66.7 percent of stated worldwide "advertising and sales promotion expenses"; 31.3 percent of GM's worldwide vehicle unit sales (including joint ventures in China and India whose revenue and expenses aren't included on GM's income statement); 44.3 percent of GM's worldwide vehicle unit sales (excluding the China and India joint ventures); and 61.4 percent of worldwide revenue.

    The U.S. in 2010 accounted for 84.4 percent of GM North America vehicle unit sales; and 87.7 percent of GM North America revenue.

    In the post-bankruptcy period of July 10, 2009, through Dec. 31, 2009, GM (in its March 2011 10-K) reported worldwide "advertising and sales promotion expenses of $2.5 billion to support media campaigns for our products, including expenses in GMNA of $1.7 billion, in GME of $0.4 billion, in GMIO of $0.3 billion and in GMSA of $0.1 billion." In addition, it reported "selling and marketing expenses of $1.0 billion primarily to support our dealerships including expenses in GMNA of $0.6 billion, in GME of $0.3 billion, in GMIO of $0.1 billion and in GMSA of $0.1 billion."

    In calendar 2008, GM said (in its March 2011 10-K) that its predecessor company had worldwide "advertising and sales promotion expenses of $6.3 billion to support media campaigns for our products, including expenses in GMNA of $4.0 billion, in GME of $1.3 billion, in GMIO of $0.8 billion and in GMSA of $0.2 billion." In addition, it reported worldwide "selling and marketing expenses of $1.9 billion primarily to support our dealerships including expenses in GMNA of $0.9 billion, in GME of $0.7 billion, in GMIO of $0.2 billion and in GMSA of $0.1 billion."

    Agencies:

    GM's agency roster underwent wrenching change during the stormy tenure of Joel Ewanick, who worked as a top GM marketing executive from May 2010 through July 2012.

    Even before Ewanick's official start date at GM, Ewanick on May 20, 2010, announced the hiring of Omnicom Group's Goodby, Silverstein & Partners as U.S. agency for GM's Chevrolet. Ewanick had worked with Goodby Silverstein while at Hyundai (before Hyundai dropped the agency effective March 31, 2009) and, earlier in his career, at Porsche. Goodby Silverstein handled GM's Saturn brand from 2002 until 2007.

    Ewanick said in a statement on May 20, 2010: "Based on my personal experience working with Goodby, Silverstein & Partners, I'm confident they have the creativity and ability to take the iconic Chevrolet brand to the next level -- and to do it fast."

    The Goodby Silverstein appointment marked a stunning turnabout. Before Ewanick's appointment, GM in April 2010 had decided to consolidate the Chevrolet account at Publicis Groupe's Publicis, dropping Interpublic Group of Cos.' Campbell Ewald, which had worked on Chevrolet since 1919. Publicis had been handling ads for some Chevrolet models since December 2009. Publicis Groupe announced its win of the entire U.S. Chevrolet account on April 23, 2010, with a one-sentence press release: "Publicis Worldwide is proud to announce that Chevrolet has decided to consolidate all its U.S. advertising with Publicis Worldwide U.S.A."

    Campbell Ewald opened in 1911 and placed its first newspaper ad for Chevrolet in 1919. By 1922, Campbell Ewald had landed the entire General Motors Corp. account, handling all GM brands including Buick, Cadillac, Chevrolet, Oakland (predecessor to Pontiac), Oldsmobile and GM Truck.

    The Chevrolet/Campbell Ewald partnership was the longest surviving continuous relationship between a Detroit automaker and agency. The 2010 breakup came just months after Chrysler ended its contract with Omnicom Group's BBDO effective January 2010. Omnicom shops had worked with Chrysler units since 1926, when Dodge Brothers Corp. hired the Ross Roy agency (acquired by Omnicom in 1995 and folded into BBDO in 2001).

    Ewanick in July 2010 moved Cadillac to Publicis Groupe's Fallon after firing Publicis-backed (and now Publicis-owned) Bartle Bogle Hegarty. Bartle Bogle had been Cadillac's agency since only January 2010, when Bartle Bogle won a review; the account previously was at independent Modernista (an agency that closed in 2011). Fallon resigned Chrysler Group's Chrysler account to take on Cadillac; Fallon had won the Chrysler account in December 2009. Fallon in the past had worked with Ewanick on Porsche and also has handled BMW.

    Chevrolet in September 2010 named Spike DDB (49 percent owned by Omnicom) as African-American agency of record. There was no incumbent on that account.

    Cadillac named Carol H. Williams as its African-American agency in September 2010, putting the agency back on the GM roster. There was no incumbent. Williams had won GM's consolidated African-American account in 2002 but lost its GM assignments, including Cadillac, in 2008.

    Chevrolet in April 2011 moved selected local advertising and marketing work to Omnicom's Agency 720 from Interpublic's Velocity, part of Campbell Ewald. Agency 720 was a rebranding of Retail 3, an Omnicom agency that had opened in March 2010 with some former employees of BBDO Detroit.

    GM on Jan. 24, 2012, awarded its global media operations account to Aegis Group's Carat following a review that included proposals from four major agency companies. Carat, the incumbent on GM's media account in Europe, competed against Publicis Groupe's Starcom (the U.S. incumbent), Interpublic Group of Cos. (incumbent in Latin America and South America) and Omnicom Group's Omnicom Media Group. (Japan's Dentsu Inc. in March 2013 acquired Aegis Group.)

    In a press release on Jan. 24, 2012, GM said: "The account carries responsibility for most of GM's global planning and buying operations for consumer-facing media, including broadcast, digital and social media." Ewanick, GM's CMO, said in a statement: "We wanted a media agency partner with the sophistication to leverage global marketing opportunities. Carat has an innovative approach to drive significant marketing value and their service model has been tailored to align well with our global and regional brands. They are uniquely positioned to help us form strong media partnerships and drive significant global efficiencies."

    The January 2012 announcement said Carat "will immediately begin to transition responsibility for GM's media operations in most global regions, with the exception of China, India and Brazil, where these activities will continue to be managed by agencies specific to those countries."

    Publicis said in a statement on Jan. 24, 2012: "Publicis Groupe regrets that a long-lasting relationship with GM has ended. This Starcom partnership represents less than 0.5 percent of Publicis Groupe revenue on a full-year basis. We're proud of the insight and high level of professionalism that Starcom has brought to its work on GM's image over the years, and of the support that we've given to GM through many ups and downs. Starcom will serve GM to the end of June [2012]."

    GM began the sweeping global media agency review in August 2011. The company said in a statement: "As part of its normal review of business processes, General Motors will request proposals on ways to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of its global operations for purchased media. The request for proposal (RFP) will be issued to several global media companies and will include all consumer-facing planning and buying operations in support of all media channels including print, digital, broadcast, SEO (search engine optimization) and social media."

    In disclosing the review, GM said its media agency roster included more than 20 media-buying companies globally. Among the incumbent agencies that had GM media duties were Starcom, which has handled media-buying and -planning duties for GM in the U.S. since 2005, and Carat, which handled GM in Europe. The majority of the Latin American business was handled by Interpublic's UM. India and China were not included in the review.

    Allen Batey, at the time the interim global CMO, noted GM's media agency consolidation in comments to Wall Street analysts in June 2013: "We went from 47 media agencies down to one. It's working really well," with GM benefiting from efficiencies of using a single agency.

    GM on Oct. 20, 2011, launched a global agency review for Chevrolet creative, soliciting proposals from four major agency companies: Omnicom, Interpublic, Publicis and South Korean firm Cheil Worldwide. The automaker said: "GM will evaluate the proposals and determine the best course for moving forward, which may be to maintain or adjust its current agency footprint." Ewanick said: "While preliminary, this is another significant step in our efforts to more effectively engage consumers, and drive efficiencies in our marketing operations on a global scale." Agency Co-Chairman Jeff Goodby said he expected his agency to stay on the roster. Interpublic's McCann Erickson -- Chevrolet's agency in markets including Mexico, Canada, Brazil, India, Japan, China and Latin America -- had a major stake in the review.

    GM on March 27, 2012, consolidated global creative work for Chevrolet at Commonwealth, a new joint venture of Omnicom and Interpublic. Creative talent within the entity was composed of executives from Omnicom's Goodby Silverstein and Interpublic's McCann Erickson. Omnicom and Interpublic became 50/50 owners of Detroit-based Commonwealth; profit was to be distributed based on geography. While agency companies have long teamed up to service business, especially on an international scale, this cooperative approach was unusual for such a massive worldwide account.

    In announcing the consolidation at Commonwealth, Ewanick said on a March 27, 2012, conference call: "This is a historic day for GM, the end of a long process, very well thought-out, to find the best method to build the brand globally. We're up against Toyota and Ford and Hyundai and Volkswagen, and we need to have a more clear and concise and consistent message."

    GM in December 2012 moved lead advertising duties for the Chevrolet Silverado pickup to Publicis Groupe's Leo Burnett from Commonwealth. The shift was effective January 2013, giving responsibility to Burnett for the crucial launch of the redesigned 2014 Silverado, which debuts in calendar 2013. Burnett, a GM roster agency since 1967, already was the agency for GM's GMC truck brand and Buick.

    GM Director-Product and Brand Communications Pat Morrissey in December 2012 said GM shifted Silverado to alleviate some of the workload for Commonwealth, which was set to launch about 24 new or significantly enhanced vehicles in 2013. "Chevrolet will launch more than 20 products globally in 2013," Morrissey said. "That is an incredible amount of work for any advertising agency, especially a newly formed entity that is responsible for global campaigns in 140 markets. Therefore, Chevrolet will leverage General Motors' existing agency network to support the 2014 Silverado launch next year." Morrissey added: "We believe having Leo Burnett work on both Silverado and Sierra [GMC's pickup brand] will provide great synergies and result in creative campaigns that clearly differentiate the brands and engage truck customers." Morrissey stressed that Commonwealth remained Chevrolet's global creative agency of record and would "continue to aggressively work on global campaigns."

    Chevrolet on Jan. 8, 2013, announced a new global brand theme, "Find New Roads." Chevrolet said it would use the tagline in advertising around the world, beginning in the U.S. in first-quarter 2013. The slogan replaced "Chevy Runs Deep," a line introduced in 2010.

    GM marketing executive Alan Batey said in a statement announcing the new theme: "Find New Roads will enable the whole company to rally around a consistent theme for the brand, and at the same time serve as an external message that works in all markets. The theme has meaning in mature markets like the U.S. as well as emerging markets like Russia and India, where the potential for continued growth is the greatest."

    GM in March 2013 shifted global responsibilities for Chevrolet to Interpublic's McCann Worldgroup. Specifically, a McCann announcement said on March 14, 2013: "McCann Worldgroup, an Interpublic Group company, today announced it will assume sole responsibility for Commonwealth, Chevrolet's global advertising agency, assuming the 50-percent joint ownership share held by Goodby, Silverstein & Partners, an Omnicom Group company. ... All current employees of Goodby's Detroit office will be offered employment consistent with their current employment terms." Commonwealth on May 1, 2014, changed its name to Commonwealth//McCann.

    GM in January 2014 moved U.S. Hispanic advertising for Chevrolet to Casanova Pendrill (now Casanova//McCann), part of McCann Worldgroup, from Omnicom-backed LatinWorks. Chevrolet had shifted the account to LatinWorks from Interpublic-backed Accentmarketing in August 2010.

    Omnicom continued to have involvement on the Chevrolet account: Agency 720, which handled some Chevy retail business, and PR agency FleishmanHillard continued to work with Commonwealth. (Chevrolet moved PR work to Interpublic's Weber Shandwick in 2016.)

    Chevrolet in March 2015 shifted advertising for the Chevrolet Silverado pickup back to Commonwealth//McCann from Leo Burnett, which had handled the business since January 2013. A Chevrolet spokesman said in a statement: "In an effort to streamline business and ensure consistency, Chevrolet has decided to move the work for Silverado from Leo Burnett back to Commonwealth//McCann, the brand's agency of record. The work was given to Leo Burnett to balance the unprecedented number of launches the brand had in 2013 during a time that Commonwealth//McCann was expanding globally to support Chevrolet. We've been very pleased with the work from Leo Burnett and wish them well as they continue their focus on GMC and Buick."

    GM in March 2013 disclosed it was reviewing the Cadillac account. GM said incumbent Fallon "will be invited to participate in this review process along with other agencies," but GM said it was "not disclosing the other participating agencies nor details of the review process."

    GM on June 11, 2013, hired Rogue, a new agency created by Interpublic for Cadillac, as Cadillac's creative agency of record. GM's announcement said Rogue is "drawing on the resources of three existing IPG agencies -- Hill Holliday, Lowe and Campbell-Ewald" (which was renamed Lowe Campbell Ewald). "Rogue brings global capabilities, a depth of experience in integrated marketing and a strong understanding of luxury brands coupled with an automotive marketing."

    In its announcement about the Cadillac move, GM said: "Rogue will be headquartered in Campbell-Ewald's Detroit-area office, with much of the creative and strategy work located in Hill Holliday's Boston office."

    Rogue technically was part of Lowe Campbell Ewald rather than a separate legal entity. Specifically, Lowe Campbell Ewald was the prime contractor with Cadillac while Hill Holliday and Lowe & Partners were subcontractors under Lowe Campbell Ewald; the three agencies formed the team of Rogue.

    In GM's announcement about the Cadillac move, Interpublic Chairman-CEO Michael Roth said: "Our offering will be comprised of the exceptional creative capabilities of Hill Holliday, a powerful base of operations in Detroit thanks to Campbell Ewald, and Lowe's dynamic international network."

    Hill Holliday's chief creative officer, Lance Jensen, won acclaim for his work on Cadillac at now-defunct Modernista.

    Hill Holliday had a notable luxury brand blemish on its record: The agency launched Nissan's Infiniti brand in 1989 with a controversial Zen-like campaign derided as the "rocks and trees" campaign. Nissan fired Hill Holliday and moved Infiniti to Nissan agency TBWA/Chiat/Day in 1992 without a review.

    Lowe and predecessor agencies previously handled luxury brands including Saab, BMW, Volvo and Mercedes-Benz.

    In addition to hiring Rogue, Cadillac in 2013 named Omnicom-owned PR agency FleishmanHillard to its roster.

    Interpublic in July 2013 moved Campbell Ewald into the worldwide Lowe and Partners network and renamed the agency Lowe Campbell Ewald. Interpublic said the agency would be the "U.S. hub" of the Lowe network.

    Interpublic in September 2014 disbanded Rogue and said Lowe and Partners Worldwide would be Cadillac's global creative ad agency of record. Interpublic's September 2014 announcement said: "Dedicated Lowe and Partners teams in Detroit" - Lowe Campbell Ewald - "and New York, tasked with crafting a global advertising strategy for the brand and delivering a unified agency offering worldwide, will lead Cadillac's marketing efforts." The move marked the end of Hill Holliday's work on Cadillac.

    Later in September 2014, GM announced Cadillac would become a separate GM business unit; Cadillac planned to establish its global headquarters in New York in 2015.

    Cadillac in December 2014 made another shift in Cadillac advertising, moving creative to Publicis Groupe's Publicis Worldwide from Lowe and Partners.

    (Interpublic in May 2015 combined the Lowe and Partners network with U.S. agency Mullen, forming the Mullen Lowe Group network. With that move, Mullen Lowe Group's Mullen took the name Mullen Lowe; Lowe Campbell Ewald rebranded as Campbell Ewald, which is part of Mullen Lowe Group but operates independently.)

    GM in November 2015 said it was planning to launch reviews for all of its PR agencies around the globe, with the goal of consolidating with one agency of record per brand.

    Incumbents included Interpublic's Weber Shandwick and Publicis' MSL Group, which do corporate work for GM; Omnicom's FleishmanHillard (Cadillac and Chevrolet); and independent John Doe (Buick and GMC). Tony Cervone, GM's senior VP-global communications, said each GM brand, such as Chevrolet and Cadillac, will consolidate from multiple PR firms to one global partner; one agency may work on both Buick and GMC.

    GM in March 2016 named Weber Shandwick as agency for Chevrolet and in April 2016 hired independent Kovert Creative for Cadillac.

    Publicis in June 2016 merged the Detroit offices of Leo Burnett and DigitasLBi into a combined entity, EngageM-1, to handle Buick and GMC, the two GM brands that had been serviced by DigitasLBi and Burnett.

    GMC in February 2017 retained EngageM-1 as lead creative agency after a review that began in 2016. The brand also considered Interpublic's Martin Agency and Dentsu Inc.'s McGarryBowen.

    History of Cadillac advertising:

    GM acquired Cadillac in 1909.

    Copywriter Theodore F. MacManus in 1914 wrote a magazine ad for Cadillac, "The Penalty of Leadership," that became one of the most celebrated ads in automotive history. The ad ran only once -- in the Jan. 2, 1915, issue of The Saturday Evening Post -- and explained why companies that honor "standards of excellence" become "targets of the envious." The long-copy ad included a Cadillac logo and the slogan, "Standard of the World." (MacManus went on to form his own agency, known as MacManus, in 1927. The agency morphed into MacManus, John & Adams in 1934.)

    Campbell Ewald was agency for GM's Cadillac division from 1921 to 1925 and from 1931 to 1935.

    GM in 1935 moved Cadillac to MacManus, John & Adams from Campbell Ewald. MacManus, John & Adams evolved into D'Arcy Masius Benton & Bowles, which Publicis acquired as part of the September 2002 acquisition of Bcom3 Group.

    Publicis in October 2002 announced plans to close DMB&B. The agency's Detroit-area office, which handled Cadillac, in March 2003 morphed into Chemistri, a new Publicis agency aligned with Leo Burnett. Chemistri in August 2005 changed its name to Leo Burnett.

    GM in 2006 moved Cadillac from Leo Burnett to Modernista, an independent ad agency in Boston. The company shifted Cadillac to Publicis-backed (and now Publicis-owned) Bartle Bogle Hegarty in January 2010 and then to Publicis-owned Fallon in July 2010. GM moved Cadillac to Interpublic consortium-agency Rogue (including Lowe and Partners) in June 2013 and then to Lowe and Partners in September 2014.

    Cadillac in December 2014 made another shift in Cadillac advertising, moving creative to Publicis Groupe's Publicis Worldwide from Lowe and Partners.

    Deals and strategic moves:

    Cruise:

    Honda Motor Co. in October 2018 agreed to make a $750 million equity investment in GM Cruise Holdings, GM's autonomous vehicle technology venture.

    The companies said Honda would work jointly with Cruise and GM "to fund and develop a purpose-built autonomous vehicle for Cruise." The October 2018 announcement said: "Honda will contribute approximately $2 billion over 12 years to these initiatives, which, together with a $750 million equity investment in Cruise, brings its total commitment to the project to $2.75 billion."

    Honda joined SoftBank as a Cruise investor.

    SoftBank Vision Fund, part of Japan's SoftBank Group Corp., in May 2018 agreed to invest $2.25 billion in GM Cruise. SoftBank Vision Fund got a 19.6 percent equity stake in GM Cruise. GM in 2016 bought Cruise Automation, a company founded in 2013, in a deal valued at $581 million.

    Opel/Vauxhall:

    GM July 31, 2017, sold Opel/Vauxhall, its European unit, to PSA Group. GM Oct. 31, 2017, sold GM Financial's European operations to PSA and French bank BNP Paribas. GM valued the sale at $2.5 billion, consisting of $2.2 billion in cash and $808 million in warrants in PSA, partially offset by a $455 million payment made to PSA for assuming some underfunded pension liabilities.

    PSA Group is an automaker based in Paris that marketed vehicles under the Peugeot, Citroen and DS brands.

    GM in March 2012 had entered a global strategic alliance with PSA. The alliance was to include sharing of vehicle platforms, components and modules; and creation of a global purchasing joint venture for the sourcing of commodities, components and other goods and services from suppliers. The automakers said: "Each company will continue to market and sell its vehicles independently and on a competitive basis." As part of the agreement, GM bought a 7 percent stake in PSA Peugeot Citroen, making GM the second largest shareholder behind the Peugeot family group.

    GM in December 2013 sold its 7 percent stake in PSA Peugeot Citroen for $339 million through a private placement to institutional investors. Steve Girsky, then GM's vice chairman, said in a statement: "The alliance remains strong with our focus on joint vehicle programs, cross manufacturing, purchasing, and logistics. We're making good progress while remaining open to new opportunities."

    Isuzu Motors:

    GM in June 2015 announced a deal in which GM will market medium-duty work trucks built by Japan's Isuzu Motors and branded as Chevrolet. GM used to build medium-duty Chevrolet and GMC trucks but exited that market during the 2007-2009 Great Recession.

    Fiat Chrysler Automobiles:

    Fiat Chrysler Automobiles CEO Sergio Marchionne in 2015 sent an email to GM to propose a tie-up of the two automakers. FCA is the London-based parent of FCA US (formerly Chrysler Group). GM CEO Mary Barra in June 2015 said GM was not interested in a merger. (Marchionne died in July 2018, shortly after he stepped down as CEO.)

    Other deals and strategic moves:

    GM in December 2013 said it would cease "mainstream distribution" of the Chevrolet brand in Western Europe and Central Europe in 2015 "due to the challenging business model and difficult economic situation." GM planned to focus on its Opel and Vauxhall brands in those markets.

    GM in January 2011 changed the name of its South Korea unit, GM Daewoo, to GM Korea. Also in 2011, GM dropped the Daewoo brand in South Korea and began selling cars in that market as Chevrolets. GM as of 2014 owned 77.0 percent of GM Korea.

    Bankruptcy reorganization:

    Stung by the recession-fueled decline in auto industry sales, struggling with shrinking market share and overloaded with debt, century-old General Motors Corp. filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganization on June 1, 2009. The new GM, under the name General Motors Co., emerged from a speedy bankruptcy on July 10, 2009.

    General Motors Co. emerged from bankruptcy with four core U.S. brands: Chevrolet, Cadillac, Buick and GMC.

    Additional information on GM's restructuring:

    GM shed automotive brands as part of its Great Recession-era restructuring:

    Saturn: GM in September 2009 began to phase out Saturn after a sale of the brand to Penske Automotive Group fell through. GM on June 5, 2009, had announced a deal to sell Saturn to Penske, but Penske abruptly withdrew the offer in late September 2009 after failing to secure a supply agreement to build future Saturn models.

    Pontiac: GM on April 27, 2009, announced it would phase out Pontiac by year-end 2010.

    Saab: GM in December 2008 put the Swedish brand up for sale. Saab in February 2009 filed for bankruptcy protection in a Swedish court. GM sold Saab to Spyker Cars of the Netherlands, a boutique manufacturer of sports cars, in February 2010. Spyker changed Spyker's corporate name to Swedish Automobile in June 2011. Swedish Automobile in 2011 struggled to secure financial partners amid an uncertain future for Saab. Saab in December 2011 entered bankruptcy with plans to liquidate.

    National Electric Vehicle Sweden (NEVS) in August 2012 bought the main assets of Saab Automobile AB, Saab Automobile Powertrain AB and Saab Automobile Tools AB. The deal included rights for the Saab 9-3, tooling and a factory in Sweden. NEVS signed a licensing agreement with Saab AB to use the Saab brand name for future vehicles. NEVS does not have rights to use Saab's iconic logo. NEVS is wholly owned by National Modern Energy Holdings, a company incorporated in the British Virgin Islands and managed from Hong Kong. NEVS planned to use Saab assets as a foundation to develop electric vehicles, initially focusing on the China market.

    Hummer: GM on June 2, 2009, said it had a deal to sell its Hummer SUV brand to Chinese equipment manufacturer Sichuan Tengzhong Heavy Industrial Machinery Co. for an undisclosed amount. The deal with the Chinese firm fell apart in February 2010, at which point GM said: "GM will now work closely with Hummer employees, dealers and suppliers to wind down the business in an orderly and responsible manner."

    GM abandoned a fifth brand, Goodwrench. GM in November 2010 announced it would drop GM Goodwrench, its car-repair brand, in the U.S. effective in February 2011. GM Goodwrench was replaced by Chevrolet Certified Service, Cadillac Certified Service, Buick Certified Service and GMC Certified Service, putting the focus on GM's automotive brands. (Goodwrench lived on in Canada.)

    GM introduced Mr. Goodwrench -- later changed to GM Goodwrench -- in the mid-'70s. The auto industry at the time was struggling to dig out of a deep recession; GM created the character to help build its parts and service revenue. Ad Age at the time described Mr. Goodwrench as "a smiling, balding mechanic (with clean hands)."

    The New York Stock Exchange suspended trading in share of old GM effective June 2, 2009. Dow Jones & Co. removed old GM from the Dow Jones Industrial Average effective June 8, 2009, replacing it with Cisco Systems, the technology company. Old GM's stock became worthless; GM in June 2009 noted that "stockholders of a company in Chapter 11 generally receive value only if all claims of the secured and unsecured creditors are fully satisfied."

    General Motors on Nov. 30, 2006, sold 51 percent of financial arm GMAC for $7.4 billion to a group led by Cerberus Capital Management. Cerberus in August 2007 bought Chrysler from DaimlerChrysler (now Daimler).

    Cerberus lost its equity stake in Chrysler after Chrysler filed for bankruptcy reorganization April 30, 2009. Italy's Fiat on June 10, 2009, closed a deal to buy Chrysler's key assets, acquiring a minority stake. Fiat gained majority ownership in Chrysler in 2011 and 100 percent ownership in 2014.

    GMAC received a U.S. taxpayer bailout in 2009 as part of a broader plan for GMAC to replace Chrysler Financial as a source of financing for Chrysler dealers and Chrysler customers. In May 2010, GMAC Inc. (or GMAC Financial Services) changed its name to Ally Financial, though it initially kept the "GMAC" brand for its auto-lending business. Ally in August 2010 rebranded the auto finance operation as Ally.

    GM on Oct. 1, 2010, reentered the auto finance business by acquiring AmeriCredit Corp. for $3.5 billion cash. GM changed AmeriCredit's name to General Motors Financial Co.

    GM in December 2013 sold its remaining 8.5 percent stake in Ally Financial for $880 million.

    Management and employees:

    CEO:

    GM on Dec. 10, 2013, announced that GM veteran Mary Barra would become CEO on Jan. 15, 2014. Barra was age 52 when she became CEO.

    Barra added the title of chairman Jan. 4, 2016.

    Barra began her career with GM in 1980 as a General Motors Institute (Kettering University) co-op student at the now-defunct Pontiac Motor Division. She graduated with a bachelor's degree in electrical engineering. Barra earned an MBA from Stanford Graduate School of Business in 1990 after receiving a GM fellowship. Barra held various GM corporate, engineering and production jobs including plant manager at a car assembly plant and VP of global human resources. Before becoming CEO, she was executive VP-global product development, purchasing and supply chain.

    Barra was the first woman to become CEO of a major automaker.

    As CEO, Barra succeeded Chairman-CEO Dan Akerson, 65, who retired.

    As chairman, Barra succeeded Theodore (Tim) Solso, who continued as a board member.

    Solso, a GM board member since June 2012, succeeded Akerson as chairman in January 2014. Solso, 66 at the time of his appointment as chairman, was a former chairman-CEO of Cummins, which makes truck engines and other products.

    Akerson had been CEO since Sept. 1, 2010, when he succeeded Edward E. Whitacre Jr. Akerson had served on GM board's since July 2009. Akerson had a background in finance, previously working as a managing director at Carlyle Group and in telecommunication, serving as chairman-CEO of XO Communications and at Nextel Communications. He also worked as chairman-CEO of General Instrument Corp.

    Whitacre took over as chairman on July 10, 2009, coinciding with GM's exit from bankruptcy. Whitacre became chairman-CEO on Dec. 1, 2009, when Frederick A. (Fritz) Henderson resigned as president-CEO after just eight months in the top job. GM said the company's board determined it would be best if Henderson resigned in order to initiate a change of direction for the company.

    Whitacre was chairman-CEO of AT&T Inc. and predecessor companies(notably, SBC Communications) from 1990 to 2007. He built Southwestern Bell, and then SBC, into a telecom giant, acquiring the old AT&T Corp. in 2005.

    Henderson, a GM veteran, replaced Rick Wagoner as CEO of General Motors Corp. in March 2009 after the government forced out Wagoner as part of GM's taxpayer bailout.

    Other management moves:

    Johan de Nysschen in April 2018 exited as head of Cadillac. GM replaced him with GM veteran Steve Carlisle.

    Cadillac in March 2018 hired Deborah Wahl as CMO. Wahl (formerly known professionally as Deborah Wahl Meyer) in 2014 had joined McDonald's Corp. as senior VP-CMO of McDonald's USA. She left McDonald's in April 2017. Wahl earlier worked as VP-marketing at Toyota's Lexus and as CMO at Chrysler. (GM in September 2018 said it was moving Cadillac headquarters to Warren, Mich., a suburb of Detroit, from New York; GM in 2015 had shifted Cadillac offices to New York from Detroit.)

    Cadillac in December 2017 said Uwe Ellinghaus, the brand's chief marketing officer since 2014, was leaving the company for "personal reasons" effective Jan. 31, 2018, as part of an "organizational change." GM in November 2014 hired Ellinghaus in the new post of chief marketing officer, global Cadillac, effective Jan. 1, 2014. Ellinghaus, age 44 when he was appointed, previously was executive VP-marketing and sales at Montblanc International, a Germany pen marketer and luxury brand. Ellinghaus held various marketing jobs at BMW from 1998 to 2012; from 2010-2012, he was BMW's chief marketing officer.

    Coinciding with GM's December 2013 announcement that Barra would become CEO in January 2014, GM made other shifts:

    Dan Ammann, age 41 at the time of the December 2013 announcement, moved to president from executive VP-chief financial officer. He joined GM in 2010.

    Mark Reuss, age 50 at the time, shifted to VP-global product development, purchasing and supply chain from executive VP and president-North America, replacing Barra.

    Alan Batey, age 50 at the time, replaced Reuss as executive VP and president-North America. Batey formerly was senior VP-global Chevrolet and U.S. sales and marketing. (A GM spokeswoman on Dec. 10, 2013, told Ad Age Batey for the time being "will assume both roles" -- adding his new job while keeping his old responsibilities.)

    Steve Girsky, age 51 at the time, moved to a senior advisor role from vice chairman-corporate strategy, business development and global product planning. Girsky left the company and gave up the senior advisor post in July 2014. Girsky stepped down from GM's board in June 2016. GM in February 2013 named Tim Mahoney as "chief marketing officer global Chevrolet" and "global GM marketing operations leader," effective April 1, 2013. Mahoney had been chief product and marketing officer at Volkswagen's Volkswagen of America since 2011. At GM, Mahoney reported to Alan Batey in Batey's role as GM VP of U.S. sales and service and interim global CMO (before Batey was promoted to president-North America). Batey had been interim global CMO since former marketing chief Joel Ewanick left in 2012.

    Prior to Volkswagen, Mahoney worked at Subaru of America and at Porsche Cars North America (now controlled by Volkswagen).

    Upon Mahoney's arrival, Christopher J. Perry moved from VP-global Chevrolet marketing and strategy to VP-U.S. marketing for Chevrolet, reporting to Mahoney. Perry resigned from GM in December 2013; he was age 53 at the time. Perry had joined GM in August 2010 and held various posts, including a stint in 2011 as the automaker's VP-U.S. marketing. Perry joined GM from Hyundai Motor America, where he had been VP-marketing under Joel Ewanick. Perry had been at Hyundai since 2000.

    GM in January 2014 promoted Paul Edwards to VP-U.S. marketing for Chevrolet, succeeding Perry. Edwards was age 44 at the time. Edwards joined GM in 1992 and was executive director of GM global marketing before becoming VP-U.S. marketing for Chevrolet. Joel Ewanick era:

    GM on July 30, 2012, announced the resignation of Joel Ewanick, its high-profile VP-global CMO, effective immediately. A GM spokesman said Ewanick "failed to meet the expectations the company has of an employee." Ewanick followed that up with a comment on Twitter: "It has been a privilege and honor to work with the GM team and to be a small part of Detroit's turnaround. I wish everyone at GM all the best." GM on May 5, 2010, had named Joel Ewanick as VP-U.S. marketing (effective May 24, 2010) and on December 17, 2010, tapped Ewanick to fill the new post of global chief marketing officer. Ewanick jumped to GM just weeks after he left as VP-marketing at Hyundai Motor America to be VP-marketing of the Nissan Division at Nissan North America (effective March 22, 2010).

    Ewanick's hiring came after Mark LaNeve, GM's top ad executive in North America, left the company in October 2009 to join Allstate Corp. as chief marketing officer. LaNeve had been GM's VP-North American vehicle sales, service and marketing. LaNeve resigned from his Allstate job in February 2012. LaNeve in August 2012 joined WPP's Team Detroit as chief operating officer of Global Team Ford.

    Stock:

    Initial public offering:

    GM filed for an initial public offering of stock on Aug. 18, 2010, setting the stage for an IPO that would allow the U.S. government to start reducing its GM holding.

    The hotly anticipated IPO occurred right on schedule: GM went public on Nov. 17, 2010, at $33 a share. GM CEO Dan Akerson rang the opening bell at the New York Stock Exchange on Nov. 18, 2010, the first day of trading; shares closed that day at $34.19.

    GM broke the record at that time for the world's largest IPO in history, with a stock sale valued at $23.1 billion (including $5 billion of preferred shares). Excluding the preferred shares, the IPO at that time ranked as the second largest U.S. IPO on record, after Visa's 2008 IPO. The automaker reclaimed its signature New York Stock Exchange ticker symbol (GM).

    GM's IPO reduced the U.S. government's GM common-stock ownership to 36.9 percent from 60.8 percent. After IPO overallotment sales, the government's stake fell to 33.3 percent.

    The Canadian and Ontario governments, the United Auto Workers' Retiree Medical Benefits Trust and old GM (now Motors Liquidation Co.) also owned stakes in GM.

    The U.S. Treasury Department in December 2012 announced its intent "to fully exit its investment" in GM "within the next 12-15 months, subject to market conditions."

    At the time of the December 2012 announcement, the government owned 500.1 million shares of GM common stock. The government said GM would purchase 200 million of those shares at $27.50 a share -- a total of $5.5 billion -- by the end of calendar 2012, reducing the government's stake to about 19 percent from about 26 percent.

    The U.S. government owned 7.3 percent of GM (101.3 million shares) as of September 2013, according to information released by the Treasury Department; 16.4 percent as of April 2013, according to GM's April 2013 proxy statement; 30.0 percent as of April 2012; and 32.0 percent as of March 2011.

    The U.S. Treasury Department in November 2013 announced it had completed the sale of 70.2 million GM shares and that it anticipated selling its remaining 31.1 million shares (2.2 percent stake) by year-end 2013. The Treasury Department announced Dec. 9, 2013, that it had sold its final GM shares, ending the federal government's ownership interest in GM.

    The UAW Retiree Medical Benefits Trust held an 8.7 percent stake in GM as of April 2015 and April 2014, according to GM proxy statements.

    The Canadian government (reported as Canada GEN Investment Corporation) as of April 2014 owned 6.9 percent of GM, down from 9.5 percent in April 2013, according to GM proxy statements. The Canadian government sold its remaining GM stake (73.4 million shares) in April 2015.

    S&P Dow Jones Indices on June 6, 2013, added GM back to the Standard & Poor's 500 stock index. GM replaced H.J. Heinz Co., which was acquired by Berkshire Hathaway and global investment firm 3G Capital on June 7, 2013. Coinciding with GM's return to the S&P 500, the U.S. government and UAW trust sold a portion of their remaining GM shares. This reduced the U.S. government's stake to 13.8 percent from 15.9 percent; and the UAW trust's stake to 13.1 percent from 14.5 percent. GM shares on June 6, 2013, closed at $34.44 a share.

    GM's return to the S&P 500 came four years after GM was dropped from the index. GM had been in the index from the S&P 500's start on March 4, 1957, until June 2, 2009, the day after the company filed for Chapter 11.

    R&D:

    GM disclosed the following worldwide "research and development" expenses:

    2017: $7.300 billion (5.01 percent of net sales and revenue)
    2016: $6.600 billion (restated) (4.42 percent)
    2015: $6.000 billion (restated) (4.42 percent)
    2014: $7.400 billion (4.75 percent)
    2013: $7.200 billion (4.63 percent)
    2012: $7.368 billion (4.84 percent)
    2011: $8.124 billion (5.41 percent)
    2010: $6.962 billion (5.13 percent)

    http://www.gm.com

GlaxoSmithKline

  • Marketer profile
    Click here to see company's total worldwide advertising spending, measured-media spending by region, key executives and agencies.

    Overview:

    GlaxoSmithKline is a prescription drug, personal care and over-the-counter health care products marketer based in the U.K.

    GlaxoSmithKline in March 2015 completed a three-part deal with Novartis in which the two companies combined their over-the-counter consumer health care operations into a worldwide joint venture controlled by GlaxoSmithKline.

    GlaxoSmithKline in June 2018 bought Novartis' 36.5 percent stake in joint venture, giving GlaxoSmithKline 100 percent ownership. Sales and earnings:

    Pharmaceuticals and vaccines accounted for 74 percent of GlaxoSmithKline worldwide revenue in 2017, 2016 and 2015; 81 percent in 2014; 81 percent in 2013 and 2012 (restated to exclude divestitures); 81 percent in 2011; and 82 percent in 2010. The rest of revenue came from consumer products including Aquafresh and Sensodyne toothpastes; Nicorette smoking-cessation gum; Tums antacid; Contact cold medicine; and Breathe Right nasal strips.

    Marketing spending:

    U.S. ad spending:

    Total U.S. advertising spending shown in the Leading National Advertisers report and Marketer Trees database is an Ad Age Datacenter estimate.

    Worldwide ad spending:

    Total worldwide advertising spending shown in the World's Largest Advertisers report and related database is GlaxoSmithKline's stated worldwide "advertising" spending converted to dollars at average exchange rates by Ad Age Datacenter.

    GlaxoSmithKline reported the following worldwide "advertising" spending:

    2017: 1.351 billion pounds
    2016: 1.265 billion pounds
    2015: 1.059 billion pounds

    Agencies:

    GlaxoSmithKline in October 2018 consolidated global media buying with Publicis Groupe effective in 2019. The move followed a review that included Dentsu Inc. and two incumbents, Omnicom Group's PHD and WPP's GroupM.

    At the same time that GlaxoSmithKline consolidated buying with Publicis, the marketer took media planning in-house and consolidated programmatic tech with Alphabet's Google.

    Deals and strategic moves:

    Novartis deals (2014-2018):

    GlaxoSmithKline and Swiss drug marketer Novartis in March 2015 completed a three-part transaction involving consumer products, vaccines and oncology products. The companies announced the deal in April 2014.

    In the first part of the deal, GlaxoSmithKline's Consumer Healthcare unit and Novartis' Novartis OTC unit merged into a worldwide joint venture with 2014 pro forma revenue of 6.1 billion pounds ($10.1 billion). (GlaxoSmithKline in June 2018 completed a transaction, announced in March 2018, to buy Novartis' 36.5 percent stake in the joint venture for $13 billion (9.3 billion pounds), giving GlaxoSmithKline 100 percent ownership.)

    In the second part, GlaxoSmithKline acquired Novartis' global vaccines business (excluding influenza vaccines) for an initial cash payment of $5.25 billion with later potential payments of up to $1.8 billion and ongoing royalties.

    In the third part, GlaxoSmithKline sold its oncology portfolio and granted commercialization partner rights for future oncology products to Novartis for $16 billion cash.

    On a pro forma basis including these transactions, GlaxoSmithKline said its 2014 revenue would have been 24.2 billion pounds ($39.9 billion) split across pharmaceuticals (59 percent), vaccines (15 percent) and consumer products (26 percent).

    Novartis over-the-counter health care brands included Voltaren, Excedrin, Otrivin, Theraflu, Benefiber, Gas-X, Maalox and Prevacid24HR. (Novartis in 2005 paid $646 million for the U.S. and Canadian Consumer Medicines operations of Bristol-Myers Squibb, a deal that included Excedrin.)

    (Less than a month after the GlaxoSmithKline/Novartis deal was announced in 2014, Bayer in May 2014 struck a deal to buy Merck's Merck Consumer Care business; the combined Bayer and Merck OTC portfolios had 2013 pro forma worldwide sales of $7.4 billion. Bayer completed that acquisition in October 2014.)Novartis said the transactions would allow Novartis to focus on pharmaceuticals, eye care and generics.

    To satisfy antitrust regulators, GlaxoSmithKline in August 2015 sold a portfolio of consumer brands to Dublin-based Perrigo Co.: GlaxoSmithKline's NiQuitin nicotine replacement therapy, primarily in the European Economic Area and Brazil, and Novartis's Australian nicotine replacement therapy business, including the Nicotinell brand; various over-the-counter brands including Coldrex (cold and flu treatment) in Europe and Panodil (pain relief), Nezeril (nasal decongestant) and Nasin (nasal decongestant) in Sweden; and Novartis's cold sore management products primarily in Europe, marketed under the brand names Vectavir, Pencivir, Fenivir, Fenlips and Vectatone. Net sales in 2014 for Perrigo's acquired portfolio was about $110 million.

    Acquisitions:

    The company made no acquisitions in 2017.

    GlaxoSmithKline made two small pharmaceutical business acquisitions in 2016.

    The company in 2015 bought a small vaccines business for 120 million pounds ($183 million).

    GlaxoSmithKline made no acquisitions in 2014.

    GlaxoSmithKline in 2013 completed three relatively small acquisitions, including Okairos, a European-based biopharmaceutical company. Total purchase price for these businesses was 255 million pounds ($399 million) including cash acquired and contingent consideration.

    The company in August 2012 acquired U.S. biopharmaceutical firm Human Genome Sciences for about $3.6 billion.

    GlaxoSmithKline in July 2009 bought Stiefel Laboratories, a Florida-based marketer of dermatology products, for $2.9 billion in cash.

    Divestitures:

    The company in March 2018 began a strategic review of Horlicks and its other consumer health care nutrition products to help pay for its acquisition of Novartis' stake in the GlaxoSmithKline and Novartis health care products joint venture. Combined 2017 sales of those products was about 550 million pounds ($709 million). The majority of those sales were in India.

    GlaxoSmithKline in October 2015 sold its quadrivalent meningococcal ACWY vaccines, Nimenrix and Mencevax, to Pfizer for about $130 million (115 million pounds).

    The company in December 2013 sold its Lucozade and Ribena nutritional-drinks brands to Japan's Suntory Beverage & Food for 1.352 billion pounds cash ($2.116 billion). Lucozade and Ribena had sales, excluding retained markets, of 527 million pounds ($825 million) in 2013.

    GlaxoSmithKline in December 2013 sold its anti-coagulant business (consisting of worldwide intellectual property rights -- excluding China, India and Pakistan -- for Fraxiparine and Arixtra) to Aspen Pharmacare Holdings for 732 million pounds ($1.145 billion). Worldwide sales of Fraxiparine and Arixtra, excluding retained markets, were 345 million pounds ($540 million) in 2013. Aspen is a South African-based supplier of branded and generic pharmaceuticals. GlaxoSmithKline in September 2016 sold additional non-core assets to Aspen.

    GlaxoSmithKline previously owned a minority stake in Aspen. GlaxoSmithKline in November 2013 reduced its Aspen stake to 12.4 percent from 18.6 percent. GlaxoSmithKline in March 2015 sold a 6.2 percent interest for 571 million pounds ($842 million), reducing its Aspen holding to 6.2 percent. GlaxoSmithKline sold its remaining Aspen stake in September 2016.

    The company in 2011 and 2012 divested an assortment of "non-core" over-the-counter health care brands.

    GlaxoSmithKline in April 2011 announced its intent to divest certain "non-core" OTC brands that had 2011 sales of about 500 million pounds ($773 million), 10 percent of the firm's Consumer Healthcare revenue. Products on the divesting list included analgesics Solpadeine, BC and Goody's; vitamin and supplement product Abtei; feminine hygiene treatment Lactacyd; and weight-management brand Alli. GlaxoSmithKline hoped to complete divesting the products by late 2011.

    GlaxoSmithKline in December 2011 struck a deal to sell 17 non-core brands to Prestige Brands Holdings, a company that owns and markets cast-off package-goods brands. Prestige on Jan. 31, 2012, bought 15 of those brands, including BC, Goody's, Beano, Ecotrin, FiberChoice, Gaviscon, Phazyme and Tagamet. In April 2012, Prestige bought GlaxoSmithKline's Debrox wax remover and Gly-Oxide oral rinse. Prestige paid $660 million for the 17 brands.

    GlaxoSmithKline in second-quarter 2012 sold non-core over-the-counter brands in Europe to Belgium-based Omega Pharma. Divested brands included Lactacyd, Abtei, Solpadeine, Zantac, Nytol and Beconase.

    The company in March 2012 said it was delaying the sale of Alli. (GlaxoSmithKline disclosed that sales of Alli declined by 72 percent in 2012 "as a result of the supply interruption that was not resolved until late in the third quarter of 2012.")

    The company in April 2012 sold non-core over-the-counter brands in selected international markets(including South Africa, Australia and Brazil) to Aspen.

    Other joint ventures:

    GlaxoSmithKline and Pfizer in October 2009 combined HIV drug operations into a joint-venture company, ViiV Healthcare. Shionogi & Co., a Japanese pharma company, in 2012 became a 10 percent owner of ViiV. GlaxoSmithKline and Pfizer at year-end 2012 owned 76.5 percent and 13.5 percent stakes, respectively. Under an agreement with German firm Bayer, GlaxoSmithKline shares U.S. marketing rights to erectile dysfunction drug Levitra with Merck (via Merck's 2009 acquisition of Schering-Plough Corp., GlaxoSmithKline's former marketing partner on Levitra).

    GlaxoSmithKline previously had a joint venture with Astellas Pharma U.S. (part of Tokyo-based Astellas Pharma) to market Vesicare, a treatment for overactive bladder. The joint venture ended in first-quarter 2012, making Astellas the exclusive marketer.

    GlaxoSmithKline's co-marketing agreement with Roche Holdings for Boniva expired in January 2010. Roche owns the Boniva trademark.

    Management:

    Emma Walmsley in March 2017 became CEO when Andrew Witty retired. Walmsley formerly was CEO of the company's Consumer Healthcare division

    Walmsley joined GlaxoSmithKline in 2010 from L'Oreal, where she held a variety of marketing and general management jobs in the U.K., Europe and U.S. for 17 years.

    History:

    The company is the product of multiple mergers. SmithKline (once known as Smith, Kline and French Co.) in 1982 combined with Beckman Instruments to form SmithKline Beckman. SmithKline Beckman and Beecham Group in 1989 merged to form SmithKline Beecham. Glaxo and Wellcome in 1995 merged to form Glaxo Wellcome. Glaxo Wellcome and SmithKline Beecham merged in 2001 to form GlaxoSmithKline.

    http://www.gsk.com

Heineken

  • Marketer profile
    Click here to see company's total worldwide advertising spending, measured-media spending by region, key executives and agencies.

    Overview:

    Amsterdam-based Heineken N.V., or Heineken, is the world's second largest beer marketer.

    Heineken Holding N.V. owns 50.005 percent of Heineken N.V.

    Business segments and operations:

    Heineken N.V. markets more than 300 international, regional, local and specialty beers and ciders. Its flagship brand is Heineken.

    Heineken N.V.'s parent company is Heineken Holding N.V., a publicly traded company that owns a 50.005 percent stake in publicly traded Heineken N.V.

    Heineken Holding does not engage in operational activities itself; Heineken N.V. is the operating business.

    Rankings:

    According to data from Plato Logic, a beer-industry market-research firm, as quoted in a 20-F filing of Anheuser-Busch InBev, the world's five largest brewers based on volume in calendar 2016 were:

    Anheuser-Busch InBev (510.3 million hectoliters)
    Heineken (228.8 million)
    Carlsberg (119.8 million)
    CR Snow (117.2 million)
    Molson Coors Brewing Co. (96.5 million)

    These figures are pro forma to account for the October 2016 acquisition of SABMiller operations by Anheuser-Busch InBev and Molson Coors. SABMiller was the world's second largest brewer in 2015 with volume of 293.6 million hectoliters, according to Plato Logic data cited in a 20-F filing of Anheuser-Busch InBev. Marketing spending:

    U.S. ad spending:

    Total U.S. advertising spending shown in the Leading National Advertisers report and Marketer Trees database is an Ad Age Datacenter estimate.

    Worldwide ad spending:

    Total worldwide advertising spending shown in the World's Largest Advertisers report and related database is an Ad Age Datacenter estimate.

    Heineken was honored in 2015 as the Cannes Lions Creative Marketer of the Year. Heineken is a repeat winner; it previously won that honor in 1995.

    Agencies:

    Heineken in June 2015 terminated its global advertising contracts with Wieden & Kennedy for the Heineken and Desperados brands. In announcing the move, Jan Derck van Karnebeek, Heineken chief commercial officer, said in a statement: "We work with multiple agencies on Heineken to support the world-wide presence of the brand and also to bring additional creative thinking. Globally we now enjoy a strong relationship with Publicis, while in many markets we are working with local agencies to deliver outstanding and effective local top-spin campaign." Wieden had worked on the account since 2010, primarily from the agency's Amsterdam office.

    Deals and strategic moves:

    SABMiller:

    SABMiller, then the world's second largest brewer, in September 2014 approached then-No. 3 Heineken about a possible acquisition. Heineken said in its annual report for calendar 2014:

    "Heineken consulted its controlling shareholder, Heineken Holding N.V., and on that basis concluded that the proposal was 'non-actionable'. The Heineken family, as the ultimate controlling shareholder, expressed its intent to preserve the heritage and identity of Heineken as an independent company. This decision reflects the confidence of the Heineken family and Heineken N.V.'s management in our ability to continue delivering growth and shareholder value. It has also reinforced our determination to continue the focus on increasing effectiveness and efficiency across all aspects of our business."

    Anheuser-Busch InBev, the world's largest beer marketer, in November 2015 signed a deal to buy SABMiller. Anheuser-Busch InBev in October 2016 completed the deal and then sold SABMiller's majority stake in U.S. beer marketer MillerCoors to Molson Coors Brewing Co.

    Other deals and strategic moves:

    Heineken in August 2017 bought about 1,900 U.K. pubs operated by Punch Taverns for 308 million pounds ($398 million).

    Heineken in May 2017 bought Brasil Kirin Holding from Kirin Holdings Co. for 594 million euros ($663 million). Brasil Kirin Holding was one of the largest beer and soft drinks producers in Brazil.

    Alcohol marketer Diageo in October 2015 sold its 57.87 percent interest in Desnoes & Geddes (Jamaican Red Stripe business) to Heineken (increasing Heineken's stake to 73.32 percent); sold its 49.99 percent stake in Guinness Anchor Berhad to Heineken (increasing Heineken's interest to 100 percent); and acquired Heineken's 20 percent stake in Guinness Ghana Breweries (raising Diageo's stake to 72.42 percent). Heineken in 2016 bought an additional 22.5 percent stake in Desnoes & Geddes. Heineken as of year-end 2016 owned 95.8 percent of Desnoes & Geddes.

    Heineken and Lagunitas Brewing Co., a northern California-based craft brewer, in September 2015 announced a 50/50 joint venture to market Lagunitas beers in global markets outside the U.S. Lagunitas will continue to operate independently in the U.S. As part of the deal, Heineken in October 2015 acquired a 50 percent stake in Lagunitas Brewing Co. Heineken in May 2017 bought the remaining 50 percent stake in Lagunitas, giving it 100 percent ownership.

    Heineken in 2012 acquired full control of Asia Pacific Breweries (Tiger, Anchor and Bintang brands), a brewer based in Singapore. Heineken in 1932 had co-founded that business, then known as Malayan Breweries.

    Heineken in 2010 bought Femsa Cerveza (Dos Equis, Tecate and Sol brands) in Mexico and Brazil. The deal included rights to distribute the products in the U.S. With that deal, Femsa (Fomento Economico Mexicano), Femsa Cerveza's parent, became a minority shareholder in Heineken Holding.

    Heineken in 2008 bought Scottish & Newcastle (Fosters and Strongbow).

    Heineken in 1968 bought Amstel, a major rival in the Netherlands.

    Stock:

    Heineken N.V.'s parent company is Heineken Holding N.V., a publicly traded company that owns a 50.005 percent stake in publicly traded Heineken N.V. (Heineken).

    The Heineken and Hoyer families (through L'Arche Green N.V.) own a majority stake in Heineken Holding. That makes the Heineken and Hoyer families the ultimate controlling shareholders in Heineken N.V. (Heineken).

    Heineken listed on the Dutch stock exchange in 1939.

    History:

    Heineken traces its roots to 1864, when Gerard Adriaan Heineken bought a brewery in Amsterdam.

    http://www.theheinekencompany.com

Henkel

  • Marketer profile
    Click here to see company's total worldwide advertising spending, measured-media spending by region, key executives and agencies.

    Overview:

    Germany-based Henkel is a global marketer of laundry and home care products, beauty care products and adhesive products.

    Marketing spending:

    Worldwide ad spending:

    Total worldwide advertising spending shown in the World's Largest Advertisers report and related database is an Ad Age Datacenter estimate.

    Deals and strategic moves:

    Sun Products Corp. (2016):

    Henkel Sept. 1, 2016, bought Sun Products Corp., a U.S. laundry and home care company, from Vestar Capital Partners for about 3.2 billion euros ($3.6 billion). This was the second largest acquisition in Henkel's history. The acquisition included laundry brands All and Sun and fabric conditioner Snuggle. (Unilever in September 2008 sold its North American laundry business to Vestar for $1.45 billion. The sale included the All, Snuggle, Wisk, Surf and Sunlight brands. Vestar already owned private-label detergent powerhouse Huish Detergents. Vestar merged Huish and the acquired Unilever business to form Sun Products Corp.)

    Other deals and strategic moves:

    Henkel in December 2017 bought Zotos International, the U.S. hair salon business of Shiseido Co., for 403 million euros ($479 million).

    Henkel in June 2016 bought a range of hair-care brands from Procter & Gamble Co. in the Africa/Middle East and Eastern Europe regions for 212 million euros ($246 million).

    Henkel in 2015 bought Colgate-Palmolive Co.'s laundry detergent and prewash brands in Australia and New Zealand (including the Cold Power, Dynamo, Fab and Sard brands) for about 310 Australian dollars (U.S. $221 million).

    Henkel in 2014 bought Spotless Group, a France-based marketer of laundry aid, insect control and household-care products marketed in Europe.

    Henkel in 2014 bought U.S. hair professional companies SexyHair, Alterna and Kenra.

    Henkel in April 2004 acquired Dial Corp., an Arizona-based marketer of brands including Dial (soap) and Purex(detergent).

    Clorox Co., a U.S. household products marketer, in November 2004 did an asset swap with Henkel, a long-time shareholder that was its largest shareholder at the time. This came after Henkel's acquisition of Dial. Henkel handed over Clorox shares that represented an approximately 29 percent stake in Clorox. In return, Clorox gave Henkel about $2.1 billion cash along with Clorox's Soft Scrub cleaner brand, Clorox's insecticides business and Clorox's 20 percent stake in a joint venture in Spain (Henkel Iberica).

    Henkel in 2004 also bought Advanced Research Laboratories, a California-based marketer of hair-care products.

    Henkel in 1997 bought Loctite Corp., a marketer of adhesives. Henkel had been a minority shareholder since 1985.

    Henkel in 1995 bought Schwarzkopf, a hair-care products marketer.

    Stock:

    Henkel went public Oct. 11, 1985.

    History:

    Fritz Henkel and two partners founded Henkel & Cie in Germany in 1876 to manufacture and market laundry detergent.

    http://www.henkel.com

Honda Motor Co.

  • Marketer profile
    Click here to see company's total worldwide advertising spending, measured-media spending by region, key executives and agencies.

    Overview:

    Honda Motor Co., founded in 1948, is an automaker based in Tokyo with U.S. headquarters in Torrance, Calif.

    In addition to cars and sport-utility vehicles, Honda also markets motorcycles and power equipment.

    Honda also makes small airplanes through Honda Aircraft Co., a North Carolina-based subsidiary of American Honda Motor Co.

    In fiscal 2018 (year ended March 2018), about 42 percent of Honda's automobile units (including sales under the Acura brand) on a group basis were sold in Asia, followed by 37 percent in North America and 13 percent in Japan, according to Honda's 20-F filing. About 91 percent of Honda's motorcycle units on a group basis were sold in Asia. About 48 percent of Honda's power products units on a group basis were sold in North America, followed by 24 percent in Asia and 16 percent in Europe.

    Sales and earnings:

    Honda generated the following worldwide "sales revenue" under International Financial Reporting Standards:Year ended March 2018 (fiscal 2018): 15,361 billion yen worldwide ($138.7 billion)
    Year ended March 2017 (fiscal 2017): 13,999 billion yen worldwide ($129.5 billion)
    Year ended March 2016 (fiscal 2016): 14,601 billion yen worldwide ($121.6 billion)
    Year ended March 2015: 13,328 billion yen worldwide ($122.0 billion)
    Year ended March 2014: 12,506 billion yen worldwide ($124.9 billion)

    Honda generated the following "net sales and other operating revenue" under U.S. generally accepted accounting principles:

    Year ended March 2015 (fiscal 2015): 12,647 billion yen worldwide ($115.7 billion)
    Year ended March 2014: 11,843 billion yen worldwide ($118.3 billion) (U.S.: 4,934,018 million yen or $49.3 billion or 41.7 percent)
    Year ended March 2013: 9,878 billion yen worldwide ($118.5 billion) (U.S.: 4,063,727 million yen or $48.8 billion or 41.1 percent)
    Year ended March 2012: 7,948 billion yen worldwide ($100.7 billion) (U.S.: $39.3 billion or 39.0 percent)
    Year ended March 2011: 8,937 billion yen worldwide ($104.6 billion) (U.S.: $41.0 billion or 39.2 percent)
    Year ended March 2010: 8,579 billion yen worldwide ($92.5 billion) (U.S.: $35.5 billion or 38.4 percent)
    Year ended March 2009: 10,011 billion yen worldwide ($100.1 billion) (U.S.: $39.9 billion or 39.9 percent)
    Year ended March 2008: 12,003 billion yen worldwide ($105.4 billion) (U.S.: $46.7 billion or 44.3 percent)
    Year ended March 2007: 11,087 billion yen worldwide ($94.9 billion) (U.S.: $45.3 billion or 47.7 percent)

    Honda changed its worldwide financial reporting to International Financial Reporting Standards from U.S. generally accepted accounting principles effective with the year ended March 2015.

    Marketing spending:

    Worldwide ad spending:

    Total worldwide advertising spending shown in the World's Largest Advertisers report and related database is an Ad Age Datacenter estimate.

    Honda did not disclose worldwide advertising expenses for years ended March 2017, March 2016 and March 2015 in its 20-F filings and Japanese annual regulatory filings.

    In an earlier 20-F filing and Japanese annual regulatory filing, Honda reported worldwide "advertising expenses" of 297.514 billion yen ($2.972 billion) in year ended March 2014.

    U.S. ad spending:

    Total U.S. advertising spending shown in the Leading National Advertisers report and Marketer Trees database is an Ad Age Datacenter estimate. Agencies:

    American Honda Motor Co. in January 2017 moved its U.S. media account for the Honda and Acura brands back to independent RPA from Publicis Groupe's Mediavest after a review.

    Honda in August 2014 consolidated digital marketing for the Honda and Acura brands with a team drawn from Razorfish and siblings at Publicis Groupe. Razorfish, WPP's VML, Meredith Corp.'s MXM and Interpublic Group of Cos.' R/GA competed in the pitch, which began in January 2014.

    Previously, independent RPA handled digital creative for Honda while MXM and Interpublic's Mullen handled digital for Acura. Following the August 2014 decision, RPA continued to handle consumer-facing digital content along with social-media support for the Honda brand; Mullen continued to do much of that for Acura. Razorfish works with both creative agencies to optimize the brand and consumer-facing websites while maintaining the independent brand characteristics of each site. Additionally, Razorfish is responsible for both Honda and Acura owner websites and social-media support for Acura.

    American Honda in March 2013 completed a review of U.S. creative and media for its Honda and Acura brands. It kept Honda creative at independent RPA. The company moved Acura creative to Interpublic Group of Cos.' Mullen from RPA. The company hired Mediavest as its new media agency, replacing RPA. (As noted above, Honda moved the media account back to RPA in January 2017.)

    American Honda began the review in December 2012. The review did not include multicultural advertising, handled by Muse Communications and Orci. Honda worked with Roth & Associates on the review.

    Two other agencies were finalists in the Honda and Acura creative review: Interpublic's Martin Agency and MDC Partners' 72andSunny. Media agencies in the final round of the review included independent Horizon Media and Omnicom Group's PHD.

    U.S. auto advertising for the Honda brand has been handled since 1986 by RPA, which took over the business from Needham Harper. RPA (formerly Rubin Postaer & Associates) was founded by Needham Harper veterans Gerry Rubin and Larry Postaer. Needham Harper gave up the Honda account when the agency merged in 1986 with DDB (then an agency for Volkswagen) as part of a rollup with BBDO (then an agency for Chrysler) that created Omnicom.

    Ketchum Advertising (later known as Fathom) handled Acura creative from the brand's 1986 launch until 1996, when American Honda moved Acura to Suissa Miller following a review. American Honda shifted Acura creative and media in 1999 to RPA without a review, dropping Suissa Miller for creative and Interpublic's Western Initiative Media for media.

    Deals and strategic moves:

    Honda in October 2018 agreed to make a $750 million equity investment in GM Cruise Holdings, General Motors Co.'s autonomous vehicle technology venture.

    The companies said Honda would work jointly with Cruise and GM "to fund and develop a purpose-built autonomous vehicle for Cruise." The October 2018 announcement said: "Honda will contribute approximately $2 billion over 12 years to these initiatives, which, together with a $750 million equity investment in Cruise, brings its total commitment to the project to $2.75 billion."

    Management and employees:

    Takahiro Hachigo in June 2015 succeeded Takanobu Ito as president-CEO of Honda Motor Co. Hachigo served as managing officer (starting in April 2014) and as senior operating officer (starting in April 2015) before taking the top post. Hachigo was born May 19, 1959, and joined Honda in 1982. Ito had succeeded Takeo Fukui as president-CEO in June 2009.

    Fukui became Honda Motor Co.'s sixth president in 2003.

    http://www.honda.com

Hyundai Motor Co.

  • Marketer profile
    Click here to see company's total worldwide advertising spending, measured-media spending by region, key executives and agencies.

    Overview:

    Hyundai Motor Co. is the largest automaker based in South Korea.

    Business segments and operations:

    Hyundai goes to market with two automotive brands: Hyundai and Genesis.

    Hyundai in November 2015 unveiled Genesis as a global luxury brand, recasting the Hyundai Genesis model name as a distinct nameplate. Models in the Genesis line use an alphanumeric naming structure. The former Hyundai Genesis sedan became the Genesis G80; the former Hyundai Equus, Hyundai's flagship luxury sedan, became the G90.

    In announcing the brand, Hyundai said: "The name 'Genesis,' which also means new beginnings, hints at the new values and standards that the brand will bring to the global luxury car market. Initially on sale in the Korean, Chinese, North American and Middle Eastern luxury car markets, the Genesis brand will expand its reach to Europe and other parts of Asia as the model range grows to full strength."

    In the U.S., the Genesis brand will be sold in Hyundai dealerships rather than in separate dealerships at least for the start.

    Rankings:

    Hyundai's U.S. unit, Hyundai Motor America, ranked as the No. 7 U.S. auto marketer in 2017, 2016, 2015, 2014, 2013, 2012, 2011, 2010, 2009, 2008 and 2007 based on unit sales, according to data from Automotive News analyzed by Ad Age Datacenter.

    Hyundai Motor America's unit sales for Hyundai and Genesis vehicles fell 12 percent in 2017 from the all-time yearly sales record hit in 2016. In a January 2018 statement, Hyundai said: "Annual sales were lower due in large part to a concerted effort to decrease fleet sales, which were down 31 percent on the year. Retail sales were down only 5 percent."

    The sales drop in 2017 came after Hyundai Motor America in 2016 scored its seventh consecutive year of record U.S. unit sales.

    Sales and earnings:

    Hyundai generated 32.0 percent of net sales (in won) from North America in 2017; 33.3 percent in 2016; 31.7 percent in 2015; 30.0 percent in 2014; 29.4 percent in 2013; 29.3 percent in 2012; and 25.5 percent in 2011.

    Hyundai said it sold 4,504,825 vehicles worldwide in 2017.

    Hyundai reported the following global retail unit sales:

    2017: 4,504,825 vehicles (from December 2017 sales results) (U.S.: 685,555 or 15.2 percent of worldwide units)
    2016: 4,914,000 vehicles (U.S.: 775,005 or 15.8 percent of worldwide units)
    2015: 4,843,000 vehicles (U.S.: 761,710 or 15.7 percent of worldwide units)
    2014: 4,835,000 vehicles (U.S.: 725,718 or 15.0 percent of worldwide units)
    2013: 4,621,000 vehicles (U.S.: 720,783 or 15.6 percent of worldwide units)
    2012: 4,392,000 vehicles (U.S.: 703,007 or 16.0 percent of worldwide units)
    2011: 4,099,000 vehicles (U.S.: 645,691 or 15.8 percent of worldwide units)

    Marketing spending:

    U.S. ad spending:

    Total U.S. advertising spending shown in the Leading National Advertisers report and Marketer Trees database is Ad Age Datacenter's estimate of Hyundai's U.S. advertising and sales promotion spending.

    Worldwide ad spending:

    Total worldwide advertising spending shown in the World's Largest Advertisers report and related database is Hyundai's stated worldwide "advertisements and sales promotion" expenses converted to U.S. dollars at average exchange rates by Ad Age Datacenter.

    Hyundai reported 2017 worldwide advertisements and sales promotion expenses of 2,460 billion won ($2.190 billion). Hyundai prior to 2012 broke out "advertisements and sales promotion" into the following buckets:

    Worldwide "advertisements" expenses:

    2011: 1,416 billion won ($1.288 billion) (1.82 percent of worldwide revenue)
    2010: 1,245 billion won ($1.083 billion) (1.86 percent)

    Worldwide "sales promotion" expenses:

    2011: 789.5 billion won ($718.4 million) (1.01 percent of worldwide revenue)
    2010: 801.8 billion won ($697.5 million) (1.20 percent)

    Agencies:

    Hyundai Motor America and Kia Motors America moved media to Canvas Worldwide from Interpublic Group of Cos.' Initiative effective Jan. 1, 2016. Canvas launched in September 2015 as a joint venture of Innocean Worldwide, a South Korea-based agency network and company, and Horizon Media, a U.S. media agency network and company. Canvas is 51 percent owned by Innocean and 49 percent by Horizon.

    Innocean, which handles Hyundai Motor Co. advertising in many markets including the U.S., is backed by Hyundai's founding family; Innocean staged its initial public offering in South Korea in July 2015.

    Hyundai in September 2008 decided to drop its national creative agency, Omnicom Group's Goodby, Silverstein & Partners, just 17 months after moving the account to Goodby from independent Richards Group in April 2007. Goodby Silverstein officially handled Hyundai through March 31, 2009. Hyundai then shifted its U.S. account to Innocean, which established an office in Orange County, Calif., near Hyundai's U.S. offices.

    Hyundai Motor America and corporate affiliate Kia in January 2008 named Initiative to handle media, moving the account from Aegis Group's Carat. Hyundai-Kia in November 2009 awarded a big chunk of international media buying business to Havas' MPG.

    Hyundai as of year-end 2016 owned 33.9 percent of Kia Motors Corp., another South Korea automaker, according to Hyundai and Kia financial disclosures.

    Awards:

    Ad Age named Hyundai Motor America the 2009 Marketer of the Year.

    Management and employees:

    Hyundai Motor America named Kyung Soo (Kenny) Lee president and CEO in September 2017. Lee joined Hyundai in 1982.

    Hyundai Motor America fired President-CEO David Zuchowski in December 2016 for failing to meet internal sales objectives, Automotive News reported. W. Gerald (Jerry) Flannery, executive VP-general counsel, was named interim CEO.

    Hyundai had promoted Zuchowski to president-CEO from executive VP-national sales effective January 2014. Zuchowski succeeded John Krafcik, who left Hyundai after his contract was not renewed. Krafcik joined auto website TrueCar as president in 2014 and then moved to Alphabet (holding company for Google) in September 2015.

    Hyundai Motor America marketing chief Steve Shannon left the company in November 2014 to pursue other interests. Hyundai in April 2011 had named Shannon as VP-marketing, with responsibility for all marketing activities in the U.S. Prior to joining Hyundai, Shannon held various posts at GM in the U.S. and Europe in marketing and other areas.

    Joel Ewanick, VP-marketing at Hyundai Motor America, left Hyundai to become VP-marketing of the Nissan Division at Nissan North America effective March 22, 2010. It was a short stint. Weeks later, Ewanick quit Nissan to become VP-U.S. marketing at General Motors Co., effective May 24, 2010. GM promoted Ewanick to global chief marketing officer in December 2010. Christopher J. Perry succeeded Ewanick as Hyundai Motor America's VP-marketing. Perry quit Hyundai in August 2010 to join Ewanick at GM. Ewanick resigned from GM in July 2012. Perry resigned from GM in December 2013.

    History:

    Hyundai entered the U.S. market with the 1986 Excel, a subcompact with a starting price of just $4,995 ($1,000 above the price of the cheapest new car at the time, the much-maligned Yugo).

    Hyundai has moved up the food chain, initially with Hyundai Genesis models and then with the Hyundai Equus. The company in December 2010 launched the Equus luxury sedan, which had a starting price of $58,000.

    Hyundai in November 2015 unveiled Genesis as a global luxury brand, recasting the Hyundai Genesis model name as a distinct nameplate. The former Hyundai Genesis sedan became the Genesis G80; the former Hyundai Equus became the G90.

    Hyundai Motor Co. was incorporated in 1967.

    http://worldwide.hyundai.com

IAC (IAC/InterActiveCorp)

  • Marketer profile
    Click here to see company's total worldwide advertising spending, measured-media spending by region, key executives and agencies.

    Overview:

    IAC/InterActiveCorp is an internet media, retail and services company. Its brands include Ask.com, Angie's List, Daily Beast, Dotdash, HomeAdvisor, Match and Vimeo.

    IAC in September 2017 completed a deal to combine IAC's HomeAdvisor with rival Angie's List into a new U.S. public company, ANGI Homeservices. IAC is the majority owner.

    IAC's Match Group in November 2015 completed an initial public offering; IAC remained the majority owner.

    Business segments and operations:

    IAC in fourth-quarter 2015 realigned itself into six reportable segments: Match Group, HomeAdvisor (now the ANGI Homeservices segment), Video, Applications, Publishing, Other.

    Sales and earnings:

    Google relationship:

    Much of IAC's online advertising revenue comes from a services agreement with Alphabet's Google that was to expire March 31, 2016. IAC in October 2015 renewed that agreement through March 31, 2020. IAC has the option to terminate the agreement effective March 31, 2019.

    IAC revenue that came via Google:

    2017: $740.7 million
    2016: $824.4 million
    2015: $1.3 billion
    2014: $1.4 billion
    2013: $1.5 billion
    2012: $1.4 billion
    2011: $970.4 million
    2010: $727.9 million

    IAC's Applications segment generated this percentage of revenue from Google: 83 percent in 2017; 87 percent in 2016; 94 percent in 2015; 97 percent in 2014; and 98 percent in 2013.

    IAC's Publishing segment generated this percentage of revenue from Google: 71 percent in 2017; 73 percent in 2016; 83 percent in 2015; 83 percent in 2014; and 83 percent in 2013.

    Paid listings are priced on a price per click. When IAC delivers a user's click to a paid listing supplied by Google, Google bills the advertiser and shares a portion of its resulting paid listing fee with IAC. The company recognizes paid listing revenue from Google when it delivers the user's click. In cases where the user's click is generated by a third-party site, IAC recognizes the amount due from Google as revenue and records the revenue share obligation to the third-party site as traffic acquisition costs.

    Traffic acquisition costs:

    IAC pays traffic acquisition costs, which are payments to partners that distribute its business-to-business customized browser-based applications, integrate IAC paid listings into their websites or direct traffic to IAC websites. These payments include amounts based on revenue sharing and other arrangements. IAC expenses these payments as a component of cost of revenue. Marketing spending:

    U.S. ad spending:

    Total U.S. advertising spending shown in the Leading National Advertisers report and Marketer Trees database is an Ad Age Datacenter estimate.

    Worldwide ad spending:

    Total worldwide advertising spending figures shown in the World's Largest Advertisers report and related database are IAC's stated worldwide advertising costs.

    In its 10-K filing for year ended December 2017, IAC said advertising costs "represent online marketing, including fees paid to search engines, social media sites and third parties that distribute our Consumer downloadable applications, offline marketing, which is primarily television advertising, and partner-related payments to those who direct traffic to the Match Group brands."

    In its 10-K filing for years ended December 2016 and December 2015, IAC said advertising costs "represent online marketing, including fees paid to search engines and third parties that distribute our Consumer downloadable applications, offline marketing, which is primarily television advertising, and partner-related payments to those who direct traffic to the Match Group brands."

    In its 10-K filings for years ended December 2014 and December 2013, IAC said advertising costs "represent online marketing, including fees paid to search engines and third parties that distribute our B2C [business-to-consumer] downloadable applications, and offline marketing, which is primarily television advertising."

    In its 10-K for year ended December 2012, IAC said advertising costs "represent online marketing, including fees paid to search engines and third parties that distribute our B2C downloadable applications, and offline marketing, principally television and radio advertising."

    Prior to IAC's 2008 breakup into five companies (see "Deals and strategic moves"), IAC reported worldwide advertising expenses of $904.8 million in 2007; $867.3 million in 2006; and $588.1 million in 2005.

    ANGI Homeservices ad spending:

    IAC in September 2017 completed a deal to combine IAC's HomeAdvisor with rival Angie's List into a new U.S. public company, ANGI Homeservices. IAC is the majority owner.

    ANGI stated worldwide "advertising expense":

    2017: $282.3 million (38.3 percent of revenue) (including Angie's List starting Sept. 29, 2017
    2016: $196.8 million (39.4 percent of revenue) (HomeAdvisor)
    2015: $145.4 million (40.3 percent) (HomeAdvisor)

    In its 10-K for year ended December 2017, ANGI said advertising costs "represent online marketing, including fees paid to search engines, offline marketing, which is primarily television advertising and partner-related payments to those who direct traffic to our platforms."

    HomeAdvisor historic stated "advertising expense" (primarily U.S.):

    2016: $196.8 million (39.4 percent of revenue)
    2015: $145.4 million (40.3 percent)
    2014: $103.8 million (36.6 percent)

    Angie's List historic stated "advertising spend" (all U.S.):

    2016: $46.1 million (14.2 percent of revenue)
    2015: $71.5 million (20.8 percent)
    2014: $87.4 million (27.7 percent)

    Match Group ad spending:

    Match Group disclosed the following worldwide "advertising costs":

    2017: $340.4 million (25.6 percent of $1.331 billion revenue)
    2016: $325.0 million (restated) (29.1 percent of $1.118 billion revenue)
    2015: $316.2 million (restated) (34.8 percent of $909.7 million revenue)
    2014: $309.4 million (34.8 percent of $888.3 million revenue)
    2013: $297.5 million (37.0 percent of $803.1 million revenue)
    2012: $287.0 million (40.2 percent of $713.4 million revenue)

    In its 10-K for year ended December 2017, Match Group said advertising costs "represent online marketing, including fees paid to search engines and social media sites, offline marketing, which is primarily television advertising, and partner-related payments to those who direct traffic to our websites."

    In its 10-K for year ended December 2016, Match Group said:

    "Advertising expenditures includes online marketing, including fees paid to search engines, offline marketing (which is primarily television advertising), and partner-related payments to those who direct traffic to our brands."

    Deals and strategic moves:

    ANGI Homeservices:

    IAC in September 2017 completed a deal to combine IAC's HomeAdvisor with publicly traded Angie's List into a new U.S. public company, ANGI Homeservices.

    The new company kept the HomeAdvisor and Angie's List brands. HomeAdvisor and Angie's List both connect service professionals with homeowners.

    As of February 2018, IAC owned about 86.8 percent of ANGI outstanding shares and had about 98.5 percent of the total voting power.

    The combination came after Angie's List in fall 2015 rejected deal overtures from IAC.

    ANGI in October 2018 bought Handy Technologies, a New York-based on-demand platform and gig marketplace connecting consumers seeking household services with independent, pre-screened professionals at a fixed price. Terms weren't disclosed.

    HomeAdvisor made several global acquisitions before it struck a deal with Angie's List.

    HomeAdvisor in March 2017 bought MyBuilder, a venture in the U.K.

    HomeAdvisor in February 2017 bought HomeStars, a home-services online marketplace in Canada.

    HomeAdvisor in November 2016 bought MyHammer, a home-services marketplace in Germany.

    HomeAdvisor in April 2013 bought Werkspot.nl, a similar venture based in the Netherlands and founded in 2006.

    HomeAdvisor changed its name to HomeAdvisor from ServiceMagic in October 2012.

    IAC bought ServiceMagic in September 2004; ServiceMagic had 2003 revenue of $20 million.

    Match Group:

    IAC in June 2015 announced its intent to do an initial public offering of its Match Group unit. Match completed the IPO in November 2015. IAC kept a majority stake.

    As of February 2018, IAC owned about 81.2 percent of Match Group outstanding shares and had about 97.6 percent of the total voting power.

    Daily Beast and Newsweek:

    IAC in August 2013 sold Newsweek to IBT Media, ending IAC's three-year ownership ties with the media brand. IBT is a digital-media company based in New York and founded in 2006. IBT's online properties included International Business Times.

    Newsweek in November 2010 struck a deal to merge with Daily Beast, a web venture owned by IAC and edited by magazine veteran Tina Brown. The deal followed the Sept. 30, 2010, sale of ailing Newsweek by Washington Post Co. to consumer electronics pioneer Sidney Harman and his Harman Media LLC for just $1 cash plus assumption of subscription obligations. (Washington Post Co., now Graham Holdings, retained pension assets and liabilities and certain employee obligations, including severance, and other liabilities that came before the sale.)

    Newsweek began publication in 1933. IAC launched Daily Beast in October 2008.

    Newsweek/Daily Beast Co. was formed as a 50/50 joint venture between IAC and Harman effective Feb. 1, 2011. Under the deal with Daily Beast, Harman took the title of exec chairman of Newsweek/Daily Beast Co. Harman died April 12, 2011, at age 92.

    IAC accounted for its interest in the joint venture using the equity method. After Harman's death, the Harman family stopped investing in the Newsweek/Daily Beast joint venture. IAC on June 1, 2012, began consolidating results of Newsweek/Daily Beast after acquiring a controlling interest. Newsweek ended its print edition following publication of its Dec. 31, 2012, issue, becoming an all-digital venture. Newsweek in December 2013 announced it would resume publication of a weekly print edition in January 2014.

    Diller in May 2013 said he would like to sell Newsweek to focus on News Beast's The Daily Beast. As noted, IAC sold Newsweek to IBT Media in August 2013.

    IAC in early 2013 changed the name of Newsweek/Daily Beast Co. to News Beast. After selling Newsweek, IAC changed the name of the remaining News Beast website operation to The Daily Beast.

    About Group:

    IAC in May 2017 rebranded About.com as Dotdash.

    IAC bought About Inc. (The About Group) from The New York Times Co. on Sept. 24, 2012, for $300 million cash plus an amount equal to the net working capital of $17.1 million at closing.

    The deal included information and reference site About.com, ConsumerSearch.com and CalorieCount.com. About Group had stated revenue of $110.8 million in 2011; $136.1 million in 2010; and $121.1 million in 2009. IAC said About Group contributed revenue of $30.1 million to IAC from date of acquisition through Dec. 31, 2012.

    IAC's 2012 pro forma worldwide revenue, including 12 months of About Group revenue, was $2.876 billion.

    The Times Co. bought About.com in March 2005 for $410 million from Primedia. The Times Co. expanded About by acquiring weight-loss site CalorieCount.com in September 2006 for $1 million; health care information site UCompareHealth.com in March 2007 for $2.3 million; and review site ConsumerSearch.com in May 2007 for $33 million.

    The Times Co. sold UCompareHealth.com in February 2011 to MDxMedical, parent company of Vitals.com, for an undisclosed price.

    Other deals and strategic moves:

    TelTech: Developer of mobile applications including RoboKiller and TapeACall. Acquired in October 2018.

    Hinge: Relationship app based in New York. Match Group in June 2018 bought a 51 percent stake in Hinge. Match Group had rights to buy the rest of Hinge within 12 months following the deal. Price tag wasn't disclosed.

    Dictionary.com: IAC in October 2018 signed a deal to sell Dictionary LLC (Dictionary.com, Thesaurus.com). The transaction was expected to close in fourth-quarter 2018. IAC's Ask.com in July 2008 bought Lexico Publishing Group, which owned Dictionary.com, Thesaurus.com and Reference.com.

    Livestream: Live video service offering, bought by IAC's Vimeo in October 2017.

    Princeton Review: Test preparation and college admission services company, sold by IAC in March 2017. IAC's Tutor.com in August 2014 bought Princeton Review from buyout firm Charlesbank Capital Partners.

    VHX: Platform for subscription video channels, bought by Vimeo in May 2016.

    Shoebuy: IAC Dec. 30, 2016, sold Shoebuy, an online shoe retailer, to Walmart's Jet unit for about $70 million. Shoebuy was founded in 1999 and acquired by IAC in 2006.

    PriceRunner: Web venture, sold in March 2016 for $96.6 million. IAC had purchased it in 2014 as part of IAC's acquisition of ValueClick's owned-and-operated website businesses.

    Ask.fm: Q&A social network. IAC sold the venture in June 2016 in a pre-tax loss of $3.8 million after acquiring it in August 2014.

    Plentyoffish Media (PlentyOfFish): Dating site based in Canada. Match Group bought it in October 2015 for U.S. $575 million in cash.

    Eureka: Japan-based developer of dating apps. Match Group bought it in April 2015.

    Urbanspoon: Restaurant information site. IAC bought it in February 2009 and sold it in January 2015 to Zomato.

    Meetic: Match.com in third-quarter 2011 acquired a controlling interest in Meetic. In June 2009, IAC had sold the European operations of Match.com to Meetic for a 27 percent stake in France-based Meetic. Match.com and Meetic in 2010 began a joint venture to provide personals services in Latin America. IAC as of June 2013 had an 81 percent stake in Meetic. IAC in 2014 bought the remaining publicly traded shares of Meetic.

    ValueClick web ventures: IAC in January 2014 bought ValueClick's owned-and-operated website businesses, including Investopedia and PriceRunner. (ValueClick in 2014 changed its name to Conversant. Alliance Data Systems Corp.'s Epsilon in late 2014 bought Conversant. IAC sold PriceRunner in March 2016.)

    FriendScout24: Dating site. Acquired August 2014.

    HowAboutWe: Web service that suggests romantic outings. IAC bought HowAboutWe in July 2014.

    SlimWare: Cloud-based services. Acquired April 2014.

    Veterinarians.com: Felix, an IAC-owned local advertising company, in August 2013 relaunched LocalVets.com as Veterinarians.com, a directory of veterinary hospitals.

    Rezbook: IAC in July 2013 sold Rezbook to OpenTable, a competing online restaurant-reservations service. Priceline Group bought OpenTable in July 2014.

    Tutor.com: Online tutoring service. Founded in 1998 and acquired by IAC in January 2013.

    DateHookup: U.S. ad-supported online dating site. Launched in 2002 and acquired in August 2012.

    nRelate: Content recommendation platform used by web publishers. Founded in 2009 and bought by IAC's Ask.com in July 2012.

    OkCupid: U.S. advertising-based online dating site. Launched in 2004 and acquired by IAC's Match.com in February 2011 for $50 million cash plus future payments based on performance.

    Liberty Media swap: IAC in December 2010 traded Evite, Gifts.com, IAC Advertising Solutions and $217.9 million in cash for Liberty Media Corp.'s equity stake in IAC.

    DailyBurn: Diet and fitness site. Launched in 2007. IAC's Mindspark Interactive Network bought majority stake in May 2010. IAC in 2012 moved Daily Burn to IAC's Media segment.

    Singlesnet: U.S. online dating site. Founded in 1998 and acquired by IAC's Match.com in February 2010.

    People Media: Operator of demographic-targeted dating sites including BlackPeopleMeet.com (for African-American singles) and OurTime.com (for singles age 50-plus). IAC's Match.com in July 2009 acquired People Media from buyout firm American Capital for $80 million cash. People Media in May 2011 launched OurTime.com by combining membership of People Media's SeniorPeopleMeet.com and SeniorsMeet.com.

    Electus: Multimedia studio launched in July 2009 in partnership with producer Ben Silverman. IAC in October 2018 sold the television business of Electus, which was part of IAC's Video segment.

    MarketHardware: IAC in January 2009 bought MarketHardware (online provider of marketing solutions for home-services businesses).

    ReserveAmerica: IAC in January 2009 sold ReserveAmerica (campground reservation service).

    Entertainment Publications: IAC in May 2008 sold Entertainment Publications Inc., a marketer of discount-coupon books, gift wrap and cookie dough, to MH Equity Investors, part of Indianapolis-based MHE Private Equity Fund. In announcing the Entertainment Publications sale, IAC said: "The anticipated value of the sale and accompanying tax benefit to IAC is approximately $135 million. Additional terms of the transaction are not being disclosed." IAC bought Entertainment Publications from buyout firm Carlyle Group in November 2002 for $370 million. Entertainment Publications filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy liquidation in March 2013. The company was acquired for $17.5 million in May 2013 by Lowell Potiker, whose parents started the business in 1962. The Potiker family originally sold the business in 1992.

    Insider Pages: Reviews of local businesses. Acquired by IAC's Citysearch in 2007. Part of CityGrid Media.

    Connected Ventures: IAC in August 2006 bought controlling interest in Connected Ventures, the parent of CollegeHumor.com (founded in 1999). The deal included Vimeo, a video-sharing website founded in 2004. Connected Ventures in 2009 bought SportsPickle.com, sports-comedy site.

    Ask.com: Search engine and information research site. Founded as Ask Jeeves in 1996 and renamed Ask.com in 2005. IAC in July 2005 bought Ask Jeeves in a stock deal valued at $1.7 billion. The deal included Interactive Search Holdings (My Way, Iwon and an early search engine and portal, Excite), which Ask Jeeves bought in 2004. Interactive Search Holdings' properties and other ventures morphed into IAC's Mindspark Interactive Network.

    Match.com: IAC's flagship dating site. Launched in 1995. IAC-controlled Ticketmaster Online-CitySearch in June 1999 bought Match.com Inc. for stock valued at $43.3 million. Match.com in October 2005 launched another online dating site, Chemistry.

    CityGrid Media: CitySearch Inc., an operator of local city sites, merged in 1998 with IAC-controlled Ticketmaster Online to form Ticketmaster Online-CitySearch. Citysearch LLC changed its name to CityGrid Media in June 2010, coinciding with launch of CityGrid local ad network. CityGrid in August 2012 bought Felix, a pay-per-call local advertising service for small- and medium-sized businesses. Felix was originally part of a company called Yext, which split off Felix in April 2012 as a standalone subsidiary. As of 2014, CityGrid was part of Search & Applications segment while Felix, with HomeAdvisor, became part of eCommerce segment. Felix as of 2018 was part of ANGI Homeservices.

    Other moves:

    IAC in fourth-quarter 2010 discontinued operations of InstantAction.com, a gaming platform.

    IAC in 2009 took a major write-down on the value of its search business. Specifically, the company took impairment charges at the Search segment related to the write-downs of goodwill ($916.9 million), "indefinite-lived assets" ($104.1 million) and "definite-lived intangible assets" ($24.2 million).

