Adrants

March 23, 2005

Calvin Klein Brings Back CK One With New Ad Campaign

Ten tears after its grunge-like CK One campaign, Calvin Klein is relaunching the brand in April with a new television, outdoor and print ad campaign. The campaign will feature 40 mostly unknown models in a hip party scene in a building shaped like the CK One bottle. The campaign, designed by Fabien Baron and shot by David Sims, will continue with the "You're the One" tagline.

Posted by Steve Hall at 10:56 AM | Comments (0)

Amazon Lists Viewsonic Monitor As World's Fastest Computer

Either a joke or a simple error, Amazon has listed a Viewsonic monitor as a computer having a 10GB chip, 2,000 DIMM, a 30,000 GB hard drive and weighing 14 hundredths-pounds. All for $2,312.95. Certainly, there will be computers that powerful someday soon but not right now. One reviewer raved about the "product," writing, "This laptop is the bargain of the decade. 10.00GHZ of power.

I use one to currently calculate the meaning of life, the universe and everything. I even caught it calculating on how to make the perfect cup of tea. The speed that this laptop can move at is nothing short of outstanding. Shame it doesn't have legs though."

Sure to be removed from the site at some point, here's a screenshot for posterity's sake.

Posted by Steve Hall at 10:41 AM | Comments (0)

Dad Places Ad Claiming School Filled With Drugs

Park Ridge, Illinois resident and father to two grammer school children, Dominic Vecchio, placed an ad in last Thursday's Park Ridge Herald-Advocate claiming the his Maine Township High School District is a regular trading ground to heroin and crystal meth. Unsurprisingly, the ad has caused a stir and raised the ire of school district officials who deny Vecchio's claims.

"We've never had any incident that suggests that heroin or meth is being sold or distributed in our hallways," said Principal David Claypool. "It's just an unfair accusation." The kids thinks Vecchio is stretching it a bit too. Senior John Mallory said,"It was irresponsible. About 99 percent of the school doesn't do heroin or crystal meth; it's a tiny pocket, and the deans and administration are doing a good job trying to combat it."

Vecchio said he met with children in the town who told him drugs were on sale at school and, perhaps in reaction to a friend's 15 year old son dying of a heroin overdose last fall, Vecchio decided to spend $900 of his own money to place the ad and raise awareness of the issue.

Posted by Steve Hall at 09:51 AM | Comments (0)

Lost's Evangeline Lilly Fronts Online Dating Service

Not new, as AdJab points out but since we go weak in the knees for Lost's Evangeline Lilly, we just thought we'd dream a little dream for a minute or two as we write and tell you she's the face of telephone chat service LiveLinks.

Great score for LiveLinks. We do wonder though if, with her new found fame, she regrets associating herself with a service for shut ins with no social life. OK, that's harsh. Everyone lives a different lifestyle but still. Alright, we're done with our Evangeline Lilly moment.

Posted by Steve Hall at 09:09 AM | Comments (0)

Church Group Uses Halo 2 to Promote Religion

Acknowledging the forgone conclusion that, just like sexual abstinence, there's not much a parent or minister can do to stop kids from playing Halo 2, several churches are embracing the games as a channel through which to teach gospel. Director of Equipping of Dare 2 Share Ministries International Lane Palmer explains, "The point is that almost everyone already has run out and played it, so we think this is an awesome opportunity to take something hugely popular in our culture and turn it into a way to share the most important message. What we need are people who approach their Christianity with the same passion and concentration as they do with video games."

Palmer likens the story line of Halo 2 to that of the Bible, "Don't you just hate it when a bunch of outer space freaks get together and decide it's their mission to torch humanity? ...the Halo storyline is remarkably like a major theme of the Bible."

"God created people in a perfect world in a perfect relationship with Him, which made Satan and his angels very jealous. So since the beginning of time, they have been on a mission to destroy all humans.

Here's what Jesus said - 'A thief (Satan) is only there to steal and kill and destroy. I came so they can have real and eternal life, more and better life than they ever dreamed of' (John 10:10). Jesus came to this planet to save the planet from a group much worse than the Covenant and from a fate much worse than physical death."

Halo 2, the new church. Hmm.

Posted by Steve Hall at 07:38 AM | Comments (0)

Greyhound Targets Urban And Hispanic Markets With Radio Campaign

Comedians Wanda Sykes and Adal Ramones are featured in a new, national radio campaign for Greyhound Lines, Inc. aimed at urban and Hispanic markets. Already running in the Pacific Northwest area, the campaign is slated to launch in the Southwest in April.

Posted by Steve Hall at 07:23 AM | Comments (0)

March 22, 2005

Website Ad Clutter Study Launched

Factor TG today announced the launch of an advertising clutter comparative study for online publishers which will measures the effect of advertising to editorial ratios and the effect they have on reader's perception of the site and the advertised brand. The study will be fielded over the next three months with results available in June.

Posted by Steve Hall at 04:07 PM | Comments (0)

Burger King Hootie Commercial Spawns Taco Bell Spoof

Adrants reader John Brock points us to a spoof Taco Bell commercial created in response to a Fark thread which comments Burger King (CP+B) has gone insane with its new Hootie commercial and asks Farkers to submit their own screwed up commercial for another fast food chain. Jason, from Monolithcreative took on the challenge and created this oddity for Taco Bell. Part Starship Troopers, part Saturday morning cartoon, the ad has a bunch of tacos marching toward their enemy ending Iwo Jima-style with the tacos holding the Taco Bell flag gloriously.

With its war-like overtones and copy that reads, "We fought to protect the value of freedom. And the right to be full," the spot seems to comment on the current state of affairs over fast food, its health issues, whether it needs regulation and perhaps why it might not be anybodies business if we are fat or not.

Jason explains his creation to us, writing, "The Taco Bell commercial was really just made for fun (and the Fark thread) but animation and video is something that I really enjoy doing. I saw an opportunity to create a video that would be viewed by a large audience so I took advantage of it." Add this one to the growing list of consumer created commercials.

Posted by Steve Hall at 10:48 AM | Comments (0)

Movie Critics Don't Lie. Movie Ads Do

Not that we ever really believed all those praise-worthy quotes heaped on top of all movie ads to make even the most pitiful movie seem like it will be great but we never really took the time to dissect the racket behind movie blurb abuse. Thankfully, someone has. Gelf Magazine has collected some favorable quotes for recent movies and put them back into the context of the original articles from which they were ripped. One great example is for 16 Years of Alcohol. A quote from the Daily Star in the movies ad says, Trainspotting meets A Clockwork Orange making the movie sound pretty good. The actual quote is not so positive. It reads, "This glum, violent drama about a Scottish thug ruined by drink is written and pretentiously directed by Richard Jobson whose approach—Trainspotting meets A Clockwork Orange—is bad enough to drive you to drink in no time."

That's why we like Ebert and Roper's Thumb method of recommending a movie. It's not so easy to take a thumb out of context.

Posted by Steve Hall at 09:41 AM | Comments (0)

TTR2 Launches Marketing and Tracking SMS Service

UK viral seeding service TTR2 has launched Sendus, an SMS service marketers can use to provide additional information via email to people who respond to their ads using an SMS code. The service, free to set up, enables marketers to track consumer response to promotions and to lengthen the period of contact between marketer and consumer.

Posted by Steve Hall at 08:03 AM | Comments (0)

March 21, 2005

Creativity, Mistakes And Low Cost Make Great Viral Ads

While we may, quite possibly, be the last human being in the world to see the viral clip of Gary Brolsma lip-synching to some Romanian bubble gum song, we can't help ourselves. We have to share. Watch. See? You did laugh. After mentioning the clip has received attention from the likes of VH1 and MSNBC, Tessa Wegert asks why more business aren't using viral marketing. Sadly, the answer is, bluntly, marketers can't help but fuck it up. Slapping a logo on a funny TV commercial does not pass as a viral ad. Sticking a "Send to a Friend" button on a website doesn't really cut it either.

Successful viral advertising falls squarely into the "I know it when I see it" category. Sort of like the definition of pornography. Which, of course, makes it highly difficult to create successful virals in the first place - unless you know how to time travel. There are many components of a successful viral campaign from seeding to tracking to product tie-in to GUI to file size to...the list goes on. However, nothing. We repeat, nothing, is more important than creativity. While distribution strategies can certainly aid the spread of a viral, unlike paid ad placements, nothing is guaranteed. The only thing that will compel further distribution of a viral ad is its entertainment value, hence, it's creativity. Nothing else really matters. This is the one medium in which creativity should be given full reign and full appreciation without boundaries.

There's not much a marketer can lose using the viral medium. The stakes are low. The potential return, very high. The worst thing that can happen is no one will see it. No problem. Try again. It's cheap. Sure, there are creative, hosting and distribution costs associated with virals but they pale in comparison to typical media budgets required to support most ad campaigns. For the most part, the viral distribution channel is free. With viral advertising, fucking it up just might be the safest fuck up a marketer could make.

Posted by Steve Hall at 03:03 PM | Comments (0)

ABC Sports, ESPN Debut Split Screen Commercial Non-Breaks

Perhaps permanently fending off TiVo's ad skipping abilities, ABC and ESPN debuted split screen commercial breaks during their coverage of the 2005 IndyCar Series races. During the telecast, commercial breaks (except for local breaks) did not interrupt race coverage. Using split screen technology, ESPN on March 6, and ABC on March 19, delivered ads in a larger screen while continuing to show race coverage in a smaller screen. The entire screen was branded by race sponsor Toyota. During the commercials, the audio feed from the race was silenced.

In truth, this commercial non-break approach would not work so well for episodic television but can work great for sports broadcasts as sound is not always needed to follow the game.

Posted by Steve Hall at 12:36 PM | Comments (0)

Hayden Panettiere New Face of Neutrogena

Actress Hayden Panettiere, 15, recently seen on an episode of NBC's Law & Order: SVU and starring in the upcoming Disney movie Ice Princess, will become the newest face for Neutrogena this Spring. The deal, signed last Fall, adds Panettiere to a long line of Neutrogena faces including Mischa Barton, Gabrielle Union, Hayden Panettiere, Kristin Kreuk, Jennifer Freeman, Julie Bowen, Paola Rey and Jason Taylor. They get younger every year. Check her out further in an interview on Dennis Miller's CNBC show. Predictably, she's also signed with a record label.

Posted by Steve Hall at 10:45 AM | Comments (0)

Website Publisher Scoffs At Adult Friend Finder Tactics

Not that we're really all that surprised about this but because the trashing is so well written, we're going to tell you about it. Ryan Perry, publisher of the esteemed GorillaMask, was considering accepting ads from Adult Friend Finder who had told Perry about their new geo-targeting capabilites which deliver up geographically specific ads displaying people desperate to hook up. As Perry got closer to deciding whether to accept the ads or not, he realized the same faces were being shown in the ads all across the country - hardly a truthful "girl next door" experience for his readers. So he dug deeper and had fun doing so.

Not a exactly a shocker a porn purveyor is being less than honest but Perry's unique verbal lashing of Adult Friend Finder is well worth a read. Sampling Perry's lashing, he writes, "Now, I don't consider myself a marketing expert (oh wait, yes I do), and AFF is obviously doing just fine without my advice, but sometimes "doing just fine" and "shooting yourself in the dickhole by inefficiently executing a brilliant concept" can have fun as running mates. For the life of me I can't understand why they're representing a region full of beautiful women with a bunch of chicks I wouldn't screw with my dead uncle's dick (although I'm not sure what I would screw with my dead uncle's dick).

If my region is repped by chicks with more clap than an auditorium, I don't even want to know what someone operating one of the eight computers in Arkansas sees when these ads come up. (Roadkill, maybe?)"

