What the hell is going on with the Wall Street Journal? Pity the poor media planner who once was able to make a media buy that pretty much insured they'd reach some financially savvy folks who were reading the Journal for its razor-focused coverage of financial matter. But, then came the Weekend edition with its fluffy entertainment news. And then there was the Personal Journal which covered...who knows...fixing your kitchen sink? Now, thanks to Rupert Murdoch, the paper is getting a sports section.
WTF? The Wall Street Journal writing about sports? WTF? Sure the paper's readers interests beyond financial but how much blandification can a media property take on before it becomes just another daily newspaper that's so broad it appeals to no one and suffers dramatic circulation declines like every other paper in the nation? It makes no sense. But, hey, we're not Rupert Murdoch so we could be wrong.
AdFreak points us to this humorous story about a women who put her horse up for sale in classified section of The Saginaw News. All good until the paper made the error of placing the ad under the "Good Things to Eat" category. Predictably, animal lovers and other freaks who didn't have the common sense to figure out this was obviously an error besieged the poor woman with hate calls and threats she'd be reported to PETA.
Even more outrageously hilarious is that the woman received some calls from people who legitimately wanted to buy her horse for meat. It;s no wonder the rest of the wordl thinks we're a bunch of uneducated idiots.
For a woman, not being able to see her feet without leaning over her protruding breasts could, by some, be considered a good thing. For a man with man boobs, not so much. Norwegian fitness center Oxygo Gym is in touch with that sentiment and has illustrated it nicely in this new newspaper campaign which broke January 19.
Created by Oslo agency 2008scandinavia, places the viewer in the eye of the beholder...a highly motivational position from which said beholder can relish in the disgust of their man boobs. Others have commented on another body part that's being concealed by this dude's belly but, for once, we're just not going to go there. Besides, we know you're smart and can figure it out. And, we really, really don't want to go there.
Adland has unearthed an old 1979 ad for Pakistani Airlines promoting its flights to New York City using an ominous plane shadow cast upon the Twin Towers. Certainly in the seventies, everyone was enamored with the stature and size of the the then amazing looking towers but unless you were Irwin Allen, even in your most imaginative moments you weren't envisioning this ad's imagery would foretell the horror that occurred September 11, 2001.
Barring that horrific day in 2001 and placing oneself in 1979, it's actually a good ad. The Towers were the premiere iconic image of New York city and they retained their iconic status through three decades until they fell that fateful day. No one in 1979 could seriously have believed an image like this would become reality. Sadly, it did. Similar images from the past will continue to pop up from time to time in old magazines, in old ads, in old movies and we'll wince a bit each time we see them remembering our connection to that day. Sally Martin.
Does PETA care about fish? If they do, they might not like this new ad campaign from Triumph boats which promotes a Triumph Boat-sponsored "Feeding Frenzy" fishing tournament. With a Game Fish Identification Chart, the campaign, tagged "Good For You, Bad For The Fish," gleefully celebrates the all you can eat fish fry.
The campaign, created by The Republik in Durham, NC, includes posters, print and t-shirts to aid Triumph dealers in co-ordinating their individual fish fry events. And in case PETA wants to stage a protest, The first event will be held January 18 at Merritt Marine in Hillsborough, NC.
I've known Tony Pierce since Adrants was a part time gig started while I was between jobs and was read by one person. Me. That was early 2001. Now, in late 2007, Adrants is, if we can be so egotistically blunt, a major contender in the ad world. Now, in late 2001, Tony Pierce, who was most recently Editor at the LAist is moving on to the LA Times where he will oversee the newspaper's 25 blogs. Times do change.
I think the LA Times' decision to hire Tony is an amazingly astute choice. Newspapers know they have it tough these days and they need to explore new publishing channels. In an exit interview with LAist News Editor Andy Stemberg, Tony cuts through the crap and tells it like it is. Bloggers are bloggers and journalists are journalists. Each have their strengths and weaknesses. Pierce examines this in his interview and refreshingly steers clear of early days, blogger-bashes-MSM rhetoric. For as much as blogging has contributed to the world of information transferral, mainstream media still holds the cards when it comes to infrastructure, extensibility, expertise and a lot of other things.
It will be very interesting to see how Tony marries the two worlds. If his past successes are any indication, newspaper publishing and blogging are going to become and even more delicious cocktail than they already are. Congrats, Tony.
That Louis Vuitton ad featuring Mikhail Gorbachev sitting in the back of a car next to a Louis Vuitton bag while staring out the window at what's left of the Berlin Wall seems, on closer examination, to contain a political message. New York Magazine features a segment of the ad blow up which appears to be a book or magazine with a title that reads (translated), "Litvinenko's Murder - They Wanted to Give Up a Suspect for $7,000."
Interesting. The person referred to, Litvinenko, was the Russian spy whose death was attributed to Putin's henchman. New York Magazine wonders whether or not ads are the new method of worldwide communication between politicos and spies. We just think it's an art director's or photographer Annie Leibovitz's idea of witty political commentary
Continuing its quest to bring New York-style vulgarities to the peaceful, mountainous region of Colorado, New York-style Anthony's Pizza & Pasta says "Eat Me" to residents from atop billboards, alongside buses, from within newspapers and on radio. When it comes to pizza, or any food for that matter, there really isn't a simpler, more direct method of conveying the primary marketing message. Cultivator Advertising & Design created the campaign.
Continuing his asses-in-advertising and real estate advertising series, Copranter brings us this ad for Powerhouse Condominiums in Long Island City. Perhaps this is just trivial trashy or perhaps it's brilliant. After all, everyone looks at a nice ass. Women do to see how they measure up and men do because, well, men are men and their behavior needs no explanation.
As part of a promotion to tout its classified advertising sections, the Charleston Post and Courier launched a television and print campaign accompanied by a third, very interesting element: pizza box advertising. Yes, there's been ads on pizza boxes before but the paper's agency, RawleMurdy, worked directly with local Charleston pizza shops providing them with a total of 50,000 pizza boxes branded entirely with the paper's message and an offer for free classified listings for items under $100.
The campaign ran between August 27 and September 26. The paper reports phone inquiries and online listing are up. Not half bad in an age where many paper's are seeing a decline in classified ad revenue. You can view the print work here and one of the spots here.
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