We don't really understand all the details and legalities but this really big Canadian company, CBC, is having this thing called a lock out which, for some weird reason, has put everyone out of a job. Someone said it has to do with some kind of contract negotiation but that's not what's important. What is important is Pedro the Locked Out Gnome. Rather than appear in people garden's as most gnomes do, poor Pedro, who used to work for CBC has been forced to hit the street and appear in pictures with other equally unfortunate souls including, for some odd reason, Hooters waitresses. Oh well, this is advertising after all.
Most of you have heard of this thing called blogging but that's because you work in areas where blogging is commonplace. However, regular folk, the folks we, in advertising, sell to day in and day out don't have a clue as to what blogging is. At least in England. A recent study among taxi drovers, pub landlords and hairdressers found that 70 percent had never heard of blogging. Most thought the survey was asking about dogging, the practice of watching couples have sex in semi-secluded spaces. Hmm, blogging as a perverted sex fetish. Not exactly what the blog elite and the blogebrity had in mind.
This research confirms the notion we've supported for a long time. Weblogging is just a really easy way to publish a website that, because of the platform, gets easily distributed and picked up by search engines.
more »
Joining the character blog trend, HP has launched ILoveMyHPTV.com, to promote its high-definition TV line. The site is written by Ted who, keeps a rant-like blog which contains blatherings on how he chose his HP TV and how people can convince their reluctant other half to go for a big screen monstrosity. There's also a webcam for no apparent reason but the site does offer an interesting tool, called the Dr. Troy Meddleson's Persuasion Method, for convincing a reluctant romantic partner that an HP TV purchase is a good thing. Oh, and it would be a promotional site without the requisite sweepstakes offer. In this case, a chance to win, shockingly, HP products.
Guidewire Group, producer of the BlogOn conference has partnered with content management company iUpload to launch a survey querying corporations on the current state of blogging at the enterprise level and the blogging strategies behind current blog-related initiatives.
An early believer in blogging and podcasting, GM, a while back, created Fastlane, a blog written by GM Vice Chairman Bob Lutz and other GM top executives. Today, Lutz has produce his first podcast in which he talks about "the realities of today's market for full-size sport utility vehicles with host Bill O'Neill, GM executive director of communications." It's encouraging to see executives at this level in large companies engaging in these two new, but very powerful media.
Joining NBC and CBS, ABC has lauched a set of weblogs for its news division. So far, there's Down and Dirty, a blog by Washington correspondent Jake Trapper who'll write about politics and popular culture; Order in the Court by Supreme Court correspondent Manny Medrano who'll provide legal analysis; and Science and Society by science correspondent Ned Potter who'll report on space exploration, the human genome and climate change.
Completely misunderstanding the point of a corporate weblog, Chrysler has launched The Firehouse, a weblog for journalists which can only be read by those who apply and prove they work for a "known and established media organization." This is idiotic. This is stupid. This is insane. Completely illogical and non-sensical. Chrysler wants journalists to read the blog, get the "story" and then re-publish the same thing in their own "established" medium for general public consumption. Which will then, of course, if worthy, be blogged anyway. We just don't get it. Clueless Chrysler needs to go talk to GM, which has a clue about blogging, and get a few tips. Peek
UPDATE: Jason Vines, the man behind the The Firehouse weblog didn't like what we had to say and commented on another blog about it. Additionally, he explains the motivation behind the launch, which does make sense. Read his commentary after the jump.
more »
A weblog, called Displaced Designers, has been launched to aid creative industry individuals in the New Orleans area who have been displaced by hurricane Katrine and are in need of assistance. The blog appeals to those individuals and companies that can provide office space, living space, computers, other business resources and jobs to those who have been affected by Katrina. A valiant effort, indeed.
Celebrity blog Jossip publisher David Hauslaib has launched Queerty, a blog about all things queer. It's written by blog superstar Bradford Shellhammer of pre-blogging blog fame and published by Hauslaib.
Hauslaib, who, writing in the launch announcement says he'd "feel luckier than Michael Phelps' Speedo if he could snag a mention in your magazine, newspaper, blog, dinner conversation or mental dialogue," promises the blog will focus on fashion and style, entertainment and celebrity, news and politics, relationships and sex -- and "any other really, really gay topic we (or you, our readers) can come up with." Lest Adrants be accused of changing teams, there's an advertising angle here as well. Hauslaib says, "Queerty puts advertisers in touch with this affluent demographic, which has long been abandoned by mainstream blog publishers."
With the launch of Queerty, Hauslaib can now officially hang with the big boys of blog publishing, Denton and Calacanis.
While we'd all have to agree that word of mouth marketing is part of advertising and not a separate entity, the Word of Mouth Marketing Association has forged ahead with the launch of the "Word of Mouth vs. Advertising" weblog where industry experts will come together to discuss the merits, impact and relationship of word of mouth to advertising in general. WOMMA says the blog is an experiment in participatory blogging and that 50 or so industry gurus have been invited to express their viewpoints on the topic.
|
@adrants
@stevehall
|
