AD AGE’s E.J. Schultz reported MillerCoors “is making major changes to its agency roster, the biggest of which is the brewer's cutting ties with its longtime lead creative agency, Interpublic Group of Cos.' DraftFCB.” As part of the shift, Razorfish “has lost creative and digital-media duties,” which will now “move to a new multiagency group at WPP.” For the Miller Lite brand, the brewer “has picked Saatchi & Saatchi as lead creative shop, after giving it a tryout in January.” Digitas, however, “keeps Miller Lite digital-creative and -media duties” (ADAGE.com, 5/1).
FALSE ADVERTISING: Penn Racquet Sports Inc. and parent, Head USA Inc., “filed a claim of false advertising Monday in U.S. District Court in Connecticut.” The lawsuit claims that Dunlop Int'l Ltd. and Dunlop Sports Group Americas Inc. “have been misleading the public by labeling Dunlop balls as the ‘World's No. 1 Ball’ and boasting that it has a 70 percent share of the global tennis ball market” (AP, 4/30).
NEW LOOK KNIGHTS: Rutgers yesterday unveiled new football uniforms for the ’12-13 season featuring the Nike Pro Combat System. The program will also strengthen the “Block R” logo (Rutgers). In Orlando, Matt Murschel noted Rutgers “will now have the option of red, white and black jersey and pants as well as several variations of a helmet that will continue to use the ‘Block R’ logo that Scarlet Knights fans have been familiar with” (ORLANDOSENTINEL.com, 5/1).
SCALING BACK: In Baltimore, Ryan Sharrow wrote, “Don’t look for Legg Mason Inc. to make a big splash on the sports sponsorship scene.” Legg Mason Chair, President & CEO Mark Fetting said that anything the company does “will be targeted and on a smaller scale, focused on the communities where it has operations.” Fetting also said that the company “decided to drop its long-running title sponsorship" of the ATP World Tour event in DC because it “was a holdover from Legg’s days when it had a large retail brokerage operation, including in the D.C. area.” Legg left the retail brokerage business in ’05 (BIZJOURNALS.com, 5/1).
