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Evolution of Dance 2 Debuts Monday With 'Viral Bridge Marketing'

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Oh no. Here it comes. Another marketing babblespeak acronym. Yes. Are you ready? OK. Viral Bridge Marketing. Yup, VBM, people. What's it all about? We're not really sure but it's described as part of an "innovative deal to monetize the sequel to 'Evolution of Dance.'"

Comparison shopping site Saveology and self-improvement site PeopleJam have teamed and developed "an approach that allows a viral video and its sponsors to meet consumers at the intersection of their tastes (Evolution of Dance 2) and needs (saving money in a tight economy)."

Eesh, if there's anything that'll kill a, hmm, potentially viral viral before it goes viral, it would be this.

more »

by Steve Hall    Jan- 9-09    
Topic: Opinion, Video, Viral, Worst



Everyone Has a Song Inside. But Few Should Give Birth to It.

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Microsoft channels Dr. Horrible with this scary new ad for Songsmith. Not since Vista's Rockin' Our Sales music video has Bill Gates' baby so deftly tapped the Twitter rubbernecking reflex.

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by Angela Natividad    Jan- 9-09    
Topic: Brands, Online, Promotions, Strange, Video



McCain's Country First Fails to Ignite Evangelical Spark

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John McCain hopes to reshape the Republican party -- and reignite his supporter base -- using the same social media tools that betrayed their obsolescence.

But Country First, launched with help from the same web consultants that helped him lose his campaign for POTUS, is no contest to Change.gov, the Obama administration's way of keeping people involved with government at a granular level. It currently does little more than solicit donations with cheap euphemisms ("Become a charter member!") while pushing a smarmy, superficial "McCain loves America!" video -- which can neither be embedded nor shared.

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by Angela Natividad    Jan- 9-09    
Topic: Bad, Campaigns, Online, Political



Nastia Liukin Strikes Pose for Max Azria

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Five-time Olympic medalist Nastia Liukin invades fashion rags for BCBG Max Azria. The limber gymnast brings physical abandon and sugar-plum-fairy guilelessness to a medium dominated by sullen, overposed divas.

Just another treasure from the haute coffers of Jeremy Dante.

Visa first captured Liukin's porcelain ballerina quality in this ad for its "Go World" campaign, which aired during the Summer Olympics. Shortly after the Games, honey was deluged by spokesmodel opps. Clamoring suitors included Cover Girl, Vanilla Star and Wheaties.

by Angela Natividad    Jan- 9-09    
Topic: Brands, Campaigns, Celebrity, Magazine



Canada's Family Literacy Day Gets Big Media Push

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ABC Canada and Honda have teamed to promote Family Literacy Day on January 27, 2009, an annual event which encourages families to read and learn together. Toronto-based zig created the marketing materials for the event this year, including children's activity books for libraries and schools, event planning guides for Honda dealerships, radio spots, posters, billboards, print ads and ambient advertising.

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by Steve Hall    Jan- 9-09    
Topic: Campaigns, Cause, Good



New Book to Solve Ad Industry's Ills

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Chairman & Chief Creative Officer of Euro RSCG Chicago Steffan Postaer is out with a new book entitled The Happy Soul Industry about Vernon Night, CEO of "LA's hippest advertising agency." Night, who's in the midst of an ugly divorce, has a new client, God.

In this "hip-hop age of internet porn and reality TV" world where no one cares about Heaven and no one has time for goodness, God needs a really good ad agency to get things back on track.

Hey, if an ad agency can solve God's problem's, this little recession thing ought to be but a swatted fly on the ass of Martin Sorrell.

by Steve Hall    Jan- 9-09    
Topic: Agencies, Publishing



Organization For 'The Downsized' Out With 'Yes We Canned' Shirts

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Recently the American Association of Shit-Canned Media Elites held a party for those who have found themselves without employment. Now the organization is out with Obama-style t-shirts which read, "Yes, We Canned."

The shirts aims to capture the "current media-industry mood in which we are all doing this delicate pirouette along a knife's edge between elation and despair, humor and utter dread."

Yup, that about captures it.

Ten percent of the proceeds go the the Eggers' 826 charity.

by Steve Hall    Jan- 9-09    
Topic: Cause



The Ladders Delivers Twisted Logic

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In an odd sort of reverse back stab, this new The Ladders commercial, Chairs, from Fallon delivers a confusing message. Confusing because The Ladders' purpose is to serve those with jobs in the $100K plus range. Not the little guy. The big guy.

So how do they explain that in this new television commercial? By shooting and lassoing the big guy and kindly letting all the little ones go free. A mixed message at best.

And, yes, we know it's a metaphor. Still.

by Steve Hall    Jan- 9-09    
Topic: Bad, Commercials



Affiliate Summit. What to Expect if You Go. What You'll Miss if You Don't

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For those not attending Affiliate Summit in Las Vegas Sunday through Tuesday, feel free to skip this piece. Unless you want to know what you're missing...which is a lot. This year's West show is the largest Affiliate Summit to date with over 3,000 registered attendees.

Affiliate marketing is a segment of marketing that doesn't get much mainstream advertising press. Why? Because it doesn't consist of sexy, :30 spots made by primadonna ad agencies which are concerned, mostly with winning awards. Affiliate marketers, on the other hand, care mainly about one thing; making money.

Two great articles on the conference are here and here. They tell you what to expect, what to bring, what to wear, how to stay in touch so you know what's going on every second of the show and a whole lot more.

You can read what we've written on the conference here, here and here.

And if you want to get an idea what a typical conference is like, check out our coverage of Affiliate Summit East here.

And if you want to know where all the parties are, check out or calendar here.

by Steve Hall    Jan- 9-09    
Topic: Industry Events



Licensed Music Does More Harm Than Good For Brands

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In a yet to be published (we are told) letter to Advertising Age in response to its publication of the Top Ten Ad Songs of the Year, The Apollo Project's Paul Horn makes the convincing argument the songs are nothing more than a representative playlist one might find on a Brooklyn-based hipster music blog.

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by Steve Hall    Jan- 8-09    
Topic: Agencies, Brands, Opinion



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