Posted by Steve Hall at 09:48 AM | Comments (0)

King Kong Beats Crap Out of Ford Ranger, Ranger Wins

In an engaging commercial, Ford in Thailand uses the King Kong motif to effectively convey the strength of its Ranger truck. Also making their debut in this week's Ad Age TV Spots of the Week, are commercials from DaimlerChrysler which is promoting its Jeep through a tie in with the Paramount Pictures movie Sahara; J.C. Penny which imitates Victoria's Secret to sell lingerie; McDonald's engages the Aztec game of Tlachtli in a Hispanic "I'm Lovin' it" spot; Community Choice Credit Union gets a bunch of Bills together to promote its debt consolidation; Coke dresses a guy up in a dog costume to sell Dasani water including the very cool copy, "it'll take the taste of tennis ball right out of your yap"; Sprint engages a Dad and his son in some sort of weird phone game to, well, sell its phone service; and Volkswagen gets inky in a Hispanic spot to promote the Toureg.

Posted by Steve Hall at 09:18 AM | Comments (0)

Virgin Mobile Promotes Text Messaging With Spring Break Thumb Wrestle

Capitalizing on the concentrated hoards of prime cut cell phone target audience, Virgin Mobile will host, as part of its month-long text messaging celebration Text Fest 2005, a Thumb Wrestling Championship in Miami March 22-25. At the beach near the Shelbourne Hotel, a regulation-sized boxing match will be set up where contextants will go at it. It's a great move on Virgin Mobile's part to both create an event so closely aligned with the service being sold and to do it in a place where likely 100 percent of the people are text massaging fanatics, not to mention drunk and up for any sort of foolish activity such as this. We, of course, wish we were there. Please send pictures.

Posted by Steve Hall at 04:01 AM | Comments (0)

March 18, 2005

Windowsdvantages to Serve Ads At Xtreme Cybermania 2005

Gamers who attend the Xtreme Cybermania games held May 27-29 at Chicago's Navy Pier will, while watching playing and watching video games, will be served ads on the sides of gaming video displays. The ads will be served by Windowsadvantages's ADSN Player & Scheduler Solution. Likely to be as effective as ads in chat rooms where chatters are far more interested in important info like asl rather than ads, the ADSN-served ads will appear in 15 second intervals.

UPDATE: Allan Olbur from Windowadvantages notes we neglected to realize it's not necessarily the gamers playing the games who will see tha ads but the thousands of speactators in the arena watching the games on the large monitors. We apologize for our temporary lapse in intelligence.

Posted by Steve Hall at 10:38 AM | Comments (0)

DJs to Become Pepsi Shills

Capitalizing on the hip hop lifestyle, now more popular in white suburbia than within urban settings (come on, let's be honest), former record executive Rene McLean, now CEO of marketing agency RPM, will, for Pepsi this Summer, recruit top urban DJs to serve as "soda Ambassadors" promoting Pepsi products with on air mentions, club mentions, block parties, photo shoots, specialty mix tapes and other intertwined co-branded cross promotions. Somehow, "Yo, mah twixter hommies, let's crunk out with Fiddy's off the hook Candy Shop brung on by da phat cracker Pepsi posse," just doesn't seem like it will go over very well. But we'll keep our fingers crossed for Rene.

Posted by Steve Hall at 10:11 AM | Comments (0)

Reebok Set to Launch 50 Cent Commercial Tonight in Europe

Controversy has been swirling about rapper 50 Cent's appearance in Reebok's mcgarrybowen-created global ad campaign. Some say it glorifies gun violence. Reebok says the spot, debuting tonight in European cities, is just "edgy." The purpose of the campaign is said to celebrate authenticity and individuality. While the spot might not glorify violence, it most certainly does nothing to suggest it's a bad thing.

View it here and decide for yourself.

Posted by Steve Hall at 09:25 AM | Comments (0)

'God Speaks' Ad Campaign Returns

The anonymous "messages from God' billboard campaign that appeared six years ago is making a return. This time, it's not anonymous.

The DeMoss Group and the Outdoor Advertising Association of America are behind a new outdoor campaign they call, "God Speak." The billboard campaign will include the headlines, "The real Supreme Court meets up here," "As my apprentice, you're never fired," and "It's a small world ... I know ... I made it." Even in this day of pop culture, celebu-insanity, God and religion seem to be making a comeback. Though it was banned by many stations for its reference to the church's acceptance of the gay lifestyle, The United Church of Christ has been running a television campaign. There's even Dan "Southpaw" Smith who's promoting his church with the wildly entertaining "Baby Got Book" video.

Posted by Steve Hall at 08:58 AM | Comments (0)

Gap Retires Sarah Jessica Parker, Joss Stone Debuts in Spring Campaign

Though it seems like it was just yesterday that Sex And The City star Sarah Jessica Parker joined the Gap ad campaign, she's now been cast aside in favor of the younger, supposedly closer-to-Gap-demo, singer Joss Stone.

We know everyone has a serious case of ADD these days but a little consistency in ad campaigns wouldn't be a bad thing. After all, it worked quite well for Frosted Flakes with Tony the Tiger and for Maytag with those Maytag guys. Oh but wait, we're talking about the psychotically multitasking, ferociously fickle, OMG GTG crowd. Expect Joanna Levesque to appear in the Gap's Fall campaign.

Posted by Steve Hall at 08:26 AM | Comments (0)

March 17, 2005

American Airline's Leg Room Promise Comes Back to Bite

Four years ago when American Airlines decided it would remove seats from all the planes in its fleet to make more legroom, it launched a big "More Room Throughout Couch" ad campaign touting it to the world.

Now, years later, the revenue strapped airline has been forced to put all the seats back in thus reducing legroom. Not a very smart decision once it made that initial promise. Competitor United Airlines is jumping on this opportunity launching a $20 million campaign poking fun at American Airline's reneging on its earlier promise of more legroom.

One of United Airlines ads says, "Fly American and you could kick yourself. Literally." United launched the campaign to make sure the public understands American no longer has more legroom than United.

Posted by Steve Hall at 01:13 PM | Comments (0)

American Apparel Ad Campaigns Dance With Porn

With its underaged, porn-like amateur models, America Apparel makes Abercrombie and Fitch seem like a G rated Disney movie. Since its inception, the "sweatshop-free" apparel designer has used nubile young girls with pouting faces, come-hither looks and "do me" spread legs in its ads and catalogs.

In a lengthy article sent to us by Adrants reader, Sanj, in Now Toronto by Adria Vasil, the pros and cons of this racy approach are examined. From those who feel the company degrades women to those who feel the presence of porn is simply part of every day life, Vasil speaks with American Apparel Founder and photographer Dov Charney who responds to his detractors, saying, "They're old-thinking conservatives who are repeating false arguments or arguments that may have been true 30 years ago based on a context of social, cultural and political dynamics of another era. But right now, the women in the photographs and young adult women today I think celebrate the aesthetic of our advertising." American Apparel seems to ask a big question. Is there anything really wrong with celebrating sex and the sex appeal of women? Opinions on sex range from it being purely for procreation to it being an enjoyable recreational activity. Advertisers have danced across that spectrum since the first ad was invented and there seems to be no firm answer. Society seems to accept violence as entertainment but shys away from sex as a form of entertainment. We don't think the question will ever be answered but we do know that sex is more about life and violence is more about death. You choose.

Posted by Steve Hall at 12:45 PM | Comments (0)

'Life Aquatic' Director Directs Coke's Dasani Commercial

For those who loved the quirky Bill Murray film, The Life Aquatic, directed by Wes Anderson, they will be able to see the director's work again in a new commercial, directed by Anderson, for Coke's Dasani bottled water debuting next week.

The ad, budgeted at $1 million and created by New York agency Anomaly which won the $20 million account last August, will air in prime time and in CBS's NCAA basketball playoffs. Gabriel Sherman, writing in New York Observer has the whole story here.

Posted by Steve Hall at 11:25 AM | Comments (0)

BITE TV to Unleash Amateur Interactive TV On Canada

Launching April 1 (not a good day to be taken seriously guys) Canada's BITE TV promises something special in the realm in interactive television: to actually be interactive rather than the poor excuse for interactivity seen to date from other television and cable companies.

BITE will feature wireless downloading and PC or mobile chat-to-screen.

It offers viewers the opportunity to submit their own video content including make-your-own television ads. Advertisers can showcase their brands in formats from 5-second spots to, short form, branded blocks that enable the viewer to personalize the spots with their own content.

Short form content can also focus entirely on a brand.

BITE will also launch BITE ME, its live interactive program in coming weeks. At that time, viewers will be given the opportunity to interact live with the hosts and amongst themselves.

"BITE will discover, air and stream thousands of individual creative masterpieces that are currently being produced and those that have perhaps lacked visibility due to a shortage of distribution opportunities," Elliott says. "Thousands of producers, directors, actors, animators and college and university students aspiring to be filmmakers now have a short form channel in BITE."

In a way, it's taking the Citizen's Media/Blogging approach to television. Acknowledging that, there will be plenty of crap content but there will also be a few gems in the mix and, because of that, some bright, new talent may be discovered.

Posted by Steve Hall at 11:10 AM | Comments (0)

Mondavi To Sponsor 'Sideways' DVD

Fox Searchlight's Sideways may have intoxicated moviegoers and helped sales of pinot noir soar, but the Oscar-nominated film didn't do it with the help of any promotional partners. That's changing with the release of the DVD which will be sponsored by Mondavi. The tie in will promote ten different Mondavi wines.

Posted by Steve Hall at 10:05 AM | Comments (0)

DISH Network to Air Interactive Mercedes Benz Commercial

Mercedes Benz is promoting its new M-Class car to 10 million DISH Network satellite subscribers with an interactive ad unit that begins with a :30 which then links, using the remote control, to longer form videos, photo galleries are car specifications. The ad will air on the shopping channel, Catalog TV

Posted by Steve Hall at 09:49 AM | Comments (0)

March 16, 2005

Fan Blog Advances Career of Pepsi/iTunes Girl

This morning Mandy Fujiko Amano a.k.a., That Pepsi Girl was interviewed during the KROQ Kevin and Bean show. She's the half-Asian hottie who appeared in the Pepsi/iTunes Super Bowl commercial and is slated to appear in the May issue of Maxim. This sudden popularity is due, in no small part to a weblog launched by Michigan college student Justin who also runs the f.u.b.a.r. weblog The blog, That Pepsi Girl, was launched on the eve of the Super Bowl after Justin saw her in the commercial. We covered it here.

Since that time, he dug up her real name, set her up with Maxim for the interview and photo shoot and continues to report on her activities.

During the interview (listen here), Amano discusses her work leading up to the Super Bowl commercial, her experience seeing the spot air during a Super Bowl party at which she received all kinds of double takes from guys at the party and her discovery of the blog that helped shoot her to fame.

At the end of the interview, Kevin and Bean surprised her by getting Justin on the phone. She giggled and said, "I don't know whether to hug you or slap you." She thanked him for his help and joked she'd credit him if she ever received and Oscar. Never underestimate the power of the weblog.

Posted by Steve Hall at 05:24 PM | Comments (0)

Ashanti Cool With Herbal Essence Product Placement In Video

In her new video for the single, Only U, 24 year old Ashanti appears in a shower scene with Herbal Essence hair products in the background. It's a paid product placement and the Grammy-winning singer has no problem with the merging of art and commerce.

"It made sense. It was a shower scene. You know, you have shampoo and conditioner in the shower . . . It's the best of both worlds," she said during rounds of promotional interviews. Tying it together, she also appears is commercials for Herbal Essence which feature her Only U song. We, of course, have no problem appearing anywhere she likes.

