Earlier, we leaked some pre-production footage of the new Corvette commercial directed by Guy Ritchie set to air during the Olympics. Well, it has aired and the safety kooks, again, just can't take a joke and caused the ad to be pulled.
The ad called, "A Boy's Dream" (dream...get it? dream), shows an underage boy doing what any boy would do when imagining himself behind the wheel of a Corvette: racing around like crazy. Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety (who invents these group?) President Judith Stone signed a letter sent by several other "safety groups" to GM Chairman Rick Wagoner and said, "We're delighted that they did the right thing." What right thing? Telling people it's not OK to dream, imagine or have fantasies? And why does every spineless corporation now bend to the whim of every lame ass, extremist complaint? UPDATE: Here's the spot. Watch it and judge for yourself.
As a way to increase ad viewership/readership/recall, Jane Magazine has launched a promotion urging readers to use their camera phone to take pictures of ads in the magazine, send them to Jane and win stuff by doing so. Speaking the language of their readers, Jane hopes to leverage 20-something's increasing use of the cell phone for a multitude of purposes. Jane will also be able to report back to advertisers how many took pics of the ads and sent them in offering a metric of reader involvement which magazines pride themselves upon.
Perhaps another use of this promotion would be to ask readers to edit the ads before they send them in allowing for either hilarious spoofs or, if appropriately prompted, newly created versions of the ads that might lend insight into future creative development.
In October Hispanic men will will get a lad mag all their own called Hombre and published by independent Hombre Publishing Group.
With Hispanic poulation growing to 40 million and Hispanic men 22-39 bringing in an average personal income of $65,000, it only makes sense to create an ad medium to reach this group. Hombre will launch as a bi-monthly with a rate base of 100,000 and move to a monthly frequency in 2005. Hispanic celebrities Jimmy Smits, Roselyn Sanchez and Oscar de la Hoya will all be part of the launch issue. GM, Sony and Samsung will be among the premier advertisers giving the first issue an ad/edit ratio of 25/75.
CoolBusinessIdeas, a Singapore-based business intelligence company which publishes a free, monthly e-newsletter that collects new business ideas and innovations globally, has expanded its reach to cater to an international audience.
CoolBusinessIdeas has also built its new website around an open blog.
The blog and newsletter tracks emerging business innovations in overseas markets which businesses around the world can emulate. Written in a concise yet informal manner, the articles in the newsletter touch on business ideas such as "Micro-Purchasing", "Supermarkets of the Future", and "Innovation + Style = Lots of Customers". The idea are intended to serve as inspiration for business professionals and entrepreneurs to think of how they can use these new concepts in their companies.
We reported earlier that Russia had plans to ban beer advertising. Russian President Vladimir Putin has signed than ban into law. Beer advertisers will no longer be able to run television or radio from 7AM to 10PM and will never be able to imply that beer is connected to social, athletic or personal success. No more beer babes for Russia.
A reader reports having seen an Olympics related McDonald's ad that incorporates giving birth and the tagline, "The Original Olympics." I heard a rumor that McDonald's has an Olympics themed commercial featuring pregnant women and women in labor under the banner 'the original olympics' referring to giving birth. I haven't seen the ad -- report came from WI so maybe its more localized -- but I thought it was an interesting take. Reportedly doesn't feature any food products, etc. Has anyone seen this or have more info on it?
UPDATE: Answer in Comments thanks to Durinda.
Association of National Advertisers President and CEO Bob Liodice writes on his blog abou the upcoming integration of the redently announce AD-ID and EDI (Electronic Data Interchange) which, accoring to Bob, will solve all our tracking, billing, reporting and make good headaches. Just think of the enormous productivity that will be generated by the media ordering and invoicing system. Just think about the end of incorrect advertising placements and screw-ups in the billing process. Just think of having the ability to verify what commercial truly ran. Just think about the opportunity to take your media asset and target it more directly to a particular audience segment or geography - and being able to measure its impact. Those dreams are becoming reality.
To go along with the upcoming Advertising Week in New York City the week of September 20, 52 trading cards made up of favorite advertising icons such as Tony the Tiger, Smokey Bear and Mr. Peanut have been unveiled on the Advertising Week website.
People can register online to buy cards by correctly answering advertising brand questions, inviting friends to join and by visiting sponsor sites.
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