    The 10-K for year ended December 2009 said: "The goodwill and indefinite-lived intangible asset impairment charges reflect lower growth projections for revenue and profits at IAC Search & Media in future years that reflect the company's consideration of industry growth rates, competitive dynamics and IAC Search & Media's current operating strategies and the impact of these factors on the fair value of IAC Search & Media and its goodwill and indefinite-lived intangible assets. The indefinite-lived intangible asset impairment charge relates to trade names and trademarks. The definite-lived intangible asset impairment charge primarily relates to certain technology and advertiser relationships, the carrying values of which were no longer considered recoverable based upon an assessment of future cash flows related to these assets. Accordingly, these assets were written down to fair value."

    IAC's 2008 breakup:

    IAC broke up into five independent companies on Aug. 21, 2008.

    The bustup left IAC as an internet conglomerate with a grab bag of online offerings including Ask.com, Match.com and ServiceMagic. The other four companies were HSN (Home Shopping Network; Cornerstone Brands catalogs and websites including Frontgate, Ballard Designs, Garnet Hill, Smith & Noble, The Territory Ahead, TravelSmith, Improvements, and a limited number of retail stores; Tree.com (LendingTree.com); Ticketmaster Entertainment (event tickets); and Interval Leisure Group (resort time shares).

    Ticketmaster Entertainment in February 2009 struck a deal to be acquired by concert promoter Live Nation. The deal closed Jan. 25, 2010, at which time Live Nation Inc. took the name Live Nation Entertainment.

    History:

    IAC, initially a hybrid media/electronic retailing company, was incorporated in 1986 under the name Silver King Broadcasting Co. After several name changes (first to HSN, then to USA Networks, USA Interactive and InterActiveCorp, and finally to IAC/InterActiveCorp) and the completion of various deals, the company evolved into its current form.

    http://www.iac.com

IBM Corp.

  • Marketer profile
    Click here to see company's total worldwide advertising spending, measured-media spending by region, key executives and agencies.

    Overview:

    IBM Corp. is a technology services, software and hardware marketer with operations in more than 175 countries.

    IBM operates a large global digital-agency network, IBM iX.

    IBM in January 2016 acquired a well-known media brand (weather.com).

    Sales and earnings:

    The U.S. accounted for 37.6 percent of worldwide revenue in 2017; 37.8 percent in 2016; 37.3 percent in 2015; 34.5 percent in 2014; 34.0 percent in 2013 (restated); 33.7 percent in 2012 (restated); 34.6 percent in 2011; 35.6 percent in 2010; 35.7 percent in 2009; 35.4 percent in 2008; and 37.0 percent in 2007.

    Marketing spending:

    U.S. ad spending:

    Total U.S. advertising spending shown in the Leading National Advertisers report and Marketer Trees database is an Ad Age Datacenter estimate.

    Worldwide ad spending:

    Total worldwide advertising spending shown in the World's Largest Advertisers report and related database is IBM's stated "advertising and promotional expense."

    IBM reported 2017 worldwide advertising and promotional expense (including media, agency and promotional expense) of $1.445 billion.

    Advertising and promotional expense includes media, agency and promotional expense.

    IBM 10-Ks for years ended December 2017, 2016, 2015, 2014, 2013, 2012, 2011 and 2010 said:

    "The company expenses advertising and promotional costs as incurred. Cooperative advertising reimbursements from vendors are recorded net of advertising and promotional expense in the period in which the related advertising and promotional expense is incurred."

    Red Hat:

    IBM in October 2018 signed a deal to buy Red Hat, an open source cloud software company. Red Hat disclosed the following worldwide "advertising expense":

    Year ended Feb. 28, 2018: $111.5 million (3.8 percent of total revenue).
    Year ended Feb. 28, 2017: $95.7 million (4.0 percent of total revenue).
    Year ended Feb. 29, 2016: $88.9 million (4.3 percent of total revenue).

    Agencies:

    IBM consolidated advertising at WPP's Ogilvy & Mather Worldwide in 1994.

    Deals and strategic moves:

    IBM in October 2018 signed a deal to buy Red Hat, an open source cloud software company based in Raleigh, N.C., for about $34 billion cash. This was IBM's largest-ever acquisition. IBM expected to complete the deal in the second half of 2019. Red Hat incorporated as ACC Corp. in 1993; changed its name to Red Hat Software in 1995; and shortened its name to Red Hat in 1999. Red Hat went public in August 1999.

    IBM in 2017 completed five acquisitions for $134 million.

    The Technology Services and Cloud Platforms segment in 2017 bought three businesses: privately held Agile 3 Solutions; the cloud and managed hosting services business of a large U.S. telecom company; and privately held Cloudigo. The Cognitive Solutions segment bought XCC Web Content and Custom Apps Extension from TimeToAct Software and Consulting. Global Business Services acquired Vivant Digital.

    IBM in 2016 completed 15 acquisitions for $5.899 billion.

    IBM's biggest 2016 acquisition was Truven Health Analytics, a provider of health care analytics solutions, purchased in April 2016 for $2.612 billion.

    IBM in January 2016 bought Weather Co.'s business-to-business, mobile and cloud-based web properties, including WSI, weather.com, Weather Underground and The Weather Company brand, for $2.278 billion cash. This was IBM's second-biggest 2016 acquisition. IBM didn't buy the cable TV segment (The Weather Channel); the cable channel licenses weather forecast data and analytics from IBM under a long-term contract. Prior to the sale to IBM, Weather Co. was owned by buyout firms Blackstone Group and Bain Capital and Comcast Corp.'s NBC Universal, which retained ownership of the Weather Channel cable channel. Entertainment Studios, an independent TV and movie producer and distributor, in March 2018 acquired the cable channel from Blackstone, Bain and NBC Universal. Entertainment Studios is owned by former comedian Byron Allen.

    IBM in 2015 completed 14 acquisitions for $3.555 billion. The biggest acquisitions completed in 2015 were Cleversafe, a developer and manufacturer of storage software and appliances, acquired for $1.309 billion; and Merge Healthcare, a provider of medical image handling and processing, interoperability and clinical systems, acquired for $1.036 billion.

    IBM in October 2014 sold its x86 server business to Chinese computer firm Lenovo for $2.3 billion ($2 billion in cash; the balance in Lenovo stock). This was IBM's second major deal with Lenovo, which in April 2005 acquired IBM's personal-computer business. IBM and Lenovo announced the deal in January 2014.

    IBM in 2014 completed six acquisitions at a total price of $608 million. That consisted of five private firms bought by IBM's Software segment (Aspera, Cloudant, Cognea Group, CrossIdeas and Silverpop Systems) and one private firm bought by IBM's Global Technology Services (Lighthouse Security Group).

    IBM in 2013 completed 10 acquisitions at a total price of $3.219 billion. Acquisitions included SoftLayer Technologies, a cloud computing infrastructure provider in Dallas, purchased for $1.977 billion; StoredIQ, Star Analytics, UrbanCode, Trusteer, Daeja Image Systems, Xtify, The Now Factory and Fiberlink Communications, all in the Software segment; and CSL International, in the Systems and Technology segment.

    IBM in September 2013 signed a deal to sell its worldwide customer care business process outsourcing services to Fremont, Calif.-based Synnex Corp. for $505 million ($430 million in cash and $75 million in Synnex stock, representing less than a 5 percent stake in Synnex). IBM is doing the sale in phases; the initial closing was completed Jan. 31, 2014. IBM in July 2013 bought SoftLayer Technologies, a cloud computing infrastructure provider. IBM didn't disclose the price tag; media reports said IBM paid about $2 billion.

    The company in 2012 completed 11 acquisitions at a total cost of $3.964 billion. Acquisitions included Kenexa Corp, a provider of recruiting and talent management solutions that IBM purchased in December 2012 for $1.351 billion. Of the other 10 deals, IBM's Software segment did eight acquisitions: Butterfly Software, DemandTec, Emptoris, Green Hat Software, Tealeaf Technology, Varicent Software, Vivisimo and Worklight. The Systems and Technology segment completed two acquisitions: Platform Computing Corp. and Texas Memory Systems.

    IBM in April 2012 sold its Retail Store Solutions business to Toshiba TEC for $850 million.

    IBM in 2011 completed five acquisitions at a total price tag of $1.849 billion. These acquisitions -- all private companies -- were Algorithmics (software), Curam Software(software), i2 (software), Q1 Labs (software) and Tririga (software and services).

    IBM in 2010 completed 17 acquisitions for $6.538 billion.

    IBM in 2009 completed six acquisitions for $1.471 billion.

    Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway in November 2011 disclosed that it had accumulated a 5.4 percent stake in IBM Corp., investing $10.7 billion to make Berkshire Hathaway the tech company's second largest investor.

    Management and employees:

    IBM in October 2011 named Virginia M. (Ginni) Rometty as president-CEO effective Jan. 1, 2012, succeeding Samuel J. (Sam) Palmisano, who remained chairman. Rometty was age 54 at the time of the announcement; Palmisano was age 60.

    Rometty moved to CEO from senior VP and group executive-sales, marketing and strategy. Rometty joined IBM in 1981 as a systems engineer.

    Palmisano became CEO in 2002 and chairman in 2003.

    History:

    IBM began in 1911 as the Computing-Tabulating-Recording Co., a consolidation of Computing Scale Co. of America, Tabulating Machine Co. and International Time Recording Co. of New York. In 1924, C-T-R changed its name to International Business Machines Corp., still its official name.

    IBM popularized the term "personal computer" with its August 1981 launch of a microcomputer that it called the IBM Personal Computer.

    http://www.ibm.com

Inner Mongolia Yili Industrial Group Co.

  • Marketer profile
    Click here to see company's total worldwide advertising spending, measured-media spending by region, key executives and agencies.

    Overview:

    Inner Mongolia Yili Industrial Group Co., or Yili Group, is the largest dairy marketer based in China.

    Business segments and operations:

    Yili Group's far and away biggest product by revenue is liquid milk.

    The company also markets milk powder, milk products and ice cream.

    Yili Group's vision is to "be recognized as the most trustworthy healthy food provider around the world."

    Its four core values are "excellence," "responsibility," "innovation" and "win-win."

    The company said its "soul of brand" is "nourish for life" as "the provider of healthy food and also the advocator of healthy lifestyle."

    Sales and earnings:

    Yili Group reported 2017 worldwide total revenue of 68.058 billion renminbi ($10.1 billion).

    Marketing spending:

    Worldwide ad spending:

    Total worldwide advertising spending shown in the World's Largest Advertisers report and related database is Yili Group's stated "advertising expense" converted to U.S. dollars by Ad Age Datacenter at average exchange rates.

    Worldwide advertising expenses:

    2017: 8.206 billion renminbi (stated) ($1.215 billion).
    2016: 7.634 billion renminbi (stated) ($1.150 billion).
    2015: 7.304 billion renminbi (estimated) ($1.175 billion).
    2014: 4.627 billion renminbi (estimated) ($753 million).

    Estimates shown above for 2015 and 2014 are based on the company's stated "A&P expense ratio" (advertising and promotion).

    Advertising as percent of sales (calculated by Ad Age Datacenter starting in 2016; stated "A&P expense ratio" for 2015 and earlier years):

    2017: 12.1 percent.
    2016: 12.6 percent.
    2015: 12.1 percent.
    2014: 8.5 percent.
    2013: 8.2 percent.
    2012: 8.9 percent.
    2011: 9.8 percent.
    2010: 12.9 percent.
    2009: 16.4 percent.

    Stated "selling expense ratio":

    2016: 23.3 percent.
    2015: 22.0 percent.
    2014: 18.5 percent.
    2013: 17.9 percent.
    2012: 18.5 percent.
    2011: 19.5 percent.
    2010: 22.9 percent.
    2009: 26.7 percent

    Deals and strategic moves:

    U.S.:

    Yili Group in 2017 made an offer for Stonyfield, a U.S. yogurt marketer, after Danone put the brand up for sale. Danone ended up selling Stonyfield to Lactalis, a French dairy products marketer. Yili Group in 2015 established Sino US Food Wisdom Valley, which it said was an "intelligent high-end group" intended "to promote a wide range of bilateral collaborations in the fields of agriculture and food between China and the U.S."

    http://www.yili.com

Intel Corp.

  • Marketer profile
    Click here to see company's total worldwide advertising spending, measured-media spending by region, key executives and agencies.

    Overview:

    Intel Corp. is a computer-chip and technology company based in Santa Clara, Calif.

    Business segments and operations:

    Intel makes microprocessors and chipsets that power a range of products including personal computers, servers, tablets, smartphones and the internet of things (wearables, transportation systems, retail devices).

    Largest customers:

    Dell Technologies was Intel's largest worldwide customer in calendar 2017, generating 16 percent of Intel net revenue, vs. 15 percent in 2016 and 2015, 16 percent in 2014, 15 percent in 2013, 14 percent in 2012, 15 percent in 2011, 17 percent in 2010 and 17 percent in 2009.

    Lenovo Group was Intel's No. 2 customer in 2017 and 2016, generating 13 percent of Intel revenue, vs. 13 percent in 2015, 12 percent in 2014, 12 percent in 2013, 11 percent in 2012, 9 percent in 2011 and 8 percent in 2010.

    HP Inc. was Intel's No. 3 customer in 2017, generating 11 percent of Intel revenue, vs. 10 percent in 2016.

    Hewlett-Packard Co. in November 2015 split into two companies, HP Inc. (personal computers and printers) and Hewlett Packard Enterprise Co. (servers, storage, networking, converged systems, services and software). Hewlett-Packard Co., HP Inc., and Hewlett Packard Enterprise Co. collectively were Intel's largest customer in calendar 2015, generating 18 percent of revenue, vs. 18 percent in 2014, 17 percent in 2013, 18 percent in 2012, 19 percent in 2011 and 21 percent in 2010 and 2009. Hewlett-Packard Co. in November 2015 broke up in two companies, HP Inc. (personal computers and printers) and Hewlett Packard Enterprise Co. (servers, storage, networking, converged systems, services and software).

    No other customer accounted for more than 10 percent of Intel revenue in 2017, 2016, 2015, 2014, 2013, 2012, 2011, 2010 or 2009.

    Marketing spending:

    U.S. ad spending:

    Total U.S. advertising spending shown in the Leading National Advertisers report and Marketer Trees database is an Ad Age Datacenter estimate.

    Worldwide ad spending:

    Total worldwide advertising spending shown in the World's Largest Advertisers report and related database is Intel's stated worldwide ad spending.

    Intel disclosed worldwide advertising costs of $1.4 billion in 2017, down from $1.8 billion in 2016.

    Intel revamped its "Intel inside" marketing program in 2017, resulting in a significant reduction in Intel's stated worldwide ad costs.

    Intel's stated ad costs included cooperative advertising expenses (notably, the "Intel inside" program) for the first half of 2017; and for all of 2016.

    Intel said in its 10-K for year ended December 2017:

    "We implemented a change to the Intel inside program to make the program more efficient and effective, and to provide more flexibility to our customers. This change affects the way we classify our cooperative advertising costs and resulted in a reduction to 2017 revenue of approximately $500 million compared to 2016 , which would have been classified as marketing expenses prior to program changes."

    That 10-K said:

    "We make payments to our customers through cooperative advertising programs, such as our Intel inside program, for marketing activities for certain of our products. We accrue cooperative advertising obligations and record the costs at the same time that the related revenue is recognized. We record cooperative advertising costs as marketing, general and administrative (MG&A) expenses to the extent that an advertising benefit separate from the revenue transaction can be identified and the fair value of that advertising benefit received is determinable. We record any excess in cash paid to customers over the fair value of the advertising benefit we receive as a reduction in revenue.

    "During the first half of 2017, our cooperative advertising costs under the Intel inside program met the criteria to be recorded as MG&A. During the second half of 2017, we transitioned customers from previous offerings under the Intel inside program to cooperative advertising offerings more tailored to customers and their marketing audiences. In the second half of 2017, cooperative advertising costs were recorded as a reduction of revenue, as we no longer met the criteria for recording these expenses within MG&A."

    The 10-K for year ended December 2017 explained Intel's marketing strategy:

    "Our global marketing objectives are to build a strong, well-known, differentiated, and meaningful Intel corporate brand that drives preference with businesses and consumers, and to offer a limited number of meaningful and valuable brands in our portfolio to aid businesses and consumers in making informed choices about technology purchases. The Intel Core processor family and the Intel Quark, Intel Atom, Intel Celeron, Intel Pentium, Intel Xeon, Intel Xeon Phi and Intel Itanium trademarks make up our processor brands.

    "We promote brand awareness and preference, and generate demand through our own direct marketing, as well as through co-marketing programs. Our direct marketing activities primarily include advertising through digital and social media and television, as well as consumer and trade events, industry and consumer communications, and press relations. We market to consumer and business audiences, and focus on building awareness and generating demand for new form factors such as all-in-one devices and 2 in 1 systems powered by Intel technologies. Our key messaging focuses on increased performance, improved energy efficiency, and other capabilities such as connectivity and communications.

    "Purchases by customers often allow them to participate in cooperative advertising and marketing programs such as the Intel inside program. This program broadens the reach of our brands beyond the scope of our own direct marketing. Through the Intel inside program, certain customers are licensed to place Intel logos on computing devices containing our microprocessors and processor technologies, and to use our brands in their marketing activities. The program includes a market development component that accrues funds based on purchases and partially reimburses customers for marketing activities for products featuring Intel brands, subject to customers meeting defined criteria. These marketing activities primarily include advertising through digital and social media and television, as well as press relations. We have also entered into joint marketing arrangements with certain customers."

    Intel said this about marketing in its 10-K for year ended December 2016:

    "Our global marketing objectives are to build a strong, well-known Intel corporate brand that connects with businesses and consumers, and to offer a limited number of meaningful and valuable brands in our portfolio to aid businesses and consumers in making informed choices about technology purchases. The Intel Core processor family and the Intel Quark, Intel Atom, Intel Celeron, Intel Pentium, Intel Xeon, Intel Xeon Phi, and Intel Itanium trademarks make up our processor brands.

    "We promote brand awareness and preference, and generate demand through our own direct marketing as well as through co-marketing programs. Our direct marketing activities primarily include advertising through digital and social media and television, as well as consumer and trade events, industry and consumer communications, and press relations. We market to consumer and business audiences, and focus on building awareness and generating demand for new form factors such as all-in-one devices and 2 in 1 systems powered by Intel. Our key messaging focuses on increased performance, improved energy efficiency, and other capabilities such as connectivity and communications.

    "Purchases by customers often allow them to participate in cooperative advertising and marketing programs such as the Intel Inside program. This program broadens the reach of our brands beyond the scope of our own direct marketing. Through the Intel Inside program, certain customers are licensed to place Intel logos on computing devices containing our microprocessors and processor technologies, and to use our brands in their marketing activities. The program includes a market development component that accrues funds based on purchases and partially reimburses customers for marketing activities for products featuring Intel brands, subject to customers meeting defined criteria. These marketing activities primarily include advertising through digital and social media and television, as well as press relations. We have also entered into joint marketing arrangements with certain customers."

    Deals and strategic moves:

    Intel in August 2017 bought Mobileye for $14.5 billion (net of $366 million of cash and cash equivalents acquired). Mobileye develops computer vision and machine learning, data analysis, localization and mapping for advanced driver assistance systems and autonomous driving.

    During 2017, in addition to the Mobileye deal, Intel completed two acquisitions that were not material to Intel's operations.

    Intel in April 2017 sold a 51 percent stake in Intel Security Group operations, including McAfee software security products, to buyout firm TPG for $4.2 billion (consisting of $924 million in cash proceeds, $1.1 billion in the form of equity representing a 49 percent ownership stake in McAfee and $2.2 billion in promissory notes). McAfee and TPG in third-quarter 2017 repaid the $2.2 billion promissory notes. The spinoff venture took the name McAfee LLC and is focused on cybersecurity. Intel bought McAfee in February 2011 for $6.7 billion (net of $943 million of cash and cash equivalents acquired).

    Intel in 2016 completed 11 acquisitions for total consideration (net of cash acquired) of $1.1 billion.

    Intel in December 2015 bought Altera, a global semiconductor company that designs and sells programmable semiconductors and related products, for $14.5 billion (net of $2.0 billion of cash and cash equivalents acquired).

    Intel in 2015 completed eight acquisitions for total consideration (net of cash acquired) of $1.0 billion.

    Intel in 2014 completed eight acquisitions for total consideration (net of cash acquired) of $963 million.

    Intel and eyewear marketer Luxottica Group in December 2014 announced a multiyear collaboration on research and development "to fuse premium, luxury and sports eyewear with smart technology." The companies said: "The ultimate goal is to help pioneer that change and deliver smart, fashion-forward products that are meaningful and desirable to consumers. The first product from Intel and Luxottica is expected to launch in 2015."

    History:

    Intel opened its doors in 1968 under the name NM Electronics.

    Bob Noyce and Gordon Moore left Fairchild Semiconductor in 1968 to launch NM Electronics. Later in 1968, they bought rights to the Intel name from a company called Intelco.

    Intel ran its first ad in 1971 to launch its first microprocessor, the 4004, with a print ad in the Nov. 15 issue of Electronic News.

    In 1974, Intel introduced a breakthrough general-purpose microprocessor, the 8080. The company pays homage to that chip with what remains its headquarters telephone number: (408) 765-8080. Intel over the decades has had a close relationship with software marketer Microsoft Corp.; Microsoft's headquarters phone number is (425) 882-8080.

    Intel introduced the "Intel inside" cooperating advertising program in 1991.

    http://www.intel.com

Johnson & Johnson

  • Marketer profile
    Click here to see company's total worldwide advertising spending, measured-media spending by region, key executives and agencies.

    Overview:

    Johnson & Johnson is a health care products marketer based in New Jersey.

    The company in June 2017 bought Actelion, a Swiss biotech firm, for $29.6billion, Johnson & Johnson's biggest acquisition to date.

    Business segments and operations:

    Johnson & Johnson is a holding company for more than 260 operating companies. The firm organizes its operating companies into three business segments and operations: Consumer; Pharmaceutical; Medical Devices.

    The Consumer segment includes baby care, oral care, beauty, over-the-counter pharmaceutical, women's health and wound care.

    Baby care: Johnson's Baby line of products. The company also owns BabyCenter, an ad-supported media and community website.

    Oral care: Listerine.

    Beauty: Aveeno, Clean & Clear, Dabao, Johnson's Adult, Le Petite Marseillais, Neutrogena, Roc and OGX.

    Over-the-counter pharmaceutical: Tylenol acetaminophen, Sudafed cold, flu and allergy products, Benadryl and Zyrtec allergy products, Motrin IB ibuprofen, Pepcid heartburn products.

    Women's health (outside of North America): Stayfree, Carefree, o.b. Wound care: Band-Aid bandages, Neosporin First Aid products.

    The Pharmaceutical segment includes products in these areas: immunology (rheumatoid arthritis, inflammatory bowel disease and psoriasis), infectious diseases and vaccines (HIV, hepatitis, respiratory infections and tuberculosis), neuroscience (Alzheimer's disease, mood disorders and schizophrenia), oncology (prostate cancer, hematologic malignancies and lung cancer) and cardiovascular and metabolic diseases (thrombosis and diabetes).

    The Medical Devices segment markets a broad range of products used in the orthopedic, surgery, cardiovascular, diabetes care and vision care fields.

    Marketing spending:

    U.S. ad spending:

    Total U.S. advertising spending shown in the Leading National Advertisers report and Marketer Trees database is an Ad Age Datacenter estimate.

    Worldwide ad spending:

    Total worldwide advertising spending shown in the World's Largest Advertisers report and related database is Johnson & Johnson's stated worldwide ad spending.

    The company disclosed 2017 worldwide advertising expenses - consisting of "television, radio, print media and internet advertising" - of $2.5 billion.

    Agencies:

    Johnson & Johnson in October 2015 consolidated global media buying and planning at roster agency J3, a dedicated J&J group within Interpublic Group of Cos.' UM. This followed a review of global media buying and planning, excluding North America, that Johnson & Johnson began in June 2015. J3 already handled some of the international work.

    When the 2015 review began, the company said North America would not be included. However, in September 2015, the company moved its $1 billion U.S. business from Omnicom Group's OMD back to J3. OMD had won the business from J3 only a year earlier.

    Johnson & Johnson said in an October 2015 statement:

    "After a comprehensive media review across our Consumer, Pharmaceutical and Medical Device businesses, J3 has been selected as our media partner for each of our regions, including Asia Pacific, Latin America (excluding Brazil), Europe, Middle East and Africa. When we began the review in June [2015], our goal was to select the best agency for each region. Throughout the course of our separate regional reviews, J3 consistently demonstrated the ability to fully meet our Consumer and Customer needs as we drive superior growth and performance for our businesses and brands. Throughout the review, each of our incumbent agencies demonstrated extraordinary commitment to the process, our people and business. With this new partnership, Johnson & Johnson will continue to drive leading media capabilities and we look forward to expanding our partnership with J3 around the world."

    UM has been on the Johnson & Johnson roster since 1973. Deals and strategic moves:

    The company in July 2018 agreed to buy Zarbee's, a privately held marketer of naturally based health care products. The deal included Zarbee's Naturals products for children and adults. Price tag wasn't disclosed. Zarbee's, founded in 2008 by pediatrician Zak Zarbock, had been majority owned by L Catterton, a buyout firm.

    Johnson & Johnson in second-quarter 2018 agreed to sell its Advanced Sterilization Products business to Fortive Corp. for about $2.7 billion. The transaction was expected to close in early 2019.

    Johnson & Johnson in second-quarter 2018 bought BeneVir Biopharm, a privately held biopharmaceutical company.

    The company in first-quarter 2018 bought Orthotaxy, a privately held developer of software-enabled surgery technologies. Johnson & Johnson in June 2017 bought Actelion, a Swiss biotech firm, for $29.6 billion, net of cash acquired, Johnson & Johnson's biggest acquisition to date.

    The company in February 2017 bought the Abbott Medical Optics unit of Abbott Laboratories for $4.325 billion cash. Abbott Medical Optics reported sales of $1.1 billion for 2015. The deal included ophthalmic products in three business segments: cataract surgery, laser refractive surgery and consumer eye health.

    Johnson & Johnson's other 2017 acquisitions included Neuravi, a privately held medical device company that develops and markets medical devices for neurointerventional therapy; TearScience, a manufacturer of products dedicated to treating meibomian gland dysfunction; Sightbox, a privately held company that developed a subscription vision care service that connects consumers with eye care professionals and a supply of contact lenses; Torax Medical, a privately held medical device company that manufactures and markets the Linx Reflux Management System for the surgical treatment of gastroesophageal reflux disease; and Megadyne Medical Products, a privately held medical device company that develops, manufactures and markets electrosurgical tools.

    Johnson & Johnson in first-quarter 2017 said it was evaluating potential strategic options for its diabetes care companies (specifically LifeScan, Animas Corp. and Calibra Medical). It said strategic options "may include the formation of operating partnerships, joint ventures or strategic alliances, a sale of the businesses, or other alternatives either separately or together." The company in fourth-quarter 2017 said it was exiting the Animas insulin pump business. The company in 2018 agreed to sell LifeScan to Platinum Equity for about $2.1 billion; the deal was expected to close by the end of 2018.

    Johnson & Johnson's key 2016 acquisitions included Vogue International (hair care and other personal care); NeuWave Medical, a privately held medical device company that markets soft tissue microwave ablation systems; NeoStrata Co., a global "dermocosmetics" firm; and global rights for Rhinocart allergy spray outside the U.S.

    Johnson & Johnson in July 2016 bought Vogue International for $3.3 billion cash from founder and CEO Todd Christopher and Carlyle Group. Christopher started Vogue in 1987. Carlyle, a buyout firm, invested in Clearwater, Fla.-based Vogue in 2014. The deal included the OGX brand of shampoos, conditioners, treatments, styling products, body care and bath products, the FX brand of hair styling products and the Proganix and Maui Moisture hair care lines. OGX was Vogue's primary brand. Vogue's products are sold in the U.S. and in 38 other countries.

    Johnson & Johnson's key 2015 acquisitions included XO1 Ltd., a privately held biopharmaceutical company developing an anti-thrombin antibody, and Novira Therapeutics, a privately held clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company developing therapies for curative treatment of chronic hepatitis B virus infection.

    Johnson & Johnson in October 2015 sold Cordis, a unit that develops and makes interventional vascular technology products, to Cardinal Health in a deal valued at about $2 billion. Cordis had 2014 worldwide net revenue of about $780 million.

    Johnson & Johnson in September 2015 sold Splenda, its sucralose sweetener, to Heartland Food Products Group, a marketer of sweeteners based in Indiana. Global sales for the Splenda brand were about $370 million in 2014. Price tag wasn't disclosed.

    Johnson & Johnson in April 2015 sold U.S. rights for Nucynta, a pain drug, to California-based Depomed for $1.05 billion. Nucynta had U.S. net sales of about $166 million in the 12 months ended September 2014.

    Johnson & Johnson in 2014 paid $2.129 billion cash for acquisitions including Covagen, a privately held biopharmaceutical company; Alios BioPharma, a privately held clinical stage biopharmaceutical company; and the ORSL electrolyte ready-to-drink brand from Jagdale Industries.

    The company in June 2014 sold the Ortho-Clinical Diagnostics business for about $4.0 billion to buyout firm Carlyle Group.

    Johnson & Johnson in May 2014 sold K-Y, a brand of personal lubricants, to RB (Reckitt Benckiser Group). K-Y started as a prescription medical device in 1917 and switched to an over-the-counter product in 1980. RB already owned another sex-related product, Durex condoms. RB said K-Y had 2013 worldwide revenue of more than $100 million. It is sold in more than 50 countries, with the U.S., Canada and Brazil accounting for the majority of 2013 sales.

    The company in 2014 sold Benecol, a line of food spreads and chews, to Raisio Plc.

    Johnson & Johnson in October 2013 sold its feminine-hygiene brands -- Stayfree pads, Carefree liners and o.b. tampons -- in the U.S., Canada and Caribbean to Energizer Holdings for $185 million cash. Energizer already marketed feminine-care products under the Playtex brand. Energizer in April 2014 announced plans to split into two companies, one focused on household products (including Energizer and Eveready batteries and lighting products) and one focused on personal care (including Schick, Wilkinson Sword, Edge, Skintimate, Playtex, Stayfree, Carefree, o.b., Banana Boat and Hawaiian Tropic).

    Johnson & Johnson in August 2013 bought San Diego-based Aragon Pharmaceuticals, a privately held company developing cancer drugs. Johnson & Johnson paid $650 million cash plus additional contingent payments up to $350 million.

    Other 2013 acquisitions included Flexible Stenting Solutions, a developer of innovative flexible peripheral arterial, venous and biliary stents, and Shanghai Elsker Mother & Baby Co., a baby-care company in China.

    Johnson & Johnson in January 2013 sold worldwide rights for the Rolaid brand to Chattem, Sanofi's U.S. consumer health care division, for 64 million euros ($83.7 million). Chattem relaunched Rolaids in September 2013. The antacid brand had been off the market since Johnson & Johnson recalled Rolaids packages in 2010 after consumer complaints tied to manufacturing-related quality problems. Johnson & Johnson acquired Rolaids as part of the 2006 acquisition of Pfizer's consumer health care business. American Chicle Co. introduced Rolaids in 1954. Warner-Lambert bought American Chicle in 1962. Pfizer bought Warner-Lambert in 2000.

    The company in 2012 sold its Reach toothbrush business to Dr. Fresh, a Buena Park, Calif.-based marketer of oral-care products.

    Valeant Pharmaceuticals International in October 2012 paid Johnson & Johnson $107.3 million for U.S. and Canadian rights to the over-the-counter consumer brands Ambi, Caladryl, Corn Huskers, Cortaid, Purpose and Shower to Shower. Valeant in September 2012 paid Johnson & Johnson $41.9 million for rights in various non-North American territories for Caladryl and Shower to Shower. (Valeant in July 2018 changed its name to Bausch Health Cos.)

    Johnson & Johnson in June 2012 bought medical-device manufacturer Synthes for a net acquisition cost of $17.5 billion (cost of acquisition minus Synthes' cash on hand). This was Johnson & Johnson's largest acquisition ever. Johnson & Johnson integrated Synthes with Johnson & Johnson's DePuy business to form the DePuy Synthes Cos. unit.

    Other 2012 acquisitions included Guangzhou Biosesal Biotech Co., developer of treatments for moderate to severe hemostasis; Angiotech Pharmaceuticals and Quill TM Knotless Tissue-Closure Device; Corlmmun, developer of a treatment for congestive heart failure; Calibra Medical, developer of a wearable three-day insulin patch for diabetes patients; Spectrum Vision, distributor of contact lenses in Russia; and marketing authorizations, trademarks and patents extending Zyrtec market rights in Australia and Canada.

    Valeant in December 2011 bought the Ortho Dermatologics division of Johnson & Johnson's Janssen Pharmaceuticals for about $345.2 million. The deal included prescription brands Retin-A Micro, Ertaczo, Renova and Biafine.

    Eli Lilly & Co. in July 2011 bought the animal health business of Johnson & Johnson's Janssen unit for $307.8 million cash. The deal included a portfolio of more than 50 marketed animal health products.

    Johnson & Johnson in 2008 bought Beijing Dabao Cosmetics Co., which markets personal care brands in China.

    Johnson & Johnson in December 2006 completed its acquisition of Pfizer's Pfizer Consumer Healthcare (part of the former Warner Lambert) for $16.6 billion cash. Brands included Listerine, Purell, Sudafed, Lubriderm, Rogaine and Nicotrol.

    To clear regulatory hurdles related to the Pfizer deal, Johnson & Johnson sold six brands: Pfizer's Zantac over-the-counter heartburn drug, sold Dec. 20, 2006, to Germany's Boehringer Ingelheim; three Pfizer brands (Cortizone anti-itch cream, Unisom sleep aid, Kaopectate diarrhea treatment) and two J&J brands (Balmex diaper rash treatment and Act mouthwash), acquired by Chattem Inc. for $410 million in early 2007. Pharma firm Sanofi-Aventis (now Sanofi) bought Chattem in 2010.

    Johnson & Johnson acquired Rembrandt oral care products in December 2005 from Procter & Gamble Co. shortly after P&G purchased Gillette Co., Rembrandt's former parent.

    Management and employees:

    Alex Gorsky succeeded Bill Weldon as CEO on April 26, 2012, and as chairman on Dec. 28, 2013. Gorsky was age 51 at the time of his appointment as CEO; Weldon was 63. Before being named CEO, Gorsky was vice chairman of the executive committee with responsibility for the Medical Devices & Diagnostics Group, Global Supply Chain, Health Care Compliance & Privacy and Government Affairs & Policy. Gorsky joined J&J in 1988 as a pharmaceuticals sales rep.

    History:

    Johnson & Johnson was incorporated in 1887.

    http://www.jnj.com

JPMorgan Chase & Co.

  • Marketer profile
    Click here to see company's total worldwide advertising spending, measured-media spending by region, key executives and agencies.

    Overview:

    JPMorgan Chase & Co. is a New York-based financial-services firm that operates JPMorgan Chase Bank, National Association, a bank (branded as Chase) with U.S. branches in 23 states; Chase Bank USA, National Association, the company's credit card-issuing bank; and J.P. Morgan Securities, an investment bank.

    Marketing spending:

    U.S. ad spending:

    Total U.S. advertising spending shown in the Leading National Advertisers report and Marketer Trees database is an Ad Age Datacenter estimate.

    Worldwide ad spending:

    Total worldwide advertising spending shown in the World's Largest Advertisers report and related database is JPMorgan Chase's stated worldwide marketing spending.

    Deals and strategic moves:

    JPMorgan Chase in September 2008 bought Washington Mutual for $1.9 billion in a deal brokered by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. following what was the largest bank failure in U.S. history. JPMorgan Chase rebranded Washington Mutual operations as Chase.

    JPMorgan Chase in March 2008 struck a deal to buy Bear Stearns Cos., an investment bank that nearly collapsed in early 2008 amid fallout from the housing market's subprime loan implosion. JPMorgan Chase closed the deal May 30, 2008.

    http://www.jpmorganchase.com

Kao Corp.

  • Marketer profile
    Click here to see company's total worldwide advertising spending, measured-media spending by region, key executives and agencies.

    Overview:

    Kao Corp. is a Japan-based marketer of consumer package goods and chemical products.

    Business segments and operations:

    Kao organizes its operations into a consumer products business and a chemical business.

    Consumer products business:

    Kao divides its consumer products into three sectors:

    Beauty care (cosmetics, skin care and hair care).

    Human health care (sanitary napkins, baby diapers, health beverages, toothpaste and bath additives).

    Fabric and home care (laundry detergent, fabric softener, dishwashing detergent and household cleaners).

    Chemical business:

    Kao's chemical business supplies chemical products to outside customers and to Kao's consumer products business.

    Marketing spending:

    Worldwide ad spending:

    Total worldwide advertising spending figures shown in the World's Largest Advertisers report and related database are Kao's stated worldwide "advertising" plus "sales promotion" expenses converted to U.S. dollars at average exchange rates by Ad Age Datacenter.

    Kao disclosed the following worldwide "advertising" expenses:

    2017: 89.935 billion yen ($802.2 million).
    2016: 97.437 billion yen ($898.4 million).
    2015: 94.745 billion yen ($783.5 million).
    2014: 92.410 billion yen ($876.0 million).
    2013: 86.406 billion yen ($886.5 million).

    Kao disclosed the following worldwide "sales promotion" expenses:

    2017: 58.940 billion yen ($525.7 million).
    2016: 83.161 billion yen ($766.7 million).
    2015: 79.910 billion yen ($660.9 million).

    The sum of Kao's "advertising" and "sales promotion" expenses:

    2017: 148.875 billion yen ($1.328 billion).
    2016: 180.598 billion yen ($1.665 billion).
    2015: 174.655 billion yen ($1.444 billion).

    Deals and strategic moves:

    Selected U.S. acquisitions:

    Kao in 2002 bought John Frieda Professional Hair Care, a Connecticut-based marketer of premium hair care brands.

    Kao in 1988 bought Andrew Jergens Co., a personal care products marketer, from American Brands. American Brands, a conglomerate that grew out of American Tobacco Co., had owned Cincinnati-based Jergens since 1970.

    History:

    Kao was founded June 19, 1887, and incorporated May 21, 1940.

    http://www.kao.com

Kering

  • Marketer profile
    Click here to see company's total worldwide advertising spending, measured-media spending by region, key executives and agencies.

    Overview:

    Kering is a Paris-based marketer of luxury goods (leather goods, fashion, shoes, jewelry and watches under such brands as Gucci, Saint Laurent and Bottega Veneta).

    Kering previously owned Puma. It spun off Puma as a standalone public company in May 2018.

    Marketing spending:

    U.S. ad spending:

    Total U.S. advertising spending shown in the Leading National Advertisers report and Marketer Trees database is an Ad Age Datacenter pro forma estimate excluding Puma.

    Worldwide ad spending:

    Total worldwide advertising spending shown in the World's Largest Advertisers report and related database is an Ad Age Datacenter pro forma estimate excluding Puma. Deals and strategic moves:

    Puma:

    Kering spun off Puma as a standalone public company in May 2018.

    Kering as of year ended December 2017 owned 86 percent of Germany-based Puma.

    Following the spinoff, Kering retained 15.70 percent of Puma share capital and 15.85 percent of the Puma shares outstanding and voting rights.

    Puma, focusing on the Puma and Cobra Golf brands, in June 2015 sold property rights of Tretorn Group, including trademark rights, patents and designs, to U.S.-based brand licensing firm Authentic Brands Group. Tretorn management acquired the operating license from Authentic Brands and continues to market Tretorn in Scandinavia and Europe. Sweden-based Tretorn markets sports and leisure-activity products. Puma bought Tretorn in 2002.

    Kering bought its original Puma stake in 2007.

    History:

    The company was known as Pinault-Printemps-Redoute until 2005, when it shortened its name to PPR.

    PPR in 2013 changed its name to Kering (pronounced like "caring"). Shareholders approved the name change in June 2013.

    The company announced the name change in March 2013, explaining: "The suffix '-ing' expresses the idea of movement, one of the constants in the Group's history, as well as its international dimension. The stem 'ker', meaning home in Breton, is a proud reminder of our origins in the Brittany region of France."

    The company was founded in 1963.

    http://www.kering.com

Kia Motors Corp.

  • Marketer profile
    Click here to see company's total worldwide advertising spending, measured-media spending by region, key executives and agencies.

    Overview:

    Kia Motors Corp. is an automaker based in South Korea. Kia operates in the U.S. as Kia Motors America.

    Kia is partly owned by Hyundai Motor Co., another South Korean automaker.

    Rankings:

    Kia ranked as the No. 10 U.S. auto marketer in 2017; No. 8 in 2016 and 2015; No. 9 in 2014, 2013 and 2012 based on unit sales; No. 8 in 2011; and No. 9 in 2010, according to data from Automotive News analyzed by Ad Age Datacenter.

    Kia generated 37.5 percent of net sales (in won) from North America in 2017; 38.1 percent in 2016; 38.2 percent in 2015; 35.8 percent in 2014; 35.9 percent in 2013; 35.6 percent in 2012; 31.8 percent in 2011; and 27.5 percent in 2010.

    Kia reported the following worldwide vehicle retail sales (in units):

    2017: 2,760,000 (U.S.: 590,000 or 21.4 percent of worldwide units)
    2016: 3,018,000 (restated) (U.S.: 648,000 or 21.5 percent of worldwide units)
    2015: 2,871,000 (restated) (U.S.: 626,000 or 21.8 percent of worldwide units)
    2014: 2,896,000 (restated)(U.S.: 580,000 or 20.0 percent of worldwide units)
    2013: 2,740,000 (restated) (U.S.: 535,179 or 19.5 percent of worldwide units)
    2012: 2,708,780 (U.S.: 557,599 or 20.6 percent of worldwide units)
    2011: 2,477,668 (U.S.: 485,492 or 19.6 percent of worldwide units)

    Marketing spending:

    U.S. ad spending:

    Total U.S. advertising spending shown in the Leading National Advertisers report and Marketer Trees database is Ad Age Datacenter's estimate of Kia's U.S. ad spending including advertising and sales promotion spending.

    Worldwide ad spending:

    Starting with the December 2017 Global Marketers report, total worldwide ad spending figures shown in the report and related database were Kia's stated worldwide "advertising" expenses plus "sales promotion" expenses converted to U.S. dollars at average exchange rates by Ad Age Datacenter.

    Ad Age previously calculated Kia's worldwide ad spending based on Kia's stated worldwide "advertising" expenses.

    Stated worldwide "advertising" expenses (rounded):

    2017: 1,296 billion won ($1.153 billion) (2.42 percent of worldwide net sales)
    2016: 1,333 billion won ($1.147 billion) (2.53 percent of worldwide net sales)
    2015: 1,232 billion won ($1.097 billion) (2.49 percent of worldwide net sales)
    2014: 1,089 billion won ($1.034 billion) (2.31 percent of worldwide net sales)
    2013: 1,228 billion won ($1.130 billion) (2.58 percent of worldwide net sales)
    2012: 1,283 billion won ($1.142 billion) (2.72 percent of worldwide net sales)
    2011: 1,205 billion won ($1.097 billion) (2.79 percent of worldwide net sales)
    2010: 970 billion won ($843 million) (2.70 percent of worldwide net sales)

    Kia disclosed the following worldwide "sales promotion" expenses (rounded):

    2017: 937 billion won ($834 million) (1.75 percent of worldwide net sales)
    2016: 941 billion won ($809 million) (1.79 percent of worldwide net sales)
    2015: 886 billion won ($789 million) (1.79 percent of worldwide net sales)
    2014: 737 billion won ($700 million) (1.57 percent of worldwide net sales)
    2013: 795 billion won ($731 million) (1.67 percent of worldwide net sales)
    2012: 1,010 billion won ($899 million) (2.14 percent of worldwide net sales)
    2011: 751 billion won ($683 million) (1.74 percent of worldwide net sales)
    2010: 680 billion won ($592 million) (1.90 percent of worldwide net sales)

    Kia's total worldwide "advertising" plus "sales promotion" expenses (rounded):

    2017: 2,233 billion won ($1.987 billion) (4.17 percent of worldwide net sales)
    2016: 2,274 billion won ($1.956 billion) (4.31 percent of worldwide net sales)
    2015: 2,119 billion won ($1.885 billion) (4.28 percent of worldwide net sales)
    2014: 1,826 billion won ($1.735 billion) (3.88 percent of worldwide net sales)
    2013: 2,022 billion won ($1.861 billion) (4.25 percent of worldwide net sales)
    2012: 2,293 billion won ($2.041 billion) (4.85 percent of worldwide net sales)
    2011: 1,956 billion won ($1.780 billion) (4.53 percent of worldwide net sales)
    2010: 1,650 billion won ($1.435 billion) (4.60 percent of worldwide net sales)

    Agencies:

    Hyundai Motor America and Kia Motors America moved media to Canvas Worldwide from Interpublic Group of Cos.' Initiative effective Jan. 1, 2016. Canvas launched in September 2015 as a joint venture of Innocean Worldwide, a South Korea-based agency network and company, and Horizon Media, a U.S. media agency network and company. Canvas is 51 percent owned by Innocean and 49 percent by Horizon.

    Innocean, which handles Hyundai Motor Co. advertising in many markets including the U.S., is back by Hyundai's founding family; Innocean staged its initial public offering in South Korea in July 2015.

    Hyundai Motor America and Kia Motors America in January 2008 had named Initiative to handle media, moving the account from Aegis Group's Carat (now owned by Dentsu Inc.). Hyundai-Kia in November 2009 awarded a big chunk of international media buying business to Havas' MPG (now Havas Media).

    History:

    Kia Motors Corp. was founded in 1944 under the name Kyongseong Precision. It took the name Kia Industry Co. in 1952, when it began making bicycles. Kia over time expanded into motorcycles, trucks (in 1962) and cars (the Brisa, in 1974). Kia began selling cars in the U.S. in 1994 (starting with the subcompact Sephia).

    Kia filed for bankruptcy in 1997. Hyundai Motor Co. rescued the firm in 1998. Hyundai as of December 2016 owned 33.9 percent of Kia, according to Hyundai and Kia financial disclosures.

    Kia opened a U.S. factory, in Georgia, in November 2009.

    http://www.kia.com

Kohl's Corp.

  • Marketer profile
    Click here to see company's total worldwide advertising spending, measured-media spending by region, key executives and agencies.

    Overview:

    Kohl's Corp. is a Wisconsin-based department store chain that sells moderately priced apparel; home products such as sheets and pillows; and housewares.

    Business segments and operations:

    Store count at end of fiscal year:

    2017 (year ended February 2018): 1,158 stores in 49 states (all states except Hawaii)
    2016: 1,154
    2015: 1,164
    2014: 1,162
    2013: 1,158
    2012: 1,146
    2011: 1,127
    2010: 1,089
    2009: 1,058
    2008: 1,004
    2007: 929

    Kohl's expanded from 79 stores in early calendar 1993 to 457 stores in early 2003, surpassing 1,000 stores in fiscal 2008. The first store opened in 1962.

    Sales and earnings:

    Kohl's fiscal year ends on the Saturday closest to Jan. 31 each year.

    Proprietary (private label and exclusive) brands accounted for 42 percent of Kohl's sales in 2017; 46 percent in 2016; 48 percent in 2015; 50 percent in 2014; 52 percent in 2013 and 2012; 50 percent in 2011; and 48 percent in 2010. Examples of Kohl's exclusive brands include Food Network, Jennifer Lopez, Marc Anthony, Rock & Republic and Simply Vera Vera Wang.

    Marketing expenses:

    U.S. ad spending:

    Total U.S. advertising spending figures shown in the Leading National Advertisers report and Marketer Trees database are Kohl's stated gross marketing costs (formerly gross advertising costs), including vendor allowances.

    Kohl's net marketing costs (formerly net advertising costs) consist of gross marketing costs (formerly gross advertising costs) minus vendor allowances.

    Kohl's stated gross marketing costs (formerly gross advertising costs), including vendor allowances, for fiscal years:

    2017: $1.124 billion
    2016: $1.164 billion
    2015: $1.171 billion
    2014: $1.189 billion
    2013: $1.185 billion
    2012: $1.163 billion
    2011: $1.123 billion
    2010: $1.017 billion
    2009: $988 million
    2008: $1.037 billion
    2007: $981 million

    Kohl's stated vendor allowances for fiscal years:

    2017: $138 million
    2016: $148 million
    2015: $160 million
    2014: $165 million
    2013: $172 million
    2012: $170 million
    2011: $161 million
    2010: $148 million
    2009: $142 million
    2008: $147 million
    2007: $142 million

    In its 10-K for year ended February 2018, the company said:

    "[Net] marketing costs, excluding credit card costs, reflect efficiencies in our non-customer facing spend and the benefit of not repeating a nonproductive marketing event."

    In its 10-K for year ended January 2017, the company said:

    "(Net) marketing costs increased in 2016 as we increased our spending on digital media."

    In its 10-K for year ended January 2016, the company said:

    "Marketing costs decreased in 2015 as we decreased our spending in newspaper inserts and direct mail through optimized circulation and shifted spending to digital media."

    The 10-K for year ended January 2016 also said:

    "Marketing costs, which include primarily digital, direct mail, newspaper inserts, television, and radio broadcast, are expensed when the marketing is first seen."

    In its 10-Ks for years ended January 2015, February 2014 and February 2013, the company said:

    "Advertising costs, which include primarily television and radio broadcast, direct mail, digital, and newspaper circulars, are expensed when the advertisement is first seen." The word "digital" was an addition to that explanation from what Kohl's had said in previous years.

    In its 10-K for year ended January 2012, the company said: "Advertising costs, which include primarily television and radio broadcast, direct mail, and newspaper circulars, are expensed when the advertisement is first seen."

    Worldwide ad spending:

    Total worldwide advertising spending figures shown in the World's Largest Advertisers report and related database are Kohl's stated gross marketing costs (formerly gross advertising costs), including vendor allowances.

    Deals and strategic moves:

    Kohl's in April 2011 signed a deal with apparel marketer VF Corp. to license the Rock & Republic apparel brand. VF in March 2011 purchased the trademarks and related intellectual property of Rock and Republic Enterprises, a marketer of designer jeans. Rock and Republic had filed for bankruptcy reorganization in April 2010. Kohl's now is the exclusive U.S. provider and marketer of all Rock & Republic apparel, accessories and other merchandise. Kohl's introduced the line in February 2012.

    Kohl's in September 2011 introduced Jennifer Lopez and Marc Anthony lines of clothing and other merchandise in what Kohl's termed "the largest launch in our company history."

    http://www.kohls.com

L'Oreal

  • Marketer profile
    Click here to see company's total worldwide advertising spending, measured-media spending by region, key executives and agencies.

    Overview:

    L'Oreal is a cosmetics and personal care products marketer based in France.

    The company markets products in 150 countries.

    Sales and earnings:

    Chairman-CEO Jean-Paul Agon said in L'Oreal's annual report for year ended December 2017:

    "L'Oreal achieved a great new year in terms of sales and results. ... We strengthened our positions in categories, distribution channels and regions of the world, which are strategic for the future. ... 2017 was another great year of digital acceleration. Our e-commerce sales grew by +34 percent and online sales now exceed two billion euros [$2.26 billion], representing nearly 25 percent of sales in a digitally advanced country like China."

    Agon said in L'Oreal's annual report for year ended December 2016:

    "2016 was another good year for L'Oreal. Three of our Divisions, L'OrTal Luxe, Consumer Products and Active Cosmetics, made great progress and we gained market shares in each of our three strategic regions. 2016 was also a great vintage in terms of emblematic innovations and strategic acquisitions. With IT Cosmetics, Atelier Cologne, Saint-Gervais Mont Blanc and CeraVe, we made four very diverse acquisitions that perfectly complement our global flotilla of brands and allow us to respond to new beauty desires. And, last but not least, we delivered a compelling set of results that once again prove the robustness of L'Oreal's economic model and its powerful capacity to create value."

    Agon said in L'Oreal's annual report for year ended December 2015:

    "Despite a slowdown in worldwide growth, the group delivered a solid performance. Sales growth was strong, supported by a positive currency effect. Three out of four Divisions outperformed their market. And we delivered good quality results. ... L'Oreal Luxe, Active Cosmetics and the Professional Products Division achieved sustained growth, further improving their worldwide positions in their respective markets. As for the Consumer Products Division, its growth picked up in the second half of 2015, enabling it to post an improvement on its 2014 performance. Importantly, we have taken all necessary steps to put the Division back on a market share gain track for 2016, by renewing the image of its brands, by seizing every opportunity in the fastest-growing consumer segments, such as make-up and natural hair care, by accelerating the pace of innovation and by stepping up digital investments. In terms of regions, we continued to expand on all continents. Growth was solid in Western Europe. In North America our performance increased quarter after quarter. Growth trends in the New Markets were contrasted, ranging from difficulties in Brazil to very strong growth in countries like Turkey and India."

    Agon said in L'Oreal's annual financial report for year ended December 2014:

    "The Active Cosmetics Division and L'Oreal Luxe substantially outperformed their markets in all regions. The Professional Products Division grew faster than its market. The Consumer Products Division meanwhile saw a temporary slowdown in its growth, mainly reflecting its weaker performance in the United States, where -- after three years of increasing its market share -- it marked a pause. In geographic terms, the Group strengthened its positions in all parts of the world, except North America."

    Agon said in L'Oreal's annual report for year ended December 2013:

    "2013 was another good year for L'Oreal. The group outperformed the market across all divisions and geographic zones, posting significant growth in both results and profitability. 2013 was also another year of progress in adapting the company to a changing world, and driving its efficiency, modernity and performance, so as to continue to build dynamic, sustainable and profitable growth."

    Agon said in the annual report for year ended December 2012:

    "In 2012, L'Oreal once again posted strong results. The group has continued to demonstrate its ability to outperform the market and strengthen its worldwide leadership of the beauty sector." L'Oreal's annual financial report for year ended December 2012 said: "The group is thus well prepared to outperform the market in 2013, and to achieve another year of sales and profit growth."

    L'Oreal's report for year ended December 2011 said:

    "L'Oreal's performances in 2011 demonstrate the relevance of the strategic thrusts and provide further confirmation of the key role played by research, innovation and creativity in the Group's industry. 2011 was also another year of solid construction for operating profit. The strong growth in results reflects the virtuous dynamics set in motion: operational efficiency has advanced in all fields of activity, enabling L'Oreal to prepare well for the future, and the profitability of the New Markets zone increased substantially. The good quality of these results means that the Group is more confident than ever in its ability to achieve sustainable and profitable growth. L'Oreal is well equipped to succeed in its strategy of universalising beauty and to achieve another year of sales and profit growth in 2012."

    L'Oreal's report for year ended December 2010 said:

    "L'Oreal's performances in 2010 confirm the relevance of the strategic directions taken at the end of 2008: accessible innovation, new categories of products, accelerated globalization of our brands, and an increase in the investments in research and in advertising and promotion expenses. 2010 is also a year of a strong increase in profit; the actions undertaken over the last two years with regard to operational efficiency continue to bear fruit. Ready to seize all strategic opportunities and carried along by the ambition of attracting a billion new consumers, L'Oreal is turning a new page of its history--universalization and beauty for everyone."

    Marketing spending:

    U.S. ad spending:

    Total U.S. advertising spending shown in the Leading National Advertisers report and Marketer Trees database is an Ad Age Datacenter estimate.

    Worldwide ad spending:

    Total worldwide advertising spending figures shown in the World's Largest Advertisers report and related database are stated worldwide "advertising and promotion" expenses converted to dollars at average exchange rates by Ad Age Datacenter.

    The company said "advertising and promotion" expenses "consist mainly of expenses relating to the advertisement and promotion of products to customers and consumers."

    L'Oreal deducts trade promotion costs from net sales. The annual financial report for year ended December 2017 said: "Sales incentives, cash discounts and product returns are deducted from sales, as are incentives granted to distributors or consumers resulting in a cash outflow, such as commercial cooperation, coupons, discounts and loyalty programmes."

    Agencies:

    L'Oreal in December 2015 consolidated its U.S. media account at WPP's MEC, naming MEC agency of record for integrated media planning and buying of TV, print and digital. (WPP in 2017 merged MEC and sibling Maxus to form Wavemaker.) The move came three days after rival Procter & Gamble Co. consolidated its North American media account at Omnicom Group's Omnicom Media Group and Dentsu Inc.'s Carat. L'Oreal launched its media review in spring 2015. L'Oreal incumbent agencies included Interpublic Group of Cos.' UM (TV and print buying); Publicis Groupe's DigitasLBi (digital buying); MEC (planning for Lancome and fragrances); and Publicis' Optimedia (planning for various L'Oreal brands).

    L'Oreal in November 2013 moved its U.S. digital-media planning and buying account to DigitasLBi from sibling Moxie following a review. Moxie had handled the work for three years.

    Deals and strategic moves:

    Nestle relationship:

    L'Oreal and Nestle, another member of the Leading National Advertisers and World's Largest Advertises rankings, on July 8, 2014, completed a deal to reduce Nestle's minority equity stake in L'Oreal and unwind the companies' Galderma joint venture. With this transaction, L'Oreal bought back a portion of L'Oreal shares held by Nestle and transferred L'Oreal's 50 percent Galderma stake to Nestle. L'Oreal paid for the share buyback by giving Nestle 3.4 billion euros in cash plus the 50 percent interest in Galderma that L'Oreal said had an enterprise value of 3.1 billion euros. As a result, Nestle's stake in L'Oreal dropped to 23.29 percent from 29.4 percent.

    Nestle owned a 23.17 percent stake in L'Oreal at year-end 2017.

    Galderma, a pharma company focused on dermatology products, was formed by L'Oreal and Nestle in 1981.

    Sanofi:

    L'Oreal owned a 9.43 percent stake in pharma marketer Sanofi as of Dec. 31, 2017.

    Acquisitions:

    L'Oreal has expanded through acquisitions.

    L'Oreal in August 2018 signed a deal to buy Holding STRP (Societe des Thermes de La Roche-Posay), a marketer of skin-care products founded in 1921.

    L'Oreal in August 2018 agreed to buy Logocos Naturkosmetik, a marketer of natural cosmetics based in Germany and founded in 1978. The company had 2017 sales of 59 million euros ($67 million) and employed 340 people at the time of the acquisition. Its brands included Logona and Sante.

    L'Oreal in June 2018 bought South Korean lifestyle company Nanda Co. Nanda was founded in 2004 and had 2017 turnover of 127 million euros ($143 million) and nearly 400 employees. At the time of its acquisition, Nanda generated 70 percent of its business from make-up brand 3CE.

    L'Oreal in May 2018 signed a deal for a worldwide long-term license for the creation, development and distribution of fine fragrances and luxury beauty under the Valentino brand. Valentino was founded in Rome in 1960. The license started Jan. 1, 2019.

    L'Oreal in May 2018 bought Pulp Riot, a professional hair color brand launched in the U.S. in June 2016. Pulp Riot had 2017 net sales of $11 million.

    L'Oreal in March 2018 bought 100 percent of Canadian company ModiFace, a developer of augmented reality and artificial intelligence applied to the beauty industry. L'Oreal's deal announcement said: "This acquisition is in line with L'Oreal's digital acceleration strategy to provide the group's 34 international brands with the most innovative technologies in terms of services and beauty experience."

    L'Oreal in May 2017 bought key assets from Four Star Salon Services, a full-service wholesale distributor in Hauppauge, N.Y. L'Oreal said the acquisition would give SalonCentric, L'Oreal USA's professional salon distribution operation, expanded distribution coverage of salon professional products within New York, New Jersey and Connecticut.

    L'Oreal in March 2017 bought over-the-counter U.S. skin care brands CeraVe, AcneFree and Ambi from Valeant Pharmaceuticals International for $1.3 billion. The three brands had annualized combined revenue of about $168 million. (Valeant in July 2018 changed its name to Bausch Health Cos.)

    The company in November 2016 acquired Societe des Thermes de Saint-Gervais-les-Bains and the license to use Saint-Gervais Mont Blanc brand.

    L'Oreal in August 2016 bought IT Cosmetics, a marketer of skin care and makeup products. IT had been partly owned by TSG Consumer Partners. IT was founded in 2008 and had net sales of $182 million in the 12 months ended June 2016. IT became part of L'Oreal's Luxe Division.

    L'Oreal in July 2016 bought Atelier Cologne, a perfume brand launched in 2009. Atelier Cologne became part of L'Oreal's prestigious brand portfolio.

    L'Oreal USA in February 2016 bought key assets from Raylon Corp., a wholesale distributor of salon professional products.

    L'Oreal in March 2015 bought Niely Cosmeticos, a Brazil-based hair-products marketer founded in 1981. Niely had 2014 revenue of 406 million Brazilian reals ($124 million).

    L'Oreal in December 2014 bought Coloright, a startup focused on hair fiber optical reader technology, reflecting L'Oreal's interest in hair research.

    L'Oreal in November 2014 bought Carol's Daughter, a U.S. multicultural beauty brand. New York-based Carol's Daughter was founded in 1993 and had net sales of $27 million in the 12-months ended September 2014.

    L'Oreal in July 2014 bought NYX Cosmetics, a cosmetics marketer based in Los Angeles. NYX was founded in 1999 and had net sales of $72 million in 2013, up 46 percent from 2012.

    L'Oreal in April 2014 acquired Magic Holdings International, which markets cosmetic facial masks in China. Magic had fiscal 2012-2013 revenue of about 160 million euros ($209 million).

    The company in April 2014 acquired professional skin-care brands Decleor and Carita from Japan's Shiseido. The two brands had 2012 turnover of about 100 million euros ($129 million).

    L'Oreal in December 2012 acquired makeup brand Urban Decay from buyout firm Castanea Partners. L'Oreal said Urban Decay had net sales of $130 million in the fiscal year ended June 2012. Urban Decay launched in 1996 and is based in Newport Beach, Calif. Urban Decay was owned by luxury-goods marketer LVMH Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton from 2000 through 2002.

    Among L'Oreal's acquisitions:

    2017: CeraVe, AcneFree and Ambi (over-the-counter U.S. skin care brands)
    2016: IT Cosmetics (U.S. skin care and makeup products)
    2015: Niely Cosmeticos (Brazilian hair-products marketer)
    2014: Decleor and Carita (professional skin-care brands); Magic Holdings International (China-based marketer of cosmetic facial masks); NYX Cosmetics (U.S. cosmetics marketer); Carol's Daughter (U.S. multicultural beauty brand)
    2013: Cheryl's Cosmeceuticals, a marketer of professional skin-care products and treatments in India with 2012 turnover of about 3 million euros ($3.9 million)
    2012: Urban Decay; Cadum
    2011: Q-Med (by Galderma); Clarisonic
    2010: Essie Cosmetics in the U.S
    2008: YSL Beaute
    2000: Matrix and Kiehl's in the U.S
    1998-2000: Softsheen and Carson in the U.S. and in South Africa
    1996: Maybelline in the U.S
    1993: Redken 5th Avenue in the U.S
    1989: La Roche-Posay
    1970: Biotherm
    1965: Laboratoires Garnier
    1964: Lancome

    Divestitures:

    L'Oreal in September 2017 sold The Body Shop, a retailer of natural beauty products, to Brazil's Natura Cosmeticos for an enterprise value of 1.0 billion euros ($1.2 billion). The Body Shop had 2016 retail sales of 1.5 billion euros ($1.66 billion). L'Oreal expected to complete the deal in calendar 2017. The Body Shop started in the U.K. in 1976 and was acquired by L'Oreal in 2006 for 652 million pounds (about $1.2 billion).

    Stock:

    The Bettencourt Meyers family is L'Oreal's largest investor with a 33.065 percent stake as of year-end 2017. Liliane Bettencourt, daughter of L'Oreal founder Eugene Schueller, died in September 2017.

    Nestle is L'Oreal's second largest shareholder with a 23.17 percent stake as of year-end 2017.

    History:

    L'Oreal was founded in 1909.

    http://www.lorealusa.com

LG Electronics

  • Marketer profile
    Click here to see company's total worldwide advertising spending, measured-media spending by region, key executives and agencies.

    Overview:

    LG Electronics is a consumer electronics and appliance marketer based in South Korea.

    Marketing spending:

    U.S. ad spending:

    Total U.S. advertising spending shown in the Leading National Advertisers report and Marketer Trees database is an Ad Age Datacenter estimate of LG's U.S. spending on advertising and promotion.

    Worldwide ad spending:

    Total worldwide advertising spending shown in the World's Largest Advertisers report and related database is LG's stated worldwide "advertising" expense plus "promotion" expense converted to U.S. dollars at average exchange rates by Ad Age Datacenter.

    Stated worldwide "advertising" expense (rounded):

    2017: 1,251,010 million won ($1.113 billion; 2.0 percent of net sales)
    2016: 1,322,215 million won ($1.137 billion; 2.4 percent)
    2015: 1,088,882 million won ($969.1 million; 1.9 percent)
    2014: 1,153,182 million won ($1.096 billion; 2.0 percent)
    2013: 1,204,590 million won (($1.108 billion; 2.1 percent)

    Stated worldwide "promotion" expense (rounded):

    2017: 813,201 million won ($723.7 million; 1.3 percent of net sales)
    2016: 761,576 million won ($655.0 million; 1.4 percent)
    2015: 698,107 million won ($621.3 million; 1.2 percent)
    2014: 833,284 million won ($791.6 million; 1.4 percent)
    2013: 767,755 million won ($706.3 million; 1.4 percent)

    Sum: stated worldwide advertising plus promotion expense (rounded):

    2017: 2,064,211 million won ($1.837 billion; 3.4 percent of net sales)
    2016: 2,083,791 million won ($1.792 billion; 3.8 percent)
    2015: 1,786,989 million won ($1.590 billion; 3.2 percent)
    2014: 1,986,466 million won ($1.887 billion; 3.4 percent)
    2013: 1,972,345 million won ($1.815 billion; 3.5 percent)Deals and strategic moves:

    LG in 1995 bought Zenith Electronics Corp., a venerable but struggling U.S. consumer electronics marketer.

    History:

    LG Electronics was founded in 1958 as GoldStar.

    http://www.lg.com/us

LVMH Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton

  • Marketer profile
    Click here to see company's total worldwide advertising spending, measured-media spending by region, key executives and agencies.

    Overview:

    LVMH Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton, also known as LVMH Group, is a global marketer of luxury goods.

    Business segments and operations:

    LVMH's business groups are wines and spirits; fashion and leather goods; perfumes and cosmetics; watches and jewelry; selective retailing; and other activities.

    LVMH owns most of its fashion/leather goods, perfumes/cosmetics, watches/jewelry and retail businesses outright. LVMH, though, only owns 66 percent of Moet Hennessy, the holding company for LVMH Group's wines and spirits businesses; Diageo (and predecessor Guinness) has owned 34 percent of Moet Hennessy since 1994.

    LVMH's portfolio includes:

    Wines and spirits: LVMH produces champagne, wine, cognac and spirits, focusing on high-end segments of the global wine and spirits market.

    Fashion and leather goods: Louis Vuitton, Fendi, Loewe, Celine, Kenzo, Marc Jacobs, Givenchy, Thomas Pink, Pucci, Berluti, Rossimoda, Loro Piana and Nicholas Kirkwood.

    Perfumes and cosmetics: Parfums Christian Dior, Guerlain, Parfums Givenchy, Benefit Cosmetics, Fresh, Acqua di Parma, Parfums Loewe and Make Up For Ever.

    Watches and jewelry: TAG Heuer, Hublot, Zenith, Montres Dior, Bulgari, Chaumet and Fred. LVMH and the De Beers group in 2001 launched a joint-venture retail chain, De Beers Diamond Jewellers.

    Selective retailing: travel retail (the sale of luxury products to international travelers through DFS, which began as duty-free stores, and Miami Cruiseline, which sells duty-free luxury items on cruise ships); selective retail concepts (Sephora, Paris department store Le Bon Marche). Other activities: media division and Royal Van Lent, a builder of luxury mega-yachts (under the Feadship brand) that LVMH bought in 2008.

    Sales and earnings:

    U.S. revenue:

    The U.S. accounted for about 25 percent in 2017; 27 percent of revenue in 2016; 26 percent in 2015; 24 percent in 2014; 23 percent in 2013; 23 percent in 2012; 22 percent in 2011; 23 percent in 2010; 23 percent in 2009; 23 percent in 2008; 25 percent in 2007; and 26 percent in 2006.

    LVMH has seen robust top-line growth in the U.S., in part through acquisitions. The company's U.S. revenue in 2017 of 10.691 billion euros ($12.078 billion) was more than double its pre-recession (2007) level of 4.124 billion euros ($5.636 billion).

    U.S. store count:

    The company operated 754 U.S. stores in 2017; 703 in 2016; 732 in 2015; 708 in 2014; 669 in 2013; 644 in 2012; 621 in 2011; 570 in 2010; 531 in 2009 and 2008; 463 in 2007; and 394 in 2006.

    Marketing spending:

    U.S. ad spending:

    Total U.S. advertising spending shown in the Leading National Advertisers report and Marketer Trees database is an Ad Age Datacenter estimate.

    Worldwide ad spending:

    Total worldwide advertising spending figures shown in the World's Largest Advertisers report and related database are stated worldwide "advertising and promotion" expenses (sometimes previously referred to as "communication and promotion" expenses) converted to dollars at average exchange rates by Ad Age Datacenter.

    In its reference document for calendar 2017, LVMH said: "Advertising and promotion expenses include the costs of producing advertising media, purchasing media space, manufacturing samples and publishing catalogs, and in general, the cost of all activities designed to promote the group's brands and products."

    That reference document said: "Advertising and promotion expenses mainly consist of the cost of media campaigns and point-of-sale advertising, and also include personnel costs dedicated to this function."

    In its reference document for calendar 2016, LVMH said advertising and promotion expenses "mainly correspond to advertising campaign costs, especially for the launch of new products, public relations and promotional events, and expenses incurred by marketing teams responsible for all of these activities."

    LVMH's stated worldwide advertising and promotion costs exclude money LVMH gives to retailers for cooperative advertising. LVMH deducts cooperative advertising costs from revenue before reporting net revenue.

    The reference document for calendar 2017 said: "Revenue is presented net of all forms of discount. In particular, payments made in order to have products referenced or, in accordance with agreements, to participate in advertising campaigns with the distributors, are deducted from related revenue."

    Deals and strategic moves:

    LVMH in July 2017 bought 100 percent of Christian Dior Couture from Christian Dior for 6 billion euros ($6.9 billion). LVMH already owned 100 percent of Parfums Christian Dior, a fragrance and beauty care brand.

    Moet Hennessy in July 2017 bought Woodinville Whiskey Co., a marketer of craft whiskeys based in Washington state and founded in 2010. Price tag wasn't disclosed.

    LVMH in January 2017 bought an 80 percent stake in Rimowa, a luggage marketer based in Germany, for 640 million euros ($685 million). Rimowa's revenue for 2016 was expected to exceed 400 million euros ($443 million).

    LVMH in December 2016 sold Donna Karan International to G-III Apparel Group in a transaction with an enterprise value of $650 million (and a sale price of $542 million after adjustments and deducting Donna Karan's borrowings with LVMH). Donna Karan International, acquired by LVMH in 2001 for $643 million, is the parent of the Donna Karan and DKNY brands. G-III is a designer, manufacturer and marketer of branded apparel and accessories under licensed brands, its own brands and private-label brands.

    LVMH in October 2015 bought 100 percent of the daily newspaper Le Parisien (The Parisian)/Aujourd'hui en France (Today in France), including the weekly Le Parisien Magazine.

    Sephora in July 2015 bought a 95 percent equity interest in Luxola, an e-commerce site operating in nine countries in Southeast Asia.

    LVMH and Hermes International, a rival French marketer of luxury goods, in December 2014 completed a settlement resolving an extended legal battle. Under terms of the settlement, LVMH distributed its minority equity stake in Hermes to LVMH shareholders. As part of the settlement, Christian Dior - which owned 40.9 percent of LVMH through Financiere Jean Goujon -- distributed the Hermes shares it received from LVMH to its own shareholders. Following these transactions, LVMH, Financiere Jean Goujon and Christian Dior no longer hold any Hermes stock with the exception of Hermes shares representing rights to fractional interests or non-distributed shares; those shares will be sold no later than September 2015. LVMH had owned a 23.1 percent stake in Hermes at year-end 2013. LVMH in October 2010 had disclosed its initial purchase of Hermes shares. As of Dec. 31, 2015, LVMH no longer held any Hermes shares.

    LVMH in December 2013 bought 80 percent of Loro Piana, a marketer of luxury products including clothing (such as cashmere goods) and accessories, for 1.982 billion euros ($2.714 billion). LVMH bought an additional 4.8 percent stake in February 2017, boosting its holding to 84.8 percent.

    LVMH in October 2013 bought 52 percent of Nicholas Kirkwood, a British luxury footwear company.

    The company in September 2013 acquired Hotel Saint Barth Isle de France.

    LVMH in June 2013 bought 80 percent of Cova, a Milan-based pastry business.

    LVMH in October 2012 acquired the remaining 20 percent stake in Benefit, giving it 100 percent ownership.

    The company in June 2012 bought Arnys (France), a ready-to-wear and made-to-measure menswear label.

    LVMH in May 2012 acquired Les Tanneries Roux (France), a leather supplier.

    LVMH in December 2011 bought 51 percent of Heng Long International, a tanner and finisher of crocodile leather.

    LVMH in 2011 bought 100 percent of Bulgari, an Italian jewelry and watch marketer. The business previously was majority controlled by the Bulgari family. Sotirio Bulgari started the company in 1884.

    LVMH in November 2011 purchased 100 percent of ArteCad, a manufacturer of Swiss watch dials.

    LVMH bought Kenzo in 1993.

    Stock:

    LVMH's stock is listed on Euronext Paris.

    The Arnault Family Group as of Dec. 31, 2017, directly or indirectly owned a 46.84 percent stake in LVMH and 63.13 percent of LVMH voting rights.

    History:

    Paris-based LVMH was formed by the 1987 merger of Louis Vuitton and Moet Hennessy.

    The company's roots extend back hundreds of years. Claude Moet began producing champagne in the 1700s. Louis Vuitton began making luggage in the 1800s.

    http://www.lvmh.com

Macy's

  • Marketer profile
    Click here to see company's total worldwide advertising spending, measured-media spending by region, key executives and agencies.

    Overview:

    Macy's is a department store retailer based in Cincinnati.

    Business segments and operations:

    As of February 2018, the company operated 852 stores in 44 states, the District of Columbia, Guam and Puerto Rico. Its operations include Macy's, Bloomingdale's, Bloomingdale's The Outlet, Macy's Backstage, Bluemercury and Macy's China Limited.

    Bloomingdale's in the United Arab Emirates and Kuwait are operated by Al Tayer Group under a license agreement.

    Marketing spending:

    U.S. ad spending:

    Total U.S. advertising spending shown in the Leading National Advertisers report and Marketer Trees database is Macy's stated gross advertising and promotional costs (net ad costs plus cooperative advertising allowances).

    The company disclosed the following "advertising and promotional costs, net of cooperative advertising allowances," for fiscal years:

    2017 (year ended Feb. 3, 2018): $1.108 billion (4.46 percent of net sales)
    2016: $1.153 billion (4.47 percent of net sales)
    2015: $1.173 billion (4.33 percent)
    2014: $1.177 billion (4.19 percent)
    2013: $1.166 billion (4.17 percent)
    2012: $1.123 billion (restated in 2014 from $1.181 billion) (4.06 percent)
    2011: $1.060 billion (restated in 2014 from $1.136 billion) (4.01 percent)
    2010: $1.072 billion (4.29 percent)
    2009: $1.087 billion (4.63 percent)
    2008: $1.239 billion (4.98 percent)
    2007: $1.194 billion (4.54 percent)

    Macy's said fiscal-year "cooperative advertising allowances" that offset advertising and promotional costs were about:

    2017: $289 million (1.16 percent of net sales)
    2016: $394 million (1.53 percent of net sales)
    2015: $414 million (1.53 percent)
    2014: $425 million (1.51 percent)
    2013: $457 million (1.64 percent)
    2012: $431 million (restated in 2014 from $422 million) (1.56 percent)
    2011: $372 million (restated in 2014 from $371 million) (1.41 percent)
    2010: $345 million (1.38 percent)
    2009: $298 million (1.27 percent)
    2008: $372 million (1.49 percent)
    2007: $431 million (1.64 percent)

    Macy's discussed those coop ad allowances in its 10-K for year ended Feb. 3, 2018.

    The 10-K said the company "receives advertising allowances from approximately 980 of its merchandise vendors pursuant to cooperative advertising programs, with some vendors participating in multiple programs. These allowances represent reimbursements by vendors of costs incurred by the Company to promote the vendors' merchandise and are netted against advertising and promotional costs when the related costs are incurred in accordance with ASC Subtopic 605-50. Advertising allowances in excess of costs incurred are recorded as a reduction of merchandise costs and, ultimately, through cost of sales when the merchandise is sold."

    Earlier filings showed Macy's received advertised allowances from about 1,000 vendors in year ended February 2017.

    Coop funds accounted for 20.7 percent of Macy's gross ad costs in fiscal 2017; 25.5 percent in fiscal 2016; 26.1 percent in fiscal 2015; 26.5 percent in fiscal 2014; 28.2 percent in 2013; 27.7 percent in 2012; 26.0 percent in 2011; and 24.3 percent in 2010.

    Some of those coop ad dollars come from Estee Lauder Cos., the cosmetics marketer, which has counted Macy's as its biggest customer.

    Estee Lauder stopped disclosing its largest customer in its 10-K for fiscal 2018 (year ended June 2018). In earlier 10-K filings, Estee Lauder said its largest customer was Macy's, accounting for 8 percent of Estee Lauder net sales in fiscal 2017 (year ended June 2017); 9 percent in fiscal 2016; 10 percent in fiscal 2015 and 2014; 11 percent in fiscal 2013, 2012, 2011 and 2010; 12 percent in 2009; 12 percent in 2008; 14 percent in fiscal 2007; and 16 percent in fiscal 2006.

    Worldwide ad spending:

    Total worldwide advertising spending shown in the World's Largest Advertisers report and related database is Macy's stated gross advertising and promotional costs (net ad costs plus cooperative advertising allowances). Macy's does not operate stores outside the United States and its territories, and it does not advertise internationally. (Bloomingdale's in the United Arab Emirates and Kuwait are operated by Al Tayer Group under a license agreement.)

    Agencies:

    Macy's in May 2018 named Publicis Groupe's Spark Foundry as "media strategy and buying agency" following a closed review. Publicis' Digitas also will work with the retailer.

    Incumbent was Dentsu Inc.'s Carat. Macy's had selected Carat following a 2012 review.

    Deals and strategic moves:

    Macy's in January 2017 formally entered a strategic alliance with Brookfield Asset Management, a global alternative asset manager, tied to Macy's real estate portfolio. Under the alliance, Brookfield has an exclusive right for up to 24 months to create a "pre-development plan" for each of about 50 Macy's real estate assets, with an option for Macy's to continue to identify and add assets into the alliance. In announcing the agreement, Macy's said: "These assets primarily include owned and ground- leased stores and associated land, most of which are located in malls not owned by major mall owners. The breadth of opportunity within the portfolio ranges from the additional development on a portion of an asset (such as a Macy's-controlled land parcel adjacent to a store) to the complete redevelopment of an existing store."

    Extending its Brookfield relationship, Macy's in February 2018 signed a deal to sell the top seven floors of its State Street store building in Chicago to a private real estate fund sponsored by Brookfield. The 13-story building formerly was the flagship location of the Marshall Field's department store.

    Macy's in September 2015 launched Macy's Backstage, an off-price retail brand, initially with three New York area pilot stores in Brooklyn, Queens and Long Island.

    Macy's in September 2015 signed an agreement with Best Buy Co. to test licensed consumer electronics departments in 10 Macy's stores starting in early November 2015. Plans called for Best Buy licensed shops of about 300 square feet to open in Macy's stores in various markets throughout the U.S. The space will be staffed by Best Buy employees and feature Samsung smartphones, tablets and smart watches as well as audio devices from Samsung and other brands.

    Macy's in June 2015 signed a 10-year agreement with Men's Wearhouse to open licensed tuxedo rental shops in 300 Macy's stores nationwide. These Macy's-branded shops will be operated and staffed by Men's Wearhouse. Macy's said the tuxedo shops "will be fully integrated in Macy's storewide wedding experience, and support millennial merchandising strategies related to proms and other special occasions."

    Macy's Inc. in March 2015 bought Bluemercury, a retail chain selling luxury beauty products and spa services, for about $210 million cash. Bluemercury, a privately held firm backed by investor Invus Group, was founded in 1999 and at the time of the announcement operated 60 specialty stores in 18 states as well as an online business. Products include well-known high-end luxury beauty brands as well as M-61, a proprietary skin-care brand. Most locations include in-house spas. Macy's Inc. planned to operate Bluemercury as a stand-alone specialty business.

    Martha Stewart deal:

    Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia in September 2007 introduced the "Martha Stewart Collection" exclusively at Macy's in the U.S. The line included home goods, including bed and bath decor and textiles, housewares, food preparation and other kitchen items, tabletop, holiday decorating and trim-a-tree items.

    J.C. Penney Co. in December 2011 bought a stake in Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia and announced plans to introduce Martha Stewart stores inside Penney stores. Following that announcement, Macy's said it was reviewing its Martha Stewart partnership. Macy's in August 2012 sued Penney, seeking to prevent Penney from implementing the Martha Stewart deal as it related to products in the bedding, bath, kitchen and cookware categories. The suit was consolidated with a breach of contract lawsuit brought by Macy's against Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia. A trial began in February 2013. Before a verdict was announced, Penney and Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia in October 2013 scaled back their agreement, limiting the Penney deal to Martha Stewart-branded goods in the following categories: window treatments and hardware, lighting, rugs, holiday and celebrations.

    Management and employees:

    President Jeff Gennette became president-CEO in March 2017. Chairman-CEO Terry Lundgren continued as executive chairman. Lundgren had been CEO since 2003 and chairman since 2004. Gennette became president in 2014; he was the company's chief merchandising officer from February 2009 to March 2014.

    Richard Lennox became CMO in September 2016. Before that, Lennox was CMO at Toys R Us from mid-2014 to September 2016 and executive VP-chief marketing and e-commerce Officer at Zale's Corp. from August 2009 to July 2014.

    Martine Reardon left as CMO in May 2016. Reardon, a veteran Macy's marketing executive, had been CMO since February 2012.

    Tony Spring moved to Bloomingdale's chairman-CEO from Bloomingdale's president and chief operating officer effective Feb. 1, 2014, succeeding Michael Gould. Spring, age 48 when the change was announced in October 2013, began his Bloomingdale's career in 1987 as an executive trainee in the White Plains, N.Y., store. Gould, age 70 when the change was announced in October 2013, joined Bloomingdale's as chairman-CEO in 1991.

    History:

    The company was incorporated in 1929 as Federated Department Stores. Federated changed its name to Macy's Inc. on June 1, 2007, and took the ticker symbol "M," adopting the name of its flagship chain.

    Federated bought May Department Stores in third quarter 2005 for $17 billion. In September 2006, it rebranded May stores -- including Hecht's, Strawbridge's, Filene's, Marshall Field's and Robinsons-May -- as Macy's.

    The company, focusing on Macy's, its mid-range department store, and Bloomingdale's, its high-end chain, in October 2006 sold the Lord & Taylor division to NRDC Equity Partners, a partnership between Apollo Real Estate Advisors and National Realty & Development Corp., for $1.2 billion. (Macy's had acquired Lord &Taylor in the May Department Stores deal.)

    Federated in early 2007 sold the 269-store David's Bridal and 10-store Priscilla of Boston businesses to Leonard Green & Partners for about $750 million; and the 511-store After Hours Formalwear chain to Men's Wearhouse for $100.0 million, adjusted for certain items, primarily customer cash deposits retained by Federated on rentals to be completed after closing. The total net cash consideration paid after these adjustments and other acquisition costs was approximately $69.8 million. Leonard Green in 2012 sold David's Bridal to buyout firm Clayton, Dubilier & Rice for about $900 million. David's Bridal in November 2018 filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganization.

    http://www.macysinc.com

Mars Inc.

  • Marketer profile
    Click here to see company's total worldwide advertising spending, measured-media spending by region, key executives and agencies.

    Overview:

    Mars is a family-owned marketer whose offerings include pet food, candy and gum.

    Business segments and operations:

    Mars operates five business segments: Petcare, Mars Wrigley Confectionery, Food, Drinks and Symbioscience.

    Mars in 2017 combined its Chocolate and Wrigley segments to create Chicago-based Mars Wrigley Confectionery.

    Symbioscience is the company's global health and life sciences segment. It serves as an incubator for business ideas generated throughout Mars segments.

    Mars as of 2016 reported nine billion-dollar brands (brands with worldwide sales of at least $1 billion): Pedigree, Royal Canin, Whiskas (pet food); Banfield (veterinary hospitals); Dove/Galaxy, M&M's, Snickers, Twix (candy); Wrigley's Extra (chewing gum).

    Mars, expanding its pet-care business, in September 2017 bought VCA, a U.S. chain of veterinary hospitals.

    Mars already was in the pet-vet business through Banfield Pet Hospital. More than 60 percent of PetSmart pet-products stores house veterinary hospitals under the name Banfield Pet Hospital. PetSmart owns a 20.5 percent equity stake in Medical Management International, operator of Banfield Pet Hospital, according to PetSmart's website as of June 2016. Mars owns the rest of Banfield, which became part of Mars in 2007.

    Sales and earnings:

    Mars had worldwide sales of almost $35 billion and more than 100,000 employees, according to a Mars press release in May 2018. That included about 75,000 employees at Mars Petcare across 54 countries.

    Mars had worldwide net sales of almost $35 billion and more than 85,000 employees in 80 countries, according to a Mars corporate press release in May 2017.

    Mars had worldwide net sales of $35 billion and more than 80,000 employees in 78 countries, according to a Mars corporate press release in March 2017.

    Mars had worldwide net sales of more than $35 billion and more than 80,000 employees in 78 countries, according to a Mars corporate press release in July 2016.

    Mars had worldwide net sales of more than $33 billion and more than 80,000 employees in 78 countries, according to a Mars corporate press release in June 2016.

    Mars had worldwide net sales of more than $33 billion and more than 75,000 employees in 73 countries, according to a Mars corporate press release in June 2015.

    Mars had worldwide net sales of more than $33 billion and more than 75,000 employees, according to a Mars corporate press release in April 2014.

    Mars had worldwide net sales of more than $33 billion and more than 72,000 employees, according to a Mars corporate press release in April 2013.

    A Mars press release in January 2013 said Mars had net sales of more than $30 billion and more than 70,000 employees. Mars said it had worldwide net sales of more than $30 billion and about 70,000 employees, according to the company website as of May 2012.

    Mars said it was generating annual revenue of $30 billion with more than 65,000 associates at more than 370 sites in 72 countries, according to the company's January 2011 fact sheet. As of spring 2010, Mars said it was generating annual revenue of $28 billion with 135 factories in 68 countries worldwide.

    As of spring 2009, Mars said it was generating global sales of more than $30 billion with operations.

    As of spring 2008, Mars said it had annual global sales of $22 billion with operations in more than 66 countries. According to Mars' website as of June 2008, Mars North America, the company's U.S. operation, had more than $7 billion in annual sales. (That excludes Wm. Wrigley Jr. Co., which reported 2007 worldwide revenue of $5.4 billion.)

    Marketing spending:

    U.S. ad spending:

    Total U.S. advertising spending shown in the Leading National Advertisers report and Marketer Trees database is an Ad Age Datacenter estimate intended to capture Mars' advertising and promotion spending.

    Ad Age restated 2015 spending based on a revised spending model to capture Mars' advertising and promotion spending.

    Worldwide ad spending:

    Total worldwide advertising spending shown in the World's Largest Advertisers report and related database is an Ad Age Datacenter estimate intended to capture Mars' advertising and promotion spending.

