Much negativity has surrounded the launch of a new marketing company called Crayon. The company chose to make their launch announcement within Second Life where they established an island outpost. Some seem to think it's the end of Second Life because Crayon, along with all kinds of other marketers, will enter Second Life with no respect for the world's current residents. To coin a Second Lifers anti-marketing sentiment, it's all a gallery of lies. Second Life will be just fine with or without marketers.
First of all, Crayon is not a company whose sole purpose is to create marketing programs within Second Life. The company created the outpost as an efficient place to conduct business. Sure, some of the work they do may be Second Life-related but that is not the focus of the company. We don't profess to know anything more than what a couple months-worth of visits to Second Life have provided but, as far as we can see, no one is forcing Second Life residents to pay any attention at all to brands entering the world. In fact. most have been set up on islands which can easily be ignored or never discovered in the first place.
more »
KLM Royal Dutch Airlines has introduced an online flying game called Fly for Fortune in which players fly to catch certain objects and avoid others. Those who are successful, are eligible to win tickets to anywhere in the world. There's a great movie trailer-style video that promotes the game and features a Cars-style talking airplane. Hmm. Disney? Maybe KLM will license their lane boy to you for your next animated blockbuster.
Launched quietly last week, Immese LLC has introduced a product called Walnuts, contextual advertising which appears at the end of videos on the Blip.tv video service and others as the service expands. Currently, ads are priced at 22 cents per click. Adding to Revver's post-roll approach, Immense intends to make contextual advertising a mainstay in online video.
Continuing the stem cell debate that's risen into public salience because of the Michael J. Fox ad, this ad asks us to imagine what life would be like if FDR looked at penicillin the way Bush looks at stem cell research.
It's a provocative context to say the least. And not to change the subject or anything, but doesn't FDR sound kind of like the Wizard of Oz? - Contributed by Angela Natividad
On Kancept users can load prototype photos of their ideas, describe what they do and get feedback with a simple "Would you buy this? Yes or no." Kind of like Hot or Not but a little more straightforward.
Clever. See? A lot of inspiration can come out of watching a showcase of drunk co-eds waiting to be bought - er, rated. - Angela Natividad
Nodding to the adage that no advertising is bad advertising, the Dixie Chicks are riding a torrent of criticism to promote their documentary "Shut Up and Sing." The campaign includes a Technorati-fed Myspace page created by Deep Focus claiming to be "the largest discussion of free speech the web has ever seen," which is funny because the comments are screened.
Deep Focus CEO Ian Schafer explains that all political views are represented on the site but "jibberish" or threats of violence get filtered out. That's logical. It's not like anybody is interested in hearing fringey deviant opinions anyway. - Contributed by Angela Natividad
 An anonymous tipster takes issue with the Drudge reports fascination with covering other media outlets banning of various ads and other content while, at the same time, banning the ad for the upcoming film, http://drudgereport.com/flash4.htm), but when it comes to its own censorship, The Drudge Report is no different from CNN.com, Fox News, or The History Channel, all of which banned ads for Newmarket's fim Death of a President which hits theatres today. A film which in no way advocates the assassination of the sitting president, Death of a President is a "what-if" political thriller that should be accessible to any free-thinking American interested in viewing the film. If you believe in freedom of expression, go see this film today and tell the Drudge Report to stop the hypocrisy, and stand up against censorship!">Death of a President, writing, "It seems as though The Drudge Report has no problem reporting on ads which other outlets ban (http://drudgereport.com/flash4.htm), but when it comes to its own censorship, The Drudge Report is no different from CNN.com, Fox News, or The History Channel, all of which banned ads for Newmarket's fim Death of a President which hits theatres today. A film which in no way advocates the assassination of the sitting president, Death of a President is a "what-if" political thriller that should be accessible to any free-thinking American interested in viewing the film. If you believe in freedom of expression, go see this film today and tell the Drudge Report to stop the hypocrisy, and stand up against censorship!" Anyway
McDonald's needs a lot of love now that Fast Food Nation is out, so we'd like to think customers who bother to write a song about them and then sing it to their droney drive-thru guy would get a better reaction. All the clerk says in response is "Um, I missed everything, just ... all I got was the M&M McFlurry part. $2.26 at the first window."
Come on. In the words of Heather from another controversial movie, did you have a brain tumor for breakfast?!! - Contributed by Angela Natividad
This Quixtar ad was so loaded with camp that it was only a matter of time before it got spoofed. Here's a parody calling Quixtar a pimp that whores dreams. It even includes a message for future generations: "Our god is money, and he treats us very well. You will join our land someday, and then you will understand the frozen smiles."
We're glad this frozen smile thing is a common problem. We actually thought people just didn't really like us, but this hope-filled manifesto reminds us that's not possible. - Contributed by Angela Natividad
Because we can't get enough of Wrigley, here's another update from their Candystand site. Adrants reader Mikey Rivve is stoked about the new "Xbox 360-quality" racing game which is just smothered in Wrigley's branding and which apparently also kicks Burger King's ass. But that's enough indulging Mikey. We think the BK games kick slightly more ass. We also think EVERYBODY makes a racing game.
We are bored with racing games. We think Wrigley should go that extra mile and use its other resources to make a really entertaining car-washing game. When they do, we will smile. And we will share it with all of you. - Contributed by Angela Natividad
|
|
