Hello? Purveyors of contextual advertising? Are you there? Do you care? Hasn't your technology been around long enough to cease the endless contextual mishaps that keep popping up? Do we really need killer values from supermarkets offered next to articles about Amish killings? Do we need turpentine ads next to bits about a teen drinking turpentine to abort a pregnancy? How about putting Anna Nicole Smith's dead son up for sale? Or "card shark" credit card copy next to an article about a woman jilled by a shark? Haven't we seen enough of these to realize a tune up is needed? Apparently not. Here's another one sent to us by The Consumerist.
We do not profess to be an expert of any kind on contextual advertising. We do not believe any of this is done maliciously either. We know there are very reputable contextual advertising companies out there who are above board and provide a great service to marketers. We don't know if these "misplacements" can ever be stopped but we'd love to see if anyone can try. On second thought, maybe not because then we'd have nothing to write about on this topic.
While it seems most commenters don't like it, a new video on YouTube takes old TV show footage (or at least we think that's what it is) and turns it into a a voiced over Wendy's commercial which points to BBV99, a site with a few good goofs that continues the mission of promoting Wendy's 99 cent Better Value Meal. The site was created by MRM Worldwide. The site is also being promoted with banners on YouTube and elswhere.
As we mentioned Monday, Crayon, a company claiming to be the world's first new marketing company will launch today at noon both in the "real world" and within Second Life on Crayonville Island. Crayon President and Founder Joseph Jaffe explains the need for the company saying, "The world has changed, but marketing, advertising, and public relations have not. There is no question that the influence organizations can achieve through traditional marketing, advertising and PR is fading fast." Crayon intends to help "marketers and communications professionals make sense of the profound changes in order to connect the dots between the burgeoning new approaches and possibilities available to them," the press release states.
Joining Jaffe in the company are former Citigroup financial guy Gary Cohen as CEO, music podcasting evangelist C. C. Chapman, social media dude, Neville Hobson, communications vet and author Shel Holtz, entertainment industry guru Chris Trela, planning consultant Francis Anderson and Aaron Greenberber and Michael Denton.
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- While some attribute recent visitor loss at MySpace and Facebook to seasonality, others, including members themselves, attribute it to the increased level of intrusive advertising on the sites. It's off to Second Life we go.Watch out residents.
- Cynopsis reports TBS and MySpace have partnered for an online comedy competition called The Stand Up or Sit Down Comedy Challenge which invites amateur comics to submit videoes. The winner will appear in a George Lopez-hosted special on TBS November 18.
- The girls over at street wear brand Married to the Mob don't like the apparent girlishness of the new man and are slapping "Men Are the New Women" stickers on the backs of unsuspecting guys.
- The Weinstein Company is placing a Truth ad is its DVD release, the first being Clerks II.
- Somehow this whacked YouTube video is supposed to promote The Filter, an iTunes add on which automatically creates playlists based on what you listen to.
- With the tagline, "A World Without Science is a World Without Discovery," InterSpectacular has created four new promotional commercials for Discovery's Science Channel.
- Datran Media and the Ad Council have launched a public service advertisement email campaign across the U.S. on behalf of the Environmental Defense's Fight Global Warming campaign.
- Blah, blah, blah....a Dove Beauty spoof.
Swivel Media's Erik Hauser offers us this column on his in-depth experience with Second Life, ahead of the curve work for Wells Fargo and his companies creation of Stagecoach Island a virtual reality world based on Second Life. He offers sage advice to marketers with Second Life on the brain.
Retro-Marketing
Marketing to People in Their First Life
By Erik Hauser 10.25.06
I can vaguely recall the days when things were very different.
People spent their time in a world filled with oxygen. It seems just like yesterday - OH MY - it was yesterday! Let's take a trip down memory lane shall we? The date is Jan 1st 1997, and people are starting to spend some time on this thing called the internet. Within a couple of years there was a hyper-saturated web with niche sites that had everything from exclusive glues to websites designed as destination locations for people in their mid 30's that had an affinity for poodles. Certain people claimed they would never leave the house again, and vowed to radically change their behavior.
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We're tickled by this ad for Reel Asian which plays on the stereotype about dog-eating Asians. Or is it dog-serving Asian restaurants? We can never get the two straight. You have to admit Leopold was cute enough to ... oh, forget it. - Contributed by Angela Natividad
In a short film called Respect The Architects: The Paris Air Max 1 Story (which takes FOREVER to load), designer Tinker Hatfield talks about how the Centre Pompidou in Paris inspired his version of the Nike Air Max, which features a visible air pouch. We like it. Check out a lo-res here. It loads faster than the hi-res but it's not nearly as good of a watch. - Contributed by Angela Natividad
As part of its partnership with the Susan G Koman Breast Canver Foundation, Ford has teamed with the organization's Race For The Cure Virtual Quilt project which allows people to create their own message on the quilt. JWT Detroit along with interactive firm Firstborn created the project o coincide with this month's Breast Cancer Awareness Month.
If we thought pet enthusiasts couldn't get more bizarre then we were wrong because Purina just broadened the landscape. On the Toronto-based Talking Pets mini-site, pet owners can further distance themselves from the rest of humankind by sending "purr/woof mail," posting pictures of their furry friends and even gauging their Pet IQ's.
"It's unique in that it approaches the world from a pet's perspective," explains Christina Yu, VP and Creative Director at Lowe Roche. To be honest we're not too sure the local siberian husky would be receptive to having his grin admired and emotions dissected over the internet, but whatever. Purina knows better than we do. - Contributed by Angela Natividad
Having already raised $61,931, a "hopeless romantic" has created a site called My Super Proposal where he is trying to raise enough money to buy a Super Bowl commercial in which he will propose marriage to his girlfriend. The URL of the site is, of course, registered anonymously so punditry on whether this is real or the machinations of some brand will have to wait. Acknowledging thaefact there are some pretty dedicated (weird?) people in this world along with mischievous marketers bent on doing the next coolest thing, it could go either way. We'll just have to wait and see.
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