    Agencies:

    Mars in August 2018 consolidated global media buying and planning across most of its portfolio with GroupM's MediaCom.

    The move followed a global media review that Mars began in March 2018.

    MediaCom had been global incumbent for media planning since December 2014. Media buying had been contracted locally; Publicis Groupe's Starcom handled the majority of local markets, with the rest handled by MediaCom and Omnicom Group's OMD.

    Awards:

    The Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity gave Mars the 2012 Advertiser of the Year Award.

    Deals and strategic moves:

    VCA:

    Mars in September 2017 bought VCA, the largest U.S. chain of freestanding veterinary hospitals, for about $9.1 billion including $1.4 billion in outstanding debt. At that time, Mars said VCA would operate "as a distinct and separate business within Mars Petcare, alongside its other veterinary services businesses, Banfield Pet Hospital, BluePearl and Pet Partners."

    At the time of its acquisition, VCA had more than 800 animal hospitals and a clinical lab business (Antech Diagnostics) operating in the U.S. and Canada.

    Mars announced the deal in January 2017. Mars' press release announcing the deal said:

    "Mars Petcare's portfolio of veterinary services businesses includes Banfield Pet Hospital, BluePearl and Pet Partners. Together with VCA, these businesses will provide an unprecedented level of access to high quality veterinary care for pets, from wellness and prevention to primary, emergency and specialty care. Mars Petcare is already an industry leader in pet nutrition with global brands that include Royal Canin, Pedigree and Whiskas. Mars has a growing business in pet DNA testing through the Wisdom Panel, and in 2015 also acquired pet technology provider Whistle."

    Los Angeles-based VCA was founded in 1986 under the name Veterinary Centers of America.

    As of year-end 2016, VCA had 795 animal hospitals in 43 states and five Canadian provinces.

    VCA (ticker: WOOF) reported revenue of $2.517 billion in 2016; $2.134 billion in 2015; and $1.918 billion in 2014. That included U.S. revenue of $2.315 billion in 2016; $1.958 billion in 2015; and $1.761 billion in 2014.

    VCA disclosed marketing and advertising expense of $34.1 million in 2016; $33.0 million in 2015; and $30.7 million in 2014.

    P&G pet foods:

    Mars July 31, 2014, completed a deal to buy 80 percent of Procter & Gamble Co.'s worldwide pet-food business, including North America and Latin America. Mars paid $2.9 billion cash to buy billion-dollar (sales) brand Iams and two other brands, Eukanuba and Natura in those markets, adding them to a Mars pet-food portfolio that already included billion-dollar brands Pedigree, Whiskas, Banfield and Royal Canin. Mars Inc. then exercised an option to buy an additional 10 percent of the business in additional markets including Japan, Australia and South Africa. (P&G completed its exit from pet food in December 2014 by selling its European pet-food business, representing about 10 percent of P&G's worldwide pet-food business, to U.S.-based Spectrum Brands.)

    In the deal announcement, P&G Chairman-CEO A.G. Lafley said: "Exiting Pet Care is an important step in our strategy to focus P&G's portfolio on the core businesses where we can create the most value for consumers and shareowners. The transaction creates value for P&G shareowners, and we are confident that the business will thrive at Mars, a leading company in pet care."

    The deal came four years after P&G expanded its pet-food business with the 2010 acquisition of Natura Pet Products, marketer of Innova, Evo, California Natural, Healthwise, Mother Nature and Karma brands.

    Wrigley:

    Mars in April 2008 struck a deal to buy chewing-gum marketer Wrigley, another iconic family run (but publicly held) business. Mars completed the $23 billion cash acquisition in October 2008 with financial backing from Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway.

    Berkshire Hathaway's investment consisted of $4.4 billion of subordinated Wrigley notes due in 2018 and $2.1 billion of preferred Wrigley stock. Mars on Oct. 1, 2013, paid $5.1 billion to buy back the Wrigley notes, but Berkshire Hathaway kept its minority ownership stake in Wrigley. Mars in 2016 bought Berkshire's entire equity interest in Wrigley. Berkshire Hathaway owns another candy maker, See's.

    Other deals and strategic moves:

    The company in April 2018 bought Opitgen, a DNA diagnostics company specializing in inherited eye disorders in dogs.

    Mars in November 2017 bought a minority stake in Kind, a marketer of "healthier" snack products.

    Mars in November 2017 bought a majority stake in Preferred Brands International, a Stamford, Conn.-based marketer of all-natural, ready-to-heat Indian and Asian food products sold primarily under the Tasty Bite brand. Preferred Brands generated a majority of its sales in the U.S. Preferred Brands had an Indian subsidiary in which it held a majority stake that was listed on the Bombay Stock Exchange and the National Stock Exchange of India. That subsidiary continued to be listed after the acquisition.

    Mars in April 2016 completed its acquisition of Grupo Turin, a Mexico-based marketer of chocolate brands including Conejos and Turin.

    Mars bought Nutro, a premium pet-food marketer, in May 2007.

    History:

    Mars is based in McLean, Va., and was founded in 1911.

    http://www.mars.com

Maxingvest (Beiersdorf)

  • Marketer profile
    Click here to see company's total worldwide advertising spending, measured-media spending by region, key executives and agencies.

    Overview:

    Maxingvest is a German holding company that controls German firms Beiersdorf and Tchibo.

    Business segments and operations:

    Maxingvest as of year-end 2017 owned a 51.01 percent stake in Beiersdorf, according to Beiersdorf's annual report for year ended December 2017.

    Maxingvest owns 100 percent of Tchibo, according to Maxingvest's website.

    Beiersdorf is a personal care products marketer based in Germany. Its global brands include Nivea, Eucerin and La Prairie.

    Beiersdorf also markets adhesive tape and other adhesive products under the brand name Tesa.

    Tchibo is a German-based consumer goods (including coffee), services and retail company.

    Marketing spending:

    Worldwide ad spending:

    Total worldwide advertising spending shown in the World's Largest Advertisers report and related database is Beiersdorf's stated worldwide "advertising and trade marketing expenses" (also known as "advertising, retail (point of sale) marketing, and similar items") converted to U.S. dollars at average exchange rates by Ad Age Datacenter.

    Beiersdorf's stated worldwide advertising and trade marketing expenses:

    2017: 1.522 billion euros.
    2016: 1.496 billion euros.
    2015: 1.529 billion euros.
    2014: 1.486 billion euros.

    History:

    Beiersdorf was founded in 1882.

    Tchibo began in 1949 as a coffee company.

    http://www.maxingvest.de/index.php?id=1&language=2

Mazda Motor Corp.

  • Marketer profile
    Click here to see company's total worldwide advertising spending, measured-media spending by region, key executives and agencies.

    Overview:

    Mazda Motor Corp. is an automaker based in Japan.

    Marketing spending:

    Total U.S. advertising spending figures shown in the Leading National Advertisers report and Marketer Trees database are Ad Age Datacenter's estimate of U.S. spending on advertising and sales promotion.

    Worldwide ad spending:

    Total worldwide advertising spending figures shown in the World's Largest Advertisers report and related database are Mazda's stated worldwide advertising costs converted to dollars at average exchange rates by Ad Age Datacenter.

    Numbers are rounded. Stated worldwide advertising costs:

    2017 (year ended March 2018): 119.684 billion yen ($1.081 billion) (3.4 percent of net sales).
    2016 (year ended March 2017): 109.171 billion yen ($1.010 billion) (3.4 percent of net sales).
    2015 (year ended March 2016): 122.890 billion yen ($1.024 billion) (3.6 percent).
    2014 (year ended March 2015): 122.488 billion yen ($1.121 billion) (4.0 percent).
    2013 (year ended March 2014): 107.509 billion yen ($1.074 billion) (4.0 percent).
    2012 (year ended March 2013): 75.247 billion yen ($910 million) (3.4 percent).

    Stated worldwide spending on sales promotion:

    2017 (year ended March 2018): 50.304 billion yen ($454 million) (1.4 percent of net sales).
    2016 (year ended March 2017): 42.334 billion yen ($392 million) (1.3 percent of net sales).
    2015 (year ended March 2016): 25.652 billion yen ($214 million) (0.8 percent).
    2014 (year ended March 2015): 24.590 billion yen ($225 million) (0.8 percent).
    2013 (year ended March 2014): 24.958 billion yen ($249 million) (0.9 percent).
    2012 (year ended March 2013): 21.860 billion yen ($265 million) (1.0 percent).

    Sum: Stated worldwide advertising costs plus stated worldwide spending on sales promotion:

    2017 (year ended March 2018): 169.988 billion yen ($1.535 billion) (4.9 percent of net sales)
    2016 (year ended March 2017): 151.505 billion yen ($1.401 billion) (4.7 percent of net sales).
    2015 (year ended March 2016): 148.542 billion yen ($1.237 billion) (4.4 percent).
    2014 (year ended March 2015): 147.078 billion yen ($1.346 billion) (4.8 percent).
    2013 (year ended March 2014): 132.467 billion yen ($1.323 billion) (4.9 percent).
    2012 (year ended March 2013): 97.107 billion yen ($1.175 billion) (4.4 percent).

    Deals and strategic moves:

    Toyota:

    Mazda in August 2017 announced an alliance with Japan's Toyota Motor Corp.

    Under the agreement, Mazda gave Toyota shares in Mazda valued at about $450 million, giving Toyota a 5.05 percent stake in Mazda.

    Toyota in turn gave Mazda shares in Toyota equivalent in value to those Mazda shares, resulting in Mazda getting a 0.25 percent stake in Toyota.

    The companies completed the transactions in October 2017.

    As part of the deal, the two companies agreed to build a 50/50 joint-venture factory in the U.S. to assemble a new Mazda cross-over model and the Toyota Corolla for the North American market.

    The two companies also agreed to work together to develop technologies for electric vehicles.

    Fiat Chrysler Automobiles:

    U.K.-based Fiat Chrysler Automobiles and Mazda in January 2013 signed a final agreement for the development and manufacture of a new roadster for the Mazda and Alfa Romeo brands based on Mazda's next-generation MX-5 (Miata).

    Ford:

    Ford Motor Co. previously owned a stake in Mazda. The Japanese automaker's financial statements for year ended March 2016 said:

    "Mazda formed a global partnership with the Ford Motor Company in 1979, and since then both companies have further developed and strengthened their cooperative relationship. An agreement was concluded in 1996 to further bolster that relationship with an increase in Ford's equity in Mazda's total shares outstanding to 33.4 percent. As a consequence of subsequent gradual sales by Ford of its stake in Mazda, Ford no longer has a stake in Mazda currently. However, the two companies have agreed to continue their strategic partnership and will continue to collaborate on areas of mutual benefit, such as key joint ventures."

    Ford owned a 2.1 percent stake in Mazda as of March 31, 2015; 2.1 percent as of Sept. 30, 2014; 2.1 percent as of March 31, 2014; 2.1 percent as of March 31, 2013; 2.1 percent as of March 31, 2012; and 3.5 percent as of March 31, 2011.

    Ford on Nov. 19, 2010, reduced its stake in Mazda to 3.5 percent from 11 percent. In a statement, Ford said: "The decision to reduce its ownership stake in Mazda allows [Ford] to increase flexibility as it continues to pursue growth in key emerging markets. . . . [Ford] plans to remain one of Mazda's largest shareholders and remains committed to its strategic partnership with Mazda, which spans more than 30 years. Ford and Mazda will continue to cooperate in areas of mutual benefits such as key joint ventures and exchange of technology information."

    Amid the 2008 global financial crisis, Ford in fourth-quarter 2008 sold a portion of its equity in Mazda, reducing its stake to 11 percent from 33.4 percent.

    Ford had been Mazda's largest shareholder since 1979, when Ford acquired a 25 percent stake in Mazda. With the November 2010 sale, Ford no longer was Mazda's largest shareholder. History:

    Mazda traces its roots to 1920, when Toyo Cork Kogyo Co. was founded in Hiroshima, Japan.

    The company became Toyo Kogyo Co. in 1927.

    The company built its first Mazda vehicle, a three-wheeled truck called the Mazda-go, in 1931.

    The first two-door passenger car, the R360 Coupe, debuted in 1960. The first four-door car, the Carol 600, came in 1962.

    The company produced its first rotary engine vehicle, the Mazda Cosmo Sports, in 1967.

    Exports to the U.S. began in 1970.

    Toyo Kogyo in 1984 changed its name to Mazda Motor Corp.

    http://www.mazda.com

McDonald's Corp.

  • Marketer profile
    Click here to see company's total worldwide advertising spending, measured-media spending by region, key executives and agencies.

    Overview:

    McDonald's Corp. is the world's biggest fast-food marketer.

    Business segments and operations:

    McDonald's number of worldwide restaurants at year end:

    2017: 37,241
    2016: 36,899
    2015: 36,525
    2014: 36,258
    2013: 35,429
    2012: 34,480
    2011: 33,510
    2010: 32,737
    2009: 32,478
    2008: 31,967
    2007: 31,377
    2006: 31,046

    McDonald's number of U.S. restaurants at year end:

    2017: 14,036
    2016: 14,155
    2015: 14,259
    2014: 14,350
    2013: 14,278
    2012: 14,157
    2011: 14,098
    2010: 14,027
    2009: 13,980
    2008: 13,918
    2007: 13,862

    More than 90 percent of McDonald's worldwide restaurants at year-end 2017 were franchised, including 94 percent in the U.S., according to McDonald's 10-K filing.

    Subway, the sandwich chain franchised by Doctor's Associates, in 2010 surpassed McDonald's Corp. to become the world's largest restaurant chain based on number of units. McDonald's remains far bigger on the basis of systemwide revenue.

    Sales and earnings:

    Sales and earnings shown in an accompanying table are McDonald's Corp.'s stated financials and largely represent operating results from company-operated restaurants and fees from franchisees.

    Systemwide sales:

    Worldwide systemwide sales:

    McDonald's disclosed the following worldwide systemwide sales from franchised stores and company-operated stores:

    2017: $90.910 billion
    2016: $85.002 billion
    2015: $82.714 billion
    2014: $87.786 billion
    2013: $89.126 billion
    2012: $88.290 billion
    2011: $85.941 billion
    2010: $77.380 billion

    U.S. systemwide sales:

    According to restaurant industry tracker Technomic, McDonald's systemwide U.S. sales from franchised stores and company-operated stores were:

    2017: $37.639 billion
    2016: $36.389 billion
    2015: $35.837 billion
    2014: $35.447 billion
    2013: $35.856 billion
    2012: $35.593 billion
    2011: $34.172 billion
    2010: $32.395 billion
    2009: $31.032 billion
    2008: $30.03 billion
    2007: $28.75 billion

    Marketing spending:

    U.S. ad spending:

    Total U.S. advertising spending shown in the Leading National Advertisers report and Marketer Trees database for McDonald's is Ad Age's estimate of advertising spending supporting U.S. systemwide franchised and company-operated stores.

    Worldwide ad spending:

    Total worldwide advertising spending shown in the World's Largest Advertisers report and related database for McDonald's is Ad Age's estimate of advertising spending supporting worldwide systemwide franchised and company-operated stores.

    The 10-K for year ended December 2017 said this regarding "advertising costs":

    "Advertising costs included in operating expenses of Company operated restaurants primarily consist of contributions to advertising cooperatives. ... Production costs for radio and television advertising are expensed when the commercials are initially aired. These production costs, primarily in the U.S., as well as other marketing-related expenses included in Selling, general & administrative expenses were (in millions): 2017-$100.2; 2016-$88.8; 2015-$113.8. Costs related to the Olympics sponsorship are included in the expenses for 2016. In addition, significant advertising costs are incurred by franchisees through contributions to advertising cooperatives in individual markets. The costs incurred by these advertising cooperatives are approved and managed jointly by vote of both Company-operated restaurants and franchisees."

    The 10-K for year ended December 2016 said this regarding "advertising costs":

    "Advertising costs included in operating expenses of Company operated restaurants primarily consist of contributions to advertising cooperatives. ... Production costs for radio and television advertising are expensed when the commercials are initially aired. These production costs, primarily in the U.S., as well as other marketing-related expenses included in Selling, general & administrative expenses were (in millions): 2016 -- $88.8; 2015 -- $113.8; 2014 -- $98.7. Costs related to the Olympics sponsorship are included in these expenses for 2016 and 2014. In addition, significant advertising costs are incurred by franchisees through contributions to advertising cooperatives in individual markets."

    The 10-K for year ended December 2015 said this regarding "advertising costs":

    "Advertising costs included in operating expenses of Company operated restaurants primarily consist of contributions to advertising cooperatives. ... Production costs for radio and television advertising are expensed when the commercials are initially aired. These production costs, primarily in the U.S., as well as other marketing-related expenses included in Selling, general & administrative expenses were (in millions): 2015 -- $113.8; 2014 -- $98.7; 2013 -- $75.4. Costs related to the Olympics sponsorship are included in these expenses for 2014. In addition, significant advertising costs are incurred by franchisees through contributions to advertising cooperatives in individual markets."

    The 10-K for year ended December 2014 said:

    "Advertising costs included in operating expenses of Company operated restaurants primarily consist of contributions to advertising cooperatives. ... Production costs for radio and television advertising are expensed when the commercials are initially aired. These production costs, primarily in the U.S., as well as other marketing-related expenses included in Selling, general & administrative expenses were (in millions): 2014 -- $98.7; 2013 -- $75.4; 2012 -- $113.5. Costs related to the Olympics sponsorship are included in these expenses for 2014 and 2012. In addition, significant advertising costs are incurred by franchisees through contributions to advertising cooperatives in individual markets."

    The 10-K for year ended December 2013 said:

    "Advertising costs included in operating expenses of Company operated restaurants primarily consist of contributions to advertising cooperatives. . Production costs for radio and television advertising are expensed when the commercials are initially aired. These production costs, primarily in the U.S., as well as other marketing-related expenses included in Selling, general & administrative expenses were (in millions): 2013 -- $75.4; 2012 -- $113.5; 2011 --$74.4. Costs related to the Olympics sponsorship are included in these expenses for 2012. In addition, significant advertising costs are incurred by franchisees through contributions to advertising cooperatives in individual markets."

    The 10-K for year ended December 2012 said:

    "Advertising costs included in operating expenses of Company operated restaurants primarily consist of contributions to advertising cooperatives .... Production costs for radio and television advertising are expensed when the commercials are initially aired. These production costs, primarily in the U.S., as well as other marketing-related expenses included in Selling, general & administrative expenses were (in millions): 2012 -- $113.5; 2011 -- $74.4; 2010 -- $94.5. Costs related to the Olympics sponsorship are included in these expenses for 2012 and 2010. In addition, significant advertising costs are incurred by franchisees through contributions to advertising cooperatives in individual markets."

    Olympics sponsorship:

    McDonald's became an official Olympic Games sponsor in 1976. The company in 2012 extended its sponsorship through the 2020 Games as one of the International Olympic Committee's The Olympic Partner (TOP) sponsors.

    Agencies:

    Media:

    The company in October 2017 began a global media review. Incumbent in the U.S. and various global markets was Omnicom Group's OMD, which is participating in the review.

    Creative:

    McDonald's Aug. 29, 2016, chose Omnicom over Publicis Groupe to handle its U.S. creative account effective Jan. 1, 2017. Omnicom formed a dedicated Chicago-based agency, We Are Unlimited, to manage the account.

    The decision followed a review that began when McDonald's April 25, 2016, issued a request for proposals to three major agency companies to find a single creative agency to work on its massive U.S. business. Omnicom's DDB Worldwide and Publicis' Leo Burnett were incumbents responsible for the bulk of national advertising. Both Omnicom and Publicis were part of the RFP process along with WPP. WPP in May 2016 opted out of the review.

    Awards:

    McDonald's was named Creative Marketer of the Year at the 2014 Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity. Deals and strategic moves:

    Kraft Foods Group (now Kraft Heinz Co.) in October 2013 disclosed "a comprehensive coffee collaboration in the U.S. with McDonald's [Corp.] to help consumers enjoy McCafe premium coffee in the comfort and convenience of their own home." Under the deal, Kraft planned a test to distribute McCafe (McDonald's coffee brand) in various formats including roast-and-ground bagged coffee and single-cup offerings in the coffee aisle of retail stores. Kraft said in a statement: "As a global icon with proven success in branding and innovation, McDonald's is a perfect partner to complement our vast coffee expertise. We look forward to launching this test and providing the beloved McCafe brand to consumers in new and exciting ways." Kraft until 2011 distributed Starbucks-branded coffee in retail stores. Kraft since 1996 also has marketed a line of Mexican-style food products in U.S. grocery stores under the Taco Bell brand through a licensing deal with McDonald's rival Yum Brands.

    McDonald's has sold off interests in other chains to focus on its core business.

    In April 2008, McDonald's sold its 33 percent stake in Pret A Manger, a U.K.-based restaurant chain, to London-based buyout firm Bridgepoint, which ended up buying a majority stake. McDonald's originally bought its stake in 2001. JAB Holding, a European investment group, in May 2018 signed a deal to buy Pret from Bridgepoint and minority shareholders. JAB completed the deal later in 2018.

    McDonald's in August 2007 sold Boston Market to Sun Capital Partners. McDonald's in 2006 disposed of its investment in Chipotle Mexican Grill through public stock offerings and a tax-free exchange for McDonald's common stock.

    Management and employees:

    McDonald's in May 2015 named Silvia Lagnado as executive VP-global chief marketing officer. Lagnado previously was CMO at Bacardi from September 2010 to October 2012. She earlier worked for more than 20 years at Unilever. McDonald's had not had a global chief marketing officer since Mary Dillon, who left the company in 2010, although a spokeswoman for the chain said many of its global marketing responsibilities were fulfilled by Dean Barrett. The senior VP-global marketing in 2015 announced his retirement after more than 40 years at McDonald's.

    McDonald's in May 2015 also named Robert Gibbs as executive VP-global chief communications officer. He replaced Bridget Coffing, who retired in 2015 after 30 years with McDonald's. Gibbs joined McDonald's from Incite Agency, a strategic communications advisory firm he co-founded in 2013. Prior to that he held several posts in the White House, serving as President Obama's press secretary during Obama's first term.

    McDonald's promoted Steve Easterbrook to president-CEO from senior executive VP and chief brand officer effective March 1, 2015. Easterbrook replaced President-CEO Don Thompson, who stepped down. Easterbrook, age 48 when he was appointed CEO, joined McDonald's in 1993 as a financial reporting manager in London. Easterbrook left the company in 2011 and became CEO of PizzaExpress and then CEO of Wagamama, two U.K.-based restaurant chains; he rejoined McDonald's in June 2013.

    Thompson was president-COO before becoming president-CEO July 1, 2012. Thompson succeeded Vice Chairman and CEO Jim Skinner, who retired June 30, 2012. Skinner had been CEO since 2004. Thompson joined McDonald's in 1990. Thompson was age 51 when he exited as CEO.

    Mary N. Dillon, McDonald's Corp.'s executive VP-global CMO, resigned in May 2010 to become president-CEO (effective June 1, 2010) of U.S. Cellular Corp., a Chicago-based wireless-services firm. Dillon in June 2013 left U.S. Cellular to become CEO of Ulta Salon Cosmetics & Fragrance, a beauty products retailer.

    History:

    McDonald's in 2018 moved its headquarters back to downtown Chicago from suburban Oak Brook, Ill. McDonald's previously had its headquarters in downtown Chicago from 1955 to 1971.

    http://www.aboutmcdonalds.com/mcd.html

Merck & Co.

  • Marketer profile
    Click here to see company's total worldwide advertising spending, measured-media spending by region, key executives and agencies.

    Overview:

    Merck & Co. is a global marketer of prescription drugs, vaccines, therapies and animal health products.

    New Jersey-based Merck in October 2014 sold its over-the-counter consumer brands to Bayer.

    Merck is known as MSD (Merck Sharp & Dohme) outside the United States and Canada.

    Merck is a separate company from Merck KGaA, a health care, life science and industrial materials marketer based in Germany. Marketing spending:

    U.S. ad spending:

    Total U.S. advertising spending shown in the Leading National Advertisers report and Marketer Trees database is an Ad Age Datacenter estimate of Merck's advertising and promotion spending.

    Worldwide ad spending:

    Total worldwide advertising spending figures shown in the World's Largest Advertisers report and related database are Merck's stated worldwide "advertising and promotion" costs.

    Merck added an "advertising and promotion" breakout to its 10-K filings starting with the year ended December 2013; the previous year's 10-K (year ended December 2012) did not include that information.

    Deals and strategic moves:

    Merck Consumer Care sale:

    Merck on Oct. 1, 2014, completed a deal to sell its Merck Consumer Care business to Germany's Bayer AG for $14.2 billion ($14.0 billion net of cash divested).

    Bayer acquired Merck's over-the-counter business, including the global trademark and prescription rights for Claritin and Afrin. As part of the deal, the two companies agreed to collaborate on developing some prescription drugs and therapies.

    Merck Consumer Care in 2013 had worldwide sales of $1.9 billion, accounting for 4.3 percent of Merck's total worldwide sales; the deal also included Claritin prescription drugs. In total, Bayer said, the acquired business had 2013 pro forma revenue of about $2.2 billion (about $1.5 billion from North America).

    Merck gained its over-the-counter portfolio in Merck's $41 billion acquisition of Schering-Plough, another major global pharmaceutical company, in November 2009.

    Before Merck announced its Bayer deal in May 2014, U.K.-based RB disclosed that RB was "in discussions with Merck regarding an offer for its consumer health business. We understand that we are part of a competitive process"; RB then disclosed, "RB now confirms that it is no longer in active discussion regarding an offer for Merck's consumer health business."

    Other deals:

    Merck in June 2018 bought Viralytics, an Australian company focused on cancer treatments, for Australia $502 million (U.S. $378 million).

    The company in April 2018 sold C3i Solutions, a multi-channel customer engagement services provider that was part of the Healthcare Services segment, to HCL Technologies Limited for $65 million.

    Merck in October 2017 bought Rigontec, a Germany-based developer of cancer treatments, for an upfront cash payment of 119 million euros ( $140 million ) plus additional contingent payments.

    The company in March 2017 paid $358 million for a 93.5 percent stake in Vallee, a producer of animal health products in Brazil for livestock, horses and companion animals.

    Merck in July 2016 bought Afferent Pharmaceuticals, a San Mateo, Calif.-based, privately held pharma company that was developing drugs for neurogenic conditions. Merck paid $510 million initially. In addition, former Afferent shareholders are eligible to pocket up to an additional $750 million if Afferent meets certain clinical development and commercial milestones.

    Merck in July 2016 bought a majority stake in StayWell Co., a portfolio company of Vestar Capital Partners. StayWell is a health engagement company that helps its customers engage and educate people to improve health and business results. Merck paid $150 million for a majority ownership interest. Additionally, Merck provided StayWell with a $150 million intercompany loan to pay some existing debts. Merck has an option to buy, and Vestar has an option to require Merck to buy, some or all of Vestar's remaining ownership interest beginning three years from the acquisition date.

    Merck in January 2016 bought IOmet, a U.K.-based drug discovery company focused on cancer medicine, for $227 million (including a cash payment of $150 million) plus future additional milestone payments of up to $250 million contingent on certain clinical and regulatory milestones being achieved.

    Merck in July 2015 bought cCAM, a biopharmaceutical company focus on cancer therapies, in a deal valued at $201 million.

    Merck in January 2015 bought Cubist Pharmaceuticals, a Massachusetts-based marketer of antibiotics and other pharmaceutical products, in a deal valued at $8.3 billion.

    Merck in December 2014 bought OncoEthix, a privately held biotechnology company specializing in oncology drug development, for $153 million.

    Merck in August 2014 acquired Idenix Pharmaceuticals, a Cambridge, Mass., biopharmaceutical company, for about $3.9 billion in cash ($3.7 billion net of cash acquired). Idenix was developing drugs to treat hepatitis C.

    Management and employees:

    Kenneth C. Frazier on Jan. 1, 2011, moved to Merck president-CEO from president, succeeding Chairman-CEO Richard T. Clark as CEO. Frazier became chairman-president-CEO when Clark stepped down as chairman Dec. 1, 2011.

    Frazier joined Merck in 1992. Clark had been CEO since 2005.

    http://www.merck.com

Microsoft Corp.

  • Marketer profile
    Click here to see company's total worldwide advertising spending, measured-media spending by region, key executives and agencies.

    Overview:

    Microsoft Corp. is the world's largest software marketer and a major provider of cloud-based services.

    Microsoft also designs and markets hardware including PCs, tablets, gaming and entertainment consoles, phones, other intelligent devices and related accessories.

    Finally, Microsoft is a major media company, offering online services that include an online advertising platform, search engine Bing, the MSN portal and personal-communications services such as email and instant messaging.

    Microsoft's stated vision in its 10-K for year ended June 2018:

    "Microsoft is a technology company whose mission is to empower every person and every organization on the planet to achieve more. We strive to create local opportunity, growth, and impact in every country around the world. Our platforms and tools help drive small business productivity, large business competitiveness, and public-sector efficiency. They also support new startups, improve educational and health outcomes, and empower human ingenuity."

    Business segments and operations:

    Microsoft in year ended June 2016 reorganized its structure into three segments:

    Productivity and Business Processes: Products and services including productivity, communication and information services spanning a variety of devices and platforms. Segment includes Microsoft's Office software. LinkedIn Corp., acquired in December 2016, is part of the Productivity and Business Processes segment.

    Intelligent Cloud: Public, private and hybrid server products and cloud services. Segment includes server products and cloud services and enterprise services.

    More Personal Computing: Products and services for end users, developers and information-technology professionals across screens of all sizes. Segment includes such offerings as Windows software, devices including Microsoft Surface and services including MSN display advertising. Products and services:

    The company launched a new operating system, Windows 10, July 29, 2015, as successor to Windows 8. Microsoft skipped Windows 9.

    Microsoft launched the previous operating system, Windows 8, Oct. 26, 2012.

    Microsoft introduced Windows 7 Oct. 22, 2009. Microsoft launched search engine Bing in June 2009.

    Microsoft markets hardware products including Xbox (gaming and entertainment console), Surface (tablet, introduced in calendar 2012) and Nokia (mobile phones, acquired April 2014).

    Microsoft released Xbox 360, the company's second-generation Xbox console, in November 2005. Microsoft provides online content and services through its Xbox Live offering. Microsoft also generates ad revenue from Xbox Live, a video-game subscription service.

    Microsoft's media business:

    Microsoft generates online services revenue from advertising, including search, display and email and messaging services. It also gets revenue through subscriptions and transactions generated from online paid services.

    The company reported the following worldwide "search advertising" revenue for fiscal years ended June 30:

    2018: $7.012 billion
    2017: $6.219 billion
    2016: $5.428 billion

    In earlier 10-K filings, the company reported the following worldwide "advertising" revenue for fiscal years ended June 30:

    2017: $6.971 billion
    2016: $6.098 billion
    2015: $4.557 billion
    2014: $4.016 billion
    2013: $3.387 billion
    2012: $3.181 billion
    2011: $2.913 billion
    2010: $2.528 billion
    2009: $2.345 billion
    2008: $2.425 billion

    More Personal Computing:

    In the More Personal Computing segment, Microsoft said search advertising revenue increased $793 million or 13 percent in the year ended June 2018. Search advertising revenue, excluding traffic acquisition costs, increased 16 percent, driven by growth in Bing, due to higher revenue per search and search volume.

    In the More Personal Computing segment, Microsoft said search advertising revenue increased $791 million or 15 percent in the year ended June 2017. Search advertising revenue, excluding traffic acquisition costs, increased 9 percent, primarily driven by growth in Bing, due to higher revenue per search and search volume.

    In the More Personal Computing segment, Microsoft said search advertising revenue increased $1.7 billion or 46 percent in the year ended June 2016. Search advertising revenue, excluding traffic acquisition costs, increased 17 percent in the year ended June 2016, primarily driven by growth in Bing, due to higher revenue per search and search volume. Search advertising revenue in the year ended June 2016 included an unfavorable foreign currency impact of approximately 2 percent.

    In the More Personal Computing segment, Microsoft said search advertising revenue (originally in the now-disbanded Devices and Consumer Other segment) increased $651 million or 22 percent in the year ended June 2015, primarily driven by growth in Bing, due to higher revenue per search and search volume.

    Historic:

    The bulk of Microsoft's ad revenue previously came from the now-disbanded Devices and Consumer Other segment (including the former Online Services Division). The segment's search and display advertising included Bing, Bing Ads (advertiser and publisher tools), MSN, Windows Services and Xbox ads.

    The Devices and Consumer Other segment generated worldwide online advertising revenue for fiscal years ended June 30:

    2014: $3.997 billion
    2013: $3.500 billion
    2012: $3.287 billion

    Microsoft didn't disclose worldwide online advertising revenue for the Devices and Consumer Other segment for year ended June 2015. The 10-K for year ended June 2015 said: "D&C Other revenue increased $1.8 billion or 26 percent, mainly due to higher revenue from search advertising, Xbox Live, first-party video games, including Minecraft, and Office 365 Consumer. ... Search advertising revenue increased $651 million or 22 percent, primarily driven by growth in Bing, due to higher revenue per search and search volume."

    The 10-K for year ended June 2014 said: "Online advertising revenue [in the D&C Other segment] increased $497 million or 14 percent. Search advertising revenue increased 39 percent, due primarily to increased revenue per search resulting from ongoing improvements in advertising products, higher search volume, and the expiration of North American revenue per search guarantee payments to Yahoo! in the prior year, offset in part by a 25 percent reduction in display advertising revenue."

    The 10-K for year ended June 2014 also said advertising revenue in the Devices and Consumer Other segment for the previous year - year ended June 2013 - "increased $213 million or 7 percent to $3.5 billion. Search advertising revenue growth was offset in part by a decline in display advertising revenue. Search advertising revenue grew primarily due to increased revenue per search, resulting from ongoing improvements in ad products, while display advertising revenue decreased primarily due to industry-wide market pressure." The $3.5 billion referenced in that section of this 10-K is higher than the $3.387 billion worldwide ad revenue for all of Microsoft referenced elsewhere in this 10-K.

    The former Online Services Division generated worldwide online advertising revenue for fiscal years ended June 30:

    2013: $3.000 billion
    2012: $2.600 billion
    2011: $2.300 billion
    2010: $1.946 billion
    2009: $1.800 billion
    2008: $1.794 billion

    The 10-K for year ended June 2013 said: "Online advertising revenue [for the Online Services Division] grew $409 million or 16 percent to $3.0 billion, reflecting an increase in search advertising revenue, offset in part by a decrease in display advertising revenue. Search revenue grew primarily due to increased revenue per search, resulting from ongoing improvements in ad products, while display advertising revenue decreased primarily due to industry-wide market pressure."

    The 10-K for year ended June 2012 said: "Online advertising revenue [for Online Services Division] grew $306 million or 13 percent to $2.6 billion, reflecting continued growth in search advertising revenue, offset in part by decreased display advertising revenue. Search revenue grew due to increased revenue per search, increased volumes reflecting general market growth, and share gains in the U.S." That same 10-K for year ended June 2012 said: "Bing and MSN generate revenue through the sale of search and display advertising, accounting for nearly all of OSD's annual revenue."

    Microsoft continues to offer dial-up internet access (MSN Dial-up), a rapidly declining market. Microsoft said this internet service provider business, formerly part of the Online Services Division, generated revenue of $127 million in year ended June 2010; $184 million in year ended June 2009; and $256 million in year ended June 2008. Revenue figures of $60.5 million for year ended June 2012 and $87.6 million for year ended June 2011 are Ad Age Datacenter estimates. Ad Age no longer estimates revenue for this business.

    Marketing spending:

    U.S. ad spending:

    Total U.S. advertising spending figures shown in the Leading National Advertisers report and Marketer Trees database are Ad Age Datacenter estimates for fiscal years ended June 2017 (shown as 2017) and June 2016 (shown as 2016).

    In June 2017's Leading National Advertisers report, Ad Age restated its estimate for year ended June 2015.

    Worldwide ad spending:

    Total worldwide advertising spending shown in the World's Largest Advertisers report and related database is Microsoft's stated worldwide "advertising expense."

    Microsoft disclosed the following worldwide "sales and marketing" expenses for fiscal years ended June 30:

    2018: $17.469 billion (fiscal 2018) (15.8 percent of worldwide revenue)
    2017: $15.461 billion (16.0 percent)
    2016: $14.635 billion (16.1 percent)
    2015: $15.713 billion (16.8 percent)
    2014: $15.811 billion (18.2 percent)
    2013: $15.276 billion (19.6 percent)
    2012: $13.857 billion (18.8 percent)
    2011: $13.940 billion (19.9 percent)
    2010: $13.214 billion (21.1 percent)
    2009: $12.879 billion (22.0 percent).
    2008: 13.260 billion (restated) (21.9 percent)
    2007: $11.541 billion (restated) (22.6 percent)
    2006: $9.818 billion (22.2 percent)
    2005: $8.563 billion (restated) (21.5 percent)
    2004: $8.195 billion (restated) (22.2 percent)
    2003: $7.562 billion (restated) (19.0 percent)The company said sales and marketing expenses include payroll, employee benefits, stock-based compensation expense, and other headcount-related expenses associated with sales and marketing personnel; plus the costs of advertising, promotions, trade shows, seminars and other programs.

    Microsoft said sales and marketing expenses increased $2.0 billion or 13 percent in the year ended June 2018, "primarily due to LinkedIn expenses and investments in commercial sales capacity, offset in part by a decrease in Windows marketing expenses. LinkedIn expenses increased $1.2 billion to $2.5 billion, including $617 million of amortization of acquired intangible assets."

    Microsoft said sales and marketing expenses increased $842 million or 6 percent in the year ended June 2017, "primarily due to LinkedIn expenses and increased investments in sales capacity for our commercial cloud, offset in part by a reduction in phone expenses and prior year marketing expenses primarily related to Surface, commercial, and Windows 10. Expenses included $1.3 billion related to our acquisition of LinkedIn, including $359 million of amortization of acquired intangible assets."

    Microsoft said sales and marketing expenses decreased $1.0 billion or 6 percent in the year ended June 2016, "primarily due to a reduction in [wireless] phone expenses, driven by the change in strategy" for Microsoft's phone business. Expenses included a favorable foreign currency impact of about 2 percent.

    Microsoft said sales and marketing expenses decreased 1 percent in the year ended June 2015, "primarily due to a decline in advertising and marketing programs costs and a reduction in headcount-related expenses, offset in part by an increase in NDS expenses," the Nokia Devices and Services business acquired from Nokia Corp. in April 2014. "Sales and marketing expenses included a favorable foreign currency impact of approximately 4 percent."

    Microsoft said sales and marketing expenses increased 4 percent in the year ended June 2014, "primarily due to NDS expenses and increased investment in sales resources, offset in part by lower advertising costs. NDS sales and marketing expenses were $394 million during fiscal year 2014." Microsoft said worldwide advertising costs, excluding the Nokia business, declined $403 million or 15 percent in year ended June 2014, "primarily due to Windows 8 and Surface costs in the prior year."

    Microsoft said sales and marketing expenses rose 10 percent in the year ended June 2013, "reflecting an $898 million increase in advertising costs associated primarily with Windows 8 and Surface, $181 million higher fees paid to third-party software advisors, and a $145 million or 2 percent increase in headcount-related expenses."

    The company said sales and marketing costs decreased slightly in the year ended June 2012, "primarily reflecting decreased advertising and marketing of the Xbox 360 platform, Windows Phone, and Bing, offset in part by a 5 percent increase in headcount-related expenses."

    Microsoft said sales and marketing costs increased $726 million or 5 percent in the year ended June 2011, "primarily reflecting increased advertising and marketing of the Xbox 360 platform, Windows Phone, and Windows and Windows Live, higher headcount-related expenses and increased fees paid to third party enterprise software advisors."

    LinkedIn Corp.:

    Microsoft in December 2016 bought LinkedIn Corp., a professional social-media networking company. Microsoft announced the deal in June 2016.

    LinkedIn's stated worldwide "advertising costs"; ad cost as percent of worldwide revenue; and U.S. portion of worldwide revenue:

    2015: $20.0 million (0.7 percent of worldwide revenue); U.S. accounted for 61.7 percent of worldwide revenue
    2014: $5.7 million (0.3 percent of worldwide revenue); U.S. accounted for 60.1 percent of worldwide revenue
    2013: $3.9 million (0.3 percent of worldwide revenue); U.S. accounted for 61.6 percent of worldwide revenue
    2012: $3.6 million (0.4 percent of worldwide revenue); U.S. accounted for 63.7 percent of worldwide revenue
    2011: $2.4 million (0.5 percent of worldwide revenue); U.S. accounted for 67.8 percent of worldwide revenue
    2010: $700,000 (0.3 percent of worldwide revenue); U.S. accounted for 72.8 percent of worldwide revenue

    Agencies:

    Microsoft on April 30, 2014, consolidated its worldwide advertising and media planning and buying at Interpublic Group of Cos. and Dentsu Inc. effective May 1, 2014.

    Specifically, Microsoft named Interpublic as "agency of record for advertising and global deployment" and assigned "media planning, media buying and search advertising" to Dentsu Inc.'s Dentsu Aegis Network.

    "At Interpublic Group, creative, localization and deployment will be handled by various agency teams throughout IPG's global network," Microsoft said in its April 30, 2014, announcement. "At Dentsu Aegis, media planning will also be handled by a cross-discipline team spanning the company's network."

    The consolidation completed a global review that Microsoft began in January 2014.

    Microsoft already was a key Interpublic client; the company ranked as one of Interpublic's five-largest clients in 2013.

    Microsoft's consolidation was a blow to Publicis Groupe and WPP.

    Microsoft in 2011 moved its North America media-buying account to Publicis' Starcom Mediavest Group from Interpublic's UM. (UM continued to work on non-North America media, work that shifted in May 2014 to Dentsu Aegis.) Other Publicis agencies on the Microsoft roster included Razorfish and Saatchi & Saatchi.

    WPP's Microsoft agencies included Y&R's Wunderman; Y&R; Possible; VML; and J. Walter Thompson Co. Microsoft ranked as one of WPP's 10 largest clients in 2011; WPP didn't disclose its 10 largest clients in 2012 or 2013.

    Deals and strategic moves:

    LinkedIn Corp.:

    Microsoft Dec. 8, 2016, completed its acquisition of LinkedIn Corp., a professional social-networking firm, for $27.0 billion. Microsoft June 13, 2016, announced its deal to buy Linked. This was Microsoft's largest acquisition ever. Mountain View, Calif.-based LinkedIn was founded in 2003 and went public in 2011.

    Microsoft's revenue for year ended June 2017 included $2.268 billion in revenue from LinkedIn (from date of acquisition through June 30, 2017).

    Other deals and strategic moves:

    Microsoft in June 2018 signed a deal to buy GitHub, a software development platform, for $7.5 billion in Microsoft stock. Microsoft expected to complete the deal by the end of calendar 2018.

    Microsoft in year ended June 2018 completed nine acquisitions for total consideration of $948 million, substantially all of which was paid in cash.

    Microsoft in November 2016 sold its entry-level feature phone business for $350 million to FIH Mobile, a subsidiary of Hon Hai/Foxconn Technology Group, and HMD Global. Microsoft in year ended June 2016 completed 17 acquisitions for total cash consideration of $1.4 billion.

    Microsoft and book retailer Barnes & Noble in December 2014 ended a strategic partnership involving Barnes & Noble's Nook e-reader and the retailer's college bookstores. That partnership began in April 2012, when Microsoft invested $300 million for a 17.6 percent stake in a new Barnes & Noble subsidiary (Nook Media) that included Barnes & Noble's digital and college businesses. Barnes & Noble bought back the stake by giving Microsoft cash and stock valued at about $125 million. Ending the partnership cleared the way for Barnes & Noble to proceed with a plan, announced in June 2014, to spin off Nook Media as a separate company.

    Microsoft in November 2014 bought Mojang, the Swedish videogame developer of the Minecraft gaming franchise, for $2.5 billion cash, net of cash acquired.

    Microsoft in year ended June 2015 completed 15 other acquisitions for total cash consideration of $892 million.

    Microsoft and Nokia Corp. on April 25, 2014, completed a deal in which Microsoft bought the Finnish phone firm's Devices and Services business, licensed Nokia's patents and licensed Nokia's mapping services. Microsoft said total purchase price for the Devices and Services business was $9.4 billion, including cash acquired of $1.5 billion.

    Microsoft in the quarter ended June 2015 recorded $7.5 billion of goodwill and asset impairment charges related to its Phone Hardware business. The company said in its 10-K for year ended June 2015: "In the second half of fiscal year 2015, Phone Hardware did not meet its sales volume and revenue goals, and the mix of units sold had lower margins than planned. These results, along with changes in the competitive marketplace and an evaluation of business priorities, led to a shift in strategic direction and reduced future revenue and profitability expectations for the business. As a result of these changes in strategy and expectations, we have forecasted reductions in unit volume growth rates and lower future cash flows used to estimate the fair value of the Phone Hardware reporting unit, which resulted in the determination that an impairment adjustment was required."

    Microsoft in July 2012 bought Yammer, a social-network technology firm, for $1.1 billion cash. Yammer, founded in 2008, develops enterprise social networks that companies use to connect employees. Microsoft in the year ended June 2013 completed 11 additional acquisitions for $437 million in cash.

    Microsoft and Comcast Corp.-owned NBC Universal formerly were partners in MSNBC. The MSNBC cable-news channel and MSNBC.com news site launched in July 1996 as a 50/50 joint venture.

    NBC Universal in December 2005 bought an additional 32 percent stake in the cable channel, giving it 82 percent ownership, with an option to buy Microsoft's remaining 18 percent stake.

    NBC Universal in July 2012 bought Microsoft's 50 percent stake in MSNBC.com, giving NBC Universal 100 percent ownership. Coinciding with that transaction, NBC Universal rebranded MSNBC.com as NBCNews.com. The MSNBC cable channel will get its own website in 2013. Microsoft, meanwhile, in July 2012 disclosed plans to staff up its own news operation at MSN.com.

    Microsoft in October 2011 bought Skype, the internet-based voice and video communications service, for $8.6 billion in cash from an investor group led by Silver Lake.

    Skype was founded in 2003 and acquired by eBay on Oct. 14, 2005, for $2.6 billion in cash and stock plus potential performance-based payments of up to $1.3 billion. EBay in October 2007 took a $1.4 billion impairment write-down on the value of Skype (including a $530.3 million payment related to an earn-out settlement agreement with former Skype shareholders).

    EBay sold Skype in November 2009 to an investment group led by Silver Lake; eBay received $1.9 billion in cash, a note valued at$125 million and a 30 percent equity stake in Skype. (At the time, eBay said fair value of its 30 percent equity stake was about $620.0 million, implying Skype had an equity valuation of about $2.067 billion.) Skype filed for an initial public offering in August 2010 but did not go through with that IPO.

    In addition to Silver Lake and eBay, Skype's other owners prior to the Microsoft sale included Canadian Pension Plan Investment Board; Joltid Limited in partnership with Europlay Capital Advisors; and (with a less than 5 percent stake) Andreessen Horowitz. Skype's headquarters are in Luxembourg.

    Microsoft bought digital agency and advertising company aQuantive on Aug. 10, 2007, for $5.9 billion. Two years later, on Aug. 9, 2009, Microsoft agreed to sell Razorfish (a digital agency acquired in the aQuantive deal) to agency firm Publicis Groupe for $530 million. The Razorfish sale closed Oct. 14, 2009. Microsoft in year ended June 2012 took a $6.2 billion goodwill impairment charge related mainly to goodwill from the 2007 aQuantive transaction. In February 2013, Microsoft sold Atlas Solutions to Facebook for an undisclosed amount. Atlas was an ad-serving business that Microsoft had acquired in the aQuantive deal. (Publicis in November 2016 combined Razorfish with another digital agency network, SapientNitro, forming SapientRazorfish. Also in November 2016, Facebook disclosed it was winding down the ad serving business of Atlas and focusing Atlas on measurement.)

    Microsoft in May 2007 bought a 4 percent stake in jobs site CareerBuilder. In calendar first-quarter 2011, Microsoft sold its 4 percent stake back to CareerBuilder.

    AOL, AppNexus and Yahoo agreements:

    Microsoft and AOL in June 2015 announced a deal in which AOL assumed management and sales responsibility for all of Microsoft's display, mobile and video advertising inventory in nine key global markets (U.S., United Kingdom, Canada, Brazil, France, Germany, Italy, Spain and Japan). AOL represents inventory from across Microsoft's online brands, including MSN, Outlook Mail, Xbox, Skype and ads in apps. The deal included a 10-year global search and search-advertising agreement, starting Jan. 1, 2016, in which Microsoft's Bing replaced Google as the search engine providing 100 percent of the organic search results and search ads when people search on AOL's sites. Announcement of the deal came a week after Verizon Communications on June 23, 2015, completed its acquisition of AOL.

    Also in June 2015, Microsoft expanded an agreement with AppNexus, making AppNexus its "exclusive programmatic technology and sales partner in 10 markets (Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, Ireland, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Sweden and Switzerland)." AppNexus already was the "lead technology partner" for Microsoft's programmatic business in many global markets. Microsoft made an investment in AppNexus in 2010.

    Microsoft's 10-K for year ended June 2015 explained: "In June 2015, we entered into agreements with AOL and AppNexus to outsource our display sales efforts."

    AT&T in August 2018 bought AppNexus.

    Microsoft, Yahoo and AOL in November 2011 announced agreements to cooperate in selling online display advertising in the U.S. starting in early calendar 2012, a move intended to help them better compete against Google. The agreements allowed ad networks operated by Yahoo, Microsoft and AOL to offer each other's premium non-reserved online display inventory to their respective advertising customers.

    Microsoft, Yahoo and AOL said in that November 2011 announcement: "While agencies and advertisers can continue to choose to partner across Yahoo Network Plus, AOL's Advertising.com and the Microsoft Media Network ... this partnership will also offer the efficiency of buying premium display inventory at scale to reach customers and audiences. Simultaneously, the partnership should enhance the demand for and value of each party's display advertising offerings as well as provide better yield for both participating publishers and advertisers." (Microsoft's Canada business was not included in the agreement. The Yahoo/AOL pact included Canada as well as the U.S.)

    Microsoft and Yahoo in July 2009 announced a 10-year search marketing and technology alliance in hopes of becoming a more formidable search competitor to Google. Microsoft and Yahoo on Feb. 18, 2010, said they had received clearance for their search agreement, without restrictions, from the U.S. Justice Department and the European Commission, and now would begin implementing the deal.

    As part of that search agreement, Yahoo moved its algorithmic and paid search platforms to Microsoft. Microsoft provides Yahoo with the same search result listings available through Microsoft's Bing, and Yahoo integrates Yahoo content, enhanced listings and tools to tailor the experience for Yahoo users.

    Yahoo in 2010 completed the transition of its U.S. and Canadian English-language search offerings to Microsoft's Bing. Yahoo in 2010 also switched to Microsoft adCenter, a pay-per-click advertising platform. For the first five years of the agreement, Yahoo gets 88 percent of revenue from searches done under the Microsoft deal; Microsoft gets 12 percent.

    The Microsoft/Yahoo deal followed earlier efforts by Microsoft to buy Yahoo. Microsoft on Feb. 1, 2008, went public with an offer to buy Yahoo for $31 a share or $44.6 billion in cash and stock. Microsoft, spurned by Yahoo, withdrew its proposal May 3, 2008. Microsoft in second-quarter calendar 2008 made several other pitches to Yahoo to buy Yahoo's search business and make an investment in the company; Yahoo rejected those proposals.

    Verizon in June 2017 bought Yahoo's operating business for about $4.5 billion. Upon completing the Yahoo deal, Verizon combined AOL and Yahoo operations under a newly formed digital media and technology division, Oath. AOL and Yahoo continued as media brands under Oath.

    Management and employees:

    Microsoft on Feb. 4, 2014, named Satya Nadella as CEO and a board member, effective immediately. Nadella, age 46 when he became CEO, formerly was executive VP of Microsoft's Cloud and Enterprise group. He joined Microsoft in 1992.

    Nadella succeeded CEO Steve Ballmer, who then stepped down from Microsoft's board in August 2014. Microsoft in August 2013 had announced that Ballmer would retire within 12 months, "upon the completion of a process to choose his successor." Ballmer had been CEO since 2000, when he succeeded company co-founder Bill Gates.

    At the same time Nadella became CEO, Gates moved to technology adviser from chairman; Gates continued as a board member. Independent board member John W. Thompson, a tech industry veteran who led the search for a new CEO, became Microsoft's new chairman.

    Gates (born Oct. 28, 1955) was age 58 as of June 2014.

    Ballmer (born March 24, 1956) was age 58 as of June 2014.

    Nadella on March 3, 2014, made his first major top-management changes. Among the changes, Nadella named Chris Capossela executive VP-chief marketing officer, marking Capossela's second tour as CMO.

    Capossela in July 2013 had given up his CMO post to focus on sales as corporate VP-consumer channels group.

    Capossela, a one-time speech assistant to Bill Gates, originally took the CMO post in April 2011, succeeding Mich Mathews. Mathews in March 2011 had announced plans to retire as Microsoft's global marketing executive in summer 2011. Mathews began working with Microsoft in 1989 as a consultant. In 1993, Microsoft appointed her to lead the company's corporate PR function. She was named an officer of the company in 1999 and then rose through the marketing ranks.

    As part of the March 2014 reorganization, Mark Penn shifted to the post of executive VP-chief strategy officer (from executive VP-advertising and strategy) and Executive VP-Marketing Tami Reller left the company. In a June 2015 email to employees, Nadella said Penn would leave Microsoft in September 2015 "to form a private equity fund, among other things."

    In a July 2013 corporate reorganization announcement, Microsoft had said Reller "will lead all marketing with the field relationship as is today. Mark Penn will take a broad view of marketing strategy and will lead with Tami the newly centralized advertising and media functions." Reller previously was the Windows Division's CMO and CFO. Penn, a former adviser to Hillary Clinton, in July 2012 stepped down as global CEO of WPP's Burson-Marsteller to join Microsoft in a top strategy role.

    Stock:

    Microsoft had its initial public offering in 1986.

    History:

    Microsoft was founded in 1975 by Bill Gates and Paul Allen.

    Under a long-planned transition, Gates in July 2008 gave up his day-to-day duties and post of chief software architect. Gates remained chairman.

    Allen stepped down from Microsoft's board in 2000 and died in October 2018.

    http://www.microsoft.com

Molson Coors Brewing Co.

  • Marketer profile
    Click here to see company's total worldwide advertising spending, measured-media spending by region, key executives and agencies.

    Overview:

    Molson Coors Brewing Co. is a global beer marketer with headquarters in Denver and Montreal.

    Molson Coors operates in the U.S. through its Chicago-based MillerCoors unit.

    Molson Coors previously owned a 42 percent stake in MillerCoors; Anheuser-Busch InBev owned the rest. Molson Coors on Oct. 11, 2016, bought Anheuser-Busch InBev's 58 percent stake, giving Molson Coors 100 percent ownership of MillerCoors.

    Business segments and operations:

    Molson Coors' operating segments are:

    MillerCoors (U.S. segment)
    Molson Coors Canada (Canada segment)
    Molson Coors Europe (Europe segment)
    Molson Coors International (other countries)

    Rankings:

    U.S.:

    Molson Coors' MillerCoors is the nation's second largest beer marketer, behind Anheuser-Busch InBev.

    Worldwide:

    According to data from Plato Logic, a beer-industry market-research firm, as quoted in a 20-F filing of Anheuser-Busch InBev, the world's five largest brewers based on volume in calendar 2016 were:

    Anheuser-Busch InBev (510.3 million hectoliters)
    Heineken (228.8 million)
    Carlsberg (119.8 million)
    CR Snow (117.2 million)
    Molson Coors Brewing Co. (96.5 million)

    These figures are pro forma to account for the October 2016 acquisition of SABMiller operations by Anheuser-Busch InBev and Molson Coors. SABMiller was the world's second largest brewer in 2015 with volume of 293.6 million hectoliters, according to Plato Logic data cited in a 20-F filing of Anheuser-Busch InBev. Marketing spending:

    U.S. ad spending:

    Molson Coors appeared in the Leading National Advertisers ranking and Marketer Trees based on estimated U.S. marketing spending for its MillerCoors unit. MillerCoors marketing spending:

    Stated marketing expenses (including advertising expenses), and stated marketing expenses as percent of net sales, for MillerCoors (former U.S. joint venture of SABMiller and Molson Coors Brewing Co.; 100 percent owned by Molson Coors as of Oct. 11, 2016):

    Jan. 1-Oct. 10, 2016: $746.3 million (12.2 percent)
    2015: $920.8 million (11.9 percent)
    2014: $889.1 million (11.3 percent)
    2013: $893.9 million (11.5 percent)
    2012: $896.6 million (11.6 percent)
    2011: $859.9 million (11.4 percent)
    2010: $866.2 million (11.4 percent)
    2009: $978.4 million (12.9 percent)
    2008 (six months ended Dec. 31, 2008): $540.0 million (14.6 percent)

    Worldwide ad spending:

    Total worldwide advertising spending figures shown in the World's Largest Advertisers report and related database are stated 2017 ad spending and Ad Age Datacenter's 2016 pro forma estimates for ad spending (including marketing spending for MillerCoors).

    Molson Coors reported the following worldwide "advertising expense":

    2017: $1.3 billion (11.8 percent of net sales)
    2016: $644.1 million (including MillerCoors from Oct. 11, 2016, through Dec. 31, 2016) (13.2 percent)
    2015: $401.6 million (11.3 percent)
    2014: $473.9 million (11.4 percent)

    Deals and strategic moves:

    Anheuser-Busch InBev deal to buy SABMiller:

    Anheuser-Busch InBev on Oct. 10, 2016, completed its acquisition of SABMiller.

    Anheuser-Busch InBev and SABMiller on Nov. 11, 2015, announced an agreement for Belgium-based Anheuser-Busch InBev, the world's largest beer marketer, to buy London-based SABMiller, the world's second largest beer marketer, for 44 pounds a share or about 71 billion pounds (about $107 billion). The formal agreement followed an October 2015 agreement in principle, which came after SABMiller rejected earlier takeover proposals from Anheuser-Busch InBev.

    How the deal worked: "Newbelco SA/NV" (a Belgian company to be formed for the purposes of the deal) bought SABMiller; Anheuser-Busch InBev merged into Newbelco (also referred to as Newco). Upon completion of the deal, Newbelco became the new holding company for the combined group. Newbelco then was renamed Anheuser-Busch InBev; the former Anheuser-Busch InBev was dissolved.

    Anheuser-Busch InBev agreed to pay SABMiller a breakup fee of $3 billion if the deal failed to get regulatory clearances or the approval of Anheuser-Busch InBev shareholders.

    In a move to anticipate and address antitrust concerns, Anheuser-Busch InBev on Nov. 11, 2015, also announced a side deal to sell SABMiller's 50 percent voting interest and 58 percent stake in MillerCoors and the Miller global brand business to minority owner Molson Coors for $12 billion. That transaction closed Oct. 11, 2016. Molson Coors ended up as 100 percent owner of Chicago-based MillerCoors.

    In that transaction, Molson Coors acquired full ownership of the Miller brand portfolio outside of the U.S. and perpetual licenses to the U.S. rights to all of the brands in the MillerCoors portfolio for the U.S. market, including import brands such as Peroni and Pilsner Urquell. The sale also included the global Miller brand, sold as of 2016 in more than 50 countries (including Australia, Argentina, Canada, Colombia, Ecuador, Mexico, Panama, Russia, South Africa and the United Kingdom), as well as related trademarks and other intellectual property rights.

    As a result of the MillerCoors acquisition, Molson Coors' import and license rights for the Redd's, Foster's, Grolsch, Peroni and Pilsner Urquell brands are perpetual and on a royalty-free basis.

    Other deals and strategic moves:

    Molson Coors in January 2018 bought Aspall Cider, a U.K.-based cider marketer. Aspall was founded in 1728 by Clement Chevallier and run by the eighth generation of his family at the time of the acquisition.

    MillerCoors in 2016 acquired three craft beer brands: Revolver Brewing, Terrapin Beer Co. and Hop Valley Brewing Co.

    MillerCoors in 2015 bought Saint Archer Brewing Co., another craft beer brand.

    Molson Coors Brewing Co. in June 2012 bought StarBev, a brewer in Central and Eastern Europe, for a stated total purchase price of $3.4 billion (including pre-existing debt) from CVC Capital Partners. CVC, a buyout firm, bought the business from Anheuser-Busch InBev in December 2009.

    MillerCoors in February 2012 bought Minnesota-based Crispin Cider Co., giving it a play in the fast-growing U.S. cider category. MillerCoors folded Crispin into its Tenth and Blake division, which handles craft beer and imported brands. MillerCoors has an agreement to brew, package and ship products for Pabst Brewing Co. through June 2020.

    SABMiller in December 2011 bought Australian brewer Foster's Group for $10.2 billion (Australian $9.9 billion).

    History:

    Molson Coors Brewing Co. was created by the February 2005 merger of Canada's Molson and U.S. brewer Adolph Coors Co. When the merger was completed, Adolph Coors Co. changed its name to Molson Coors Brewing Company.

    Molson was founded in 1786. Coors started in 1873.

    Frederick J. Miller founded Miller Brewing Co. in 1855. Philip Morris (predecessor to Altria Group) bought a 53 percent stake in Miller Brewing Co. in 1969 and acquired the rest in 1970. Altria in 2002 sold Miller to South African Breweries; SABMiller was created by the combination of South African Breweries (SAB) and Miller Brewing Co. following SAB's purchase of Miller.

    SABMiller and Molson Coors Brewing Co. in June 2008 combined their U.S. operations into a joint-venture company, MillerCoors. SAB had a 58 percent economic stake in Chicago-based MillerCoors; Molson Coors had 42 percent. Each partner has a 50 percent voting interest.

    Anheuser-Busch InBev Oct. 10, 2016, bought SABMiller. As part of the deal, Anheuser-Busch InBev Oct. 11, 2016, sold SABMiller's 58 percent stake in MillerCoors to Molson Coors for $12 billion. That gave Molson Coors 100 percent ownership of MillerCoors.

    http://www.molsoncoors.com

Mondelez International

  • Marketer profile
    Click here to see company's total worldwide advertising spending, measured-media spending by region, key executives and agencies.

    Overview:

    Mondelez International, formerly Kraft Foods Inc., is a food marketer based in suburban Chicago.

    Kraft Foods Inc. on Oct. 1, 2012, spun off its North American grocery business as a separate public company, Kraft Foods Group. The remaining company, focused on global snacks, changed its name from Kraft Foods Inc. to Mondelez International. H.J. Heinz Holding Corp. in July 2015 bought Kraft Foods Group, forming Kraft Heinz Co.

    Marketing spending:

    Worldwide ad spending:

    Total worldwide advertising spending shown in the World's Largest Advertisers report and related database is Mondelez International's stated worldwide "advertising expense."

    Mondelez International disclosed 2017 worldwide advertising expense of $1.248 billion.

    Historic ad spending:

    Stated worldwide "advertising expense" for former Kraft Foods Inc. (including spending on what became Kraft Foods Group and Mondelez International):

    2011: $2.396 billion.
    2010: $2.270 billion.
    2009: $1.581 billion.
    2008: $1.598 billion.

    Stated worldwide "advertising expense" for Kraft Foods Group:

    2011: $535 million.
    2010: $540 million.
    2009: $477 million.

    Deals and strategic moves:

    Kraft Foods Inc. breakup:

    Kraft Foods Inc. announced its planned breakup in August 2011. The company in March 2012 unveiled Mondelez International as the name for the snacks business, which includes brands--Cadbury, Nabisco, Trident--that Kraft Foods Inc. had acquired in recent decades. The name, pronounced "mohn-dah-leez," is a mashup of terms to convey the idea of a "delicious world," the company said. "Monde" evokes the Latin word for "world"; "delez" is meant to convey "delicious."Paving the way for the breakup, Kraft Foods Inc. on June 26, 2012, moved its stock listing to the Nasdaq from the New York Stock Exchange. Kraft Foods Inc. kept the ticker KFT; that ticker was retired when the company split in two. The companies completed the breakup on Oct. 1, 2012.

    Mondelez International reported worldwide pro forma revenue of $35.810 billion in 2011.

    Kraft Foods Inc. reported actual 2011 worldwide revenue of $54.365 billion ($21.938 billion from the U.S.). That included worldwide revenue of $18.555 billion from Kraft Food Group. (Kraft Foods Group, though, said its pro forma 2011 revenue was $18.655 billion.)

    Kraft Heinz Co.:

    H.J. Heinz Co. (H.J. Heinz Holding Corp.) on July 2, 2015, bought Kraft Foods Group in a deal orchestrated by investment firm 3G Capital and Berkshire Hathaway. At the closing of the merger, H.J. Heinz Holding Corp. was renamed Kraft Heinz Co. In the deal, 3G Capital and Berkshire contributed $10 billion to pay a special dividend to existing Kraft shareholders. Heinz shareholders ended up with a 51 percent stake in the combined company; existing Kraft shareholders got 49 percent. Berkshire and 3G Capital became major shareholders in the merged company. Heinz and Kraft announced the deal in March 2015. The merged company trades on Nasdaq (ticker: KHC).

    Other deals and strategic moves:

    Coffee:

    Mondelez International and Acorn Holdings' D.E. Master Blenders in July 2015 combined their coffee businesses into a new company, Jacobs Douwe Egberts. JAB Holdings-backed Acorn owned a 56 percent stake in Jacobs Douwe Egberts; Mondelez received 3.8 billion euros ($4.2 million) in cash and a 44 percent stake. In announcing the closing of the deal, Mondelez and D.E. Master Blenders said Jacobs Douwe Egberts had "annual revenues of more than 5 billion euros" ($5.6 billion). Mondelez in March 2016 reduced its Jacobs Douwe Egberts stake to 26.5 percent by trading some of that holding for an interest in Keurig Green Mountain (see below). Mondelez at year-end 2017 owned a 26.4 percent ownership interest in Jacobs Douwe Egberts.

    Mondelez's coffee brands, sold outside North America, included Jacobs, Carte Noire, Gevalia, Kenco, Tassimo, Millicano and Maxwell House.

    (Kraft Heinz Co. markets Maxwell House, Gevalia and Tassimo in North America. Kraft Foods Group and Mondelez International until 2012 operated as one company, Kraft Foods. H.J. Heinz Holding Corp. in July 2015 bought Kraft Foods Group, forming Kraft Heinz Co.)

    JAB Beech, an indirect controlled subsidiary of JAB Holding Co. in which BDT Capital Partners is a minority investor, in July 2016 bought Krispy Kreme Doughnuts, a chain of donut stores, in a deal with a total equity value of about $1.35 billion. Krispy Kreme continues to operate from Krispy Kreme's current headquarters in Winston-Salem, N.C.

    An investor group led by JAB Holding Co. on March 3, 2016, bought Keurig Green Mountain for $92 a share in cash or a total equity value of about $13.9 billion, completing a deal announced in December 2015. JAB acquired Keurig Green Mountain in partnership with strategic minority investors that were already shareholders in European coffee marketer Jacobs Douwe Egberts, including Mondelez International and entities affiliated with BDT Capital Partners. At the close of the transaction, Keurig Green Mountain continued to be operated independently by the company's management team and employees. Mondelez in March 2016 traded part of its Jacobs Douwe Egberts stake (see above) for a 24.2 percent stake in Keurig Green Mountain.

    Keurig Green Mountain and Dr Pepper Snapple Group in July 2018 merged, forming Keurig Dr Pepper. JAB is controlling shareholder. Mondelez, which had a stake in Keurig Green Mountain, owned an approximately 13 percent to 14 percent stake.

    JAB Holdings (sometimes referred to as Joh. A. Benckiser) in recent years became a major global player in coffee. The company in September 2013 bought D.E. Master Blenders 1753, a European coffee and tea marketer, for 7.5 billion euros ($9.8 billion). (Oak Leaf, a newly formed subsidiary of JAB Holdings, technically acquired D.E. Master Blenders. As of 2014, D.E. Master Blenders was owned by Acorn Holdings. Acorn is owned by an investor group led by JAB Holdings in partnership with BDT Capital Partners, Quadrant Capital Advisors and Societe Familiale d'Investissements.)JAB Holdings previously was a minority shareholder in D.E. Master Blenders, which was created when Sara Lee Corp. in June 2012 spun off Sara Lee's international coffee and tea business. (At the same time, Sara Lee Corp. changed its name to Hillshire Brands Co. Tyson Foods in August 2014 bought Hillshire Brands.)

    JAB Holdings in January 2013 acquired Caribou Coffee Co., a U.S. coffee retailer, for about $340 million. BDT Capital Partner, a Chicago investment firm, took a minority stake in Caribou as part of that acquisition.

    JAB Holdings in October 2012 bought Peet's Coffee & Tea, another U.S. retailer, for about $1 billion. Peet's in October 2015 bought a majority stake in Intelligentsia, a Chicago-based coffee marketer and retailer. Also in October 2015, Peet's bought Stumptown Coffee Roasters, a coffee retailer based in Portland, Ore., from a group including majority owner TSG Consumer Partners, a private-equity firm. Peet's in August 2014 bought Mighty Leaf Tea, a specialty-tea marketer, in partnership with Next World Group, a private investment firm.

    JAB also owns Einstein Noah Restaurant Group, Inc., a U.S.-based chain of bagel stores; Espresso House, a coffee shop chain in Scandinavia; and Baresso Coffee, a coffee shop chain in Denmark. Kraft distributed Starbucks-branded coffee in retail stores from 1998 until 2011, when Starbucks Corp. took back its distribution. Kraft Foods Inc. contested Starbucks' termination of that deal; the companies went to arbitration to settle the dispute. An independent arbitrator in November 2013 ordered Starbucks to pay Kraft $2.23 billion cash in damages plus $527 million cash in interest and attorneys' fees. Based on the separation agreement between Kraft Foods Inc. (now Mondelez International) and Kraft Foods Group, Mondelez received all the money from the Starbucks settlement.

    Other deals:

    Mondelez in June 2018 bought Tate's Bake Shop, a U.S. biscuit marketer, for $528 million.

    Mondelez in July 2017 sold most of its grocery business in Australia and New Zealand to Bega Cheese for U.S. $347 million.

    Mondelez in February 2015 bought Enjoy Life Foods, a U.S. snack food company, for $81 million.

    Mondelez in December 2013 sold its SnackWell's cookies and snacks business to Back to Nature Foods Co., a portfolio company of buyout firm Brynwood Partners. Back to Nature Foods was formed in 2012 as a joint venture of Brynwood and Mondelez (then known as Kraft Foods Inc.), which sold its Back to Nature food brand to the venture; Mondelez owns a minority stake in Back to Nature Foods. SnackWell's was launched in 1992 by Nabisco, which Kraft later acquired.

    Kraft Foods Inc. in September 2009 proposed a takeover of British candy firm Cadbury. After Cadbury rejected Kraft's overtures, Kraft in December 2009 made a formal takeover bid that Cadbury opposed. The two companies came to terms on a merger deal in early 2010, announcing a merger on Jan. 19, 2010. The firms said the combined company would rank No. 1 worldwide in chocolate and sugar confectionery sales and No. 2 (behind Mars' Wrigley) in chewing gum.

    Kraft Foods Inc. and Cadbury began operating as a combined company on Feb. 2, 2010, when Kraft acquired a majority equity stake in Cadbury. Kraft Foods Inc. paid $18.5 billion for Cadbury.

    Prior to striking its final deal with Cadbury, Kraft Foods Inc. in January 2010 agreed to sell its North American frozen-pizza business to Nestle for $3.7 billion. Kraft said its pizza business generated 2009 net revenue of $1.6 billion. The business includes brands such as DiGiorno, Tombstone, California Pizza Kitchen (trademark license), Jack's and Delissio (a Canadian brand). The deal closed March 1, 2010.

    Kraft Foods Inc. Aug. 4, 2008, split off its Post cereals business, which was merged into Ralcorp Holdings, a marketer of private-label cereal, after an exchange to Kraft shareholders. The Post business included such cereals as Honey Bunches of Oats, Pebbles, Shredded Wheat, Selects, Grape-Nuts and Honeycomb. Brands in the transaction were distributed primarily in North America.

    Ralcorp in February 2012 spun off Post Holdings, its branded cereal business, into a separate public company.

    ConAgra Foods in January 2013 acquired Ralcorp, which produced private-label food products for grocery, mass-merchandise and drugstore retailers; and frozen bakery products sold to in-store bakeries, restaurants and other food-service customers. ConAgra in early 2011 had made offers to buy Ralcorp that Ralcorp's board rejected. ConAgra in February 2016 sold the bulk of its private-label food business to TreeHouse Foods, a private-label food and beverage manufacturer, for about $2.7 billion cash, excluding transaction-related expenses. ConAgra Foods in November 2016 changed its name to Conagra Brands.

    Management and employees:

    Mondelez on July 27, 2017, hired Dirk Van de Put as CEO effective in November 2017, succeeding Chairman-CEO Irene Rosenfeld as CEO.

    Rosenfeld remained as chairman until March 31, 2018; Van de Put became chairman-CEO April 1, 2018.

    Van de Put, a Belgian, was president-CEO of Canada's McCain Foods before taking the Mondelez job. Van de Put earlier worked at Novartis, Danone, Coca-Cola Co. and Mars Inc.

    Kraft Foods Inc. in June 2006 named Rosenfeld CEO. Rosenfeld had been a Kraft exec from the 1980s to 2004, when she jumped to PepsiCo's Frito-Lay for a two-year stint as chairman-CEO.

    Rosenfeld added the chairman title of Kraft Foods Inc. in March 2007. She continued as chairman-CEO when Kraft Foods Inc. changed its name to Mondelez International in October 2012.

    History:

    Post cereals formed an early pillar of what became Kraft Foods Inc.

    Charles William Post began marketing cereal in the 1890s. Postum Co. in 1929 changed its name to General Foods Corp. (after Postum bought Charles Birdseye's General Seafood Corp., a pioneering frozen-food marketer).

    Philip Morris Cos. bought General Foods in 1985 for $5.6 billion in what was then the largest non-oil acquisition in history. Philip Morris then bought Kraft in 1988 for $12.9 billion in, again the largest non-oil deal in history.

    Philip Morris in 1989 combined the units as Kraft General Foods, later shortened to Kraft. Philip Morris expanded its food business in 2000 by acquiring Nabisco Holdings (formerly part of RJR Nabisco).

    Philip Morris Cos., renamed Altria Group, staged an initial public offering for Kraft in 2001, selling a partial stake in a preamble to Kraft Foods Inc.'s formal spinoff in 2007.

    Kraft Foods Inc. gained full independence March 30, 2007, when Altria spun off its 88.9 percent Kraft stake to Altria shareholders. That ended a more than 20-year tie-up between tobacco and food.

    Kraft Foods Inc. on Oct. 1, 2012, spun off its North American grocery business as a separate public company, Kraft Foods Group. The remaining company, focused on global snacks, changed its name from Kraft Foods Inc. to Mondelez International.

    http://www.mondelezinternational.com

Nestle

  • Marketer profile
    Click here to see company's total worldwide advertising spending, measured-media spending by region, key executives and agencies.

    Overview:

    Nestle is a global food marketer based in Switzerland.

    Nestle USA in 2018 completed a move of its U.S. headquarters to Rosslyn, Va., from Glendale, Calif. Nestle announced the move in 2017.

    Sales and earnings:

    Nestle said e-commerce, powered by such brands as Nespresso, accounted for 6.2 percent of 2017 worldwide sales.

    Nestle's stated e-commerce sales as percent of worldwide sales:

    2017: 6.2 percent
    2016: 4.9 percent
    2015: 3.9 percent
    2014: 3.4 percent
    2013: 3.3 percent
    2012: 2.9 percent

    Accounting changes:

    Nestle effective Jan. 1, 2018, made several changes to accounting under International Financial Reporting Standards. As a result, Nestle in March 2018 restated 2017 financials to make them comparable to 2018 reporting. Sales and earnings shown in the June 2018 Leading National Advertisers report and December 2018 World's Largest Advertisers report reflect Nestle financials as originally reported, before the March 2018 restatement.

    Nestle earlier this decade changed the way it reports revenue and expenses.

    Effective Jan. 1, 2013, Nestle changed the way it accounts for joint ventures under International Financial Reporting Standards. Its main joint ventures -- Cereal Partners Worldwide (with General Mills); Dairy Partners of America (with Fonterra); Beverage Partners Worldwide (with Coca-Cola Co.) -- now are consolidated using the equity method; this means that the Nestle share (50 percent) of sales is no longer consolidated, but the Nestle share of net profit is included in the income statement line "Share of results of associates and joint ventures." Following this change, Nestle restated its 2012 worldwide sales to 89.721 billion Swiss francs ($95.741 billion) from 92.186 billion francs ($98.372 billion), a $2.6 billion downward revision. The restatement reduced NestlT's 2012 worldwide "marketing and administration expenses" by 3.3 percent or $690.4 million.

    Effective Jan. 1, 2011, Nestle made other changes in the way it reports revenue and expenses. Under its new approach, Nestle's reported sales -- shown on the income statement as "Sales" -- are revenue minus discounts and certain allowances and promotions for retailers. (Under its previous way of accounting, Nestle included such expenses in its stated sales.) On the expense side, that accounting change mostly affected -- and reduced -- Nestle's stated "marketing and administration expenses." On the 2010 income statement, that cost line fell by 43.4 percent or $15.5 billion in Nestle's new accounting vs. its old accounting.

    James Singh (who retired as CFO in 2012) in 2011 said the 2011 accounting changes "align us more with the reporting by our peers and therefore enables better comparison."Nestle's November 2010 announcement about the accounting change said: "Nestle will change its sales recognition policy in line with the generally accepted interpretation of the International Financial Reporting Standards. This change will reduce Nestle reported sales by about 15 percent as expenses such as discounts as well as certain allowances and promotions for retailers will in future be deducted from proceeds of sales, leading to a corresponding increase in profit margins. The change will, however, have no impact on absolute net profit, earnings per share, cash flows or items on the group's balance sheet."

    Nestle explained its old and new accounting in its annual report for year ended December 2010: "Certain allowances and discounts, granted to trade chains, customers, retailers and consumers for trade and consumer promotions, selling, distribution, advertising and other services, rendered to the group are currently [through Dec. 31, 2010] treated as expenses under marketing and administration expenses as well as distribution expenses on grounds that they are incurred to generate revenue. The group will treat these allowances and discounts as from 2011 as a deduction of revenue in conformity with the practice generally admitted by consumer goods companies."

    Marketing spending:

    U.S. ad spending:

    Total U.S. advertising spending shown in the Leading National Advertisers report and Marketer Trees database is an Ad Age Datacenter estimate.

    Ad Age in 2018 restated 2016 spending based on a revision to Ad Age's spending model. The spending model is intended to capture Nestle's "consumer facing" marketing expenses.

    Worldwide ad spending:

    Total worldwide advertising spending shown in the World's Largest Advertisers report and related database is an Ad Age Datacenter estimate intended to capture Nestle's "consumer facing" marketing expenses.

    Ad Age Datacenter began ranking Nestle based on estimated"consumer facing" marketing expenses starting with World's Largest Advertisers' December 2017 report (covering 2016 spending). Ad Age Datacenter previously ranked Nestle using a model based on a narrower definition of ad spending.

    Ad Age restated 2016 spending in the December 2018 World's Largest Advertisers report based on a revision to Ad Age's spending model. Nestle reported worldwide "marketing and administrative expenses" of:

    2017: 19.818 billion Swiss francs ($20.138 billion) (22.1 percent of worldwide sales)
    2016: 21.485 billion Swiss francs ($21.822 billion) (24.0 percent)
    2015: 20.744 billion Swiss francs ($21.589 billion) (23.4 percent)
    2014: 19.651 billion Swiss francs ($21.504 billion) (21.5 percent)

    Nestle said worldwide spending on "consumer facing" marketing (in constant currencies) -- essentially, traditional and digital media -- increased 6.3 percent in 2016; 12.0 percent in 2015; 5.8 percent in 2014; 16.3 percent in 2013; and nearly 8 percent in 2012. It fell 2.5 percent in 2011; and increased 13.2 percent in 2010, 10.1 percent in 2009 and 7.5 percent in 2008.

    Nestle didn't disclose a 2017 percent change in "consumer facing" marketing in its annual review (annual report) for year ended December 2017.

    Nestle said overall worldwide marketing spend (in constant currencies) rose 0.6 percent in 2013 and 0.3 percent in 2012; and fell 1.0 percent in 2011.

    Francois-Xavier Roger, executive VP-CFO, in February 2018 told analysts:

    "Marketing expenses [in 2017] were slightly down on a constant currency basis. The main driver of this decrease comes from marketing efficiencies through reduction of agencies on consolidation of activities above market.

    Roger in February 2018 added that Nestle in 2017 "marginally declined our marketing cost," with marketing spending "slightly down in the first half of the year" and "down again in the second half although marginally more." Roger in September 2017 told investors that first-half 2017 marketing spending declined about 2 percent. More precisely, Roger in July 2018 told analysts: "The marketing spend in absolute value has declined by 1.8 percent in Swiss francs" in first-half 2018.

    Nestle in 2017 told investors it was aiming to cut marketing costs by about 500 million Swiss francs ($508 million) by 2020. Roger in February 2018 told analysts: "This comes, for example, from reduction of agencies that we work with or consolidation of activities of our market. None of these savings affect our real consumer-facing spending or consumer-facing activities." He reiterated: "The savings that we achieved in terms of efficiency on our marketing spend, once again, it did not impact our activities vis-a-vis consumers."

    Speaking at a February 2018 analysts conference, Roger said: "We are centralizing some activities. We reduced the number of agencies that we are working with dramatically, consolidating whenever we can. Not is a single market but at a regional level. We do more production in house as well. So this has been a critical factor for margin improvement last year as well."

    Roger in February 2017 told analysts:

    "We are very focused in terms of promotional support. We invest about 80 percent of what we do behind our 34 'billionaire brands.' It is not such a large number relative to our size, and these products are growing much faster than the rest of the range, and they drive a high level of profitability, so we are very focused in terms of marketing support." Specifically, Nestle said it put 80 percent of its marketing spending from 2012 through 2016 on brands that have annual sales of more than 1 billion Swiss francs.

    Roger in February 2016 told analysts that Nestle in 2015 made "a 12 percent increase in consumer-facing marketing spend in constant currency with a specific focus on digital." He said that 12 percent increase was equivalent to an increase in marketing investment of "around 100 basis points." Roger also said: "We have grown our margins in constant currencies in line with our guidance, while absorbing some significant headwinds, which shows the strength and the benefit of our diversified portfolio and whilst materially raising our spend in consumer-facing marketing."

    Digital in 2017 accounted for "32 percent of our total spend" in marketing, Roger told analysts in February 2018. In that presentation, he noted Nestle's worldwide digital media spending as percent of overall media spending:

    2017: 32 percent
    2016: 30 percent
    2015: 26 percent
    2014: 20 percent
    2013: 16 percent
    2012: 13 percent

    Digital accounted for about 20 percent of 2014 worldwide media spending, according to comments made on an earnings call in February 2015 by Wan Ling Martello, who at the time was Nestle's executive VP-CFO.

    (Martello became CFO when James Singh retired March 31, 2012, after 35 years with Nestle. Martello in May 2015 shifted to executive VP of Nestle's Zone Asia, Oceania and Africa. Roger replaced Martello as CFO.)

    Martello told analysts in February 2014: "We continue to invest substantially behind our brands, increasing the total marketing spend by 60 basis points" -- 0.6 percent -- with consumer-facing spend up 16 percent in constant currencies. Our digital spend was also up, up 40 percent."

    Martello told analysts in February 2013: "The increase in [2012] marketing costs, 30 basis points, reflects our commitment to supporting our brand and sales activities."

    Singh in February 2012 told analysts that 2011's"consumer-facing spend was slightly down in constant currencies, reflecting some good marketing mix decisions that drove better value and higher returns on our marketing investments. The obvious example for this is digital, which increased as a percentage of total media costs."

    "Our digital [spending] has gone up," Singh told analysts in February 2012. "It's now double-digit percentage of our total media spend and, in itself, has increased double digit."

    CEO Paul Bulcke expanded on digital in Nestle's edited transcript of a later February 2012 presentation. Bulcke said: "I think digital for us is now more than 10 percent of media spend. ... So we see digital going up in percentage of our media spend and consumer-facing communication, conversation spend definitely because I'm a true believer. It is meaningful."

    Singh in 2011 defined consumer facing marketing as "the money we spend in the organization against our brands for building direct relationship or interaction with the consumer. And it's our media, whether it's print, television, internet, social media. That kind of expenses; it's really our media and consumer communication. When we talk about consumer facing, that's what we mean."

    Deals and strategic moves:

    Nestle in September 2018 said it was exploring strategic options for Nestle Skin Health. The company expected to complete the strategic review by mid-2019. Nestle Skin Health marketed a range of medical and consumer brands through three business units, including Epiduo and Soolantra in Prescription; Restylane and Azzalure in Aesthetics; and Cetaphil and Proactiv in Consumer Care. Nestle Skin Health had 2017 sales of about 2.7 billion Swiss francs ($2.7 billion).

    Nestle in September 2018 agreed to sell Gerber Life Insurance Co. to Cincinnati-based Western & Southern Financial Group for $1.55 billion cash. Gerber Life markets juvenile and family life insurance and had 2017 sales of $856 million. The deal allowed Western &Southern to market insurance products under the Gerber Life brand. The transaction did not include Nestle's Gerber Products business, a household brand in baby food and baby care. The deal followed Nestle's announcement in February 2018 that it was exploring strategic options for Gerber Life. Nestle expected to complete the sale in late 2018 or early 2019.

    Nestle in August 2018 completed a "global coffee alliance" with Starbucks Corp. that gives Nestle perpetual rights to market Starbucks consumer and food service products globally, outside Starbucks coffee shops. The deal was announced in May 2018. Under the deal, Nestle has rights to market, sell and distribute packaged versions of Starbucks coffee and tea brands including Starbucks, Seattle's Best Coffee, Teavana, Starbucks Via Instant, Torrefazione Italia coffee and Starbucks-branded K-Cup pods. The deal excluded ready-to-drink products and all sales of any products within Starbucks coffee shops. Nestle paid Starbucks $7.15 billion for the rights.

    Nestle in April 2018 bought a majority stake in Tails.com, a direct marketer of dog food based in the U.K. Tails.com markets personalized dog good based on a nutritional algorithm developed by vets, nutritionists and software engineers. It provided food for more than 100,000 dogs in the U.K. at the time of acquisition. Tails.com launched in 2014. Nestle in late March 2018 sold its U.S. confectionery business to Italian food marketer Ferrero for $2.8 billion. Ferrero was founded in 1946 and entered the U.S. market in 1969 with Tac Tac breath mints. Ferrero also markets Ferrero Rocher pralines and Nutella hazelnut spread. Before doing the Nestle deal, Ferrero made other U.S. acquisitions including chocolate marketer Fannie May Confections Brands (Fannie May, Harry London) and, in 2017, Ferrara Candy Co. (Trolli, Brach's and Black Forest).

    Nestle in June 2017 had said it would "explore strategic options for its U.S. confectionery business, including a potential sale. The review covers the U.S. market only and is expected to be completed by the end of this year."

    Nestle said its U.S. confectionery business had sales of around 900 million Swiss francs ($914 million) in 2016, mainly from U.S. brands including Butterfinger, BabyRuth, 100Grand, SkinnyCow, Raisinets, Chunky, OhHenry!, SnoCaps, SweeTarts, LaffyTaffy, Nerds, FunDip, PixyStix, Gobstopper, BottleCaps, Spree and Runts. The business also includes U.S. sales of international chocolate brand Crunch. The strategic review excluded Nestle's Toll House baking products.

