Monster.com Stakes Out Super Bowl Ad Turf

http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/nm/20000920/wr/media_monstercom_dc_1.html

Wednesday September 20 12:53 PM ET

MAYNARD, Mass. (Reuters) – Internet job search site Monster.com staked an early claim to Super Bowl turf on Wednesday, announcing that it bought ad space for next January’s broadcast of Super Bowl XXXV.

The site, which two years ago impressed viewers with its “When I Grow Up” advertising campaign featuring youngsters with less-than-stellar job aspirations, said it would run four 30-second commercials during CBS Television’s Jan. 28, 2001 broadcast of the championship football game. It will air one spot in the first and fourth quarters of the game, and two during the pre-game show.

Boston-based Arnold Communications, Monster.com’s new advertising agency-of-record, will develop the ads. Arnold is a unit of Snyder Communications,(NYSE:SNC – news) which is being bought by France’s Havas Advertising.(EURC.PA)

Melanie Downey, a spokeswoman for Monster.com, based in Maynard, Mass., said its global media budget for next year is $200 million. She declined to disclose how much of the budget is for television, but said the firm paid “just under $4 million” for next year’s Super Bowl spots, up 25 percent from the $3.2 million it paid for Super Bowl XXXIV.

“Because we’ve always been so early to get our Super Bowl spots, we actually got a pretty decent price,” Downey told Reuters.

She said the theme of next year’s Super Bowl ads is still under development.

Monster.com is a unit of New York-based TMP Worldwide Inc.(NasdaqNM:TMPW – news), which says it is the world’s largest recruitment advertising agency network and one of the world’s largest search and selection agencies.