Mad Men Cast Sing Rick Astley's 'Never Gonna Give You Up'

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It's not the most musically pleasing experience but you've got to give credit to the video's creators for culling through four year's worth of Mad Men episode to editing together just the right lyrics to verbalize Rick Astley's Never Gonna Give You Up.

The video was created for Richard Sandling's Perfect Movie, a monthly stand up comedy show about films at The Leicester Square Theare, London.

In a way, the Mad Men cast have Rickroled Astley, himself.

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by Steve Hall    Sep- 5-12    
Topic: Cable, Video



A Look At The Evolution of Commercials and Marketing

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This guest post is written by Jesse Robson, a freelance writer currently working for Liberty Marketing. When he's not at work Jesse spends most of his free time writing, following pop culture and playing with his golden doodle Max.

Commercials have certainly evolved from the time of your parents and even your parents' parents. If you get TV Land on cable tv, you might have even caught some of the older, retro commercials interspersed between episodes of The Andy Griffith Show and I Dream of Genie.

Yes, things were certainly different back then and all you really needed was a cute mascot, an infectious jingle and an authoritative voice to move product. However, commercials and, really, marketing as a whole have evolved.

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by Steve Hall    Aug-29-12    
Topic: Cable, Opinion, Television



Morning Emissions: Baby Sought, Sears Reviews, Comcast Buys MSNBC

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- Gerber has launched its third Gerber Generation Photo Search on its Facebook page. The brand seeks the next Gerber baby and will award $50,000 to the winner.

- Five reasons your digital startup will fail. Hint, avoid failure and make sure you court large advertisers.

- TV trumps movies at Comic-Con this year.

- And why is Randy always the last one standing? Jennifer Lopez and Steven Tyler have exited American Idol.

- The first six months of 2012 saw 133 magazines launch, while just 48 closed, with the largest number of new launches coming in the "regional interest" and "food" categories.

- Sears has thrown its media account into review. Havas, which won the account in 2001, is the incumbent. Budget is pegged at $700 million.

- MSNBC.com becomes NBCNews.com after Comcast buyout.

- Facebook is considering lowering its age limit and allowing children under 13 to join...even though they already do simply by lying about their age.

by Steve Hall    Jul-16-12    
Topic: Brands, Cable, Social



Mad Men Season Four Premieres in Times Square

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Last night in Times Square Mad Men Season four premiered at 9PM, an hour earlier than the AMC broadcast premiere. And we were there. Beginning at 7PM, people lined up to have their picture taken with Elizabeth Moss, the actress who plays the Peggy Olson character. We have to say, she's the cutest in real life.

In addition to a step and repeat, there was a game show on the main stage which asked contestants trivia questions about the series. As all of this was going on, hired actors waltzed about the crowd dressed in full Mad Men garb. But they were outnumbered by many in the audience who also showed up to the premiere decked out in early sixties fashion.

A few minutes before the episode began, Moss was brought onstage by the moderator. She was joined by January Jones, the actor who plays the Betty Draper character. The two giggled and joked and then a cake was rolled out in celebration of Moss' birthday.

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by Steve Hall    Jul-26-10    
Topic: Cable, Industry Events



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There's Not Enough Shakira in This Univision Campaign

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Barely making an appearance in this new Univision commercial that touts the network's exclusive Spanish-language coverage of the 2010 FIFA World Cup, Shakira sings "Waka Waka (Esto es Africa/This Time for Africa)," the official World Cup song and Univision's official theme for all of its coverage of this world-class event.

All the "cultural richness" and "exciting soccer moments" make their way into this :30. Additional campiagn elements will include print, outdoor, in-theater, radio, online and mobile. Hopefully we'll see more of Shakira in those media.

The ad might have been a bit more effective had it featured Shakira's best asset as illustrated in the accompanying image.

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by Steve Hall    Jun- 4-10    
Topic: Brands, Cable, Campaigns, Celebrity



CNN to Explain Why We All Need Body Condoms

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This is one of those programs you really don't want to watch. It's like listening to those people who insist upon telling you your kitchen counter is crawling with germs and you're just making it worse by using a sponge.

Yea. CNN has been working for a year on an investigation looking into pollution, health and the nastiness that surrounds us. Look, shit is everywhere. We're all gonna die of something. Do we have to be reminded of it? Anyway, here's a commercial promotion the show. Sadly, it makes a lot of sense.

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by Steve Hall    May-24-10    
Topic: Cable



Porn Network Promises Bad Acting Delivered by Big Breasted Bimbos

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OK, so there's no redeeming value to these ads for Canadian adult entertainment network Amour apart from reveling in the irony of actresses doing a good job acting poorly. Created by Cossette, we see a trio of bimbettes doing their best work. Which is to say, really bad acting. Which, of course, is what good porn is all about. Which, as we all know, people don't watch for the acting. Which, as it turns out, is why this is such a great campaign.

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by Steve Hall    May-11-10    
Topic: Bad, Cable, Commercials, Good



CMT Wants to Know Do You Get Country?

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Apparently a lot of people listen to country. But if you're a buyer, you already know this. But in case you don't or you're one of those internet geeks that thinks no one likes the genre, MTV/Viacom's CMT ant to make sure you realize 140 million Americans "get country."

Well, it's not hard to believe after all, what will all those flyover states getting in the way of the coasts, right? OK, that was mean. But it's still true.

Anyway, Barker/DZP is out with a new outdoor kiosk campaign. The kiosks have been placed in front of agencies in New York so if you haven't seen one already you soon will. And if the kiosk posters are to be believed, there's isn't a beer-bellied, Jack Daniels-swilling hillbilly in all of the genre's listeners.

by Steve Hall    Apr-12-10    
Topic: Cable, Outdoor, Poster



SL Exists, iAd Discussed, Cadbury Mixes, Conan Goes basic

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- Check out this collection of ads for products and retail outlets in Second Life. Yes, marketers, the place still exists.

- While the rest of the world seems to hate the Tiger/Earl Woods ad, some ad execs wished they had thought of the idea.

- It's finally out. KFC's bunless fried chicken sandwich. With bacon. And cheese. And an ad to pimp it.

- Hadji Williams, Peter Shankman and Adweek's Tim Nudd take on Tiger's Adness, why the internet sucks for selling stuff, the iAd revolution (it is, no, for real), and why nobody cares if Yelp lies about reviews or not.

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by Steve Hall    Apr-12-10    
Topic: Cable, Celebrity, Online, Podcast, Racy, Strange



Domino's Loses the Cardboard, Google Almost Loses $500 Million

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Last night I had the pleasure of recording a Beancast episode with Make the Logo Bigger's Bill Green, Please Feed the Animals' and Lemonade Movie creator Eric Proulx and The Beancast's Bob Knorp. We discussed the recent Domino's recipe change and the importance of actually solving a problem as opposed to just throwing money at it. We riffed on the Cablevision debacle. We took at a look at the growing importance of the community manager in relation to the rise in importance of social media. We waxed nostalgic about the jingle and we laughed out loud at Google's $500 million Yelp offer.

Check out the show notes here. Download the podcast directly here or get it on iTunes here.

by Steve Hall    Jan- 4-10    
Topic: Brands, Cable, Podcast, Social