    In announcing the strategic review, the company said: "Nestle remains fully committed to growing its leading international confectionery activities around the world, particularly its global brand KitKat." Nestle's 2016 global confectionery sales were about 8.8 billion Swiss francs ($8.9 billion). (Hershey Co. markets KitKat in the U.S.)

    Nestle in early March 2018 bought Atrium Innovations, a marketer of nutritional health products, from an investor group led by buyout firm Permira, for $2.3 billion. Atrium's products include probiotics, planted-based protein nutrition, meal replacements and multivitamins. In its deal announcement, Nestle said Atrium had annual sales of about $700 million in the U.S., Canada and Europe. Atrium, founded in 1999 and based in Quebec, Canada, is part of Nestle Health Science. Atrium's biggest brand at the time of acquisition was Garden of Life, which Atrium bought in 2009.

    Nestle in February 2018 bought a majority stake in Terrafertil, a company selling natural, organic, plant-based foods and healthy snacks. Terrafertil's flagship brand was Nature's Heart. Terrafertil was founded in 2005 in Ecuador and then expanded into Mexico, Colombia, Peru, Chile and the United Kingdom. Terrafertil entered the U.S. in 2017 with the purchase of Essential Living Foods. At the time of the Nestle deal, Terrafertil employed 400 people and had four factories in Ecuador, Mexico, Colombia and Chile.

    Nestle in November 2017 bought a 67.9 percent stake in Blue Bottle Coffee, a specialty coffee roaster and retailer based in Oakland, Calif. In its announcement of the deal, Nestle said: "Blue Bottle Coffee will continue to operate as a stand-alone entity, while having full access to Nestle's well-recognised capabilities in coffee and its strong global consumer reach."

    Also in November 2017, Nestle bought 100 percent of Chameleon Cold-Brew, a marketer of cold brew coffee founded in Austin, Texas, in 2010. Chameleon marketed coffee in various formats including ready-to-drink cold brew, cold brew concentrate, kegs, cold brew kits and whole bean coffee.

    Nestle in May 2016 bought a 75 percent stake in Proactiv, an acne treatment business, from direct-marketing firm Guthy-Renker. Proactiv Co. operates as a joint venture of Nestle Skin Health and Guthy-Renker.

    Nestle and R&R, an ice cream company based in the U.K., in April 2016 formed Froneri, a joint venture with sales of about 2.7 billion Swiss francs ($2.73 billion) in more than 20 countries. U.K.-based Froneri operates primarily in Europe, the Middle East (excluding Israel), Argentina, Australia, Brazil, the Philippines and South Africa. The new company combined Nestle and R&R's ice cream activities in the relevant countries and included NestlT's European frozen food business (excluding pizza and retail frozen food in Italy) as well as its chilled dairy business in the Philippines. Financial details are not being disclosed. R&R was owned by PAI Partners, a buyout firm. Nestle and R&R have worked together since the early 2000s, initially in the U.K. and Ireland and, more recently, in Australia and South Africa, where R&R licensed Nestle brands. Nestle in November 2015 sold Davigel, a France-based provider of branded frozen and chilled food products and ice-cream for European restaurants, schools and other institutions.

    Nestle's Nestle Purina PetCare in September 2015 completed a deal to buy Merrick Pet Care, a pet-food marketer based in Texas, from Swander Pace Capital and other investors including founder Garth Merrick, Monitor Clipper Partners and Highland Consumer Partners. Merrick's brands at the time of the acquisition included Merrick, Castor & Pollux Organix, Ultramix, Good Buddy and Whole Earth Farm. Price tag wasn't disclosed. Swander Pace bought the company in 2010. Merrick launched in 1988.

    Nestle on Oct. 1, 2014, sold the PowerBar and Musashi brands to U.S. food marketer Post Holdings. PowerBar and Musashi are lines of sports-nutrition bars, powders and gels. Under an amended purchase agreement, Post in July 2014 had paid Nestle a deposit of $75.0 million and put $55.0 million into an escrow account to be released to Nestle at closing. Nestle acquired PowerBar in 2000.

    Nestle in July 2014 sold Juicy Juice, an all-natural U.S. juice brand, to buyout firm Brynwood Partners in the food marketer's latest deal with Brynwood.

    Nestle Prepared Foods Co. in December 2013 sold Joseph's Gourmet Pasta Co., which markets frozen pasta to restaurants, to Brynwood; Nestle bought Joseph's in 2006.

    Nestle in May 2013 sold Bit-O-Honey, a confectionery brand, to Pearson Candy Co., a Minnesota-based candy marketer owned by Brynwood, which bought Pearson in August 2011.

    Nestle USA in June 2007 sold the Turtles confectionery brand in the U.S. to Brynwood through a newly formed company, DeMet's Candy Co.; Brynwood then moved its Flipz brand, acquired from Nestle USA in 2004, into DeMet's; DeMet's in December 2008 bought the Treasures and Stixx confectionery brands from Nestle. (Brynwood in January 2014 sold DeMet's Candy Co. to Turkey-based Yildiz Holdings, owner of the Godiva brand, for $221 million.)

    L'Oreal and Nestle, another member of the Leading National Advertisers and World's Largest Advertises rankings, on July 8, 2014, completed a deal to reduce Nestle's minority equity stake in L'Oreal and unwind the companies' Galderma joint venture. With this transaction, L'Oreal bought back a portion of L'Oreal shares held by Nestle and transferred L'Oreal's 50 percent Galderma stake to Nestle. L'Oreal paid for the share buyback by giving Nestle 3.4 billion euros in cash plus the 50 percent interest in Galderma that L'Oreal said had an enterprise value of 3.1 billion euros. As a result, Nestle's stake in L'Oreal dropped to 23.29 percent from 29.4 percent.

    Nestle owned a 23.17 percent stake in L'Oreal at year-end 2017.

    Nestle made Galderma the foundation of Nestle Skin Health, a Switzerland-based subsidiary created in February 2014 and focused on "specialized medical skin treatments."

    Nestle on July 10, 2014, expanded the Nestle Skin Health portfolio by acquiring from Canadian firm Valeant Pharmaceuticals International the rights to market five aesthetic dermatology products in the U.S. and Canada for $1.4 billion in cash. (In disclosing the deal, Nestle said those two countries together accounted for more than half of the worldwide medical aesthetics market.) Galderma already had rights to market four of the five products in countries outside the U.S. and Canada; with this deal, Nestle gained U.S. and Canadian rights for Restylane, Perlane and Emervel (products used for corrective facial aesthetic treatments such as filling wrinkles and making fuller lips) and Dysport (an aesthetic dermatology treatment). Nestle also gained full rights to Sculptra (a treatment for aesthetic and medical uses) in the U.S., Canada and many markets around the world. (Valeant in July 2018 changed its name to Bausch Health Cos.)

    Nestle in 2014 also moved Bubchen, Nestle's infant skin-care business, into Nestle Skin Health.

    Nestle's Nestle Purina PetCare in December 2013 bought Zuke's, a natural pet-treat marketer based in Durango, Colo.

    Nestle in November 2013 sold its Jenny Craig weight-loss business in North America (U.S., Canada, Puerto Rico) and Oceania (Australia, New Zealand) to North Castle Partners, a Greenwich, Conn., buyout firm that invests in businesses related to health, wellness and active living. The sale price wasn't disclosed. The Jenny Craig business in France was not part of the sale. Jenny Craig launched in Australia in 1983 and was acquired by Nestle in 2006 for about $600 million from a buyout group including ACI Capital and MidOcean Partners; Jenny Craig at that time had worldwide revenue greater than $400 million. North Castle combined Jenny Craig with another North Castle-owned venture, Curves fitness clubs; the combined business operates as CI Holdings.

    Nestle Purina PetCare Co. on July 15, 2013, bought Petfinder, an online pet adoption website, from Discovery Communications. The company said this was Nestle's first major acquisition of a digital property. Nestle Purina said the acquisition would "broaden its support for pet welfare organizations and strengthen its role as a leading provider of on-line pet-related information." The purchase price was undisclosed; Discovery recorded a $19 million pretax gain on the sale. Petfinder launched in 1996 and was acquired by Discovery in November 2006.

    Nestle Health Science, a Nestle subsidiary, in April 2013 bought Pamlab, a U.S.-based company that markets medical food products for use under medical supervision in the nutritional management of patients with mild cognitive impairment, depression and diabetic peripheral neuropathy. Price tag wasn't disclosed.

    Nestle and Pfizer in April 2012 announced a deal for Nestle to buy Pfizer's nutrition businesses for $11.85 billion in cash. Nestle estimated Wyeth Nutrition (formerly Pfizer Nutrition) 2012 sales at $2.4 billion. The nutrition business had 2011 revenue of about $2.1 billion, up 15 percent from 2010. Pfizer completed the deal Nov. 30, 2012.

    Pfizer's 10-K for year ended December 2012 said: "While the full purchase price of $11.85 billion was received on November 30, the sale of the business was not completed in certain non-U.S. jurisdictions where regulatory review of the transaction remains ongoing. In these jurisdictions, which represent a relatively small portion of the Nutrition business, we continue to operate the business on an interim basis pending regulatory approval or divestiture to a third party buyer. These interim arrangements, pursuant to which Pfizer operates the business for the net economic benefit of Nestle and is indemnified by Nestle against any risk associated with such operations during the interim period, are expected to conclude by the end of 2013 and the sale of these certain jurisdictions are expected to be completed by the end of 2013. As such, and as we have already received all of the expected proceeds from the sale, and as Nestle is contractually obligated to complete the transaction (or permit us to divest the delayed businesses to a third party buyer on its behalf) regardless of the outcome of any pending regulatory reviews, we have treated these delayed-close businesses as sold for accounting purposes."

    Wyeth Nutrition markets infant and toddler formulas as well as maternal and adult nutrition products in about 60 countries. Nestle said Wyeth Nutrition generated 85 percent of its sales from emerging markets.

    Wyeth Nutrition brands included S-26 Gold, SMA and Promil. Nestle's existing portfolio of infant food brands included Nan, Gerber, Lactogen, Nestogen and Cerelac.

    Nestle in December 2011 bought 60 percent of Hsu Fu Chi, a candy maker in China, for about $1.7 billion. Hsu Fu Chi is the second largest candy firm in China, behind Mars Inc.

    Nestle in November 2011 bought 60 percent of Yinlu Foods Group, a food company in China, for about $1.3 billion. Yinlu markets ready-to-drink peanut milk and ready-to-eat canned rice porridge in China.

    Nestle Health Science in July 2011 bought Prometheus Laboratories, a San Diego-based company that specializes in diagnostics and specialty pharmaceuticals in gastroenterology and oncology. Price tag was not disclosed. At the time of the deal, Prometheus had about 500 employees and expected 2012 sales of about $250 million.

    Nestle in September 2010 bought Waggin' Train, a U.S. dog snacks business. Nestle said Waggin' Train had sales of about $200 million in the 12 months ended June 2010. The Waggin' Train snacks business became a subsidiary of Nestle Purina PetCare Co. Nestle in January 2013 pulled Waggin' Train's dog snacks from the U.S. market in January 2013 amid negative publicity and questions about product safety; Nestle said the products were safe. The company in 2014 relaunched the brand.

    Nestle on March 1, 2010, acquired the North American frozen-pizza business of Kraft Foods for $3.9 billion. Kraft said its pizza business generated 2009 net revenue of $1.6 billion. The business includes brands such as DiGiorno, Tombstone, Jack's, California Pizza Kitchen (trademark license), and Delissio (a Canadian brand).

    In announcing the deal, Nestle said: "This frozen pizza business provides a new strategic pillar to Nestle's frozen food portfolio in the US and Canada, where the company has already established a leadership in prepared dishes and hand-held product categories under the Stouffer's, Lean Cuisine, Buitoni, Hot Pockets and Lean Pockets brands."

    Nestle in August 2010 sold its remaining 52 percent stake in eye-care products firm Alcon to Swiss drug, health care and consumer products marketer Novartis, which exercised a 2008 option to buy the stake. Novartis paid $28 billion for that 52 percent holding. Novartis in July 2008 paid Nestle $10.4 billion for a 24.8 percent stake in Alcon. The 2010 deal increased the Novartis holding to 77 percent; Novartis in 2010 said it hoped to buy minority shareholders' 23 percent Alcon holding, giving Novartis 100 percent ownership. Novartis already owned contact lens marketer Ciba Vision. Nestle acquired Alcon in 1977 for $280 million.

    Nestle has done other deals with Novartis. Nestle in 2007 bought baby-food brand Gerber from Novartis for $5.5 billion. A precursor to that acquisition was Nestle's late 2006 purchase of Novartis Medical Nutrition for $2.5 billion. Both fit Nestle's strategy that focuses on health and wellness.

    Nestle acquired pet-food marketer Ralston Purina in December 2001.

    Management and employees:

    Ulf Mark Schneider became CEO on Jan. 1, 2017, succeeding Paul Bulcke, who held the post for more than eight years. Schneider formerly was CEO of Fresenius Group, a German company that offers products and services for dialysis, hospitals and outpatient treatments.

    Bulcke, after stepping down as CEO, became chairman in April 2017. He succeeded Peter Brabeck-Letmathe, who left after reaching Nestle's mandatory retirement age after 12 years as chairman and before that 11 years as CEO.

    Stock:

    Nestle is a long-time investor in and the second largest shareholder in personal care marketer L'Oreal. Nestle owned a 23.17 percent stake in L'Oreal at year-end 2017.

    History:

    Nestle was founded in 1866 by Henri Nestle.

    http://www.nestle.com

Netflix

  • Marketer profile
    Click here to see company's total worldwide advertising spending, measured-media spending by region, key executives and agencies.

    Overview:

    Netflix is a distributor of online-video content. The company is based in the Silicon Valley community of Los Gatos, Calif.

    Business segments and operations:

    Netflix has three operating segments:

    Domestic streaming
    International streaming
    Domestic DVD

    Marketing spending:

    U.S. ad spending:

    Total U.S. advertising spending figures shown in the Leading National Advertisers report and Marketer Trees database are the company's stated domestic streaming marketing expenses.

    Netflix reported domestic streaming marketing expenses of:

    2017: $553.3 million
    2016: $382.8 million
    2015: $317.6 million
    2014: $293.5 million

    The disclosed no marketing spending for its domestic DVD segment.

    The company's 10-K for year ended December 2017 said: "Domestic marketing expenses increased primarily due to an increase in advertising and public relations spending as well as increased payments to our partners. In 2018, we expect marketing spending growth to outpace revenue growth."

    The 10-K for year ended December 2016 said: "Domestic marketing expenses [in 2016] increased primarily due to an increase in advertising and public relations spending as well as increased payments to our partners." That 10-K also said: "Domestic marketing expenses [in 2015] increased primarily due to an increase in advertising and public relations spending."

    Worldwide ad spending:

    Total worldwide advertising spending figures are Netflix's stated worldwide marketing expenses.

    Netflix reported worldwide marketing expenses of:

    2017: $1.278 billion
    2016: $991.1 million
    2015: $824.1 million
    2014: $607.2 million

    Netflix disclosed worldwide "advertising expenses" (also called "advertising costs") of $1.091 billion in 2017. That's a subset (85.4 percent) of 2017 worldwide marketing expenses.

    In its 10-K for year ended December 2017, Netflix said:

    "Marketing expenses consist primarily of advertising expenses and certain payments made to our marketing partners, including consumer electronics manufacturers, MVPD's, mobile operators and ISP's. Advertising expenses include promotional activities such as digital and television advertising. Marketing expenses are incurred by our Domestic and International streaming segments given our focus on building consumer awareness of the streaming offerings, and in particular our original content."

    MVPDs are multichannel video programming distributors. ISPs are internet service providers.

    The 10-K said:

    "International marketing expenses [in 2017] increased mainly due to increased advertising and public relations as well as increased payments to our partners."

    That 10-K added:

    "We utilize a broad mix of marketing and public relations programs, including social media sites, to promote our service to potential new members. We may limit or discontinue use or support of certain marketing sources or activities if advertising rates increase or if we become concerned that members or potential members deem certain marketing practices intrusive or damaging to our brand. If the available marketing channels are curtailed, our ability to attract new members may be adversely affected."The 10-K for year ended December 2016 said:

    "International marketing expenses [in 2016] increased mainly due to expenses for territories launched in the last eighteen months." And: "International marketing expenses for the year ended December 31, 2015, increased as compared to the year ended December 31, 2014, mainly due to expenses for territories launched in the last eighteen months."

    That 10-K said:

    "We utilize a broad mix of marketing and public relations programs, including social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter, to promote our service to potential new members. We may limit or discontinue use or support of certain marketing sources or activities if advertising rates increase or if we become concerned that members or potential members deem certain marketing practices intrusive or damaging to our brand."

    In its 10-Ks for years ended December 2015 and December 2014, Netflix said:

    "Marketing expenses consist primarily of advertising expenses and also include payments made to the company's affiliates and consumer electronics partners. Advertising expenses include promotional activities such as digital and television advertising."

    Stock:

    Netflix completed its initial public offering in May 2002.

    History:

    Netflix was incorporated in 1997 and initially focused on DVD rentals by mail.

    The company began its shift from DVDs in 2007 when it launched its internet streaming service.

    https://www.netflix.com

Nike

  • Marketer profile
    Click here to see company's total worldwide advertising spending, measured-media spending by region, key executives and agencies.

    Overview:

    Nike is an athletic shoe and apparel marketer based in Oregon. It is truly a marketer, not a shoemaker; Nike farms out manufacturing for virtually all products to independent contractors.

    Business segments and operations:

    Brands include Nike; Jordan; Converse (athletic and casual footwear and apparel); and Hurley (action sports apparel for surfing, skateboarding and snowboarding).

    Manufacturing:

    Nike's 10-K for year ended May 2018 said this regarding production:

    "We are supplied by 124 footwear factories located in 13 countries. The largest single footwear factory accounted for approximately 9 percent of total fiscal 2018 Nike Brand footwear production. Virtually all of our footwear is manufactured outside of the United States by independent contract manufacturers which often operate multiple factories. For fiscal 2018, contract factories in Vietnam, China and Indonesia manufactured approximately 47 percent, 26 percent and 21 percent of total Nike Brand footwear, respectively. We also have manufacturing agreements with independent contract manufacturers in Argentina, India, Brazil, Mexico and Italy to manufacture footwear for sale primarily within those countries. For fiscal 2018, five footwear contract manufacturers each accounted for greater than 10 percent of footwear production and in the aggregate accounted for approximately 69 percent of Nike Brand footwear production.

    "We are supplied by 328 apparel factories located in 37 countries. The largest single apparel factory accounted for approximately 13 percent of total fiscal 2018 Nike Brand apparel production. Virtually all of our apparel is manufactured outside of the United States by independent contract manufacturers which often operate multiple factories. For fiscal 2018, contract factories in China, Vietnam and Thailand produced approximately 26 percent, 18 percent and 10 percent of total Nike Brand apparel, respectively. For fiscal 2018, one apparel contract manufacturer accounted for more than 10 percent of apparel production, and the top five contract manufacturers in the aggregate accounted for approximately 47 percent of Nike Brand apparel production.

    Nike's 10-K for year ended May 2017 said this regarding production:

    "We are supplied by approximately 127 footwear factories located in 15 countries. The largest single footwear factory accounted for approximately 8 percent of total fiscal 2017 Nike Brand footwear production. Virtually all of our footwear is manufactured outside of the United States by independent contract manufacturers who often operate multiple factories. For fiscal 2017, contract factories in Vietnam, China and Indonesia manufactured approximately 46 percent, 27 percent and 21 percent of total Nike Brand footwear, respectively. We also have manufacturing agreements with independent contract manufacturers in Argentina, India, Brazil, Mexico and Italy to manufacture footwear for sale primarily within those countries. For fiscal 2017, five footwear contract manufacturers each accounted for greater than 10 percent of footwear production and in the aggregate accounted for approximately 69 percent of Nike Brand footwear production.

    "We are supplied by approximately 363 apparel factories located in 37 countries. The largest single apparel factory accounted for approximately 13 percent of total fiscal 2017 Nike Brand apparel production. Virtually all of our apparel is manufactured outside of the United States by independent contract manufacturers which often operate multiple factories. For fiscal 2017, contract factories in China, Vietnam and Thailand produced approximately 26 percent, 16 percent and 10 percent of total Nike Brand apparel, respectively. For fiscal 2017, one apparel contract manufacturer accounted for more than 10 percent of apparel production, and the top five contract manufacturers in the aggregate accounted for approximately 43 percent of Nike Brand apparel production."

    Nike's 10-K for year ended May 2016 said this regarding production:

    "We are supplied by approximately 142 footwear factories located in 15 countries. The largest single footwear factory accounted for approximately 7 percent of total fiscal 2016 Nike Brand footwear production. Virtually all of our footwear is manufactured outside of the United States by independent contract manufacturers who often operate multiple factories. In fiscal 2016, contract factories in Vietnam, China and Indonesia manufactured approximately 44 percent, 29 percent and 21 percent of total Nike Brand footwear, respectively. We also have manufacturing agreements with independent factories in Argentina, India, Brazil and Mexico to manufacture footwear for sale primarily within those countries. In fiscal 2016, five footwear contract manufacturers each accounted for greater than 10 percent of footwear production and in aggregate accounted for approximately 69 percent of Nike Brand footwear production.

    "We are supplied by approximately 394 apparel factories located in 39 countries. The largest single apparel factory accounted for approximately 12 percent of total fiscal 2016 Nike Brand apparel production. Virtually all of our apparel is manufactured outside of the United States by independent contract manufacturers which often operate multiple factories. In fiscal 2016, contract factories in China, Vietnam and Indonesia produced approximately 26 percent, 23 percent and 9 percent of total Nike Brand apparel, respectively. In fiscal 2016, one apparel contract manufacturer accounted for more than 10 percent of apparel production, and the top five contract manufacturers in aggregate accounted for approximately 39 percent of Nike Brand apparel production."

    Nike's 10-K for year ended May 2015 said this regarding production:

    "We are supplied by approximately 146 footwear factories located in 14 countries. The largest single footwear factory accounted for approximately 7 percent of total fiscal 2015 Nike Brand footwear production. Virtually all of our footwear is manufactured outside of the United States by independent contract manufacturers who often operate multiple factories. In fiscal 2015, contract factories in Vietnam, China and Indonesia manufactured approximately 43 percent, 32 percent and 20 percent of total Nike Brand footwear, respectively. We also have manufacturing agreements with independent factories in Argentina, Brazil, India and Mexico to manufacture footwear for sale primarily within those countries. In fiscal 2015, five footwear contract manufacturers each accounted for greater than 10 percent of footwear production, and in aggregate accounted for approximately 69 percent of Nike Brand footwear production.

    "We are supplied by approximately 408 apparel factories located in 39 countries. The largest single apparel factory accounted for approximately 11 percent of total fiscal 2015 Nike Brand apparel production. Virtually all of our apparel is manufactured outside of the United States by independent contract manufacturers which often operate multiple factories. In fiscal 2015, most of this apparel production occurred in China, Vietnam, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia and Cambodia. In fiscal 2015, one apparel contract manufacturer accounted for more than 10 percent of apparel production, and the top five contract manufacturers in aggregate accounted for approximately 36 percent of Nike Brand apparel production."

    Nike's 10-K for year ended May 2014 said this regarding production:"We are supplied by approximately 150 footwear factories located in 14 countries. The largest single footwear factory accounted for approximately 5 percent of total fiscal 2014 Nike Brand footwear production. Virtually all of our footwear is manufactured outside of the United States by independent contract manufacturers who often operate multiple factories. In fiscal 2014, contract factories in Vietnam, China, and Indonesia manufactured approximately 43 percent, 28 percent, and 25 percent of total Nike Brand footwear, respectively. We also have manufacturing agreements with independent factories in Argentina, Brazil, India, and Mexico to manufacture footwear for sale primarily within those countries. In fiscal 2014, five footwear contract manufacturers each accounted for greater than 10 percent of fiscal 2014 footwear production, and in aggregate accounted for approximately 67 percent of Nike Brand footwear production in fiscal 2014.

    "We are supplied by approximately 430 apparel factories located in 41 countries. The largest single apparel factory accounted for approximately 7 percent of total fiscal 2014 Nike Brand apparel production. Virtually all of our apparel is manufactured outside of the United States by independent contract manufacturers who often operate multiple factories. In fiscal 2014, most of this apparel production occurred in China, Vietnam, Thailand, Indonesia, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, and Malaysia. In fiscal 2014, one apparel contract manufacturer accounted for greater than 10 percent of fiscal 2014 apparel production, and the top five contract manufacturers in aggregate accounted for approximately 34 percent of Nike Brand apparel production in fiscal 2014."

    Nike's 10-K for year ended May 2013 said this regarding production:

    "Virtually all of our footwear is manufactured outside of the United States by independent contract manufacturers. In fiscal 2013, contract factories in Vietnam, China and Indonesia manufactured approximately 42 percent, 30 percent, and 26 percent of total Nike Brand footwear, respectively. We also have manufacturing agreements with independent factories in Argentina, Brazil, India, and Mexico to manufacture footwear for sale primarily within those countries. The largest single footwear factory with which we have contracted accounted for approximately 6 percent of total fiscal 2013 Nike Brand footwear production.

    "Almost all of Nike Brand apparel is manufactured outside of the United States by independent contract manufacturers located in 28 countries. Most of this apparel production occurred in China, Vietnam, Thailand, Indonesia, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Malaysia, Turkey, Mexico, and Cambodia. The largest single apparel factory that we have contracted with accounted for approximately 6 percent of total fiscal 2013 apparel production."

    Nike's 10-K for year ended May 2012 said this regarding production:

    "Virtually all of our footwear is produced by factories we contract with outside of the United States. In fiscal 2012, contract factories in Vietnam, China and Indonesia, manufactured approximately 41 percent, 32 percent and 25 percent of total Nike Brand footwear, respectively. We also have manufacturing agreements with independent factories in Argentina, Brazil, India, and Mexico to manufacture footwear for sale primarily within those countries. The largest single footwear factory that we have contracted with accounted for approximately 5 percent of total fiscal 2012 Nike Brand footwear production.

    "Almost all of Nike Brand apparel is manufactured outside of the United States by independent contract manufacturers located in 28 countries. Most of this apparel production occurred in China, Vietnam, Thailand, Sri Lanka, Malaysia, Indonesia, Turkey, Cambodia, Mexico, and El Salvador. The largest single apparel factory that we have contracted with accounted for approximately 8 percent of total fiscal 2012 apparel production."

    Nike's 10-K for year ended May 2011 said this regarding production:

    "Virtually all of our footwear is produced by factories we contract with outside of the United States. In fiscal 2011, contract factories in Vietnam, China, Indonesia, and India manufactured approximately 39 percent, 33 percent, 24 percent and 2 percent of total Nike Brand footwear, respectively. We also have manufacturing agreements with independent factories in Argentina, Brazil, India, and Mexico to manufacture footwear for sale primarily within those countries.

    "Almost all of Nike Brand apparel is manufactured outside of the United States by independent contract manufacturers located in 33 countries. Most of this apparel production occurred in China, Thailand, Vietnam, Malaysia, Sri Lanka, Indonesia, Turkey, Cambodia, El Salvador, and Mexico."

    Largest customers:

    Nike said its three largest customers accounted for about 21 percent of U.S. sales in year ended May 2018; 23 percent in year ended May 2017; 25 percent in year ended May 2016; 26 percent in years ended May 2015 and May 2014; 25 percent in year ended May 2013; 24 percent in year ended May 2012; and about 23 percent in year ended May 2011.

    The company said its three largest customers outside of the U.S. accounted for about 13 percent of total non-U.S. sales in year ended May 2018; 12 percent in year ended May 2017; 13 percent of total non-U.S. sales in year ended May 2016; 12 percent in year ended May 2015; 6 percent in years ended May 2014 and May 2013; 11 percent in year ended May 2012; and 9 percent in year ended May 2011.

    Nike said no customer accounted for 10 percent or more of worldwide net sales in the years ended May 2018, May 2017, May 2016, May 2015, May 2014, May 2013 or May 2012.

    Nike Chairman-CEO Mark Parker in July 2017 disclosed that Nike was beginning "a new pilot" project with Amazon to sell "a limited Nike product assortment" on Amazon in the U.S. In making that announcement on an earnings call, Parker said: "As we do with all of our partners, we're looking for ways to improve the Nike consumer experience on Amazon by elevating the way the brand is presented and increasing the quality of product storytelling. We're in the early stages, but we really look forward to evaluating the results of the pilot."

    In its 10-K for year ended May 2010, Nike said Foot Locker, its largest customer, accounted for 8 percent of worldwide revenue in the year ended May 2010; vs. 9 percent in the years ended May 2009 and May 2008.

    Foot Locker said it purchased about 67 percent of its merchandise from Nike in year ended February 2018; 68 percent in year ended January 2017; 72 percent in year ended January 2016; 73 percent in year ended January 2015; 68 percent in year ended January 2014; 65 percent in year ended February 2013; 61 percent in year ended January 2012; 63 percent in year ended January 2011; and 68 percent in year ended January 2010.

    Marketing spending:

    U.S. ad spending:

    Total U.S. advertising spending shown in the Leading National Advertisers report and Marketer Trees database is Ad Age Datacenter's U.S. ad spending estimate for Nike excluding estimated cooperative ad spending; Ad Age includes co-op ad money in retailers' ad-spending estimates.

    Worldwide ad spending:

    Total worldwide advertising spending shown in the World's Largest Advertisers report and related database is Nike's stated worldwide "demand creation expense" (also known as "advertising and promotion expenses") minus estimated worldwide cooperative ad spending.

    In its 10-K for year ended May 2018 (fiscal 2018), Nike said this about demand creation expense:

    "Demand creation expense increased 7 percent for fiscal 2018 compared to fiscal 2017, driven by higher sports marketing costs. Changes in foreign currency exchange rates increased demand creation expense by approximately 3 percentage points for fiscal 2018."

    The 10-K for year ended May 2018 also said:

    "Demand creation expense consists of advertising and promotion costs, including costs of endorsement contracts, complimentary product, television, digital and print advertising and media costs, brand events and retail brand presentation. Advertising production costs are expensed the first time an advertisement is run. Advertising media costs are expensed when the advertisement appears. Costs related to brand events are expensed when the event occurs. Costs related to retail brand presentation are expensed when the presentation is complete and delivered.

    "A significant amount of the company's promotional expenses result from payments under endorsement contracts. In general, endorsement payments are expensed on a straight-line basis over the term of the contract. However, certain contract elements may be accounted for differently based upon the facts and circumstances of each individual contract. Prepayments made under contracts are included in Prepaid expenses and other current assets or deferred income taxes and other assets depending on the period to which the prepayment applies.

    "Certain contracts provide for contingent payments to endorsers based upon specific achievements in their sports (e.g., winning a championship). The Company records demand creation expense for these amounts when the endorser achieves the specific goal.

    "Certain contracts provide for variable payments based upon endorsers maintaining a level of performance in their sport over an extended period of time (e.g., maintaining a specified ranking in a sport for a year). When the company determines payments are probable, the amounts are reported in demand creation expense ratably over the contract period based on the company's best estimate of the endorser's performance. In these instances, to the extent actual payments to the endorser differ from the company's estimate due to changes in the endorser's performance, adjustments to demand creation expense may be recorded in a future period.

    "Certain contracts provide for royalty payments to endorsers based upon a predetermined percent of sales of particular products. The company expenses these payments in cost of sales as the related sales occur. In certain contracts, the company offers minimum guaranteed royalty payments. For contracts the company estimates will not meet the minimum guaranteed amount of royalty fees through sales of product, the company records the amount of the guaranteed payment in excess of that earned through sales of product in demand creation expense uniformly over the contract period.

    "Through cooperative advertising programs, the company reimburses customers for certain costs of advertising the company's products. The company records these costs in demand creation expense at the point in time when it is obligated to its customers for the costs. This obligation may arise prior to the related advertisement being run."

    The 10-K also said:

    "Many of our customers shop with us through our digital platforms. Increasingly, customers are using mobile-based devices and applications to shop online with us and with our competitors, and to do comparison shopping. We are increasingly using social media and proprietary mobile applications to interact with our customers and as a means to enhance their shopping experience.

    "Any failure on our part to provide attractive, effective, reliable, user-friendly digital commerce platforms that offer a wide assortment of merchandise with rapid delivery options and that continually meet the changing expectations of online shoppers could place us at a competitive disadvantage, result in the loss of digital commerce and other sales, harm our reputation with customers, have a material adverse impact on the growth of our digital commerce business globally and could have a material adverse impact on our business and results of operations.

    "Risks specific to our digital commerce business also include diversion of sales from our and our retailers' brick and mortar stores, difficulty in recreating the in-store experience through direct channels and liability for online content. Our failure to successfully respond to these risks might adversely affect sales in our digital commerce business, as well as damage our reputation and brands."

    Historic demand creation expense:

    In its 10-K for year ended May 2017 (fiscal 2017), Nike said this about demand creation expense: "Demand creation expense increased 2 percent for fiscal 2017 compared to fiscal 2016, driven by higher sports marketing costs, as well as higher marketing and advertising costs, primarily to support key sporting events including the Rio Olympics and European Football Championship. These increases were partially offset by lower retail brand presentation costs. Changes in foreign currency exchange rates reduced Demand creation expense by approximately 1 percentage point."

    In its 10-K for year ended May 2016, Nike said this about demand creation expense: "Demand creation expense increased 2 percent for fiscal 2016 compared to fiscal 2015, primarily due to investments in digital brand marketing, including for our DTC" - direct-to-consumer - "business, as well as support for key brand events and initiatives, and sports marketing investments, partially offset by lower advertising expense. For fiscal 2016, changes in foreign currency exchange rates decreased growth in Demand creation expense by approximately 6 percentage points."

    In its 10-K for year ended May 2015, Nike said this about demand creation expense: "Demand creation expense increased 6 percent for fiscal 2015 compared to the prior year, primarily due to support for key brand and consumer events, including the World Cup in early fiscal 2015, increased digital brand marketing, investments in DTC marketing and higher sports marketing expense. Changes in foreign currency exchange rates decreased growth in demand creation expense by approximately 4 percentage points for fiscal 2015."In its 10-K for year ended May 2014, Nike said this about demand creation expense: "Demand creation expense increased 10 percent compared to the prior year, mainly driven by marketing support for events, including the World Cup, higher sports marketing expense, key product launches and initiatives, and investments to upgrade the presentation of our products in wholesale accounts."

    In its 10-K for year ended May 2013, Nike said this about demand creation expense: "Demand creation expense increased 5 percent compared to the prior year, mainly driven by an increase in sports marketing expense, marketing support for key product initiatives, including the Nike Fuelband and NFL launch, as well as an increased level of marketing spending around global sporting events such as the European Football Championships and London Summer Olympics. Excluding the effects of changes in foreign currency exchange rates, demand creation expense increased 8 percent."

    In its 10-K for year ended May 2012, Nike said this about demand creation expense: "Demand creation expense increased 11 percent compared to the prior year, mainly driven by an increase in sports marketing expense, marketing support for key product initiatives, including the Nike Fuelband and NFL launch, as well as an increased level of brand event spending in advance of the European Football Championships and London Summer Olympics. For fiscal 2012, changes in currency exchange rates increased the growth of demand creation expense by 1 percentage point."

    Nike said this in its 10-K for year ended May 2011: "Demand creation expense increased 4 percent [in year ended May 2011] compared to the prior year, primarily driven by a higher level of brand event spending around the World Cup and World Basketball Festival in the first half of fiscal 2011, as well as increased spending around key product initiatives and investments in retail product presentation with wholesale customers."

    Nike said this in its 10-K for year ended May 2010: "Demand creation expense remained flat compared to the prior year, as increases in sports marketing and digital marketing expenses were offset by reductions in advertising. In fiscal 2011 [year ending May 2011], we will continue to focus our resources on those investments that drive sustainable and profitable growth. We expect demand creation will increase at a slightly slower rate than revenues, with spending weighted toward the first quarter driven by key events including the 2010 World Cup."

    Deals and strategic moves:

    Sports league deals:

    Nike in June 2015 secured rights to outfit the National Basketball Association starting in the 2017-2018 season, replacing Adidas. Nike's NBA contract will run for eight years.

    Nike in October 2010 secured a deal to replace Reebok as the official uniform supplier for the National Football League starting in 2012.

    Other deals and strategic moves:

    Nike on Feb. 1, 2013, sold Cole Haan (dress and casual shoes and accessories) to buyout firm Apax Partners for $561 million. (Nike purchased New York-based Cole Haan in 1988.)

    Nike on Nov. 30, 2012, sold Umbro (soccer shoes and apparel) to Iconix Brand Group (Nasdaq: ICON) for $225 million. Iconix earlier bought Nike's Starter brand. (Nike acquired Umbro, a U.K.-based global soccer brand, in March 2008 for $576.4 million.)

    Nike on May 31, 2012, had announced its intent to sell Cole Haan and Umbro by May 31, 2013, so the company could focus on its Nike, Jordan, Converse and Hurley brands.

    Nike bought Converse in September 2003 for about $310 million.

    Nike acquired Hurley International in April 2002.

    Following a strategic review, Nike decided to sell Starter, a value sports-apparel brand, and Bauer Hockey (Nike Bauer Hockey), a hockey business.

    Nike in December 2007 sold Starter, the main business of Nike's Exeter Brands Group, to Iconix for $60 million cash. (Nike purchased Starter in August 2004 for $47.2 million.)

    In April 2008, Nike sold Bauer Hockey to Kohlberg & Co. and Canadian businessman W. Graeme Roustan for $189.2 million. (Nike bought Bauer's marketer, Canstar Sports, in February 1995 for $409 million.)

    Stock:

    Nike co-founder and Chairman Phil Knight in June 2015 formed Swoosh LLC as an entity to own and manage Knight's Nike Class A shares. If those shares had been converted into Class B common stock on June 30, 2015, Swoosh would have owned 17.7 percent of Nike Class B stock. Class B is Nike's publicly traded stock.

    As of June 30, 2016, Swoosh LLC beneficially owned more than 78 percent of Class A shares. If, on June 30, 2016, all of these shares were converted into Class B stock, Swoosh would have owned about 16 percent of Nike's publicly traded stock.

    Management and employees:

    Nike co-founder and Chairman Phil Knight in 2016 retired as chairman. Knight now is chairman emeritus.

    CEO Mark Parker succeeded Knight as chairman. Parker joined Nike as a footwear designer in 1979 and became CEO in 2006.

    History:

    Nike was incorporated in 1968.

    http://www.nike.com

Nissan Motor Co.

  • Marketer profile
    Click here to see company's total worldwide advertising spending, measured-media spending by region, key executives and agencies.

    Overview:

    Nissan Motor Co. is a global automaker with headquarters in Tokyo.

    Nissan has three auto brands: Nissan, Infiniti (luxury), Datsun (low-cost brand for emerging markets, relaunched in 2014).

    Nissan is part of the Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi alliance, which includes French automaker Renault and Japanese automaker Mitsubishi Motors Corp.

    Carlos Ghosn, chairman-CEO of Renault and chairman-CEO of the Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi alliance, formerly was chairman of Nissan and chairman of Mitsubishi. Nissan and Mitsubishi in November 2018 removed Ghosn as chairman after he was arrested in Japan on suspicions of understating his compensation in Nissan financial reports.

    Business segments and operations:

    Nissan Motor Co. in 2017 sold a record 5,770,286 cars and trucks worldwide (global retail volume).

    Infiniti headquarters move:

    Nissan Motor Co. in 2012 shifted global headquarters for Infiniti, its luxury brand, to Hong Kong from Japan. Nissan is counting on China to help drive growth. Global management, sales and marketing staff for the brand are based in Hong Kong.

    Nissan North America headquarters move:

    Nissan North America in summer 2006 moved U.S. headquarters to Nashville, Tenn., from Gardena, Calif., putting its offices close to U.S. manufacturing operations.

    Datsun revival:

    Nissan in 2012 unveiled plans to revive its Datsun brand as a line of lower-cost vehicles to be sold in India, Indonesia and Russia starting in 2014. It intends to extend the brand into the Middle East, Africa and Latin America. The Datsun brand dates to the 1930s; Nissan dropped the brand in favor of Nissan in the 1980s.

    Electric car:

    Nissan in December 2010 began U.S. sales of Leaf, an electric car, starting in five states (California, Oregon, Washington, Arizona and Tennessee).

    Rankings:

    The Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi alliance in January 2018 reported 2017 worldwide sales of 10,608,366 units.

    Carlos Ghosn, chairman-CEO of the Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi alliance, said in a January 2018 statement:

    "With more than 10.6 million passenger cars and light commercial vehicles sold in 2017, Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi has become the number-one automotive group worldwide."

    Volkswagen Group in 2017 said it delivered to customers 10.741 million units worldwide, keeping Volkswagen No. 1 in worldwide vehicle sales.

    Ghosn made his "number-one automotive group" claim by subtracting trucks--Volkswagen Group in 2017 sold more than 200,000 trucks and buses-from Volkswagen's 10.741 million tally. Marketing spending:

    U.S. ad spending:

    Total U.S. advertising spending shown in the Leading National Advertisers report and Marketer Trees database is an Ad Age Datacenter estimate.

    Worldwide ad spending:

    Total worldwide advertising spending shown in the World's Largest Advertisers report and related database is Nissan's stated worldwide ad spending converted to dollars at average exchange rates by Ad Age Datacenter.

    Nissan reported worldwide "advertising expenses" of 304.328 billion yen ($2.748 billion) in year ended March 2018 (fiscal 2017); 313.406 billion yen ($2.899 billion) in year ended March 2017; 342.213 billion yen ($2.851 billion) in year ended March 2016; 336.792 billion yen ($3.082 billion) in year ended March 2015; and 289.098 billion yen ($2.888 billion) in year ended March 2014.

    Agencies:

    Nissan in May 2018 dropped MDC Partners' 72andSunny from its global roster for Infiniti. Nissan in August 2017 had added 72andSunny to its agency list while also keeping sibling agency CP&B on the Infiniti roster.

    Nissan in October 2014 named CP&B to handle global creative for Infiniti. CP&B led the account from its Boulder, Colo., office; CP&B also opened an office in Shanghai to work on Infiniti, whose global headquarters is in Hong Kong. Nissan hired CP&B following a review that began in December 2013. The review included Omnicom Group's TBWA Worldwide, which had handled Infiniti since 1992. TBWA continued to work on the Nissan brand after losing Infiniti.

    Nissan and Omnicom extended the Nissan relationship in September 2013, entering a three-year contract under which Omnicom launched a dedicated global agency unit, Nissan United. The New York-based unit is multidisciplinary, made up of staffers from Omnicom's TBWA Worldwide, OMD, Interbrand and Emanate and Hakuhodo DY Holdings' Hakuhodo. Nissan United handles communications, advertising, marketing, media, promotions and digital services. Nissan's September 2013 announcement said: "The integrated Nissan United team will serve as a global leadership group to lead, direct and align a network of various Omnicom and non-Omnicom agencies around the world."

    TBWA Worldwide and Japanese agency Hakuhodo in 2006 formed a Tokyo-based joint-venture agency, TBWA Hakuhodo (TBWA Hakuhodo Inc.), 60 percent owned by Hakuhodo and 40 percent by TBWA (through TBWA's TBWA/Japan Co. Ltd. unit). Hakuhodo and TBWA already shared the Nissan account.

    Nissan launched Infiniti in the U.S. in 1989 with a controversial Zen-like campaign -- derided as the "rocks and trees" campaign -- from Hill, Holliday, Connors, Cosmopulos. Nissan in 1992 fired Hill Holliday and moved Infiniti to TBWA/Chiat/Day without a review. Interpublic Group of Cos. bought Hill Holliday in 1998.

    Nissan in August 1987 shifted its U.S. account to Chiat/Day, now Omnicom's TBWA Worldwide, from William Esty Co. (William Esty Co. later became part of Interpublic's Campbell Mithun, which is now McCann Erickson, Minneapolis.)

    Deals and strategic moves:

    Mitsubishi:

    Nissan in May 2016 signed a strategic alliance agreement with Japan's Mitsubishi Motors Corp. Under the agreement, Nissan Oct. 21, 2016, acquired a 34.0 percent stake in Mitsubishi Motors Corp. for 237.362 billion yen ($2.292 billion). The two companies will cooperate on research and development, procurement, manufacturing and distribution, sales and marketing.

    Renault:

    Nissan and French automaker Renault formed a broad alliance in 1999. Renault owns 43.4 percent of the Japanese automaker. Nissan owns 15 percent of Renault.

    Daimler:

    Nissan, Renault and German firm Daimler in April 2010 formed a cooperative agreement that included strategic cooperation and cross-shareholding. Nissan and Renault each own 1.55 percent of Daimler; Daimler owns 3.10 percent of Nissan and 3.10 percent of Renault.

    Samsung:

    Renault also owns 80 percent of Renault Samsung Motors, according to Renault's registration document for year ended December 2017. Renault bought control of the South Korean automaker in 2000. Renault Samsung Motors assembles some Nissan vehicles for export to and sale in the U.S.

    Management and employees:

    Carlos Ghosn stepped down as Nissan's CEO on April 1, 2017, but remained chairman until November 2018.

    Ghosn was succeeded as CEO by Hiroto Saikawa. Saikawa joined Nissan in 1977.

    Ghosn joined Nissan as chief operating officer in June 1999 and became CEO in June 2001.

    Ghosn, chairman-CEO of Renault and chairman-CEO of the Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi alliance, formerly was chairman of Nissan and chairman of Mitsubishi. Nissan and Mitsubishi in November 2018 removed Ghosn as chairman after he was arrested in Japan on suspicions of understating his compensation in Nissan financial reports.

    http://www.nissan-global.com/EN

Novartis

  • Marketer profile
    Click here to see company's total worldwide advertising spending, measured-media spending by region, key executives and agencies.

    Overview:

    Novartis is a marketer of prescription drugs and eye-care products.

    Switzerland-based Novartis in June 2018, following a strategic review, said it planned to spin off Alcon, its eye-care division, into a separately traded standalone company. Novartis in June 2018, following a strategic review, said it planned to spin off Alcon, its eye-care division, into a separately traded standalone company. Novartis expected to complete the move in first-half 2019.

    Novartis in March 2015 completed a three-part deal with U.K.-based GlaxoSmithKline in which the two companies combined their over-the-counter consumer health-care operations into a worldwide joint venture controlled by GlaxoSmithKline.

    GlaxoSmithKline in June 2018 completed a deal, announced in March 2018, to buy Novartis' 36.5 percent stake in the joint venture, giving GlaxoSmithKline 100 percent ownership.

    Business segments and operations:

    The company's product portfolio is focused on pharmaceuticals (Novartis Pharmaceuticals), eye-care products (Alcon) and generic medicines (Sandoz).

    Marketing spending:

    U.S. ad spending:

    Total U.S. advertising spending shown in the Leading National Advertisers report and Marketer Trees database is an Ad Age Datacenter estimate.

    Worldwide ad spending:

    Total worldwide advertising spending shown in the World's Largest Advertisers report and related database is an Ad Age Datacenter estimate. Deals and strategic moves:

    Alcon spinoff:

    Novartis in June 2018, following a strategic review, said it planned to spin off Alcon, its eye-care division, into a separately traded standalone company. Novartis expected to complete the move in first-half 2019.

    Novartis completed its purchase of Alcon in 2011.

    Novartis in July 2008 paid Nestle $10.4 billion for an initial 24.8 percent interest in Alcon. (Nestle had acquired Alcon in 1977 for $280 million.) Novartis in August 2010 bought Nestle's remaining 52 percent Alcon stake, giving Novartis 77 percent ownership of Alcon.

    Novartis then bought the remaining 23 percent of publicly traded Alcon for $12.9 billion in April 2011. At that point, Alcon became the new eye-care division of Novartis, including Ciba Vision (a contact lens marketer owned by Novartis) and ophthalmic medicines. The newly formed Alcon business became the second largest division of Novartis. The division has headquarters in Fort Worth, Texas.

    Novartis and Nestle have done other deals. Novartis in 2007 sold its Gerber baby-food unit to Nestle for $5.5 billion. This came after Nestle's late 2006 purchase of Novartis Medical Nutrition for $2.5 billion.

    GlaxoSmithKline deal:

    Novartis and GlaxoSmithKline in March 2015 completed a three-part transaction involving consumer products, vaccines and oncology products. The companies had announced the deal in April 2014.

    In the first part of the deal, GlaxoSmithKline's Consumer Healthcare unit and Novartis' Novartis OTC unit merged into a worldwide joint venture with 2014 pro forma revenue of 6.1 billion pounds ($10.1 billion). GlaxoSmithKline has a 63.5 percent stake. Novartis owns a 36.5 percent share of the joint venture and said it has "exit rights at a pre-defined, market-based pricing mechanism." (GlaxoSmithKline in June 2018 completed a deal, announced in March 2018, to buy Novartis' 36.5 percent stake in the joint venture for $13 billion (9.3 billion pounds), giving GlaxoSmithKline 100 percent ownership.)

    Novartis over-the-counter health-care brands included Voltaren, Excedrin, Otrivin, Theraflu, Benefiber, Gas-X, Maalox and Prevacid24HR.

    In the second part, GlaxoSmithKline acquired Novartis' global vaccines business (excluding influenza vaccines) for an initial cash payment of $5.25 billion with later potential payments of up to $1.8 billion and ongoing royalties.

    In the third part, GlaxoSmithKline sold its oncology portfolio and granted commercialization partner rights for future oncology products to Novartis for $16 billion cash.

    Novartis said the transactions would allow Novartis to focus on pharmaceuticals, eye care and generics.

    Novartis in July 2015 sold its influenza vaccine unit to CSL (originally Commonwealth Serum Laboratories), an Australia-based pharma and medical-products firm, for $275 million.

    (Less than a month after the GlaxoSmithKline/Novartis deal was announced in 2014, Bayer in May 2014 struck a deal to buy Merck's Merck Consumer Care business; the combined Bayer and Merck OTC portfolios had 2013 pro forma worldwide sales of $7.4 billion. Bayer completed that acquisition in October 2014.)

    Other deals and strategic moves:

    Novartis in May 2018 bought AveXis, an Illinois-based clinical stage gene therapy company, for $8.7 billion cash.

    Novartis in January 2018 bought Advanced Accelerator Applications, a French radiopharmaceutical company focused on oncology products, in a deal valued at $3.9 billion. The company had 2016 sales of 106 million euros ($117 million).

    Novartis in January 2017 bought Ziarco Group, a privately held U.S. company specializing in dermatology treatments, for total purchase consideration of $420 million.

    The company in January 2017 bought Encore Vision, a privately held U.S. firm focused on development of a treatment in presbyopia, for total purchase consideration $456 million. Novartis in October 2015 bought Admune Therapeutics, a U.S.-based, privately held company focused on cancer immunotherapies, for $258 million.

    Novartis in June 2015 bought Spinifex Pharmaceuticals, a U.S.- and Australian-based, privately held development stage company focused on developing a treatment for neuropathic pain, for $312 million.

    Eli Lilly & Co. Jan. 1, 2015, acquired Novartis Animal Health from Novartis for about $5.28 billion cash, expanding Lilly's animal-health division, Elanco. Lilly said Elanco would be the No. 2 animal-health company in global revenue. Novartis Health operated in about 40 countries and had worldwide revenue of about $1.1 billion in 2013 and about $900 million in the first nine months of 2014. The two companies announced the deal in April 2014.

    Novartis in January 2014 sold its blood transfusion diagnostics unit to Grifols for $1.675 billion. The transaction was expected to be completed in first-half 2014. Novartis acquired the business as part of its 2006 acquisition of biotech firm Chiron Corp. The Emeryville, Calif.-based unit had 2012 net sales of about $565 million. Spain-based Grifols produces plasma-derived therapy products.

    The company's Sandoz division in 2012 bought Fougera Pharmaceuticals, a specialty dermatology generics company based in Melville, N.Y., for $1.5 billion in cash.

    Novartis in 2005 paid $646 million for the U.S. and Canadian Consumer Medicines operations of Bristol-Myers Squibb, gaining Excedrin, Bufferin, Comtrex, Keri, 4-Way, Vagistat, No-Doz and Mineral Ice in the U.S. and Canada.

    Management and employees:

    Novartis in September 2017 named Vasant (Vas) Narasimhan as CEO effective Feb. 1, 2018. Narasimhan succeeded Joseph Jimenez, who stepped down after eight years as CEO.

    Narasimhan, a medical doctor, was the company's global head of drug development and chief medical officer before becoming CEO.

    Before joining Novartis in 2005, Narasimhan worked at consulting firm McKinsey & Co. He received his medical degree from Harvard Medical School and obtained a master's degree in public policy from Harvard's John F. Kennedy School of Government. Narasimhan was born in 1976.

    History:

    Novartis was created in 1996 through a merger of Ciba-Geigy and Sandoz.

    Novartis and predecessor companies trace roots back more than 250 years.

    Geigy was a chemicals and dyes trading company founded in Basel, Switzerland in the middle of the 18th century.

    Ciba began producing dyes in 1859.

    Sandoz was a chemical company founded in Basel in 1886.

    http://www.novartis.com

PepsiCo

  • Marketer profile
    Click here to see company's total worldwide advertising spending, measured-media spending by region, key executives and agencies.

    Overview:

    PepsiCo is a marketer of soft drinks, salty snacks and other beverage and food products.

    The company markets products in more than 200 countries and territories.

    Business segments and operations:

    The company has six reportable segments (divisions):

    Frito-Lay North America.

    Quaker Foods North America.

    North America Beverages.

    Latin America, which includes all of its beverage, food and snack businesses in Latin America.

    Europe Sub-Saharan Africa, which includes all of its beverage, food and snack businesses in Europe and Sub-Saharan Africa.

    Asia, Middle East and North Africa, which includes all of its beverage, food and snack businesses in Asia, Middle East and North Africa. Competitors:

    PepsiCo said in its 10-K for year ended December 2017: "In many countries in which our products are sold, including the United States, The Coca-Cola Company is our primary beverage competitor. Other beverage, food and snack competitors include, but are not limited to, DPSG [Dr Pepper Snapple Group], Kellogg Company, The Kraft Heinz Company, Mondelez International, Inc., Monster Beverage Corporation, Nestle S.A., Red Bull GmbH and Snyder's-Lance, Inc."

    Dr Pepper Snapple Group and Keurig Green Mountain in July 2018 merged, forming Keurig Dr Pepper. European investor JAB Holding Co., which controlled Keurig Green Mountain, is controlling shareholder. Mondelez, which had a stake in Keurig Green Mountain, owned an approximately 13 percent to 14 percent stake.

    Sales and earnings:

    Billion-dollar brands:

    PepsiCo's website as of June 2018, June 2017, June 2016, June 2015 and June 2014 said 22 of its product lines had more than $1 billion in annual retail sales.

    PepsiCo's billion-dollar brands consisted of 14 beverage and eight food brands. The 22 brands: Aquafina, Brisk, Cheetos, Diet Mountain Dew, Diet Pepsi, Doritos, Fritos, Gatorade, Lay's, Lipton, Mirinda, Mist Twst, Mountain Dew, Pepsi, Pepsi Max, Ruffles, Quaker, 7Up, Starbucks ready-to-drink beverages, Tostitos, Tropicana and Walkers.

    PepsiCo markets Lipton ready-to-drink tea under joint ventures with Unilever; and Starbucks ready-to-drink beverages under a joint venture with Starbucks Corp. PepsiCo markets 7Up outside the U.S.

    (Dr Pepper Snapple Group sells 7Up in the U.S. market. Starbucks Corp. in May 2018 entered a "global coffee alliance" with Swiss food marketer Nestle under which Nestle sells packaged versions of Starbucks coffee and other Starbucks Corp. coffee and tea brands.)

    PepsiCo in January 2012 announced that Diet Mountain Dew, Brisk and Starbucks ready-to-drink beverages had each grown to more than $1 billion in annual retail sales, joining the billion-dollar roster.

    Lay's is PepsiCo's biggest-selling food brand.

    Key customers:Sales to Walmart (Walmart, Sam's Club) represented about 13 percent of PepsiCo's worldwide net revenue in 2017, 2016 and 2015; 12 percent in 2014; 11 percent in 2013, 2012 and 2011; 12 percent in 2010; and 13 percent in 2009.

    Walmart (including Sam's) accounted for about 19 percent of North American revenue (U.S. and Canada) in 2017; 18 percent in 2016, 2015 and 2014; 17 percent in 2013 and 2012; 18 percent in 2011 and 2010; and 19 percent in 2009.

    PepsiCo's top five retail customers represented about 33 percent of North American revenue in 2017; 32 percent in 2016 and 2015; 31 percent in 2014; 30 percent in 2013, 2012 and 2011; 31 percent in 2010; and 33 percent in 2009.

    The above percentages included concentrate sales to independent bottlers that were used in finished goods sold by bottlers to these retailers.

    Marketing spending:

    U.S. ad spending:

    Total U.S. advertising spending shown in the Leading National Advertisers report and Marketer Trees database is an Ad Age Datacenter estimate.

    Worldwide ad spending:

    Total worldwide advertising spending shown in the World's Largest Advertisers report and related database is PepsiCo's stated worldwide ad spending.

    PepsiCo disclosed worldwide advertising expenses of $2.4 billion in 2017, $2.5 billion in 2016 and $2.4 billion in 2015.

    Stated worldwide ad expenses include media, talent, production and promotional materials.

    Stated advertising expenses are part of what PepsiCo calls "advertising and other marketing activities" (also called "other marketplace spending"). PepsiCo disclosed the following worldwide spending on "advertising and other marketing activities":

    2017: $4.1 billion
    2016: $4.2 billion
    2015: $3.9 billion
    2014: $3.9 billion
    2013: $3.9 billion
    2012: $3.7 billion
    2011: $3.5 billion
    2010: $3.4 billion
    2009: $2.8 billion
    2008: $2.9 billion
    2007: $2.9 billion

    "Advertising and other marketing activities" in turn are part of a bigger bucket called "total marketplace spending," which includes "sales incentives and discounts offered through various programs to our customers, consumers or independent bottlers, as well as advertising and other marketing activities."

    Sales incentives include payments to PepsiCo customers for performing merchandising activities on the company's behalf (such as payments for in-store displays); payments to gain distribution of new products; payments for shelf space; and discounts to promote lower retail prices. Sales incentives and discounts also include support provided to PepsiCo's independent bottlers through funding of advertising and other marketing activities.

    Deals and strategic moves:

    PepsiCo in August 2018 signed a deal to buy SodaStream International in a transaction valued at $3.2 billion. Israel-based SodaStream marketed devices and products allowing consumers to turn tap water into sparkling water and soft drinks. At the time of the announcement, SodaStream marketed its products in 45 countries. PepsiCo expected to complete the deal by January 2019.

    PepsiCo in November 2016 bought KeVita, a U.S.-based marketer of fermented probiotic and kombucha beverages. In announcing the deal, PepsiCo said: "The transaction will expand PepsiCo's health and wellness offerings in the premium chilled beverage space." Price tag wasn't disclosed.

    PepsiCo in 2012 began marketing Muller yogurt in the U.S. through Muller Quaker Dairy, a joint venture with Muller, a Germany dairy-products marketer.

    PepsiCo in March 2012 contributed its company-owned and joint-venture bottling operations in China to Tingyi-Asahi Beverages Holding Co., the beverage subsidiary of Tingyi (Cayman Islands) Holding Corp., a food and beverage company in China. PepsiCo received a 5 percent indirect equity interest in Tingyi-Asahi. As a result of this transaction, Tingyi-Asahi became PepsiCo's franchise bottler in China. PepsiCo has an option to boost its indirect holding in Tingyi-Asahi to 20 percent by 2015.

    PepsiCo in February 2011 bought 66 percent of Wimm-Bill-Dann Foods, a Russian food and beverage marketer, for $3.8 billion, increasing PepsiCo's ownership of Wimm-Bill-Dann to about 77 percent. PepsiCo bought the rest of the company later in 2011, completing stock purchases in September 2011 to give PepsiCo 100 percent ownership. Wimm-Bill-Dann was founded in 1992. PepsiCo said the firm is the largest manufacturer of dairy products and a major producer of juices and beverages in Russia and the Commonwealth of Independent States, with revenue of about $2.4 billion in the 12 months ended June 2010.

    PepsiCo in February 2010 closed deals to buy its two largest bottlers, Pepsi Bottling Group and PepsiAmericas. PepsiCo had already owned 33 percent of Pepsi Bottling Group and 43 percent of PepsiAmericas.

    Following the bottler acquisitions, PepsiCo created a new operating unit comprising all Pepsi Bottling Group and PepsiAmericas operations in the United States, Canada and Mexico, accounting for about three-quarters of the volume of PepsiCo's North American bottling system; independent franchisees accounted for most of the rest. (Pepsi Bottling Group and PepsiAmericas operations in Europe, including Russia, are managed by PepsiCo's Europe division.)

    Rival Coca-Cola Co. in October 2010 bought Coca-Cola's largest bottler, Coca-Cola Enterprises.

    PepsiCo in 2007 bought Naked Juice Co., a marketer of healthy beverages.

    PepsiCo and Unilever are 50/50 owners of Pepsi Lipton Tea Partnership, a joint venture formed in 1991 that markets ready-to-drink iced teas in the U.S. and Canada under the Unilever-owned Lipton brand. The two companies in 2003 formed Pepsi Lipton International, a joint venture that markets ready-to-drink tea outside North America.

    PepsiCo and Starbucks Corp. in 1994 created a joint venture, North American Coffee Partnership, to market Starbucks-brand ready-to-drink coffee products.

    Management and employees:

    PepsiCo in August 2018 said Ramon Laguarta would succeed Indra K. Nooyi as CEO in October 2018.

    Laguarta was president before moving into the CEO post.

    Nooyi, who was CEO for 12 years, continued as chairman until early 2019.

    Laguarta was age 54 and Nooyi was age 62 at the time of the August 2018 announcement.

    A Barcelona native, Laguarta speaks English, Spanish, Catalan, French, German and Greek.

    History:

    The company was incorporated in 1919.

    PepsiCo in October 1997 spun off Tricon Global Restaurants (KFC, Pizza Hut, Taco Bell) to shareholders as an independent public company. Tricon Global in May 2002 changed its named to Yum Brands. The company's stock ticker symbol is YUM.

    http://www.pepsico.com

Pernod Ricard

  • Marketer profile
    Click here to see company's total worldwide advertising spending, measured-media spending by region, key executives and agencies.

    Overview:

    Pernod Ricard is a global spirits and wine marketer based in France.

    Marketing spending:

    U.S. ad spending:

    Total U.S. advertising spending shown in the Leading National Advertisers report and Marketer Trees database is Ad Age Datacenter's estimate of U.S. "advertising and promotional" spending.

    Worldwide ad spending:

    Total worldwide advertising spending figures shown in the World's Largest Advertisers report and related database are Pernod Ricard's stated worldwide "advertising and promotional expenses" converted to U.S. dollars at average exchange rates by Ad Age Datacenter.

    Pernod Ricard disclosed worldwide "advertising and promotional expenses" of 1.720 billion euros ($2.053 billion) in the fiscal year ended June 30, 2018.

    Deals and strategic moves:

    The company has made no major acquisitions since 2008.

    Glenallachie Distillery (sale; 2017):

    Pernod Ricard and Chivas Brothers in October 2017 sold the Glenallachie Distillery and Glenallachie brand to Billy Walker, Graham Stevenson and Trisha Savage, comprising the GlenAllachie Consortium.

    Del Maguey Single Village Mezcal (2017):

    The company in August 2017 bought a majority stake (about 62 percent) in Del Maguey Single Village Mezcal. Domecq brandies and wines (sale; 2017):

    Pernod Ricard in March 2017 sold its Domecq brandies and wines to Bodega Las Copas, a 50/50 joint venture of Emperador Group and Gonzalez Byass, for 81 million euros ($87 million). The sale included the brand portfolio of Mexican brandies Don Pedro, Presidente and Azteca de Oro as well as a Mexican winery.

    Smooth Ambler (2017):

    The company in January 2017 bought an 80 percent stake in Smooth Ambler, a West Virginia-based producer of high-end spirits including Smooth Ambler Contradiction Bourbon and Old Scout Single Barrel Bourbon. Smooth Ambler Spirits Co. opened in 2009.

    Fris Vodka (sale; 2016):

    Pernod Ricard in September 2016 sold Fris Vodka to Sazerac Co., a Louisiana-based alcoholic beverage marketer.

    Paddy Irish Whiskey (sale; 2016):

    Pernod Ricard's Irish Distillers unit in May 2016 sold Irish Distillers' Paddy Irish Whiskey brand to Sazerac Co. Sale price wasn't disclosed.

    Monkey 47 (2016):

    Pernod Ricard in 2016 bought a majority stake in Germany-based Black Forest Distillers, marketer of Monkey 47, a dry-gin brand produced in Germany.

    Avion Spirits (2014):

    Pernod Ricard in July 2014 bought a majority stake in Avion Spirits, a U.S.-based marketer of Avion, an ultra-premium tequila.

    Kenwood (2014):

    Pernod Ricard in 2014 acquired Kenwood, a premium California wine marketer.

    Caribe Cooler (sale; 2014):

    Pernod Ricard in 2014 sold Caribe Cooler, a major brand in the Mexican ready-to-drink beverage segment.

    Vin&Sprit (2008):

    Pernod Ricard in 2008 bought Vin&Sprit, owner of Absolut vodka.

    Allied Domecq (2005):

    Pernod Ricard in 2005 bought Allied Domecq, doubling in size. The deal included brands such as Mumm and Perrier-Jouet champagnes, Ballantine's whisky, Kahlua and Malibu liqueurs and Beefeater gin.

    Seagram (2001):

    Vivendi Universal (now Vivendi) in 2001 sold Seagram's wine and spirit businesses to Pernod Ricard and rival Diageo. Pernod Ricard gained such brands as Chivas Regal, Glenlivet, Royal Salute and Martell. (Vivendi Universal was formed in December 2000 through a three-way merger of Vivendi, Canal Plus S.A. and Seagram Co. Seagram was a spirits company that in 1985 had purchased MCA (Universal Studios and MCA Music Entertainment Group, now Universal Media Group).)

    Havana Club International (1993):

    Pernod Ricard and the Cuban company Cuba Ron formed Havana Club International, a joint venture to market and sell Havana Club rum.

    Irish Distillers (1988):

    Pernod Ricard bought Irish Distillers, owner of Jameson. History:

    Pernod Ricard was formed in 1975 by the combination of two alcohol marketers, Pernod SA and Ricard SA, which had been long-time competitors in France.

    Pernod was founded in 1805. Ricard opened in 1932.

    http://pernod-ricard.com

Pfizer

  • Marketer profile
    Click here to see company's total worldwide advertising spending, measured-media spending by region, key executives and agencies.

    Overview:

    Pfizer is a marketer of prescription drugs and over-the-counter consumer health care products.

    The company in October 2017 began reviewing strategic alternatives for its consumer health care business, signaling a potential sale or spin-off of the operation.

    Marketing spending:

    U.S. ad spending:

    Total U.S. advertising spending shown in the Leading National Advertisers report and Marketer Trees database is an Ad Age Datacenter estimate.

    Worldwide ad spending:

    Total worldwide advertising spending figures shown in the World's Largest Advertisers report and related database are Pfizer's stated worldwide advertising expenses (including TV, radio and print media costs and production costs).

    Co-promotion on Eliquis:

    Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. and Pfizer co-market Eliquis, a drug approved to reduce the risk of stroke and systemic embolism.

    Bristol-Myers discovered Eliquis; Pfizer has paid for between 50 percent and 60 percent of development costs. The two companies share global commercialization expenses and profits/losses equally. The drug launched in early 2013 in the U.S. Pfizer's 10-K for year ended December 2013 said: "While we are the third entrant in this market, we believe we have a differentiated product profile and continue to invest in medical education and peer-to-peer programs to assist physicians in understanding the data, and we have begun direct-to consumer advertising in the U.S." For this report, Ad Age attaches all Eliquis U.S. ad costs to Bristol-Myers.

    Co-promotion on Enbrel:

    Pfizer advertising in this report excludes Enbrel, an arthritis drug that it holds in a co-promotion venture with Amgen. Pfizer inherited that co-promotion agreement from Wyeth. Amgen markets Enbrel in the U.S. and Canada; Pfizer markets the drug outside the U.S. and Canada. An agreement allowing Pfizer and Amgen to co-promote Enbrel in the U.S. and Canada expired in October 2013.

    Deals and strategic moves:

    Consumer health care:

    Pfizer in October 2017 said it was reviewing strategic alternatives for its consumer health care business.

    In announcing the strategic review, Pfizer said: "A range of options will be considered, including a full or partial separation of the Consumer Healthcare business from Pfizer through a spin-off, sale or other transaction, and Pfizer may ultimately determine to retain the business."

    Pfizer said in its 10-K filing in February 2018: "We expect that any decision regarding strategic alternatives for Consumer Healthcare would be made during 2018."

    This would mark Pfizer's second exit from consumer health care. The company in 2006 sold its consumer health care business to Johnson & Johnson in 2006. Pfizer reentered the consumer business in 2009 with its acquisition of pharma and consumer health care marketer Wyeth.

    Pfizer Consumer Healthcare had 2016 revenues of about $3.4 billion and operates in more than 90 countries. Pfizer said the operation markets two of the 10 top-selling consumer health care brands globally, Centrum and Advil. In addition, Pfizer said, the business has 10 brands that each exceeded $100 million in 2016 sales, and "several local brands that are top-ranked in their respective markets."

    Major categories and product lines in the consumer health care business included:

    Dietary supplements: Centrum, Caltrate, Emergen-C
    Pain management: Advil, Thermacare
    Gastrointestinal: Nexium 24 Hour, Preparation H
    Respiratory: Robitussin, Advil Cold and Sinus
    Personal care: ChapStick, Anbesol

    Pfizer/Allergan merger:

    Pfizer and Allergan on April 6, 2016, terminated a planned merger. The deal, announced Nov. 23, 2015, would have created the world's biggest pharma marketer.

    When it announced the deal's termination, Pfizer said Pfizer would make a decision by the end of 2016 about a potential breakup of Pfizer into two companies, one focused on "innovative" growth businesses and the other on "established businesses." Pfizer on Sept. 26, 2016, said it had decided to remain as one company.

    In terminating the Allergan deal, Pfizer paid Allergan $150 million "for reimbursement of expenses associated with the transaction."

    Pfizer and Allergan abandoned their merger after the U.S. Treasury Department tightened rules on so-called tax inversions. In a tax inversion aimed at slashing Pfizer's tax rate, Dublin-based Allergan Plc would have bought New York-based Pfizer Inc. Allergan Plc then would have changed its name to Pfizer Plc, which would have had its "principal executive offices in Ireland" and "global operational headquarters in New York."

    The announced merger had a total enterprise value of about $160 billion based on share prices before the deal was unveiled.

    The companies had expected to complete the deal in the second half of 2016.

    The companies structured the deal so Pfizer could shift its headquarters for tax purposes to Ireland from the U.S. in a tax inversion. By renouncing its U.S. corporate citizenship and moving abroad, Pfizer would have slashed its tax rate.

    Pfizer, the bigger company, essentially was buying Allergan, a smaller company created through a series of mergers. However, to secure the Irish tax domicile, the companies set this up as a so-called reverse merger in which smaller Allergan would buy Pfizer.

    Pfizer Inc. stockholders would have ended up with about a 56 percent stake in Pfizer Plc.

    Ian Read, Pfizer Inc. chairman-CEO, would have been chairman-CEO of Pfizer Plc.

    The November 2015 deal announcement left open the possibility for a breakup of the new Pfizer Plc: "As a result of the combination with Allergan and subsequent integration of the two companies, Pfizer now expects to make a decision about a potential separation of the combined company's innovative and established businesses by no later than the end of 2018." Under that scenario, Pfizer Plc could split into two companies, one focused on patent-protected "innovative" drugs and the other focused on mature, "established" medicines that have lost or soon will lose patent protection.

    Hospira:

    Pfizer in September 2015 bought Hospira, an Illinois-based marketer of injectable drugs and infusion technologies, for an enterprise value of about $17 billion. Hospira operated as the hospital products business of Abbott Laboratories before Abbott spun off Hospira in 2004 as a separate public company.

    Pfizer in February 2017 sold Hospira's infusion systems business to ICU Medical for about $900 million.

    Proposal to buy AstraZeneca:

    Pfizer in January 2014 privately approached U.K.-based AstraZeneca with an offer to buy the company. AstraZeneca rejected the proposal.

    Pfizer in April 2014 publicly disclosed its interest in AstraZeneca and then publicly announced higher takeover offers in May 2014, including an offer valuing AstraZeneca at about $120 billion that Pfizer said was its "final proposal." AstraZeneca rejected those offers.

    Pfizer on May 26, 2014, said: "On 18 May 2014, Pfizer announced that it had made a final proposal to AstraZeneca to make an offer to combine the two companies. Following the AstraZeneca board's rejection of the proposal, Pfizer announces that it does not intend to make an offer for AstraZeneca."

    Pfizer Chairman-CEO Ian Read said it a statement May 26: "We continue to believe that our final proposal was compelling and represented full value for AstraZeneca based on the information that was available to us. As we said from the start, the pursuit of this transaction was a potential enhancement to our existing strategy. We will continue our focus on the execution of our plans, bringing forth new treatments to meet patients' needs and remaining responsible stewards of our shareholders' capital."

    Nutrition and animal health deals:

    Pfizer in July 2011 said it was exploring strategic alternatives for its nutrition business and animal health business. Pfizer at that time said options could include a full or partial separation of those businesses through a spinoff, sale or other transaction. Pfizer in July 2011 said it expected any transactions from these evaluations to occur in 12 to 24 months. Pfizer completed the process in June 2013.

    Pfizer in 2013 spun off its animal health business under the new name Zoetis. Pfizer staged an initial public offering of a 19.8 percent stake in Zoetis in February 2013. Pfizer then spun off its remaining Zoetis interest to Pfizer shareholders in June 2013. Zoetis in 2012 had worldwide revenue of $4.3 billion ($1.8 billion in the U.S.). Pfizer said the name Zoetis had its root in zo (playing off words such as zoo) and was derived from zoetic, meaning "pertaining to life."

    Zoetis reported worldwide ad costs of $143 million in 2013; $141 million in 2012; $134 million in 2011 and $132 million in 2010.

    Pfizer and Nestle in April 2012 announced a deal for Nestle to buy Pfizer's infant nutrition business for $11.85 billion in cash. Nestle estimated Pfizer Nutrition had 2012 sales at $2.4 billion. The nutrition business had 2011 revenue of about $2.1 billion, up 15 percent from 2010. The sale closed Nov. 30, 2012.

    Pfizer's 10-K for year ended December 2012 said: "While the full purchase price of $11.85 billion was received on November 30, the sale of the business was not completed in certain non-U.S. jurisdictions where regulatory review of the transaction remains ongoing. In these jurisdictions, which represent a relatively small portion of the nutrition business, we continue to operate the business on an interim basis pending regulatory approval or divestiture to a third party buyer. These interim arrangements, pursuant to which Pfizer operates the business for the net economic benefit of Nestle and is indemnified by Nestle against any risk associated with such operations during the interim period, are expected to conclude by the end of 2013 and the sale of these certain jurisdictions are expected to be completed by the end of 2013. As such, and as we have already received all of the expected proceeds from the sale, and as Nestle is contractually obligated to complete the transaction (or permit us to divest the delayed businesses to a third party buyer on its behalf) regardless of the outcome of any pending regulatory reviews, we have treated these delayed-close businesses as sold for accounting purposes."

    Pfizer Nutrition markets infant and toddler formulas as well as maternal and adult nutrition products in about 60 countries. Nestle said Pfizer Nutrition generated 85 percent of its sales from emerging markets.

    Pfizer Nutrition brands included S-26 Gold, SMA and Promil. Nestle's existing portfolio of infant food brands included Nan, Gerber, Lactogen, Nestogen and Cerelac. Pfizer acquired the business in its $68 billion acquisition of drug maker Wyeth in 2009.

    Other deals:

    Pfizer in December 2016 bought AstraZeneca's small molecule anti-infectives business, primarily outside the U.S. Pfizer agreed to make an upfront payment of $550 million to AstraZeneca when the deal closed and a deferred payment of $175 million in January 2019. In addition, AstraZeneca was eligible to receive up to $250 million in milestone payments, up to $600 million in sales-related payments, as well as tiered royalties on sales in certain markets.

    Pfizer in September 2016 bought Medivation, a biopharmaceutical company focused on developing and marketing cancer medicine, for $13.9 billion, net of cash acquired. Medivation in 2009 entered a joint development and marketing agreement with Astellas Pharma for Medivation's Xtandi brand.

    Pfizer in June 2016 bought Palo Alto, Calif.-based Anacor Pharmaceuticals for about $4.5 billion, net of cash acquired. Anacor's flagship product, crisaborole, is a treatment for mild-to-moderate atopic dermatitis, commonly known as eczema. Pfizer expected to complete the acquisition in third-quarter 2016. Anacor's first product, Kerydin, a toenail antifungal treatment, is marketed in the U.S. by Novartis' PharmaDerm unit under a 2014 agreement.

    Pfizer in October 2015 bought GlaxoSmithKline's quadrivalent meningococcal ACWY vaccines, Nimenrix and Mencevax, for about $130 million (115 million pounds).

    Pfizer in September 2014 acquired InnoPharma, a privately held pharmaceutical development company, for $225 million cash plus contingent payments of up to$135 million.

    Pfizer in November 2012 bought NextWave Pharmaceuticals, a privately held specialty pharmaceutical company, for $442 million. As a result of this acquisition, Pfizer gained exclusive North American rights to Quillivant XR, a treatment for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.

    Pfizer in August 2012 entered an agreement with AstraZeneca for global over-the-counter rights for Nexium, a prescription drug for heartburn and acid reflux. Pfizer bought exclusive global rights to market Nexium as an over-the-counter product. Pfizer paid AstraZeneca an upfront payment of $250 million. (Pfizer included the upfront payment in Pfizer's 2012 worldwide research and development expenses, which totaled $7.9 billion.) AstraZeneca was eligible to receive additional payments of up to $550 million based on product launches and level of sales, as well as royalty payments based on sales. Nexium was the No. 9 selling prescription drug worldwide in 2014 and No. 6 in 2013, according to IMS Health. Nexium was the No. 4 selling U.S. prescription drug in 2014 and No. 2 in 2013, according to IMS Health. Pfizer launched its over-the-counter Nexium 24HR in the U.S. in May 2014 and Nexium Control in Europe in August 2014. AstraZeneca's Nexium prescription drug began to face generic competition in the U.S. in early 2015; it already faced generic competition in Europe.

    Pfizer in February 2012 bought Alacer Corp., marketer of Emergen-C, a line of effervescent, powdered drink mix vitamin supplements. (Reckitt Benckiser Group, meanwhile, in December 2012 bought Schiff Nutrition International, whose products include Airborne, which competes with Emergen-C.)

    Pfizer in December 2011 acquired the consumer health care business of Danish firm Ferrosan Holding. The acquisition included dietary supplements and lifestyle products that Ferrosan marketed primarily in the Nordic region and the emerging markets of Russia and Central and Eastern Europe.

    Pfizer in November 2011 bought Excaliard Pharmaceuticals, a biopharmaceutical company focused on developing drugs for treatment of skin fibrosis (skin scarring). Pfizer paid $174 million.

    Pfizer in October 2011 completed its acquisition of Icagen, a biopharmaceutical company focused on discovery, development and commercialization of orally administered small molecule drugs that modulate ion channel targets.

    Pfizer in August 2011 sold its Capsugel business for about $2.4 billion cash.

    Pfizer in January 2011 bought King Pharmaceuticals, a producer of pain medications, for $3.6 billion cash ($3.2 billion, net of cash acquired). Bristol, Tenn.-based King is a diversified specialty pharmaceutical discovery and clinical development company.

    Pfizer in October 2010 bought FoldRx Pharmaceuticals, a privately held drug discovery and clinical development company.

    Pfizer on Oct. 15, 2009, completed the acquisition of Wyeth, a marketer of prescription drugs and over-the-counter health care products, for $68 billion in Pfizer stock and cash. Pfizer struck its deal to buy Wyeth in January 2009. Pfizer already ranked No. 1 in 2008 U.S. prescription drug sales; Wyeth ranked No. 15 in 2008.

    The Wyeth deal put Pfizer back into the consumer products business. Wyeth over-the-counter brands included Advil, Centrum, ChapStick, Dimetapp, Preparation H, Robitussin and ThermaCare.

    (Pfizer began a strategic review of its over-the-counter consumer-health care business in October 2017; see discussion, above.)

    Wyeth reported worldwide advertising expenses -- "composed primarily of television, radio and print media" -- of $721.4 million in 2008; $782.4 million in 2007; and $729.6 million in 2006.

    Wyeth was founded in 1926. Wyeth changed its name from American Home Products Corp. in March 2002. American Home Products had purchased John Wyeth & Brother, a drug maker, in 1931.

    GlaxoSmithKline and Pfizer in October 2009 combined HIV drug operations into a joint-venture company, ViiV Healthcare. Shionogi & Co., a Japanese pharma company, in 2012 became a 10 percent owner of ViiV. GlaxoSmithKline and Pfizer at year-end 2012 owned 76.5 percent and 13.5 percent stakes, respectively.

    Pfizer, focusing on pharmaceuticals, had exited consumer products in December 2006 when it sold Pfizer Consumer Healthcare (part of the former Warner-Lambert) to Johnson & Johnson for $16.6 billion cash. Over-the-counter brands in that transaction included Listerine, Purell, Sudafed, Lubriderm, Rogaine and Nicotrol. Pfizer bought Warner-Lambert in June 2000 for $80 billion.

    Pfizer bought fragrance and cosmetics company Coty in 1963. In June 1992, the Benckiser family company (operating as Joh. A. Benckiser G.m.b.H.) bought Coty from Pfizer for gross proceeds of about $440 million. Coty had been Pfizer's fragrance and cosmetics division.

    Management and employees:

    Pfizer in October 2018 said Albert Bourla, its chief operating officer, would succeed Ian Read as CEO effective Jan. 1, 2019. At that point, Read would move to executive chairman from chairman-CEO.

    Bourla was age 56 and a 25-year veteran of Pfizer at the time of the October 2018 announcement. Read in December 2010 became president-CEO, moving from senior VP and group president of Pfizer's worldwide biopharmaceutical businesses. Read joined Pfizer in 1978 and was 57 when he became CEO.

    As CEO, Read succeeded Chairman-CEO Jeffrey B. Kindler, who unexpectedly resigned in December 2010 after less than five years as CEO and nine years at Pfizer. Kindler was age 55 when he left. Upon Kindler's departure, Pfizer's board picked a board member as non-executive chairman. Read took the chairman post in December 2011.

    History:

    Pfizer was founded in 1849.

    http://www.pfizer.com

Procter & Gamble Co.

  • Marketer profile
    Click here to see company's total worldwide advertising spending, measured-media spending by region, key executives and agencies.

    Overview:

    Procter & Gamble Co., the giant of cleaning and personal care products, is the world's second largest advertiser, behind Samsung Electronics Co.

    P&G also is the second largest U.S. advertiser, behind Comcast Corp.

    P&G markets its products in more than 180 countries and territories.

    Business segments and operations:

    As of June 30, 2018, the company has five reportable segments:

    Beauty
    Grooming
    Health Care
    Fabric & Home Care
    Baby, Feminine & Family Care

    Sales and earnings:

    P&G in year ended June 2017 completed a multi-year plan to streamline its product portfolio by divesting, discontinuing or consolidating about 100 non-strategic brands, allowing the company to focus on a portfolio of about 65 key brands.

    Billion dollar brands:

    P&G didn't disclose billion-dollar brands in its 10-Ks for years ended June 2018, June 2017 and June 2016.

    The company had 22 brands that generate $1 billion or more in worldwide sales, according to information in its 10-K for year ended June 2015. Those brands were:

    Beauty: Head & Shoulders, Olay, Pantene, SK-II, Wella
    Grooming: Fusion, Gillette, Mach3, Prestobarba
    Health Care: Crest, Oral-B, Vicks
    Fabric Care & Home Care: Ariel, Dawn, Downy, Febreze, Gain, Tide
    Baby, Feminine and Family Care: Always, Bounty, Charmin, Pampers.

    P&G in October 2016 divested one of those billion-dollar brands, Wella, to Coty. February 2016 sold Duracell, another billion-dollar brand, to Berkshire Hathaway. P&G in July 2014 sold another billion-dollar brand, Iams, to Mars Inc. See "Deals and strategic moves."

    P&G in April 2015 said Pampers was its largest brand with $10 billion in worldwide annual sales, while Tide was its second largest brand with sales of "about $5 billion."

    Largest customers:

    P&G's largest customer is Walmart. Sales to Walmart (including Walmart and Sam's Club) represented about 15 percent of worldwide sales in fiscal 2018; 16 percent in fiscal 2017; 15 percent of worldwide sales in fiscal 2016, 2015 and 2014; 14 percent in 2013 and 2012; 15 percent in 2011; 16 percent in 2010, 2009 and 2008; and 15 percent in 2007 and 2006.

    P&G said in its 10-K for year ended June 2018: "No other customer represents more than 10 percent of our total sales. Our top ten customers accounted for approximately 36 percent of our total sales in 2018 and 35 percent in both 2017 and 2016." The percentages were 35 percent in 2015 and 2014; 33 percent in 2013; 31 percent in 2012; 32 percent in 2011 and 2010; 30 percent in 2009; 31 percent in 2008; and 30 percent in 2007.

    Marketing spending:

    U.S. ad spending:

    Total U.S. advertising spending figures shown in the Leading National Advertisers report and Marketer Trees database are Ad Age Datacenter estimates for P&G U.S. spending on "advertising plus other marketing costs" for fiscal years ended June 2017 and June 2016.

    U.S. measured-media figures shown are for calendar years 2017 and 2016.

    Worldwide ad spending:

    Total worldwide advertising spending figures shown in the World's Largest Advertisers report and related database are Ad Age Datacenter estimates for P&G worldwide spending on"advertising plus other marketing costs" for fiscal years ended June 2018 and June 2017.

    Global measured-media figures shown are for calendar years 2017 and 2016.

    Samsung Electronics Co. displaced P&G as the biggest advertiser in Ad Age's December 2018 ranking of the World's Largest Advertisers based on Ad Age's calculation of Samsung spending for calendar 2017 ($11.225 billion) and Ad Age's estimate of P&G "advertising plus other marketing costs" for year ended June 2018 ($10.539 billion).

    Ad Age ranks Samsung based on its stated worldwide "advertising" expenses plus "sales promotion" expenses converted to dollars at average exchange rates by Ad Age Datacenter.

    Samsung's stated worldwide "advertising" expenses (rounded):

    2017: 5,350.839 billion won ($4.762 billion) (2.23 percent of worldwide revenue)
    2016: 4,432.109 billion won ($3.812 billion) (2.20 percent of worldwide revenue)

    Samsung's stated worldwide "sales promotion" expenses (rounded):

    2017: 7,262.078 billion won ($6.463 billion) (3.03 percent of worldwide revenue)
    2016: 7,080.554 billion won ($6.089 billion) (3.51 percent of worldwide revenue)Sum: Samsung's stated worldwide advertising plus sales promotion expenses (rounded):

    2017: 12,612.917 billion won ($11.225 billion) (5.26 percent of worldwide revenue)
    2016: 11,512.663 billion won ($9.901 billion) (5.70 percent of worldwide revenue)Advertising plus other marketing costs:

    P&G offers limited disclosure on "advertising plus other marketing costs," also known as advertising spending and non-advertising marketing spending.

    P&G's stated worldwide advertising costs include worldwide television, print, radio, internet and in-store advertising expenses.

    The 10-K for years ended June 2018 and June 2017 said: "Non-advertising related components of the company's total marketing spending reported in SG&A [selling, general and administrative expense] include costs associated with consumer promotions, product sampling and sales aids."