Posted by Steve Hall at 12:07 PM | Comments (0)

Fifties Style Marmite Commercial Terrifies Kids, Gets Banned

There's an uproar in the U.K. today over a 50's style sci-fi style commercial for the deliciously gooey Marmite because the ad has apparently caused some over sensitive kids to have nightmares. Oh, the horror! It's been banned from children's television by the Advertising Standards Authority. It shows a large n lob-like creature oozing out of a grocery store and onto the street and people run from it, screaming, until they realize they'd rather jump into it because it tastes so good. And we thought America was the only over sensitive, coddling, self-esteem preserving nation in the world. View the nightmare here.

Posted by Steve Hall at 11:17 AM | Comments (0)

ABC Promotes 'Jake In Progress' With NYC Flower Handout

A reader reports having been randomly handed a flower on her way to work today in New York. For a minute, she thought she might just be the victim of yet another sidewalk kook, she was informed it's a promotion for ABC's new John Stamos show, Jake In Progress, which premieres tomorrow night at 8PM. By deploying the smart programming strategy of airing two episodes against FOX's The O.C. and two repeats of those episodes against NBC's The Apprentice, ABC just might stand a chance of garnering some viewers for the new show.

Posted by Steve Hall at 10:25 AM | Comments (0)

USB Thumb Drives New Advertising Delivery Device

Engadget reports it's seen a rise in use of USB thumb drives by marketers as delivery devises for promotional material. Smaller than a CD but not as easily inserted in magazines as promotional CDs are, the device is reusable and will sit there, plugged into a person's computer used over and over again while that branded log stares the user in the face. Hmm.

Marketers providing something useful. Now, that's refreshing.

Posted by Steve Hall at 09:58 AM | Comments (0)

Pespi Personifies Pepsi One With TV-Less 'Oneify' Campaign

An upcoming reintroduction campaign for Pepsi One will, intriguingly and smartly, not rely on television but rather on a website called Oneify; print ads in Blender, Details, Giant, Stuff and Sync; billboards, trading cards and promotional events. The website introduces a set of characters such as "The Loud One," "The Poetic One," "The Illest One," "The Weightless One," The Bleepy One" and more - all of whom include their own elements of "personification" in the form of wallpaper, IM icon and trading card downloads. Unfortunately for the ADD, quick cut target audience, the trading cards are big, fat PDF downloads rather than simple, faster image files.

Quoted in the New York Time, Pepsi agency TBWA Worldwide Chairman and CEO Lee Clow explains the campaign. "Kids are so smart, they'll call you out on overt marketing in a minute. So telling them a 'one-calorie, great taste' story is so ho-hum to them. If you engage them in unorthodox ways, with a bit of grace, charm, whimsy, fun and discovery you can actually ask them to buy something."

Posted by Steve Hall at 09:40 AM | Comments (0)

Bayer's Aleve Gets Movie (Mis) Quote Treatment In Ads

Freelance Wall Street Journal Online Columnist Carl Bialik, writing on his Gelf Magazine site, points out ads for Bayer's Aleve have gone a bit overboard taking supportive FDA quotes out of context to make Aleve sound better than it really is. Granted, the FDA has no problem with Aleve but Bialik examines how a current Aleve ad campaign has "massaged" and mis-attributed certain quotes, much like movie marketers do, to glean positive endorsement. While Bayer and Aleve are above board products, it's an interesting look at the length to which marketers go to insure their products are perceived in the most positive light.

UPDATE: Because of Bialik's article, Bayer, at the request of Dow Jones, has changed the wording in its ads to more accurately attribute the quote.

Posted by Steve Hall at 09:04 AM | Comments (0)

Rabble Enhances Mobile Blogging

Mobile device content enabler Intercasting Corporation has introduced Rabble, a mobile blogging application for Qualcomm's BREW handsets. Rabble will enable users to create and distribute content via mobile devices. It's all part of a newly created category called Location-aware Media Networking Operators.

The application bolsters web-based blogging by adding location awareness, proximity and camera phone integration to create a mobile-specific tool to help create user-generated content and community. With Rabble, mobile content is tagged with location information and other descriptive data that helps users find each other based on the media they create and where they create it. Users can create their own channels, where they collect and store content to inform, entertain, interact and connect with the surrounding environment.

Harnessed properly, marketers could piggyback on this tag based method of identifying relevant content and delivered finite, personalized messaging. Everyday, we get closer to Minority Report.

Posted by Steve Hall at 08:48 AM | Comments (0)

Denmark Recruits Spies With Ad Campaign

Not usually the sort of thing openly discussed in public media, Denmark's Danish Defense Intelligence Service has decided the best way to recruit spies is through advertising.

The 8 million dollar campaign, running nationally in newspapers, hopes to decrease Denmark's reliance on foreign intelligence regarding the situation in Iraq.

UPDATE: Åsk Wäppling of Adland reports: "Hey I found out where the ad ran by the way, I read in this afternoons tabloid that the ads ran on Sunday in "the morning papers", and the initial report about the ads (which Reuter then picked up) came from Berlinske Tiderna newspaper. Our morning paper is Politiken, one of the top three, and there is no ad from FE (the national defense information) in that paper."

Posted by Steve Hall at 08:02 AM | Comments (0)

March 15, 2005

AdWeek to Launch Non-Traditional Advertising Focused Magazine

Debuting Monday, March 21, AdWeek will introduce a new magazine called Other Advertising which will cover non-traditionl advertising categories it defines as mass transit, sports stadiums, in-store, product placement, cinemas, elevators, cell phones, guerrilla marketing. Content will include business news, case studies, profiles and guest editorials.

Editorial Director Adam Remsen said, "Other Advertising's purpose is to help media buyers make the best decisions by bringing new advertising media to their attention, highlight the companies doing the best work and act as a central hub where ideas and pertinent issues are discussed and investigated."

Other Advertising will be packaged with 30,000 hand-delivered copies of Adweek, Mediaweek and Brandweek reaching media buyers, corporate brand marketers and advertising agency executives.

Posted by Steve Hall at 03:35 PM | Comments (0)

Heineken Europe Launches H.E.L.L.O. Launch Mission

Perhaps the strangest beer promotions to date, Heineken Europe has launched the Heineken European Life Long Observatory or H.E.L.L.O. The site consists of an interplanetary mission complete with launch sequences, confusing geek speak and videos of futuristic brewing methods. The site, launched sometime in February, is counting down to arrival - currently 16 days away. Take a look.

Posted by Steve Hall at 03:33 PM | Comments (0)

Report: Starcom Predicts Future of Consumer Contact

In a new report called NEXT, Starcom Mediavest has put forth 11 prognostications regarding the future of consumer contact. In the report, Starcom highlights the following:

• Clients will produce more customized TV creative specifically for the broadband space.
• Blogs will become more mainstream and citizen-generated.
• Agencies will push programming development.
• The number of networks that target Hispanics on digital cable will grow five-fold over the next 10 years.
• Gaming will move into "connected space" and make digitally distributed gaming content more mainstream.
• The next hot category will be shopping magazines-for women, men, the home and babies.
• Advertising overload threatens radio
• Mobile marketing will push to create a dialogue with self-selected hand raisers, as opposed to recreating online ad serving models.

Here is a PDF overview of the findings.

Posted by Steve Hall at 10:29 AM | Comments (0)

MTV Promotes Spring Break With Hot Eskimos

If life as an Eskimo causes a woman to fantasize she's tongue kissing a hunk - but in reality is tongue kissing her dog - while watching MTV in her igloo all in the name of promoting MTV's Spring Break 2005 in Cancun, well, we guess we'll go along with it.

Posted by Steve Hall at 10:27 AM | Comments (0)

Match.com Launches Online Magazine

Perhaps to offer its female member more than simply pictures and vitals of men on the prowl, Match.com has launched the online magazine Happen Magazine, an advice filled excuse to grow its membership base and "extend its brand." As proof this is a site most women might want to steer clear of, one of the featured articles is entitled "Dating Tips From reality TV."

Posted by Steve Hall at 10:18 AM | Comments (0)

Mazda Traps Brats With Mazda 6 Commercial

Rick Bruner sent us a link to a British commercial for the Mazda 6 station wagon. For parents, it's an all too familiar situation. A delightful ride in the country in ruined by the incessant bickering between the kids in the back seat. In this commercial, Mazda has the solution in the form of a spring loaded, fold down rear seat.

Posted by Steve Hall at 10:04 AM | Comments (0)

March 14, 2005

Louisville Launches Grass Roots 'Weird' Campaign

A grass roots campaign that grew out of discussions amongst small retailers facing larger chains such as WalMart yielded an advertising campaign to support local businesses. The campaign, developed by Boulder Colorado based Boulder Book Store owner David Bolduc and others, is funded by an alliance of local businesses who have an interest in co-existing with larger chain stores. The campaign has appeared in Boulder, Raleigh and now Louisville. Beginning late last year, the Loiusville campaign carries the headline, "Keep Louisville Weird."

The ad appears on billboards and on busses.

The campaign hopes to stave off community homogenization. Whether campaigns such as this will win out over consumer's desire for the lowest possible price is unclear. Quite clear, though, is the dehumanization of local culture and the increasing inability to think in un-homogenize ways.

Posted by Steve Hall at 08:31 PM | Comments (0)

Dogvertising Makes eBay Debut

While the idea is over two years old, all those eBay ads selling forehead space, pregnant belly space and cleavage have motivated "hipchewy" to sell his/her dog as ad space. The dog, Peanut, is a Wiener dog and the ad claims Peanut will wear branded clothing anywhere its owner takes her. Starting bid is $1,500. Hello, GoldenPalace?

Posted by Steve Hall at 03:25 PM | Comments (0)

Viral Advertising Association Launched

On the heels of the recent launch of the Word of Mouth Marketing Association and the recent shutdown of the Viral and Buzz Marketing Association's Soflow Network, Asa Bailey, UK-based viral advertising practitioner, has launched the Viral Advertising Association.

The Association's mission is "to promote viral advertising to the wider marketing industry. Through working with other individuals and organisations to provide a better understanding of how viral advertising works, and to demonstrate why it should be a part of every modern media plan."

The association hopes to provide support and research to marketers and advertisers interesting in viral advertising. The Association's founder, Asa Bailey, is also founder of the Viral Awards and was behind the Ogilvy & Mather domain name highjacking.

Posted by Steve Hall at 01:26 PM | Comments (0)

DJ Offers Sneak Peek At Range Rover Photo Shoot

Writing on his weblog (see, everyone has one now), KFOG DJ Big Rick Stuart explains how he peered out his window Saturday morning and got a peek at a photo shoot in progress for the 2006 Range Rover Sport. Check out his observations and see a bigger picture of the shoot here.

Posted by Steve Hall at 12:43 PM | Comments (0)

Kid-Focused Channel One Business Model Questioned

In an apparent state of dis-repair, failing equipment, heightened criticism and exiting advertisers, Chris Whittle's Channel One, the in school network that turns kids in 12,000 schools into advertiser controlled consumer zombies, is suffering badly. Consumer advocate Gary Ruskin holds nothing back in his contempt for the business model.

"Channel One’s repugnant business model of forcing children to watch ads in school is failing." said Gary Ruskin, executive director of Commercial Alert, a nonprofit organization that opposes the commercialization of education. "This is just the latest instance of the rejection of the commercial culture and its spread into the schools."

