Philip Morris has settled a law suit surrounding a baby who was severly burned because her mother, 11 years ago, stepped out of her car, leaving baby and cigarrette behind. The car caught fire and 21 month old Shannon Moore was badly burned.
This, of course, is horrible news but this is also analogous to people who sue McDonalds because coffee is hot and fast food makes them fat. Cigarette companies are despicable entities and they do kill people with their product but not because they set fires to babys in cars.
Here. Now Can I Have My Minutes?
In yet another hilarious U.K. ad for Virgin Mobile, a very bendable gymnastics babe flits about a Virgin Records store offering up a certain desirous body part hoping to lure an unsuspecting clerk into giving her free airtime for her Virgin Mobile phone.
As the spot ends, the announcer reveals a much simpler means to getting the free airtime. Thanks to Viralmeister for the link.
Eating. Slapping. Fornicating. Obey The Suit
To the musical bed Carl Orf's Carmina Buranaof , a headless suit mysteriously interacts with several people in a new viral video promoting U.K. based tailor Lutwyche Bespoke. In the video, called Obey The Suit, a man, whose face is never shown, first takes a bite out of a man's sandwich, then slaps the ass of an unsuspecting woman using the copy machine and finally gives another woman a backrub as she sits at a conference room table then lets her hair down and finally has his way with her on the table. Each time, the three react with a smile as soon as they see the suit.
Racy as it sounds, the message is clear. The authority of Lutwyche Bespoke suits is to be respected and appreciated. The video, developed by St. Lukes, has been viewed 35,000 times since its launch early this week and is now being considered for use on television.
Richard Horgan writes a piece (CORRECTED URL) in Filstew.com about how Hollywood muscle works with advertisers to achieve brand integration through product placement and other methods. The piece centers on a panel discussion that occurred during Digital Hollywood, a three-day technology conference held in Los Angeles this week. The four panel members - Mitchell Kanner (IEG), Sandy Climan (Entertainment Media Ventures), Michael Nyman (Bragman, Nyman, Cafarelli), Devery Holmes (Norm Marshall Associates) and Irwin Gotlieb (Group M) - seem to understand what's happening in terms of the shift from traditional :30 advertising to a method that firmly embeds the creative message within the content of the medium.
It's heartening to see these discussions taking place yet disheartening to know that most ad agencies don't see where this is going. There is much talk surrounding the "death of the :30" which may be a bit overblown but it is not far from the truth. The means by which marketers communicate with consumers will change dramatically over the next ten years. If agencies do not quickly become part of that conversation, they may not be part of the marketing process much longer.
Lisa Rinna
With integrated product placement and traditional :30 advertising, Home Depot has made an agreement with Lifetime to sponsor its new reality series, "Merge." The hour long show will follow a couple as they move in together and merge their belongings. The series will premiere Friday at 8PM then settle into its regular time slot at 11P on Fridays. Lisa Rinna of soap opera and "Melrose Place" fame will host.
Here's hoping this is not another Nick and Jessica disaster.
Scotch Hopes For Comback
Bailing on recent efforts, Chivas Regal and Johnnie Walker are back with new ad campaigns. The new campaign have shifted away from selling the scotch category to promoting the individual scotch brands. Sales of scotch have been in decline but there are signs of an upswing and the two marketers hope to capitalize on that.