    The 10-K for year ended June 2016 said: "Non-advertising related components of the company's total marketing spending include costs associated with consumer promotions, product sampling and sales aids, which are included in SG&A, as well as coupons and customer trade funds, which are recorded as reductions to net sales."

    P&G's "advertising plus other marketing costs" exclude trade promotions.

    The 10-K for years ended June 2018 and June 2017 said: "Trade promotions, consisting primarily of customer pricing allowances, merchandising funds and consumer coupons, are offered through various programs to customers and consumers. Sales are recorded net of trade promotion spending, which is recognized as incurred, generally at the time of the sale."

    P&G has disclosed specific and implied information on worldwide "advertising plus other marketing costs" as follows for fiscal years ended June 30:

    2018: "Marketing spending as a percentage of net sales decreased 30 basis points, primarily driven by reductions in agency compensation and production costs," according to the 10-K for year ended June 2018. That implies marketing spending was about 15.77 percent of net sales (modeled on the fiscal-2017 and fiscal-2016 percentages shown below). That in turn implies worldwide marketing spending of $10.539 billion in year ended June 2018. The 10-K for year ended June 2018 said this about marketing spending in fiscal 2017 (year ended June 2017): "Marketing spending as a percentage of net sales increased 10 basis points due to an increase in marketing activities, partially offset by productivity savings," reiterating a statement (shown below) made in the 10-K for year ended June 2017.

    2017: "Marketing spending as a percentage of net sales increased 10 basis points due to an increase in marketing activities, partially offset by productivity savings," according to the 10-K for year ended June 2017. That implies marketing spending was about 16.07 percent of net sales (modeled on the fiscal-2016 and fiscal-2015 percentages shown below). That in turn implies worldwide marketing spending of $10.455 billion in year ended June 2017 (excluding spending on beauty brands that were reported as discontinued operations). The 10-K for year ended June 2017 said this about marketing spending in fiscal 2016(year ended June 2016): "Marketing spending as a percentage of net sales increased 90 basis points due to the negative scale impacts from reduced sales," reiterating a statement (shown below) made in the 10-K for year ended June 2016.

    2016: "Marketing spending as a percentage of net sales increased 90 basis points due to the negative scale impacts from reduced sales," according to the 10-K for year ended June 2016. That implies marketing spending was about 15.97 percent of net sales (modeled on the fiscal-2015 and fiscal-2014 percentages shown below). That in turn implies worldwide marketing spending of $10.428 billion in year ended June 2016 (excluding spending on beauty brands and Duracell batteries that were reported as discontinued operations). The 10-K for year ended June 2016 said this about marketing spending in fiscal 2015 (year ended June 2015): "Marketing spending as a percentage of net sales decreased 60 basis points behind lower spending due to efficiency efforts," reiterating a statement (shown below) made in the 10-K for year ended June 2015.

    2015: "Marketing spending as a percentage of net sales decreased 60 basis points behind lower spending due to efficiency efforts," according to the 10-K for year ended June 2015. That implies marketing spending was about 15.07 percent of net sales (modeled on the fiscal-2014 and fiscal-2013 percentages shown below). That in turn implies worldwide marketing spending of $11.495 billion in year ended June 2015 (excluding spending on pet food and Duracell, which were reported as discontinued operations). (Estimated worldwide marketing spending, calculated as 15.07 percent of net sales for year ended June 2015 as restated in the 10-K published for year ended June 2016, was $10.662 billion; that factors out spending on beauty brands that P&G sold to Coty in 2016.) The 10-K for year ended June 2015 said this about marketing spending in fiscal 2014 (year ended June 2014):"Marketing spending as a percentage of net sales decreased 80 basis points primarily due to lower spending behind a focus on more efficient marketing support and scale benefits from increased net sales," reiterating a statement (shown below) made in the 10-K for year ended June 2014.

    2014: "Marketing spending as a percentage of net sales decreased 80 basis points primarily due to lower spending behind a focus on more efficient marketing support and scale benefits from increased net sales," according to the 10-K for year ended June 2014. That implies marketing spending was about 15.67 percent of sales (modeled on the fiscal-2013 percentage shown below). As noted below, CFO (and now Vice Chairman-CFO Jon R. Moeller in November 2014 said marketing was "roughly at $13 billion spend pool"; $13 billion equals 15.65 percent of stated revenue for year ended June 2014 (including Duracell and excluding pet food), tracking closely to the implied 15.67 percent.

    2013:Implied worldwide advertising plus other marketing costs of $13.864 billion (before later restatements following P&G's divestitures of pet food and Duracell). This is Ad Age Datacenter's estimate of spending based on the 10-K's noting a "10 basis point increase in marketing spending as a percentage of net sales," which implied 16.47 percent of sales (modeled on the fiscal-2012 percentage shown below from February 2013; figures do not factor in P&G's restatements of advertising and sales following divestitures).

    2012: Stated worldwide advertising plus other marketing costs of $13.700 billion. Figure stated in February 2013. Based on stated sales and ad-spending figures at the time (before later post-divestiture restatements), that implied 16.37 percent of sales; implying 5.20 percent or $4.355 billion in "other marketing costs" since stated advertising costs were 11.17 percent. That implies that advertising accounted for 68.21 percent of advertising plus other marketing costs.(P&G in September 2012 disclosed rounded percentages of "11.2 percent" for advertising and "5.3 percent" for other marketing.)

    2011: Estimated $13.300 billion. Estimated figure based on chart P&G released in February 2012 that showed fiscal 2011 "advertising plus other marketing costs" was about 16.40 percent of sales. That implies 5.04 percent or $4.090 billion in "other marketing costs" since stated advertising costs were 11.36 percent. That implies that advertising accounted for 69.25 percent of advertising plus other marketing costs. Dollar figures calculated on fiscal 2011 revenue and ad costs as restated in year-end June 2012 10-K. (The company said fiscal 2011 marketing spending as a percentage of net sales increased "due to additional marketing investments to support innovation and expansion plans.")

    2010: Estimated $12.255 billion. Estimated figure based on year-end June 2012 10-K stating that fiscal 2011 "marketing spending as a percentage of net sales increased 60 basis points," or 0.60 percentage points, which implies that fiscal 2010 "advertising plus other marketing costs" was about 15.80 percent of sales. That implies 4.87 percent or $3.780 billion in "other marketing costs" since stated advertising costs were 10.93 percent. That implies that advertising accounted for 69.16 percent of advertising plus other marketing costs. Dollar figures calculated on fiscal 2010 revenue and ad costs as restated in year-end June 2012 10-K. (P&G said fiscal 2010 marketing spending as a percentage of net sales rose "as additional marketing investments, primarily to increase media impressions, and the impact of reduced spending in the fourth quarter of 2009 were partially offset by media rate savings.")

    2009: Estimated $10.918 billion. Estimated figure based on chart P&G released in February 2012 that showed fiscal 2009 "advertising plus other marketing costs" was, by Ad Age Datacenter interpretation, about 14.50 percent of sales. That implies 4.60 percent or $3.465 billion in "other marketing costs" since stated advertising costs were 9.90 percent. That implies that advertising accounted for 68.26 percent of advertising plus other marketing costs. Dollar figures calculated on fiscal 2009 revenue and ad costs as restated in year-end June 2012 10-K. (P&G said fiscal 2009 marketing spending as a percentage of net sales fell "for the total company and for each reportable segment mainly due to media rate reductions, foreign exchange and reductions in the amount of media purchased primarily in the fourth fiscal quarter," the quarter ended June 30, 2009, which also marked the end of the U.S. Great Recession [December 2007 through June 2009].)

    2008: Estimated $11.950 billion. Estimated figure based on chart P&G released in February 2012 that showed fiscal 2008 "advertising plus other marketing costs" was, by Ad Age Datacenter interpretation, about 15.38 percent of sales. That implies 4.53 percent or $3.524 billion in "other marketing costs" since stated advertising costs were 10.84 percent. That implies that advertising accounted for 70.51 percent of advertising plus other marketing costs. Dollar figures calculated on fiscal 2008 revenue and ad costs as restated in year-end June 2012 10-K.

    2007: Estimated $10.890 billion. Estimated figure based on chart P&G released in February 2012 that showed fiscal 2007 "advertising plus other marketing costs" was, by Ad Age Datacenter interpretation, about 15.32 percent of sales. That implies 4.47 percent or $3.176 billion in "other marketing costs" since stated advertising costs were 10.85 percent. That implies that advertising accounted for 70.84 percent of advertising plus other marketing costs. Dollar figures calculated on fiscal 2007 revenue and ad costs as restated in year-end June 2012 10-K.

    2006: Estimated $9.947 billion. Estimated figure based on chart P&G released in February 2012 that showed fiscal 2006 "advertising plus other marketing costs" was, by Ad Age Datacenter interpretation, about 15.44 percent of sales. That implies 4.56 percent or $2.937 billion in "other marketing costs" since stated advertising costs were 10.88 percent. That implies that advertising accounted for 70.47 percent of advertising plus other marketing costs. Dollar figures calculated on fiscal 2006 revenue and ad costs as shown in year-end June 2011 10-K.

    Marketing spending analysis:

    P&G is on a multi-year drive to cut agency and production fees.

    On a July 2018 earnings call, Chairman-CEO David Taylor said P&G has cut agency and production costs by $1 billion annually over the past four fiscal years. It's expected that another $200 million will be cut over the next two fiscal years-years ending June 2019 and June 2020-to meet prior stated targets.

    Taylor said in a February 2018 investor presentation that the company planned to reduce such spending by $400 million through the fiscal year ending June 30, 2021. Taylor's statement came after P&G cut a combined $750 million in those expenses over the previous three fiscal years.

    The process has involved cutting the number of agencies that P&G works with by 60 percent since year ended June 2015, but Taylor said the company would cut further, reducing them by 80 percent from the original base.

    Overall, the moves represent a huge decrease in agency and production fees-$1.15 billion-from a base pegged by analysts at around $2 billion when the process began in mid-2015.

    Around the start of the decade, P&G spent about $1 billion on agency fees and production annually. The February 2018 announcement would appear to take P&G below that mark, albeit in a company with sales around a quarter smaller thanks to divestiture of 100 smaller or less-profitable brands in the ensuing years.

    Agencies:

    P&G in May 2018 consolidated most media duties for its North American hair care business with Dentsu Inc.'s Carat after a review that also involved Omnicom Group's Hearts & Science, incumbent on most of the business.

    P&G in December 2015 had consolidated media planning, buying and search across the U.S., Canada and Puerto Rico with two main agencies. Omnicom won the majority of the business, which was to be handled by Hearts & Science, a newly formed media agency network that operated as part of Omnicom Media Group. Carat landed the rest. The account was divided along category lines. The new assignments were implemented largely in time for P&G's fiscal year that began July 1, 2016. Incumbent Publicis Groupe's Starcom Mediavest Group retained brands being divested by P&G.

    The December 2015 moves followed a media review that P&G began in May 2015 with an initial goal to consolidate all of its giant North American paid media buying and planning account -- handled by at least four incumbents -- with a single agency. Incumbents on buying included Starcom Mediavest Group in the U.S.; Carat in Canada; and WPP's Mediacom in Puerto Rico. In addition, WPP's Catalyst handled search buying, which also was included. P&G since 2004 had split North American media planning between Starcom Mediavest Group and Carat. Incumbents participated in the 2015 review; P&G also invited non-roster agencies. P&G hadn't reviewed U.S. media buying since 1997, though it reviewed Canadian media buying in 2014.

    P&G in May 2015 consolidated creative duties on its grooming businesses with WPP's Grey, moving the Venus, Braun and Art of Shaving brands from Omnicom Group's BBDO Worldwide. This came two years after P&G in April 2013 shifted the global Gillette men's grooming business to Grey following a seven-month review, ending a relationship with BBDO that spanned more than 80 years. BBDO had handled Gillette since BBDO acquired the Clyne Maxon agency in 1966; Maxon had held the account continuously since 1937 following a four-year hiatus, after first winning the business in 1931. Grey has been on P&G's roster since the 1950s.

    P&G in April 2015 revealed plans to cut as much as $500 million from worldwide agency fees under a new drive to reduce its roster of agencies. See discussion in "Marketing spending" section.

    WPP then-CEO Martin Sorrell in November 2015 said P&G was WPP's third largest client; Unilever was its second largest client.

    Sorrell in November 2012 said P&G was WPP's second largest client in the year ended June 2012.

    Deals and strategic moves:

    Acquisitions:

    P&G in April 2018 signed a deal to buy the Consumer Health business of Germany's Merck KGaA for about 3.4 billion euro ($4.2 billion). P&G said the acquisition would replace a joint venture that P&G had with Teva Pharmaceutical Industries (see discussion elsewhere in this profile). In announcing the deal, P&G said: "The $1 billion Consumer Health business of Merck KGaA ... grew 6 percent over the past two years and provides a broad range of OTC product remedies to relieve muscle, joint and back pain, colds and headaches as well as products for supporting physical activity and mobility. Top brands include Neurobion, Dolo-Neurobion, Femibion, Nasivin, Bion3, Seven Seas and Kytta, along with many others. These are sold primarily in Europe, Latin America and Asia." P&G hoped to complete the deal in year ended June 2019. Merck KGaA is a separate company from U.S.-based pharma marketer Merck & Co.

    P&G's 10-K for year ended June 2018 said "acquisition activity used cash of $109 million in [fiscal] 2018, primarily related to acquisitions in the Beauty segment."

    P&G in November 2017 bought Native, a San Francisco-based direct marketer of deodorants.

    P&G's 10-K for year ended June 2017 said"acquisition activity was not material in 2017 or 2016."

    P&G's 10-K for year ended June 2016 said "acquisition activity was not material in 2016 or 2015."

    P&G's 10-K for year ended June 2015 said "acquisition activity was not material in 2015 or 2014."

    P&G's 10-K for year ended June 2014 said "acquisition activity was not material in 2014."

    P&G spent $1.1 billion cash on acquisitions in the year ended June 2013, primarily for the acquisition of its partner's interest in a joint venture in Iberia.

    P&G in March 2012 bought New Chapter, a Vermont-based vitamin supplement business. P&G spent $134 million cash on acquisitions in the year ended June 2012, primarily for New Chapter.

    P&G in year ended June 2011 spent $474 million cash on acquisitions, primarily for Ambi Pur.

    P&G in July 2010 bought Sara Lee Corp.'s Ambi Pur for about $400 million. Ambi Pur was a global air freshener brand sold in 80 countries, with a strong presence in Western Europe and Asia. The business generated annual sales of about 260 million euros ($355 million) in fiscal 2009. In its 10-K for year ended June 2010, P&G said: "We are aggressively working to merge the product innovation and geographic expansion plans of Ambi Pur with the Febreze franchise."

    Smaller acquisitions completed in year ended June 2010 included MDVIP, a physicians' network focused on preventative medicine.

    P&G's 10-K for year ended June 2010 said: "[Total corporate] acquisitions used $425 million of cash in [year ended June] 2010 primarily for the acquisition of Natura."

    P&G in June 2009 bought Art of Shaving, a chain of stores that sells pricey men's shaving products.

    P&G in September 2008 bought Nioxin Research Laboratories, which marketed, according to P&G, "a range of innovative products that focus on the scalp to improve the appearance of thinning hair." Nioxin products are sold in salons and salon stores in more than 40 countries. P&G on Oct. 1, 2005, acquired Gillette Co., marketer of personal care products and Duracell batteries, for $53.4 billion in stock. Worldwide sales for Gillette in its most recent pre-acquisition year (the year ended Dec. 31, 2004) were $10.5 billion.

    Divestitures:

    P&G in year ended June 2017 completed a multi-year plan (begun in calendar 2014) to streamline its product portfolio by divesting, discontinuing or consolidating about 100 non-strategic brands, allowing the company to focus on a portfolio of about 65 key brands.

    Divestures included Duracell batteries, Iams pet food and 43 beauty brands including CoverGirl.

    Coty:

    P&G in October 2016 completed a deal with Coty to divest P&G's beauty products business (salon professional, hair color, cosmetics, fragrances, selected hair-styling brands) into Coty. The deal doubled Coty's size. Coty had actual worldwide net revenue of $4.349 billion in year ended June 2016. Coty had pro forma worldwide net revenue(including the acquired P&G brands) of $8.754 billion in year ended June 30, 2016.

    Sale price was $11.57 billion, consisting of $9.63 billion in total equity consideration and $1.94 billion in assumed debt.

    P&G signed the Coty deal in July 2015. Effective with P&G's fiscal year that began July 1, 2015, P&G reported the beauty products business as a discontinued operation in both current and prior-year periods, stripping out beauty-product sales and expenses (such as ad costs) from P&G's stated results.

    P&G shareholders ended up with an approximately 54 percent stake in the expanded Coty, while Coty's existing shareholders owned 46 percent.

    Under the deal, P&G divested four categories (hair care and color; retail hair color; cosmetics; fine fragrance) including 41 beauty brands (including CoverGirl, Clairol and Wella Professional).

    Brands included in the transaction were Wella Professionals (and its sub-brands), Sebastian Professional, Clairol Professional, Sassoon Professional, Nioxin, SP (System Professional), Koleston, Soft Color, Color Charm, Wellaton, Natural Instincts, Nice & Easy, VS Salonist, VS ProSeries Color, Londa/Kadus, Miss Clairol, L'image, Bellady, Blondor, Welloxon, Shockwaves, New Wave, Design, Silvikrin, Wellaflex, Forte, Wella Styling, Wella Trend, Balsam Color, Hugo Boss, Gucci, Lacoste, Bruno Banani, Escada, Gabriela Sabatini, James Bond 007, Mexx, Stella McCartney, Alexander McQueen, Max Factor and CoverGirl.

    The deal initially was to include two other brands: Dolce & Gabbana fragrances and Christina Aguilera fragrances. Dolce & Gabbana and Shiseido Group in 2016 acquired the worldwide license agreement for the Dolce & Gabbana beauty business. Elizabeth Arden in 2016 bought rights to the Christina Aguilera fragrance brand; after that deal closed, Revlon in September 2016 bought Elizabeth Arden.

    In all, the brands involved in the divestiture to Coty had 2014 U.S. measured-media spending of about $300 million, according to Kantar Media.

    Coty has been controlled by JAB Holding, an investment group based in the Netherlands. JAB Holding (JAB Cosmetics) and related parties owned 96.6 percent voting power in Coty as of September 2015 through JAB's ownership of all of Coty's Class B common stock, according to Coty's proxy statement.

    JAB Holding (JAB Cosmetics) owned 97.5 percent voting power in Coty as of August 2016 through JAB's ownership of all of Coty's Class B common stock, according to Coty's 10-K for year ended June 2016.

    As part of the deal with P&G, JAB converted its Coty shares into Coty Class A common stock. Following that conversion, Coty's common stock would consist of a single class. After the deal, JAB remained the largest individual shareholder, owning about 36 percent of the expanded Coty.

    Duracell:

    P&G Feb. 29, 2016, completed a deal to sell Duracell to Berkshire Hathaway.

    P&G on Nov. 13, 2014, announced that deal. That came after P&G Oct. 24, 2014, disclosed its intent to divest the battery business as a separate company, though the October announcement said P&G would consider "any alternative exit scenario -- including a spin-off, divestiture or other offer -- that generates equal or better value."

    The Berkshire deal worked this way: P&G contributed about $1.9 billion cash to a recapitalized Duracell Co.; Berkshire then traded all the shares it owned in P&G -- worth about $4.7 billion as of November 2014 (and $4.2 billion as of Dec. 31, 2015) -- for Duracell Co. (As part of the exit of the battery business, P&G in November 2014 also sold its interest in a China-based battery joint venture.)

    P&G excluded Duracell sales and expenses (such as ad costs) from its fiscal 2010 through fiscal 2015 financial results in its 10-K filed in August 2015.

    P&G acquired Duracell in P&G's 2005 purchase of Gillette Co. In the deal announcement, Berkshire Chairman-CEO Warren Buffett said: "I have always been impressed by Duracell, as a consumer and as a long-term investor in P&G and Gillette. Duracell is a leading global brand with top quality products, and it will fit well within Berkshire Hathaway."

    Pet food:

    P&G exited the pet-food business in calendar 2014.

    First, P&G July 31, 2014, completed a deal to sell 80 percent of its global pet-food business (including North America and Latin America operations) to Mars Inc. Mars paid $2.9 billion cash to buy billion-dollar (sales) brand Iams and two other brands, Eukanuba and Natura in those markets, adding them to a Mars pet-food portfolio that already included billion-dollar brands Pedigree, Whiskas, Banfield and Royal Canin.

    Mars Inc. then exercised an option to buy an additional 10 percent of the business in additional markets including Japan, Australia and South Africa.

    P&G and Mars had announced their deal in April 2014. In that announcement, P&G then-Chairman-CEO A.G. Lafley said: "Exiting Pet Care is an important step in our strategy to focus P&G's portfolio on the core businesses where we can create the most value for consumers and shareowners. The transaction creates value for P&G shareowners, and we are confident that the business will thrive at Mars, a leading company in pet care."

    P&G Dec. 31, 2014, completed a deal (announced in September 2014) to sell its European pet-food business, representing about 10 percent of P&G's worldwide pet-food business, to U.S.-based Spectrum Brands. In announcing completion of the deal, Spectrum said the Iams and Eukanuba European pet-food business had annual sales of about $200 million, adding that the total European dog and cat food market was estimated to have annual sales of $21 billion with 3 percent to 5 percent annual growth.

    P&G's exit from pet food came four years after P&G expanded its pet-food business with the 2010 acquisition of Natura Pet Products, marketer of Innova, Evo, California Natural, Healthwise, Mother Nature and Karma brands.

    Effective with P&G's fiscal year ended June 2014, P&G reported pet food as a discontinued operation in both current and prior-year periods, excluding pet-food sales and expenses (such as ad costs) from financial results.

    Other divestitures:

    P&G in calendar 2017 sold Lindor, a European line of adult incontinence products, to Germany-based Hartmann Group.

    Henkel in June 2016 bought a range of hair care brands from P&G in the Africa/Middle East and Eastern Europe regions for 212 million euros ($246 million).

    P&G in calendar 2016 sold Tag, a body spray brand, to New Jersey-based My Imports USA.

    P&G in the quarter ended June 2016 sold Hipoglos, a diaper rash cream brand in Brazil, to Johnson & Johnson. Price tag wasn't disclosed.

    P&G in June 2015 sold its Rochas fragrance brand to fragrance marketer Inter Parfums for $108 million. Inter Parfums said the brand had sales of $46 million in fiscal 2013-2014.

    P&G in June 2015 sold its Frederic Fekkai hair care brand and salons to Fekkai Brands, a new joint venture formed by Designer Parfums and Luxe Brands. P&G didn't disclose the sale price. P&G bought the business in 2008.

    P&G May 1, 2015, sold its Camay and Zest brands of soap to rival Unilever. The deal involved the global sale of the Camay brand; the sale of the Zest brand outside of North America and the Caribbean; and the sale of a soap factory in Mexico that employed about 170 people at the time of the sale announcement. Unilever said the brands had turnover (sales) of $225 million in the fiscal year ended June 2014. P&G in January 2011 sold its Zest soap business in the U.S., Canada and Puerto Rico to Brynwood Partners, a buyout firm.

    Also in March 2015, P&G sold the U.S. portion of Vicks VapoSteam, a liquid inhalant product, to Helen of Troy, a marketer of personal care and household consumer products. Helen of Troy also purchased a license for Vicks VapoPad.

    Helen of Troy over time has acquired other P&G castoff brands including Pur water purification products (purchased in 2011); Sure and Pert Plus (purchased in 2010); and Infusium23 hair care products (bought in 2009). (P&G in 2006 sold Pert Plus Shampoo and Sure antiperspirant and deodorant to Innovative Brands. Innovative Brands sold Pert Plus and Sure in March 2010 to Helen of Troy. Helen of Troy markets the line through its Idelle Labs division. Unilever sells a deodorant in the U.K. called Sure; it markets that product as Degree in the U.S. and as Rexona in Europe, Australia, Asia and Latin America.)

    P&G in year ended June 2015 also sold its Wash & Go hair care brand and Laura Biagotti fragrance brand.

    P&G in year ended June 2014 sold its bleach business (marketed under the Ace, Magia Blanca and Lavansan Laundry Bleach brands) in Central and Eastern Europe, Middle East and Africa and Latin America, signaling P&G's full exit from the bleach business. The company in year ended June 2013 sold its Italy bleach market. (P&G owned U.S. bleach marketer Clorox Co. from 1957 to 1969.)

    P&G in April 2012 sold perpetual rights to market Braun small appliances to Italian appliance firm De'Longhi. P&G retained rights to market Braun electric razors. Braun came into the P&G fold with P&G's 2005 acquisition of Gillette Co.

    P&G on May 31, 2012, sold its Pringles snack business to Kellogg Co. for $2.695 billion cash. Kellogg said: "Pringles is the world's second largest player in savory snacks, with $1.5 billion in sales across more than 140 countries and manufacturing operations in the U.S., Europe and Asia." P&G and Kellogg announced the Pringles deal on Feb. 15, 2012, the same day P&G said it and Diamond Foods had mutually terminated an April 2011 agreement for Diamond to buy Pringles in a transaction valued at $2.35 billion. Diamond in 2012 was grappling with major accounting issues and management flux, making it less likely that Diamond would complete the deal. Pringles was developed in-house by P&G. (Snyder's-Lance, a snack marketer, in October 2015 signed a deal to buy Diamond Foods.)

    P&G in December 2011 sold its Pur brand of water purification products to Helen of Troy. The sale included the worldwide Pur trademark, its current and future product line, assets related to the operations of the Pur business, manufacturing equipment and more than 200 patents. Helen of Troy said Pur sales for the 12 months ending Dec. 31, 2012, were expected to exceed $110 million.

    P&G bought Pur in 1999 for $213 million, according to a research note from Deutsche Bank, which said sales grew from $71 million that year to $160 million in 2005. The sale to Helen of Troy did not include P&G's Children's Safe Drinking Water corporate philanthropy program. The powder product and patents used in that program remained with P&G, which planned to transition that effort to the P&G corporate name.

    Also in fiscal 2011, P&G divested the Infasil deodorant/personal care brand in Western Europe. P&G generated $225 million cash from fiscal 2011 asset sales, mainly due to the sale of Infasil and Zest.

    P&G discontinued the Max Factor brand in the U.S. effective in the first quarter of calendar 2010. P&G continued selling the cosmetics brand in 70 other countries, including 20 where it was the No. 1 brand, and in the U.K. and Russia, where it was the No. 2 brand. P&G bought the Max Factor and Betrix lines of cosmetics and fragrances from Revlon for $1 billion in 1991.

    P&G in October 2009 sold its global pharmaceuticals business to Warner Chilcott, a pharma firm based in Ireland. P&G generated $3.1 billion cash from fiscal 2010 asset sales, mainly due to the sale of the pharmaceuticals business. (Warner Chilcott later morphed into Actavis Plc.)

    P&G in March 2009 sold Johnson Products Co. to a group backed by two Southern California buyout firms, Rustic Canyon/Fontis Partners and St. Cloud Capital. Johnson Products markets African-American hair care products. Terms weren't disclosed. P&G bought the company in 2003.

    P&G on Oct. 1, 2008, sold the Noxzema skin care business in the United States, Canada and portions of Latin America, as well as the worldwide rights and trademarks to the Noxzema brand, to Alberto-Culver Co. for $81 million cash. P&G bought Noxell Corp., marketer of Noxzema and CoverGirl, in 1989. P&G rival Unilever in 2011 acquired Alberto-Culver.

    P&G in September 2008 sold ThermaCare, an over-the-counter heat wrap, to Wyeth. Pfizer bought Wyeth in 2009.

    P&G in November 2008 sold its Folgers coffee business to J.M. Smucker Co. Smucker valued the purchase price at $3.7 billion. Under the agreement, Folgers was spun off to shareholders and then simultaneously merged into Smucker; P&G shareholders ended up with a 53.5 percent stake in Smucker. The venerable jam marketer in 2002 bought two other P&G brands, Jif peanut butter and Crisco shortening. (Smucker in May 2008 added another brand, buying the Knott's Berry Farm jams and jellies business from ConAgra Foods.) P&G acquired Folgers in 1963.

    P&G in October 2007 had said it was exploring options for divesting its coffee and snack businesses, including Folgers and Pringles. P&G in January 2008 said it intended to split off or spin off Folgers between July and December 2008. It said the coffee business had $1.6 billion in sales and operating income of $350 million in the year ended June 2007. P&G bought Folgers in 1963.

    In early 2006, P&G sold the Yardley soap brand to Lornamead Brands in the U.K. Yardley had limited U.S. distribution.

    In calendar 2005 and 2006, P&G made several divestitures in the wake of its 2005 Gillette acquisition. The merged company, in compliance with Federal Trade Commission approval, sold Right Guard, Soft & Dri and Dry Idea to Henkel (Dial) for $420 million in May 2006. P&G in late 2005 sold Gillette's Rembrandt oral care line to Johnson & Johnson and P&G's battery-powered SpinBrush toothbrush to Church & Dwight for $75 million.

    Joint ventures:

    Teva:

    P&G effective July 1, 2018, ended a joint venture, PGT Healthcare, that it had with Teva Pharmaceutical Industries.

    P&G said in April 2018: "The PGT Healthcare joint venture delivered disproportionate top- and bottom-line growth and established a major presence in over 50 countries since its formation. However, following a recent review, Teva and P&G concluded that priorities and strategies were no longer aligned and agreed to terms where it would be mutually beneficial to terminate the partnership. PGT product assets will return to their respective parent companies to reestablish independent OTC businesses."

    P&G and Teva in March 2011 announced the joint venture to combine the companies' over-the-counter drug businesses in all markets outside of North America. The markets included in the joint venture generated sales of more than $1 billion in 2010.

    PGT Healthcare, based in Geneva, officially launched in November 2011. P&G owned 51 percent of the venture; Teva owned 49 percent. P&G consolidated 100 percent of the joint venture's sales and operating profits on P&G's financial statements.

    Under the partnership, Teva took global responsibility for manufacturing to supply the joint venture markets and P&G's existing North American business. Teva, based in Israel, was the world's largest manufacturer of generic drugs. The deal married P&G's brand building and marketing with Teva's geographic reach, experience in R&D, regulatory and manufacturing and portfolio of products.

    P&G and Teva said in announcing the joint venture: "By broadening its OTC product offerings, Teva will further strengthen its position with major pharmacy customers around the world. For P&G, the partnership will accelerate global expansion of its leading OTC brands such as Vicks, Metamucil and Pepto-Bismol." P&G and Teva added: "This partnership will enable both companies to generate greater value from their existing OTC businesses. In addition, the partnership will exploit opportunities to develop Rx-to-OTC switches to create new trusted brands to be marketed worldwide, including in North America."

    Management and employees:

    President-CEO David S. Taylor added the title of chairman effective July 1, 2016, when Alan George "A.G." Lafley stepped down as executive chairman.

    P&G July 28, 2015, promoted Taylor to president-CEO from group president of global beauty, grooming and health care, effective Nov. 1, 2015. Taylor succeeded Lafley as president-CEO; Lafley continued to be board chairman, with the new title of executive chairman. Taylor, a Charlotte native and Duke University graduate, joined P&G in 1980 as a production manager in Greenville, N.C.

    In a surprise announcement, P&G on May 23, 2013, brought back Lafley for a second stint as chairman-president-CEO, effective immediately. Lafley was age 65 at the time. He replaced Robert A. "Bob" McDonald, who retired from the company June 30, 2013.

    In a statement announcing Lafley's return and McDonald's exit, P&G Presiding Director Jim McNerney said: "A.G.'s track record and his depth of experience at P&G make him uniquely qualified to lead the company forward at this important time. The board expects A.G. to further improve results, implement the current productivity plan and facilitate an ongoing succession process. The board is confident that he will continue improving P&G's performance. ... We thank Bob for his service and note the company's improving business performance."

    Lafley originally joined P&G in June 1977. He became CEO on June 8, 2000, a week before he turned 53; Lafley was born June 13, 1947. Lafley stepped down as CEO in 2009, when McDonald, his hand-picked successor, moved into the top job. McDonald added the chairman title Jan. 1, 2010, when Lafley retired from that post.

    McDonald joined P&G in June 1980 and served as chief operating officer before becoming CEO. McDonald was 56 when he became CEO; he was born June 20, 1953. McDonald, a West Point graduate and army veteran, in July 2014 became U.S. Secretary of Veterans Affairs.

    Robert A. Steele, vice chairman-global health and well-being, responsible for oral care, feminine care, personal health care, pet care and snacks, retired effective Sept. 1, 2011, after 35 years at the company.

    Ed Shirley, 54, the highest-ranking executive remaining from P&G's 2005 acquisition of Gillette Co., stepped down as vice chairman-global beauty and grooming effective July 1, 2011. He formally retired in January 2012. Bacardi Ltd., a spirits marketer, hired Shirley as president-CEO in March 2012.

    Jim Stengel, P&G's global marketing officer, left the company Oct. 1, 2008. Stengel was born May 5, 1955, joined P&G in 1983 and became global marketing officer in August 2001.

    Stengel was succeeded as global marketing officer by Marc Pritchard, formerly president-strategy, productivity and growth. Pritchard was born May 14, 1960, and joined P&G in May 1982.

    History:

    Procter & Gamble was incorporated in Ohio in 1905, building on a business founded in 1837 by William Procter and James Gamble. The company celebrated its 175th anniversary in 2012.

    http://www.pg.com

PSA Group (Peugeot, Citroen, Opel, Vauxhall)

  • Marketer profile
    Click here to see company's total worldwide advertising spending, measured-media spending by region, key executives and agencies.

    Overview:

    PSA Group is an automaker based in Rueil-Malmaison, a suburb of Paris. It markets vehicles under the Peugeot, Citroen, DS, Opel and Vauxhall brands.

    General Motors Co. on July 31, 2017, sold its European unit, the Opel and Vauxhall business, to PSA Group.

    PSA Peugeot Citroen in April 2016 rebranded as Groupe PSA, also known as PSA Group.

    Business segments and operations:

    The company's legal name is Peugeot S.A.

    Groupe PSA, or PSA Group, refers to the entire group of companies owned by the Peugeot S.A. holding company.

    PSA Group in 2017 sold 3,632,000 vehicles worldwide, according to the company's registration document for year ended December 2017.

    (French rival Renault in 2017 sold 3,761,634 vehicles worldwide, based on worldwide registrations, according to Renault's registration document for year ended December 2017.)

    Marketing spending:

    Worldwide ad spending:

    Total worldwide advertising spending figures shown in the World's Largest Advertisers report and related database are Ad Age Datacenter estimates of pro forma spending including Opel and Vauxhall (acquired in August 2017).

    Deals and strategic moves:

    General Motors:

    General Motors Co. July 31, 2017, sold Opel/Vauxhall, its European unit, to PSA Group. GM Oct. 31, 2017, sold GM Financial's European operations to PSA and French bank BNP Paribas. GM valued the sale at $2.5 billion, consisting of $2.2 billion in cash and $808 million in warrants in PSA, partially offset by a $455 million payment made to PSA for assuming some underfunded pension liabilities.

    PSA on Aug. 1, 2017, announced the closing of the acquisition of Opel and Vauxhall, followed on Nov. 1, 2017, by the closing of the joint acquisition of the Opel/Vauxhall captive finance operations.

    GM in March 2012 entered a global strategic alliance with PSA Peugeot Citroen. The alliance was to include sharing of vehicle platforms, components and modules; and creation of a global purchasing joint venture for the sourcing of commodities, components and other goods and services from suppliers. The automakers said: "Each company will continue to market and sell its vehicles independently and on a competitive basis." As part of the agreement, GM bought a 7 percent stake in PSA Peugeot Citroen, making GM the second largest shareholder behind the Peugeot family group.

    GM in December 2013 sold its 7 percent stake in PSA Peugeot Citroen for $339 million through a private placement to institutional investors. Steve Girsky, then GM's vice chairman, said in a statement: "The alliance remains strong with our focus on joint vehicle programs, cross manufacturing, purchasing, and logistics. We're making good progress while remaining open to new opportunities."

    History:

    Peugeot S.A. was founded in 1896.

    Peugeot S.A. in 1974 bought rival Citrodn S.A. and then merged the two companies in 1976.

    Chrysler Corp. in 1978 sold its European manufacturing and sales operations, operating under the Talbot brand, to Peugeot S.A.

    https://www.groupe-psa.com/en/

Rakuten

  • Marketer profile
    Click here to see company's total worldwide advertising spending, measured-media spending by region, key executives and agencies.

    Overview:

    Rakuten, founded in 1997 as an internet shopping mall in Japan, is a global firm encompassing more than 70 businesses involved in e-commerce, digital content, communications, advertising technology and financial technology.

    Marketing spending:

    Worldwide ad spending:

    Total worldwide advertising spending figures shown in the World's Largest Advertisers report and related database are Rakuten's stated worldwide "advertising and promotion expenditures" converted to U.S. dollars at average exchange rates by Ad Age Datacenter.

    Rakuten disclosed the following worldwide "advertising and promotion expenditures" for calendar year:

    2017: 152.383 billion yen ($1.359 billion).
    2016: 121.286 billion yen ($1.118 billion).
    2015: 100.554 billion yen ($831.6 million).
    2014: 83.884 billion yen ($795.2 million.)

    Deals and strategic moves:

    Selected U.S. acquisitions:

    Rakuten in October 2014 bought Ebates, a U.S. membership-based online cash-back site. The deal included FatWallet, a comparison shopping site acquired by Ebates in 2011. Rakuten closed FatWallet in October 2017.

    Rakuten in July 2010 bought Buy.com (now Rakuten.com), a U.S. e-commerce site.

    The company in October 2005 entered the U.S. affiliate marketing business by acquiring LinkShare Corp. (now Rakuten Marketing LLC).

    Stock:

    Rakuten went public in April 2000 in Japan.

    History:

    MDM Inc. was founded in February 1997.

    MDM in May 1997 launched Rakuten Ichiba, an internet shopping mall in Japan with 13 participating merchants.

    MDM in June 1999 was renamed Rakuten Inc.

    Rakuten Ichiba was named after Rakuichi-Rakuza, a marketplace that opened in Japan in the 16th century. The company said "Rakuten Ichiba" literally means a "market of positive spirit" where shopping is entertainment.

    The company bills Rakuten Ichiba as Japan's largest internet shopping mall.

    http://global.rakuten.com/en/

RB (Reckitt Benckiser Group)

  • Marketer profile
    Click here to see company's total worldwide advertising spending, measured-media spending by region, key executives and agencies.

    Overview:

    RB, formally known as Reckitt Benckiser Group, is a personal care, health care and cleaning products marketer based in the U.K.

    RB in August 2017 sold its food business, including the French's, Frank's RedHot and Cattlemen's brands. RB in June 2017 bought Mead Johnson Nutrition Co., a marketer of infant formulas and other nutritional products.

    Sales and earnings:

    Geographic structure:

    RB includes the U.S. in its Europe, North America and Australia/New Zealand region.

    The U.S. accounted for 24.5 percent of worldwide revenue in 2017; 24.0 percent in 2016 (restated); 26.3 percent in 2015; 23.6 percent in 2014; 23.4 percent in 2013 (restated); 25.9 percent in 2012; and 24.3 percent in 2011.

    Accounting change:

    In its annual report for year ended December 2012, RB restated its income statement for year ended December 2011 "to reflect a change in the group's accounting policy for certain consumer promotional costs." RB said: "The group now treats certain consumer promotional costs as cost of sales where previously these were classified as marketing in net operating expenses. The directors believe that this change provides more relevant information about the performance of the group and aligns the group's accounting policies with common industry practice." The restatement did not change RB's 2011 net revenue.

    Marketing spending:

    U.S. ad spending:

    Total U.S. advertising spending shown in the Leading National Advertisers report and Marketer Trees database is an Ad Age Datacenter estimate of RB's U.S. "brand equity investment."

    Spending shown for 2017 and 2016 is estimated pro forma ad spending including Mead Johnson.

    Worldwide ad spending:

    Spending shown for 2017 and 2016 is estimated pro forma "brand equity investment" including Mead Johnson.

    Total worldwide advertising spending shown in the World's Largest Advertisers report and related database was calculated by Ad Age Datacenter as follows:Ad Age Datacenter calculated RB's worldwide brand equity investment--used by Ad Age as proxy for ad spending--based on RB disclosures, translating figures into dollars at average exchange rates. Figures exclude RB Pharmaceuticals, which RB in 2014 spun off as a separate company (see "Deals and strategic moves").

    In its annual report for year ended December 2017, the company said worldwide spending on brand equity investment (BEI) was 14.0 percent of net revenue. That compares to 13.6 percent in 2016 (restated); 12.7 percent in 2015; 12.9 percent in 2014; 13.0 percent in 2013; 12.7 percent in 2012 and 12.0 percent in 2011.

    In its annual report for year ended December 2017, RB said worldwide spending on brand equity investment was 13.4 percent of its "base business" net revenue in 2017, down from 13.6 percent in 2016. RB defined "base business" as RB's group results as reported excluding Mead Johnson Nutrition, which RB bought in June 2017.

    In the annual report for year ended December 2017, RB said:

    "Investment increased across the majority of our brands, with this increase offset by reduced investment behind the Scholl/Amope Wet & Dry Pedi." RB said Mead Johnson Nutrition's brand equity investment increased by about 50 basis points -- one half percentage point -- in 2017, "driven by higher investments in key markets."

    RB said its 2016 increase in brand equity investment equated to an incremental 63 million pounds -- $85.5 million -- increase over 2015 using constant exchange rates. (These facts came from RB's annual report for year ended December 2016. RB restated 2016 results in its annual report for year ended December 2017 to exclude its food business, which RB sold in August 2017.)

    RB said its 2015 increase in brand equity investment equated to an incremental 48 million pounds -- $73.4 million -- increase over 2014 using constant exchange rates.

    RB said its 2014 increase in brand equity investment equated to an incremental 30 million pounds -- $49.4 million -- increase over 2013 using constant exchange rates.

    RB said its 2013 increase in brand equity investment equated to an incremental 100 million pound -- $156 million --increase over 2012 using constant exchange rates.

    In its annual report for year ended December 2012, the company said 2012 worldwide spending on "brand equity investment" (also called "brand equity building activities") rose to 12.7 percent of "net revenue (excluding RB Pharmaceuticals)" from 12.0 percent in 2011. Within that spending, RB said, 2012 worldwide "pure media spend" rose 9 percent in constant currency to a level of 11.7 percent of "net revenue (excluding RB Pharmaceuticals)."

    In its annual report for year ended December 2011, the company said total worldwide marketing spending rose in 2011, with "pure media spend" up 8 percent (or 9 percent in constant currency) to 10.4 percent of net revenue; vs. 10.7 percent of revenue in 2010; and 11.1 percent of revenue in 2009.

    What RB means by brand equity investment:

    In its annual report for year ended December 2017, RB said: "BEI represents our Brand Equity Investment and is the marketing support designed to capture the voice, mind and heart of our consumers and is presented as a component of distribution costs within Net Operating Expenditure."

    In its annual report for years ended December 2016 and December 2015, RB said brand equity investment "includes our TV and print media spend, digital and social media investment and consumer and medical education."

    In its annual report for year ended December 2014, RB said brand equity investment "includes a combination of TV and print media, digital and social media investment and consumer and medical education."

    In its annual report for year ended December 2013, RB said brand equity investment"encompasses TV and print, social and digital media, and consumer and medical marketing. It is a key metric for us and represents a combination of category and penetration building activities, as well as consumer and doctor awareness and education programmes."

    In its annual report for year ended December 2012, RB defined "brand equity investment" as "investing in education and communication on how to get the most from our products," including advertising in traditional and digital media and spending on "extensive consumer and professional education and information campaigns, such as new mother programmes, in-school hand washing and hygiene programmes, pharmacist education programmes and health professionals development programmes." RB said in its annual report: "Combined, these activities build the equity of, and trust in, our brands."

    RB in June 2017 bought Mead Johnson Nutrition Co. Mead Johnson disclosed the following worldwide advertising costs:

    2016: $223.8 million (6.0 percent of worldwide net sales)
    2015: $218.7 million (5.4 percent of worldwide net sales)
    2014: $206.2 million (4.7 percent of worldwide net sales)
    2013: $226.7 million (5.4 percent of worldwide net sales)
    2012: $180.3 million (4.6 percent of worldwide net sales)
    2011: $180.6 million (4.9 percent of worldwide net sales)
    2010: $155.3 million (4.9 percent of worldwide net sales)
    2009: $136.9 million (4.8 percent of worldwide net sales)
    2008: $115.3 million (4.0 percent of worldwide net sales)
    2007: $92.9 million (3.6 percent of worldwide net sales)

    Agencies:

    RB in May 2014 added three agencies to its global roster following a review:

    It hired independent Droga5, New York, to lead creative development on Air Wick and Clearasil globally. Both formerly were handled by Havas' Havas Worldwide.

    The company hired independent Wieden & Kennedy to lead creative development on Finish globally. Havas formerly handled Finish.

    The company appointed Interpublic Group of Cos.' McCann Erickson Worldwide to lead creative development on Mucinex and Delsym. RB formerly handled those two brands in-house.

    RB said Havas' Havas Worldwide "continues to be a key agency partner and retains the rest of the extensive brand portfolio."

    Agency Assessments International managed the creative review.

    RB in December 2013 named four agencies to handle its global media-planning and media-buying account following a review.

    Dentsu Inc.'s Aegis won the U.S. media business, replacing Publicis Groupe's ZenithOptimedia (now Zenith).

    Publicis Groupe remained on the global RB roster along with incumbent Havas Media and newcomers Aegis and IPG Mediabrands, which is part of Interpublic.

    To avoid a conflict with Procter & Gamble Co., a client of Dentsu Aegis Network's Carat, Aegis set up Team Aegis (consisting of employees from Carat, Vizeum, Aegis and iProspect), housed in Vizeum offices in New York's Times Square. Carat's New York offices are in Midtown East.

    The media review came four years after RB's last global media review, which named Publicis Groupe's Zenith Media and Havas Media.

    Deals and strategic moves:

    Mead Johnson:

    RB on June 15, 2017, completed a deal to buy Mead Johnson Nutrition Co., a marketer of infant formulas and other nutritional products, for $16.6 billion (or $17.9 billion including Mead Johnson's net debt). RB announced the deal in February 2017.

    Mead Johnson markets the Enfa line (including Enfamil infant formula), which Mead Johnson described as "the world's leading brand franchise in pediatric nutrition" in its 10-K for year ended December 2016.

    Mead Johnson formerly was owned by Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. Bristol-Myers bought the business in 1967 and spun it off in an initial public offering in 2009. Mead Johnson was founded in 1905.

    Mead Johnson reported 2016 worldwide revenue of $3.7 billion, down 8.1 percent from 2015. Mead Johnson disclosed 2016 worldwide ad spending of $223.8 million (6.0 percent of worldwide net sales). See "Marketing Spending" section.

    Indivior (formerly RB Pharmaceuticals) spinoff:

    RB in December 2014 spun off its RB Pharmaceuticals unit as a separate U.K.-based public company, Indivior.

    RB in October 2013 had announced a "strategic review" of RB Pharmaceuticals, a small player in the global pharma market that sells Suboxone and Subutex, treatments for opiate dependence. RB in July 2014 said it would pursue a demerger of RB Pharmaceuticals.

    RB in 2013 began to face U.S. generic competition for Suboxone. RB withdrew its Suboxone tablets from the U.S. market in March 2013 but continued to sell the drug in a sublingual film version.

    RB said in its annual report for year ended December 2013: "We have consistently said that, once generic competition to RB Pharmaceuticals' Suboxone had been on the market in the U.S. for a number of months, we would examine all the options for what is a very valuable asset. That review is ongoing and we will update our shareholders during 2014."

    RB said in its annual report for year ended December 2013: "Our RB Pharmaceuticals' business may face price pressure or share loss from the increased branded and generic competition that is entering the market both in the US and in the rest of world leading to a material reduction in net revenue from this product adversely affecting our overall revenues and operating profit."

    Food business sale:

    RB in August 2017 sold its food business, including the French's, Frank's RedHot and Cattlemen's brands, to spice marketer McCormick & Co. for $4.21 billion (net of acquired cash of $24.3 million). The deal was announced in July 2017.

    RB in April 2017 had said it was beginning a strategic review of the food business. RB's key food brand was French's, a U.S. mustard brand. The company said: "French's Food is a truly fantastic business with great brands, people and a history of outperformance. It is nevertheless non core to RB. We have therefore decided to initiate a strategic review of Food where we will explore all options for this great business."

    Other deals:

    RB in October 2016 bought Hypermarcas' Brazilian condom and lubricants business (Nances Holdings) for 671 million Brazilian real ($206 million). Hypermarcas was the leading Brazilian condom manufacturer through its three brands--Jontex, Olla and Lovetex.

    RB in October 2015 sold its Medcom hospital business in Russia.

    RB in August 2014 licensed the Scholl brand outside the Americas to German investment firm Aurelius for use in the footwear market. RB kept the non-Americas Scholl-brand foot-care business, such as insoles. (RB in November 2010 completed a deal to buy SSL International, marketer of Durex condoms and, outside North America and Latin America, Scholl footwear and foot-care products, for $3.9 billion.) Bayer owns the Scholl brand in the Americas.

    RB in May 2014 bought K-Y, a brand of personal lubricants, from Johnson & Johnson. K-Y started as a prescription medical device in 1917 and switched to an over-the-counter product in 1980. RB already owned another sex-related product, Durex condoms. RB said K-Y had 2013 worldwide revenue of more than $100 million. K-Y is sold in more than 50 countries, with the U.S., Canada and Brazil accounting for the majority of 2013 sales. The sale to RB was approved in all markets except New Zealand, where RB was unable to acquire the brand for antitrust reasons. The U.K. regulatory authority in August 2015 approved the deal on condition that RB license the brand to a competitor in Britain for eight years.

    RB on April 28, 2014, disclosed that RB was "in discussions with Merck regarding an offer for [Merck's] consumer health business. We understand that we are part of a competitive process." Two days later, RB said: "RB now confirms that it is no longer in active discussion regarding an offer for Merck's consumer health business." Merck May 6, 2014, announced a deal to sell the consumer business to Bayer; Bayer completed that deal in October 2014.

    RB and Bristol-Myers Squibb in May 2013 began a three-year "collaboration" involving several over-the-counter products sold primarily in Mexico and Brazil. Net sales of these products were about $100 million in 2012. During the three-year period, RB was responsible for sales, distribution and marketing; Bristol-Myers Squibb supplied the products. RB in July 2015 exercised options to buy the brands and a Bristol-Myers Squibb factory in Mexico that makes the products at the end of the collaboration period in May 2016.

    RB in December 2012 acquired Schiff Nutrition International, a U.S. marketer of vitamins, nutrition supplements and nutrition bars, for $1.4 billion. Schiff brands included MegaRed, Move Free and Airborne supplements and Schiff Vitamins. Schiff in March 2012 had acquired Airborne Inc. for $150.2 million from GF Capital, a New York buyout firm that bought Airborne in October 2009.

    Schiff reported advertising and marketing expenses (excluding promotional incentives) of $44.5 million in year ended May 2012; $21.2 million in year ended May 2011; and $20.2 million in year ended May 2010. Schiff reported advertising costs, including cooperative advertising payments to retailers, of $37.0 million in year ended May 2012; $15.7 million in year ended May 2011; and $15.1 million in year ended May 2010. (Schiff Nutrition International was known as Weider Nutrition International until 2005, when the company sold its Weider branded business and Haleko business unit. Joe Weider, the bodybuilding enthusiast behind Weider Nutrition, died in March 2013 at age 93.)

    RB said in its annual report for year ended December 2012 that the Schiff acquisition "gave us a powerful entry into the large and growing global vitamins, minerals and supplements market. This is one of the largest consumer health care categories in the world and we now have a strong platform in the US -- the world's largest market in this category -- from which to grow in this new area."

    RB's acquisition of Airborne followed Pfizer's February 2012 acquisition of Alacer Corp., marketer of Emergen-C, a line of effervescent, powdered drink mix vitamin supplements.

    RB in January 2008 paid $2.3 billion to acquire Adams Respiratory Therapeutics, marketer of Mucinex, the top-selling over-the-counter expectorant in the U.S., and Delsym, a 12-hour liquid cough suppressant.

    RB in February 2006 bought Boots Healthcare International, the consumer health care unit of U.K.-based Boots Group. The acquired Boots brands included Clearasil, an acne skin care brand that Boots had purchased from Procter & Gamble Co. in 2000.

    Relationship with JAB Holding:

    JAB Holding held a 6.0 percent stake in March 2018; 8.9 percent stake in March 2017 and March 2016; 10.6 percent stake in March 2015; 10.7 percent in March 2014; 10.7 percent in March 2013; 15.4 percent in March 2012; and 15.3 percent in March 2011.

    JAB Holding, based in the Netherlands, holds the investments of the family of Johan A. Benckiser, who in 1823 founded what would evolve into RB.

    The family in 1996 split its package-goods holdings into two companies: Coty, a beauty products marketer it had acquired in 1992; and Benckiser, a cleaning-products marketer. The cleaning products business in 1997 went public in the Netherlands as Benckiser NV. In 1999, Benckiser NV (then 59 percent owned by JAB) merged with the U.K.'s Reckitt & Colman to form Reckitt Benckiser.

    Reckitt Benckiser Group now goes by the identity "RB." The company's annual report for year ended December 2013 said: "It was decided to change the trading name of the company to 'RB,' moving away from the harder to say, spell and search 'Reckitt Benckiser.' There are no changes to legal entity names."

    Coty in June 2013 went public through a U.S. initial public stock offering. Before and after the IPO, JAB Holding controlled Coty. Management and employees:

    Rakesh Kapoor became CEO Sept. 1, 2011, succeeding Bart Becht. Kapoor joined RB in India in 1987 and was executive VP-global category development before taking over as CEO.

    http://www.rb.com

Recruit Holdings Co.

  • Marketer profile
    Click here to see company's total worldwide advertising spending, measured-media spending by region, key executives and agencies.

    Overview:

    Recruit Holdings Co. is a media and services company based in Japan.

    The company has acquired U.S. brands including jobs site Glassdoor and Indeed and real estate site Movoto.

    Business segments and operations:

    Recruit Holdings reports its operations through three segments:

    HR Technology (Indeed and Glassdoor).

    Media & Solutions, consisting of two business operations, MarketingSolutions and HR Solutions.

    Staffing (Japan and overseas operations, primarily offering temporary staffing services for clerical, manufacturing, light industry and various professional positions). Sales and earnings:

    Recruit changed its accounting to International Financial Reporting Standards from Japanese generally accepted accounting principles effective for year ended March 2018 (fiscal 2017).

    Marketing spending:

    Worldwide ad spending:

    Total worldwide ad spending figures shown in the World's Largest Advertisers report and related database are Recruit Holdings' stated worldwide "advertising expenses" plus "sales and promotion expenses" converted to U.S. dollars at average exchange rates by Ad Age Datacenter.

    Recruit Holdings disclosed the following worldwide "advertising expenses" under International Financial Accounting Standards:

    2017 (year ended March 2018): 138.1 billion yen ($1.247 billion)
    2016 (year ended March 2017): 108.7 billion yen ($1.005 billion)

    Recruit Holdings disclosed the following worldwide "sales and promotion expenses" under IFRS:

    2017 (year ended March 2018): 44.3 billion yen ($400.0 million)
    2016 (year ended March 2017): 44.1 billion yen ($407.9 million)

    Sum of Recruit Holdings' stated "advertising" and "sales and promotion" expenses under IFRS:

    2017 (year ended March 2018): 182.4 billion yen ($1.647 billion)
    2016 (year ended March 2017): 152.8 billion yen ($1.413 billion)

    Recruit Holdings disclosed the following worldwide "advertising expenses" under Japanese GAAP:

    2016 (year ended March 2017): 104.1 billion yen ($962.9 million)
    2015 (year ended March 2016): 98.1 billion yen ($817.2 million)
    2014 (year ended March 2015): 78.7 billion yen ($720.1 million)
    2013 (year ended March 2014): 71.9 billion yen ($718.3 million)
    2012 (year ended March 2013): 57.4 billion yen ($688.8 million)
    2011 (year ended March 2012): 44.7 billion yen ($566.3 million)

    Recruit Holdings disclosed the following worldwide "promotion expenses" under Japanese GAAP:

    2016 (year ended March 2017): 43.7 billion yen ($404.2 million)
    2015 (year ended March 2016): 35.5 billion yen ($295.7 million)
    2014 (year ended March 2015): 35.3 billion yen ($323.0 million)
    2013 (year ended March 2014): 28.6 billion yen ($285.7 million)
    2012 (year ended March 2013): 22.3 billion yen ($267.6 million)
    2011 (year ended March 2012): 20.6 billion yen ($261.0 million)

    Sum of Recruit Holdings' stated "advertising" and "promotion" expenses under Japanese GAAP:

    2016 (year ended March 2017): 147.8 billion yen ($1.367 billion)
    2015 (year ended March 2016): 133.6 billion yen ($1.113 billion)
    2014 (year ended March 2015): 114.0 billion yen ($1.043 billion)
    2013 (year ended March 2014): 100.5 billion yen ($1.004 billion)
    2012 (year ended March 2013): 79.7 billion yen ($956.4 million)
    2011 (year ended March 2012): 65.3 billion yen ($827.4 million)

    Numbers are rounded.

    Deals and strategic moves:

    Glassdoor:

    Recruit Holdings in June 2018 bought Glassdoor for $1.2 billion. Glassdoor, founded in 2007, is a California-based job and recruiting company known for its employee ratings of workplaces. It had about 750 employees at the time of the acquisition. Recruit Holdings said Glassdoor had revenue of $171 million in year ended March 2018.

    Movoto:

    Recruit Holdings in 2013 bought Movoto, a U.S. real estate information website.

    Indeed:

    Recruit Holdings in 2012 bought Indeed, a U.S.-based job search engine.

    History:

    The company was founded March 31, 1960, as a job advertisement business for college students.

    The company was incorporated Aug. 26, 1963.

    Recruit Co. in October 2012 changed its name to Recruit Holdings Co.

    http://www.recruit-holdings.com

Renault

  • Marketer profile
    Click here to see company's total worldwide advertising spending, measured-media spending by region, key executives and agencies.

    Overview:

    Renault is an automaker based in France.

    Renault has a global alliance with Japanese automaker Nissan Motor Co. Nissan has an alliance with Japanese automaker Mitsubishi Motors Corp.

    Carlos Ghosn, chairman-CEO of Renault and chairman-CEO of the Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi alliance, formerly was chairman of Nissan and chairman of Mitsubishi. Nissan and Mitsubishi in November 2018 removed Ghosn as chairman after he was arrested in Japan on suspicions of understating his compensation in Nissan financial reports.

    Business segments and operations:

    Renault in 2017 sold a record 3,761,634 vehicles worldwide, based on worldwide registrations, according to Renault's registration document for year ended December 2017.

    The company markets vehicles in 125 countries.

    The company's biggest brand, and its global brand, is Renault, with 2017 unit sales of 2,670,989 vehicles.

    Its other brands include Dacia (sold in Europe and the Mediterranean region); Renault Samsung Motors (sold in South Korea); Alpine (a European sports car); and Lada (a Russian brand).

    Lada became part of the Renault group after Renault in December 2016 took control of Russian automaker Avtovaz, which markets Lada.

    (French rival PSA Group in 2017 sold 3,632,000 vehicles worldwide, according to the company's registration document for year ended December 2017.)

    The Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi alliance in January 2018 reported 2017 worldwide sales of 10,608,366 units.

    Ghosn said in a January 2018 statement:

    "With more than 10.6 million passenger cars and light commercial vehicles sold in 2017, Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi has become the number-one automotive group worldwide." Ghosn made that claim by subtracting Volkswagen's sales of trucks--Volkswagen Group in 2017 sold more than 200,000 trucks and buses-from Volkswagen's 10.741 million tally.

    The Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi alliance includes three related public companies. Renault owns 43.4 percent of Nissan. Nissan owns 15 percent of Renault and 34 percent of Mitsubishi Motors Corp.

    Marketing spending:

    Worldwide ad spending:

    Total worldwide advertising spending shown in the World's Largest Advertisers report and related database is an Ad Age Datacenter estimate.

    Estimated spending shown for 2016 is pro forma including Russian automaker Autovaz. Renault took control of the Avtovaz group in December 2016.

    Deals and strategic moves:

    Nissan:

    Renault and Japanese automaker Nissan Motor Co. formed a broad alliance in 1999. Renault owns 43.4 percent of Nissan. Nissan owns 15 percent of Renault.

    Mitsubishi:

    Nissan in May 2016 signed a strategic alliance agreement with Japan's Mitsubishi Motors Corp. Under the agreement, Nissan Oct. 21, 2016, acquired a 34.0 percent stake in Mitsubishi Motors Corp. for 237.362 billion yen ($2.292 billion). The two companies will cooperate on research and development, procurement, manufacturing and distribution, sales and marketing.

    Daimler:

    Renault, Nissan and German firm Daimler in April 1010 formed a cooperative agreement that included strategic cooperation and cross-shareholding. Renault and Nissan each own 1.55 percent of Daimler; Daimler owns 3.10 percent of Nissan and 3.10 percent of Renault.

    Samsung Motors:

    Renault owns 80 percent of Renault Samsung Motors, according to Renault's registration document for year ended December 2017. Renault bought control of the South Korean automaker in 2000. Renault Samsung Motors assembles some Nissan vehicles for export to and sale in the U.S.

    Renault Trucks:

    Renault does not own Renault Trucks. Volvo Group, a Sweden-based global marketer of trucks and buses, in January 2001 acquired Renault's Renault Trucks and Mack Trucks operations.

    Autovaz:

    Renault as of 2018 owned 82.45 percent of Alliance Rostec Auto, a joint venture with Russian automaker Avtovaz, which markets Lada. Alliance Rostec Auto as of 2018 owned 64.6 percent of Avtovaz. Renault said that means its indirect investment in Autovaz was 53.26 percent.

    Renault took control of the Avtovaz group on Dec. 28, 2016.

    Avtovaz group is Russia's leading automaker. Avtovaz sells Lada brand cars and also makes cars for Renault and Nissan.

    American Motors Corp.:

    Renault in 1979 agreed to make a minority investment in American Motors Corp., parent of Jeep (which American Motors bought in 1970). By the early '80s, Renault owned 49 percent of American Motors, at the time the No. 4 U.S.-based automaker.

    Chrysler Corp. bought American Motors (including Renault's stake) in 1987. Chrysler now is part of Fiat Chrysler Automobiles.

    Management and employees:

    Carlos Ghosn, chairman-CEO of Renault and chairman-CEO of the Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi alliance, formerly was chairman of Nissan and chairman of Mitsubishi. Nissan and Mitsubishi in November 2018 removed Ghosn as chairman after he was arrested in Japan on suspicions of understating his compensation in Nissan financial reports.

    History:

    Renault was formed in 1898.

    http://www.group.renault.com

Restaurant Brands International

  • Marketer profile
    Click here to see company's total worldwide advertising spending, measured-media spending by region, key executives and agencies.

    Overview:

    Restaurant Brands International is the Canada-based parent of three restaurant chains, Burger King, Tim Hortons and Popeyes.

    Restaurant Brands in March 2017 bought Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen, franchisor of Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen and Popeyes Chicken & Biscuits.

    Restaurant Brands was formed in December 2014 when Miami-based Burger King Worldwide acquired Tim Hortons, a restaurant chain based in Canada.

    Restaurant Brands is based in Oakville, Ontario, Canada. Under a so-called corporate inversion, legal headquarters ended up in Canada, cutting the company's tax rate.

    Business segments and operations:

    Burger King operates in about 100 countries and U.S. territories.

    Popeyes operates in the U.S., three territories and 25 other countries.

    Tim Hortons operates primarily in Canada and, to a lesser degree, the U.S., with a small number of locations in the Mideast. (Tim Hortons in 2011 granted a master license to a company named Apparel FZCO to operate restaurants in United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Bahrain, Kuwait and Oman.)

    Restaurant Brands had the following number of worldwide systemwide restaurants at year end:

    2017: 24,407 (Burger King, Tim Hortons, Popeyes)
    2016: 20,351 (Burger King, Tim Hortons)
    2015: 19,416
    2014: 18,630
    2013: 17,781
    2012: 17,261

    Most Restaurant Brands locations are franchised. Restaurant Brands' worldwide systemwide count included the following number of "company restaurants" (company-owned restaurants) at year end:

    2017: 129 (50 Burger King, 26 Tim Hortons, 53 Popeyes)
    2016: 100 (71 Burger King, 29 Tim Hortons)
    2015: 76
    2014: 65
    2013: 68
    2012: 440

    Burger King had the following number of worldwide systemwide restaurants at year end:

    2017: 16,767
    2016: 15,738
    2015: 15,003
    2014: 14,372
    2013: 13,667
    2012: 12,997

    Popeyes (acquired in March 2017) had the following number of worldwide systemwide restaurants at year end:

    2017: 2,892
    2016: 2,725
    2015: 2,567
    2014: 2,379
    2013: 2,225
    2012: 2,104

    Tim Hortons had the following number of worldwide systemwide restaurants at year end:

    2017: 4,748
    2016: 4,613
    2015: 4,413
    2014: 4,258
    2013: 4,114
    2012: 4,264

    Sales and earnings:

    Sales figures shown are corporate and include company restaurants, franchise fees and property revenue.

    Restaurant Brands reported the following worldwide systemwide sales in 2017:Burger King: $20.075 billion
    Tim Hortons: $6.717 billion
    Popeyes: $3.512 billion
    Total: $30.304 billion

    U.S. systemwide sales shown are estimates from industry tracker Technomic.

    Burger King had U.S. systemwide sales (corporate sales plus sales by franchisees) of $9.6 billion in 2017; $9.3 billion in 2016; $9.2 billion in 2015; $8.6 billion in 2014; $8.5 billion in 2013; $8.6 billion in 2012; $8.4 billion in 2011; $8.7 billion in 2010; $8.9 billion in 2009; $9.1 billion in 2008; $8.6 billion in 2007; and $8.4 billion in 2006, according to Technomic estimates.

    Burger King in 2014 displaced Wendy's Co.'s Wendy's as the second largest U.S. hamburger chain based on U.S. systemwide sales, according to Technomic. Wendy's was No. 2 in 2013, 2012 and 2011; Wendy's passed Burger King to take the No. 2 burger spot in 2011.

    Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen had U.S. systemwide sales of $3.0 billion in 2017; $2.9 billion in 2016; and $2.7 billion in 2015, according to Technomic estimates.

    Tim Hortons had U.S. systemwide sales of $760.0 million in 2017; $746.5 million in 2016; $708.0 million in 2015; $636.5 million in 2014; and $589.5 million in 2013, according to Technomic estimates.

    Marketing spending:

    U.S. ad spending:

    Total U.S. advertising spending shown in the Leading National Advertisers report and Marketer Trees database for Restaurant Brands is Ad Age's estimate of advertising spending supporting Burger King, Tim Hortons and Popeyes U.S. systemwide franchised and company-operated stores.

    Worldwide ad spending:

    Total worldwide advertising spending shown in the World's Largest Advertisers report and related database for Restaurant Brands is Ad Age's estimate of advertising spending supporting Burger King, Tim Hortons and Popeyes worldwide systemwide franchised and company-operated stores.

    Restaurant Brands said in its 10-K for year ended December 2017:

    "In general, franchisees fund substantially all of the marketing programs for each of our brands by making contributions ranging from 2.0 percent to 5.0 percent of gross sales to advertising funds managed by us or by the franchisees. Advertising contributions are used to pay for expenses relating to marketing, advertising and promotion, including market research, production, advertising costs, sales promotions, social media campaigns and other support functions for the respective brands.

    "We manage the advertising funds for each of our brands in the U.S. and Canada, as well as in certain other markets for BK. However, in many international BK markets, including the markets managed by master franchisees, franchisees make contributions into franchisee-managed advertising funds. As part of our global marketing strategy, we provide BK franchisees with advertising support and guidance in order to deliver a consistent global brand message."

    Restaurant Brands said in its 10-Ks for year ended December 2016 and December 2015:

    "In general, franchisees fund substantially all of the marketing programs for our Tim Hortons and Burger King brands by making contributions ranging from 3.5 percent to 5.0 percent of gross sales to advertising funds that we manage. Advertising contributions are used to pay for expenses relating to marketing, advertising and promotion, including market research, production, advertising costs, sales promotions and other support functions for the respective brands.

    "We manage the advertising funds for both of our brands in the U.S. and Canada, as well as in certain other markets where Burger King has historically operated Company restaurants. However, in many of BK's international markets, including the markets managed by master franchisees, franchisees make contributions into franchisee-managed advertising funds. As part of our global marketing strategy, we provide Burger King franchisees with advertising support and guidance in order to deliver a consistent global brand message."

    Burger King's 2016 franchise disclosure document said:

    "[Burger King] requires Franchisees to pay [Burger King] an advertising contribution equal to a percentage of gross sales. [Burger King] uses Franchisees' advertising contributions to pay for various types of expenses related to advertising and promotion, including market research; creative, production, and other costs incurred in connection with the development of advertising; sales promotions; public relations; media costs; and administrative expenses. [Burger King] decides on the allocation of advertising contributions among national, regional and local markets. The required advertising contribution is 4 percent of gross sales, unless you are participating in a program that decreases that amount or are operating a Restaurant that qualifies for a lower contribution. For example, if you are participating in the Big-Box Program" -- a restaurant inside a national retailer -- "the advertising contribution for your Restaurant can be up to 2.5 percent."

    That Burger King franchise disclosure document also said:

    "Additional advertising expenditures typically range from 0.5 percent to 2.0 percent of gross sales in addition to the required advertising fund contribution."

    The Burger King 2016 disclosure document also said:

    "Company restaurants and franchise restaurants contribute to advertising funds that our subsidiaries manage in the United States and Canada and certain other international markets. ... Advertising expense, which primarily consists of advertising contributions by Company restaurants ... based on a percentage of gross sales, totaled $13.7 million for 2015, $2.4 million for 2014 and $6.2 million for 2013."

    Restaurant Brands said in its 10-K for year ended December 2014:

    "In general, franchisees fund substantially all of the marketing programs for our Burger King and Tim Hortons brands by making contributions ranging from 3.5 percent to 5.0 percent of gross sales to advertising funds that we manage. Advertising contributions are used to pay for expenses relating to marketing, advertising and promotion, including market research, production, advertising costs, sales promotions and other support functions for the respective brands.

    "We manage the advertising funds for both of our brands in the U.S. and Canada, as well as in other markets where Burger King Worldwide has historically operated Company restaurants. However, in many of BK's international markets, including the markets managed by master franchisees, franchisees make contributions into franchisee-managed advertising funds. As part of our global marketing strategy, we provide Burger King franchisees with advertising support and guidance in order to deliver a consistent global brand message.

    "Historically company restaurants and franchise restaurants have contributed to advertising funds that our subsidiaries manage in the United States and Canada and certain other international markets. Under our franchise agreements, advertising contributions received from franchisees must be spent on advertising, product development, marketing and related activities. Since we act as an agent for these specifically designated contributions, the revenues and expenses of the advertising funds are generally netted in our consolidated statements of operations and cash flows.

    "In Canada and most of our international markets, franchisees contribute to advertising funds that are not managed by us. Such contributions and related fund expenditures are not reflected in our results of operations or financial position."

    Tim Hortons' 10-K for year ended December 2013 said:

    "We use radio, television, print and online advertising; event sponsorship; our highly visible community caring programs; and our Tim Card, a reloadable cash card for guest purchases at system restaurants, to reinforce [the company's] brand image."National Marketing Program. Restaurant owners fund substantially all of our national marketing programs by making contributions to our Canadian or U.S. advertising funds, which were established to collect and administer contributions for advertising efforts. In fiscal 2013, restaurant owners and company-operated restaurants in Canada contributed approximately 3.5 percent of their gross sales to the Canadian advertising fund. Although the franchise or license agreement requires contributions of up to 4.0 percent of gross sales, we have voluntarily reduced the current contribution to 3.5 percent, but retain the right to increase the contribution at any time. Restaurant owners and company-operated restaurants in the U.S. contributed approximately 4.0 percent of their sales to the U.S. advertising fund. We have national advisory boards of elected restaurant owners.

    "Regional Marketing Programs. Part of the national marketing program contribution is allocated to regional marketing groups (approximately 342 in Canada and 26 in the U.S.). The regional marketing groups sponsor and support locally targeted marketing programs. We also support these regional marketing groups with market strategy and regional plans and programs.

    Burger King Worldwide's 10-K for year ended December 2013 said:

    "Franchisees in the U.S. and Canada are generally required to make a contribution to the advertising fund equal to a percentage of gross sales, typically 4 percent, on a monthly basis.

    "Historically our company restaurants and our franchisees make monthly contributions, generally 4 percent to 5 percent of restaurant gross sales, to managed advertising funds. Advertising contributions are used to pay for expenses relating to marketing, advertising and promotion, including market research, production, advertising costs, sales promotions and other support functions. In addition to the mandated advertising fund contributions, U.S. franchisees may elect to participate in certain local advertising campaigns at the Designated Market Area level by making contributions beyond those required for participation in the national advertising fund.

    "In the United States and other markets where we have historically owned company restaurants, the Company manages the advertising fund. In other international markets, including the markets managed by master franchisees, franchisees make contributions into franchisee-managed advertising funds. As part of our global marketing strategy, we provide franchisees with advertising support and guidance in order to deliver a consistent global brand message."

    Popeyes:

    Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen's 10-K for year ended December 2016 said:

    "Payments to the advertising funds [from domestic franchisees] are generally 4 percent of net restaurant sales. Some of our institutional franchise agreements provide for lower royalties and advertising fund contributions."

    The 10-K also said: "Each Popeyes restaurant, company-operated or franchised, contributes to an advertising fund that supports branding and marketing initiatives, including the development of marketing materials that are used throughout our restaurant system and (2) national and local marketing programs. We act as the agent for the advertising fund and coordinate its activities. We and our Popeyes franchisees made contributions to the advertising fund of approximately $135.1 million in 2016, $123.5 million in 2015, and $110.2 million in 2014."

    The 10-K said: "The company's contributions to the advertising cooperative based on company-operated restaurant sales are reflected in the company's consolidated statements of operations as a component of 'Restaurant employee, occupancy and other expenses.' Additional contributions to the advertising cooperative for national media advertising and other marketing related costs are expensed as a component of 'General and administrative expenses.' During 2016, 2015, and 2014, the company's advertising costs were approximately $4.6 million, $5.4 million, and $3.9 million, respectively."

    Popeyes' 10-K discussed beverage agreements: "The company has entered into long-term beverage supply agreements with certain major beverage vendors. Pursuant to the terms of these arrangements, marketing rebates are provided to the company and its advertising fund from the beverage vendors based upon the dollar volume of purchases for company-operated restaurants and franchised restaurants. For company-operated restaurants, these incentives are recognized as earned throughout the year and are classified as a reduction of 'Restaurant food, beverages and packaging' in the consolidated statements of operations. The incentives recognized by company-operated restaurants were approximately $1.4 million, $1.4 million, and $1.1 million in 2016, 2015, and 2014, respectively. Rebates earned and contributed to the cooperative advertising fund are excluded from the company's consolidated statements of operations."

    Deals and strategic moves:

    Restaurant Brands International in March 2017 bought Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen, franchisor of Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen and Popeyes Chicken & Biscuits, for total consideration of about $1.7 billion.

    3G Capital, an investment firm, in October 2010 bought publicly traded Burger King Holdings for $4.0 billion, including assumption of the company's outstanding debt.

    3G flipped its burgers in 2012, once again turning Burger King into a public company on June 20, 2012, through a merger with what was essentially a public shell company, U.K.-based Justice Holdings. Upon the deal's closing, Justice ceased trading on the London Stock Exchange and the burger chain began trading on the New York Stock Exchange under a new name, Burger King Worldwide. As of March 2013, 3G Capital owned about a 70 percent stake in Burger King Worldwide.

    3G Capital orchestrated Burger King Worldwide's December 2014 acquisition of Canadian restaurant chain Tim Hortons, creating Canada-based Restaurant Brands International. Under this so-called corporate inversion, legal headquarters moved to Canada, cutting Burger King's tax rate. Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway contributed $3 billion of preferred-equity financing. Berkshire said it wouldn't be involved in management and operation of the business. 3G Capital as of March 2015 had a 47 percent voting stake in Restaurant Brands.

    (Wendy's International in December 1995 bought Tim Hortons. Wendy's, focusing on its mainstay brand, in March 2006 staged an initial public offering for 17.25 percent of Tim Hortons; in September 2006, Wendy's spun off its remaining 82.75 percent stake. Wendy's Co. and Restaurant Brands are 50/50 owners of a real-estate joint venture, dating to 1995, that owns Wendy's/Tim Hortons combination units in Canada.)

    Kraft deal:

    H.J. Heinz Co. (H.J. Heinz Holding Corp.) on July 2, 2015, bought Kraft Foods Group in a deal orchestrated by investment firm 3G Capital and Berkshire Hathaway. In the deal, 3G Capital and Berkshire contributed $10 billion to pay a special dividend to existing Kraft shareholders. Heinz shareholders ended up with a 51 percent stake in the combined company; existing Kraft shareholders got 49 percent. Berkshire and 3G Capital became major shareholders in the merged company. Heinz and Kraft announced the deal in March 2015. At the closing of the merger, H.J. Heinz Holding Corp. was renamed Kraft Heinz Co. The merged company trades on Nasdaq (ticker: KHC). Kraft brands included Kraft, Capri Sun, Jell-O, Kool-Aid, Lunchables, Maxwell House, Oscar Mayer, Philadelphia, Planters and Velveeta. Heinz brands included Heinz (ketchup, sauces, soups, beans, pasta and infant foods), Ore-Ida potato products, Weight Watchers Smart Ones entrees, T.G.I. Friday's snacks and Plasmon infant nutrition.

    Heinz deal:

    3G Capital and Berkshire in June 2013 bought H.J. Heinz Co. in a transaction valued at about $28 billion including assumption of Heinz debt. 3G Capital and Berkshire Hathaway each ended up with a 50 percent voting interest in Heinz.

    Management and employees:

    Daniel S. Schwartz became Restaurant Brands' CEO in December 2014 when the company was formed after Burger King Worldwide bought Tim Hortons. Schwartz previously was Burger King's CEO from July 2013 to December 2014. He previously was Burger King's chief operating officer and chief financial officer. Schwartz was a 3G Capital partner before joining Burger King in 2010.

    As Burger King CEO, Schwartz had succeeded CEO Bernard Hees, who became vice chairman of Burger King and the CEO of 3G Capital-backed H.J. Heinz Co. upon stepping down as Burger King CEO.

    Burger King in April 2013 shifted company veteran Steve Wiborg to chairman-North America from president-North America.

    History:

    Burger King:

    Burger King began in 1954 when James McLamore and David Edgerton opened a restaurant in Miami. The founders sold Burger King to Pillsbury Co. in 1967.

    U.K.-based Grand Metropolitan bought Pillsbury in 1989. Grand Metropolitan merged with Guinness to form Diageo in 1997. In December 2002, Diageo sold Burger King to buyout funds controlled by Texas Pacific Group, Bain Capital Partners and Goldman Sachs.

    Burger King staged an IPO in May 2006. As of August 2010, Texas Pacific Group, Bain Capital and Goldman Sachs owned about 31 percent of Burger King Holdings, prior to the October 2010 sale to 3G Capital. Following a transaction with what was essentially a publicly traded shell company, Burger King in June 2012 became a public company once again: Burger King Worldwide, traded on the New York Stock Exchange.

    Tim Hortons:

    Tim Hortons was founded in 1964. Wendy's International bought Tim Hortons in 1995 and spun it off as a separate public company in 2006.

    Popeyes:

    Popeyes was founded in New Orleans in 1972. Restaurant Brands bought Popeyes in March 2017.

    Restaurant Brands International:

    Restaurant Brands International was formed in December 2014 when Miami-based-based Burger King Worldwide bought Tim Hortons, a restaurant chain based in Canada.

    Restaurant Brands is based in Oakville, Ontario, Canada. Under a so-called corporate inversion, legal headquarters ended up in Canada, cutting the company's tax rate.

    http://www.rbi.com

Rewe Group

  • Marketer profile
    Click here to see company's total worldwide advertising spending, measured-media spending by region, key executives and agencies.

    Overview:

    Rewe Group is a retailer and travel services company based in Germany and operating across Europe.

    Business segments and operations:

    At the end of 2017, Rewe Group's retail business segments operated 9,129 retail outlets with a total sales area of 9.0 million meters. The Travel and Tourism business segment sells travel services, operates hotels and runs tours.

    Rankings:

    Rewe ranked No. 22 worldwide in the Top 250 ranking based on fiscal 2016 sales in Deloitte's Global Powers of Retailing 2018 report.

    Marketing spending:

    Worldwide ad spending:

    Total worldwide advertising spending figures shown in the World's Largest Advertisers report and related database are stated worldwide "advertising expenses" converted to U.S. dollars at average exchange rates by Ad Age Datacenter.

    Deals and strategic moves:

    Rewe in July 2016 bought 55.0 percent of Supermarkte Nord, a German supermarket retailer, for 140.6 million euros ($156.1 million).

    The company in 2015 bought Kuoni Travel Investments, a Switzerland-based firm that includes tour operators, travel agencies and online travel sales.

    History:

    The company was founded in 1927.

    https://www.rewe-group.com/en/

SAIC Motor Corp.

  • Marketer profile
    Click here to see company's total worldwide advertising spending, measured-media spending by region, key executives and agencies.

    Overview:

    SAIC Motor Corp. is an automaker based in Shanghai, China.

    SAIC's annual report for year ended December 2017 said: "The company is the largest domestic (China) automobile group in terms of sales and manufacturing scale by far, and the largest automobile company listed in (China) A share in terms of market capitalization."

    SAIC's operations include joint ventures with General Motors Co. and Volkswagen that market GM and Volkswagen vehicles in China.

    SAIC formerly was known as Shanghai Automotive Industry Corp.

    Business segments and operations:

    Most of SAIC Motor Corp.'s sales come through joint ventures in China with General Motors Co. and Volkswagen.

    Brands owned by SAIC include MG, a celebrated British brand name acquired by SAIC; Maxus, a line of vans and light commercial vehicles; and Roewe, a luxury nameplate launched by SAIC.

    SAIC Motor Corp. reported the following worldwide unit vehicle sales:

    2017: 6,930,123
    2016: 6,488,867

    The 2017 sales included 2,150,018 units from SAIC GM Wuling Co. (joint venture with General Motors Co.); 2,000,187 units from SAIC General Motors Co. (another joint venture with General Motors Co.); and 2,063,077 units from SAIC Volkswagen Automobile Co. (joint venture with Volkswagen).

    Rankings:

    SAIC's annual report for calendar 2017 said: "The company is the largest domestic (China) automobile group in terms of sales and manufacturing scale by far."

    Marketing spending:

    Worldwide ad spending:

    Total worldwide advertising spending figures shown in the World's Largest Advertisers report and related database are SAIC's stated "advertising expenses" converted to dollars at average exchange rates by Ad Age Datacenter.

    SAIC's stated "advertising expenses" in renminbi:

    2017: 13.572 billion renminbi ($2.009 billion) (1.6 percent of total operating income [revenue]).
    2016: 10.822 billion renminbi ($1.630 billion) (1.4 percent).
    2015: 9.727 billion renminbi ($1.565 billion) (1.5 percent).
    2014: 10.039 billion renminbi ($1.634 billion) (1.6 percent).
    2013: 8.402 billion renminbi ($1.357 billion) (1.5 percent).
    2012: 6.789 billion renminbi ($1.077 billion) (1.4 percent).
    2011: 6.359 billion renminbi ($985.3 million) (1.5 percent).
    2010: 5.454 billion renminbi ($806.9 million) (1.5 percent).

    Deals and strategic moves:

    General Motors joint ventures:

    SAIC General Motors Co. is a joint venture established in 1997 that is 50 percent owned by SAIC Motor Corp. and 50 percent by U.S. automaker General Motors Co.

    SAIC GM Wuling Co. is a joint venture established in 2011 by SAIC Motor Corp. and General Motors Co. to engage in the sales of the imported Buick, Chevrolet and Cadillac brands and the sales of automobiles manufactured by SAIC General Motors Co. General Motors Co. as of 2018 said it owned a 44 percent stake.

    SAIC General Motors Sales Co. is a joint venture with SAIC Motor Corp. General Motors Co. as of 2018 said it owned a 49 percent stake.

    China (including GM's joint ventures in China) is General Motors Co.'s biggest country in unit sales; the U.S. is GM's second-largest market.

    GM's 10-K for year ended December 2017 said:

    "We view the Chinese market as important to our global growth strategy and are employing a multi-brand strategy led by our Buick, Chevrolet and Cadillac brands. In the coming years we plan to leverage our global architectures to increase the number of product offerings under the Buick, Chevrolet and Cadillac brands in China and continue to grow our business under the local Baojun and Wuling brands, with Baojun seizing the growth opportunities in less developed cities and markets.

    "We operate in the Chinese market through a number of joint ventures and maintaining good relations with our joint venture partners, which are affiliated with the Chinese government, is an important part of our China growth strategy."

    Volkswagen:

    SAIC Volkswagen Automobile Co. is a joint venture that is 50 percent owned by SAIC Motor Corp. and 50 percent by German automaker Volkswagen.

    SAIC Volkswagen Sales Co. is a joint venture with SAIC Motor Corp. Volkswagen as of 2018 said it owned a 30 percent stake.

    SAIC Volkswagen Sales Co. sells passenger cars for SAIC Volkswagen Automobile Co. As a result, SAIC Volkswagen Automobile Co.'s sales revenue is mostly generated from its business with SAIC Volkswagen Sales Co.

    Volkswagen also has a joint venture in China with another auto manufacturer, China FAW Group Corp., that develops, produces and sells passenger cars. Volkswagen as of 2017 said it owned a 40 percent stake in that joint venture, FAW-Volkswagen Automotive Co. China FAW Group Corp. was originally known as First Automotive Works.

    Volkswagen said SAIC Volkswagen and FAW-Volkswagen had 2016 unit sales of 3.873 million vehicles.

    http://www.saicmotor.com

Samsung Electronics Co.

  • Marketer profile
    Click here to see company's total worldwide advertising spending, measured-media spending by region, key executives and agencies.

    Overview:

    Samsung Electronics Co. is a consumer electronics and appliance marketer based in South Korea.

    Samsung displaced Procter & Gamble Co. as the world's biggest advertiser in Ad Age's December 2018 ranking of the World's Largest Advertisers.

    Marketing spending:

    U.S. ad spending:

    Total U.S. advertising spending figures shown in the Leading National Advertisers report and Marketer Trees database are Ad Age Datacenter's estimate of Samsung's U.S. spending on advertising and sales promotion. Ad Age modeled its estimate of Samsung U.S. ad spending to capture Samsung's "advertising" and "sales promotion" expense lines starting with the Leading National Advertisers 2014 report (covering 2013 and 2012 spending). Ad Age Datacenter previously excluded sales promotion from its calculation of estimated Samsung U.S. spending.

    Worldwide ad spending:

    Total worldwide advertising spending figures shown in the World's Largest Advertisers report and related database are Samsung's stated worldwide "advertising" expenses plus "sales promotion" expenses converted to dollars at average exchange rates by Ad Age Datacenter.

    Samsung displaced Procter & Gamble Co. as the world's biggest advertiser in Ad Age's December 2018 ranking of the World's Largest Advertisers based on Ad Age's calculation of Samsung spending for calendar 2017 ($11.225 billion) and Ad Age's estimate of P&G "advertising plus other marketing costs" for year ended June 2018($10.539 billion).

    Ad Age Datacenter ranked Samsung based on stated "advertising" plus "sales promotion" expenses starting with World's Largest Advertisers' December 2017 report (covering 2016 and 2015 spending). Ad Age Datacenter previously excluded sales promotion from its calculation of Samsung worldwide spending.

