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GM Embarrasses Itself With Painfully Bad Video

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OK so yea, a car company has to do crazy things at a show to get attention and attract people to their booth. But this dance routine performed last month at the LA Auto Show is a disaster. The music is awful. The lyrics are corny. And the dance routine looks like it was choreographed by a kindergarten teacher.

This is how you promote a new car? Maybe GM should go out of business just for horrifying us with this stuff. At least the person responsible for this disaster has been "reassigned" according to AutoBlog.

by Steve Hall    Jan-22-10    
Topic: Brands, Video, Worst



Aquent Provides Website Building Blocks

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Ever wonder makes a great website? Well, Aquent, with help from Barbarian Group, thinks it has the answer. As you roll over particular elements of the site, The Internet Online Website provides tips on the importance of each element and hos you can use the tips to improve youur own website.

As Ryan mcMaus write on the Barbarian Blog, "InternetOnlineWebsite.com is a website ABOUT websites. It's been specially formulated to educate, enlighten, and delight those who are looking to add to their online presence and marketing initiatives."

We like. Simple. Informative. Helpful. Instructional.

by Steve Hall    Jan-22-10    
Topic: Online, Tools



Movie's Create-A-Hottie Site Proves Breasts Can Never Be Too Big

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Adding to the growing collection of create-a-hottie promotions, this work from Firebelly for the months old movie Surrogates creates a custom hottie for you after you answer a few questions. Called Surrogate, the site also lets you share your creation on Facebook or send it off to a friend.

We're happy with our creation, Jessica, who likes strawberries and who, apparently, made off with all the breast molding material.

by Steve Hall    Jan-22-10    
Topic: Games, Online



Brett Favre Doesn't Just Play Football

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Kind of a boring ad but if you're into Brett Favre, you might like it. It's from Y&R Chicago and it's for Sears and is pushing TV set sales. It features the football star in a Sears television showroom bantering with a salesman. A little joke is made and that's it. Nothing special. But, as we approach playoff weekend and the Super Bowl, it kinda resonates. More ads will follow this weekend.

Leading up to the game in Miami, consumers can visit Sears Football to vote for their favorite Brett Favre TV ads and enter to win a gift card as part of the TV MatchMaker sweepstakes.

by Steve Hall    Jan-22-10    
Topic: Celebrity, Commercials



Supreme Court Opens Political Advertising Floodgate

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God help us. If you hate political advertising as much as we do, you might want to consider relocating to Mars. Or, if you're not partial to space travel, the North Pole where we hear not too many media outlets call home.

Yesterday, the Supreme Court overturned federal legislation which limits the amount of money corporations can spend to support or oppose a candidate. The decision also made unconstitutional a hefty portion of the McCain-Feingold campaign finance reform act.

You've been warned. You may hate watching more political ads but you might also make a lot more money creating crappy ads pimping candidates and hyping issues. Of course, more ads featuring Paris Hilton or Obama Girl might not be such a bad thing.

by Steve Hall    Jan-22-10    
Topic: Policy



Spain Says You Can't be Hot Before 10 PM

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In Spain, certain dieting and beauty ads may be banned from advertising before 10PM. A new law states, "Broadcasters cannot carry advertisements for things that encourage the cult of the body and have a negative impact on self-image - such as slimming products, surgical procedures and beauty treatments - which are based on ideas of social rejection as a result of one's physical image or that success is dependent on factors such as weight or looks."

No word on banning ads that make you fat like, oh, say, McDonald's and Burger King.

by Steve Hall    Jan-22-10    
Topic: Policy



Video Billboard Hijacked With Porn

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Last week, a video billboard in Moscow was hacked for two minutes and the scheduled advertising was interrupted for two minutes with clips from a porn video.

If you simply must see what porn on a giant billboard looks like, there's a short clip here for your viewing pleasure. Yes, it's very NSFW.

by Steve Hall    Jan-22-10    
Topic: Outdoor



You Really Should Learn About Affiliate Marketing

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Did you know there were over 4,000 attendees at Affiliate Summit West held at the Rio in Las Vegas earlier this week? This conference which addresses what was once a tiny segment of the marketing world has exploded and grown into a business model every brand should be aware of.

If you're a brand you advertise your products, right? Of course you do. That's a no-brainer. You hand a boatload of money over to an ad agency, they make pretty pictures for you and you hand another boatload over to media outlets to run those pretty pictures. Sound familiar? Of course it does. That's becasue everyone else does it and they've been doing it since marketing was invented.

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But what if you could get people to market your products for you? That's the gist of affiliate marketing. You set up a program and develop tools which affiliates can use to help sell your products. Very similar to Amazon book ads on a website, affiliate marketing is a revenue share model. If a product is sold through the efforts of an affiliate, that affiliate gets a cut of the sale and so does the brand.

That's the simple explanation. But, like anything, it gets more involved and expansive when you grow it to a level when millions of dollars are being made through this form of marketing. And that's why there's an entire conference devoted to it.

more »

by Steve Hall    Jan-21-10    
Topic: Industry Events



Epic Advertising Delivers Epic Hotness to Affiliate Summit Party

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On Monday night at Affiliate Summit in Las Vegas there were no less than five parties. And one had a live chicken running around but we'll get to that in a minute. While there were many parties the only one worth attending (we hear) was the one we were at (naturally). Epic advertising had an epic party (267 pictures of hotness) in the Hugh Hefner Suite at the Palms which went well into the early morning hours.

The two story suite itself is stunning with a rotating bed, private bathrooms (in which an amazingly beautiful lady requested we shoot her sitting on a toilet), hot tubs, glass elevator, outdoor deck and a pool which hangs 50 stories above Vegas. It was stunning.

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But that's not what was epic about the party. Not only were there great people there to connect with, the hotness quotient was off the charts. Granted a fairly high percentage of that hotness was of the hired/imported variety, it didn't detract at all from the business end of the party.

There were playboy bunnies, models, dancers and people who just happened to fall into the beautiful category. While some found the "imported hotness" odd and disconcerting, everyone of these non ad industry people we spoke with were wonderful, fun people out to have a good time just like the rest of us.

more »

by Steve Hall    Jan-21-10    
Topic: Industry Events



Miniskirts, Cheeleaders Abound Sunday Night at Affiliate Summit

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On Sunday night at Affiliate Summit West in Las Vegas the Palms was where all the party action was. DoublePlay, AdKnowledge, Karaktr and NeverBlue all had parties. As did Copeac, Under the Stars, and Ads4Dough in other locations.

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Of all the parties, the NeverBlue/Sin City party with ppc.bz and Nickycakes was the craziest. But if you're not into the loud, drunken party scene you would have much preferred the Under the Stars party. It was held in the Rio in a meeting room with food, Wii, darts, karaoke and, yes, a bounce house. We ate the pizza and left after a bit to cover all the other parties.

more »

by Steve Hall    Jan-21-10    
Topic: Industry Events



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