Durham advertising agency McKinney has snared yet another new account: EAS, the sports nutrition brand that is part health care giant Abbott Laboratories.

McKinney, the Triangle's largest ad agency, announced this morning that it will provide a full range of marketing communication services for EAS as its agency of record. That will include reinventing its new client's Web site, eas.com, and relaunching the brand next year, according to the agency.

Financial details weren't disclosed. The EAS line-up includes AdvantEDGE and Myoplex daily nutrition products and Betagen and Phospagen strength-building products.

Oscar Meyer, the man who taught my generation how to spell "bologna"
better than "Sesame Street" could have ever dreamed, died on Monday at the age of 95. (I still replay the jingle in my head sometimes when writing b-o-l-o-g-n-a, and often wish Meyer had made commercials about "harassment" and "Australia.")

Time magazine TV critic James Poniewozik has an excellent blog piece looking at Meyer's TV legacy through his unforgettable TV commercials. Poniewozik has videos of two classic Oscar Meyer commercials embedded in his piece, but we couldn't resist posting this one, too. Relive the magic after the jump.

Grant Yarber will spend part of his Saturday night on stage in front of an audience of mostly young girls.

His company, Capital Bank of Raleigh, is one of the top corporate sponsors of N.C. Theatre and its production of High School Musical 2.

As he did last weekend, Yarber will join the group's executive director Lisa Grele Barrie and others in saying a few words before the curtain lifts.

Mostly, he'll thank parents for bringing their kids, and for supporting the arts in Raleigh. As he does, he'll also further his efforts to market Capital Bank.

"Parents are very loyal," Yarber said. "If you're doing stuff to help out their kids and entertain their children, parents look favorably on that. They remember that."

Baby talk is in at Durham advertising agency McKinney.

The Triangle's largest ad agency announced this morning that it has been hired by Japan-based Aprica -- maker of baby strollers, car seats and other children's products -- to work on global campaigns that will incorporate both traditional and new media, including the development of a global Web site.

"A key part of this assignment is bringing [Aprica products] back to America," said McKinney President Jeff Jones.

Aprica, acquired last year by Newell Rubbermaid, which also makes Graco brand infant products, is the No. 1 stroller brand in Japan. It posted worldwide sales of about $122 million in the fiscal year that ended July 31, 2007. But Aprica's products haven't been available in the U.S. for years.

Financial details weren't disclosed.

Jones said the agency's latest client resonates with McKinney's 162 employees, many of whom are parents.

"It's hard not to fall in love with working in this category," he said.

Last month McKinney was retained by giant insurer Nationwide, the agency's largest account win ever. Other clients include Coldwell Banker, Gold's Gym, NASDAQ, Sherwin-Williams, Travelocity and Virgin Mobile.

Steve Padgett, the former mail carrier from Raleigh recently convicted of delaying and destroying U. S. mail, is in the news again. The lawbreaker, known as "Mailman Steve" to his fans, has received a nice check from donations by people all over the country who saw him as a hero, sparing the people he serviced from having to deal with piles of unsolicited "junk" mail.

Padgett made sure the people on his Apex mail route got their bills, personal letters and packages, but postal inspectors found bags of third class mail--advertising circulars and the like--in his garage and buried in his yard. The story, the most popular on newsobserver.com last month, struck a nerve.

The people who depend on third class mail to advertise their services are not amused. Neither is the U.S. Postal Service, which likes to point out that first class postal rates are relatively low compared to the rest of the world, in part, because of its success in keeping those advertisers using snail mail.

Linda Williams 

That headline in today's paper likely expressed the thoughts of many people who have observed the nation's political discourse in recent weeks. Dubious claims have been made during debates, in news sound bites and in the numerous political ads in the state's media.

Sorting through the claims is a valuable service being provided by news organizations and independent groups. This is not a new trend, but independent professionals have been especially good and timely with this task this year. Here is an analysis of statements made by Sens. Barack Obama and John McCain during Tuesday's nationally televised debate in Nashville.

For more on the reliability of statements made by the candidates for national office, visit FactCheck.org, a consumer service of the University of Pennsylvania's Annenburg Public Policy Center.

North Carolina has been dubbed one of the "battleground" states this year, so what the presidential candidates say is getting a lot of attention. But we are also giving lots of attention to the critical statewide races and have made getting to the truth of statements made by those candidates a priority. Here are some examples of the work we have produced to date.

Look for more in the remaining weeks before Election Day.

Linda Williams