"Parents are fed up with corporations interfering with their relationship with their own children,” Ruskin said. "Across the country, people are finally coming to realize that pushing advertising at school children is intolerable, outrageous and wrong." A press release from Ruskin's group sites some examples hinting towards a rebellion against kid targeted advertising. The disintegration of the ZapMe! Corp, the defeat of Time-Warner’s plans to put ads on CNN Student News, and the removal of soda pop or other junk food marketers in California, Texas, Maine, Arkansas, Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles, Nashville, New York, Oakland, Philadelphia, San Francisco and Seattle, among other places are reasons the group thinks Channel One is headed for trouble.

Oddly, Channel One was founded in 1990, long before the current advertising landscape become so overwhelming that, short of sitting in a prison's solitary confinement cell, avoiding advertising is now near impossible. Perhaps properly crafted and vetted commercials aimed at kids were, at one time, acceptable. Today, that seems to be an impossibility as marketers fight for a slot in the increasing tidal wave of messaging crashing down on people. That fight has caused the inevitable backlash against all kinds of advertising amplifying the focus on the low hanging fruit of kid-focused advertising. When a six year old daughter says she doesn't want to eat a piece of bacon because it will make her fat, there's concern. Even responsible parents have difficulty contending with the onslaught of messaging that really has no place finding its way to children's ears.

Posted by Steve Hall at 11:52 AM | Comments (0)

Weblogs Are The New Spam

In a horrifically depressing statement, blog monitoring firm Technorati CEO David Sifry points to the growing number of fake blogs launched simply to take advantage of a weblog's ability to trick search engines into ranking web pages higher than they normally would be in search results. Steve Rubel points out it's simple human nature. Once some idiot realizes he can hack something to his benefit, he will do so. Rubel suggests it will mostly be up to search engines themselves to find a way to eradicate this problem.

Posted by Steve Hall at 10:58 AM | Comments (0)

For Those Who Haven't Heard, Blogging Is Good For Marketing

iMediaConnection contributor Robert Moskowitz offers up the standard reasons why marketers should consider adding a weblog to their marketing plans. Pardon us for yawning as we've heard it all before but with respect to those who still haven't, Moskowitz says blogs put a human face on a company, can be useful in obtaining free research, can tie people closer to a company by involving them with the comment section of the blog, provide a platform to leverage industry opinion leaders and can increase the awareness of a company through weblog's ability to climb high on Google's search results for the company.

Posted by Steve Hall at 10:24 AM | Comments (0)

YSL Fragrance Ad Gets Parody Treatment

A recent ad for the YvesSaintLaurent women's fragrance Cinema which features a woman surrounded by a bunch of tuxedo-clad men ogling her has received the parody treatment. b3ta member "JimVin" has altered the ad a bit to perhaps point out the less than intentional notion brought to mind by this ad. See a larger version here and the original ad here. As an added bit of humor, note the fragrance's name change on the bottle.

Posted by Steve Hall at 10:13 AM | Comments (0)

Adidas Launches Transfixing Intelligent Shoe Spot

Rick Bruner points out a new ad for Adidas. With music composed by Squeak E. Clean featuring Karen O of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs and directed by Spike Jones, TBWA/Chiat/Day San Francisco has come up with an entrancing new spot for Adidas's new intelligent shoe.

Posted by Steve Hall at 09:36 AM | Comments (0)

Ad Age Columnists Debate Methods of Advertising

Ad Age Editor Scott Donaton and Ad Age Editor in Chief, this week, write dueling columns on where advertising is headed. Crain claims the expansion of advertising into channels beyond the traditional and the expected is a dangerous path for marketers to take. Following that is Donaton's excited embrace of new marketing platforms such as VOD, Podcasting (that's one word, Scott), video games and IM and acknowledged decline of mass media.

While it might be fun to tear each of these viewpoints apart, it's not warranted because they are both right. Traditional media isn't going away, it's just changing. New media isn't the answer to everything, it's just mirroring people's changing media consumption habits. They are both right because they acknowledge that great creative (the art part and the thinking part) is the glue that holds together successful advertising. Without it, no delivery channel, old or new, matters.

Posted by Steve Hall at 09:02 AM | Comments (0)

Marketers Take Notice: Forbes Ranks Top Corporate Hate Sites

Rick Bruner tipped us to this story about corporate hate sites. Forbes has published an article on the top corporate hate sites - those sites published by, in some cases, raving lunatics, who have a serious axe to grind with a particular company. While it's easy to brush off these sites assuming few will see, with the advent of weblogs, combined with the already ubiquitous power of forums, chat and email, it would behoove any marketer who appears on this list to give serious consideration toward remedying the reasons behind the launch of the site.

Forbes ranked the sites on "ease of use, frequency of updates, number of posts, hostility level (angrier is better), relevance, and entertainment value." Tops on the list are KB Homes for KBhomesucks, PayPal for Paypalsucks, Allstate Insurance for Allstateinsurancesucks, Microsoft for MS-Eradication, American Express for Amexsux, Wal-Mart for Walmart-Blows, Verizon for Verizonpathetic, United Airlines for Untied and UPS for UnitedPackageSmashers.

Of great importance to marketers, Forbes asked the creators of each of these site what each marketer would have to do to get the creator to take down the site. Predictably, the requirements are stiffer than most marketers would be willing to adhere to. As people are empowered with increasingly more wide reaching platforms on which to air their gripes, marketers should actively join these conversations rather than react to them with standard measures such as simply ignoring the complaints or engaging in tired, lame law suits. If a site like Subservient Chicken can become as popular as it did, there's no reason a hate site like McDonaldsMakesYouMassive couldn't become equally popular.

Posted by Steve Hall at 08:26 AM | Comments (0)

Weblogs Inc. Launches 'Focus Ads'

On its Engadget gadget weblog, Weblogs Inc. has launched "focus-ads," which, in a nutshell, add the blogging Comment feature to the bottom of a display ad allowing readers to comment on and discuss the advertiser.

It's a welcome move toward establishing more of a conversational relationship between advertiser and consumer as long as both parties participate. The weblog platform enables this beautifully. The advertiser can glean insight into people's reaction and perception of their offering as well as offer feedback to people's queries.

Posted by Steve Hall at 06:41 AM | Comments (0)

March 11, 2005

Saatchi Goes On Legal Rampage Following 'Saatchi 17' Exodus

The big kahunas at Saatchi & Saatchi have decided to go on the legal warpath following the exodus of Vice Chairman Creative Director Mike Burns along with 16 others and their subsequent hire by Interpublic. The group worked on the General Mills account while at Saatchi.

In a statement, Saatchi said, "Saatchi & Saatchi has today commenced a lawsuit against Michael Burns in the Supreme Court of the State of New York, County of New York. The lawsuit seeks damages and other relief against Mr. Burns. Upon advice of counsel, we will have no further comment."

It's unclear what sort of damages Saatchi expects to recoup. So far, General Mills is still on the agency's client roster. Granted, the account is a bit understaffed right now but with 17 fewer people to pay, it sure seems like Saatchi is temporarily ahead of the game, at least financially.

Posted by Steve Hall at 05:03 PM | Comments (0)

Internet A Treasure Trove Of Information For Marketers

Because of the pervasiveness of the Internet, the use of chat rooms, IM, forums, email and weblogs, the level of "consumer conversation" has risen dramatically. The beauty of this, for marketers, is that it's all digitized, right there on servers across the globe, to be examined and analyzed for future product development and marketing. Research firm BuzzMetrics has taken advantage of these vast resources and made a business out of culling data and analyzing it for marketers. It's most recent report takes a look at artificial sweeteners.

If something doesn't change soon, it seems all food is going to come out of a machine and contain nothing but hard to categorize, unpronounceable. man-made ingredients. It's already happening, and has been for some time now, with artificial sweeteners. A recent study by BuzzMetrics indicates people are wising up to all this fakery and marketers may need to take note. According to BuzzMetrics, 45 percent of all artificial-sweetener discussions among over 200,000 monitored trend-setting consumers in online health and nutrition forums were negative in the fourth quarter of 2004. Specifically, 14 percent of discussions recommended using natural sweeteners instead; 13 percent warned of side effects; 11 percent advocated for limited intake; and seven percent complained of unpleasant taste.

Conversely, 42 percent of artificial-sweetener discussions were in favor of them in some way. Specifically, 19 percent discussed regular usage; 17 percent advocated their use in cooking; and six percent recommended them over natural sweeteners.

This is just a tiny snapshot of the "conversations" that are out there for companies to look at when they consider the development of a product or the marketing of an existing product. It's not an easy task but there's never before been a time when so much information has been available about people preferences, opinions and habits.

Posted by Steve Hall at 03:23 PM | Comments (0)

Google's AdSense Makes Money For Publishers

A lengthy article in today's USA Today discusses Google's AdSense program, an automated advertising system that matches advertiser's text ads with website content, and how it is making money for publisher with little effort by publisher. Some publishers are content to bring in $300-$500 per month.

Chris Pirillo, publisher of gadget site Lockernome and former TechTV host, says he makes $10,000 per month. We can say from experience, as a small publisher, it's the easiest, most painless way to make money.

Posted by Steve Hall at 12:03 PM | Comments (0)

Tara Reid's Boob Verbally Exposed In Ad

Tara Reid can't seem to keep her boobs out of the press. First, they're protruding ponderously following a dramatic breast enlargement. Second, the boob job is displayed for all to see as the strap of her dress falls off at a press conference revealing one of her now mammoth, yet freakish looking breasts. And third, that event spawned a reference in an ad for the luxury high rise Sky Las Vegas. Copy in the ad reads, "Dear Tara Reid. Come let it all hang out."

Unsurprisingly, she has filed a lawsuit. Perhaps a bit of advice is needed here: Tara, if you're gonna increase the size of your breasts three to four cup sizes, people are gonna notice. I know it doesn't make sense. After all, they are just bags of flesh. Well, in your case, saline or something. But anyway, people like to look at big breasts and talk about them. And take pictures of them. Sure, you didn't know you bared your boob for all to see while looking like a mindless bimbo and I suppose we can forgive you for that. Afterall, fake boobs don't move much, do they? How could you have known one of them had fallen out? Tara, If you didn't want all the attention, you shouldn't have strapped on fake fun bags. Oh wait. I'm sorry. You do want the attention! After all, your acting isn't getting you any.

Posted by Steve Hall at 10:49 AM | Comments (0)

Study: Blogs Reach High Income, Educated Audience

BlogAds Founder Henry Copeland has published the firm's second blog readership study. The results align closely with last years. Highlights include:

• 75% are over 30
• 75% are men
• 43% have HHI over $90K
• Most, 14%, are employed in education
• 71% have signed a petition
• 66% have contacted a politician
• 50% (highest of any media) rank blogs tops in usefulness for news and opinion

It's an actively involved, upscale, intelligent audience. Readers of blogs also read Atlantic Monthly, The Economist, The New Yorker, National Geographic, The Nation and The Wall Street journal. Clearly, not the People magazine audience. The entire study results are here.

Posted by Steve Hall at 10:26 AM | Comments (0)

Copywriter Publishes Nigerian Email Scam Novel

Former copywriter and creative director Rich Siegel has written a book, Tuesdays with Mantu: My Adventures with a Nigerian Con Artist, recounting his 7 week "experience" with a Nigerian email scam operation. It's a mix of fiction and non-fiction with the "experience" part being fiction and the scam background and scam emails being the non-fiction part. We haven't read it but it does sound interesting.

Oddly, it has Hollywood movie written all over it in our opinion.

Posted by Steve Hall at 09:15 AM | Comments (0)

WeatherBug Blogger Calls For Adware/Spyware Standards

Writing on the WeatherBug weblog, Chief Privacy Officer Dan O'Connell discusses the varying definitions of adware, spyware and ad supported software and calls for clearer definitions. O'Connell points out the terms are thrown about almost interchangeably which, he claims, can be hurtful to legitimate companies.