    Stated worldwide "advertising" expenses (rounded):

    2017: 5,350.839 billion won ($4.762 billion) (2.23 percent of worldwide revenue)
    2016: 4,432.109 billion won ($3.812 billion) (2.20 percent of worldwide revenue)
    2015: 3,852.478 billion won ($3.429 billion) (1.92 percent of worldwide revenue)
    2014: 3,773.649 billion won ($3.585 billion) (1.83 percent of worldwide revenue)
    2013: 4,165.290 billion won ($3.832 billion) (1.82 percent of worldwide revenue)
    2012: 4,887.089 billion won ($4.350 billion) (2.43 percent of worldwide revenue)
    2011: 2,982.270 billion won ($2.714 billion) (1.81 percent of worldwide revenue)
    2010: 3,282.798 billion won ($2.856 billion) (2.12 percent of worldwide revenue)
    2009: 2,702.874 billion won ($2.135 billion) (1.98 percent of worldwide revenue)

    Stated worldwide "sales promotion" expenses (rounded):

    2017: 7,262.078 billion won ($6.463 billion) (3.03 percent of worldwide revenue)
    2016: 7,080.554 billion won ($6.089 billion) (3.51 percent of worldwide revenue)
    2015: 7,101.937 billion won ($6.321 billion) (3.54 percent) of worldwide revenue)
    2014: 7,760.648 billion won ($7.373 billion) (3.76 percent) of worldwide revenue)
    2013: 8,019.462 billion won ($7.378 billion) (3.51 percent) of worldwide revenue)
    2012: 6,055.105 billion won ($5.389 billion) (3.01 percent) of worldwide revenue)
    2011: 4,649.293 billion won ($4.231 billion) (2.82 percent) of worldwide revenue)
    2010: 3,271.993 billion won ($2.847 billion) (2.12 percent) of worldwide revenue)
    2009: 3,416.652 billion won ($2.699 billion) (2.51 percent) of worldwide revenue)

    Sum: stated worldwide advertising plus sales promotion expenses (rounded):

    2017: 12,612.917 billion won ($11.225 billion) (5.26 percent of worldwide revenue)
    2016: 11,512.663 billion won ($9.901 billion) (5.70 percent of worldwide revenue)
    2015: 10,954.415 billion won ($9.749 billion) (5.46 percent) of worldwide revenue)
    2014: 11,534.297 billion won ($10.958 billion) (5.59 percent) of worldwide revenue)
    2013: 12,184.752 billion won ($11.210 billion) (5.33 percent) of worldwide revenue)
    2012: 10,942.194 billion won ($9.739 billion) (5.44 percent) of worldwide revenue)
    2011: 7,631.563 billion won ($6.945 billion) (4.63 percent) of worldwide revenue)
    2010: 6,554.791 billion won ($5.703 billion) (4.24 percent) of worldwide revenue)
    2009: 6,119.526 billion won ($4.834 billion) (4.49 percent) of worldwide revenue)

    Effective with calendar year 2013 financial reporting, Samsung changed the way it summarized its marketing spending in its annual-meeting proxy statements. Its marketing total now consists of stated worldwide Advertising costs plus stated worldwide Sales Promotion spending; Samsung no longer includes Public Relations spending or Commission and Service Charges spending in its marketing total.

    In the proxy statement for its March 2018 meeting (for calendar 2017 results), the company said: "Advertising and Sales & Promotion expenses in 2017 came in at KRW 12.6 trillion," or $11.225 billion. In the proxy statement for its March 2017 meeting (for calendar 2016 results), the company said: "For Advertising and Sales & Promotion expenses, we invested KRW 11.5 trillion in 2016," or $9,901 billion.

    In the proxy statement for its March 2016 meeting (for calendar 2015 results), the company said: "For Advertising and Sales & Promotion expenses, we invested KRW 11.0 trillion in 2015," or $9.749 billion.

    In the proxy statement for its April 2015 meeting (for calendar 2014 results), the company said: "For Advertising and Sales & Promotion expenses, we invested KRW 11.5 trillion in 2014," or $10.958 billion.

    In the proxy statement for its April 2014 meeting (for calendar 2013 results), the company said: "For Advertising and Sales & Promotion expenses, we invested KRW 12.18 trillion" -- $11.210 billion -- "in 2013," a marketing total consisting of stated worldwide Advertising and stated Sales Promotion spending, vs. 10.94 trillion won ($9.739 billion) in 2012.

    In the proxy statement for its April 2013 meeting (for calendar 2012 results), the company said: "In 2012, we executed ... KRW 13 trillion" -- $11.570 billion -- "in Marketing" spending, including advertising, sales promotion, public relations and "commission and service charges."

    Samsung's proxy statement for its March 2018 annual meetings said:

    "We have steadily increased the power of our brand through various high-profile marketing and advertising campaigns, and, according to Interbrand's 2017 global rankings, our brand is the world's sixth best with an estimated value of USD 52.6 billion." And: "The Samsung brand increased 9 percent in value to USD 56.2 billion and ranked as the world's 6th best, up one notch from 2016 (Interbrand, October 2017)."

    Samsung's proxy statement for its March 2017 annual meetings said:

    "Over the years, we have increased our brand value through various high profile marketing and advertisement activities. As a result, Samsung Electronics is ranked as the world's seventh best brand in Interbrand's global ranking for the third consecutive year, with the brand value amounting to USD 51.8 billion in 2016 - the first time it surpassed the USD 50 billion mark." And: "Our company's brand value reached USD 51.8 billion in 2016, a 14 percent increase, and was ranked the world's 7th largest company for its third consecutive year (Oct '16 Interbrand)."

    Samsung's proxy statements for its March 2016, April 2015 and April 2014 annual meetings said:

    "Over the years, we have increased our brand value through various high profile marketing and advertisement activities. As a result, we remain top smartphone and TV brands according to various consumer brand surveys. Going forward, we are going to manage our investments on high ROI areas and further improve efficiency across all investment areas."

    Samsung stopped disclosing worldwide PR spending effective with its calendar-2013 financial statements. Samsung previously reported worldwide public relations expenses of:

    2012: 627.901 billion won ($558.8 million) (0.31 percent of worldwide revenue)
    2011: 523.149 billion won ($476.1 million) (0.32 percent)
    2010: 494.599 billion won ($430.3 million) (0.32 percent)
    2009: 471.026 billion won ($372.1 million) (0.35 percent)

    Agencies:

    Cheil Worldwide:

    Samsung owned 25.2 percent of Cheil Worldwide, a South Korean agency company, as of December 2017, according to Samsung's financial filings. Cheil grew out of the Samsung network. Samsung remains a key client.

    Paris-based Publicis Groupe in June 2016 said it had ended talks with Samsung about a potential investment in Cheil. Publicis and Cheil are key agency partners for Samsung. A Publicis statement said it "confirms having agreed with Samsung to end the discussions regarding a possible investment alongside the proposed collaboration with Cheil Worldwide." Samsung remained a client for Publicis: "The strategic relationship with Samsung is as strong as ever and we will continue to work daily with Samsung and Cheil Worldwide to make the brand even more successful," the Publicis statement said.

    Publicis and Cheil earlier in 2016 had discussed the potential for Publicis to buy a minority stake in Cheil.

    Samsung apparently had been talking to several agencies about options for Cheil. The South Korean agency company said in a June 2016 regulatory filing that it had learned talks between a "key shareholder and global agencies on multiple avenues to cooperate broke off without any conclusion, and that key shareholder is not engaged in any talks for cooperation with other third parties at present."

    Other agencies:

    Samsung in October 2014 completed a global agency review. The review began in April 2014 when Samsung sent out requests for information at the agency-company level for media, creative and digital work in multiple countries.

    Incumbent agencies including Publicis' Leo Burnett and Starcom Mediavest Group kept their portions of the business. The company added independent Wieden & Kennedy and Publicis' BBH to its roster.

    Going into the review, Samsung's creative agencies included Publicis' Burnett; MDC Partners'72andSunny; and Cheil Worldwide's Cheil and Cheil-owned McKinney.

    Interpublic Group of Cos.' R/GA in summer 2014 won a large portion of Samsung's U.S. digital business.

    Deals and strategic moves:

    Samsung in March 2017 bought Harman International for about $8.0 billion cash. Harman develops audio products and connected car systems for automakers and markets consumer electronics. Harman's brands at the time of the acquisition included Harman Kardon, Infinity, JBL, Bang & Olufsen, Bowers & Wilkins, Lexicon, Mark Levinson and Revel. The deal was announced in November 2016. (Founder Sidney Harman died April 12, 2011, at age 92.)

    Samsung on Nov. 1, 2017, sold its printer business to HP in a deal valued at $1.02 billion.

    Samsung, facing pressure from investors to simplify its structure and improve performance, on Nov. 29, 2016, announced a series of "strategic actions to enhance long-term shareholder value." Among its actions, Samsung said it had hired consultants to "review the company structure to create an optimal environment for sustaining growth and enhancing shareholder value. We expect that the review process, including possibly conducting a review of the holding company structure"--that is, the idea of forming a hold-company structure--"will require approximately 6 months."

    Research and development:

    The company reported these worldwide expenses for research and development:

    2017: 16,355.612 billion won ($14,556 billion) (6.83 percent of worldwide revenue)
    2016: 14,111.381 billion won ($12.136 billion) (6.99 percent)
    2015: 13,705.695 billion won ($12.198 billion) (6.83 percent)
    2014: 14,385.506 billion won ($13.666 billion) (6.98 percent)
    2013: 14,319.402 billion won ($13.174 billion) (6.26 percent)
    2012: 11,532.795 billion won ($10.264 billion) (5.73 percent)
    2011: 9,955.164 billion won ($9.059 billion) (6.03 percent)

    History:

    Samsung was founded in 1938 as a trade exporter that sold dried Korean fish, vegetables and fruit to Manchuria and Beijing.

    Samsung Electronics Co. was incorporated in South Korea in 1969 and listed its shares on the Korea Stock Exchange in 1975.

    Samsung in the 1970s began manufacturing consumer electronics (starting with black-and-white TV sets) and major appliances (including washing machines, refrigerators and microwave ovens).

    Samsung began developing mobile phones in 1991.

    Samsung means "three stars" in Korean.

    http://www.samsung.com

Sanofi

  • Marketer profile
    Click here to see company's total worldwide advertising spending, measured-media spending by region, key executives and agencies.

    Overview:

    Sanofi is a pharmaceutical and health care products company based in Paris. U.S. ad spending:

    Total U.S. advertising spending shown in the Leading National Advertisers report and Marketer Trees database is an Ad Age Datacenter estimate.

    Worldwide ad spending:

    Total worldwide advertising spending shown in the World's Largest Advertisers report and related database is an Ad Age Datacenter estimate.

    Deals and strategic moves:

    Boehringer Ingelheim asset swap and strategic roadmap:

    Sanofi and Germany's Boehringer Ingelheim on Jan. 1, 2017, traded the Sanofi Animal Health business (Sanofi's Merial unit) for the Boehringer Ingelheim Consumer Health Care business. As part of the deal, Boehringer Ingelheim made a payment to Sanofi to cover the difference between the higher valuation of Merial vs. the consumer brands going to Sanofi.

    The Boehringer Ingelheim Consumer Health Care business in China were excluded from the transaction.

    Sanofi said the consumer health brands it acquired from Boehringer Ingelheim had 2016 estimated net sales of 1.5 billion euros ($1.66 billion).

    Sanofi said the deal would make it the world's largest consumer health care (over-the-counter) products marketer with 2015 pro forma sales of about 5.1 billion euros ($5.7 billion) and a global market share close to 4.6 percent.

    Boehringer Ingelheim said this would make it the world's second largest animal health company with 2015 pro forma sales of about 3.8 billion euros ($4.2 billion).

    Sanofi in September 2009 bought Merck & Co.'s 50 percent stake in Merial, an animal health company. Merial, founded in 1997, was previously a 50/50 venture of Merck and Sanofi.

    The deal came after Sanofi in November 2015 announced a "strategic roadmap for the period 2015-2020 and its ambition to become the pre-eminent diversified global health care company."

    As part of this plan, Sanofi said it would "explore strategic options for its animal health and European generics businesses."

    For animal health (Sanofi's Merial unit), the company said "synergies are limited with other Sanofi businesses. Strategic options will also be explored for generics in Europe where geographic synergies are limited and market complexity is increasing. All options will be considered for these businesses including retention in the Group."

    As part of the road map, Sanofi said it "plans to build scale" in consumer health care "through new categories of products and bolt-on acquisitions." Consumer health care includes Sanofi's Chattem business.

    Other deals and strategic moves:

    Sanofi in 2018 bought Bioverativ, a biotechnology company focused on therapies for hemophilia and other blood disorders, for $11.6 billion.

    The company in 2018 also bought Ablynx, a biopharmaceutical company, in a deal valued at 3.9 billion euros ($4.8 billion).

    Sanofi in August 2017 bought Protein Sciences, a privately held vaccines biotechnology company based in Connecticut, for an upfront payment of $650 million. Sanofi will pay an additional amount up to $100 million if Protein Sciences achieves certain milestones.

    Sanofi and rival AstraZeneca in November 2015 announced a direct exchange of 210,000 compounds from their respective proprietary compound libraries. The companies said: "The swap represents a novel open innovation model between pharmaceutical companies. It enhances the chemical diversity of the compound collections of both companies and allows each to screen a broader, more diverse chemical space as the starting point in the search for new small-molecule medicines. ... There are no payments associated with the compound exchange. Each company can investigate the compounds it receives without restrictions on disease areas."

    Sanofi and Eli Lilly & Co. in May 2014 announced an agreement to pursue regulatory approval of nonprescription Cialis. The erectile dysfunction drug, owned by Lilly, at that time was available worldwide only by prescription. Under terms of the agreement, Sanofi acquired exclusive rights to apply for approval of Cialis OTC in the United States, Europe, Canada and Australia. Sanofi also obtained exclusive rights to market Cialis OTC after Sanofi gained regulatory approval. If over-the-counter sales are approved, Sanofi planned to begin marketing Cialis OTC after expiration of certain patents. Sanofi and Lilly did not disclose terms of the licensing agreement.

    Lilly's U.S. compound and use patents for Cialis expire in 2017. Lilly's Cialis patents in major European countries also expire in 2017. Cialis was first approved by the European Medicines Agency in 2002 and then by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in 2003. Ultimately, Cialis received approval in more than 120 countries. Cialis in 2013 had worldwide sales of $2.16 billion; since launch, it generated worldwide sales of more than $14 billion, according to Lilly and Sanofi. As of May 2014, more than 45 million men worldwide had taken Cialis.

    Sanofi in May 2014 sold three small drug brands to Michigan-based Aastrom Biosciences. Specifically, Aastrom bought Sanofi's Cell Therapy and Regenerative Medicine business for $6.5 million. Aastrom acquired global commercial rights to three brands, Carticel, Epicel and Maci. Worldwide 2013 revenue of the three products was $44 million.

    Merial, Sanofi's animal health division, in June 2013 bought the animal health division of Dosch Pharmaceuticals, giving Merial an entry point into the Indian market.

    Sanofi in March 2013 bought Genfar, a Colombia-based pharmaceutical company that markets drugs in Colombia and other countries in Latin America. In its 20-F filing for year ended December 2013, Sanofi said Genfar had annual sales of about 100 million euros ($133 million).

    Johnson & Johnson in January 2013 sold worldwide rights for the Rolaids brand to Chattem, Sanofi's U.S. consumer health care division, for 64 million euros ($83.7 million). Chattem relaunched Rolaids in September 2013. The antacid brand had been off the market since Johnson & Johnson recalled Rolaids packages in 2010 after consumer complaints tied to manufacturing-related quality problems. Johnson & Johnson acquired Rolaids as part of the 2006 acquisition of Pfizer's consumer health care business. American Chicle Co. introduced Rolaids in 1954. Warner-Lambert bought American Chicle in 1962. Pfizer bought Warner-Lambert in 2000.

    Sanofi in April 2012 bought Pluromed, a U.S. medical devices company.

    Merial in March 2012 bought Newport Laboratories, a U.S. producer of vaccines.

    Sanofi in April 2011 bought Genzyme Corp., a major U.S. biotech firm, for $20.4 billion cash. Genzyme was founded in 1981. Genzyme had 2010 worldwide sales of $4.0 billion and 10,100 employees as of February 2011.

    Among other 2011 deals, Sanofi bought Universal Medicare Private Limited, a marketer of nutraceuticals in India, in November 2011; acquired Topaz Pharmaceuticals, a U.S. pharma company, in October 2011; and bought BMP Sunstone Corp., a marketer of pharma and health care products in China, in February 2011.

    Valeant Pharmaceuticals Industries in 2011 bought Dermik, a dermatological unit of Sanofi in the U.S. and Canada, for about $421.6 million. Dermik marketed therapeutic and aesthetic dermatology products. (Valeant in July 2018 changed its name to Bausch Health Cos.)

    Sanofi in March 2010 acquired Chattem, a U.S.-based marketer of over-the-counter health care products and toiletries, for $1.9 billion. Chattem brands included Gold Bond, Icy Hot, Act, Cortizone-10, Selsun Blue and Unisom.

    Chattem until 2017 operated under the Chattem name as Sanofi's U.S. consumer health care division. Sanofi rebranded Chattem as Sanofi in 2017.

    Chattem, based in Chattanooga, Tenn., was founded in 1879 as Chattanooga Medicine Co.

    Prior to its purchase by Sanofi, Chattem grew largely through acquisitions, including various orphan brands sold off by larger firms. In 1996, Chattem bought Gold Bond medicated powder, from Martin Himmel, and Herpecin-L, a cold sore treatment, from Campbell Laboratories. In 1997, it acquired Sunsource International (herbal supplements). Chattem bought Ban Anti-Perspirant & Deodorant from Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. in 1998 (sold in 2000). Also in 1998, it bought Dexatrim, Sportscreme, Aspercreme, Capzasin and Arthritis Hot from Thompson Medical Co. In 2002, it bought Selsun Blue from Abbott Laboratories. In 2007, Chattem purchased Act, Unisom, Cortizone, Kaopectate and Balmex from Johnson & Johnson.

    Co-marketing agreements:

    Sanofi and Bristol-Myers Squibb restructured their alliance following the loss of patent exclusivity for Plavix and two other co-marketed drugs, Avapro/Avalide, in many major markets. The new agreement, effective Jan. 1, 2013, returned rights for Plavix and Avapro/Avalide to Sanofi worldwide (except for Plavix U.S. and Puerto Rico rights, which Bristol-Myers Squibb continued to control). Bristol-Myers has a 50.1 percent stake in Plavix in the U.S.; Sanofi has the remaining U.S. stake. Sanofi owns the Plavix trademark.

    Warner Chilcott, a pharma firm based in Ireland, in April 2010, took over full control of U.S. marketing of Actonel; it previously shared marketed with Sanofi-Aventis.

    Management and employees:

    Sanofi in February 2015 named Olivier Brandicourt as CEO effective April 2, 2015, succeeding interim chairman-CEO Serge Weinberg; Weinberg continued as chairman. Before joining Sanofi, Brandicourt spent 28 years at other pharma firms, most recently serving as chairman of the board of management at Bayer HealthCare. Brandicourt was a member of Pfizer's global executive leadership team from 2010 through 2013.

    Sanofi's board in October 2014 terminated CEO Christopher A. Viehbacher. The board said in a statement: "The board of directors thanks Christopher A. Viehbacher for all the work done during the last six years, which has enabled the group to move through a sensitive and important transition phase. Going forward, the group needs to pursue its development with a management aligning the teams, harnessing talents and focusing on execution with a close and confident cooperation with the board." The board at that point appointed board member Weinberg as chairman-CEO on an interim basis.

    History:

    Sanofi was founded in 1973 by Elf Aquitaine, a French oil company, when it gained control of the Labaz group, a pharmaceutical company. Sanofi expanded into the U.S. in 1994 by acquiring the prescription drug unit of Eastman Kodak's Sterling Winthrop.

    Synthelabo was founded in 1970 through the merger of French pharma firms Laboratoires Dausse and Laboratoires Robert & Carriere. In 1973, L'Oreal bought a majority stake. Sanofi and Synthelabo merged in 1999.

    Aventis was formed in 1999 by the merger of Rhone-Poulenc and Hoechst (which had purchased U.S. drug marketer Marion Merrell in 1995).

    Sanofi-Synthelabo bought Aventis in 2004, creating Sanofi-Aventis.

    Sanofi-Aventis changed its name to Sanofi in May 2011.

    L'Oreal owned a 9.43 percent stake in Sanofi as of Dec. 31, 2017.

    http://en.sanofi.com

Schwarz Gruppe

  • Marketer profile
    Click here to see company's total worldwide advertising spending, measured-media spending by region, key executives and agencies.

    Overview:

    Schwarz Gruppe (Schwarz Group) is a privately owned retailer based in Germany.

    Business segments and operations:

    Schwarz owns Lidl, a discount supermarket chain, and Kaufland, a superstore chain.

    Lidl:

    Lidl in June 2015 announced it was opening a U.S. office in Arlington, Va., and its intent to expand into the U.S. The chain opened its first U.S. stores in summer 2017.

    Lidl operates stores across Europe with 10,000 stores in 27 countries, according to Lidl's U.S. website.

    Lidl's German rival Aldi Sud, which operates Aldi discount supermarkets, opened its first U.S. store in 1976. A sibling venture, Aldi Nord, in 1979 bought Trader Joe's, a food retailer based in California.

    Kaufland:

    Kaufland is a superstore chain that operates stores in Germany and Eastern Europe.

    Rankings:

    Schwarz ranked as the world's fourth largest retailer based on fiscal 2016 sales in the Top 250 ranking in Deloitte's Global Powers of Retailing 2018 report.

    Schwarz's estimated worldwide sales:

    Fiscal 2017: 96.9 billion euros ($109.5 billion) (from company).
    Fiscal 2016: $99.256 billion (from Global Powers of Retailing report).
    Fiscal 2015: $94.448 billion (from Global Powers of Retailing report).
    Fiscal 2014: $102.694 billion (from Global Powers of Retailing report).

    Marketing spending:

    Worldwide ad spending:

    Total worldwide advertising spending shown in the World's Largest Advertisers report and related database is an Ad Age Datacenter estimate.

    http://www.kaufland.com

Seven & i Holdings

  • Marketer profile
    Click here to see company's total worldwide advertising spending, measured-media spending by region, key executives and agencies.

    Overview:

    Seven & i Holdings is a global retailer based in Japan that owns and operates 7-Eleven convenience stores as well as superstores, supermarkets, department stores, restaurants and other ventures.

    Business segments and operations:

    Seven & i's retail network as of February 2018 included about 66,200 stores globally (including about 21,800 stores in Japan).

    Seven & i's Japanese network includes 7-Elevens; Ito-Yokado superstores; Ario shopping centers; York-Benimaru and York Mart supermarkets; Seibu department stores; Denny's restaurants; and Akachan Honpo and The Loft specialty stores.

    Seven & i's subsidiaries and affiliates operate 7-Eleven stores in Japan, North America, Central America and China. In countries and regions where the company has no local subsidiaries, other companies operate 7-Eleven stores as area licensees.

    Seven & i's 7-Eleven Inc. subsidiary had 8,670 stores in North America as of February 2018.

    Rankings:

    Seven & i ranked as the second largest Japan-based retailer, and No. 20 worldwide, in the Top 250 ranking based on fiscal 2016 sales in Deloitte's Global Powers of Retailing 2018 report. Marketing spending:

    Worldwide ad spending:

    Total worldwide advertising spending shown in the World's Largest Advertisers report and related database is Seven & i's stated worldwide "advertising and decoration expenses" converted to U.S. dollars at average exchange rates by Ad Age Datacenter.

    Worldwide advertising and decoration expenses:

    Year ended February 2018: 136.473 billion yen.
    Year ended February 2017: 160.355 billion yen.
    Year ended February 2016: 176.335 billion yen.
    Year ended February 2015: 165.645 billion yen.

    History:

    Seven & i Holdings traces its roots to the founding of Yokado Co. in Japan in 1958.

    Yokado in 1971 changed its name to Ito-Yokado Co.

    Ito-Yokado Co. in 1971 formed a business tie-up with York-Benimaru Co.

    York-Seven Co. was created in 1973 under a license agreement with Southland Corp., the U.S.-based owner of 7-Eleven.

    Denny's Japan Co. was formed in 1973 under a license agreement with U.S.-based restaurant chain Denny's.

    Ito-Yokado and Seven-Eleven Japan formed IYG Holding Co. to buy a major stake in Southland Corp.

    Southland Corp. in 1999 changed its name to 7-Eleven Inc.

    Seven & i Holdings Co. was formed in September 2005 as the holding company for Seven-Eleven Japan Co., Ito-Yokado Co. and Denny's Japan Co.

    7-Eleven Inc. in November 2005 became a wholly owned subsidiary of Seven & i Holdings.

    http://www.7andi.com/en/

SoftBank Group Corp. (Sprint Corp.)

  • Marketer profile
    Click here to see company's total worldwide advertising spending, measured-media spending by region, key executives and agencies.

    Overview:

    SoftBank Group Corp. is a diversified information company with interests in mobile communications, internet services, distribution and investment management.

    Sprint Corp., controlled by Tokyo-based SoftBank, is the fourth largest U.S. wireless phone company, behind AT&T, Verizon Wireless and T-Mobile.

    T-Mobile US April 29, 2018, signed a deal to buy Sprint Corp. in a move to combine the No. 3 (T-Mobile) and No. 4 (Sprint) U.S. wireless firms.

    SoftBank as of April 2018 owned about 83 percent of Sprint Corp.

    SoftBank on July 10, 2013, completed its acquisition of a 78 percent stake in what was then called Sprint Nextel Corp. for $22.2 billion.

    Business segments and operations:

    SoftBank is a diversified information company with interests in mobile communications, internet services, distribution and investment management.

    SoftBank's six reportable segments for year ended March 2018 were:

    Domestic Telecommunications (services in Japan (SoftBank Corp. and Wireless City Planning)).

    Sprint (U.S. mobile services (Sprint Corp.)).

    Yahoo Japan (internet advertising and e-commerce (Yahoo Japan Corp. and Askul Corp.)).

    Distribution (distribution of mobile devices outside Japan; sales of PC software, peripherals and mobile device accessories in Japan (Brightstar Corp. and SoftBank Commerce & Service Corp.)).

    Arm (Arm Holdings, microprocessor firm acquired in September 2016).

    SoftBank Vision Fund and Delta Fund (investment activities).

    The company's other operations include an alternative investment management business (Fortress Investment Group, acquired in December 2017) and businesses related to Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks (Japanese baseball team owned by SoftBank).

    SoftBank Corp., a holding company, changed its name to SoftBank Group Corp. on July 1, 2015.

    SoftBank BB, SoftBank Telecom, and Ymobile, merged into SoftBank Mobile on April 1, 2015. SoftBank Mobile changed its company name to SoftBank Corp. on July 1, 2015.

    Sales and earnings:

    Worldwide sales and earnings:

    Worldwide sales and earnings shown in the Leading National Advertisers report's Marketer Trees are for SoftBank.

    U.S. sales:

    U.S. sales shown in the Leading National Advertisers report's Marketer Trees are for Sprint Corp.

    Sprint changed its fiscal year to end March 31, rather than Dec. 31, effective March 31, 2014, to track with SoftBank's fiscal year.

    Sprint in the quarter ended December 2014 took a non-cash impairment charge of $1.9 billion to reflect a reduction in the value of the Sprint trade name. Sprint said it recorded the impairment losses "after determining that the carrying value exceeded estimated fair value of ... the Sprint trade name."

    Marketing spending:

    U.S. ad spending:

    Total U.S. advertising spending figures shown in the Leading National Advertisers report and Marketer Trees database are Sprint Corp.'s stated "advertising expenses."

    Sprint Corp.'s stated advertising expenses (included in selling, general and administrative expense) were $1.3 billion in the year ended March 31, 2018.

    Sponsorships:

    Sprint said in its 10-Ks for years ended March 2018, March 2017, March 2016 and March 2015:

    "Although we market our services using traditional print, digital and television advertising, we also provide exposure to our brand names and wireless services through various sponsorships. The goal of these marketing initiatives is to increase brand awareness and sales." The 10-Ks didn't mention specific sponsorships.

    Sprint said in its 10-Ks for years ended December 2013, December 2012 and December 2011: "Although we market our services using traditional print and television advertising, we also provide exposure to our brand names and wireless services through various sponsorships, including the National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing (Nascar) and the National Basketball Association (NBA). The goal of these marketing initiatives is to increase brand awareness and sales."

    Sprint said in its 10-K for year ended December 2010: "Although we market our services using traditional print and television advertising, we also provide exposure to our brand names and wireless services through various sponsorships, including the National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing (Nascar). The goal of these marketing initiatives is to increase brand awareness and sales."

    Worldwide ad spending:

    Total worldwide advertising spending shown in the World's Largest Advertisers report and related database are the sum of stated ad spending for Sprint Corp. and estimated spending for SoftBank Corp. (formerly SoftBank Mobile).

    SoftBank Corp. (formerly SoftBank Mobile) estimated ad spending:

    Year ended March 2018 (fiscal 2017): 29.621 billion yen ($267.5 million)
    Year ended March 2017 (fiscal 2016): 30.490 billion yen ($282.0 million)
    Year ended March 2016 (fiscal 2015): 26.752 billion yen ($222.8 million)
    Year ended March 2015 (fiscal 2014): 22.714 billion yen ($207.8 million)
    Year ended March 2014 (fiscal 2013): 23.738 billion yen ($237.1 million)

    Agencies:

    Sprint Corp.:

    Sprint in May 2017 moved its media account to independent Horizon Media from Publicis Groupe's Mediavest Spark.

    Sprint in November 2016 moved its account to independent Droga5 from named Interpublic Group of Cos.' Deutsch, Los Angeles.

    Sprint in December 2014 had named Deutsch as its new creative agency following a review. Sprint in late August 2014 issued a request for creative proposals to ad agencies, launching its review weeks after Sprint replaced CEO Dan Hesse with Marcelo Claure. The company's agency roster going into the review included independent Figliulo & Partners and two Publicis Groupe agencies, DigitasLBi and Leo Burnett's Arc. Figliulo in November 2013 had replaced Burnett as Sprint's TV creative agency. Burnett (retail advertising), DigitasLBi (digital) and Figliulo continued on the roster after Sprint hired Deutsch.

    Sprint in first-quarter 2012 moved its media account to Publicis Groupe from WPP's Mindshare. (Mindshare won the consolidated Sprint Nextel account in 2006. Before that, Mindshare handled Nextel while Publicis Groupe's Starcom worked on Sprint.)

    The media shift came after Sprint in December 2011 moved its ad account to a Publicis Groupe-dedicated unit, dubbed Team Sprint, without a review. Team Sprint was led by Tony Weisman, president of Digitas Chicago. Digitas became lead agency for Team Sprint, managing brand strategy, advertising, digital, offline media, digital buying and analytics. Team Sprint also drew on resources of Leo Burnett. (Publicis Groupe's Publicis handled Sprint rival T-Mobile.)Sprint CMO Bill Malloy said in a December 2011 statement: "We are focused on continuing to build the Sprint brand, bringing value and simplicity to customers across all segments. Team Sprint, a brand-dedicated agency ecosystem, provides an integrated, collaborative environment where the focus is on consumer needs, today and in the future."

    In shifting to Team Sprint, the marketer dropped Omnicom Group's Goodby, Silverstein & Partners (creative agency since 2007) and Havas' Euro RSCG (which worked on digital, direct, local and mobile marketing).

    Deals and strategic moves:

    T-Mobile US:

    Deutsche Telekom-controlled T-Mobile US April 29, 2018, signed a deal to buy Sprint Corp. in a move to combine the No. 3 (T-Mobile) and No. 4 (Sprint) U.S. wireless firms.

    Based on closing share prices before the announcement, T-Mobile US would buy Sprint in an all-stock deal with an enterprise value of about $59 billion.

    In announcing the deal, the companies said they expected to complete the transaction no later than the first half of calendar 2019.

    Germany's Deutsche Telekom and Japan's SoftBank expected to hold 41.7 percent and 27.4 percent of diluted economic ownership of the combined company, respectively, with the remaining 30.9 percent held by the public.

    Deutsche Telekom owned a 62.3 percent stake in T-Mobile US as of April 2018. SoftBank as of April 2018 owned 83.0 percent of Sprint.

    The deal came after Deutsche Telekom, SoftBank, T-Mobile and Sprint had discussed earlier potential mergers of T-Mobile and Sprint.

    In a Nov. 4, 2017, press release, Sprint said "it has ceased talks to merge with T-Mobile as the companies were unable to find mutually agreeable terms."

    That press release quoted Sprint President-CEO Marcelo Claure as follows: "While we couldn't reach an agreement to combine our companies, we certainly recognize the benefits of scale through a potential combination. However, we have agreed that it is best to move forward on our own. We know we have significant assets, including our rich spectrum holdings, and are accelerating significant investments in our network to ensure our continued growth. As convergence in the connectivity marketplace continues, we believe significant opportunities exist to establish strong partnerships across multiple industries. We are determined to continue our efforts to change the wireless industry and compete fiercely. We look forward to continuing to take the fight to the duopoly and newly emerging competitors."

    In its own Nov. 4, 2017, press release, T-Mobile US said: "T-Mobile and Sprint today jointly announced that they have ceased talks to merge as the companies were unable to find mutually agreeable terms."

    That press release quoted T-Mobile US President-CEO John Legere as follows: "The prospect of combining with Sprint has been compelling for a variety of reasons, including the potential to create significant benefits for consumers and value for shareholders. However, we have been clear all along that a deal with anyone will have to result in superior long-term value for T-Mobile's shareholders compared to our outstanding stand-alone performance and track record. Going forward, T-Mobile will continue disrupting this industry and bringing our proven Un-carrier strategy to more customers and new categories--ultimately redefining the mobile Internet as we know it. We've been out-growing this industry for the last 15 quarters, delivering outstanding value for shareholders, and driving significant change across wireless. We won't stop now."

    Deutsche Telekom said in a Nov. 4, 2017, statement: "Following this year's spectrum auction in the U.S., T-Mobile US and Sprint Corp., together with their majority shareholders Deutsche Telekom AG and SoftBank [Group] Corp., talked about a potential combination of their businesses. An agreement about the general framework of such a merger could not be reached. Therefore, the talks were now put to an end."

    Sprint in early August 2014 abandoned its pursuit of T-Mobile amid indications a Sprint/T-Mobile merger could face tough regulatory scrutiny.

    Sprint and T-Mobile earlier in 2014 had discussed terms of a deal for Sprint to acquire T-Mobile. The two companies hoped a merger would create a stronger No. 3 player behind Verizon and AT&T.

    Sprint had eyed T-Mobile for several years. Sprint weighed making an offer before AT&T in March 2011 signed a deal to acquire T-Mobile from Deutsche Telekom. AT&T, facing strong opposition from the Justice Department and Federal Communications Commission, in December 2011 aborted its deal to acquire T-Mobile.

    SoftBank deal:

    Sprint Nextel and SoftBank Corp. in October 2012 announced a deal for SoftBank to buy an approximately 70 percent stake in Sprint Nextel in a deal valued at $20.1 billion. The companies as of October 2012 expected to complete the deal in mid-2013. "New" Sprint would be a publicly traded U.S. company controlled by SoftBank.

    Satellite TV provider Dish Network Corp. in April 2013 launched a $25.5 billion bid for Sprint Nextel, hoping to derail the phone firm's pending deal with SoftBank.

    SoftBank on June 10, 2013, raised its bid to $21.6 billion. Under the revised offer, SoftBank would end up with a 78 percent stake. Dish on June 21 abandoned its Sprint Nextel offer, clearing the way for Sprint Nextel shareholders to vote on SoftBank's offer on June 25, 2013. The deal closed July 10, 2013. In Sprint's 10-K for year ended December 2013, the deal was valued at $22.2 billion, consisting of $14.1 billion cash, net of cash acquired of $2.5 billion, and the estimated value of the 22 percent interest in Sprint Corp. issued to Sprint Nextel shareholders.

    Coinciding with the closing, Sprint Nextel Corp. became Sprint Corp. (Technically, a SoftBank subsidiary, Starburst II Inc., became the parent of Sprint Nextel; the name of Starburst II then was changed to Sprint Corp.; and the name of Sprint Nextel then was changed to Sprint Communications, which operates as a unit of Sprint Corp.)

    SoftBank Corp., a holding company, changed its company name to SoftBank Group Corp. on July 1, 2015.

    Clearwire deal:

    Sprint on July 9, 2013, completed its acquisition of the remaining staking in wireless firm Clearwire Corp., giving Sprint 100 percent ownership.

    Sprint in December 2012 had signed a deal to buy the remaining stake in Clearwire for $2.2 billion. Sprint said the transaction gave Clearwire an enterprise value of about $10 billion, including net debt and spectrum lease obligations of $5.5 billion. Sprint owned a 50.4 percent economic interest in Clearwire as of March 31, 2013. Sprint raised its offer in May 2013. Later in May 2013, Dish jumped in with its own offer to acquire Clearwire. Sprint on June 20, 2013, raised its offer to $5.00 per Clearwire share, valuing Clearwire at about $14 billion. Clearwire accepted Sprint's revised offer. Sprint completed the acquisition July 9, 2013, acquiring the portion of Clearwire that it didn't already own for about $3.5 billion, net of cash acquired of $198 million.

    According to Sprint's 10-K filing (for year ended December 2013) and Clearwire's 10-Ks (through 2012), Clearwire had stated advertising costs of $22.6 million for the 190 days ended July 9, 2013 (the date Sprint acquired Clearwire); $69.7 million in calendar 2012; $76.4 million in 2011; $213.9 million in 2010; $99.1 million in 2009; $7.5 million in 2008; and $0 in 2007.

    RadioShack deal:

    RadioShack filed for bankruptcy reorganization in March 2017, marking its second trip to bankruptcy court. Sprint, which had a deal to operate Sprint retail stores inside RadioShack stores, reached an agreement to convert some of those locations to Sprint-owned stores.

    Sprint in 2017 terminated its relationship with General Wireless Operations (RadioShack). Sprint in 2015 had forged an agreement to staff and run "store-within-a-store" wireless-service sections in RadioShack stores.

    RadioShack Corp., a retailer of consumer electronics and electronics parts and gadgets, in early 2015 filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganization following a long struggle to adapt to a changing market. U.S. Bankruptcy Court in March 2015 approved an offer by General Wireless, an affiliate of Standard General, to buy the inventory and assume leases of 1,743 RadioShack stores following a bankruptcy auction.

    Under an agreement that RadioShack made with Sprint, the wireless firm agreed to staff and run "store-within-a-store" Sprint sections inside RadioShack stores.

    A March 2015 statement from Standard General said: "The company's long-term partnership with Sprint will help reposition RadioShack as the premier community destination for consumer electronics. The stores will feature emerging technologies that enhance the traditional accessories, DIY electronics and innovation for which the company is known. Approximately 1,440 stores will be co-branded with Sprint. The unique co-branding partnership will further the company's strategy of engaging the 'mobile first' generation."

    Other Sprint Corp. deals and strategic moves:

    Sprint in 2016 merged Assurance Wireless, its Lifeline wireless brand, into Access Wireless, another brand that markets Lifeline wireless service under a federal government assistance program. Sprint owns 70 percent of the merged business.

    Sprint in May 2013 completed its acquisition of selected Midwest markets from U.S. Cellular Corp., a smaller wireless firm, for $480 million. Specifically, Sprint bought U.S. Cellular's Chicago, St. Louis, central Illinois and three other Midwest markets. The acquisition included about 420,000 U.S. Cellular customers. Chicago-based U.S. Cellular said the sale did not affect its naming rights on U.S. Cellular Field, home of Major League Baseball's Chicago White Sox.

    Sprint in December 2009 acquired Ipcs, previously a Sprint PCS affiliate that sold services under the Sprint brand name and in Sprint-branded stores.

    Sprint in November 2009 bought Virgin Mobile USA, a provider of prepaid mobile-phone services.

    Sprint and wireless firm Nextel merged in a $71 billion stock-for-stock deal to form Sprint Nextel in August 2005. Sprint shut the Nextel platform on June 30, 2013.

    Management and employees:

    Sprint Corp.:

    Sprint in May 2018 shifted CEO Marcelo Claure to executive chairman and promoted President-CFO Michel Combes to president-CEO.

    Prior to joining Sprint in January 2018, Combes was CEO of Altice, chairman-CEO of SFR Group and CEO of Alcatel-Lucent. Earlier, Combes was CEO of Vodafone Europe, chairman-CEO of TDF Group and CFO France Telecom.

    Sprint in August 2014 had named Claure as CEO, replacing Dan Hesse. Claure had been CEO of Brightstar Corp., a wireless-products distributor and subsidiary of SoftBank. Claure founded Brightstar in 1997. SoftBank bought a 57 percent stake in Brightstar for $1.26 billion in January 2014 and agreed to buy Claure's remaining 43 percent stake in August 2014, coinciding with his move to Sprint.

    Masayoshi Son, founder and Chairman-CEO of SoftBank, became chairman of Sprint when SoftBank bought a majority stake in July 2013.

    Sprint in December 2007 named Hesse as president-CEO. Hesse joined Sprint from CEO of Embarq Corp., the local-phone business that Sprint spun off in 2006. (Telecom rollup CenturyLink, formerly CenturyTel, bought Embarq on July 1, 2009.)

    Hesse earlier spent 23 years at AT&T, including a post as CEO of AT&T Wireless. At Sprint, he replaced Gary Forsee, who resigned in October 2007 as Sprint struggled with market-share losses and weak financial performance.

    Hesse in 2008 made his debut as TV pitchman for

    http://www.softbank.jp/en/

Sony Corp.

  • Marketer profile
    Click here to see company's total worldwide advertising spending, measured-media spending by region, key executives and agencies.

    Overview:

    Sony Corp. is a consumer electronics marketer and major global distributor of movies and music. The company is based in Tokyo.

    Sony's other operations include financial-services businesses in Japan, including life and non-life insurance and an internet-based bank; and an internet-services-provider business (So-net) and an advertising agency in Japan.

    Sales and earnings:

    Sony Pictures:

    Sony breaks out worldwide sales and operating revenue in dollars for Sony Pictures Entertainment, a U.S.-based operation, in its "Pictures Segment Supplemental Information" (in Sony's "Supplemental Information of the Consolidated Financial Results").

    Sony Pictures' worldwide sales and operating revenue:

    Year ended March 2018: $9.133 billion
    Year ended March 2017: $8.292 billion
    Year ended March 2016: $7.875 billion
    Year ended March 2015: $7.910 billion
    Year ended March 2014: $8.255 billion
    Year ended March 2013: $8.803 billion
    Year ended March 2012: $8.021 billion
    Year ended March 2011: $7.229 billion

    Marketing spending:

    U.S. ad spending:

    Total U.S. advertising spending shown in the Leading National Advertisers report and Marketer Trees database is an Ad Age Datacenter estimate.

    Worldwide ad spending:

    Total worldwide advertising spending figures shown in the World's Largest Advertisers report and related database are Sony's stated worldwide advertising costs converted to U.S. dollars at average exchange rates by Ad Age Datacenter.

    Sony reported worldwide advertising costs of 407.106 billion yen ($3.676 billion) in the year ended March 2018.

    Cooperative advertising costs:

    Sony explained its accounting for cooperative advertising costs in its consolidated financial statements for year ended March 2018:

    "Sales incentives or other cash consideration given to a customer or a reseller, including payments for buydowns, slotting fees and cooperative advertising programs, are accounted for as a reduction of revenue unless Sony receives an identifiable benefit (goods or services) in exchange for the consideration, the fair value of the benefit is reasonably estimated and documentation from the reseller is received to support the amounts paid to the reseller. Payments meeting these criteria are recorded as selling, general and administrative expenses.

    "For the fiscal years ended March 31, 2016, 2017 and 2018, consideration given to a reseller, primarily for free promotional shipping and cooperative advertising programs included in selling, general and administrative expenses, totaled 13,178 million yen [$109.8 million], 12,046 million yen [$111.4 million] and 12,319 million yen [$111.2 million], respectively."

    The comparable amounts were 10,503 million yen ($96.1 million) in year ended March 2015; 12,112 million yen ($121.0 million) in year ended March 2014; 14,643 million yen ($175.7 million) in year ended March 2013; 17,641 million yen ($223.5 million) in year ended March 2012; 23,250 million yen ($272.0 million) in year ended March 2011; 23,591 million yen ($254.3 million) in year ended March 2010; and 29,813 million yen ($298.1 million) in year ended March 2009.

    Deals and strategic moves:

    Sony in May 2018 signed a deal to buy a 60 percent stake in EMI Music Publishing from a Mubadala Investment Co.-led group based on an enterprise value of $4.75 billion. The deal increased Sony's stake in EMI Music Publishing to about 90 percent. A Sony-led investor group in June 2012 bought EMI Group's EMI Music Publishing for $2.2 billion, giving Sony access to EMI's 1.3 million song copyrights. (The 2012 investor group included the estate of Michael Jackson; Mubadala Development Company PJSC; Jynwel Capital Ltd.; Blackstone Group's GSO Capital Partners; and David Geffen. Sony in July 2018 bought the stake held by the estate of Michael Jackson.)

    Sony in September 2016 bought the 50 percent stake in Sony/ATV Music Publishing held by the estate of Michael Jackson, increasing Sony's ownership to 100 percent from 50 percent.

    Sony in July 2014 sold its Vaio personal-computer business to Japan Industrial Partners, a buyout fund. The PC business now operates as Vaio Corp.

    Sony Pictures Entertainment in December 2012 paid DirecTV $234 million for an additional 18 percent stake in GSN, a U.S. cable channel and online business. That increased Sony's stake to 58 percent; DirecTV owns 42 percent. That followed a March 2011 transaction in which Sony paid DirecTV $60 million for an additional 5 percent stake in GSN, increasing Sony's stake to 40 percent and reducing DirecTV's stake to 60 percent. (AT&T acquired DirecTV in July 2015.)

    Sony on Feb. 15, 2012, bought Ericsson's 50 percent stake in Sony Ericsson Mobile Communications, giving Sony 100 percent ownership in the wireless phone handset manufacturer. Sony Ericsson changed its name to Sony Mobile Communications. The companies had announced the deal in October 2011, with Sony agreeing to pay 1.05 billion euros ($1.46 billion) to buy Ericsson's stake.

    Sony in October 2008 bought Bertlesmann's 50 percent stake in their joint venture, Sony BMG, making Sony the sole owner of the world's second largest record company behind Universal Music Group. The deal was valued at nearly $1.8 billion. Sony revived the Sony Music Entertainment moniker to replace the Sony BMG name.

    Sony's record roots extend back decades. In 1968, Sony and CBS formed CBS/Sony Records in Japan as a 50/50 joint venture.

    Sony in 1988 acquired CBS Corp.'s record imprint, CBS Records. Sony in 1991 renamed it Sony Music Entertainment, which in 2004 was renamed Sony BMG after Sony established the joint venture with Bertlesmann Music Group.

    Sony/ATV Music Publishing in 2007 bought Viacom's Famous Music, a music publishing catalog, for about $370 million. Famous Music was opened in 1928 by Famous-Lasky Corp. (Paramount Pictures' predecessor) to publish music from the studio's "talking pictures" and other projects.

    Sony in November 1989 bought Columbia Pictures Entertainment from Coca-Cola Co., which had purchased the studio in 1982. Sony changed the name of Columbia Pictures Entertainment to Sony Pictures Entertainment in August 1991.

    Sony Pictures Entertainment is based in Culver City, Calif., on the old Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer lot.

    Sony led a consortium of investors (Providence Equity Partners, Texas Pacific Group, Comcast Corp., DLJ Merchant Banking Partners) in the April 2005 buyout of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer for about $5 billion. As of November 2010, Sony owned a 14 percent stake; Providence, 34 percent; TPG, 23 percent; Comcast, 21 percent; and Credit Suisse Group's DLJ, 8 percent. MGM, burdened by debt, filed for bankruptcy reorganization in November 2010. Sony's stake was wiped out in bankruptcy. MGM emerged from bankruptcy in December 2010 under new ownership.

    Management and employees:

    Sony named Kenichiro Yoshida president-CEO effective April 1, 2018. Yoshida had been executive deputy president and chief financial officer.

    Yoshida succeeded Kazuo Hirai, who became chairman. Hirai had been president-CEO since April 1, 2012, when he succeeded Howard Stringer.

    Stringer joined Sony in May 1997 as president-chief operating officer of Sony Corp. of America. Stringer became Sony Corp. chairman-CEO in June 2005 and added the title of president in April 2009.

    History:

    Tokyo Tsushin Kogyo K.K. (Tokyo Telecommunications Engineering Corp.), also known as Totsuko, opened for business in 1946.

    Totsuko began using the Sony logo on products in 1955.

    The company in 1958 changed its name to Sony Corp.

    http://www.sony.net

Suntory Holdings (Beam Suntory)

  • Marketer profile
    Click here to see company's total worldwide advertising spending, measured-media spending by region, key executives and agencies.

    Overview:

    Suntory Holdings is a global marketer of alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages and food products.

    Business segments and operations:

    Suntory Holdings has three business segments:

    Beverage and Food
    Alcoholic Beverage
    Other

    Beverage and Food includes Suntory Beverage & Food, a Japan-based company in which Suntory Holdings had a 59.48 percent stake as of March 2018, according to Suntory Beverage & Food's annual report.

    Alcoholic Beverage includes the former Beam Inc. (now Beam Suntory); Suntory Spirits Ltd. (Suntory Holdings' Japanese spirits business; formerly Suntory Liquors Ltd; now part of Beam Suntory); and Suntory Beer Ltd.

    Suntory on April 30, 2014, acquired Beam Inc., a U.S.-based global spirits marketer, for about $16 billion cash. Beam Inc. at that point changed its name to Beam Suntory and became the U.S.-based global spirits unit of Suntory.

    The Other segment includes operations in China, health food, ice cream, restaurants, flowers and other operations.

    Rankings:

    Suntory Holdings' 2014 acquisition of Beam made Suntory the world's third largest spirits marketer by sales, behind No. 1 Diageo and No. 2 Pernod Ricard.

    Sales and earnings:

    Suntory Holdings disclosed calendar 2017 worldwide revenue (excluding excise taxes) of 2,158 billion yen ($19.245 billion). Figures are based on International Financial Reporting Standards, which Suntory Holdings adopted starting in calendar 2017.

    Beam Suntory:

    Suntory Holdings said its Beam Suntory unit had 2013 pro forma worldwide sales of $4.6 billion (excluding excise tax).

    Beam Inc. (not including Suntory's spirits sales) reported worldwide net sales of:

    2013: $2.547 billion
    2012: $2.460 billion
    2011: $2.299 billion
    2010: $2.095 billion
    2009: $1.980 billion

    Marketing spending:

    Worldwide ad spending:

    Total worldwide advertising spending figures shown in the World's Largest Advertisers report (starting with the December 2018 report) and related database are Suntory Holdings' stated worldwide advertising and sales promotion expenses converted to U.S. dollars at average exchange rates by Ad Age Datacenter.

    Suntory Holdings' stated worldwide advertising and sales promotion expenses:

    2017: 369.414 billion yen ($3.295 billion) (17.1 percent of revenue excluding excise taxes)
    2016: 357.663 billion yen ($3.298 billion) (17.0 percent of revenue excluding excise taxes)

    Figures are based on International Financial Reporting Standards, which Suntory Holdings adopted starting in calendar 2017.

    Suntory Holdings previously broke out "advertising" expenses as follows:

    2016: 107.914 billion yen ($995.0 million)
    2015: 117.369 billion yen ($970.6 million)
    2014: 108.810 billion yen ($1.032 billion)
    2013: 83.770 billion yen ($859.5 million)

    Spending for 2014 included ad spending for Beam Suntory (formerly Beam Inc.) for period after Suntory Holdings bought Beam Inc. on April 30, 2014.

    Marketing spending for predecessor Beam Inc.:

    Predecessor firm Beam Inc. reported 2013 worldwide advertising costs of $338.6 million and 2013 worldwide advertising and marketing costs of $401.0 million.

    Stated worldwide advertising spending for predecessor Beam Inc.:

    2013: $338.6 million (13.3 percent of net sales)
    2012: $335.2 million
    2011: $302.3 million

    Stated worldwide advertising and marketing spending for predecessor firm Beam Inc.:

    2013: $401.0 million (15.7 percent of net sales)
    2012: $398.7 million
    2011: $358.7 million
    2010: $307.6 million
    2009: $275.7 million

    Deals and strategic moves:

    Suntory Holdings, a Japanese alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverage marketer, acquired Beam on April 30, 2014. Beam at that point changed its name to Beam Suntory and became the U.S.-based global spirits unit of Suntory. (See "History" section for more.)

    GlaxoSmithKline in December 2013 sold its Lucozade and Ribena nutritional-drinks brands to Suntory Beverage & Food for 1.352 billion pounds cash ($2.116 billion). Lucozade and Ribena had sales, excluding retained markets, of 527 million pounds ($825 million) in 2013.

    Stock:

    Suntory's non-alcoholic beverage business listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange in 2013 as Suntory Beverage & Food Ltd. Suntory Holdings had a 59.48 percent stake in Suntory Beverage & Food as March 2018.

    History:

    Suntory Holdings:

    Suntory Holdings traces its roots in Japan to 1899, when Shinjiro Torii founded Torii Shoten and began production and sales of wine.

    Beam Inc. history:

    Beam Inc. was known as Fortune Brands until Oct. 3, 2011, when Fortune Brands completed a corporate breakup and renamed itself Beam Inc.

    Fortune Brands in December 2010 announced its plan to split into three companies: distilled spirits; home and security; golf products. The breakup marked an end to Fortune Brands' days as a far-flung conglomerate.

    In announcing its breakup plan in December 2010, Fortune Brands said it intended to continue as a public company "focused solely on its distilled spirits business." Fortune Brands said the company's Beam Global Spirits & Wine unit, with $2.5 billion in annual revenue, "is the largest U.S.-based spirits company and the fourth largest premium spirits business in the world."

    Fortune Brands' Beam Global Spirits & Wine was a major player in bourbon with the Jim Beam, Maker's Mark and Knob Creek brands. Other brands include Canadian Club whisky and Laphroaig and Teacher's Scotch; tequila brands Sauza, Hornitos and El Tesoro; Courvoisier cognac; DeKuyper cordials; Cruzan rum; Effen vodka; and the European Sourz cordials brand.

    Under its breakup plan, Fortune Brands on Oct. 3, 2011, spun off to shareholders its home and security business, Fortune Brands Home & Security, with annual sales exceeding $3 billion. That venture's largest single brand is Moen, which it said is the No. 1 faucet brand in North America. The unit also includes MasterBrand Cabinets (including Aristokraft, Decora, Diamond, Omega and Kitchen Craft), which it said is the No. 2 cabinet manufacturer in North America. Other brands include Therma-Tru, a maker of doors; Simonton, a maker of vinyl-frame windows; Master Lock, the lock maker; and Waterloo, which markets storage and organization products.

    Also as part of the breakup plan, Fortune Brands on July 29, 2011, sold its golf business, Acushnet Co., to a group led by Fila Korea (owner of the Fila brand) and Mirae Asset Private Equity (a private-equity firm in South Korea) for $1.225 billion cash. Fortune Brands said golf business had net sales exceeded $1.2 billion in 2010, with nearly half of revenue from outside the U.S. Acushnet's brands include Titleist golf balls and FootJoy shoes and gloves.

    Fortune Brands in April 2010 sold its Cobra golf line to Germany's Puma AG, allowing Fortune to focus its golf business on Titleist and FootJoy.

    Fortune in 2009 paid 49.9 million euros (about $66.2 million) to buy seven subsidiaries of Maxxium Worldwide, its former international spirits sales distribution joint venture. In addition, Fortune in 2009 paid 30 million euros (about $41.7 million) to acquire 50 percent ownership in five Maxxium joint-venture entities.

    Also in 2009, Fortune acquired the Effen super-premium vodka brand from Sazerac Co. for about $14 million. In conjunction with that transaction, Fortune sold the Old Taylor whiskey brand to Sazerac.

    Fortune in 2008 unwound an agreement in place since 2001 to distribute Absolut vodka in the U.S.

    Fortune and Absolut's Swedish owner, V&S Group (V&S Vin & Sprit AB), in 2001 had set up Future Brands, a joint venture 51 percent owned by Fortune and 49 percent by V&S, to distribute both companies' spirits in the U.S. for an initial 10-year period.

    After French spirits marketer Pernod Ricard bought V&S in early 2008, Fortune repurchased V&S's 10 percent minority interest in Fortune's spirits business for $455 million. Then Fortune and V&S ended the U.S. distribution joint venture effective October 2008; Pernod Ricard paid Fortune $230 million to end that agreement.

    In September 2008, Fortune bought the premium Cruzan rum business from Pernod Ricard for $103.2 million in cash.

    Fortune sold its U.S. wine business in 2006.

    In 2005, Fortune bought more than 25 spirits and wine brands from Pernod Ricard for about $5.25 billion. Brands acquired included Sauza tequila, Maker's Mark bourbon, Courvoisier cognac, Canadian Club whisky, Laphroaig single-malt Scotch and Clos du Bois super-premium wines.

    Fortune in 2006 bought SBR (now Simonton Holdings), marketer of Simonton Windows, a leading vinyl-framed window brand.

    In 2005, Fortune spun off its office products business, Acco World Corp., to shareholders. The spinoff, now known as Acco Brands Corp., markets such brands as Swingline, Day-Timer, Kensington and Wilson Jones. (The name Acco came from American Clip Co.)

    Fortune Brands had its roots in tobacco. It began in 1890 as American Tobacco Co., at the time the nation's biggest tobacco company (before an antitrust breakup of the company in 1911). American Tobacco Co. morphed into the conglomerate American Brands. American Brands in 1994 sold American Tobacco Co., by then an also-ran cigarette marketer, to Brown & Williamson Tobacco Corp. (B&W now is part of Reynolds American.) American Brands changed its name to Fortune Brands in 1997 and then to Beam Inc. in October 2011.

    Suntory Holdings, a Japanese alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverage marketer, acquired Beam on April 30, 2014. Beam at that point changed its name to Beam Suntory and became the U.S.-based global spirits unit of Suntory.

    http://www.suntory.com

Target Corp.

  • Marketer profile
    Click here to see company's total worldwide advertising spending, measured-media spending by region, key executives and agencies.

    Overview:

    Target Corp. is a discount retailer based in Minneapolis.

    Business segments and operations:

    Target operated 1,822 U.S. stores in 49 states (all but Vermont) in February 2018; 1,802 in January 2017; 1,792 in January 2016; 1,790 stores in January 2015; 1,793 stores in February 2014; 1,778 stores in February 2013; 1,763 stores in January 2012; 1,750 stores in January 2011; 1,740 stores in January 2010; 1,682 stores in January 2009; and 1,591 stores in February 2008.

    Brands:

    Target said about one-third of its 2017 and 2016 sales came from its owned and exclusive brands.

    Rankings:

    Target ranked as the world's No. 13 retailer in the Top 250 ranking based on fiscal 2016 sales in Deloitte's Global Powers of Retailing 2018 report.

    Marketing spending:

    U.S. ad spending:

    Total U.S. advertising spending figures shown in the Leading National Advertisers report and Marketer Trees database are Target's stated gross advertising costs including stated net advertising costs plus stated vendor contributions (cooperative advertising money).

    Target received advertising vendor contributions (cooperative advertising money), referred to as "vendor income," for "reimbursement of specific, incremental and identifiable costs," of:

    Fiscal 2017 (year ended Feb. 3, 2018): $19 million (0.03 percent of sales)
    Fiscal 2016 (year ended Jan. 28, 2017): $38 million (0.05 percent)
    Fiscal 2015: $38 million (0.05 percent)
    Fiscal 2014: $47 million (0.06 percent)
    Fiscal 2013: $75 million (restated) (0.11 percent)
    Fiscal 2012: $231 million (0.32 percent)
    Fiscal 2011: $229 million (restated) (0.33 percent)
    Fiscal 2010: $198 million (restated) (0.30 percent)
    Fiscal 2009: $179 million (0.28 percent)
    Fiscal 2008: $188 million (0.30 percent)
    Fiscal 2007: $123 million (0.20 percent)

    Target's 10-K for fiscal 2017 said: "We receive various forms of consideration from our vendors (vendor income), principally earned as a result of volume rebates, markdown allowances, promotions, and advertising allowances. Substantially all vendor income is recorded as a reduction of cost of sales."

    The 10-K for year ended Feb. 1, 2014 (fiscal 2013), explained the sharp decline in coop money (vendor income): "A 2013 change to certain merchandise vendor contracts resulted in more vendor funding being recognized as a reduction of our cost of sales rather than offsetting certain advertising expenses."

    The 10-K for year ended Feb. 2, 2013 (fiscal 2012), said: "Promotional and advertising allowances are intended to offset our costs of promoting and selling merchandise in our stores."

    Target had worldwide gross advertising spending -- its out-of-pocket costs plus cooperative advertising money -- of:

    Fiscal 2017 (year ended Feb. 3, 2018): $1.476 billion (2.05 percent of sales)
    Fiscal 2016: $1.503 billion (2.16 percent)
    Fiscal 2015: $1.472 billion (1.99 percent)
    Fiscal 2014: $1.647 billion (2.27 percent)
    Fiscal 2013: $1.623 billion (restated) (2.28 percent)
    Fiscal 2012: $1.620 billion (restated) (2.25 percent)
    Fiscal 2011: $1.589 billion (revised) (2.32 percent)
    Fiscal 2010: $1.490 billion (revised) (2.26 percent)
    Fiscal 2009: $1.346 billion (2.12 percent)
    Fiscal 2008: $1.421 billion (2.26 percent)
    Fiscal 2007: $1.318 billion (2.14 percent)

    The 10-K for year ended Feb. 3, 2018 (fiscal 2017), said advertising costs "primarily consist of newspaper circulars, digital advertisements, and media broadcast."

    The 10-Ks for years ended Jan. 28, 2017 (fiscal 2016), Jan. 30, 2016 (fiscal 2015), Jan. 31, 2015 (fiscal 2014), Feb. 1, 2014 (fiscal 2013), and Feb. 2, 2013 (fiscal 2012) said advertising costs "primarily consist of newspaper circulars, internet advertisements and media broadcast."

    The 10-K for year ended Jan. 28, 2012 (fiscal 2011), said: "Newspaper circulars, internet advertisements and media broadcast made up the majority of our advertising costs" in fiscal 2011, 2010 and 2009. That 10-K was notable for adding the phrase "internet advertisements" to Target's description of its media mix.

    The 10-K for year ended Jan. 29, 2011 (fiscal 2010), said: "Newspaper circulars and media broadcast made up the majority of our advertising costs" in fiscal 2010, 2009 and 2008.

    Ad Age Datacenter calculates Target's ad spending based on gross advertising spending, including cooperative advertising contributions from vendors.

    Worldwide ad spending:

    Total worldwide advertising spending figures shown in the World's Largest Advertisers report and related database are Target's stated gross advertising costs including stated net advertising costs plus stated vendor contributions (cooperative advertising money).

    Agencies:

    Target in April 2016 moved its media planning and buying account to WPP's GroupM, ending a decades-long relationship with independent Haworth Marketing & Media. GroupM set up an agency, Minneapolis-based Team Arrow Partners, to handle Target. Team Arrow was to employ more than 30 people. GroupM had joined Target's roster in 2015. WPP in September 2014 acquired a 49.0 percent stake in Minneapolis-based Haworth, which launched in 1970 with Target as its first client.

    Deals and strategic moves:

    Target closed its Chefs Catalog and Cooking.com ventures in 2016. Target in spring 2013 had purchased Chefs Catalog (Pikes Peak Direct Marketing) and Cooking.com in two separate transactions, acquisitions aimed at expanding Target's presence in the cooking and kitchenware market. Target combined the units into a new Target subsidiary. Both brands continue to operate under their current names. Chefs Catalog, which started in 1979, was a direct-to-consumer specialty retailer of cooking products. Cooking.com, launched in 1998, was a culinary e-commerce company.

    Target and drugstore operator CVS Health in December 2015 completed a deal in which CVS bought Target's pharmacy and clinic businesses for about $1.9 billion. The companies announced the deal in June 2015.

    CVS Health acquired Target's more than 1,660 pharmacies across 47 states and will operate them in a store-within-a-store format, branded as CVS/pharmacy. In addition, a CVS/pharmacy will be included in all new Target stores that offer pharmacy services. Target's nearly 80 clinic locations will be rebranded as MinuteClinic, and CVS Health will open up to 20 new clinics in Target stores within three years of the close of the transaction.

    Target in October 2015 said it had launched an international version of its website (Intl.Target.com), available to shoppers in more than 200 countries and territories, under an agreement with Borderfree, a Pitney Bowes global e-commerce venture. Target said: "The new site, which Target recently began testing, also will allow U.S. customers to ship Target orders to family and friends around the world, just in time for this [2015] holiday season."

    Target Jan. 15, 2015, announced plans to close its Canadian stores and liquidate Target Canada Co., ending a struggle to turn around its Canada business. At the time of the announcement, Target Canada operated 133 stores. Beginning with Target Corp.'s financial results for fiscal fourth-quarter ended January 2015, Target reported operating results excluding discontinued Canadian operations. The shutdown came after Target concluded it wouldn't be able to make Target Canada profitable until at least 2021.

    Target opened its first stores in Canada in calendar 2013. It operated 124 stores in Canada as of February 2014, using locations previously occupied by Zellers, a Canadian discount chain. Target acquired the leaseholds on those locations in 2011.

    Target in 2013 acquired DermStore Beauty Group, an online beauty products marketer. Following the sale, DermStore became a wholly owned subsidiary that continued to operate as a separate entity under its online names, DermStore.com, hairenvy.com and blush.com. Target announced the deal to buy DermStore in August 2013. DermStore was founded in 1999.

    Target in March 2013 sold its U.S. consumer credit card portfolio to TD Bank Group (Toronto-Dominion Bank). The 10-K for year ended Feb. 1, 2014, said: "TD now underwrites, funds and owns Target Credit Card and Target Visa receivables in the U.S. TD controls risk management policies and oversees regulatory compliance, and we perform account servicing and primary marketing functions. We earn a substantial portion of the profits generated by the Target Credit Card and Target Visa portfolios."

    Target bought the Smith & Hawken trademark from Scotts Miracle-Gro Co. on Dec. 30, 2009. Scotts Miracle-Gro previously operated a chain of Smith & Hawken retail stores but closed the stores in 2009.

    Management and employees:

    Target shifted John Mulligan to executive VP and chief operating officer from executive VP and chief financial officer in September 2015.

    Target July 30, 2014, named Brian Cornell chairman-CEO, effective Aug. 12, 2014. Connell was age 55 at the time of his appointment. Cornell joined Target from PepsiCo, where he was CEO of PepsiCo Americas Foods. Before joining PepsiCo in 2012, he was president-CEO of Sam's Club, a division of Walmart. Cornell earlier was CEO at Michaels Stores and executive VP-CMO at Safeway.

    Cornell was Target's first CEO hired from outside the company.

    As CEO, Cornell succeeded Mulligan, Target's CFO, who had been interim president-CEO since May 5, 2014; Mulligan continued as CFO.

    As chairman, Cornell succeeded Roxanne S. Austin, a Target board member who had been interim non-executive chair since May 5, 2014.

    Target May 5, 2014, terminated Chairman-President-CEO Gregg Steinhafel effective immediately. The company described his departure as an "involuntary termination for reasons other than for cause." A board statement said: "After extensive discussions, the board and Gregg Steinhafel have decided that now is the right time for new leadership at Target."

    Steinhafel faced pressure over a massive 2013 data breach at Target in which hackers stole credit and debit card information, names, mailing addresses, email addresses and phone numbers.

    Steinhafel also faced challenges over Target's 2013 entry into Canada. Target's 10-K for year ended Feb. 1, 2014, said "initial sales and operating results in Canada have not met our initial expectations." (Target May 20, 2014, announced the departure of Target Canada's president, Tony Fisher; he was replaced by Mark Schindele, formerly senior VP-merchandising operations.)

    Steinhafel, who was born in 1954, joined Target in 1979 and became CEO in 2008.

    Target on April 2, 2012, named Jeffrey J. Jones II as executive VP-CMO, effective immediately. He was age 44 at the time he was hired. Jones joined Target from McKinney, an ad agency in Durham, N.C., where he was president. Prior to McKinney, Jones held several posts at Gap Inc., including executive VP-CMO. He earlier worked at internet consultancy Marchfirst (which at one point owned McKinney);Coca-Cola Co.; and Leo Burnett Worldwide.

    Jones succeeded Michael R. Francis, who in October 2011 resigned as Target's executive VP-CMO to become president of J.C. Penney Co. Francis had only a short stint at Penney, which June 18, 2012, announced: "Michael Francis will be leaving the company, effective today." Francis later in 2012 served as a consultant at Gap Inc. and then in December 2012 joined DreamWorks Animation as chief global brand officer.

    Uber in August 2016 announced Jones was leaving Target to become Uber's president-ridesharing with responsibility for Uber operations, marketing and customer support globally. Jones exited Uber in March 2017. Jones joined H&R Block as president-CEO in October 2017.

    History:

    Target's roots date to 1902, when George P. Dayton opened a store in Minneapolis. Dayton Co. opened its first Target discount store in 1962.

    Dayton later acquired Michigan retailer Hudson's and Chicago department store Marshall Field's. The company eventually rebranded its department stores as Marshall Field's.

    Dayton Hudson Corp. in 2000 renamed itself Target Corp. In 2004, the company sold Marshall Field's and another chain, Mervyn's. Marshall Field's was later acquired by Macy's, which rebranded the stores as Macy's. Mervyn's filed for bankruptcy and liquidated in 2008.

    http://www.target.com

Tata Motors

  • Marketer profile
    Click here to see company's total worldwide advertising spending, measured-media spending by region, key executives and agencies.

    Overview:

    Tata Motors is an auto and truck marketer based in India. Its brands include Jaguar, Land Rover and Tata.

    Business segments and operations:

    Tata group:

    Tata Motors is part of Tata group, an India-based global enterprise of more than 100 companies.

    Each Tata company operates independently and has its own shareholders. There were 29 publicly listed Tata enterprises with a combined market capitalization of about $144.8 billion as of March 2018.

    Tata companies with significant scale include Tata Steel, Tata Motors, Tata Consultancy Services, Tata Power, Tata Chemicals, Tata Global Beverages, Tata Teleservices, Titan, Tata Communications and Indian Hotels.

    Revenue of all Tata companies was $100.4 billion in year ended March 2017.

    Marketing spending:

    U.S. ad spending:

    Total U.S. advertising spending shown in the Leading National Advertisers report and Marketer Trees database is an Ad Age Datacenter estimate.

    Worldwide ad spending:

    Total worldwide advertising spending figures shown in the World's Largest Advertisers report and related database are Tata Motors' stated "publicity" expenses converted to U.S. dollars at average exchange rates.

    Tata Motors' stated publicity expenses:

    2017 (year ended March 2018; fiscal 2018): 89.686 billion rupees ($1.391 billion).
    2016 (year ended March 2017; fiscal 2017): 86.987 billion rupees ($1.299 billion).
    2015 (year ended March 2016; fiscal 2016): 87.685 billion rupees ($1.343 billion).

    Deals and strategic moves:

    Ford Motor Co. on June 2, 2008, completed the sale of British luxury brands Jaguar and Land Rover to Tata Motors. Tata paid $2.4 billion in cash. Ford contributed about $600 million to Jaguar and Land Rover pension plans. So Ford received net cash of about $1.8 billion.

    Ford bought Jaguar for $2.5 billion in December 1989. The automaker bought Land Rover from BMW for $2.6 billion in June 2000.

    History:

    The Tata group traces its roots to 1868, when Jamsetji Nusserwanji Tata opened a trading company in Bombay. Tata Motors was established in 1945.

    http://www.tatamotors.com

Telefonica

  • Marketer profile
    Click here to see company's total worldwide advertising spending, measured-media spending by region, key executives and agencies.

    Overview:

    Telefonica is a global telecom firm based in Spain with operations in Europe and Latin America.

    Business segments and operations:

    Telefonica operated in 17 countries as of 2017, according to the company's website.

    The company's largest markets based on 2017 revenue were:

    Spain
    "Hispanomerica" (Argentina, Chile, Peru, Colombia, Mexico, Venezuela, Central America, Ecuador and Uruguay)
    Brazil
    Germany
    U.K.

    Telefonica brands include Telefonica, Movistar (Spain and Latin America), Vivo (Brazil) and O2 (Germany and U.K.).

    Marketing spending:

    Worldwide ad spending:

    Total worldwide advertising spending figures shown in the World's Largest Advertisers report and related database are the company's stated "advertising" costs converted to U.S. dollars at average exchange rates by Ad Age Datacenter.

    Telefonica reported the following worldwide advertising costs:

    2017: 1.211 billion euros ($1.368 billion).
    2016: 1.256 billion euros ($1.391 billion).
    2015: 1.367 billion euros (restated in 2017 from 1.166 billion euros) ($1.518 billion).
    2014: 1.226 billion euros (restated in 2017 from 1.051 billion euros) ($1.630 billion).
    2013: 1.116 billion euros (restated in 2016 from 1.290 billion euros) (($1.482 billion).
    2012: 1.528 billion euros ($1.965 billion).
    2011: 1.457 billion euros ($2.029 billion). Deals and strategic moves:

    O2:

    Telefonica in March 2015 signed a deal to sell Telefonica's U.K. business (O2 U.K.) to Hutchison (owner of Three, a rival U.K. wireless provider) for 10.25 million pounds cash ($15.3 billion at the exchange rate as of the date of the agreement). The European Commission in May 2016 blocked the deal. The commission said it had "strong concerns that U.K. mobile customers would have had less choice and paid higher prices as a result of the takeover, and that the deal would have harmed innovation in the mobile sector."

    Telxius Telecom:

    Telefonica in 2016 formed Telxius Telecom as a telecommunications infrastructure subsidiary. Telefonica in February 2017 signed a deal to sell a 40 percent stake in Telxius Telecom to buyout firm Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. for 1.275 billion euros ($1.353 billion). Kohlberg Kravis Roberts made its investment in several stages, ending up with a 40 percent stake in December 2017. History:

    The company was founded in 1924.

    http://www.telefonica.com/en

Toyota Motor Corp.

  • Marketer profile
    Click here to see company's total worldwide advertising spending, measured-media spending by region, key executives and agencies.

    Overview:

    Toyota Motor Corp. is the world's second largest vehicle marketer, behind Volkswagen, based on number of vehicles sold in 2017. Toyota ranks No. 3 in the U.S., behind General Motors Co. and Ford Motor Co.

    Toyota's headquarters are in Toyota City, Japan.

    Business segments and operations:

    Brands:

    Toyota markets vehicles under two brands: Toyota and Lexus (luxury).

    Organization:

    The company reorganized worldwide operations effective April 1, 2013, into the following structure:

    Lexus International (Lexus business)
    Toyota No. 1 (North America, Europe and Japan)
    Toyota No. 2 (China, Asia & Middle East, East Asia and Oceania; Africa, Latin America and Caribbean)
    Unit Center (engine, transmission and other unit-related operations)

    The company in June 2012 reorganized its Lexus Group into Lexus International.

    Toyota in 2016 discontinued its youth-oriented Scion brand. Toyota had established Scion in 2003 as a test laboratory division for Toyota Motor Sales USA. Model year 2017 Scions were rebranded as Toyotas starting in August 2016.

    Investments:

    Mazda:

    Toyota in August 2017 announced an alliance with Japanese automaker Mazda Motor Corp.

    Under the agreement, Mazda gave Toyota shares in Mazda valued at about $450 million, giving Toyota a 5.05 percent stake in Mazda.

    Toyota in turn gave Mazda shares in Toyota equivalent in value to those Mazda shares, resulting in Mazda getting a 0.25 percent stake in Toyota.

    The companies completed the transactions in October 2017.

    As part of the deal, the two companies agreed to build a 50/50 joint-venture factory in the U.S. to assemble a new Mazda cross-over model and the Toyota Corolla for the North American market.

    The two companies also agreed to work together to develop technologies for electric vehicles.

    Subaru:

    Toyota owns 16.5 percent of Subaru Corp., according to Toyota's 20-F filing for year ended March 2018. Subaru is an auto marketer based in Tokyo.

    Toyota owned 16.82 percent of Subaru as of March 31, 2017, according to Subaru's annual report.

    Toyota formed an alliance with Subaru in 2005 and expanded the relationship in 2008.

    Daihatsu, Hino:

    Toyota owns a majority of Japanese firms Daihatsu Motor Co. (small cars) and Hino Motors (trucks and buses).

    Headquarters:

    Toyota's worldwide headquarters are in Toyota City, Japan.

    Toyota's headquarters for North America are in Plano, Texas.

    Toyota in April 2014 announced plans to consolidate headquarters for North American operations in Plano, near Dallas, moving offices that had managed sales and marketing (from Torrance, Calif.); financial services (also from Torrance, Calif.); engineering and manufacturing (from Erlanger, Ky.).; and corporate operations (from New York). Rankings:

    Volkswagen edged out Toyota to take the top spot in 2016 worldwide vehicle sales. Volkswagen kept the lead position in 2017 sales, followed by Toyota.

    Toyota was No. 1 from 2007 through 2010; No. 2, behind General Motors Co., in 2011; and No. 1 from 2012 through 2015.

    Toyota and other Japanese automakers were hurt in 2011 by parts shortages and production issues following the March 2011 earthquake and tsunami in Japan.

    Toyota ranked as the No. 3 U.S. auto marketer in 2017, 2016, 2015, 2014, 2013, 2012, 2011 and 2010 (based on total unit sales of autos and light trucks), behind GM and Ford Motor Co. Toyota had displaced Ford as the No. 2 U.S. auto marketer in 2007; Ford took back the second position in 2010.

    Toyota's Toyota brand was the No. 2 selling U.S. auto brand in 2017 and 2016, behind Ford Motor Co.'s Ford. The Toyota brand was the No. 3 selling U.S. auto brand in 2015, 2014, 2013, 2012, 2011 and 2010, behind Ford and GM's Chevrolet.

    Marketing spending:

    U.S. ad spending:

    U.S. ad spending figures shown are Ad Age Datacenter estimates for spending including advertising and consumer promotions.

    Worldwide ad spending:

    Worldwide ad spending figures shown in the World's Largest Advertisers ranking are Toyota's stated worldwide advertising costs.

    Toyota disclosed worldwide advertising costs of 509.653 billion yen ($4.602 billion) in the year ended March 2018.

    Toyota's stated worldwide advertising costs exclude Toyota's spending on sales incentives. Toyota's sales incentive programs principally consist of cash payments to dealers based on vehicle volume or a model sold by a dealer during a given period of time. Sales incentives are an integral part of Toyota's sales-promotion spending.

    Agencies:

    Effective April 1, 2014 (the start of a new fiscal year), Toyota aligned its U.S. multicultural agencies into a team dubbed "Total Toyota" or T2.

    Toyota's longtime U.S. general-market ad agency, Publicis Groupe's Saatchi & Saatchi, took the lead on T2.

    Three sibling Publicis Groupe agencies that already handled Toyota multicultural marketing duties linked up with Saatchi on T2: Conill Advertising (Hispanic), Burrell Communications (African-American) and Zenith Media (broadcast and out-of-home media buying). Independent InterTrend Communications, which specializes in Asian-American marketing, also became part of T2.

    Commenting on the creation of T2, Jack Hollis, VP-marketing for Toyota Motor Sales USA, told Ad Age: "The [agencies] stay the same. They're just now going to be working more as one team. There's no merger, no acquisition, nothing like that. It's still four separate entities. But working as one -- for the total market."

    Toyota hired Saatchi & Saatchi (then known as Dancer Fitzgerald Sample) as its U.S. agency in 1975.

    Management and employees:

    Akio Toyoda in June 2009 replaced Katsuaki Watanabe as president of Toyota Motor Corp. Toyoda is a member of the company's founding family.

    Three key Toyota executives quit in 2007 to take high-profile jobs in Detroit:

    Deborah Wahl (formerly known professionally as Deborah Wahl Meyer) resigned in August 2007 as VP-marketing at Toyota's Lexus to become VP-chief marketing officer at Chrysler, the company spun off in August 2007 by DaimlerChrysler (now Daimler). She left Chrysler in December 2008. Wahl later worked as CMO at homebuilder PulteGroup. Wahl in 2014 joined McDonald's Corp. as senior VP-CMO of McDonald's USA. Wahl left McDonald's in April 2017. She joined GM's Cadillac as CMO in March 2018.

    In September 2007, Jim Press, president-COO of Toyota Motor Sales USA and Toyota's top North American executive, quit to become vice chairman-president of Chrysler. Press exited Chrysler in late 2009 following its bankruptcy restructuring.

    In October 2007, Jim Farley, a 17-year veteran of Toyota, resigned as general manager of Lexus to become Ford Motor Co.'s group VP-marketing and communications, making him Ford's top marketing executive and a direct report to the CEO.

    http://www.toyota-global.com

Unilever

  • Marketer profile
    Click here to see company's total worldwide advertising spending, measured-media spending by region, key executives and agencies.

    Overview:

    Unilever is a personal care, household and food products marketer with headquarters in the Netherlands and the U.K.

    Business segments and operations:

    Unilever in 2018 reorganized into three divisions:

    Beauty and Personal Care, based in London
    Home Care, based in London
    Foods and Refreshment, based in Rotterdam, Netherlands

    Pepsi Lipton Tea Partnership:

    Unilever and PepsiCo are 50/50 owners of Pepsi Lipton Tea Partnership, a joint venture formed in 1991 that markets ready-to-drink iced teas in the U.S. and Canada under the Unilever-owned Lipton brand. The two companies in 2003 formed Pepsi Lipton International, a joint venture that markets ready-to-drink tea outside North America.

    Unilever in October 2018 dropped a plan to reorganize its corporate structure into a single legal entity (new Unilever NV) incorporated in the Netherlands. Unilever has been owned through two separately listed companies-one Dutch (Unilever NV), one U.K. (Unilever Plc)-since its formation in 1930, with dual headquarters in the Netherlands and the U.K. Unilever announced plans for the reorganization in March 2018, but some major shareholders opposed the move.

    Sales and earnings:

    Unilever said this about its accounting for sales (turnover) in its 20-F annual filing for year ended December 2017:

    "Turnover comprises sales of goods after the deduction of discounts, sales taxes and estimated returns. It does not include sales between group companies. Discounts given by Unilever include rebates, price reductions and incentives given to customers, promotional couponing and trade communication costs."

    Billion euro brands:

    Unilever had 13 brands with 2017 worldwide sales greater than 1 billion euros ($1.1 billion), according to its 2017 annual report.

    That annual report cited these 12 billion euro brands:

    Personal care:Axe
    Dove
    Lux
    Rexona
    Sunsilk

    Home care:Dirt is Good (including Omo and Persil)
    Surf

    Foods:Knorr
    Hellmann's

    Refreshment:Heartbrand (including Wall's)
    Magnum
    Lipton

    Unilever also reported 13 billion euro brands in 2016 (including the 12 brands listed above and Family Goodness spreads, which included Rama). It had 13 billion euro brands in 2015 and 2014 as well.

    Unilever in July 2018 sold its global spreads business.

    Marketing spending:

    U.S. ad spending:

    Total U.S. advertising spending shown in the Leading National Advertisers report and Marketer Trees database is an Ad Age Datacenter estimate of the company's "brand and marketing investment."

    Worldwide ad spending:

    Total worldwide advertising spending figures shown in the World's Largest Advertisers report and related database are Unilever's stated worldwide "brand and marketing investment" costs converted to U.S. dollars at average exchange rates by Ad Age Datacenter.

    "Brand and marketing investment includes costs incurred for the purpose of building and maintaining brand equity and awareness," according to Unilever's 20-F annual filing for year ended December 2017. "These include media, advertising production, promotional materials and engagement with consumers."

    Unilever said this about marketing spending in its 20-F filing for year ended December 2017:

    "The absolute level of brand and marketing investment was flat in local currencies versus the prior year, as savings from advertising production were re-invested in increased media spend. As a percentage of turnover, brand and marketing investment was down by 0.6 percentage points," falling to 14.1 percent of turnover from 14.7 percent of turnover.

    That 20-F also said: "In marketing, we are creating more of our own content in house while making existing assets go further. Our 17 U-Studios in 12 countries are creating content for brand teams faster and around 30 percent cheaper than external agencies. In addition, we are using our global and agency networks in order to access efficient production solutions and locations. We continue to apply zero-based budgeting to improve efficiencies in areas such as brand and marketing investment."

    Digital marketing:

    Unilever's then-CEO, Paul Polman, said this about digital marketing in the 20-F for year ended December 2017:

    "Our digital marketing capabilities ... have frequently been recognised as among the best in the industry and the online sales of our brands increased by a further 80 percent [in 2017], making it a 1.7 billion [euro] business for us. However, this area is moving fast. The amount of data in the world is more than doubling every two years. Our ambition is to build a billion one-to-one consumer relationships, leveraging our in-house People Data Centres and the opportunity they give us to connect with consumers in a meaningful way through real-time analytics. We need to continue driving this critical agenda, which is why we are investing heavily in digital, experimenting with a range of new, direct-to-consumer business models and embarking on an enterprise wide digital transformation programme."

    Polman stepped down as CEO Dec. 31, 2018.

    Unilever said this about digital marketing in its 20-F for year ended December 2016:

    "In 2016 we mapped consumers' purchase journeys in the digital world, using data to delve deeper and segment consumers more accurately. This enables us to deliver more relevant, authentic and effective marketing content in real time using the full range of digital communications. We have launched U-Studio, our in-house studios, to create content and advertising across our digital platforms, direct-to-consumer, e-commerce channels and our social and digital communications to make marketing faster, more efficient and effective. In parallel U-Entertainment collaborates with media companies to create brand-inspired entertainment content."

    That 20-F filing also said: "Marketing drives consumer-led growth but has to remain relevant. In 2016 we have trained more than 5,000 marketers globally with over 90,000 lessons through our Connected World Programme to increase the digital skills and understanding that are essential in a connected world."

    Digital advertising accounted for 24 percent of Unilever's world ad spending, Chief Financial Officer Graeme David Pitkethly said in a January 2016 presentation.

    Unilever's digital spending increased 20 percent in 2014 and accounted for around 20 percent of the company's 2014 global media spending, the company said during a January 2015 presentation.

    The company in December 2013 said its digital spending accounted for 15 percent of worldwide ad spending in 2013, up from 14 percent in 2012 and 12 percent in 2011. Huet in January 2014 cited a higher percentage, saying digital is "now 17 percent of our total ad spend."

    Discussion about "brand and marketing investment":

    Unilever in January 2014 disclosed it was changing the accounting for its reported advertising and promotion spending for 2014. Under this change, Unilever added the costs for in-store merchandising and for call centers into its advertising and promotion expense line.

    With this change, Unilever renamed its "advertising and promotions" expense line to "brand and marketing investment." The annual report for year ended December 2014 said Unilever made the change after moving "sales equipment costs," from cost of sales, and "consumer engagement centers," from overhead, into brand and marketing investments.

    Then-CFO Jean-Marc Huet explained that change on a January 2014 earnings call: "The way consumers engage these days with brands has changed. From 2014, as a result, we will move to a definition of advertising and promotions that is more aligned to the way we now manage these investments. We will be including some operating expenses like in-store merchandising, consumer care lines as part of A&P" -- advertising and promotion "rather than where they sit today, which is in supply chain cost or overheads where they are. There will be no change to turnover [revenue], no change to underlying sales growth and no change to operating margin. There will be relatively small changes to A&P gross margin and overheads. And obviously, we will restate this message for 2013 use and use them as a base for like-for-like comparisons in 2014."

