Agency

Leo Burnett Company has agreed to pay the U.S. $15.5 million to settle allegations that the company submitted false claims to the U.S. Army, the Justice Department announced. The firm had a contract from 2000 to 2005 with the Army to provide advertising services for the military service’s recruiting mission.

Grupo Gallegos has been named the Hispanic advertising agency of record by Girl Scouts of the USA (GSUSA). The announcement was made by agency founder and CEO, John Gallegos, following a competitive review.

After months of talking and several court delays, the Televisa / Univision court battle over sales revenue sharing and potential violation of the terms of the programming agreement is expected to begin today in Los Angeles U.S. District Court.

It’s Mambo time ……… anything can happen.

As we step tentatively into the new year, prospects look pretty grim. With unemployment predicted to top 9%, industry bailouts looming, a massive retrenchment in the stock market and a generally accepted view that things aren’t likely to get better any time soon, it will be all too easy to slide into a state of cynicism, or even despair.

Uncertainty and pessimism color attitudes toward predictions, too, particularly those that dare to suggest resumed growth ahead. Some will have a tendency to regard such forecasts as wishful thinking, or, worse, woefully out of touch.

Shall we throw all predictions out the window?

The Marketing Executives Networking Group (MENG) and industry-leading research firm Anderson Analytics issued the results of its second annual survey of Top Marketing Trends for 2009. The survey of MENG members, conducted by Anderson Analytics, focused on top marketing concepts, buzz words, global areas of opportunity, targeted customer demographics, as well as the books and thought leaders that marketers look to for inspiration and growth opportunity.

Radio broadcasting pioneer McHenry (“Mac”) Taylor Tichenor, one of the foremost developers of the Hispanic radio industry in the United States, died in Round Rock, Texas, of natural causes on January 3, 2009, at the age of 76.

Seventy-seven percent of Americans believe that the U.S. media is making the economic situation worse by projecting fear into people’s minds.