Hoping to clarify the confusion, O'Connell writes, "A year ago, I said in a Comment to the FTC, 'An important distinction should be drawn, however, between Adware ("any software that serves or facilitates advertising.") and 'advertising-supported software.' Unlike Adware, whose sole functionality is to display advertisements, advertising-supported software presents a core value proposition and functionality that is of benefit to the consumer, and separate and apart from its ability to serve advertisements. The CDT, in its Comment of March 4, 2004, highlighted the Eudora email application as a 'successful and user-friendly example of ad-supported software.' Advertising support is a legitimate revenue model that allows software developers a means to offer beneficial software at little or no cost to consumers. Other examples of successful ad-supported software products include AOL Instant Messenger, eFax, The Weather Channel’s Desktop Weather, and WeatherBug."

It's clear that concise definitions are needed. It's also clear the definitions will continue to be twisted to the benefit of the less than reputable companies doing business in this area. But the effort must be made in spite of continued abuse by scumware purveyors.

Posted by Steve Hall at 08:53 AM | Comments (0)

Service Provides Marketers PDF Distribution Tracking

Harkening back to the glory days of document management, Remote Approach has launched a new service that enables companies to track and manage Adobe Acrobat (PDF) documents through multiple distribution channels.

The online service allows users to easily tag their PDF documents so that when distributed, perhaps as part of a viral campaign, the PDF automatically interacts with a reporting system. The company says this allows companies to see whether their documents are being read, not just downloaded, and if they are being forwarded and distributed through channels like email and peer to peer.

"A lot of clients don't measure their full audience, relying only on their web site statistics," said John Bielby, President of Remote Approach. "Using this service will allow them to realize how widespread their PDF documents are being distributed. From a dollars and sense perspective, it's particularly important to companies trying to establish return on investment metrics for their online distribution channels."

Using a graphical reporting interface, Remote Approach clients can view and analyze reports in real time. Several pre-built reports provide access to high level analysis and functionality to export raw logs into the reporting or analysis tool of a company's choice.

Posted by Steve Hall at 08:31 AM | Comments (0)

WhizSpark Launches Local Advertising Events

Event planning company WhizSpark, located in Massachusetts is launching a series of social networking events for those in the advertising, entertainment and media industries. Called, appropriately, the Entertainment, Advertising and Media Industry Mixer, the events bring together entertainers, advertisers, radio station personalities, ad agency people, photographers, designers and brand managers for business networking. Out of these networking events, WhizSpark hopes to initiate collaboration on existing and new projects among industry practioners. The next event is March 29.

Posted by Steve Hall at 08:13 AM | Comments (0)

March 10, 2005

Automotive Web Promotion Brings Customers to Dealerships

Pontiac has launched "Catch A G6," a website where visitors can submit pictures of Pontiac G6's they have taken, get a free ringtone and be entered into a drawing to win a million dollars.

Smartly, the site provides dealer listing info so those in search of the million dollar prize will, if that can't find a G6 on the road, walk into dealerships to take the picture. You can be sure the sales force will be ready to pounce. Simple but smart promo.

Posted by Steve Hall at 02:42 PM | Comments (0)

ADBUMb Newsletter Bans Spam, Choose Your Headline

When we received this press release, we responded to the sender there'd be two ways to go with this story. Neither complimentary to the company in question. Still, we were urged to provide coverage. Obligingly, we are happy to do so. Here's the two headlines we came up with. You can choose which one suits your take on the story.

AdBumb to Ban Spam, Spyware, Adware Ads From Newsletter, Lays Off Staff As Ad Revenue Plummets. [Ed. Well, not yet, at least]

And now , the release:

ADBUMb, Inc., (http://www.adbumb.com) the #1 Online Advertising newsletter, today announces its decision to ban from its pages advertisements that promote spam, spyware or adware installed without user permission. In so doing, ADBUMb, the industry leader, becomes the first publication in online advertising to adopt a formal policy prohibiting such advertisements.

"The editorial team at ADBUMb came out long ago as being strongly opposed to the prevalence of spam and spyware in this industry," explained Elizabeth Hines, the Editor-in-Chief of ADBUMb. "We consider ourselves a watchdog publication, protecting the community from precisely these kinds of bad faith initiatives. Formally adjusting our advertising policy to reflect our beliefs is simply a natural progression, and we hope to see other publications take a similar stance in their own policies."

According to Arthur Barbato, Director of Advertising at ADBUMb, "It’s important to remember that the vast majority of online advertisers do not support the use of this kind of technology. Our advertisers are professional businesspeople who do not care to be associated with unsolicited email and other illegal operations, and this move will go a long way in helping advertisers feel comfortable with the company they are keeping when they advertise in ADBUMb."

The proliferation of spam, spyware and non-permission based adware has of late become a central challenge to the integrity of online advertising. To assist in cultivating a law abiding industry that refuses to condone non-consensual actions taken against consumers, ADBUMb has made the choice to take a firm stand on what kind of products it will promote in its ad space.

In adopting this new policy, ADBUMb hopes to encourage fellow industry members to move toward a prosperous future in legal, permission based usages.

Well, which headline is better?

Posted by Steve Hall at 09:03 AM | Comments (0)

March 09, 2005

McDonald's Campaign Translated: Don't Eat Our Food

While it would be so much fun to jab McDonald's for its recently launched, duplicitous eat healthy ad campaign, we're going to restrain ourselves.

We're not going to call it a veiled effort at heading off lawsuits or a double-talk marketing strategy similar to tobacco company funded anti-smoking campaigns. We're not going to call attention to the fact that maybe, just maybe, the millions spent on this campaign are simply being spent to further increase McDonald's market share. We're not going to point out the ludicrous analogy of showing animated fast food paraphernalia demonstrate proper exercise in the ads. We're not going to suggest a great headline for this campaign would be, "Don't Eat At McDonald's." And, we're not going to point out that it's parents, not McDonald's, that need to be hit over the head with a nutritionally balanced 2 X 4. No, we're just going to sit back, smile, and enjoy one of the most expensive, grasp at survival, PR campaigns launched in recent history.

Posted by Steve Hall at 12:57 PM | Comments (0)

Ad Campaign: Don't Tell Your Kid About Your Big Butt

As we go through our day wondering aloud if we should lose some wait and exercise or whether or butt or boobs are too big, we often forget what sort of messages that sends to kids, or so goes the thinking behind a new ad campaign from Toronto Public Health. The currently running campaign, called "Your Kids Are Listening," shows pictures of kids beneath commonly utter adult phrases such as, I never seem to find time to exercise," Does my butt look too fat in these jeans," and I could stand to lose a few pounds."

While well intended, it's unlikely parents are going to start saying, "Damn, baby. I love your fat, floppy ass!" or "Honey, don't go workout today, I love that your beer gut crushes me when you're on top of me."

or "Babe, you don't need a reduction. I love that your boobs hang to your waist." The campaign includes brochures that explain how to live a healthy lifestyle by example so parents don't have to worry about comenting on their thunder thighs within earshot along with some beneficially squishy copy on self esteem.

Posted by Steve Hall at 12:14 PM | Comments (0)

Wrigley's Brings Back the Doublemint Twins

In what could be a turning point for marketers yearning to re-connect with jaded consumers, Wrigley's has brought back the Doublemint Twins of yester-year when all that mattered was whether or not you went to the prom or if you had The Preppy Handbook. Rather than take the lowbrow Coor's hottie twins approach, Wringley's and its agency, BBDO Chicago, chose, smartly, to go with nostalgic kitsch factor. The television commercial shows two impossibly innocent looking - by today's standards - twins dressed in cutsey 60's dresses anachronistically riding their bicycle through vignettes of today singing, "You didn't double your pleasure, you just doubled your pain" and, in a nod to today's oddities, "Deodorant's extreme, water's got caffeine, even the news is mean."

As part of the campaign, Wrigley's is holding an online and physical casting call in search of other pairs of twins for future campaigns.

UPDATE: Footage from the old campaign.

Posted by Steve Hall at 11:13 AM | Comments (0)

Wrigley's Brings Back the Doublemint Twins

In what could be a turning point for marketers yearning to re-connect with jaded consumers, Wrigley's has brought back the Doublemint Twins of yester-year when all that mattered was whether or not you went to the prom or if you had The Preppy Handbook. Rather than take the lowbrow Coor's hottie twins approach, Wringley's and its agency, BBDO Chicago, chose, smartly, to go with nostalgic kitsch factor. The television commercial shows two impossibly innocent looking - by today's standards - twins dressed in cutsey 60's dresses anachronistically riding their bicycle through vignettes of today singing, "You didn't double your pleasure, you just doubled your pain" and, in a nod to today's oddities, "Deodorant's extreme, water's got caffeine, even the news is mean."

As part of the campaign, Wrigley's is holding an online and physical casting call in search of other pairs of twins for future campaigns.

UPDATE: Footage from the old campaign.

Posted by Steve Hall at 11:12 AM | Comments (0)

March 08, 2005

Family Group Warns Parents And Marketers About Marketing to Children

Insuring it is part of the growing conversation on viral and buzz marketing, particularly as it applies to children, the National Institute on Media and Family has launched an offline and online ad campaign targeting marketing and parent-related websites. The campaign appears on ClickZ, Ad Age.com, AdWeek.com, MediaWeek.com, Child.com and Parents.com and directs people to a recently launched weblog calling attention to a viral and buzz marketing code of ethics just launched by the Word of Mouth Marketing Association.

A full page print ad appeared in the print version of Ad Age as an open letter to execs at agencies that have been involved with viral marketing.

As we've said before, we don't think viral and buzz marketers are shoving dangerous messages down kids throats anymore than other marketers have done for years. Kids are smart. They are not duped easily. Viral and buzz marketers are not pedophiles. NIMF isn't John Hathorne during the Salem Witch Trials. All parties just need to go have a drink together and get over this overblown animosity.

In fact, WOMMA should, if it hasn't already, extend an invitation to members of NIMF to attend its upcoming Word of Mouth Marketing Summit in Chicago March 29-30.

Posted by Steve Hall at 04:55 PM | Comments (0)

Style Network Launches 'Craft Corner Deathmatch'

The knitting needles and glue guns come out tonight for the debut of the Style Network's Craft Corner Deathmatch, a show in which dueling crafters are pit againts each other in a battle of stitch and bitch. What's next? "Bolt Tightening Brawl?"

Posted by Steve Hall at 01:12 PM | Comments (0)

NBC's 'The Contender' Pulls Strings, Not Ratings

We're a sucker for repetitive Jerry Bruckheimer theme music and the blatant use of kids for manipulative emotional appeal. We admit we're a fan of all things Mark Burnett and Sylvester Stallone. And we can appreciate a good, kick ass face pounding from time to time. NBC's The Contender, the latest Mark Burnett reality show, delivered all that last night leading us to believe another hit may be in the making. Unfortunately, according to overnight ratings as published in Marc Berman's MediaWeek Programming Insider, that's unlikely to happen."The Contender debuted with a disappointing 5.3/ 8 in households (#2), 8.40 million viewers (#2) and a 4.1/10 among adults 18-49 (#2) from 9:30-11 p.m."

So much for Bruckheimer's swelling French horns.

Posted by Steve Hall at 01:02 PM | Comments (0)

Volunteer Organization Promotes With Job Rejection Viral Site

To promote itself, do-it, a UK-based volunteer organization created a website called the National Job rejection Database, a site where those who recently interviewed for work but were not hired can search for reasons why they weren't hired. Of course, it's all a joke and after you've entered your name, job applied for, company and date, you are taken to a page with a humorous description as to why you were not hired. That is, until the page automatically progresses to another with the gigantic headline, "Just Kidding!" and the sub-head, "We made up the NJRD. But volunteer work really is a great way to improve your CV."