    Marketing cuts:

    Unilever in December 2013 announced plans to cut its worldwide marketing headcount by 12 percent, or more than 800 people. It also said it would cut the number of stock-keeping units (SKUs), or sizes, flavors and varieties of products, by 30 percent by the end of 2014. The company also said it would continue to trim agency and commercial production fees. Unilever executives framed the moves as part of continuous cost savings of the sort that have been common since Polman became CEO in 2009.

    Agencies:

    Unilever in November 2015 completed a global media buying and planning review that began in January 2015, making only a few international changes to its incumbent roster. WPP's Mindshare kept North America and added a handful of European markets previously handled by Omnicom Group's PHD. Unilever moved its Australia business to PHD from Mindshare. PHD retained China and PHD's global communications planning assignment. PHD also won a global search assignment prior to this review. Latin America, handled by Interpublic Group of Cos.' Initiative, was not part of the latest 60-market review.

    Unilever in January 2012 began a global review of media buying and media planning. It completed the review in fall 2012. Unilever in May 2012 decided to leave U.S. media buying at Mindshare. The company in June 2012 consolidated global media planning at PHD. Unilever in fall 2012 kept media-buying incumbents in its top global regions, completing the media review. PHD kept buying in Eastern Europe and China while Mindshare retained its business in Western Europe. The incumbents continued to support Unilever brands in smaller global markets.

    Deals and strategic moves:

    Kraft Heinz Co. takeover proposal:

    U.S. food marketer Kraft Heinz Co. on Feb. 17, 2017, disclosed a $143 billion offer to buy Unilever.

    Kraft Heinz withdrew its offer just two days later, on Feb. 19, 2017, after Unilever rejected its takeover overtures.

    Spreads business:

    Unilever in July 2018 sold its global spreads business to buyout firm KKR & Co. for 6.825 billion euros ($7.971 billion). At the same time, Unilever sold its spreads business in Southern Africa to Remgro.

    Unilever announced the KKR deal in December 2017. Unilever's spreads business included brands such as Becel, Blue Band, Country Crock, Flora, I Can't Believe It's Not Butter, ProActiv and Rama. It operated across 66 countries and had 2016 turnover of 3.032 billion ($3.357 billion).

    Unilever in April 2017 put the worldwide spreads (margarine) business on the block. In announcing its intent to exit that business, Unilever said: "The underlying category remains challenged in developed markets, and we have now taken the decision to launch a process to either sell or demerge spreads."

    Spreads was essentially the first name of Unilever. The company was formed in 1930 by the merger of Dutch food marketer Margarine Unie and U.K. soap marketer Lever Brothers.

    Other deals and strategic moves:

    Unilever in October 2018 bought 75 percent of Equilibra, an Italian personal care and nutritional supplements brand. Equilibra was founded in 1987. Price tag wasn't disclosed. Unilever in March 2018 bought the personal care and home care brands of Quala, a Latin American consumer goods company. Unilever said the acquired brands had combined turnover of more than $400 million in 2016.

    Unilever said it spent 4.912 billion euros ($5.549 billion) on 2017 acquisitions.

    Unilever in December 2017 bought Schmidt's Naturals, a U.S. personal care products marketer.

    The company in December 2017 bought Sundial Brands, a hair care and skin care company.

    Unilever in December 2017 bought Tazo, a tea brand, from Starbucks Corp. for $384 million. Tazo was sold primarily in grocery, mass and convenience channels and offered in formats including packaged teas, K-Cup pods, and bottled ready-to-drink teas. Tazo was founded in 1994; Starbucks bought it in 1999 for $8.1 million. Starbucks said it sold Tazo so Starbucks could focus its tea business on its super premium tea brand, Teavana. Unilever in December 2017 bought Mae Terra, a Brazilian natural and organic food business.

    Unilever in November 2017 bought 98 percent of Carver Korea, a skin care business in North Asia, for 2.27 billion euros ($2.71 billion) from Bain Capital Private Equity and Goldman Sachs.

    Unilever in September 2017 bought Weis, an Australian ice cream business.

    Unilever in September 2017 bought Pukka Herbs, an organic herbal tea business based in the U.K. and founded in 2001.

    The company in August 2017 bought Hourglass, a luxury color cosmetics brand launched in 2004.

    Unilever in August 2017 bought 60 percent of EAC Myanmar, a home care business, to form Unilever EAC Myanmar Co.

    Unilever in May 2017 bought Sir Kensington's, a New York-based premium condiment maker founded in 2010.

    Unilever in March 2017 sold AdeS, a soy beverage business in Latin America, to Coca-Cola Femsa and Coca Cola Co. for $575 million.

    The company in February 2017 bought Living Proof, a premium U.S. hair care brand.

    Unilever said it spent 2.069 billion euros ($2.291 billion) on 2016 acquisitions.

    Unilever in December 2016 bought Blueair, a Sweden-based marketer of mobile indoor air purification technologies and solutions, for an undisclosed price.

    Unilever in October 2016 bought Seventh Generation, a Vermont-based marketer of green-friendly home and personal care products. Price tag wasn't disclosed.

    Unilever in August 2016 bought Dollar Shave Club, a U.S. direct marketer of razor blades, for an undisclosed price. Unilever said Dollar Shave Club had 2015 turnover of $152 million with expected 2016 turnover above $200 million. Venice, Calif.-based Dollar Shave Club was founded in 2012.

    Unilever said it spent 2.011 billion euros ($2.234 billion) on 2015 acquisitions.

    Unilever in September 2015 acquired Grom, a marketer of premium Italian gelato. Grom was founded in Turin, Italy, in 2003. Price tag wasn't disclosed.

    Unilever in September 2015 bought Murad, a clinical skin-care brand founded in Los Angeles in 1989 by Howard Murad, a dermatologist, pharmacist and UCLA professor. Price tag wasn't disclosed. This followed Unilever's 2015 acquisitions of three other "prestige" personal care brands, Dermalogica, Kate Somerville and REN.

    Unilever in August 2015 acquired Dermalogica, a skin-care brand marketed in salons and spas. Dermalogica was launched in 1986 in Los Angeles by Jane and Raymond Wurwand. Price wasn't disclosed.

    In separate transactions in May 2015, Unilever bought REN Skincare, a British skin-care brand launched in 2000, and Los Angeles-based Kate Somerville Skincare.

    Unilever in May 2015 bought the Camay and Zest brands of soap from rival Procter & Gamble Co. The deal involved the global sale of the Camay brand; the sale of the Zest brand outside of North America and the Caribbean; and the sale of a soap factory in Mexico that employed about 170 people at the time of the sale announcement. Unilever said the brands had turnover (sales) of $225 million in the fiscal year ended June 2014. P&G in January 2011 sold its Zest soap business in the U.S., Canada and Puerto Rico to Brynwood Partners, a buyout firm.

    The company in December 2014 bought Talenti Gelato & Sorbetto. Minneapolis-based Talenti was founded in 2003 and markets packaged gelato in the U.S. In disclosing the deal, Unilever said Talenti expected 2014 turnover (revenue) of more than $120 million.

    Unilever in July 2014 sold its Slim-Fast brand to Kainos Capital, a Dallas-based buyout firm. Unilever kept a minority stake in the business. The transaction included the Slim-Fast trademark and the global Slim-Fast business portfolio. Slim-Fast at the time of the sale was sold in North America, the United Kingdom and Ireland. Price tag wasn't disclosed. Unilever bought Slim-Fast in 2000 for about $2.4 billion.

    Unilever in June 2014 sold the North America pasta sauces business (the Ragu and Bertolli brands) to Mizkan Group, a food marketer based in Japan, for about $2.15 billion cash. Unilever said the Ragu and Bertolli brands had annual revenue of more than $600 million. In the announcement, Kees Kruythoff, president of Unilever North America, said: "This sale represents one of the final steps in reshaping our portfolio in North America to deliver sustainable growth for Unilever, and enables us to sharpen our focus within our foods business. The Ragu and Bertolli business leads the pasta sauce category in the United States, and we believe that the potential of both brands can be fully realized with Mizkan." (Unilever sold Bertolli frozen foods in 2012; see below.)

    Unilever in April 2014 had announced a strategic review of its Slim-Fast brand and the North American pasta sauces business), including a potential sale.

    Unilever in December 2013 sold three ethnic hair care brands -- Soft & Beautiful, TCB and Pro-Line Comb-Thru -- to Strength of Nature, a marketer of multicultural hair care products, for an undisclosed amount. The sale excluded TCB's business in Africa. Unilever acquired the brands in the 2011 acquisition of Alberto Culver, which purchased the brands in the 2000 acquisition of Pro-Line International. Procter & Gamble in 2009 sold Johnson Products Co., an African-American hair-products business, to a buyout-backed group; P&G bought Johnson Products in 2003.

    Unilever in October 2013 sold Wish-Bone salad dressing to U.S. food marketer Pinnacle Foods for about $580 million cash. Pinnacle said Wish-Bone was the No. 3 U.S. salad-dressing brand and No. 1 in the Italian segment of the category. The sale included the Wish-Bone and Western dressing trademarks. (Conagra Brands in October 2018 bought Pinnacle.)

    Also in October 2013, Unilever bought T2, a premium Australian tea business, for an undisclosed amount.

    The company in September 2013 sold its Unipro bakery and industrial oils business to AAK for an undisclosed sum.

    Unilever's Czech Republic unit in July 2013 acquired the Savo cleaning-products line and other consumer brands from Bochemie Group, a marketer of household-care products in Central Europe.

    Unilever in February 2013 sold its worldwide Skippy peanut butter business to Hormel Foods Corp. for about $700 million. Skippy at the time had total annual sales of about $370 million, including nearly $100 million of sales outside the U.S. Skippy, introduced in 1932, at the time of the transaction was sold in more than 30 countries. Unilever in October 2012 had announced it was exploring options for Skippy in the U.S. and Canada, "including, but not limited to, a potential sale of the business." The sale came 11 years after rival P&G sold Jif peanut butter to jam marketer J.M. Smucker Co. in 2002. At the time of the Skippy sale, Skippy was the No. 2 U.S. peanut-butter brand, behind Jif.

    Unilever in August 2012 sold its North America frozen meals business, marketed under the Bertolli and P.F. Chang's brands, to ConAgra Foods for $265 million cash. Under this deal, Unilever licensed the Bertolli brand name to ConAgra for use in frozen meals and transferred an existing license with P.F. Chang's for use of the P.F. Chang's Home Menu brand. Unilever retained the Bertolli trademark and continued making Bertolli pasta sauce at an Owensboro, Ky., factory. (As noted above, Unilever sold the Bertolli sauce business and the Kentucky factory in 2014.)

    The 2012 transaction followed an earlier deal in which Unilever in December 2008 sold its Bertolli olive oil business to Spain's Grupo SOS for 630 million euros (about $881 million based on exchange rates on the date of the deal). The transaction was structured as a worldwide, perpetual license of the Bertolli brand for olive oil, premium vinegar and olives. At the time of the 2008 deal, Unilever kept the Bertolli brand for all other categories including margarine, pasta sauces and frozen meals.

    Unilever on Nov. 30, 2011, sold Culver Specialty Brands division to B&G Foods for $326 million cash. The deal included Mrs. Dash salt-free branded seasoning blends, Molly McButter branded flavored sprinkles, Sugar Twin branded sugar substitute, Baker's Joy branded baking spray, Static Guard anti-static spray and Kleen Guard furniture polish in the U.S. and Canada. Unilever had acquired the business in its acquisition of Alberto Culver. Unilever in December 2011 bought 82 percent of Concern Kalina, a leading Russian beauty products company, for $692 million (RUB 21.5 billion). Concern Kalina had expected 2011 turnover of about $418 million (RUB 13 billion). Unilever in 2012 bought the remaining 18 percent stake.

    Unilever in December 2011 bought Ingman Ice Cream in Finland for an undisclosed price.

    Unilever in June 2011 sold the Simple Soap brand in the U.K., Republic of Ireland and Channel Islands and the Cidal and Wright's brands worldwide.

    Unilever in May 2011 acquired personal care products marketer Alberto Culver Co. See discussion, below.

    Unilever in March 2011 sold its consumer tomato products business in Brazil to Cargill for about R$600 million (U.S. $362 million).

    Unilever in January 2011 bought EVGA's ice cream brands and distribution network in Greece for an undisclosed sum.

    Unilever in December 2010 bought Sara Lee Corp.'s global body care and European detergents businesses for 1.275 billion euros cash ($1.87 billion). The businesses had fiscal 2009 sales of about $1 billion. Brands included Sanex, Radox and Duschdas. European Commission regulators required Unilever sell Sanex, a European personal care unit, as part of the terms for approving the Sara Lee deal. Unilever in June 2011 sold Sanex to Colgate-Palmolive Co. for 672 million euros (about $952 million cash). In a related transaction, Unilever in July 2011 bought Colgate's laundry detergent operation in Colombia for $215 million, expanding Unilever's detergent sales in that country.

    Unilever in October 2010 sold its frozen foods business in Italy for 805 million euros ($1.097 billion) to Birds Eye Iglo.

    Unilever in February 2010 sold its Shedd's Country Crock side-dish business in the U.S. to Hormel Foods Corp. Unilever said the business had 2009 sales of about $50 million.

    Unilever in September 2008 completed the sale of its North American laundry business to Vestar Capital Partners, a buyout firm, for$1.45 billion. The business had 2007 revenue of about $1 billion. The sale included the All, Snuggle, Wisk, Surf and Sunlight brands. Unilever in 2007 had announced its intent to dispose of that business.

    Vestar already owned private-label detergent powerhouse Huish Detergents. Vestar merged Huish and the acquired Unilever business to form Sun Products Corp., the (distant) No. 2 U.S. detergent marketer behind P&G. Henkel acquired Sun Products Corp. from Vestar on Sept. 1, 2016, for about 3.2 billion euros ($3.6 billion).

    Unilever in July 2008 sold the Lawry's and Adolph's seasoning blends and marinades business in the U.S. and Canada to U.S.-based spice marketer McCormick & Co. for $604 million in cash. Unilever said the brands had 2007 revenue of about 100 million euros ($137 million).

    Unilever in January 2008 sold Boursin, a cheese brand, to France's Le Groupe Bel for 400 million euros ($586 million based on exchange rates on the date of the deal). Unilever said the brand had 2007 sales of about 100 million euros ($137 million).

    Unilever sold its Finesse hair care brand in 2006.

    Alberto Culver acquisition (2011):

    Unilever completed its acquisition of personal care products marketer Alberto Culver Co. for $3.7 billion cash on May 10, 2011. With the acquisition, Unilever said it became "the world's leading company in hair conditioning, the second largest in shampoo"--behind P&G--"and the third largest in styling."

    Alberto Culver reported worldwide advertising and marketing costs of $261.8 million, $239.5 million and $265.0 million in the years ended Sept. 30, 2010, 2009 and 2008, respectively; worldwide sales of $1.60 billion, $1.43 billion and $1.44 billion in those three years; and U.S. sales of $943.9 million, $917.0 million and $863.0 million in those three years.

    Unilever and suburban Chicago-based Alberto Culver announced their merger deal in September 2010, making Unilever the overall No. 2 player in U.S. hair care to P&G.

    Alberto Culver brands included Tresemme, Alberto VO5, Nexxus, St. Ives, Simple and Noxzema. (Alberto-Culver bought Noxzema from P&G in 2007.)

    To win regulatory approval from the U.S. Justice Department, Unilever agreed to divest the Alberto VO5 brand (value shampoo and conditioner, hairspray, mousse and other hair styling products) in the United States from the Alberto Culver portfolio and the Rave brand (hairspray and mousse products) from the Unilever portfolio. The Justice Department said the divestitures would help ensure competition in the hair care value-brand segment.

    Unilever in August 2011 sold the Alberto VO5 brand in the United States and Puerto Rico and the Rave brand globally to buyout firm Brynwood Partners. Terms weren't disclosed. Unilever kept Alberto VO5 in markets outside the U.S.

    Management and employees:

    Unilever in November 2018 named Alan Jope CEO effective Jan. 1, 2019. Jope joined Unilever as a graduate marketing trainee in 1985 and ran Beauty & Personal Care, Unilever's largest division, before taking the top post. Jope was age 54 at the time of the November 2018 announcement.

    Jope replaced CEO Paul Polman, who retired after more than 10 years in the top job. Polman formally stepped down as CEO Dec. 31, 2018.

    Unilever named Keith Weed as chief marketing and communications officer, effective April 1, 2010. Weed had been executive VP of home care, oral care and water. In his new role, Weed succeeded Simon Clift, a high-profile CMO who retired in early 2010.

    Stock:

    Unilever shares are listed in London, Amsterdam and New York.

    History:

    Unilever was formed Jan. 1, 1930, by the merger of Dutch food marketer Margarine Unie and U.K. soap marketer Lever Brothers.

    http://www.unilever.com

Verizon Communications

  • Marketer profile
    Click here to see company's total worldwide advertising spending, measured-media spending by region, key executives and agencies.

    Overview:

    Verizon Communications is a telecom company whose holdings include Verizon Wireless, the nation's largest wireless-service provider based on number of customers.

    Verizon bought AOL, an ad-tech and digital-media company, in June 2015, and acquired Yahoo's operating business in June 2017.

    Upon completing the Yahoo deal, Verizon combined AOL and Yahoo operations under a newly formed digital media and technology division, Oath. AOL and Yahoo continued as media brands under Oath.

    Business segments and operations:

    Verizon effective Jan. 1, 2019, reorganized into three groups: Consumer; Business; Verizon Media Group/Oath.

    Verizon Consumer Group includes the consumer segment for both the company's wireless and wireline businesses, including wireless wholesale.

    Verizon Business Group includes the wireless and wireline enterprise, small and medium business, and government businesses, as well as wireline wholesale and Verizon Connect, the company's telematics business.

    Verizon Media Group/Oath includes media, advertising and technology operations related to media, entertainment, gaming, news, commerce and other services.

    Verizon also has a Global Network and Technology organization serving all company operations.

    Verizon previously had two reportable segments, Wireless and Wireline.

    The Wireless segment did business as Verizon Wireless.

    In addition to telecom services, Verizon markets fiber-optic services under the Fios brand, including Fios internet service and Fios video service.

    Verizon had 5.850 million Fios internet subscribers at year-end 2017; 5.653 million at year-end 2016; 5.418 million(restated) at year-end 2015; and 5.068 million (restated) at year-end 2014, according to 10-K filings.

    Verizon had 4.619 million Fios video subscribers at year-end 2017; 4.694 million at year-end 2016; 4.635 million (restated) at year-end 2015; and 4.453 million (restated) at year-end 2014, according to 10-K filings.

    Verizon April 1, 2016, sold Verizon's wireline operations in California, Florida and Texas to Frontier Communications Corp. for about $10.5 billion (including assuming of about $600 million in Verizon debt by Frontier). The deal was announced in February 2015. The transaction included Verizon's Fios internet and video customers, switched and special access lines, and high-speed internet service and long-distance voice accounts in the three states. As of March 31, 2016, these operations served about 3.3 million voice connections; about 1.6 million Fios internet customers; and about 1.2 million Fios video customers. (Fios 2015 and 2014 internet subscribers and video subscribers discussed in the paragraphs above this paragraph reflect Fios customers excluding those acquired by Frontier.)

    Sales and earnings:

    Worldwide figures shown are for stated corporate revenue (sales) and net income (earnings).

    Marketing spending:

    U.S. ad spending:

    Total U.S. advertising spending figures shown in the Leading National Advertisers report and Marketer Trees database are the company's stated worldwide advertising costs.

    Worldwide ad spending:

    Total worldwide advertising spending figures shown in the World's Largest Advertisers report and related database are the company's stated worldwide advertising costs.

    Verizon's stated advertising expense as percentage of stated revenue was 2.10 percent in 2017; 2.18 percent in 2016; 2.09 percent in 2015; and 1.99 percent in 2014. Ad spending as a percentage of revenue in 2014 was at its lowest point since Verizon Communications was formed in 2000.

    Verizon's 10-Ks for years ended December 2017, December 2016 and December 2015 said this about advertising costs: "Costs for advertising products and services as well as other promotional and sponsorship costs are charged to Selling, general and administrative expense in the periods in which they are incurred."

    Yahoo historic advertising costs and revenue:

    Verizon in June 2017 bought the operating business of Yahoo Inc.

    Yahoo Inc. reported worldwide advertising expense of:

    2016: $135 million
    2015: $184 million
    2014: $142 million

    Yahoo Inc. reported worldwide revenue of:

    2016: $5.169 billion ($4.048 billion or 78.3 percent from U.S.)
    2015: $4.968 billion ($3.866 billion or 77.8 percent from U.S.)
    2014: $4.618 billion ($3.380 billion or 73.2 percent from U.S.)

    AOL historic advertising costs:

    Verizon in June 2015 bought AOL, an ad-tech and digital-media company. In financial filings, AOL disclosed worldwide advertising costs of $49.7 million in 2014; $61.6 million in 2013; $85.8 million in 2012; $76.9 million in 2011; $79.3 million in 2010; $59.1 million in 2009; $116.2 million in 2008; and $301.1 million in 2007. Measured U.S. ad spending for the AOL brand plunged to $15.9 million in 2007 from $202.3 million in 2006 and $364 million in 2005. AOL in August 2006 announced a major shift, ceasing most marketing of its rapidly declining dial-up service and making many AOL services free to broadband users.

    Deals and strategic moves:

    Yahoo:

    Verizon in July 2016 signed a deal to buy the operating business of internet media pioneer Yahoo Inc. for about $4.83 billion cash. The companies in February 2017 agreed to reduce the purchase price by $350 million to about $4.48 billion. Verizon completed the acquisition in June 2017.

    Yahoo operations included internet search (Yahoo Search), communications (Yahoo Mail and Yahoo Messenger) and digital content (Tumblr and four key verticals: Yahoo News, Yahoo Sports, Yahoo Finance, and Yahoo Lifestyle).

    Upon completing the Yahoo deal, Verizon immediately combined Yahoo operations with AOL (acquired in June 2015) under a newly formed digital media and technology division, Oath. Yahoo and AOL continued as brands under Oath.

    After the sale of its operating business, Yahoo Inc. in June 2017 changed its name to Altaba Inc. Altaba's assets (after the sale of the Yahoo operations to Verizon) were an approximately 15 percent equity stake in Chinese online retailer Alibaba Group Holding; an approximately 36 percent equity stake in Yahoo Japan Corp.; cash, cash equivalents and marketable debt securities; minority investments; and Excalibur IP, which owned patent assets not core to Yahoo's operating business.

    Frontier Communications:

    Verizon April 1, 2016, sold Verizon's wireline operations in California, Florida and Texas to Frontier Communications Corp. for about $10.5 billion (including assuming of about $600 million in Verizon debt by Frontier). The deal was announced in February 2015.

    The transaction included Verizon's Fios internet and video customers, switched and special access lines, and high-speed internet service and long-distance voice accounts in the three states. As of March 31, 2016, these operations served about 3.3 million voice connections; about 1.6 million Fios internet customers; and about 1.2 million Fios video customers.

    The transaction excluded other Verizon operations, such as Verizon Wireless and Verizon Enterprise Solutions.

    This sale followed a July 2010 deal in which Frontier acquired Verizon landline operations (including internet access, long-distance services and broadband video) in certain markets for about $8.6 billion.

    AOL:

    Verizon June 23, 2015, completed its acquisition of AOL, an ad-tech and digital-media company, for about $3.8 billion in cash, net of cash acquired of about $500 million. Holders of about 6.6 million AOL shares exercised appraisal rights under Delaware law. If they had not exercised these rights, Verizon would have paid an additional $330 million for those shares at closing.

    The deal was announced in May 2015. AOL had been a standalone company since December 2009, when Time Warner spun it off as a separate public company. That split marked the end of a much-debunked merger created with America Online's acquisition of Time Warner in January 2001. Rival AT&T bought Time Warner (now WarnerMedia) in June 2018.

    Spectrum auction:

    The U.S. Federal Communications Commission in January 2015 completed an auction of spectrum in the Advanced Wireless Services (AWS)-3 band. Verizon was high bidder on 181 spectrum licenses, for which it paid about $10.4 billion cash. The FCC granted Verizon those spectrum licenses in April 2015.

    Vodafone:

    Verizon Communications, the 55 percent owner of Verizon Wireless, in February 2014 acquired the remaining 45 percent stake from Vodafone Group, a U.K.-based telecom firm, for about $130 billion (including $58.9 billion cash; $60.2 billion in Verizon stock; $5.0 billion in Verizon notes; the sale of Verizon's minority interest in Italian phone company Vodafone Omnitel, valued at $3.5 billion; and other consideration worth $2.5 billion). Verizon and Vodafone announced the deal in September 2013.

    AOL-related deals and strategic moves:

    AOL in September 2015 bought Millennial Media, a mobile ad network, for $238 million.

    Microsoft Corp. and AOL on June 30, 2015, announced a deal in which AOL will assume management and sales responsibility for all of Microsoft's display, mobile and video advertising inventory in nine key global markets (U.S., United Kingdom, Canada, Brazil, France, Germany, Italy, Spain and Japan). AOL will represent inventory from across Microsoft's online brands, including MSN, Outlook Mail, Xbox, Skype and ads in apps. The deal included a 10-year global search and search-advertising agreement, starting Jan. 1, 2016, in which Microsoft's Bing will replace Google as the search engine providing 100 percent of the organic search results and search ads when people search on AOL's sites.

    Other Verizon deals and strategic moves:

    Verizon in February 2018 bought Straight Path Communications for $3.1 billion. Straight Path owned spectrum that Verizon will use for 5G wireless services.

    Verizon in January 2018 paid about $500 million to buy NextLink Wireless, which also owned spectrum that Verizon will use for 5G technology deployment.

    The company in February 2017 paid about $1.8 billion to acquire XO Holdings' wireline business, which owns and operates a fiber-based internet protocol and ethernet network.

    Verizon in December 2016 agreed to sell 24 data center sites in the U.S. and Latin America to Equinix for $3.6 billion.

    Verizon in November 2016 bought Dublin, Ireland-based Fleetmatics Group for $2.5 billion. Fleetmatics was a global provider of fleet and mobile workforce management solutions.

    Verizon in October 2016 bought Sensity Systems, a Sunnyvale, Calif., company that developed an internet of things platform using LED lighting. Price tag wasn't disclosed.

    The company in July 2016 acquired Telogis, a global cloud-based mobile enterprise management software business, for about $900 million.

    Verizon and Outerwall's Redbox in October 2014 ended their Redbox Instant by Verizon venture. Verizon and Outerwall (formerly Coinstar) in February 2012 had announced a joint venture to offer physical media rentals through Redbox kiosks and online and mobile content streaming from Verizon. Verizon owned 65 percent of the joint venture; Redbox Automated Retail, a subsidiary of Coinstar, owned 35 percent.

    Verizon in July 2014 sold for net cash proceeds of $100 million a wireline unit that provided communications solutions to various government agencies.

    Verizon in February 2014 bought the assets of Intel Media, a 350-employee business division focused on developing cloud TV products and services, including Intel's OnCue cloud TV platform. Terms weren't announced. Verizon renamed the venture Verizon OnCue.

    Verizon in July 2012 bought Hughes Telematics, a provider of automotive services and applications for auto companies and other markets, for $612 million cash. Hughes Telematics provides real-time voice and data communications services and applications for use in vehicles. Hughes Telematics since 2009 has been exclusive U.S. telematics service provider for new vehicles sold by Daimler's Mercedes-Benz USA (under the "mbrace" brand). The company signed a deal in 2011 to be Volkswagen's exclusive telematics service provider for new Volkswagen-brand vehicles starting in 2013. Hughes Telematics was founded in 2006 with backing from Apollo Management, which controlled Hughes Communications, an offshoot of the late Howard Hughes' empire.

    Verizon Wireless in December 2011 struck a deal with four cable-systems companies -- Bright House, Comcast, Cox Communications, Time Warner Cable -- allowing the cable companies to sell Verizon Wireless-branded wireless service and Verizon Wireless to sell each cable company's services. After a four-year period, the cable companies had the option to offer wireless service under their own brands using the Verizon network. In addition, Verizon and three of the cable companies -- Bright House, Comcast, Time Warner Cable -- agreed to form an innovation technology joint venture to better integrate wireless and cable services. Charter Communications, another cable operator, in May 2016 bought Bright House and Time Warner Cable.

    Comcast and Charter in May 2017 agreed to cooperate on an expansion into wireless services. Specifically, Comcast and Charter announced "an agreement to explore potential opportunities for operational cooperation in their respective wireless businesses to accelerate and enhance each company's ability to participate in the national wireless marketplace. The companies, which have each separately activated a mobile virtual network operator (MVNO) reseller agreement with Verizon Wireless, have agreed to explore working together in a number of potential operational areas in the wireless space, including: creating common operating platforms; technical standards development and harmonization; device forward and reverse logistics; and emerging wireless technology platforms."Verizon in April 2011 bought Terremark Worldwide, a global provider of information technology infrastructure and cloud services. Verizon Wireless on Jan. 9, 2009, completed a deal to buy No. 5 wireless provider Alltel Corp. from affiliates of Texas Pacific Group and Goldman Sachs, which had taken Alltel private in late 2007. Verizon Wireless paid $5.9 billion plus debt assumption of $22.2 billion for a total of $28.1 billion. To satisfy regulators, Verizon Wireless in second-quarter 2010 sold 79 Alltel markets to AT&T (1.6 million former Alltel subscribers) for $2.4 billion and 26 markets to Atlantic Tele-Network for $200 million. Atlantic Tele-Network, operating as Allied Wireless Communications Corp., obtained the right from Verizon Wireless to use the Alltel brand for 28 years. (AT&T in September 2013 bought Atlantic Tele-Network's U.S. retail wireless operations operating under the Alltel brand for $806 million cash; the acquired business had 550,000 subscribers.)

    Verizon Wireless in August 2008 completed a deal to buy Rural Cellular Corp. for $757 million cash. Rural Cellular, which operated under the brand name Unicel, had 716,000 customers in small markets across 15 states.

    Verizon Communications in May 2007 consolidated advertising and media accounts for its corporate and business-to-business units with that of Verizon Wireless. This marked the first time Verizon and Verizon Wireless completely merged agency functions.

    Verizon Communications spun off its directory division in November 2006, creating the new public company Idearc. The firm publishes directories under the Verizon SuperYellowPages brand and operates Superpages.com, an online directory.

    In March 2009, debt-laden Idearc filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganization. In December 2009, Idearc emerged from bankruptcy and changed its name to SuperMedia.

    SuperMedia and Dex One, another yellow pages company, in August 2012 agreed to merge, creating a company called Dex Media.

    SuperMedia and Dex One in March 2013 each filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy to execute pre-packaged plans of reorganization as a way of proceeding with the merger. The companies emerged from Chapter 11 on April 29, 2013, and completed the merger on April 30, 2013, creating Dex Media.

    Dex Media on May 17, 2016, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy to execute a new pre-packaged plan of reorganization. Dex Media emerged from Chapter 11 on July 29, 2016.

    Dex Media in June 2017 bought YP Holdings, which until 2012 had operated as AT&T's yellow pages business. The combined company took the name DexYP.

    Verizon bought MCI for $6.7 billion in January 2006. MCI's former CEO, Bernard J. Ebbers, was found guilty in mid-March 2005 on nine counts of directing an $11 billion fraud that bankrupted MCI in 2002 when it was known as WorldCom. (WorldCom bought MCI Communications Corp. in 1998, creating MCI WorldCom, truncated to WorldCom in 2000. WorldCom filed for bankruptcy in 2002 following a massive accounting scandal. WorldCom changed its name to MCI in 2003 and emerged from Chapter 11 in 2004.)

    Management and employees:

    Verizon in June 2018 promoted Hans E. Vestberg to CEO from executive VP, president of global networks and chief technology officer effective Aug. 1, 2018. Vestberg was age 52 at the time of the June 2018 announcement.

    As CEO, Vestberg will succeed Chairman-CEO Lowell C. McAdam, who will become executive chairman through his retirement at the end of 2018, at which time McAdam will become non-executive chairman. McAdam was age 64 at the time of the June 2018 announcement.

    Vestberg joined Verizon in April 2017. Before joining Verizon, Vestberg was president-CEO for six years at Ericsson, a networking and telecom equipment and services company based in Sweden. Vestberg abruptly exited Ericsson in July 2016. He earlier held other posts at Ericsson including chief financial officer.

    In Verizon's March 2018 proxy statement, the Verizon board's human resources committee said: "The committee believes that Mr. Vestberg is uniquely qualified and brings a set of skills and experiences that are ideally suited to further develop the architecture for Verizon's fiber-centric networks and to position the company for long-term growth."

    McAdam succeeded Ivan Seidenberg as CEO on Aug. 1, 2011, completing the company's CEO succession process under way since 2010. Seidenberg continued as chairman until retiring on Dec. 31, 2011; McAdam became chairman Jan. 1, 2012.

    McAdam held key executive posts at Verizon Wireless since its formation in 2000. History:

    Verizon Communications is a rollup of two Baby Bells (Nynex and Bell Atlantic) -- companies that split off from American Telephone & Telegraph Co. in 1984's Bell System breakup -- and GTE.

    Bell Atlantic Corp. merged with Nynex Corp. on Aug. 14, 1997; the merged company was called Bell Atlantic.

    Bell Atlantic on June 30, 2000, merged with telecom firm GTE Corp.; the merged company took the name Verizon Communications.

    Rival AT&T Inc. owns four of the seven Baby Bells that on Jan. 1, 1984, broke off from American Telephone & Telegraph Co. (which became AT&T Corp.): Ameritech, BellSouth, Pacific Telesis Group and Southwestern Bell (which became SBC). (SBC Communications adopted the name AT&T Inc. after SBC bought AT&T Corp. in 2005.)

    Qwest Communications in 2000 acquired the seventh Baby Bell, U S West. Telecom rollup CenturyLink (formerly CenturyTel) in April 2011 acquired Qwest.

    http://www.verizon.com

Viacom

  • Marketer profile
    Click here to see company's total worldwide advertising spending, measured-media spending by region, key executives and agencies.

    Overview:

    Viacom is a New York-based entertainment media company with properties including cable channels BET, Comedy Central, MTV and Nickelodeon and movie studio Paramount Pictures.

    Investor Sumner Redstone, 95, is chairman emeritus of both Viacom and CBS Corp. and controls both companies as the controlling shareholder of another firm, National Amusements Inc.

    Sales and earnings:

    Worldwide sales and earnings shown are for 12-month periods ended Sept. 30, 2017 and 2016.

    Advertising revenue:

    Viacom disclosed the following worldwide advertising revenue:

    Year ended September 2018: $4.751 billion
    Year ended September 2017: $4.862 billion
    Year ended September 2016: $4.809 billion
    Year ended September 2015: $5.007 billion
    Year ended September 2014: $4.953 billion
    Year ended September 2013: $4.855 billion
    Year ended September 2012: $4.756 billion
    Year ended September 2011: $4.997 billion
    Nine months ended September 2010 (truncated fiscal year): $3.251 billion
    Calendar 2009: $4.405 billion
    Calendar 2008: $4.722 billion
    Calendar 2007: $4.690 billion
    Calendar 2006: $4.346 billion

    Viacom in calendar 2010 changed its fiscal year to end Sept. 30 (from Dec. 31).

    In its 10-K for transition period ended Sept. 30, 2010, Viacom said: "We made this change to better align our financial reporting period, as well as our annual planning and budgeting process, with our business cycle, particularly the cable broadcast year."

    Debt issues:

    Controlling investor Sumner Redstone took actions in 2008 and 2009 to manage National Amusements' debt load related to CBS and Viacom. On May 5, 2009, National Amusements announced it had restructured its debt, agreeing with creditors to extend the maturity of its existing debt to December 31, 2010, with certain repayments due in late 2009 and in 2010. As part of that restructuring, National Amusements pledged substantially all of its assets, including its Viacom stake, to secure those obligations.

    The 10-K for year ended September 2012 said: "If [National Amusements]defaults on its obligations and the creditors foreclose on the collateral, the creditors or anyone to whom the creditors transfer such shares could sell such shares of our voting Class A common stock and/or convert such shares to non-voting Class B common stock and sell such shares, which could adversely affect the stock price." (The 10-K for year ended September 2013 did not have similar language.)

    The 10-K for year ended September 2011 said: "If [National Amusements] defaults on its obligations and the creditors foreclose on the collateral, the creditors or anyone to whom the creditors transfer such shares could sell, and/or convert to non-voting Class B common stock and sell, such shares of our voting Class A common stock, which could adversely affect the stock price."

    The 10-K for the nine months ended September 2010 said: "If [National Amusements] defaults on its remaining obligations and the creditors foreclose on the collateral, the creditors or anyone to whom the creditors transfer such shares could convert such shares of our Class A common stock into shares of our Class B common stock and sell such shares, which could adversely affect the stock price. Additionally, if the creditors foreclose on the pledged shares of our Class A common stock, [National Amusements] will no longer own those shares and will therefore no longer have voting control of us."

    Marketing spending:U.S. ad spending:

    Total U.S. advertising spending figures shown in the Leading National Advertisers report and Marketer Trees database are Ad Age Datacenter estimates.

    Worldwide ad spending:

    Total worldwide ad spending figures shown in the World's Largest Advertisers report and related database are Viacom's stated worldwide "advertising expenses."

    Viacom disclosed worldwide advertising expenses of $917 million in year ended September 2018, down from $1.335 billion in year ended September 2017.

    In its 10-K for year ended September 2018, Viacom said "distribution and other costs, principally print and advertising expenses, decreased $633 million, or 40 percent, primarily driven by the number and mix of theatrical releases in the prior year, including Transformers:The Last Knight, and a prior year charge resulting from the termination of a slate financing agreement."

    In its 10-K for year ended September 2017, Viacom said "distribution and other costs, principally print and advertising expenses, increased $426 million, or 37 percent, primarily driven by higher marketing costs for our current year film slate and a charge resulting from the termination of a slate financing agreement."

    In its 10-K for year ended September 2016, Viacom said "distribution and other costs, principally print and advertising expenses, increased $225 million, or 24 percent, primarily driven by higher marketing costs for our current year film slate."

    In its 10-K for year ended September 2015, Viacom said "distribution and other costs, principally print and advertising expenses, decreased $454 million, or 33 percent," in its Filmed Entertainment segment, "primarily driven by the mix of current year releases."

    That 10-K included this regarding Filmed Entertainment expenses for the year ended September 2014: "Distribution and other costs, principally print and advertising expenses, decreased $262 million, or 16 percent, primarily driven by the number and mix of current year theatrical and home entertainment releases."

    Deals and strategic moves:

    Viacom in year ended September 2018 bought WhoSay, an influence marketing firm; VidCon, a host of conferences dedicated to online video; and Awesomeness TV Holdings, a multi-platform media company serving global Gen-Z audiences. Cost for these acquisitions was $87 million, net of cash acquired.

    Spike, one of Viacom's cable networks, in January 2018 rebranded as Paramount Network.

    Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer in May 2017 bought out Viacom's and Lions Gate's stakes in Epix, a premium TV channel and video-on-demand service. Specifically, MGM bought Viacom's 49.76 percent stake and Lions Gate's 31.15 percent stake for a total of $1.032 billion. Viacom said its portion of the proceeds was $593 million, net of transaction costs of $4 million. That gave MGM 100 percent ownership. Viacom, Viacom's Paramount Pictures, Lions Gate and MGM in April 2008 announced plans to create Epix. The channel launched in October 2009.

    Viacom in November 2016 bought Television Federal, a free-to-air channel and content producer in Argentina, for $336 million, net of cash acquired.

    Viacom in July 2015 bought a 50 percent interest in Prism TV, an owner and operator of regional entertainment channels in India, for 9.4 billion rupees ($149 million).

    Viacom in September 2014 bought Channel 5 Broadcasting, a United Kingdom TV public-service broadcaster, for 450 million pounds ($724 million). Viacom said in its 10-K for year ended September 2015: "The acquisition complements our pay television networks and increased our investment in content produced in the U.K."

    Viacom in December 2010 sold Harmonix, a developer of music-based games acquired in 2006. Harmonix, part of MTV Networks, published the Rock Band video-game franchise. Harmonix revenue had fallen sharply; Harmonix had worldwide revenue of just $62 million in the nine months ended September 2010, down from $362 million in calendar 2009 and $678 million in calendar 2008.

    Viacom in 2009 closed Nickelodeon Magazine, exiting the magazine publishing business.

    Viacom in September 2009 rebranded The N, a kids cable channel operated by MTV Networks, as TeenNick. The channel had been known as The N since its April 2002 launch. Also in September 2009, Viacom rebranded a sibling channel, Noggin, as Nick Jr.

    Paramount in January 2006 paid $1.9 billion to buy DreamWorks SKG, the studio Steven Spielberg, Jeffrey Katzenberg and David Geffen formed to create live-action films. The DreamWorks principals in October 2008 reached an agreement with Viacom to exit from DW Studios (formerly DreamWorks LLC), ending that relationship with Paramount. The DreamWorks group then struck a distribution agreement with Walt Disney Co.

    Viacom in March 1995 sold Madison Square Garden Corp. to a joint venture of ITT Corp. and Cablevision Systems Corp. for a final price of $1 billion ($1.1 billion sale price minus $66 million in working capital adjustments). Madison Square Garden Corp. at that time included the Madison Square Garden Arena, The Paramount Theater, the New York Knicks (basketball), the New York Rangers (hockey) and the Madison Square Garden Network. Viacom had acquired Madison Square Garden Corp. as part of Viacom's 1994 acquisition of Paramount Communications. Cablevision in 2010 spun off Madison Square Garden as an independent public company.

    Viacom in 1994 bought Paramount Communications, owner of Paramount Pictures.

    Viacom in September 1994 bought video rental chain Blockbuster for $7.6 billion. Viacom staged an IPO for Blockbuster in August 1999. Viacom completed a split-off of Blockbuster in October 2004. (Blockbuster filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganization in September 2010. Dish Network Corp. in April 2011 won a bankruptcy court auction for Blockbuster, buying the business for about $226 million cash.)

    Management and employees:

    Viacom named Robert Bakish president-CEO Dec. 12, 2016. He had been acting president-CEO since Nov. 15, 2016. Bakish, age 53 as of December 2016, is a long-time Viacom executive who was president-CEO of the company's Viacom International Media Networks and predecessor MTV Networks International from 2007 to 2016.

    Thomas Dooley was president-CEO from Aug. 18, 2016, until Nov. 15, 2016.

    Philippe Dauman was president-CEO from September 2006 until his separation from the company Aug. 18, 2016.

    Sumner Redstone in February 2016 stepped down as executive chairman at Viacom and CBS Corp. and took the title of chairman emeritus at both companies. He stepped down from Viacom's board in February 2017.

    Redstone, born May 27, 1923, was age 95 as of 2018.

    Redstone controls Viacom and CBS through his control of another firm, National Amusements, a movie exhibition company, where he is chairman-CEO. Redstone's daughter, Shari Redstone, is non-executive vice chair of Viacom and CBS and president of National Amusements.

    National Amusements beneficially owned 79.8 percent of Viacom's voting shares (Class A shares; ticker: VIA) as of Jan. 19, 2018, and about 10 percent of Viacom Class A common stock and Class B common stock on a combined basis, according to Viacom's January 2018 proxy statement. Owners of Viacom's Class B shares (ticker: VIAB) don't get to vote. National Amusements as of March 23, 2018, directly or indirectly owned 79.7 percent of CBS voting Class A common stock, and 10.3 percent of CBS Class A common stock and Class B common stock on a combined basis, according to CBS's April 2018 proxy statement. CBS Class A shares are voting shares; owners of CBS Class B shares don't have voting rights.

    Stock:

    Viacom moved its stock listings to Nasdaq from the New York Stock Exchange on Dec. 1, 2011.

    History:

    Viacom has a shared history with CBS.

    CBS in June 1971 spun off Viacom as a separate public company.

    Viacom then acquired CBS in May 2000.

    Viacom took its current form on Dec. 31, 2005, when Viacom Inc. split into two companies. The old Viacom morphed into CBS Corp., and the spinoff became the new Viacom Inc.

    http://www.viacom.com

Vodafone Group

  • Marketer profile
    Click here to see company's total worldwide advertising spending, measured-media spending by region, key executives and agencies.

    Overview:

    Vodafone Group is a global telecom firm based in the U.K.

    Business segments and operations:

    Vodafone as of 2018 had operations in 25 countries.

    Vodafone in the year ended March 2018 generated 75 percent of its service revenue from Europe (led by Germany, U.K., Italy and Spain); 23 percent from Africa, Middle East and Asia Pacific (including Vodacom, a telecom provider in Africa); and 2 percent from other.

    Marketing spending:

    Worldwide ad spending:

    Total worldwide advertising spending shown in the World's Largest Advertisers report and related database is an Ad Age Datacenter estimate.

    Deals and strategic moves:

    Vodafone Idea (joint venture):

    Vodafone and India-based telecom Idea Cellular in August 2018 completed a deal, announced in March 2017, to merge Vodafone India with Idea Cellular, the third largest wireless operator in India.

    The combined business, which the companies said would be the largest telecom operator in India, operates as Vodafone Idea.

    Vodafone Idea is a joint venture of Vodafone and Aditya Birla Group, a conglomerate that included Idea Cellular. Vodafone does not consolidate financials of Vodafone Idea.

    Vodafone in 2007 bought companies with controlling interests in Vodafone India, formerly Vodafone Essar, for $10.9 billion (5.5 billion pounds).

    Verizon Wireless (sale):

    Vodafone Group until 2014 owned 45 percent of Verizon Wireless, a U.S. wireless provider.

    Vodafone Group in June 1999 bought U.S. wireless provider AirTouch Communications (a spinoff of Pacific Telesis; Pacific Telesis operations now are part of AT&T), at which point Vodafone Group changed its name to Vodafone AirTouch.

    Vodafone AirTouch in July 2000 reverted to its former name, Vodafone Group.

    Vodafone Group and Bell Atlantic in 2000 combined their U.S. wireless businesses into a joint venture, Verizon Wireless.

    Bell Atlantic on June 30, 2000, merged with telecom firm GTE Corp.; the merged company took the name Verizon Communications.

    Vodafone Group ended up as 45 percent owner of Verizon Wireless; Verizon Communications owned 55 percent.

    Verizon Communications in February 2014 bought the remaining 45 percent stake from Vodafone for about $130 billion (including $58.9 billion cash; $60.2 billion in Verizon stock; $5.0 billion in Verizon notes; the sale of Verizon's minority interest in Italian phone company Vodafone Omnitel, valued at $3.5 billion; and other consideration worth $2.5 billion). Verizon and Vodafone announced the deal in September 2013.

    Other deals and strategic moves:

    Vodafone Group in 2000 bought Mannesmann, a telecom provider in Germany and Italy.

    Through a series of transactions from 1999 through 2004, Vodafone Group bought 97.7 percent of Vodafone Japan. It disposed of that business in 2006.

    Vodafone Group in April 2009 boosted its stake in African telecom provider Vodacom by buying an additional 15.0 percent stake in for ZAR 20.6 billion (1.6 billion pounds). Vodacom became a subsidiary in May 2009.

    Stock:

    The company went public (as Racal Telecom) in October 1988. History:

    The company was incorporated in the U.K. in 1984 as Racal Strategic Radio.

    After various name changes, the company went public in October 1988 as Racal Telecom.

    Racal Telecom was fully demerged from Racal Electronics Plc and became an independent company in September 1991, at which point it changed its name to Vodafone Group.

    http://www.vodafone.com

Volkswagen

  • Marketer profile
    Click here to see company's total worldwide advertising spending, measured-media spending by region, key executives and agencies.

    Overview:

    Volkswagen is the world's largest vehicle marketer based on number of vehicles sold in 2017.

    Volkswagen in 2016 topped Toyota Motor Corp. (No. 2) and General Motors Co. (No. 3) in worldwide vehicle sales, taking the lead for the first time.

    Volkswagen is based in Wolfsburg, Germany.

    Business segments and operations:

    The Volkswagen group includes 12 brands: Audi, Bentley, Bugatti, Ducati, Lamborghini, MAN, Porsche, Scania, Seat, Skoda, Volkswagen Passenger Cars and Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles.

    Lamborghini and Ducati are units of the Audi operation.

    Emissions cheating:

    Volkswagen since 2015 has grappled with a global corporate scandal in which the company acknowledged it cheated on emissions tests for diesel vehicles.

    CEO Martin Winterkorn resigned in September 2015 amid the scandal. The U.S. government in May 2018 charged Winterkorn with four felony counts including conspiring to defraud the United States and violating the federal Clean Air Act.

    Volkswagen in June 2016 agreed to pay up to $14.7 billion to settle claims related to the company's cheating on U.S. emissions tests for its diesel-powered vehicles. Volkswagen reached the civil settlement with the U.S. government, regulators in California and attorneys representing consumers. Volkswagen agreed to fix or buy back nearly 500,000 Volkswagen and Audi vehicles for model years 2009 through 2015; consumers also will get additional cash compensation. This was the largest-ever civil settlement for an automaker.

    Production:

    Audi in 2016 opened an assembly plant in Mexico, its first factory in North America.

    Volkswagen opened an auto factory in Tennessee in 2011. This was Volkswagen's second run at U.S. manufacturing. Volkswagen previously operated a factory in Pennsylvania that opened in 1978 and closed in 1988.

    Rankings:

    Volkswagen in 2016 topped Toyota Motor Corp. (No. 2) and General Motors Co. (No. 3) in worldwide vehicle sales, taking the lead for the first time. Volkswagen kept the top spot in 2017.

    Volkswagen in 2013 surpassed GM to become the No. 2 automaker, behind Toyota. Volkswagen kept the No. 2 spot in 2014, but Volkswagen slipped back to third place, behind GM, in 2015 based on worldwide deliveries to customers.

    The company said the Volkswagen group in 2017 delivered to customers 10.741 million units worldwide.

    The company's unit sales figures include autos, light trucks and commercial vehicles (including trucks and buses), including sales made by unconsolidated Chinese joint ventures.

    The Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi alliance in January 2018 reported 2017 worldwide sales of 10,608,366 units.

    Carlos Ghosn, chairman-CEO of the Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi alliance, said in a January 2018 statement:

    "With more than 10.6 million passenger cars and light commercial vehicles sold in 2017, Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi has become the number-one automotive group worldwide." Ghosn made that claim by subtracting Volkswagen's sales of trucks--Volkswagen Group in 2017 sold more than 200,000 trucks and buses-from Volkswagen's 10.741 million tally.

    The Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi alliance includes three related public companies. Renault owns 43.4 percent of Nissan. Nissan owns 15 percent of Renault and 34 percent of Mitsubishi Motors Corp.

    Renault in 2017 sold 3,761,634 vehicles worldwide, based on worldwide registrations, according to Renault's registration document for year ended December 2017.

    Marketing spending:

    U.S. ad spending:

    Total U.S. advertising spending shown in the Leading National Advertisers report and Marketer Trees database is an Ad Age Datacenter estimate.

    Ad Age restated 2016 spending based on a revision to Ad Age's spending model.

    Worldwide ad spending:

    Total worldwide advertising spending shown in the World's Largest Advertisers report and related database is an Ad Age Datacenter estimate.

    Ad Age restated 2016 spending based on a revision to Ad Age's spending model.

    Agencies:

    Volkswagen Group in November 2018 hired WPP for the Volkswagen brand's creative account in North America, completing a global agency review that began in April 2018. The incumbent was Interpublic Group of Cos.' Deutsch, which was eliminated in September 2018 after holding the account since 2009.

    At the same time that it hired WPP, Volkswagen said Omnicom Group would handle Europe and South America while Cheil Worldwide's Cheil would continue to handle the business in China. Omnicom's DDB was the incumbent in Europe.

    The automaker announced the results of the review in November 2018 as part of a marketing overhaul that included a heavy emphasis on keeping costs down.

    In a November 2018 press release announcing the agency moves, the company said. "The Volkswagen brand plans to improve its marketing efficiency by about 30 percent by 2020 at the same time as keeping its marketing budget approximately stable at 1.5 billion" euros ($1.7 billion), the statement said. "The digital share of the media mix is to grow to almost 50 percent by 2020. In 2015, the share was about 25 percent. ... The Volkswagen brand will reduce its global network of about 40 agencies to three lead agencies. The Omnicom Group is to be responsible for Europe and South America, and WPP for North America, while Cheil will continue to be active for the Volkswagen brand in China."As of fall 2018, WPP had been said to be competing with Publicis Groupe for Volkswagen's North American business, according to people familiar with the matter.

    DDB was the longtime Volkswagen agency in major portions of Europe; Omnicom's BBDO Worldwide had Volkswagen in some global markets, including Brazil. Ford Motor Co. in October 2018 hired BBDO as lead global brand creative agency.

    DDB's relationship with Volkswagen goes back decades. In the U.S., DDB predecessor agency Doyle Dane Bernbach took on the account in 1959, and the New York office was behind award-winning work whose witty and self-depreciating style helped turn the Volkswagen Beetle into the best-selling imported car in America by the 1960s. But by the mid-1990s, Volkswagen began turning to other agencies in the U.S.

    DDB tried to win back Volkswagen in the U.S. in 2009, but Deutsch emerged victorious in a review, winning the account in October 2009. Volkswagen in August 2009 had dropped its U.S. agency for the Volkswagen brand, MDC Partners' Crispin Porter & Bogusky, after a four-year run. Deutsch previously worked on General Motors' now-defunct Saturn and on Mitsubishi.

    Volkswagen in June 2016 chose Omnicom Group's PHD as global media agency following a review. WPP's MediaCom had handled most of the business, including in the U.S.; PHD was an incumbent on Volkswagen's Porsche business. The review covered brands including Volkswagen, Audi, Porsche, Seat, Skoda and commercial vehicles. In the U.S., the business will be handled by a separate Omnicom Media Group unit dedicated to the Volkswagen group, just as Porsche was handled.

    Porsche in May 2013 completed a review of U.S. creative by keeping the incumbent, independent Cramer-Krasselt. The review began in December 2012 and was conducted by External View Consultants, Culver City, Calif. Cramer-Krasselt won the account in 2007, besting the previous agency, Interpublic Group of Cos.'Carmichael Lynch, which had the account since 1999.

    Deals and strategic moves:

    Traton:

    Volkswagen in September 2018 said it was considering an initial public offering for its Traton unit, formerly Volkswagen Truck & Bus. In an announcement, Frank Witter, member of Volkswagen's management, said: "As passenger car and truck business are fundamentally different and synergies are basically limited to procurement, the separation of the two areas makes absolutely sense."

    Volkswagen in August 2018 changed the name of Volkswagen Truck & Bus AG to Traton Group (Traton AG). Traton's brands included MAN, Scania, Volkswagen Caminhoes e Onibus (Volkswagen Trucks and Buses) and Rio.

    Porsche:

    Volkswagen in August 2012 took control of Porsche under a complicated deal.

    Volkswagen and Porsche, a German sports car manufacturer, in May 2009 issued a statement confirming their intent to create "an integrated automotive group."

    The companies agreed on general terms of a deal in August 2009. Volkswagen in 2009 took a 49.9 percent stake in Porsche. Long-awaited plans for a merger of the two companies continued in 2011. But the two automakers in September 2011 said a merger couldn't be completed by the end of 2011.

    The two companies in July 2012 agreed on an alternative deal. Specifically, effective Aug. 1, 2012, Volkswagen and Porsche formally created an "Integrated Automotive Group." Volkswagen at that point bought the remaining 50.1 percent stake of Porsche AG from Porsche Automobil Holding SE (Porsche SE), giving Volkswagen 100 percent ownership of Porsche AG. Porsche SE owns 50.7 percent of Volkswagen. The end result is that Porsche's auto business now operates under the Volkswagen umbrella.

    China joint ventures:

    Volkswagen said unconsolidated joint ventures in China--SAIC Volkswagen and FAW-Volkswagen--had 2017 unit sales of 4.020 million vehicles.

    SAIC Volkswagen Automobile Co. is a joint venture that is 50 percent owned by China's SAIC Motor Corp. and 50 percent by Volkswagen.

    SAIC Volkswagen Sales Co. is a joint venture with SAIC Motor Corp. Volkswagen as of 2018 said it owned a 30 percent stake.

    SAIC Volkswagen Sales Co. sells passenger cars for SAIC Volkswagen Automobile Co. As a result, SAIC Volkswagen Automobile Co.'s sales revenue is mostly generated from its business with SAIC Volkswagen Sales Co.

    Volkswagen also has a joint venture in China with another auto manufacturer, China FAW Group Corp., that develops, produces and sells passenger cars. Volkswagen as of 2018 said it owned a 40 percent stake in that joint venture, FAW-Volkswagen Automotive Co. China FAW Group Corp. was originally known as First Automotive Works.

    Other deals and strategic moves:

    Volkswagen in September 2015 sold its 19.9 percent stake in Japanese automaker Suzuki Motor Corp. back to Suzuki for 3.1 billion euros ($3.5 billion). Volkswagen in 2009 bought that stake, but the relationship soon fractured. Suzuki filed an arbitration claim against Volkswagen; the German automaker filed counterclaims. Suzuki in November 2012 announced it was exiting the U.S. auto market.

    Volkswagen completed its acquisition of Scania shares in 2015, giving it 100 percent ownership.

    Volkswagen's Audi on July 19, 2012, bought Ducati Motor Holding, an Italian motorcycle manufacturer, bringing Ducati into the group. Audi paid 747 million euros ($917 million). (Ducati officially was purchased by Lamborghini, which is an Italian subsidiary of Audi.) Volkswagen in 2017 was considering whether to sell Ducati.

    Volkswagen in November 2011 became majority owner (53.7 percent equity stake) of MAN SE, a truck company based in Germany. Volkswagen had been MAN's largest shareholder, with a 30.5 percent stake, before it made a takeover offer in May 2011. Volkswagen in June 2012 increased its stake in MAN to 75.03 percent. Volkswagen's annual report for year ended December 2017 said its Volkswagen Truck & Bus unit held a 75.73 percent stake in MAN at year-end 2017.

    http://www.vw.com

Walmart

  • Marketer profile
    Click here to see company's total worldwide advertising spending, measured-media spending by region, key executives and agencies.

    Overview:

    Walmart is the world's largest retailer.

    The company maintains three operating segments: Walmart U.S.; Walmart International; Sam's Club.

    Walmart's U.S. retail brands include Walmart, Sam's Club and Jet.com (acquired in 2016).

    Business segments and operations:

    Walmart has three operating segments:

    Walmart: includes Walmart stores in the United States and Puerto Rico as well as walmart.com. Walmart U.S. accounted for 64.2 percent of net sales in fiscal 2018 (year ended January 2018); 64.0 percent of net sales in fiscal 2017; 62.3 percent in fiscal 2016; 59.7 percent in fiscal 2015; 59.0 percent in fiscal 2014; 58.9 percent in fiscal 2013; 59.5 percent in fiscal 2012; and 62.1 percent in fiscal 2011. (Percentages rounded.)

    Walmart International: includes various formats of retail stores, restaurants, Sam's Clubs and online retail operations that operate outside the United States and Puerto Rico. Walmart International accounted for 23.8 percent of net sales in fiscal 2018; 24.1 percent of net sales in fiscal 2017; 25.8 percent in fiscal 2016; 28.2 percent in fiscal 2015; 28.9 percent in fiscal 2014; 29.0 percent in fiscal 2013; 28.4 percent in fiscal 2012; and 26.1 percent in fiscal 2011. (Percentages rounded.)

    Sam's Club: membership warehouse clubs in the United States and Puerto Rico and samsclub.com. Sam's Club accounted for 11.9 percent of net sales in fiscal 2018, fiscal 2017 and fiscal 2016; 12.0 percent in fiscal 2015; 12.1 percent in fiscal 2014; 12.1 percent in fiscal 2013; 12.1 percent in fiscal 2012; and 11.8 percent in fiscal 2011. (Percentages rounded.)

    The company operates retail stores in 50 states and Puerto Rico; wholly owned subsidiaries in Argentina, Brazil, Canada, Chile, China, India, Japan and the United Kingdom; majority-owned subsidiaries in Africa, Central America and Mexico.

    Corporate name and logo:

    Wal-Mart Stores in 2008 gave its flagship unit a freshened logo and changed the store name to "Walmart" from "Wal-Mart."

    "Wal-Mart Stores, Inc." changed its legal name to "Walmart Inc." on Feb. 1, 2018.

    Rankings:

    Walmart ranked as the world's largest retailer in the Top 250 ranking based on fiscal 2016 sales in Deloitte's Global Powers of Retailing 2018 report.

    Marketing spending:

    U.S. ad spending:

    Total U.S. advertising spending figures shown in the Leading National Advertisers report and Marketer Trees database are Ad Age Datacenter estimates.

    Worldwide ad spending:

    Total worldwide advertising spending figures shown in the World's Largest Advertisers report and related database are Walmart's stated worldwide "advertising costs."

    Walmart's stated worldwide ad spending as percent of net sales rose to 0.63 percent in fiscal year ended January 2018 (shown in this report's ad spending as percent of sales section as 2017) from 0.60 percent in year ended January 2017.

    The percentage hovered around 0.5 percent from fiscal 2012 (year ended January 2012) through fiscal 2016 (year ended January 2016).

    Walmart's ad spending rate has grown considerably over time. Walmart spent just 0.30 percent of net sales on advertising in the year ended January 2001.

    In its 10-Ks for years ended January 2018 and January 2017, Walmart said this about its worldwide advertising expenses:

    "Advertising costs are expensed as incurred, consist primarily of print, television and digital advertisements and are recorded in operating, selling, general and administrative expenses in the Company's Consolidated Statements of Income. In certain limited situations, reimbursements from suppliers that are for specific, incremental and identifiable advertising costs are recognized as a reduction of advertising costs in operating, selling, general and administrative expenses."

    That wording was slightly changed from what Walmart said in its 10-K for years ended January 2016:

    "Advertising costs are expensed as incurred, consist primarily of print, television and digital advertisements and are recorded in operating, selling, general and administrative expenses in the Company's Consolidated Statements of Income. Reimbursements from suppliers that are for specific, incremental and identifiable advertising costs are recognized as a reduction of advertising costs in operating, selling, general and administrative expenses."

    The 10-K for year ended January 2018 discussed payments from suppliers:

    "The Company receives consideration from suppliers for various programs, primarily volume incentives, warehouse allowances and reimbursements for specific programs such as markdowns, margin protection, advertising and supplier-specific fixtures. Payments from suppliers are accounted for as a reduction of cost of sales, except in certain limited situations when the payment is a reimbursement of specific, incremental and identifiable costs, and are recognized in the Company's Consolidated Statements of Income when the related inventory is sold."

    That wording was slightly changed from what Walmart said in its `0-K for year ended January 2017:

    "The Company receives consideration from suppliers for various programs, primarily volume incentives, warehouse allowances and reimbursements for specific programs such as markdowns, margin protection, advertising and supplier-specific fixtures. Payments from suppliers are accounted for as a reduction of cost of sales and are recognized in the Company's Consolidated Statements of Income when the related inventory is sold, except in certain limited situations when the payment is a reimbursement of specific, incremental and identifiable costs."

    That wording was slightly changed from what Walmart said in its 10-Ks for years ended January 2016, January 2015 and January 2014:

    "The Company receives consideration from suppliers for various programs, primarily volume incentives, warehouse allowances and reimbursements for specific programs such as markdowns, margin protection, advertising and supplier-specific fixtures. Payments from suppliers are accounted for as a reduction of cost of sales and are recognized in the Company's Consolidated Statements of Income when the related inventory is sold, except when the payment is a reimbursement of specific, incremental and identifiable costs.

    That wording was slightly changed from what Walmart said in its 10-K for year ended January 2013:

    "Advertising costs consist primarily of print, television and digital advertisements and are recorded in operating, selling, general and administrative expenses in the company's consolidated statements of income. Advertising reimbursements received from suppliers are generally accounted for as a reduction of cost of sales and recognized in the company's consolidated statements of income when the related inventory is sold. When advertising reimbursements are directly related to specific advertising activities, they are recognized as a reduction of advertising expenses in operating, selling, general and administrative expenses."

    The 10-K for year ended January 2013 also said:

    "The company receives consideration from suppliers for various programs, primarily volume incentives, warehouse allowances and reimbursements for specific programs such as markdowns, margin protection, advertising and supplier-specific fixtures. Payments from suppliers, except for certain advertising reimbursements directly related to specific advertising activities and certain other reimbursements, are accounted for as a reduction of cost of sales and are recognized in the company's consolidated statements of income when the related inventory is sold."

    That wording was slightly changed from the explanation Walmart offered in its 10-K for year ended January 2012:

    "Walmart receives consideration from suppliers for various programs, primarily volume incentives, warehouse allowances and reimbursements for specific programs such as markdowns, margin protection, advertising and supplier-specific fixtures. Substantially all payments from suppliers are accounted for as a reduction of cost of sales and are recognized in the company's consolidated statements of income when the related inventory is sold."

    Agencies:

    Publicis and Walmart in July 2016 announced a "new strategic relationship that will give Walmart unfettered access to all of Publicis Groupe's agencies and resources." The companies said: "The new entity will focus on how Publicis Groupe and Walmart will partner on advertising and marketing efforts. ... The relationship, which is not exclusive, went into effect on July 1 (2016) and initially applies to Walmart's US advertising and in-store creative for which Publicis Groupe will function as the primary Agency of Record. Walmart will also have access to resources outside of marketing, including capabilities to support corporate reputation and technology that builds relationships with customers."

    Publicis Groupe's Saatchi & Saatchi already worked with Walmart. The retailer since 2007 also had worked with Interpublic Group of Cos.' Martin Agency. Martin Agency lost its creative account with the Publicis Groupe move, but Interpublic kept some business, including the PR account at Golin.

    The company in January 2007 awarded the Walmart creative account to Interpublic Group's Martin Agency and assigned media to Publicis Groupe's MediaVest. Independent GlobalHue won the African-American account; incumbent Lopez Negrete Communications kept the Hispanic account.

    Those moves followed a stunning series of events after Walmart in May 2006 put its accounts in review. In November 2006, it selected Interpublic's DraftFCB (creative) and Aegis' Carat (media). Just a month later, it terminated Julie Roehm, senior VP-marketing communications and point person on the review, and put the accounts back in review.

    Roehm in December 2006 sued Walmart for wrongful termination and breach of contract; Walmart's counterclaim then accused her of having an affair with a subordinate and accepting improper gratuities from DraftFCB, among others.

    Nearly a year after it began, the legal battle came to an end. Roehm declined to re-file the legal complaint against the retail giant after a Michigan state judge dismissed the charges. The judge said the complaint should have been filed in Arkansas, Walmart's home state.

    Deals and strategic moves:

    Walmart in October 2018 bought Bare Necessities, an online retailer of intimate apparel. Bare Necessities was founded in 1998 and at the time of its acquisition offered more than 100,000 stock keeping units from more than 160 brands, including bras, swimwear, shapewear and sleepwear.

    Walmart in September 2018 signed a deal to buy Cornershop, an online marketplace for on-demand delivery from supermarkets, pharmacies and specialty food retailers in Mexico and Chile, for $225 million. Walmart expected to complete the deal by the end of 2018.

    The company in August 2018 made a further investment of about $320 million in Dada-JD Daojia, an on-demand logistics platform and online-to-offline e-commerce platform in China. This followed an initial $50 million investment in Dada-JD Daojia in October 2016. The 2018 investment boosted Walmart's ownership stake to 10 percent.

    Walmart in August 2018 sold an 80 percent stake in Walmart Brazil to Advent International, a buyout firm. Under the deal, Walmart said it may receive up to $250 million in contingent consideration.

    Walmart in May 2018 signed a deal to buy an approximately 77 percent stake in Flipkart, an e-commerce retailer in India, for $16 billion. Existing Flipkart shareholders, including Flipkart co-founder Binny Bansal, Tencent Holdings, Tiger Global Management and Microsoft Corp., would own the rest. Walmart expected to complete the deal in calendar 2018. Flipkart was founded in 2007.

    Walmart in April 2018 sign a deal with U.K. retailer J Sainsbury plc to combine Sainsbury's with Asda Group, Walmart's wholly owned U.K. retail subsidiary. Walmart would hold a 42 percent stake in the combined business, which intended to maintain both the Sainsbury's and Asda brands. In its announcement, Walmart said regulatory approval could extend into the second half of calendar 2019. Walmart bought Asda in 1999.

    Walmart in January 2018 entered a strategic alliance with Japanese retailer Rakuten. The agreement included launch of an online grocery delivery service in Japan beginning in third-quarter 2018. In addition, Walmart and Rakuten Kobo formed a retail alliance in which Walmart in 2018 began selling e-books and audiobooks as well as Rakuten Kobo eReaders in Walmart stores and online at Walmart.com in the U.S.

    Walmart in June 2017 bought U.S. apparel marketer Bonobos for $310 million cash. Bonobos launched online in 2007 with its men's pants and began selling offline in 2011.

    Walmart on April 4, 2017, sold Suburbia, an apparel retailer in Mexico, for $1.0 billion.

    Walmart in March 2017 bought ModCloth, an online retailer of trendy hipster clothing.

    Walmart in February 2017 bought Moosejaw, an online specialty outdoor products retailer.

    Walmart's Jet unit Dec. 30, 2016, bought Shoebuy, an online shoe retailer, from IAC/InterActiveCorp for about $70 million. Shoebuy was founded in 1999 and acquired by IAC in 2006.

    Walmart on Sept. 19, 2016, bought Jet.com for $2.4 billion, net of cash acquired. As part of the transaction, Walmart will pay additional compensation of about $800 million over a five-year period. Jet.com is a New Jersey-based internet retailer.

    Walmex, a majority-owned Walmart subsidiary, in May 2014 sold Vips, a Walmex-owned restaurant chain in Mexico, to Alsea, another restaurant operator in Mexico, for about $671 million.

    Walmart in February 2014 raised its stake in Walmart Chile to 99.7 percent.

    Walmart in year ended January 2014 paid $100 million for the remaining ownership stake in Bharti Walmart. That business had operated since 2007 as a joint venture between Walmart and Bharti Ventures that ran Walmart's wholesale cash-and-carry business in India.

    Walmart in second-quarter 2012 paid $101 million for the remaining stake in Bounteous Company Ltd., which owns Trust-Mart, a retailer in China. Walmart initially purchased a 35 percent stake in February 2007 for$264 million; at that time, it also paid $376 million to pay off a Bounteous-related loan.

    Walmart in June 2011 bought a 51 percent ownership in Massmart, a South Africa-based retailer with about 290 stores in 13 sub-Saharan African countries, for ZAR 16.9 billion ($2.5 billion).

    Walmart in April 2011 bought 147 Netto stores in the U.K. Walmart converted the majority of those stores to its Asda brand in the year ended January 2012. Purchase price was about 750 million pounds ($1.2 billion).

    Walmart in March 2010 bought Vudu, a service that lets consumers watch movies delivered over broadband.

    Management and employees:

    Walmart in July 2018 named a new U.S. chief customer officer and a new chief marketing officer, both women recruited from the outside, in a major departure for the retailer, which had never previously had a female chief marketer or one recruited directly into the position from outside.

    Janey Whiteside joined Walmart Aug. 1, 2018, in the newly created role of chief customer officer, based in Hoboken, N.J., site of Walmart's Jet.com unit. Whiteside was a 20-year veteran of American Express Co., where she most recently was executive VP and general manager of global premium products and benefits.

    Barbara Messing joined Whiteside's team as CMO in mid-August 2018. Messing had been CMO at TripAdvisor.

    The moves came after Walmart U.S. CMO Tony Rogers in June 2018 said he was moving to the newly created role of chief customer officer at the company's Sam's Club chain at the end of July 2018.

    Rogers in January 2016 had shifted to U.S. CMO from CMO for Walmart China, succeeding Stephen Quinn, who retired Jan. 31, 2016, after more than a decade at Walmart.

    Walmart hired former Target Corp. CMO Michael Francis as a consultant effective Jan. 1, 2016. Francis spent more than 26 years at Target before jumping to president of J.C. Penney Co. in October 2011. Francis left Penney in June 2012. Francis later in 2012 served as a consultant at Gap Inc. and then in December 2012 joined DreamWorks Animation as chief global brand officer. Francis stepped down as DreamWorks' chief global brand officer in December 2015.

    Walmart June 5, 2015, named Greg Penner chairman. As chairman, Penner succeeded Samuel Robson "Rob" Walton, 70. Rob Walton had served as chairman since 1992, when he took the post after the death of his father, Walmart founder and Chairman Sam Walton. Penner is Rob Walton's son-in-law.

    Penner, age 45 at the time of his appointment as chairman, previously was Walmart's vice chairman. Penner began his career at Goldman Sachs & Co. as an analyst specializing in corporate finance. He then joined Walmart as a management trainee and held a number of positions, including senior VP-finance and strategy for walmart.com and senior VP-CFO-Japan. Since 2005, Penner has been general partner of investment management firm Madrone Capital Partners. Penner joined Walmart's board in 2008.

    Doug McMillon succeeded Mike Duke as the company's president-CEO effective Feb. 1, 2014.

    McMillon was president-CEO of Walmart International before becoming CEO of Walmart Stores. McMillon was age 47 when his appointment as CEO was announced in November 2013. McMillon, a native of Jonesboro, Ark., started with the company in 1984 as a summer associate in a Walmart distribution center. He rejoined the company in 1990 in a Tulsa, Okla., Walmart store while pursuing his MBA at the University of Tulsa.

    Duke was age 64 when he stepped down as CEO in February 2014. He had been CEO since February 2009. Duke joined Walmart in 1995 after spending 23 years at Federated Department Stores and May Department Stores.

    History:

    Walmart's roots date to 1945, when Sam M. Walton opened a franchised Ben Franklin variety store in Newport, Ark. In 1946, his brother, James L. "Bud" Walton, opened a similar store in Versailles, Mo. Sam Walton later closed his Newport location and opened a Ben Franklin store in Bentonville, Ark., that he called Walton's Five and Dime. (Bentonville to this day remains the company's headquarters.)

    The Waltons focused on variety stores until 1962. In that year, the first "Wal-Mart Discount City," a discount store, opened in Rogers, Ark.

    Wal-Mart Stores incorporated in October 1969.

    The company opened its first three Sam's Clubs in 1984.

    Walmart opened its first supercenter in fiscal 1988 and the first Neighborhood Market in fiscal 1999.

    Walmart expanded abroad for the first time in fiscal 1992, when it began a 50/50 joint venture in Mexico with Mexican firm Cifra. Walmart in 1998 acquired controlling interest in Cifra. In February 2000, Cifra changed its name to Wal-Mart de Mexico. As of January 2012, Walmart operated retail stores in 26 countries outside the U.S.

    Sam Walton died in 1992. Walmart co-founder James Walton died in 1995.

    "Wal-Mart Stores, Inc." on Feb. 1, 2018, changed its legal name to "Walmart Inc."

    http://www.corporate.walmart.com

Walt Disney Co.

  • Marketer profile
    Click here to see company's total worldwide advertising spending, measured-media spending by region, key executives and agencies.

    Overview:

    Walt Disney Co. is a media and entertainment firm based in Burbank, Calif.

    Disney in 2018 proceeded on a deal to buy 21st Century Fox.

    Disney on Dec. 14, 2017, signed a deal to buy the company. Under that agreement, 21st Century Fox prior to the acquisition would transfer its news, sports and broadcast businesses--including Fox News Channel, Fox Business Network, Fox Broadcasting Co., Fox Sports, Fox Television Stations Group, FS1, FS2, Fox Deportes and Big Ten Network--into a newly formed subsidiary, dubbed New Fox, and distribute all New Fox shares to shareholders of 21st Century Fox.

    21st Century Fox would retain--and so Disney would buy--all assets and liabilities not transferred to New Fox, which would include the 21st Century Fox film and TV studios, certain cable networks (including FX and National Geographic) and 21st Century Fox's international TV businesses. 21st Century Fox would end up as a wholly owned subsidiary of Disney.

    Comcast Corp. June 13, 2018, announced its own offer to buy 21st Century Fox, maneuvering to supplant the Disney deal. A bidding war ensued as Disney upped its offer.

    Comcast pulled its offer in July 2018, clearing the way for Disney to proceed with a deal that will make 21st Century Fox a wholly owned subsidiary of Disney. The transaction was expected to be completed in the first half of calendar 2019.

    Business segments and operations:

    Information about the company's business segments is available at Disney's corporate website.

    Disney in March 2018 announced a strategic reorganization into four operating segments: the newly formed Direct-to-Consumer and International; the combined Parks, Experiences and Consumer Products; Media Networks; and Studio Entertainment. Disney will report under the new segment structure in fiscal 2019.

    Prior to the reorganization, Disney operated through these four business segments: Media Networks (including ESPN and ABC); Parks and Resorts; Studio Entertainment; Consumer Products and Interactive Media.

    Disney's Media Networks segment includes U.S. and international cable networks, a U.S. broadcast TV network (ABC), TV production and distribution operations, U.S. TV stations, and radio networks and stations.

    The Studio Entertainment segment produces and acquires live-action and animated motion pictures, direct-to-video content, musical recordings and live stage plays. Disney's primary film brands are Walt Disney Pictures, Pixar, Marvel, Lucasfilm and Touchstone.

    Disney, through its Parks and Resorts segment, owns and operates the Walt Disney World Resort in Florida, Disneyland Resort in California, Disneyland Paris in France, Disney Vacation Club, Disney Cruise Line and Adventures by Disney. The company owns 47 percent of Hong Kong Disneyland Resort; and 43 percent of Shanghai Disney Resort, which opened in June 2016. The company also licenses the operations of the Tokyo Disney Resort in Japan.

    The Consumer Products and Interactive Media segment works with licensees, manufacturers, publishers and retailers globally to design, develop, publish, promote and sell products based on Disney characters and other company intellectual property through its merchandise licensing, publishing and retail businesses; and creates and delivers branded entertainment and lifestyle content across interactive media platforms.

    The Consumer Products and Interactive Media segment includes Maker Studios, which distributes online video content with advertisements and provides online marketing services. Maker Studios operates as part of that segment's Disney Digital Network. Disney bought Maker Studios in May 2014.

    The segment also includes interactive games as well as media platforms including Disney.com, Disney on YouTube and Babble.com. (Alphabet, parent of Google, owns YouTube.)

    Disney effective October 2015 combined its Consumer Products segment and Interactive segment (formerly Interactive Media Group) into the Consumer Products and Interactive Media segment.

    Direct-to-consumer video services:

    Disney is developing a new direct-to-consumer service, Disney+, scheduled to launch in the U.S. in late 2019. Disney+ will offer Disney, Pixar, Marvel and Lucasfilm movies released theatrically after calendar 2018. Disney said the service also will feature exclusive original series and movies along with titles and episodes from the company's film and TV libraries.

    Following its acquisition of 21st Century Fox, Disney will become majority owner of Hulu, another video service.

    Cable channel branding:

    Disney in January 2016 rebranded the ABC Family cable channel as Freeform.

    Disney in March 2012 launched the Disney Junior cable channel as a rebranding of the Playhouse Disney programming block on Disney Channel. Disney Junior competes with Viacom's Nick Jr. Disney Junior replaced the Soapnet cable channel; Disney in March 2012 began to convert and transition Soapnet to Disney Junior. Soapnet ceased operations Dec. 31, 2013; all video services that carried Soapnet transitioned to Disney Junior. Disney in May 2010 had announced its plan to replace Soapnet with Disney Junior.

    Disney rebranded its Toon Disney cable TV and online offerings in the U.S. as Disney XD effective February 2009, targeting kids age 6-14, particularly boys.

    Marketing spending:

    U.S. ad spending:

    Total U.S. advertising spending figures shown in the Leading National Advertisers report and Marketer Trees database are Ad Age Datacenter estimates.

    Worldwide ad spending:

    Total worldwide advertising spending shown in the World's Largest Advertisers report and related database is Disney's stated worldwide "advertising expense."

    According to 10-K filings, Disney spent $2.8 billion on worldwide advertising expense in year ended Sept. 29, 2018 (fiscal 2018); $2.6 billion in year ended Sept. 30, 2017 (fiscal 2017); $2.9 billion in year ended Oct. 1, 2016 (fiscal 2016); $2.6 billion in year ended Oct. 3, 2015 (fiscal 2015); and $2.8 billion in year ended Sept. 27, 2014 (fiscal 2014).

    Ad spending as percent of worldwide revenue for year ended September 2018 was 4.71 percent, the lowest annual percentage in Ad Age Datacenter's data set of Disney ad spending dating to 2000.

    Deals and strategic moves:

    21st Century Fox:

    Disney in 2018 proceeded on a deal to buy 21st Century Fox, a transaction expected to be completed in the first half of calendar 2019.

    Disney on Dec. 14, 2017, signed a deal to buy the company. Under that agreement, 21st Century Fox prior to the acquisition would transfer its news, sports and broadcast businesses--including Fox News Channel, Fox Business Network, Fox Broadcasting Co., Fox Sports, Fox Television Stations Group, FS1, FS2, Fox Deportes and Big Ten Network--into a newly formed subsidiary, dubbed New Fox, and distribute all New Fox shares to shareholders of 21st Century Fox.

    21st Century Fox would retain--and so Disney would buy--all assets and liabilities not transferred to New Fox, which would include the 21st Century Fox film and TV studios, certain cable networks (including FX and National Geographic) and 21st Century Fox's international TV businesses. 21st Century Fox would end up as a wholly owned subsidiary of Disney.

    Comcast Corp. June 13, 2018, announced its own offer to buy 21st Century Fox, maneuvering to supplant the Disney deal. A bidding war ensued as Disney upped its offer.

    Comcast pulled its offer in July 2018, clearing the way for Disney to proceed with a deal that will make 21st Century Fox a wholly owned subsidiary of Disney.

    To win regulatory approval, Disney agreed to sell 21st Century Fox's 22 regional sports networks.

    Comcast in September 2018 beat 21st Century Fox in an auction to acquire Sky, a U.K.-based satellite TV firm in a deal valued at 30.6 billion pounds ($40.0 billion).

    Comcast in October 2018 bought Fox's 39.1 percent Sky stake for 11.6 billion pounds ($15.1 billion). Comcast acquired additional Sky shares in the public market, giving Comcast a greater than 75 percent stake in Sky as of October 2018. Comcast expected to buy the remaining Sky shares during fourth-quarter 2018; Comcast as of late October 2018 owned a 98 percent stake. Sky ceased trading on the London Stock Exchange in November 2018.

    Comcast in April 2018 made its first offer to buy Sky.

    21st Century Fox had been an investor in Sky and predecessors BSkyB and Sky Television since 1983.

    British Sky Broadcasting Group Plc (BSkyB) changed its name to Sky Plc in 2014.

    21st Century Fox in December 2016 signed a deal to buy the remaining Sky stake, subject to regulatory and shareholder approval. Disney had hoped to proceed with 21st Century Fox's Sky deal.

    Sky offers satellite across five countries (Italy, Germany, Austria, U.K., Ireland).

    BAMTech:

    Disney owns a 75 percent stake in BAMTech, Major League Baseball's streaming technology and content delivery business. Disney in August 2016 bought an initial 15 percent interest in BAMTech for $450 million. Disney bought an additional 18 percent interest for $557 million in January 2017; and an additional 42 percent in September 2017 for $1.6 billion.

    BAMTech's non-controlling share owners, MLB (15 percent stake) and the National Hockey League (10 percent stake), have the right to sell their shares to Disney in the future. MLB can sell its shares to Disney for a guaranteed minimum of $563 million, subject to increases over time. The NHL can sell its shares to Disney in fiscal 2020 for $300 million or in fiscal 2021 for $350 million.

    Disneyland Paris:

    Disney in June 2017 increased its ownership stake in Disneyland Paris to 100 percent.

    Specifically, the company in February 2017 increased its stake to 88 percent from 81 percent in a transaction valued at 141 million euros ($150 million). The company in June 2017 bought the remaining 12 percent stake for 224 million euros ($250 million), giving it 100 percent ownership.

    Disney in calendar 2015 increased its Disneyland Paris stake to 81 percent from 51 percent.

    Hulu:

    Disney, 21st Century Fox (via Fox Entertainment Group) and Comcast's NBC Universal each owned 30 percent of online video content service Hulu as of 2018. Disney's 21st Century Fox acquisition will give Disney a majority (60 percent) stake.

    Time Warner (now AT&T's WarnerMedia) joined that trio on Aug. 2, 2016, when it bought a 10 percent stake in Hulu for $590 million in cash, including transaction costs. Before Time Warner bought its stake, Disney, 21st Century Fox and NBC Universal each owned a one-third interest, according to Disney's 10-K for year ended Oct. 3, 2015, and 21st Century Fox's 10-K for year ended June 30, 2015.

    Disney's 10-K for year ended Sept. 29, 2018, said: "For not more than 36 months from August 2016, [WarnerMedia] may put its shares to Hulu or Hulu may call the shares from [WarnerMedia] under certain limited circumstances arising from regulatory review." The filing said Disney and 21st Century Fox "have agreed to make a capital contribution for up to" $400 million each "if Hulu is required to repurchase [WarnerMedia's] shares."

    Following the 21st Century Fox acquisition, Disney will consolidate Hulu's financial results since Disney will own a majority stake.

    As noted earlier, Disney plans in late 2019 to launch another U.S. direct-to-consumer video service, Disney+.

    Disney's 10-K for year ended Sept. 30, 2017, said:

    "For not more than 36 months from August 2016, [Time Warner] may put its shares to Hulu or Hulu may call the shares from [Time Warner] under certain limited circumstances arising from regulatory review. [Disney] and [21st Century] Fox have agreed to make a capital contribution for up to approximately $300 million each if required to fund the repurchase of shares from [Time Warner]. The August 2016 transaction resulted in a deemed sale by the company of a portion of its interest in Hulu at a gain of approximately $175 million. [Disney] expects to recognize the gain if and when the put and call options expire."

    AT&T June 14, 2018, completed its acquisition of Time Warner, which it renamed WarnerMedia. This came after a federal judge June 12, 2018, ruled that AT&T could proceed with its takeover of Time Warner after the U.S. Justice Department in November 2017 filed a civil antitrust lawsuit to block the deal. AT&T signed its deal to buy Time Warner in October 2016.

    Hulu in 2013 weighed buyout offers from various suitors. Hulu's owners in July 2013 decided against a sale. In a July 2013 statement, 21st Century Fox, NBC Universal and Disney said they "will maintain their respective ownership positions in Hulu and together provide a cash infusion of $750 million in order to propel future growth."

    Disney in April 2009 first joined News Corp. (now 21st Century Fox), NBC Universal and buyout firm Providence Equity Partners as a joint-venture partner and equity owner in Hulu. Providence in October 2007 invested $100 million in Hulu; Providence in October 2012 sold its 10 percent Hulu stake back to Hulu for $200 million.

    Vice:

    Disney in two transactions in November 2015 and December 2015 bought an 11 percent interest in U.S.-based media firm Vice Group Holdings for $400 million cash.

    A&E Television Networks (a 50/50 joint venture of Disney and Hearst Corp.) also is an investor in Vice. A&E first bought a minority stake in Vice in August 2014. A&E in November 2015 bought an additional 8 percent interest in Vice in exchange for a 49.9 percent interest in A&E's H2 channel, which in February 2016 was rebranded as Viceland and programmed with Vice content.

    As of Sept. 29, 2018, Disney owned an 11 percent interest in Vice while A&E had a 20 percent interest in Vice, according to Disney's 10-K filing.

    Radio:

    Disney in August 2014 announced its intention to sell all 24 of its U.S.-based Radio Disney broadcast stations except for its Los Angeles station.

    Disney in June 2007 spun off its ABC Radio business to Citadel Broadcasting Corp. The deal included 22 large-market radio stations and the ABC Radio Network businesses. Disney retained ESPN Radio and Radio Disney. The company includes financial results for ESPN Radio and Radio Disney with Cable Networks in Disney's Media Networks segment. (As of 2016, Disney owned four ESPN radio stations and the Radio Disney Network, which operates from a Disney-owned radio station in Los Angeles.)