This is an intriguing viral. (There's a send-to-a-friend form) It's engaging enough but doesn't keep you guessing too long before it reveals its true self and takes you to a site where you can sign up for volunteer work. While funny, it might not be all that funny to someone who has been unsuccessful at finding a job only to be presented with an unpaid opportunity but we think everyone will see the humor.

Posted by Steve Hall at 10:05 AM | Comments (0)

Race Horse Center of Drunk Driving Ad Campaign

It's not that the name of this particular race horse sounds odd - they all do. It's that the name of this horse is central to a New Zealand-based, anti drunk driving campaign. The Land Transport Safety Authority plans to use the name, Dontdrinkanddrive, for a race horse bred by Sir Patrick Hogan. No, not that one. That was Paul Hogan.

The apparent strategy of race fans hearing the name, Dontdrinkanddrive, over and over and over again before, during and after horse races, might cause that sixth beer not to be consumed before heading home.

Clemenger BBDO is behind the naming strategy.

Not everyone thinks it's a good move. National MP (some sort of high ranking government official, we guess) said, "I haven't come across anyone who has heard this story and hasn't fallen about laughing. I'm not sure that's how they want road safety messages taken." What do you think?

Posted by Steve Hall at 09:08 AM | Comments (0)

RV Ad Targets Gays

In creating a commercial for Go RVing, The Richards Group of Dallas has tossed stereotypes to the wind.

Instead of featuring the usual grey haired, twilight of life retired couple enjoying some god forsaken nightmare of a trailer park in Florida, the agency created an ad targeting young, hot gays. At least according to CG, an openly gay man writing on Appreciate the Cheese. We tend to trust the gaydar of those living the lifestyle rather than our limited, married with two kids lifestyle.

Recent research by Harris Interactive pointed to three new prospects for RV marketing: families with children, weekend recreation and sports buffs and outdoor escapists. Though there seemed to be nary a mention of gay men who have female friends and like to look longingly at each other.

Intriguingly, the spot is done well. It's not one of those spots that screams, "Look! See! we're targeting some different people here! We're trying real hard to be cool about it! Bear with us until we return to the usual bland, boring, watered down, please all demographic, ethnic and psychographic group commercials." It's subtle - sure to fly high over the head of those who might take issue with this sort of thing.

It's a fairly dramatic shift in traditional RV marketing. There's no reason only retired folk should enjoy the open road from a box on wheels. Read CG's commentary here. See the spot here.

Posted by Steve Hall at 07:39 AM | Comments (0)

March 07, 2005

Product Placement Firm Sued By Mark Burnett Productions

Purveyor of reality TV series and product placements galore, Mark Burnett Productions has sued product placement firm Madison Road claiming it charged its clients, Crest, Levi's and Mars 2.5 times Burnett's normal product placement asking price. Even in an industry where everything is marked up, 250 percent oversteps things just a bit. No one's commenting, of course, beyond bland, say nothing statements.

Posted by Steve Hall at 03:44 PM | Comments (0)

Hot Girl On Car Action! Some Beer Ads Never Change

While we're sure there's plenty of other eye popping television commercials in this week's Ad Age TV Spots of the Week, we never quite got past the first one for James Boag, an Australian brewer. Shot in black and white, the commercial is yet another depiction of the typical male fantasy in which all women are hot and all they want to do is have sex - especially on top of a car. Visually, the spot is beautiful. Whether it sells beer really doesn't matter because, after all, beer ads are selling a lifestyle, not beer, right? Oh, and the other spots? Quickly. Nascar, Pepsi Sierra Mist, Embassy Suites, GM, UPS, EA Sports and Gatorade.

Posted by Steve Hall at 11:22 AM | Comments (0)

Columnist Slams PR Management of ANA President's TV Slam

Oh, the feathers have been ruffled in media land today. Last week, ANA President Bob Liodice wrote a post in his blog, ANA Marketing Musings. It was an insightful look at some of the elements hurting the television medium such as ad clutter, high cost and lack of measurement. Reacting to that, MediaPost satirist George Simpson wrote a fake letter to Bob as if written by Meredith Topalanchik, who works for PR firm CooperKatz - the PR firm for the ANA - poking fun at Bob for not running his post by his PR folks before dumping on a medium of which the ANA has many members.

Still with us? We didn't think so. Anyway, in response to all of that, Steve Rubel, also with CooperKatz, bit back on his weblog Micro Persuasion in defense of his co-worker and in support of the open and free voice central to the characteristics of weblogs.

We don't know if George was having a bit of fun by lighting a snarky fire under the ANA and the plight of old fashioned public relations in the face of weblog proliferation or whether he truly believes blog posts should be edited by PR folks. We hope it's the former. We also hope he doesn't think an association should never say anything bad about itself or its members. We also hope he thinks insightful conversation about the issues facing the advertising industry are also a good thing. In fact, we know he does. George love to stir things up like this.

Posted by Steve Hall at 10:15 AM | Comments (0)

Star Wars III Trailer to Debut on FOX's 'The O.C.'

Smack in the middle of teen angst and Mischa Barton's horrific acting, viewers will be treated to the world premiere of the Star Wars III trailer during this week's episode of FOX's shark-jumping 'The O.C.' The trailer will then be widely released to, assuredly, a point of saturation at which actually going to see the movie will become unnecessary.

Oh, and for those fans of Beck - five songs from his upcoming album, Guero, will premiere as will. Set your TiVo now!

Posted by Steve Hall at 09:37 AM | Comments (0)

FCC Tech Chief To Advertisers: Stop Annoying Or Face Regulation

Aligning nicely with an earlier nod we made regarding advertising industry regulation, FCC Chief of Technology Edmund J, Thomas, speaking last Friday at the AAAA's Conference said advertisers need to stop being so annoying and which he sees as a plea for regulation. He challenged the industry to find methods, and fast, of becoming less annoying especially in the face of new "smart" technology which has the potential to eradicate most forms of current advertising.

Posted by Steve Hall at 09:14 AM | Comments (0)

AOL's Advertising.com Dumps Adware

MediaPost reports it has learned AOL's Advertising.com, last fall, stopped doing business with Claria, WhenU and 180Solutions citing a statement from AOL spokesman Andrew Weinstein, who said, "From that review [conducted in Fall 2004], we decided to make clear that we would not do business with companies that distribute adware or spyware that intereferes with or damages our members' online experience."

Posted by Steve Hall at 08:57 AM | Comments (0)

March 06, 2005

Viral Marketing Discussed on American Public Media's Weekend America

Rex Sorgatz, who publishes Fimoculous, appeared this weekend on American Public Media's Weekend America and discussed viral marketing and its increasing use as a marketing tactic. From Burger King's Subservient Chicken to Raging Cow and other's Sorgatz discusses the pros, cons and considerations of viral marketing. The mp3 file is here. He's also compiled a detailed list of recent viral campaigns on his blog here.

Posted by Steve Hall at 01:58 PM | Comments (0)

March 05, 2005

KFC And JC Penny Commercial Music Choices Baffling

Tian aims our sights to The Indepundit, where some logic-challenged commercial song choices are discussed.

Kentucky Fried Chicken...sorry...KFC makes the geographically-challenged decision to uses part of Lynard Skynyrd's "Sweet Home Alabama" - a fairly angry song - in their television spots.

JC Penny used the 80's tune "99 Red Balloons" - a song about nuclear war - for a Valentine's promotion. While both marketers use just pieces of each song in their commercials, one must wonder what sort of "strategic thinking" led to choices like these. Perhaps no one reads or even hears song lyrics anymore. Perhaps no one wants to bother with the real meaning of the song as long as it has a catchy riff. Perhaps it's all irrelevant.

Posted by Steve Hall at 05:20 PM | Comments (0)

March 04, 2005

Court TV Promotes Series With Bawdy Campaign

Court TV ups the anti in its efforts to shed its prior, staid image with a double-entendre filled ad campaign for the new crime reality show Impossible Heist.

The series pits two teams of ripped six packs and big boobs against each other re-enacting famous crimes for real while attempting to elude capture.

The ad campaign features Catherine Zeta Jones Entrapment cat suit style imagery with the tagline, "Likes to work on all fours;" a woman scaling a building below the headline, "She'd Rather Be Tied Up Than Down" and others with equally sex-laden tags like "It's not the size of the tool, It's how you use it" and "Well hung." The creative will appear on buses, posters, boards, kiosks and other outdoor media.

Posted by Steve Hall at 03:10 PM | Comments (0)

Starbucks Murders Starship With Promotional Song

Gawker reports a Starbucks Licensed Store Awards event in Seattle featured a bastardized version of Jefferon Starship's "We Built This City" created, apparently, to celebrate, with employees, the chain's success.

Listen at your peril.

Posted by Steve Hall at 02:42 PM | Comments (0)

Talent Zoo Launches 'After Hours' Networking Events

Talent Zoo has announced After Hours, a series of offline networking events for advertising industry folks to gather socially. Talent Zoo says these events are not typical networking parties, but simply a reason to go out, have fun, meet friends and make new ones.

The After Hours events are free but an RSVP is required. In the coming months, After Hours will be in New York, Miami, D.C., Detroit, San Fran, Vegas, Boston, and Chicago, among others. The next event is in New York at the Pink Elephant March 9 at 6:30PM.

Posted by Steve Hall at 02:03 PM | Comments (0)

Conference to Illustrate Benefits of Video Game Advertising

The Advertising in Games Forum, April 14, 2005 at the Metropolitan Pavilion, in New York City, plans to explore the creative and audience targeting potential of video games as an advertising medium. The Forum will feature a keynote presentation by Mitch Davis, CEO of Massive Inc, the creator of one of the first video game advertising networks, as well as executives at industry leading game companies, technology companies and agencies.

Attendees will hear how brands can make use of the rapid expansion in new video game formats and technology platforms to reach target demographics and achieve ROI and tracking objectives. Attendees will learn how to address the increasingly fragmented gaming audience through a variety of alternate creative treatments; how the unique format of on-line ads affects creative and overall campaign costs; how to manage long development cycles for games; how ads can add realism to games, and how the relationship between the ad agency and the developer/publisher can be managed to mutual advantage.

Posted by Steve Hall at 01:25 PM | Comments (0)

Gillette Campaign Bathes Singapore Subway Station in Matrix Green

To promote its M3Power razor, Gillette and its media agency MindShare, cast a green glow on one of Singapore's busiest subway stops, City Hall MRT, by placing green transparency over most of the station's lighting. The station domination campaign also included the placement of station poster featuring spokesman David Beckham. If anyone from Gillette or MindShare have images, please share.

Posted by Steve Hall at 12:09 PM | Comments (0)

Martha Stewart to Benefit From Jail Time

Writing in Business Week, Diane Brady examines the market's reaction to Martha Stewart's time in jail and her release today. Brady says Stewart's company stock is up, Stewart stand to collect a big paycheck upon release, TV appearances and series abound (The Apprentice: Martha Stewart) and book deals are in the making.

Posted by Steve Hall at 11:11 AM | Comments (0)

Video On Demand Boggles Some, Not Adrants

At the AAAA's Conference in New Orleans this week, Comcast CEO Brian Roberts discussed his company's adoption and rollout of video on demand and how that will enable both Comcast and advertisers to serve the specific needs of individuals. During his speech, Roberts announced a partnership with Rentrak Corp. which will yeild monthly VOD metrics including counts for VOD-enabled boxes per market, views per month, unique box views per month and total monthly minutes viewed.

Discussion from the panel netted little additional insight into the understanding of VOD's potential for sustaining an advertising model.

To us, it's simple. VOD will simply be a video version of the Internet's point and click navigation scheme. Watch a program, see something of interest, click on it, show pauses, shifts to video of item of interest and so on. Product placement won't have to be so blatant. If a viewer likes what an actor is wearing, driving, eating, touching, etc., click on it and get more info about it. In fact, marketers won't pay for the actual product placement but, rather, pay for the link to the screen/video that contains more info on the item.

Of course, marketers will still engage in product placement efforts so that their product appears and can be clicked on. It's not a perfect model and we know you'll shoot holes right through it but we think it has potential.

Posted by Steve Hall at 11:00 AM | Comments (0)

Man Stands Out With Pot Noodle Horn

Assuredly among many, one of the advantages women have over men is their ability to become "interested" in someone without visibly "announcing" it for all to see. In this video for Pot Noodles, this poor chap, walking into a bar, has a very large public "announcement" in the form of The Pot Noodle Horn. At first, he denies to his friends he has The Pot Noodle Horn but then proudly displays it for all to see, embraces it and blows it loudly. He then scurries off, returns, disheveled but relieved, though with a bit of Pot Noodle "evidence" spilt on his clothes. Despite the description, this is perfectly safe to view at work.

Posted by Steve Hall at 10:34 AM | Comments (0)

March 03, 2005

Pop Up Purveyors Disrespectful of People's Preferences

One of the major reasons people use pop up blockers or switch to browsers like Firefox which have built in pop up blockers is to, no doubt, block pop ups. Serving pop ups is one thing. Ignoring people's preference to avoid them as a whole different animal. Companies that circumvent a consumer's choice to block pops by deploying anti-pop up/under blocking software are scum in our book. We use Firefox. Until recently, the past year and a half or so have been blissfully pop-free. A month or so ago, we have seen the resurgence of the pop while using Firefox. We don't like it.

Today, while visiting Dictionary.com, we were presented with a pop under. We forget the advertiser but we do know Advertising.com serves on-page banners to Dictionary.com. It's known that pop ups and unders do not always emanate from specific sites but from behavioral profiles built up over time so we aren't sure Dictionary.com or Advertising.com had anything to do with the pop.

Later today, while loathe to do so, we found it necessary to visit DrudgeReport. Sure enough, two pop unders appeared. This time, we paid more attention and saw that Tribal Fusion served the pop for Emode's Tickle. The other pop was one of those obnoxious flashing banners, this time, for travel site Travasaurus. We can't confirm who served that one but we sure like Drudge a lot less now that we did before.

Respect for peoples choice to opt out of seeing pop ads seems like a no brainer. It's sort of like answering "yes" to a waiter after he's asked if you're finished with your meal only to have him scrape what food might be left on the plate and jam it down your throat. It's just not a nice thing to do. Why is it so difficult for companies to grasp that concept? And we're not buying that whole argument that pops, like telemarketing work so they must be a OK. Times are changing. People aren't going to stand for this shit. Advertisers and sites should not stand for it either.

Posted by Steve Hall at 04:19 PM | Comments (0)

Virgin Mobile Launches 'Pee Strip' Insert

one of our Canadian readers sent us this magazine insert for Virgin mobile which asks readers to cut out a strip of paper from the insert and pee on in like a pregnancy test. As if anyone would actually do this is of no matter to Virgin Mobile. On the back of the insert, Virgin Mobile assumes the test was taken and asks, "Did you test positive for the Catch?" The "Catch," apparently, refers to competing cell phone provider's practice of tying discounts and promotions to loopholes or catches. The back of the insert lists symptoms of the "Catch" as "monthly billing discomfort, "unsightly hidden fees," irregular growth in rates" and "paralyzing contractual obligations." Of course, the offer close with Virgin Mobile's catch-free cell phone plan. We'll give it notice for being different. Larger images are here and here.

Posted by Steve Hall at 12:17 PM | Comments (0)

WeatherBug Launches Weblog

Leading the next great corporate marketing trend, desktop weather company WeatherBug has launched a weblog.

The goal of the weblog, it seems, is to address customer concerns and to offer insight into the weather gathering and weather reporting process. Since weather is high on everyone's daily news troll, a blog about the process might make sense.

Posted by Steve Hall at 11:43 AM | Comments (0)

Vegas Red Casino Launches Second Viral

Yesterday, we pointed to a video for Vegas Red Casino which showed a guy going to the doctor's office for his oversized right arm due to playing too many slots. Today, the second video, created by Keta Keta, illustrates playing the odds at Vegas Red Casino is much safer than playing the odds with a fan

Posted by Steve Hall at 10:53 AM | Comments (0)

Saatchi Picks Ups Pieces After Mass Exodus

Following the exit of General Mills Account Director Mike Burns and the 16 others who followed, Saatchi Worldwide has begun to rebuild naming Pete Johnson senior VP and creative director. In an unlikely scenario, General Mills is encouraging the group that left to at least speak with Saatchi about returning.

Obviously, there's deep secrets afoot here. Seventeen people don't up and leave without good reason. Not that anyone will do so, but we'd sure appreciate hearing little truth from anyone of those 17 former Saatchi staffers or others who have real facts surrounding the event.

If you are so inclined, we're happy to grant anonimity. Find us here.

Posted by Steve Hall at 09:54 AM | Comments (0)

CMP Announces Dogear Peelback Ad Unit

In a move that might actually make rich media acceptable, CMP Media's TechWeb Network, yesterday, announced the launch of a new ad unit - the Dogear Peelback. The Dogear Peelback is an animated graphic that resembles a folded over page corner, or dogear. The ad unit, which sits quietly in the corner of the page until activated by mouseover, can be customized to include the client's logo or other creative. When a user 'mouses' over the dogear, the entire page peels back to reveal the advertiser's landing page behind the TechWeb Network news page. The effect gives advertisers a about half of the page real estate. View the demo here.

Once opened, the unit has the obligatory "Close" button on the outer most flap of the unit. Clicking "Close" or simply mousing off that area of the page, closed the unit. Making the unit more dynamic might call for the addition of an "Open" button which would continue to peel back that page until it opens entirely to the advertisers page. Currently, it seems, clicking on the uncovered page is the only method of navigating to the advertiser's page. Minor picks aside, the ad unit makes great use of rich media while maintaining sensibility to flashy, rich media crazy overload like those ads that crawl across the page while you fight to fund their "close" button. So far, it seems, this unit has great promise.

Posted by Steve Hall at 09:37 AM | Comments (0)

Atlanta Subways to Get TV And Radio

In a move likely to be sold as beneficial to commuters but, in reality, made to increase transit revenue, the Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority will pipe programming and advertising into each of its 230 rail cars. The cars will be outfitted with 15 inch flat screen monitors offering local news from ABC affiliate WSB and an FM transmitter providing top 40, jazz and R&B.

The system, provided by The Rail Network, is the first of its kind and is destined to cause both praise and consternation. The Rail Network CEO David Lane says Atlanta stands to take in $20 million in advertising revenue over the next decade and is in talks with all other major metro transit systems to spread the system across the country.

Lane expects Washington, D.C. and Vancouver, Canada to sign on soon.

Posted by Steve Hall at 09:13 AM | Comments (0)

March 02, 2005

42 BELOW Vodka Promotes And Serves

42 BELOW Vodka took an appropriate approach to street marketing during the recent East Coast snow storm. From the 42nd parallel in New Zealand, to 42nd street in New York, 42 BELOW was out in the blizzard of Manhattan clearing snow from their favorite bars. Ten inches of fresh powder did not deter the 42 BELOW snow patrol team Monday night as they cleared a path from the curb to the door of Butter, Table 50, Hiro, Quo, 203 Spring, Caviar and Banana's, Snitch and Bungalow 8.

Posted by Steve Hall at 01:42 PM | Comments (0)

Frito-Lay Introduces Black Pepper Jack Doritos With inNw Campaign

Writing on ClickZ, Pamela Parker explains a campaign Frito-Lat launched to promote its new Doritos Black Pepper Jack flavor. The campaign began with teaser billboards containing the message "inNw" which then expanded to TV, text messaging and a website peppered with hip-speak unveiling the tagline, "If not now when?"

The campaign was targeted to 16-24 year olds and was created by BBDO, Tribal DDB Dallas and Hip Cricket.

Posted by Steve Hall at 01:09 PM | Comments (0)

Ads Are Not Always As Dirty As They Seem

When visiting the doctor's office, the waiting room is often filled with oddball characters which creates the need to play internal guessing games as to their ailment. This fellow, with a bulked up right arm, is mocked for engaging in a certain repetitive activity usually reserved for private spaces. As it turns out, he's simply a slot machine junky and it's an ad for Vegas Red Casino.

Posted by Steve Hall at 12:25 PM | Comments (0)

Head Hugging And Silly Singing Promote Pocky Candy

Here's a very weird Japanese commercial for a very weird Japanese chocolate product. If we knew Japanese French, maybe it would be more fun but watching these two girls hold each other's heads and place sticks of candy in their mouths is oddly transfixing. See some other weird ones here. The more you watch them, the more you'll like them.

Posted by Steve Hall at 09:11 AM | Comments (0)

New Emoticon Language Offers Therapy For Designers

Designer Ze Frank provides frustrated designers with a collection of substitute emoticons to use in response to emails from clueless account managers who think they know what they are talking about in terms of creative. If you've been berated one time too many by creative wannabes for work you think is great, check out Ze's instructional video on how to incorporate his emoticon "Punctuation Substitutions" into your next response to that puff bag loser.

If this takes off (or if it already has and we're the clueless loser), agency emails are destined to become a lot more interesting.

Posted by Steve Hall at 08:49 AM | Comments (0)

Yahoo Celebrates Tenth Anniversary With Netrospective

Highlighting 100 important moments of the web, Yahoo, today, is celebrating its tenth anniversary with a Netrospective.

The site includes a review of interesting events occurring along the ten year lifespan of Yahoo.

From Mahir, the first, though odd, web celebrity to the birth of Netscape and Google to the dancing baby to the hey days of Napster, the Yahoo Netrospective is a fascinating trip down memory lane. Well done, Yahoo.

Posted by Steve Hall at 08:16 AM | Comments (0)

March 01, 2005

State Bill Would Require Both Ad And Movie Start Times Advertised

A bill before Connecticut lawmakers would require theaters to advertise two start times - one for the time the actual movie start and another for the time the ads and previews begin. State Rep. Andrew Fleischmann claims consumers are being manipulated and that his bill has received the most attention of any bill he's proposed.

We wonder what's worse though. Sitting through ads and previews or enduring the noise and confusion of movie goers entering the theater just as the actual movie begins to roll. Not an easy choice. The only real answer to this, and all other ad clutter issue is for the American Association for Advertising Agencies, the Association of National Advertisers and perhaps others to get together and draft industry guidelines which would limit advertising placement in all media relative to the content in which the advertising appears. Not likely to happen though.

Posted by Steve Hall at 08:04 PM | Comments (0)

MasterCard,Regal Launch Co-Branded Cinema Campaign

In early February, it was announced Regal CineMedia Corporation , the media subsidiary of the Regal Entertainment Group and MasterCard would launch a co-branded card, Regal Entertainment Group Platinum MasterCard card, and pre-movie ad campaign. Launching this Friday, March 4, the campaign includes three cinema spots created by LA-based Johnson & Murphy.

The terms of the marketing agreement with MasterCard include a variety of on-screen and in-lobby promotional opportunities for Regal Entertainment Group's 560 theatres nationwide, reaching nearly 6,300 screens in 40 states.