    Citadel, burdened by debt, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganization in December 2009. Citadel emerged from bankruptcy in June 2010. Cumulus Media, another radio broadcaster, bought Citadel in September 2011. Cumulus Media filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganization in November 2017. Cumulus Media emerged from bankruptcy in June 2018.

    Maker Studios:

    Disney in May 2014 bought Maker Studios, a Culver City, Calif.-based provider of online video content on Google's YouTube, for $500 million cash plus a performance-linked earn-out of up to $450 million if Maker reached performance targets for calendar years 2014 and 2015.

    Lucasfilm:

    Disney in December 2012 bought Lucasfilm Ltd., creator of the "Star Wars" franchise, for $4.06 billion in cash and stock.

    "Star Wars: The Force Awakens," the seventh installment in the series and the first distributed by Disney, was released in December 2015.

    Prior to Disney's acquisition of Lucasfilm, Lucasfilm produced six Star Wars films (referred to as Episodes 1 through 6). Lucasfilm owned (and, so, Disney now owns) rights to consumer products related to all of those films and rights related to TV and electronic distribution formats for all of those films, with the exception of rights to the original 1977 film (referred to as Episode 4), which were owned by 21st Century Fox's 20th Century Fox. Disney's 2018 acquisition of 21st Century Fox brought rights for the original film into Disney.

    Fox owned permanent rights for the theatrical and home-entertainment distribution of the 1977 film. Fox had theatrical and home-entertainment distribution rights for the other five films; those rights were to revert to Lucasfilm (and, so, Disney) in May 2020.

    Lucasfilm previously was 100 percent owned by Chairman George Lucas, who founded the company in 1971. San Francisco-based Lucasfilm operated under the names Lucasfilm Ltd., LucasArts, Industrial Light & Magic and Skywalker Sound. (Disney in April 2013 closed LucasArts, a game studio; Disney decided to shift to a licensing model for "Star Wars"-themed games rather than developing the games internally.)

    After the deal closed, Kathleen Kennedy, the co-Chairman of Lucasfilm, became president of Lucasfilm, reporting to Walt Disney Studios Chairman Alan Horn. She also served as brand manager for Star Wars and as executive producer on new Star Wars feature films, with George Lucas serving as creative consultant. George Lucas earlier had disclosed his intent to step down from day-to-day operations at Lucasfilm.

    Disney and Lucasfilm already had ties, including Star Wars-related content at Disney theme parks in Anaheim (Calif.), Orlando (Fla.), Paris and Tokyo.

    The acquisition of Lucasfilm followed Disney's earlier deals to buy two other strong character-based film and entertainment companies, Marvel Entertainment (2009) and Pixar (2006).

    Miramax:

    Disney in December 2010 sold the majority of the assets of film business Miramax to Filmyard Holdings for $663 million. Partners in Filmyard included Los Angeles business executives Ron Tutor and Tom Barrack; Colony Capital; and other individuals. Disney bought Miramax in 1993; Miramax Co-Chairmen Bob and Harvey Weinstein left Disney in 2005.

    Playdom:

    Disney in August 2010 bought Playdom, an online social gaming company, for $563.2 million and a performance-linked earn-out of up to $200 million.

    Marvel Entertainment:

    Disney on Dec. 31, 2009, completed a deal to buy Marvel Entertainment in a transaction valued at $4.2 billion in cash and stock. Marvel is a comic-book company whose library includes Iron Man, Spider-Man, X-Men, Captain America, Fantastic Four and Thor. Marvel Entertainment uses its character franchises in licensing, entertainment (via Marvel Studios and Marvel Animation) and publishing (via Marvel Comics).

    A&E:

    Disney and partners in 2009 merged two cable TV ventures. Disney and Hearst had been 50/50 partners in Lifetime Entertainment Services, a cable-network venture. Disney, Hearst and NBC Universal had been partners in another cable venture, A&E Television Networks (Disney 37.5 percent, Hearst 37.5 percent, NBC Universal 25 percent).

    On Sept. 15, 2009, Disney and Hearst sold Lifetime to A&E in return for an increased stake in A&E. Disney and Hearst each ended up with a 42.1 percent stake in A&E; NBC Universal owned 15.8 percent. NBC Universal in March 2012 exercised an option to sell its 15.8 percent stake to Disney and Hearst for $3.025 billion. The transaction was completed in August 2012. Following the transaction, Disney and Hearst each own 50 percent of A&E.

    NBC Universal owns a Lifetime rival, women's cable channel Oxygen. Cable-systems giant Comcast in January 2011 bought a 51 percent controlling stake in NBC Universal from General Electric Co. Comcast bought the remaining 49 percent stake in March 2013, giving Comcast 100 percent ownership of NBC Universal.

    DreamWorks:

    Walt Disney Studios, Disney's movie business, in February 2009 entered a long-term distribution deal with filmmaker and DreamWorks Studios co-founder Steven Spielberg and partner Stacey Snider, CEO of DreamWorks, to distribute new live-action motion pictures produced by DreamWorks under DreamWorks' partnership with Reliance Big Entertainment. Under the Disney deal, which ended in 2016, Disney handled distribution and marketing for about six DreamWorks films each year. DreamWorks principals Spielberg and Snider joined with Reliance Big in fall 2009 to form a motion picture venture. Reliance Big is part of India's Reliance Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group.

    DreamWorks Studios was a continuation of the DreamWorks Studios formed in 1994 by Spielberg, Jeffrey Katzenberg and David Geffen. DreamWorks previously had a distribution deal with Viacom's Paramount, which in January 2006 paid $1.9 billion to buy DreamWorks SKG. The DreamWorks principals in October 2008 reached an agreement with Viacom to exit from DW Studios (formerly DreamWorks LLC), ending their relationship with Paramount.

    DreamWorks Studios, under the new name Amblin Partners, in December 2015 announced a five-year distribution deal with Comcast's Universal Pictures. That replaced the Disney deal.

    Jetix Europe:

    Disney in December 2008 bought an additional 26 percent interest in Jetix Europe, a pan-European kids' entertainment company, for about $349 million, bringing Disney's ownership interest to more than 99 percent. Jetix Europe's business included TV channels, program distribution and consumer products. Its programming, geared towards kids age 6-14, reached 137 million TV households in 58 countries covering 18 languages. The company in 2009 rebranded the Jetix channels as Disney Channel and Disney XD.

    Club Penguin Entertainment:

    In August 2007, Disney bought Club Penguin Entertainment, operator of clubpenguin.com, an online virtual world for children, for $350 million cash plus up to $350 million if the business hit earnings targets.

    E! Entertainment Television:

    Disney in November 2006 sold its 39.5 percent interest in E! Entertainment Television to Comcast for $1.23 billion, giving Comcast full ownership of the cable channel. Comcast contributed the channel to NBC Universal in 2011.

    Pixar:

    Disney in May 2006 paid $7.5 billion in stock to acquire Pixar, the animated film company formed by Apple co-founder Steve Jobs. Jobs, a Disney director, died in October 2011.

    Capital Cities/ABC:

    Disney bought Capital Cities/ABC in 1996, bringing the ABC TV network and an 80 percent stake in ESPN into the fold. (Hearst owns 20 percent of ESPN; Hearst bought its ESPN stake from RJR Nabisco in 1990.) Capital Cities had acquired ABC in 1986.

    Other deals:

    Disney in December 2012 bought Das Vierte, an ad-supported TV channel in Germany. The company converted the channel to a free-to-air Disney Channel.

    Disney's ESPN in November 2012 sold its interest in ESPN Star Sports to old News Corp. (now 21st Century Fox) for $335 million, according to Disney (about $220 million, net of cash acquired, according to 21st Century Fox). ESPN Star Sports, a sports broadcaster in Asia, had been a 50/50 venture of old News Corp. and ESPN.

    Disney's ABC News and Univision Communications' Univision News in May 2012 announced a 50/50 joint venture to create a U.S. English-language 24/7 cable-news channel for English-dominant and bilingual Hispanics. The venture, Fusion, launched in October 2013. Univision in 2016 became the 100 percent owner of Fusion after ABC ended its involvement with Fusion.

    Disney in February 2012 increased its stake in UTV Software Communications Ltd., a media company in India, to 93 percent from 50 percent. Disney raised its stake to 99 percent later in 2012.

    Disney Publishing Worldwide, part of Disney Consumer Products, sold FamilyFun magazine to Meredith Corp. in January 2012. Disney Publishing previously shut Wondertime magazine in 2009, closed Disney Adventures in 2007 and sold Discover magazine in 2005. Disney in November 2011 bought New York-based Babble Media, which manages more than 200 mom bloggers. Babble launched in 2006. Disney added Babble to Disney Family Network (also known as Mom and Family Portfolio).

    Disney in November 2011 bought a 49 percent stake in the Seven TV network in Russia from UTH Russia Ltd. for $300 million. Disney converted the Seven TV network to an ad-supported, free-to-air Disney Channel in Russia.

    Disney in calendar 2011 sold two TV stations (WJRT in Flint, Mich.; WTVG in Toledo, Ohio) back to SJL Broadcasting; Disney had purchased the two stations from SJL in 1995. Disney continues to own and operate eight local U.S. TV stations, including six in the top 10 U.S. markets.

    Disney in November 2010 sold its stake in Bass LLC for $5 million. Bass LLC owns a membership organization for bass anglers; Bassmaster magazine; and fishing-related TV series that air on ESPN.

    Disney in July 2010 bought Palo Alto, Calif.-based Tapulous, a developer of music games for the iPad, iPhone and iPod Touch. Tapulous reports into Disney Interactive Media Group.

    Disney in May 2010 sold the rights and assets related to the Power Rangers franchise for $65 million.

    Disney sold Movies.com for $17 million in June 2008 to Fandango, a movie-ticket web venture. Fandango was acquired in April 2007 by Comcast, which contributed Fandango to NBC Universal in 2011.

    Disney in April 2008 bought back Disney Stores North America for about $64 million cash, ending a long-term licensing arrangement with The Children's Place, a retailer. Disney in fiscal 2005 had sold Disney Stores North America to The Children's Place, which then ran the stores under a licensing and operating arrangement.

    In February 2007, Disney bought NASN, an Irish company that operates cable television networks in Europe dedicated to North American sporting events and related programming. Disney paid $112 million consisting of cash and assumed debt. In February 2009, NASN was rebranded as ESPN America.

    Disney in October 2006 sold its 50 percent stake in Us Weekly magazine for $300 million to partner Wenner Media. Wenner in April 2017 sold Us Weekly to American Media, owner of National Enquirer and Star, for a reported $100 million. Us Weekly was founded in 1977 by the New York Times Co. and acquired by Wenner Media in 1985.

    Disney sold Discover Magazine for $14 million in October 2005.

    Historic 21st Century Fox:Disney Co. in 2018 proceeded on a deal to buy 21st Century Fox. (See "Deals and strategic moves.")

    Disney's acquisition included:

    Filmed entertainment: Twentieth Century Fox Film (Twentieth Century Fox, Fox 2000, Fox Searchlight Pictures, Twentieth Century Fox Animation, Fox International Productions; motion picture production and distribution); Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment (DVD, Blu-ray); Twentieth Century Fox Television, Fox21 Television Studios, Twentieth Television (TV programming, production and domestic syndicated distribution).

    Cable network programming: Selected U.S. cable networks (including FX and National Geographic) and 21st Century Fox's international TV businesses (including Fox International Channels in Europe, Latin America, Africa and Asia and Star India).

    The deal included 21st Century Fox's 73 percent stake in National Geographic Partners (NGC Group Holdings). National Geographic Society, a non-profit organization owns 27 percent. 21st Century Fox and National Geographic Society formed National Geographic Partners in November 2015. National Geographic Partners owns National Geographic TV channels, magazines, digital and social-media platforms and other ventures.

    21st Century Fox reported the following worldwide "advertising expenses" for years ended June 30:

    2018: $2.3 billion (7.6 percent of revenue)
    2017: $2.2 billion (7.7 percent)
    2016: $2.4 billion (8.8 percent)
    2015: $2.6 billion (9.0 percent)
    2014: $2.9 billion (9.1 percent)
    2013: $2.2 billion (7.9 percent)
    2012: $1.9 billion (7.6 percent)
    2011: $2.2 billion (9.1 percent)
    2010: $2.2 (billion (9.0 percent)

    21st Century Fox reported the following worldwide revenue for years ended June 30:

    2018: $30.400 billion ($21.400 billion or 70.4 percent from U.S.)
    2017: $28.500 billion ($20.400 billion or 71.6 percent from U.S.)
    2016: $27.326 billion ($19.100 billion or 69.9 percent from U.S.)
    2015: $28.987 billion ($18.200 billion or 62.8 percent from U.S.)
    2014: $31.867 billion ($17.400 billion or 54.6 percent from U.S.)
    2013: $27.675 billion ($15.600 billion or 56.4 percent from U.S.)
    2012: $25.051 billion (restated) ($14.900 billion or 59.5 percent from U.S.)
    2011: $24.232 billion (restated) ($14.300 billion or 59.0 percent from U.S.)
    2010: $23.971 billion (restated) ($13.600 billion or 56.7 percent from U.S.)21st Century Fox took shape June 28, 2013, when old News Corp. spun off its publishing and other operations into new News Corp. and then changed the name of old News Corp. to Twenty-First Century Fox, known as 21st Century Fox.

    Long-time Chairman-CEO Rupert Murdoch retired as CEO effective July 1, 2015, the start of the company's fiscal year. Murdoch became executive co-chairman.

    Old News Corp. traced its origin to the incorporation in 1923 of News Ltd. to publish a daily newspaper in Adelaide, Australia. Keith Murdoch, a veteran Australian journalist and father of Rupert Murdoch, bought a minority stake in News Ltd. in 1949. Keith Murdoch died in 1952, when Rupert Murdoch was age 21. Rupert Murdoch took over at News Ltd. after his father's death and over the decades expanded the empire.

    The company expanded into the U.S. in 1973 with the acquisition of two newspapers in San Antonio, Texas.

    The company's U.S. unit, News America, in April 1985 acquired a 50 percent stake in Twentieth Century Fox Film Corp. for $250 million ($162.5 million purchase price plus a capital injection of $87.5 million) from oil billionaire Marvin Davis. News America bought Davis' remaining 50 percent stake in December 1985 for $325 million.

    Twentieth Century Fox Film Corp. was created by the 1935 merger of Twentieth Century Pictures (founded in 1933) and Fox Film Corp. (founded in 1915).

    Management and employees:

    In connection with its 21st Century Fox acquisition deal, Disney in December 2017 said Robert A. Iger had agreed to continue as chairman and CEO through 2021 if the deal is completed. The company said it and Iger agreed to "extend the period during which Mr. Iger would remain employed with Disney and serve as Chairman and Chief Executive Officer from July 2, 2019 to December 31, 2021. ... If the [21st Century Fox deal is] not consummated, the term of the [employment] agreement will end at July 2, 2019."

    Disney in March 2017 extended the contract of Iger to June 30, 2019.

    Disney in October 2014 said Iger would remain chairman and CEO through June 30, 2018.

    Disney in July 2013 said Iger would remain chairman and CEO through the end of his contract June 30, 2016.

    Disney in October 2011 said Iger would be CEO through March 31, 2015, when someone else would take over, and then stay on as executive chairman through June 30, 2016.

    Iger took the chairman post in March 2012 when Chairman John E. Pepper retired.

    Iger (born Feb. 10, 1951) became Disney president in 2000. He became president-CEO in September 2005, succeeding CEO Michael Eisner.

    Thomas O. Staggs resigned as Disney's chief operating officer effective May 6, 2016. His resignation was a surprise since Staggs was viewed as the most likely successor to Iger. Disney in February 2015 had promoted Staggs to chief operating officer of the company from chairman of Walt Disney Parks and Resorts. Staggs ran the parks and resorts business from 2010 to 2015. Before that, Staggs was Disney's CFO starting in 1998. Staggs joined Disney in 1990 as manager of strategic planning.

    http://www.thewaltdisneycompany.com

Yum Brands

  • Marketer profile
    Click here to see company's total worldwide advertising spending, measured-media spending by region, key executives and agencies.

    Overview:

    Yum Brands is the parent of fast-food chains KFC, Pizza Hut and Taco Bell.

    Yum Brands on Oct. 31, 2016, split into two public companies: Yum Brands, focused on franchising its KFC, Pizza Hut and Taco Bell chains around the world; and Yum China Holdings, exclusive franchisee in China of KFC, Pizza Hut and Taco Bell.

    Sales and earnings:

    Sales and earnings figures shown in the Leading National Advertisers report's Marketer Trees are corporate, representing results from company-owned restaurants and fees from franchisees.

    Fiscal year change:

    Effective with the beginning of fiscal 2017 on Jan. 1, 2017, Yum Brands changed its fiscal year from a year ending on the last Saturday of December to a year beginning on Jan. 1 and ending Dec. 31.

    Because the new 2017 fiscal year commenced with the end of Yum Brands' 2016 fiscal year ended Dec. 31, 2016, there was no transition period in connection with the change in the fiscal year.

    Marketing spending:

    U.S. ad spending:

    Total U.S. advertising spending figures shown in the Leading National Advertisers report and Marketer Trees database are Ad Age Datacenter's estimates of U.S. systemwide ad spending for KFC, Pizza Hut and Taco Bell, including ad spending contributions from franchised and company-owned stores.

    Ad Age's U.S. estimated advertising totals shown for Yum Brands are modeled on estimated U.S. systemwide sales (for both corporate and franchise operations) from Technomic, a restaurant market-research firm.

    KFC marketing:

    Yum Brands in 2015 reached an agreement with KFC U.S. franchisees that it said gave Yum Brands "brand marketing control as well as an accelerated path to expanded menu offerings, improved assets and enhanced customer experience."

    As part of the agreement, Yum Brands said it would kick in $60 million in incremental systemwide advertising. To fulfill that, Yum incurred incremental advertising expense of $10 million in 2015, $20 million in 2016 and $20 million in 2017; with the remaining $10 million to be spent in 2018.

    Worldwide ad spending:

    Total worldwide advertising spending figures shown in the World's Largest Advertisers report and related database are Ad Age Datacenter's estimates of worldwide systemwide ad spending for KFC, Pizza Hut and Taco Bell, including ad spending contributions from franchised and company-owned stores.

    Ad Age's worldwide estimated advertising totals shown for Yum Brands are modeled on Yum Brands' disclosed worldwide system sales figures. Figures include sales at Yum China Holdings.

    Yum Brands worldwide ad costs:

    Yum Brands disclosed worldwide advertising costs of:

    2017: $245 million
    2016: $260 million
    2015: $253 million (restated from $255 million; previously restated from $581 million following 2016 spinoff of Yum China Holdings, a reduction of $326 million)
    2014: $261 million (restated from $589 million following 2016 spinoff of Yum China Holdings, a reduction of $328 million)
    2013: $607 million
    2012: $608 million

    These costs reflect worldwide ad spending for company-owned stores and contributions to advertising cooperatives for company-owned stores. Yum China Holdings:

    Yum China Holdings, the China division that Yum Brands spun off Oct. 31, 2016, disclosed the following "direct marketing costs":

    2016: $332 million
    2015: $327 million
    2014: $328 million
    2013: $346 million

    Yum China Holdings said in its 10-K for year ended December 2016:

    "We charge direct marketing costs to expense ratably in relation to revenues over the year in which incurred and, in the case of advertising production costs, in the year the advertisement is first shown. Deferred direct marketing costs, which are classified as prepaid expenses, consist of media and related advertising production costs which will generally be used for the first time in the next fiscal year and have historically not been significant."

    That Yum China Holdings filing also said:"Our franchise agreements require our franchisees to fund advertising and marketing expenditures, typically in an amount that is a percentage of sales. Local marketing expenditures are managed by each operator. The company, as an agent, collects and disburses non-local funds on behalf of the entire system. We record cash received and accounts payable from the administration of such non-local funds in our Consolidated and Combined Balance Sheets. Any unused non-local funds are returned to the system."

    Deals and strategic moves:

    Yum China Holdings:

    Yum Brands on Oct. 31, 2016, split into two public companies: Yum Brands, focused on franchising its KFC, Pizza Hut and Taco Bell chains around the world; and Yum China Holding, exclusive franchisee in mainland China - the People's Republic of China; excludes Hong Kong, Taiwan and Macau -- of KFC, Pizza Hut and Taco Bell. Both companies are listed on the New York Stock Exchange.

    Yum Brands in October 2015 announced plans for the split.

    Yum Brands accomplished the split through a spin-off of the China business to Yum Brands' existing shareholders.

    Following its separation from Yum Brands, Yum China Holdings has the exclusive right to operate, sub-franchise and license the KFC, Pizza Hut Casual Dining, Pizza Hut Home Service and Taco Bell brands in China. Yum China Holdings also owns the Little Sheep and East Dawning concepts outright. Little Sheep is a China-based chain of hot-pot restaurants. East Dawning is a Chinese food quick-service restaurant brand with 15 locations as of year-end 2015.

    KFC opened its first restaurant in Beijing, China in 1987. The first Pizza Hut in China opened in 1990. Taco Bell was set to open in China in 2016.

    Yum Brands in February 2012 increased its stake in Little Sheep Group, a chain in China that operates hundreds of hot-pot restaurants, to 93 percent from 27 percent. Yum paid $540 million, net of cash acquired, for that additional 66 percent stake. Yum had been an investor in Little Sheep since 2009. As part of the acquisition, Yum granted an option to the shareholder that holds the remaining 7 percent ownership interest in Little Sheep that would require Yum to purchase the remaining shares owned upon exercise of the option any time after the third anniversary of the acquisition.

    Prior to the Yum Brands deal, Little Sheep had done limited global expansion, including the opening of six Little Sheep Hot Pot restaurants in California and Texas as of 2011. Little Sheep had 25 U.S. locations in May 2016; 20 in May 2015; 16 in May 2014; 11 in May 2013; and 10 in June 2012.

    Yum Brands took non-cash impairment charges on Little Sheep of $463 million in 2014 and $295 million in 2013, reducing the carrying value of Little Sheep to reflect weakness in the unit's China operations.

    Other deals and strategic moves:

    PepsiCo in October 1997 spun off Tricon Global Restaurants (KFC, Pizza Hut, Taco Bell) to shareholders as an independent public company.

    Tricon Global in May 2002 bought Yorkshire Global Restaurants, parent of Long John Silver's and A&W All-American Food Restaurants. Also in May 2002, Tricon changed its named to Yum Brands (stock ticker symbol: YUM).

    Yum in January 2011 put Long John Silver's and A&W All-American Food Restaurants up for sale so that Yum could focus on its fast-growing international operations and on its main U.S. chains. Yum on Sept. 22, 2011, announced definitive agreements to sell Long John Silver's and A&W to two separate groups led by key franchisees.

    Yum in December 2011 sold Long John Silver's to LJS Partners LLC, "led by a consortium of prominent franchisee leaders and other investors."

    Yum in December 2011 sold A&W to A Great American Brand LLC, "led by a franchisee leader with substantial interests in international A&W restaurants and the National A&W Franchisees Association representing U.S. A&W restaurant operators."

    Management and employees:

    Taco Bell CEO Greg Creed became Yum CEO effective Jan. 1, 2015, succeeding David C. Novak. Novak at that point gave up his chairman title and became executive chairman.

    Brian Niccol, president of Taco Bell U.S. and age 40 as of May 2014, became Taco Bell CEO Jan. 1, 2015, succeeding Creed.

    History:

    KFC opened in 1939 and started franchising in 1952. Pizza Hut launched in 1958; Taco Bell in 1962.

    PepsiCo in October 1997 spun off Tricon Global Restaurants (KFC, Pizza Hut, Taco Bell) to shareholders as an independent public company.

    Tricon Global in May 2002 changed its named to Yum Brands.

    Yum Brands Oct. 31, 2016, split into two public companies: Yum Brands, focused on franchising its KFC, Pizza Hut and Taco Bell chains around the world; and Yum China Holdings, exclusive franchisee in mainland China - the People's Republic of China; excludes Hong Kong, Taiwan and Macau -- of KFC, Pizza Hut and Taco Bell.

    http://www.yum.com

Top 10 marketers by country in 2017 (U.S. dollars in millions) in 100 countries and markets. Sources are listed under the country name. Click the plus sign to expand.

Hungary [This record free to all users]

  • Measured media spending20172016% chg
    Sanofi201.1148.935.0
    RB (Reckitt Benckiser Group)145.3129.312.4
    Procter & Gamble Co.142.1131.08.5
    Ferrero140.874.090.3
    Unilever122.7101.421.0
    Teva118.076.354.7
    Schwarz Gruppe113.3102.510.5
    GlaxoSmithKline99.050.895.1
    Spar96.665.647.3
    Deutsche Telekom (T-Mobile US)96.288.88.3

    Figures are in millions of U.S. dollars. Data from Kantar Media Hungary.

    http://www.kantarmedia.hu

Algeria

  • Measured media spending20172016% chg
    Cevital0.1NANA
    Wataniya Telecom Algerie0.1NANA
    Wataniya Telecom Tunisie (Nessma Mobile Tunisie Et Ooredoo Tunisie )0.1NANA
    Hayat DHC Algerie0.1NANA
    Condor Electronics0.1NANA
    Henkel0.1NANA
    Sopi0.1NANA
    Algofood Sarl0.1NANA
    Falait0.1NANA
    Coca-Cola Co.0.1NANA

    Figures are in millions of U.S. dollars. Ooredoo was Wataniya Telecom. Data from Sigma Conseil.

    http://www.sigma.tn/Fr/accueil_46_9

Argentina

  • Measured media spending20172016% chg
    Genomma Lab291.0228.227.5
    Unilever211.0126.966.2
    SC Johnson110.580.836.8
    Presidencia de la Nacion107.154.198.0
    Procter & Gamble Co.91.965.839.7
    Coto Cicsa83.856.648.0
    Cencosud77.761.127.3
    Editorial Agea76.050.350.9
    Danone73.065.411.7
    Coca-Cola Co.70.050.239.5

    Figures are in millions of U.S. dollars, discounted by AA. Data from Monitor de Medios Publicitarios.

    http://www.ibope.com.ar/

Australia

  • Measured media spending20172016% chg
    Harvey Norman98.3106.0-7.3
    Wesfarmers80.371.212.8
    Toyota Motor Corp.64.961.35.8
    McDonald's Corp.62.955.114.0
    Telstra Corp.61.952.717.3
    RB (Reckitt Benckiser Group)59.068.3-13.6
    21st Century Fox56.869.0-17.6
    Woolworths55.161.1-9.9
    Chemist Warehouse53.050.45.1
    Volkswagen50.552.8-4.4

    Figures are estimated net spending and are in millions of U.S. dollars. Data from Nielsen.

    https://www.nielsen.com/us/en/solutions/capabilities/ad-intel.html

Azerbaijan

  • Measured media spending20172016% chg
    Procter & Gamble Co.34.238.6-11.4
    Unilever6.92.1230.4
    Bakcell6.63.2109.0
    Hayat Qrupu6.15.511.4
    Coca-Cola Co.6.01.9213.2
    Xetai Klinikasi6.0NANA
    Mars Inc.5.56.1-10.1
    Dell'Oro5.26.8-23.7
    Azersun Holding4.74.70.8
    Nestle4.64.61.0

    Figures are in millions of U.S. dollars. Data from TV MR AZ, AGB Nielsen Media Research licensee.

    http://www.agb.az

Bahrain

  • Measured media spending20172016% chg
    Zain Telecom0.31.6-78.3
    Toyota Motor Corp.0.30.7-57.8
    BMW Group0.20.2-14.9
    Rolex_Switzerland0.20.5-70.0
    Daimler0.10.2-39.9
    Compagnie Financiere Richemont0.10.5-70.6
    Volkswagen0.10.2-44.3
    Ford Motor Co.0.10.4-72.1
    Kuwait Financial House0.10.3-64.2
    Suzuki Moror Corp.0.10.2-41.2

    Figures are in millions of U.S. dollars. Data from Pan Arab Research Center.

    http://www.arabresearch.com

Belarus

  • Measured media spending20172016% chg
    Nestle31.026.815.7
    Procter & Gamble Co.14.110.534.5
    Orimi Trade12.215.6-22.0
    Velcom10.710.25.2
    Sistema10.08.715.1
    Coca-Cola Co.8.37.412.2
    L'Oreal8.07.014.0
    Mars Inc.8.05.545.1
    Eurotorg6.74.357.3
    Henkel4.59.5-52.6

    Figures are in millions of U.S. dollars. Data from UM Belarus.

    http://www.umww.com

Belgium

  • Measured media spending20172016% chg
    Procter & Gamble Co.124.5134.3-7.3
    News City103.995.09.4
    D'Ieteren Auto101.182.123.1
    Mediahuis79.767.817.4
    PSA Group (Peugeot, Citroen, Opel, Vauxhall)68.875.8-9.2
    Unilever67.581.7-17.4
    RB (Reckitt Benckiser Group)64.981.7-20.5
    Coca-Cola Co.61.366.0-7.1
    Belgacom58.677.5-24.4
    Colruyt57.650.713.5

    Figures are in millions of U.S. dollars. Data from MediaXim CIM MDB.

    http://www.mediaxim.com

Benin

  • Largest advertisers
    MTN Group
    Sobebra (Group Castel)
    Moov (Etisalat)
    Canal+ Benin (Group Vivendi)
    Group Chiftehan
    Western Union
    Turkish Airlines
    Mikem Technologie
    Money Gram
    Vlisco

    http://www.ag-partners.com

Bosnia and Herzegovina

  • Measured media spending20172016% chg
    Studio Moderna25.626.9-4.7
    Ferrero19.817.711.8
    Procter & Gamble Co.10.88.528.1
    Coca-Cola Co.9.310.2-8.8
    L'Oreal8.710.5-17.1
    Telekom Srbija (M: Tel)8.79.3-6.4
    Maxingvest (Beiersdorf)8.28.6-3.9
    Vitalis Doctors Group6.85.719.1
    Proton System6.815.8-57.2
    Bingo D.O.O.6.67.1-6.6

    Figures are in millions of U.S. dollars. Includes print only. Data from Audience Measurement Nielsen.

    http://www.audiencemeasurement.ba

Brazil

  • Measured media spending20172016% chg
    Hypermarcas420.8244.971.8
    Genomma Lab351.4358.3-1.9
    Unilever206.0293.0-29.7
    Anheuser-Busch InBev176.5126.439.6
    Procter & Gamble Co.175.1168.93.7
    Divcom Pharma Nordeste167.7111.949.8
    America Movil166.5102.861.9
    Caixa (Gfc)161.9180.2-10.2
    Expedia Group151.0117.528.6
    Ultrafarma141.689.059.1

    Figures are in millions of U.S. dollars, discounted by AA. Via Varejo represents the merger of Casas Bahia and Ponto Frio. Data from Ibope Brasil.

    http://www.ibope.com.br

Bulgaria

  • Measured media spending20172016% chg
    Schwarz Gruppe32.719.072.2
    National Lottery24.814.471.8
    Procter & Gamble Co.24.422.110.2
    Naturprodukt20.015.331.2
    RB (Reckitt Benckiser Group)18.113.237.5
    Carlsberg Bulgaria16.214.511.4
    Coca-Cola Co.15.315.01.8
    L'Oreal15.211.434.0
    Maxingvest (Beiersdorf)14.412.218.0
    Telekom Austria Group14.216.2-12.2

    Figures are in millions of U.S. dollars. Data from Nielsen Admosphere, part of Nielsen Group.

    http://adintel.nielsen-admosphere.eu

Burkina Faso

  • Measured media spending20172016% chg
    Orange2.7NANA
    Onatel1.6NANA
    Abdoiul Services1.5NANA
    Brakina1.3NANA
    Telecel1.3NANA
    Nestle1.1NANA
    Megamonde0.9NANA
    CFOA0.5NANA
    Royal Dutch Shell Group of Cos.0.5NANA
    Total0.5NANA

    Figures are in millions of U.S. dollars. Data from AG Partners (via Publicis Africa Group).

    http://www.ag-partners.com

Canada

  • Measured media spending20172016% chg
    Procter & Gamble Co.106.5110.8-3.8
    Bell Canada82.956.945.7
    General Motors Co.78.989.7-12.0
    Restaurant Brands International68.166.32.6
    Provincial Government Lotteries65.866.5-1.0
    Ford Motor Co.57.862.0-6.8
    Rogers Communications57.449.216.6
    McDonald's Corp.53.652.71.8
    Fiat Chrysler Automobiles52.052.1-0.3
    Nissan Motor Co.49.649.40.3

    Figures are in millions of U.S. dollars. Ranking excludes some government ministries. Data from Numerator.

    https://www.numerator.com/branding-advertising

Chile

  • Measured media spending20172016% chg
    Falabella32.128.512.5
    SC Johnson24.513.087.7
    Procter & Gamble Co.23.721.211.8
    Paris20.411.085.0
    Jumbo Hipermercado19.514.435.1
    Walmart19.215.226.7
    Genomma Lab18.622.9-18.9
    Unilever17.920.4-12.1
    Supermercados Tottus16.510.360.5
    Supermercados Santa Isabel16.410.654.6

    Figures are in millions of U.S. dollars, discounted by AA. Data from Megatime.

    http://www.ibope.com.br

China

  • Measured media spending20172016% chg
    Procter & Gamble Co.902.61,179.5-23.5
    Neimenggu Hongmao Pharmaceutical Co.827.0546.451.3
    Coca-Cola Co.630.3508.024.1
    Guangzhou Pharmaceutical Holdings562.0403.639.2
    L'Oreal399.2381.54.6
    Mars Inc.395.5380.24.0
    Unilever348.6435.6-20.0
    Xian Yangjian Pharmaceutical334.2292.214.4
    Gansu Xifeng Medicine330.452.9524.9
    Dali Food Group Co.292.2188.055.5

    Figures are in millions of U.S. dollars, discounted by AA. Nielsen also monitors advertising spending in China. Data from CTR Media Intelligence/Kantar Media.

    http://www.ctrchina.cn

Colombia

  • Measured media spending20172016% chg
    America Movil56.543.031.6
    Genomma Lab39.723.171.7
    Unilever32.928.614.8
    Intermarketing Direct29.426.311.6
    Procter & Gamble Co.28.426.76.4
    Postobon27.224.312.1
    Tecnoquimicas25.219.628.2
    Expedia Group22.812.877.9
    Coca-Cola Co.19.715.329.1
    Abbott Laboratories19.315.326.3

    Figures are in millions of U.S. dollars, discounted by AA. Media companies are excluded. Data from Ibope Colombia.

    http://www.ibope.com.br

Congo-Brazzaville

  • Measured media spending20172016% chg
    Airtel1.51.50.6
    MTN Group1.21.111.7
    Brasco0.70.617.4
    Bralico0.40.332.4
    Total0.3NANA
    Air Cote D'Ivoire0.30.3-16.0
    Vivendi0.10.159.7
    Startimes0.1NANA
    Regal0.10.119.8
    Mayo0.10.1-33.0

    Figures are in millions of U.S. dollars. Figures here are for the Republic of the Congo. Data from AG Partners (via Publicis Africa Group).

    http://www.ag-partners.com

Costa Rica

  • Measured media spending20172016% chg
    Genomma Lab24.128.4-15.4
    Supermercados Unidos11.811.34.9
    Grupo Nacion7.89.2-15.9
    Unilever7.19.8-28.2
    Ice6.56.8-4.6
    Coca-Cola Co.6.37.1-11.4
    Caja Costarricense de Seguro Social5.55.8-4.7
    Cinepolis5.22.4117.9
    Bayer5.26.0-13.4
    Telefonica5.04.512.7

    Figures are in millions of U.S. dollars. Media companies and government advertising are excluded. Data from MediaGuru Costa Rica / Ibope.

    http://www.ibope.com.br

Croatia

  • Measured media spending20172016% chg
    Schwarz Gruppe23.521.111.0
    Deutsche Telekom (T-Mobile US)18.518.5-0.1
    Ferrero15.316.1-5.3
    Tele213.517.9-24.4
    Procter & Gamble Co.13.312.010.1
    Telekom Austria Group12.817.7-27.9
    Konzum11.512.5-7.9
    L'Oreal11.411.31.3
    Plodine11.410.410.3
    Coca-Cola Co.9.89.45.1

    Figures are in millions of U.S. dollars. Data from AGB Nielsen Media Research.

    http://www.agbnielsen.net

Cyprus

  • Measured media spending20172016% chg
    Alphamega Hypermarkets24.320.816.5
    Schwarz Gruppe20.921.6-3.4
    Cyprus Telecommunications Authority15.612.326.5
    MTN Group12.69.335.7
    Opap Cyprus (betting)11.311.6-2.6
    Papantoniou Supermarket9.96.063.8
    Bank of Cyprus9.710.4-7.3
    Coca-Cola Co.7.5NANA
    Hellenic Bank Public Co.6.41.1501.2
    Jumbo Store5.55.42.4

    Figures are in millions of U.S. dollars and include TV spending only. Data from Telia & Pavla BBDO.

    http://www.tpbbdo.com.cy

Czech Republic

  • Measured media spending20172016% chg
    Schwarz Gruppe95.668.838.9
    Volkswagen63.947.335.1
    Alza60.950.121.6
    Rewe Group55.660.3-7.8
    Ferrero55.632.074.0
    Procter & Gamble Co.53.055.8-5.0
    Sazka48.231.751.8
    Maxingvest (Beiersdorf)44.839.313.9
    Unilever42.940.17.1
    RB (Reckitt Benckiser Group)40.927.449.3

    Figures are in millions of U.S. dollars. Schwarz Gruppe includes Kaufland and Lidl. Volkswagen includes Skoda and Porsche. Data from Nielsen Admosphere, part of Nielsen Group.

    http://adintel.nielsen-admosphere.eu

Denmark

  • Measured media spending20172016% chg
    FDB52.547.111.5
    Salling Fonden49.967.8-26.5
    Danske Spil34.037.0-8.1
    TDC (Tele-Denmark Communications)33.028.316.5
    Telenor28.830.1-4.3
    Nykredit Holding27.334.1-19.9
    Interdan27.225.66.1
    Dagrofa23.631.4-24.7
    Semler Gruppen23.520.912.2
    Srbw Holding18.815.819.3

    Figures are in millions of U.S. dollars. Data from Kantar Media Denmark.

    http://www.tns-gallup.dk/

Ecuador

  • Measured media spending20172016% chg
    Unilever21.317.918.7
    Genomma Lab14.815.7-6.0
    Otecel11.79.917.6
    Quala9.28.75.0
    Conecel8.46.726.4
    Tia8.35.843.5
    Coca-Cola Co.6.94.651.8
    La Fabril5.06.7-25.7
    Corp. Nac. de Telecomunicaciones4.94.314.0
    AT&T4.84.71.0

    Figures are in millions of U.S. dollars, discounted by Ad Age. Data from Ibope Media Ecuador.

    http://www.ibope.com.br

Egypt

  • Measured media spending20172016% chg
    National Bank of Egypt2.98.5-65.8
    Banque Misr2.46.6-64.3
    Housing and Development0.71.6-53.7
    57357 Hospital0.74.3-84.0
    Amer Group0.63.3-80.4
    Commercial International Bank (CIB)0.61.4-61.1
    United Bank0.40.9-54.9
    PSA Group (Peugeot, Citroen, Opel, Vauxhall)0.41.1-63.3
    Nissan Motor Co.0.40.7-49.2
    Faisal Islamic Bank of Egypt0.40.9-61.2

    Figures are in millions of U.S. dollars. Data from Pan Arab Research Center.

    http://www.arabresearch.com

Estonia

  • Measured media spending20172016% chg
    Coop Eesti Keskuhistu2.22.012.2
    Selver2.01.625.2
    Maxima1.81.429.9
    Telia Co.1.71.62.5
    Royal Ahold1.51.7-12.7
    RB (Reckitt Benckiser Group)1.11.3-15.1
    Procter & Gamble Co.1.11.2-8.2
    Tallink Grupp1.10.925.9
    Ferrero1.00.737.6
    Jysk Linnen'N Furniture0.90.651.8

    Figures are estimated net ad spending in millions of U.S. dollars. Data from Kantar Media Estonia/TNS Emor.

    http://www.emor.ee

Ethiopia

  • Largest advertisers
    Coca-Cola Co.
    Heineken
    Diageo
    Moha Soft Drink Factory
    Dashen Beer
    Unilever
    Habesha Beer
    Buna Bank
    Ayat Realestate
    National Lottery

    Ranking based on TV spending only. Data from Zeleman Communications, Advertising and Production.

    http://www.zeleman.com

Finland

  • Measured media spending20172016% chg
    Veikkaus22.723.4-2.8
    Valio9.510.9-12.8
    Volkswagen9.410.2-7.4
    Unilever7.99.9-20.2
    GlaxoSmithKline7.17.6-6.2
    Procter & Gamble Co.7.17.3-2.1
    Elisa7.07.7-8.5
    Ford Motor Co.6.26.3-1.6
    DNA Finland6.16.2-1.9
    Toyota Motor Corp.6.05.84.6

    Figures are in millions of U.S. dollars. Data from TNS Gallup Finland/Kantar Media.

    http://www.tns-gallup.fi

France

  • Measured media spending20172016% chg
    PSA Group (Peugeot, Citroen, Opel, Vauxhall)638.5604.35.7
    Renault386.5390.1-0.9
    Schwarz Gruppe376.4303.923.9
    LVMH Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton357.5334.86.8
    L'Oreal353.8405.0-12.6
    Association Familiale Mulliez339.4397.1-14.5
    Volkswagen335.4318.25.4
    Procter & Gamble Co.324.4289.811.9
    Mousquetaires Groupe312.3235.132.8
    Carrefour308.1295.94.1

    Figures are in millions of U.S. dollars, discounted by AA. Data from Kantar Media France.

    http://www.kantarmedia.fr/

Georgia

  • Measured media spending20172016% chg
    Procter & Gamble Co.30.018.264.5
    Coca-Cola Co.14.113.54.0
    Magti GSM12.66.1105.6
    Bank of Georgia (Saqartvelos)10.512.5-16.4
    Nestle8.48.22.6
    Georgian Beer Co. Zedazeni8.06.032.2
    VimpelCom7.37.8-7.0
    Global Beer Georgia6.1NANA
    Ferrero6.03.762.2
    Berlin-Chemie5.95.83.0

    Figures are in millions of U.S. dollars. Data from TV MR GE, licensee of AGB Nielsen Media.

    http://www.agbnielsen.net

Germany

  • Measured media spending20172016% chg
    Procter & Gamble Co.1,145.1969.518.1
    Volkswagen800.0684.816.8
    Intermediaere773.3856.3-9.7
    Schwarz Gruppe613.6434.841.1
    Ferrero497.9464.87.1
    L'Oreal487.8500.4-2.5
    Deutsche Telekom (T-Mobile US)432.7305.541.7
    Maxingvest (Beiersdorf)390.6409.9-4.7
    Rewe Group357.8360.1-0.7
    Ceconomy (was part of Metro Group)342.7350.9-2.3

    Figures are in millions of U.S. dollars. Data from Nielsen.

    https://www.nielsen.com/us/en/solutions/capabilities/ad-intel.html

Ghana

  • Measured media spending20172016% chg
    MTN Group5.25.4-2.4
    Vodafone Group4.25.6-26.0
    Promasidor3.02.137.5
    Nestle2.61.939.3
    Bharti Airtel2.46.0-59.6
    Kasapreko Co.2.43.2-24.5
    Angel Group of Cos.2.30.7232.3
    Naspers2.11.726.2
    Diageo2.02.0-2.4
    Givers Scientific Herbal Clinic1.81.517.3

    Figures are in millions of U.S. dollars. Data from Ipsos.

    http://www.ipsos.com

Greece

  • Measured media spending20172016% chg
    OTE Group24.228.1-13.6
    Procter & Gamble Co.20.617.716.2
    Opap15.415.40.2
    AB Basilopoulos10.410.21.7
    Unilever9.99.09.7
    Mondelez International9.19.3-2.1
    3E/CCI8.514.2-40.4
    RB (Reckitt Benckiser Group)8.48.7-3.0
    Optimo/Metro8.19.0-10.5
    L'Oreal7.88.3-6.1

    Figures are in millions of U.S. dollars. Data from Media Services and AGB Nielsen Media Research via BBDO Greece.

    http://www.bbdoathens.gr

Guatemala

  • Measured media spending20172016% chg
    Genomma Lab8.97.518.3
    PepsiCo6.56.16.3
    Abbott Laboratories3.74.4-17.5
    Anheuser-Busch InBev3.55.7-38.4
    Millicom International Cellular3.32.250.6
    Unilever3.23.9-19.6
    Bayer2.92.515.3
    Walmart2.92.69.2
    America Movil2.82.75.7
    Grupo G&T Continent2.42.5-2.2

    Figures are in millions of U.S. dollars, discounted by AA. Media companies are excluded. Data from MediaGuru Guatemala.

    http://www.ibope.com.br

Hong Kong

  • Measured media spending20172016% chg
    Hutchison Whampoa74.565.813.3
    Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region71.077.8-8.7
    Expedia Group65.546.241.7
    GlaxoSmithKline62.651.621.2
    Procter & Gamble Co.60.259.51.2
    Jardine Strategic Holdings58.962.9-6.4
    RB (Reckitt Benckiser Group)43.939.810.4
    Danone39.743.0-7.8
    Kao Corp.31.523.832.4
    McDonald's Corp.30.226.713.2

    Figures are in millions of U.S. dollars, discounted by AA. Data from admanGo (Nielsen).

    https://www.nielsen.com/us/en/solutions/capabilities/ad-intel.html

India

  • Largest TV advertisers
    Unilever
    RB (Reckitt Benckiser Group)
    Patanjali Ayurved
    Mondelez International
    Brooke Bond Lipton
    Procter & Gamble Co.
    Colgate-Palmolive Co.
    ITC
    Videocon Industries
    GlaxoSmithKline

    Ranking from TAM India and shows top 10 TV advertisers based on share of TV spending.

    http://www.tamindia.com

Indonesia

  • Measured media spending20172016% chg
    Unilever774.1658.117.6
    Indofood Indonesia127.7117.48.7
    Procter & Gamble Co.122.8102.719.6
    RB (Reckitt Benckiser Group)117.687.234.8
    Wingsfood106.784.825.8
    Mayora101.692.79.6
    NET. (News and Entertainment Television)98.867.346.9
    Nestle93.291.71.6
    TVOne86.751.767.8
    Metro TV77.573.94.9

    Figures are in millions of U.S. dollars, discounted by AA. Data from Nielsen.

    https://www.nielsen.com/us/en/solutions/capabilities/ad-intel.html

Ireland

  • Measured media spending20172016% chg
    Sky25.927.3-5.1
    Schwarz Gruppe25.222.611.6
    Procter & Gamble Co.24.321.512.8
    Diageo19.918.110.1
    Tesco17.316.54.7
    Aldi17.117.5-2.1
    MCD Productions15.112.619.7
    Eircom15.012.520.6
    Supervalu14.713.310.9
    Volkswagen13.612.58.8

    Figures are estimated net spending and are in millions of U.S. dollars. Data from Nielsen.

    https://www.nielsen.com/us/en/solutions/capabilities/ad-intel.html

Israel

  • Measured media spending20172016% chg
    Strauss Group35.023.250.7
    Bezeq Group26.825.26.6
    Coca-Cola Co.22.323.2-3.7
    Super Pharm22.324.0-6.8
    Nestle18.816.811.9
    Electra18.816.216.4
    Bank Hapoalim Group18.817.57.5
    Idi - Insurance Co.18.015.516.0
    Procter & Gamble Co.18.011.064.7
    Bney Moshe Carasso (Renault, Nissan & Infinity)14.414.6-1.1

    Figures are in millions of U.S. dollars. Coca-Cola Co. is via CBC Group. Nestle is Osem Group. Data from Ifat.

    http://www.ifat.com/

Italy

  • Measured media spending20172016% chg
    Procter & Gamble Co.969.3739.031.2
    Fiat Chrysler Automobiles716.0663.37.9
    Volkswagen708.3784.8-9.7
    Barilla671.6555.920.8
    Intermediari (@)599.8332.180.6
    PSA Group (Peugeot, Citroen, Opel, Vauxhall)590.9589.00.3
    Sky517.3638.8-19.0
    Vodafone Group501.8503.9-0.4
    Ferrero500.7391.627.9
    Poltronesofa426.3299.942.2

    Figures are in millions of U.S. dollars, discounted by AA. Excludes RCS Media Data from Nielsen.

    https://www.nielsen.com/us/en/solutions/capabilities/ad-intel.html

Ivory Coast

  • Measured media spending20172016% chg
    Orange2.42.28.5
    Groupe Carre D'Or1.7NANA
    MTN Group1.61.229.1
    Solibra1.40.3307.0
    Sarci1.00.672.5
    Unilever0.90.571.3
    Etisalat0.60.7-6.3
    Sania0.30.3-7.0
    Nestle0.30.6-45.8
    Nutrifood Industry0.3NANA

    Figures are in millions of U.S. dollars. Data from AG Partners (via Publicis Africa Group).

    http://www.ag-partners.com

Japan

  • Measured media spending20172016% chg
    Suntory Holdings (Beam Suntory)1,947.31,981.4-1.7
    Aeon Co.1,525.71,646.8-7.4
    Toyota Motor Corp.1,157.81,052.310.0
    Sony Corp.1,129.71,059.16.7
    Rakuten1,079.8894.520.7
    Recruit Holdings Co.888.4800.311.0
    Kao Corp.836.41,102.3-24.1
    Seven & i Holdings797.51,024.9-22.2
    NTT Corp.697.9739.4-5.6
    Coca-Cola Co.555.6544.72.0

    Figures are in millions of U.S. dollars. Figures include Ad Age DataCenter estimates, data from public documents, Interpublic Group of Cos.' McCann Tokyo & UM Japan, and Nikkei Advertising Research Institute.

    http://www.mccannwg.co.jp/

Jordan

  • Measured media spending20172016% chg
    Zain Telecom3.95.9-33.4
    Arab Bank1.31.023.4
    Samsung Electronics Co.1.21.5-20.7
    PepsiCo0.91.9-52.8
    Colgate-Palmolive Co.0.80.2322.6
    Bank Al Etihad0.80.581.1
    Fine0.70.1734.8
    Unilever0.60.7-12.0
    Iffco Group0.60.3100.3
    Ford Motor Co.0.50.7-18.5

    Figures are in millions of U.S. dollars. Data from Pan Arab Research Center.

    http://www.arabresearch.com

Kazakhstan

  • Measured media spending20172016% chg
    Unilever8.56.530.6
    Procter & Gamble Co.8.15.937.3
    Nestle6.37.0-10.1
    Mars Inc.5.14.94.1
    RG Brands4.42.1103.1
    Coca-Cola Co.4.02.191.2
    Foodmaster3.94.6-14.2
    RB (Reckitt Benckiser Group)3.73.022.7
    Altel3.01.0199.8
    PepsiCo2.71.3101.3

    Figures are in millions of U.S. dollars. Data from TNS Gallup Media Asia (Kazakhstan)/Kantar Media.

    http://www.tns-global.kz

Kenya

  • Measured media spending20172016% chg
    Coca-Cola Co.78.876.52.9
    Safaricom78.555.142.3
    Shabiki.Com61.5NANA
    Diageo40.619.7106.6
    Kenya Lotto36.341.2-11.9
    Sportpesa30.823.431.6
    Naspers24.79.4162.9
    Tatua 324.4NANA
    Pwani Oil23.913.478.7
    Unilever17.213.428.3

    Figures are in millions of U.S. dollars. Excludes spending by the Kenyan government. Data from Ipsos.

    http://www.ipsos.com

Kuwait

  • Measured media spending20172016% chg
    RB (Reckitt Benckiser Group)7.015.4-54.8
    Toyota Motor Corp.6.68.0-18.3
    Unilever6.21.5325.7
    McDonald's Corp.4.37.7-44.5
    Procter & Gamble Co.4.03.223.8
    Yum Brands3.93.028.8
    General Motors Co.3.44.6-26.5
    Al Rai Saudi Arabia2.76.6-59.0
    Zain Telecom2.65.4-51.1
    Ford Motor Co.2.64.3-39.6

    Figures are in millions of U.S. dollars. Saudi Telecom Co. includes Viva Tel. Data from Pan Arab Research Center.

    http://www.arabresearch.com

Latvia

  • Measured media spending20172016% chg
    Royal Ahold11.99.328.0
    Maxima9.06.832.1
    Tele27.15.920.9
    Procter & Gamble Co.6.95.720.9
    RB (Reckitt Benckiser Group)6.35.515.3
    Ferrero5.33.169.0
    220.lv4.63.820.0
    Bite4.45.3-17.4
    4Finance4.33.523.5
    Lattelecom4.12.753.4

    Figures are in millions of U.S. dollars. Data from Kantar Media Latvia.

    http://www.tns.lv

Lebanon

  • Measured media spending20172016% chg
    Procter & Gamble Co.22.577.8-71.1
    Bankmed16.815.58.0
    Blom Bank13.39.147.1
    Banque Audi12.812.8-0.1
    Byblos Bank11.613.7-15.3
    Fransa Bank11.68.635.3
    IBL Bank9.824.1-59.3
    Banque Libano-Francaise9.315.2-38.9
    Nestle7.726.8-71.1
    Credit Bank5.06.5-23.2

    Figures are in millions of U.S. dollars. Data from Pan Arab Research Center.

    http://www.arabresearch.com

Lithuania

  • Measured media spending20172016% chg
    Tele249.640.422.8
    Maxima35.122.953.4
    Schwarz Gruppe34.720.470.4
    Telia Co.31.942.0-24.2
    Studio Moderna24.020.815.5
    RB (Reckitt Benckiser Group)23.818.131.6
    Palink22.918.822.0
    Procter & Gamble Co.22.723.5-3.6
    Olifja20.617.915.1
    Ferrero17.512.144.5

    Figures are in millions of U.S. dollars. Data from Kantar Media Lithuania.

    http://www.tns.lt

Luxembourg

  • Measured media spending20172016% chg
    Cactus4.44.7-7.0
    Groupe Saint-Paul3.95.0-23.0
    Post Luxembourg3.93.80.8
    PSA Group (Peugeot, Citroen, Opel, Vauxhall)2.43.2-24.5
    Tango Service2.31.921.5
    Editpress Luxembourg2.22.4-5.5
    Banque et Caisse d'Epargne de L'Etat2.12.1-2.1
    Kichechef Sarl2.12.5-18.1
    Coca-Cola Co.1.61.57.4
    Autodistribution Losch Sarl (Volkswagen)1.62.3-30.2

    Figures are in millions of U.S. dollars. Data from Nielsen.

    https://www.nielsen.com/us/en/solutions/capabilities/ad-intel.html

Macedonia

  • Measured media spending20172016% chg
    Coca-Cola Co.30.020.248.1
    Procter & Gamble Co.25.822.415.4
    Heineken24.016.743.6
    Telekom Austria Group15.910.946.0
    Chipita13.315.8-15.7
    Henkel11.710.412.2
    Droga Kolinska10.95.985.9
    Makedonski Telekom9.99.54.3
    Rio Skopje9.58.413.5
    Prilepska Pivarnica8.87.419.6

    Figures are in millions of U.S. dollars. Excludes government spending. The country is now known as the Republic of North Macedonia. Data from Nielsen.

    http://www.agbnielsen.net

Malaysia

  • Measured media spending20172016% chg
    Nestle49.965.5-23.9
    Unilever32.012.1165.3
    Yum Brands24.229.5-17.9
    Procter & Gamble Co.23.820.615.3
    Maxingvest (Beiersdorf)22.724.3-6.5
    RB (Reckitt Benckiser Group)21.623.1-6.3
    Expedia Group20.231.2-35.3
    Courts Mammoth15.517.1-9.1
    Samsung Electronics Co.15.016.9-11.4
    NBOS (National Blue Ocean Strategies)14.73.2356.5

    Figures are in millions of U.S. dollars. Figures exclude government advertising. Data from Nielsen.

    https://www.nielsen.com/us/en/solutions/capabilities/ad-intel.html

Mauritius

  • Measured media spending20172016% chg
    Mauritius Telecom (My.t)2.52.6-6.5
    Courts Mammouth1.41.051.2
    Emtel1.41.5-9.9
    Coca-Cola Co.1.20.4184.5
    MCB1.11.2-8.7
    Winner's0.90.92.8
    Galaxy0.90.568.5
    Parabole Maurice0.80.715.0
    Samsung Electronics Co.0.80.479.0
    Super U0.70.8-2.9

    http://www.ag-partners.com

Mexico

  • Largest advertisers
    Walmart
    Genomma Lab
    Procter & Gamble Co.
    Chedraui
    Liverpool
    Soriana
    Comercial Mexicana
    Expedia Group
    Sears Holdings Corp.
    Organizacion Bimbo

    Based on total ad insertions. Data from Nielsen Ibope.

    https://www.nielsenibope.com.mx/

Moldova

  • Measured media spending20172016% chg
    Orange7.05.820.6
    Procter & Gamble Co.6.76.19.9
    Orimi Trade6.43.964.2
    Moldtelecom6.35.417.4
    Nestle5.87.8-25.5
    Menarini Group5.34.323.7
    Unilever5.25.3-1.4
    Henkel4.22.480.0
    RB (Reckitt Benckiser Group)4.13.95.1
    Novartis2.93.2-10.2

    Figures are in millions of U.S. dollars. Data from AGB Nielsen Media Research.

    http://www.agb.md

Morocco

  • Measured media spending20172016% chg
    Etisalat68.669.9-1.8
    Wana55.647.217.8
    Medi Telecom34.845.9-24.2
    Procter & Gamble Co.16.915.86.6
    Attijariwafa Bank12.2NANA
    La Marocaine des Jeux et des Sports10.911.3-3.4
    Societe Mediterraneenne Pour L'Industrie Automobile8.7NANA
    Unilever8.6NANA
    Coca-Cola Co.8.2NANA
    Fondation Mohammed V Pour La Solidarite8.1NANA

    Figures are in millions of U.S. dollars. Etisalat includes Maroc Telecom. Data from Sigma Conseil.

    http://www.sigma.tn/Fr/accueil_46_9

Mozambique

  • Measured media spending20172016% chg
    Vodafone Group3.73.025.3
    Coca-Cola Co.3.32.155.4
    Governo de Mocambique1.50.6145.6
    Naspers1.20.5135.9
    Tropigalia1.20.698.6
    Unilever1.10.3272.6
    Zap1.00.588.8
    Movitel0.80.1944.6
    BCI0.50.512.7
    Millennium Bim0.50.2185.9

    Figures are in millions of U.S. dollars. Data from Ipsos.

    http://www.ipsos.com

Nepal

  • Measured media spending20172016% chg
    Telia Co.2.72.59.1
    Jagadamba Group2.71.940.4
    Coca-Cola Co.2.71.577.1
    Unilever2.62.219.2
    Jawalakhel Group of Industries1.9NANA
    Vishal Group1.61.233.6
    Nepal Doorsanchar Co.1.50.892.5
    Chaudhary Group1.21.17.2
    Jyoti Group1.21.17.1
    Telecell1.11.4-20.5

    Figures are in millions of U.S. dollars. Data from Thompson Nepal (JWT).

    https://www.jwt.com/nepal

Netherlands

  • Measured media spending20172016% chg
    Unilever116.1129.7-10.4
    Procter & Gamble Co.109.8105.64.0
    Hutchison Whampoa69.264.77.0
    Royal Ahold68.360.912.2
    Jumbo Supermarkten Veghel68.154.924.1
    Vodafone Group65.361.56.2
    PSA Group (Peugeot, Citroen, Opel, Vauxhall)63.660.55.1
    Schwarz Gruppe61.955.511.4
    Renault61.259.13.4
    Deutsche Telekom (T-Mobile US)60.953.713.5

    Figures are in millions of U.S. dollars, discounted by AA. Data from Nielsen.

    https://www.nielsen.com/us/en/solutions/capabilities/ad-intel.html

New Zealand

  • Measured media spending20172016% chg
    Foodstuffs56.651.79.6
    Harvey Norman53.350.94.6
    RB (Reckitt Benckiser Group)43.636.320.1
    The Warehouse39.342.6-7.7
    Progressive Enterprises35.635.21.2
    Vodafone Group34.526.430.3
    Spark28.228.8-2.1
    New Zealand Lotteries Commission26.922.419.8
    Farmers Trading Co.26.621.126.4
    Unilever25.420.921.2

    Figures are in millions of U.S. dollars. Data from Nielsen.

    https://www.nielsen.com/us/en/solutions/capabilities/ad-intel.html

Nigeria

  • Measured media spending20172016% chg
    MTN Group9.19.7-6.2
    Bharti Airtel4.96.7-27.6
    Globacom4.44.6-4.3
    Naspers4.31.3239.7
    Mondelez International3.43.26.3
    De United Foods Industries3.33.5-6.3
    9Mobile3.25.6-42.6
    Chi Nigeria2.93.9-25.8
    StarTimes2.83.6-21.7
    Nigerian Breweries2.64.9-45.9

    Figures are in millions of U.S. dollars, discounted by Ad Age. Data include outdoor only. Data from AG Partners (via Publicis Africa Group).

    http://www.ag-partners.com

Norway

  • Measured media spending20172016% chg
    NorgesGruppen149.8149.10.4
    Telia Co.78.498.3-20.3
    Orkla59.654.010.2
    Telenor59.057.23.2
    Tine54.252.63.1
    Coop Extra47.134.536.5
    Reitan Group45.347.9-5.5
    Dixons Carphone42.241.12.8
    Moller Group31.324.527.8
    Kindred Group30.0NANA

    Figures are in millions of U.S. dollars. Data from Nielsen.

    https://www.nielsen.com/us/en/solutions/capabilities/ad-intel.html

Oman

  • Measured media spending20172016% chg
    Bank Muscat3.13.5-11.6
    Omantel1.62.9-43.7
    Toyota Motor Corp.1.52.3-33.7
    McDonald's Corp.1.52.0-24.4
    Ooredoo1.41.40.1
    Nissan Motor Co.0.81.3-42.9
    Oman LNG (Liquefied Natural Gas)0.80.559.8
    Ford Motor Co.0.62.0-69.5
    Hyundai Motor Co.0.60.8-22.5
    Lulu Hypermarket0.62.1-71.9

    Figures are in millions of U.S. dollars. Government spending is excluded. Data from Pan Arab Research Center.

    http://www.arabresearch.com

Pan Arab

  • Measured media spending20172016% chg
    Unilever362.8474.0-23.5
    Procter & Gamble Co.316.9416.1-23.8
    57357 Hospital227.2222.52.2
    RB (Reckitt Benckiser Group)221.7244.3-9.3
    Vodafone Group155.8180.8-13.8
    Etisalat93.0151.2-38.5
    Shahid.net90.895.0-4.4
    Dabur79.7171.8-53.6
    Mondelez International77.0145.8-47.2
    Dar Al Orman72.835.1107.3

    Figures are in millions of U.S. dollars. List shows marketers in transnational, regional media. Data from Pan Arab Research Center.

    http://www.arabresearch.com

Panama

  • Measured media spending20172016% chg
    Tova17.824.1-26.4
    Genomma Lab17.121.1-19.1
    Shalom14.26.0137.0
    Cable & Wireless11.916.6-28.5
    Cable Onda11.510.87.0
    Franquicias Pmenas10.97.252.0
    Grupo Levy9.69.24.1
    America Movil9.114.8-38.4
    Farmacias Arrocha9.113.1-31.0
    Cosenco9.01.9367.6

    Figures are in millions of U.S. dollars. Data from Ibope Central America.

    http://www.ibope.com.br

Paraguay

  • Measured media spending20172016% chg
    Millicom International Cellular4.55.0-9.2
    Genomma Lab3.62.642.1
    Anheuser-Busch InBev3.53.28.4
    Unilever3.01.962.5
    America Movil2.81.4105.1
    Interacel2.62.8-7.8
    SC Johnson2.60.9179.0
    Coca-Cola Co.2.32.7-14.1
    Nucleo2.12.7-21.7
    Talisman2.12.9-29.0

    Figures are in millions of U.S. dollars, discounted by AA. Government spending is excluded. Data from Ibope Paraguay.

    http://www.ibope.com.br

Peru

  • Measured media spending20172016% chg
    Procter & Gamble Co.29.935.2-15.1
    Genomma Lab24.927.1-8.1
    Alicorp19.323.9-19.2
    Telefonica15.414.47.1
    Quality Products13.218.8-29.5
    Grupo Gloria11.75.996.5
    Falabella11.514.3-19.7
    TL Novelas11.312.7-11.1
    America Movil10.818.4-41.3
    Entel PCS Telecomunicaciones10.011.9-16.1

    Figures are in millions of U.S. dollars, discounted by AA. Figures exclude TV stations. Data from Ibope Media Peru.

    http://www.ibope.pe/peru/index.html

Philippines

  • Measured media spending20172016% chg
    Unilever339.1287.018.1
    Procter & Gamble Co.251.3180.938.9
    Nestle206.2156.431.8
    ACS Manufacturing Corp.83.853.357.1
    United Laboratories65.253.921.0
    Pfizer63.548.331.5
    Colgate-Palmolive Co.53.335.749.2
    Mondelez International28.717.563.8
    Universal Robina Corp.28.426.66.7
    Selecta Walls26.827.8-3.8

    Figures are in millions of U.S. dollars, discounted by AA. Excludes media companies. Data from Nielsen.

    https://www.nielsen.com/us/en/solutions/capabilities/ad-intel.html

Poland

  • Measured media spending20172016% chg
    Aflofarm Farmacja Polska536.3467.914.6
    Kino Wiat242.0180.334.2
    Schwarz Gruppe239.9283.9-15.5
    Volkswagen148.8119.424.6
    Terg148.4114.929.1
    Ferrero135.4113.818.9
    Metro Group135.4130.33.9
    Polkomtel130.485.752.2
    Orange127.6162.1-21.3
    Nestle120.2104.714.8

    Figures are in millions of U.S. dollars. Data from Kantar Media Poland.

    http://www.kantar-media.pl/

Portugal

  • Measured media spending20172016% chg
    Unilever65.753.522.7
    Portugal Telecom46.537.623.6
    NOS Comunicacoes38.031.620.2
    RB (Reckitt Benckiser Group)36.531.416.1
    Procter & Gamble Co.36.125.143.6
    Modelo Continente Hipermercados34.336.6-6.0
    European Home Shopping33.530.111.5
    Vodafone Group29.228.62.1
    Viva Melhor Sempre-Comercio.Internacional29.226.111.6
    PSA Group (Peugeot, Citroen, Opel, Vauxhall)26.120.626.3

    Figures are in millions of U.S. dollars, discounted by AA. Data from MediaMonitor, part of Kantar Media Network.

    http://www.mediamonitor.pt

Puerto Rico

  • Measured media spending20172016% chg
    AT&T0.20.3-24.4
    Liberty Cablevision0.10.1-31.1
    Genomma Lab0.00.0-12.7
    Deutsche Telekom (T-Mobile US)0.00.0-17.7
    America Movil0.00.0-22.5
    Yum Brands0.00.0-28.7
    Procter & Gamble Co.0.00.0-37.6
    Fiat Chrysler Automobiles0.00.01.7
    Pfizer0.00.0-20.5
    Toyota Motor Corp.0.00.0-7.5

    Figures are in millions of U.S. dollars. Data from Nielsen Media. Government spending is excluded. Data from Nielsen.

    https://www.nielsen.com/us/en/solutions/capabilities/ad-intel.html

Qatar

  • Measured media spending20172016% chg
    Ooredoo7.39.1-19.9
    National Bank of Qatar5.15.2-2.7
    Lulu Hypermarket2.25.6-60.6
    Vodafone Group2.23.2-33.4
    Qatar Airways1.92.7-30.5
    Toyota Motor Corp.1.72.5-30.3
    Daimler1.41.9-28.7
    Nissan Motor Co.1.44.0-65.9
    BMW Group1.33.1-59.1
    Armed Forces1.21.3-5.7

    Figures are in millions of U.S. dollars. Data from Pan Arab Research Center.

    http://www.arabresearch.com

Romania

  • Measured media spending20172016% chg
    Zdrovit Romania99.643.2130.6
    Procter & Gamble Co.80.781.8-1.4
    RB (Reckitt Benckiser Group)44.849.9-10.3
    Unilever34.840.4-13.8
    GlaxoSmithKline32.321.153.1
    Ferrero29.923.427.4
    Orange22.924.5-6.7
    Sanofi22.617.827.0
    Ficosota Sintez22.419.713.8
    Biofarm21.417.025.9

    Figures are in millions of U.S. dollars, discounted by AA. Data from Media Trust Romania.

    http://www.mediatrust.ro/

Russia

  • Measured media spending20172016% chg
    Nestle38.730.427.6
    PepsiCo37.626.940.1
    Procter & Gamble Co.34.931.012.6
    OTCPharm33.328.516.9
    Mars Inc.24.424.5-0.3
    RB (Reckitt Benckiser Group)23.626.2-9.9
    L'Oreal23.420.812.5
    Unilever22.722.51.1
    GlaxoSmithKline22.619.814.5
    Sistema21.718.020.8

    Figures are in millions of U.S. dollars, discounted by AA. Data from Kantar Media Russia.

    http://www.tns-global.ru

Saudi Arabia

  • Measured media spending20172016% chg
    Toyota Motor Corp.6.312.8-50.6
    Expedia Group6.04.921.9
    Al Rajhi5.86.1-5.9
    Yum Brands4.93.158.7
    Al Marai4.812.2-60.5
    General Motors Co.4.814.6-67.5
    Ford Motor Co.4.717.7-73.2
    Etisalat4.630.0-84.7
    Huawei Technologies4.56.5-30.3
    Compagnie Financiere Richemont4.54.18.9

    Figures are in millions of U.S. dollars. Data from Pan Arab Research Center.

    http://www.arabresearch.com

Senegal

  • Measured media spending20172016% chg
    Trade Africa4.3NANA
    Sonatel4.02.840.5
    Patisen2.22.17.3
    Joni Joni2.22.20.0
    Senico1.40.877.5
    Sentel1.02.0-48.7
    Expresso Senegal1.00.653.2
    Satrec0.9NANA
    Vivendi (Groupe Canal+ Afrique)0.8NANA
    HD Industries0.7NANA

    Figures are in millions of U.S. dollars. Data from AG Partners (via Publicis Africa Group).

    http://www.ag-partners.com

Serbia

  • Measured media spending20172016% chg
    Procter & Gamble Co.47.339.619.3
    Coca-Cola Co.46.135.829.0
    Agrokor44.053.6-17.9
    Telekom Austria Group38.432.518.0
    Moji Brendovi36.632.911.3
    Delhaize Group36.028.028.4
    Telekom Srbija34.125.036.3
    Proton System33.772.1-53.2
    L'Oreal33.124.734.1
    Telenor29.430.7-4.3

    Figures are in millions of U.S. dollars. Data from Nielsen.

    http://www.agbnielsen.net

Singapore

  • Measured media spending20172016% chg
    Mediacorp148.2140.75.3
    Expedia Group25.328.5-11.1
    NTUC22.526.6-15.2
    Singapore Press Holdings22.334.0-34.4
    Samsung Electronics Co.15.97.7106.5
    RB (Reckitt Benckiser Group)11.810.512.7
    Courts11.513.5-14.8
    Pertama Merchandising10.312.2-15.8
    Health Promotion Board10.07.239.5
    Yum Brands9.29.6-4.2

    Figures are in millions of U.S. dollars. Data from Nielsen.

    https://www.nielsen.com/us/en/solutions/capabilities/ad-intel.html

Slovak Republic

  • Measured media spending20172016% chg
    Schwarz Gruppe83.760.239.0
    Orange53.149.37.7
    Deutsche Telekom (T-Mobile US)46.350.8-8.9
    Prima Banka Slovensko35.522.458.1
    Alza35.224.842.4
    Slovenska Sporitelna31.422.738.4
    Telefonica30.325.021.3
    Tesco29.925.716.2
    Maxingvest (Beiersdorf)29.623.526.0
    Procter & Gamble Co.27.620.236.6

    Figures are in millions of U.S. dollars. Data from Kantar Media Slovak Republic.

    http://www.tns-global.sk

Slovenia

  • Measured media spending20172016% chg
    Ferrero64.331.6103.3
    Agrokor52.955.2-4.2
    Telekom Slovenije52.353.3-1.7
    Schwarz Gruppe45.134.331.3
    Spar44.337.717.3
    Procter & Gamble Co.43.236.019.8
    Tus Group37.028.729.0
    Telemach29.019.449.7
    Telekom Austria Group27.233.3-18.2
    Hofer Trgovina24.913.979.5

    Figures are in millions of U.S. dollars. Telekom Austria includes Si.mobil. Data from Mediana.

    http://www.mediana.si

South Africa

  • Measured media spending20172016% chg
    Naspers1,081.71,641.5-34.1
    SABC162.3317.0-48.8
    E.tv157.7147.27.1
    Shoprite Holdings103.287.917.4
    Clientele Life85.877.310.9
    Unilever67.598.3-31.4
    Outsurance Insurance45.945.60.6
    Coca-Cola Co.45.035.526.8
    Vodafone Group42.641.52.7
    Anheuser-Busch InBev42.154.7-23.1

    Figures are in millions of U.S. dollars. Data from Nielsen.

    https://www.nielsen.com/us/en/solutions/capabilities/ad-intel.html

South Korea

  • Measured media spending20172016% chg
    LG Electronics448.7339.232.3
    Samsung Electronics Co.378.0349.18.3
    Hyundai Motor Co.261.9254.43.0
    Lotte Group214.9172.224.8
    Coca-Cola Co.152.5118.528.6
    Procter & Gamble Co.147.9143.43.1
    KT133.6140.1-4.7
    Korea Ginseng Corp.130.1100.329.7
    Dongsuh Food129.9118.49.7
    Expedia Group115.829.5292.5

    Figures are in millions of U.S. dollars. Hyundai and Lotte figures reflect combined spending for all brands with these names in South Korea. Data from Nielsen via GroupM.

    http://kr.en.nielsen.com/site/index.shtml

Spain

  • Measured media spending20172016% chg
    Volkswagen105.291.714.6
    El Corte Ingles86.084.41.9
    PSA Group (Peugeot, Citroen, Opel, Vauxhall)77.065.417.8
    Orange70.171.7-2.2
    Procter & Gamble Co.68.765.35.2
    Vodafone Group60.052.514.3
    L'Oreal56.562.7-9.8
    RB (Reckitt Benckiser Group)50.152.4-4.5
    Organizacion Nacional Ciegos Espana (Once)47.451.9-8.6
    Mutua Madrilena Automovilista46.933.042.3

    Figures are in millions of U.S. dollars, discounted by AA. Data from InfoAdex, part of Kantar Media Network.

    http://www.infoadex.es

Sri Lanka

  • Measured media spending20172016% chg
    Unilever80.364.724.0
    Ceylon Biscuits24.720.122.9
    Axiata Group22.021.80.6
    Nestle17.118.3-6.5
    Fonterra Brands13.221.1-37.7
    Hemas Marketing13.010.128.5
    National Lotteries Board12.510.717.4
    Abans12.112.2-0.2
    Singer Sri Lanka12.114.9-18.9
    Mobitel Lanka11.614.4-19.3

    Figures are in millions of U.S. dollars. Excludes political advertising. Data from Nielsen via GroupM's Mediacom.

    http://lk.nielsen.com/site/index.shtml

Sweden

  • Measured media spending20172016% chg
    Royal Ahold135.8142.1-4.4
    Volkswagen90.684.67.1
    Procter & Gamble Co.87.797.0-9.7
    Kooperativa Forbundet80.775.56.9
    Dixons Carphone67.768.5-1.2
    Mio64.848.334.1
    Arla Foods60.961.0-0.3
    Svenska Spel58.243.833.1
    Kindred Group53.646.216.0
    GlaxoSmithKline51.541.523.9

    Figures are in millions of U.S. dollars. Data from TNS Sifo/Kantar Media Sweden.

    http://www.tns-sifo.se

Switzerland

  • Measured media spending20172016% chg
    Migros292.2277.45.3
    Coop-Gruppe Genossenschaft210.1205.42.3
    Procter & Gamble Co.122.3110.111.1
    Ferrero82.573.712.0
    Volkswagen79.077.32.1
    Swisscom (Schweiz)75.462.420.8
    Nestle51.258.3-12.2
    Unilever43.063.3-32.1
    Aldi41.230.933.4
    Schwarz Gruppe40.636.710.8

    Figures are in millions of U.S. dollars. Data from Nielsen/Media Focus.

    https://www.nielsen.com/us/en/solutions/capabilities/ad-intel.html

Taiwan

  • Measured media spending20172016% chg
    Standard Food20.520.6-0.3
    Uni-President Enterprises Corp.18.117.44.0
    Kao Corp.16.920.5-17.4
    Suntory Holdings (Beam Suntory)16.514.513.4
    GlaxoSmithKline14.611.724.8
    Hotai Motor12.611.411.1
    McDonald's Corp.11.710.87.9
    Procter & Gamble Co.10.413.3-22.1
    Unilever10.210.6-4.6
    Expedia Group9.57.427.2

    Figures are in millions of U.S. dollars. Data from Nielsen via GroupM.

    https://www.nielsen.com/us/en/solutions/capabilities/ad-intel.html

Tanzania

  • Measured media spending20172016% chg
    Coca-Cola Co.11.19.714.8
    Millicom International Cellular6.87.1-3.8
    Vodafone Group6.07.9-23.7
    Bharti Airtel4.64.37.9
    Lotto3.7NANA
    Sport Pesa2.4NANA
    Star Media1.82.4-23.9
    Bakhresa Group of Cos.1.61.59.1
    PepsiCo1.21.19.9
    Mwananchi Communications1.20.3265.1

    Figures are in millions of U.S. dollars. Data from Ipsos.

    http://www.ipsos.com

Thailand

  • Measured media spending20172016% chg
    Unilever110.4127.7-13.6
    Toyota Motor Corp.62.773.2-14.4
    Procter & Gamble Co.58.151.912.0
    Isuzu Motors40.637.68.2
    Coca-Cola Co.39.942.4-6.0
    Wizard Solutions Co.37.847.8-20.9
    Maxingvest (Beiersdorf)37.745.0-16.4
    Beer Thai (1991) Co.34.124.936.6
    Advance Info Service33.253.0-37.3
    L'Oreal31.436.5-13.9

    Figures are in millions of U.S. dollars. Data from Nielsen.

    https://www.nielsen.com/us/en/solutions/capabilities/ad-intel.html

Togo

  • Largest advertisers
    Brasserie BB
    Togocom
    Moov Togo
    Vac (Vlisco)
    Canal+
    Samax Togo
    Saham Assurance
    Ecobank
    Ets Mawounyo
    Etat Togolais

    http://www.ag-partners.com

Tunisia

  • Measured media spending20172016% chg
    Ooredoo5.78.6-33.8
    Tunisie Telecom4.06.5-38.1
    Danone2.73.8-29.3
    Orange2.74.5-40.3
    Instance Superieure Independante pour les Elections2.40.9182.6
    Societe Magasin General1.71.238.3
    Condor1.21.4-14.1
    Saida Group Holding1.00.819.8
    Vatika0.8NANA
    Beverage Services Tunisia (BST)0.61.7-63.7

    Figures are in millions of U.S. dollars. Data from Sigma Conseil.

    http://www.sigma.tn/Fr/accueil_46_9

Turkey

  • Measured media spending20172016% chg
    Digiturk4.34.4-2.5
    Unilever0.71.0-28.4
    Procter & Gamble Co.0.50.6-15.2
    Turk Telekom0.50.8-38.0
    Koc Holding0.50.6-23.0
    Vodafone Group0.40.7-43.3
    DTV0.40.5-16.2
    Turkcell0.40.8-49.4
    Ulker0.40.6-34.5
    Casper0.40.313.4

    Figures are in millions of U.S. dollars, discounted by Ad Age. Data from Nielsen.

    https://www.nielsen.com/us/en/solutions/capabilities/ad-intel.html

U.K.

  • Measured media spending20172016% chg
    Sky (acquired by Comcast in 2018)268.7299.0-10.1
    Procter & Gamble Co.263.6282.7-6.8
    BT Group157.6187.9-16.1
    Unilever157.0146.86.9
    Amazon154.5164.3-6.0
    Tesco130.781.859.8
    Volkswagen126.6119.06.4
    McDonald's Corp.123.9116.46.4
    RB (Reckitt Benckiser Group)119.1148.5-19.8
    L'Oreal112.1144.0-22.2

    Figures are in millions of U.S. dollars. Data from Nielsen.

    https://www.nielsen.com/us/en/solutions/capabilities/ad-intel.html

U.S.

Uganda

  • Measured media spending20172016% chg
    Ministry of Health11.89.919.6
    MTN Group11.19.516.8
    Coca-Cola Co.10.69.611.0
    Bharti Airtel10.57.540.0
    Bidco Uganda5.63.943.1
    Africell5.54.911.5
    Naspers5.25.6-8.6
    Anheuser-Busch InBev5.03.638.9
    Movit Co.3.94.0-4.3
    Diageo3.41.979.2

    Figures are in millions of U.S. dollars. Data from Ipsos.

    http://www.ipsos.com

Ukraine

  • Measured media spending20172016% chg
    Nestle7.65.832.4
    Procter & Gamble Co.7.24.945.7
    Farmak JSC6.54.835.7
    L'Oreal5.33.935.9
    RB (Reckitt Benckiser Group)4.23.518.0
    Sanofi4.13.228.1
    VimpelCom4.12.943.5
    GlaxoSmithKline3.72.175.6
    Teva3.6NANA
    Novartis3.52.637.1

    Figures are in millions of U.S. dollars, discounted by AA. TIC is the data owner. TV panel operator - Nielsen, monitoring - Communication Alliance. Data is provided by TIC. Data of TOP 100 advertisers is calculated for direct advertising (excluding political advertising) of 2017. TA: individuals 4 years old and older. The data is presented by indicator: EqPrise. EqPrise - advertising cost according to the reached EqGRP%. Details on indicators, please, find in TV Panel glossary - http://tampanel.com.ua/en/about/glossary/ Data from Communication Alliance and ITK (Industrial Television Committee).

    http://itk.ua/

United Arab Emirates

  • Measured media spending20172016% chg
    Expedia Group17.58.6104.6
    DU Telecom14.159.2-76.2
    Etisalat14.020.9-33.1
    Americana11.812.9-8.7
    Carrefour10.712.3-13.5
    McDonald's Corp.9.313.7-32.4
    Al Dar Property8.26.624.9
    Lulu Hypermarket7.55.927.0
    Dubai Holding6.18.9-31.8
    Emirates NBD Bank5.75.8-1.8

    Figures are in millions of U.S. dollars. Data from Pan Arab Research Center.

    http://www.arabresearch.com

Uruguay

  • Measured media spending20172016% chg
    SC Johnson10.77.443.8
    Unilever10.48.029.4
    L'Oreal7.65.538.9
    El Pais5.55.6-1.2
    Fucac5.23.934.5
    Genomma Lab4.04.0-0.6
    Coca-Cola Co.4.04.3-7.5
    Makisur3.95.3-26.4
    Banca de Quinielas3.51.989.5
    Anheuser-Busch InBev3.32.438.2

    Figures are in millions of U.S. dollars, discounted by AA. Excludes political advertising. Data from Ibope Media Uruguay.

    http://www.ibope.com.br

Vietnam

  • Measured media spending20172016% chg
    Unilever147.3152.8-3.6
    Vinamilk Corp.88.076.215.5
    Procter & Gamble Co.45.553.2-14.6
    Samsung Electronics Co.29.124.717.9
    Suntory Pepsico Vietnam Beverage29.021.038.2
    Tan Hiep Phat Beverage Group28.331.2-9.3
    FrieslandCampina26.330.5-13.8
    Nestle22.521.07.0
    Abbott Laboratories20.613.651.7
    Masan Food Corp.17.911.358.9

    Figures are in millions of U.S. dollars. Discounted by Ad Age. Data from Kantar Media Vietnam.

    http://www.kantar.com

Zambia

  • Measured media spending20172016% chg
    Trade Kings10.06.260.7
    Topstar1.2NANA
    Zamtel1.10.5107.0
    Naspers0.90.721.7
    MTN Group0.80.712.4
    Bharti Airtel0.80.481.2
    Ministry of Health0.30.1161.4
    Shoprite0.30.4-21.0
    Barclays0.30.3-1.2
    Fresh View Hotel0.2NANA

    Figures are in millions of U.S. dollars. Data from Ipsos.

    http://www.ipsos.com

Media-measurement companies by country

Links to sources

ABOUT AD AGE WORLD'S LARGEST ADVERTISERS 2018

32nd annual global report, produced by Ad Age Datacenter.

A summary of the report appeared in Ad Age's Dec. 3, 2018, print edition. The complete Ad Age World's Largest Advertisers 2018, including top 100 ranking and Global Marketers database, is available online exclusively to Ad Age Datacenter subscribers at AdAge.com/globalmarketers2018. Online content includes:

-- Ad Age World's Largest Advertisers 2018 ranking: Ad Age's exclusive ranking of the 100 biggest spenders based on total worldwide advertising spending.

-- Ad Age World's Largest Advertisers 2018 database: Global Marketers database with profiles, ad spending, executives and key agencies for world's 100 biggest spenders.

-- Top marketers by country: Rankings based on measured-media spending.

Methodology for World's Largest Advertisers: Spending for Ad Age World's Largest Advertisers from Ad Age Datacenter estimates and company disclosures. Total worldwide advertising spending encompasses advertising, marketing services (including promotion and direct marketing) and digital marketing (including social media). Numbers rounded. Ad Age translated currencies to U.S. dollars at average exchange rates.

Methodology for top marketers by country and regional ad spending by marketer: Spending calculated by Ad Age Datacenter using measured-media data contributed by media tracking services covering 100 countries and markets. Primary sources of data by country include Kantar Media; Nielsen; Ibope (Latin America); AGB Nielsen Media Research; Pan Arab Research Center (Pan Arab region); Ipsos (Africa); Sigma Conseil (North Africa and Western Africa) and Ifat (Israel). (See each country or the source links tab for links.) In some cases, monitoring services are licensees or partners of Nielsen or Kantar. Other independent companies also supplied data. Interpublic Group of Cos.' McCann and IPG Mediabrands and WPP's JWT and GroupM contributed significantly to the report.

To determine the top advertisers in each country, Ad Age Datacenter started with measured-media listings from monitoring services that ranged from as few as five advertisers in smaller countries to as many as 500 advertisers in larger countries. Ad Age Datacenter aggregated spending by parent company. For example, T-Mobile spending in the U.S. is attributed to Deutsche Telekom.

Most measured-media lists per country were by gross rate-card ad rates. Ad Age Datacenter adjusted some markets' gross media expenditures to reflect a market's global media volume among all countries. Ad Age translated currencies to U.S. dollars at average exchange rates.

Related content: Ad Age Leading National Advertisers 2018, which ranks marketers by total U.S. spending; and Marketer Trees 2018, a database of the 100 Leading National Advertisers.

Datacenter directors: Bradley Johnson, Kevin Brown. Senior research editor: Catherine Wolf. Research assistants: Arabella Breck, Felicia Darnell, Clair Hauser, Tiana Pigford and Jacob Wittich. Ad Age West Coast editor: Angela Doland.

-- Questions? Comments? Updates? Contact us: Datacenter@AdAge.com
-- This database was last updated Dec. 3, 2018.
-- Archive of Global Marketers reports: 1997 to present.

© Copyright 2018 Crain Communications Inc. The data and information presented is the property of Crain and others and is protected by copyright and other intellectual property laws. For personal, noncommercial use only, which must be in accordance with Ad Age's Terms and Conditions at AdAge.com/terms. Archiving, reproduction, redistribution or other uses are prohibited. For licensing arrangements, please contact mailto:lpicariello@crain.com.