Creatively, the three ads track the interaction between a guy doing movie character impersonations and a retail store check out girl who, first, wigs at the guy's propensity to take on Brando and the like, then warms to him and begins spouting characterizations of her own such as, "Dude, Where's My Card." Get it?

Posted by Steve Hall at 12:09 PM | Comments (0)

ANA CEO Says TV Is Getting Killed

Writing on his weblog, ANA Marketing Musings, Association of National Advertisers CEO Bob Liodice says TV, as an advertising medium, is being killed.

While we all know, TV is in trouble, Bob points to four major contributors to its struggle: clutter, high cost, lack of measurement and poor creative. We tend to agree. Is Bob right? Is TV getting killed? Who/what is killing it?

Posted by Steve Hall at 10:15 AM | Comments (0)

Overstock Ad Mesmerizes

Seth Stevenson, writing on Slate, analyzes why there's been so much discussion about a recent Overstock.com TV commercial featuring a woman talking about the "O." Seth clarifies, for us, it's not really about that O but about the O in Overstock. He then proceeds to list the reasons why some think this commercial is so engaging to the point of transfixtion. We don't see it but Seth says it's about the double entendre, the woman's accent (we don't hear one), the music, the white background and the "mesmerizing babe." Still, we don't see it. Do you? Read Seth's commentary here and watch the ad here.

Posted by Steve Hall at 09:31 AM | Comments (0)

JWT Gets Makeover, Time Becomes Central Focus

Yesterday, it was the birth of a new religion for JWT, formerly known as J. Walter Thompson, America's largest ad agency. In a day long, worldwide celebration, J. Walter Thompson officially transformed itself into the hip, new JWT, an agency which will "stop interrupting what people are interested in and be what people are interested in," according to the agency's new Creative Partnership Contract which all 8,500 employees signed yesterday.

Placing time as the agencies key focus, JWT will treat time as the new currency and endeavor to respect people's growing lack of time to process advertising messages. As a symbolic nod to this new thinking, JWT is auctioning off the company's time for a charity on...where else...eBay. Rather than placing a gigantic tattoo on all 8,500 JWT employees, the agency will provide something more meaningful - free work. The winner of the bid will donate the time to a charity organization.

In a move which may have Thompson either rolling in his grave or gleefully celebrating the shedding of his tired, old nautical persona, the legendary Commodore portrayed in portraits displayed in JWT offices around the world into a young, vigorous figure ready to compete in today's environment.

Bob Jeffrey, Chief Executive Officer of JWT Worldwide, said the rationale for the reinvention of the agency is rooted in consumer behavior and demands. "We are now living in a world where the consumer is savvy, time-conscious, easily distracted and in control. Today's consumer is totally at odds with dumbed-down, formulaic, repetitive, voluminous messaging. Our greatest value to clients is our ability to recognize a changing world in which the customer is king, the currency is time and the rewards are measured in the length and strength of relationships. This understanding defines our role, purpose and belief."

It sounds great in theory. Without jaded, snarky commentary, here's hoping the effort becomes reality.

Posted by Steve Hall at 05:51 AM | Comments (0)

Sony Launches New Gran Turismo 4 Site

We're really not much of a gamer so we don't know whether to be excited or not about the life like visuals in the new Gran Turismo 4 game. Looks like a movie to our innocent eyes. We're sure gamers will have their comments. The new site which supports the launch of the game, designed by Zugara, features info on all the cars in the game (over 700+ actual models), track views, video and an interactive quiz to try that queries players ability to discern between on real-life photos versus in-game footage.

We sure wouldn't know the difference. Gamers?

Posted by Steve Hall at 03:47 AM | Comments (0)

February 28, 2005

Burger King Germany to Launch 'Pimp My Burger' TV Show

As we snooped last week, Burger King is officially behind the PimpMyBurger promotion. Modeled after the MTV tuning show Pimp My Ride, Burger King Germany will launch Pimp My Burger, a show on which grilled meat, fresh salad and tomatoes will be discussed with the same enthusiasm tuners have for chrome rims, spoilers and paint. The show supports the launch of Burger King's Tender Crisp, a jacked up, supersized fried chicken sandwich. We're not sure for how long a "show" like this will keep interest but will give points for trying something a little different. The details will be released March 1 at PimpMyBurger.

Posted by Steve Hall at 12:14 PM | Comments (0)

Double Speak of Drug Ads to Change

Following concerns around Vioxx and Celebrex, happy go lucky drug commercials are likely to end.

According to a Kaiser Family Foundation study, just 18 percent of people believe the ads most of the time and an Ipsos-Insight study found 19 percent were prompted by an ad to call a doctor, down from 25 percent in 2002. The new direction drug ads take is unclear but some sense they will become more factual in terms of describing the disease and referring people to doctors as brands take the back seat.

Our sense is drug advertising is ridiculous in the first place. No one, other than a doctor, is in the position to make decisions on which drug is right for them. Promoting drugs to non-doctor consumers is pointless and just raises undue concern and questions. Other than aspirin and cold remedies, drug companies should limit their marketing to doctors - those able to make an informed decision of the appropriateness of the drug. The current explosion of drug ads is simply breeding a whole new generation of hypochondriacs.

Posted by Steve Hall at 12:01 PM | Comments (0)

Accountability Ranked Number One Among Advertisers

An annual survey by the Association of National Advertisers (ANA) conducted to help shape its Annual Conference in October 2005, ranked accountability as senior marketers' top priority. The survey asked senior marketers to choose their top three issues from a comprehensive list and then rank them in order of importance, from one to three. Of the 111 respondents, more marketers indicated a greater concern about ccountability (61 total responses) than any other issues. Building strong brand franchises and integrated marketing communications ranked closely in the second and third positions with 48 and 45 total responses respectively. While last year the same top three issues emerged from the survey, this year building strong brand franchises switched with accountability for the top issue on marketers' minds.

The following is the list of issues ranked in order of importance according to the total responses: -- Accountability -- Building strong brand franchises -- Integrated Marketing Communications -- Media fragmentation -- Structuring a marketing organization -- Consumer control over how they view advertising -- Innovation in a marketing organization -- Globalization of marketing efforts -- Growth of multicultural consumer segments -- Advertising creative that achieves business results -- Impact of technology on marketing -- Regulatory/legislative issues

Posted by Steve Hall at 11:53 AM | Comments (0)

Newspapers Face Tough Battle

A sweeping look at the long, slow decline of traditional newspapers, challenges facing publishers and new directions of the newspaper industry are covered in this piece.

The gist? A shift to "readership" instead of "circulation as a metric, migration to online properties, easier navigation and the unsolved debate over free versus paid.

Posted by Steve Hall at 11:45 AM | Comments (0)

FOX Sports, Mobil Content Provider Launch Copa Libertadores Promo

Fox Sports en Español, Fox Sports Latin America and Proteus, a developer and publisher of mobile entertainment content, have launched Fox Sports Copa Móvil, a suite of mobile products and services allowing fans to get in on the action of the Copa Libertadores, a prestigious club soccer tournament in the Americas. Fox Sports Copa Móvil initially will be available in the United States and Brazil, and soon to subscribers in Mexico and throughout Latin America. The service will include personalized score alerts, exclusive ringtones, mobile wallpapers, on-air polling, and mobile video services. Copa Móvil will be promoted throughout the tournament with in-game broadcast messaging and 30-second promotional spots on the Fox Sports en Español and Fox Sports Latin America networks. According to Forrester Research, U.S. Hispanics are far more inclined than the general population to adopt and pay for new wireless services such as photo messaging and ringtones, spending an average of $54.65 on wireless service per month, approximately $10 more than any other U.S. ethnic group.

Posted by Steve Hall at 11:19 AM | Comments (0)

Gamer Angered Over In-Game Ads

Steve Parsons, writing on Weblogs, Inc. website, Joystiq, is angered over gaming maker Funcom's insertion of ads into its MMORPG Anarchy Online. Granting the ad-supported game is free and a subscription version is ad-free, Parsons claims the company responsible for the advertising is "delusional" quoting Massive, "Through our own research we know that most gamers want in-game advertisement to heighten the sense of realism." To which, Parsons chimes, "Yes, ram advertising down our throats. Make sure we have no avenue of escape. After all, nothing quite adds to the realism of an RPG set in a futuristic world like an advert for an online casino."

It's true that ad creep has pervaded every corner of life and is showing no signs of slowing. It's all over people's bodies now, in urinals, at ski areas. It won't be long before a crafty marketer implants a targeted message inside the bowels of a surgical patient simply to sell the latest cancer drug to the surgeons performing the operation.

Posted by Steve Hall at 11:05 AM | Comments (0)

Public Breast Massage Stunt Not Well Received

They say Bangkok is a place where people are pretty open about sex.

With a city name like that, it's not surprising. However, a promotion for St. Herb Company's breast beautifying cream, which had three models receiving a topless breast massage at a press event to demonstrate the product's breast growth qualities, didn't go over so well. St. Herb says they launched the stunt to prove its "breast beautifying" advertising claims which is simply a veiled term for "breast enlarging," a term which faces greater scrutiny. Apparently the stuff works as one of the models reports her breasts had become firmer and the gap between them smaller.

Posted by Steve Hall at 10:31 AM | Comments (0)

Rance Crain: Mass Market Not Dead

Writing in Ad Age, Rance Crain claims, contrary to popular belief, the mass market is alive and well. It's creative that's dead. Crain feels advertising simply isn't creative enough anymore to move product. While creative does seem to be, well, creatively challenged these days, last we looked, there seem to be more than three TV networks, not to mention all these other things called cable channels through which one must psychotically surf to make sure the latest groundbreaking episode of The Ashlee Simpson Show isn't missed. Oh, and there's this thing called the Internet too. It has tons of these places called "websites." Not sure what they are but it everyone seems to have one. Oh, duh, we get Rance's point now.

There's still a mass market because the market is so massive. Phew. We felt stupid there for a minute.

Oh, and speaking of massive. There's such a massive amount of magazines now too. That helps the massive market too. Back in the day, there used to be this really big magazine called National Geographic that, like, everybody read. It was so cool. The pictures were neat too. But now there's so many other important magazines like, oh, Star and Radar that everyone has to read to know the really cool stuff like whether their number is in Paris Hilton's Sidekick.

Oops. We digress. Crain was talking about creative sucking too and the need for yet another CxO title - the Chief Creative Officer. Better go read his article to see what that's all about.

Posted by Steve Hall at 10:06 AM | Comments (0)

February 25, 2005

Martin Williams Agency Launches Intern Campaign

To promote its paid, post-graduate, 18 week intern program, Velocity, the Martin Williams agency has launched a website and corresponding offline poster campaign. The posters have been placed on the walls of student unions, career centers and dormitories on campuses across the country. View a larger image of the poster here.

Posted by Steve Hall at 01:17 PM | Comments (0)

Burger King Chicken Burger Gets Pimped With Viral

Apparently, Burger King is going viral again with PimpMyBurger, a site which contains a video featuring some dudes rapping about a chicken burger getting pimped. Some Whois research revealed the site is registered to Munchen, Germany-based Omnicom agency start-munich which list as one of its clients Burger King. At the end of the video, the date of March 1 is mentioned indicating, perhaps, the date all will be revealed.

Posted by Steve Hall at 12:13 PM | Comments (0)

Portfolios Launches Virtual Schmooze Fest

Portfolios.com, a clearing house for creative people's portfolios and the companies looking to hire creatives, has launched "Work The Room," a virtual advertising schmooze fest where you can interact with stuffy ad types. It's all part of the company's upcoming 2nd Annual Awards Show a show for killer portfolio work.

Posted by Steve Hall at 11:49 AM | Comments (0)

Blogger Founder to Launch Podcasting Service

Today, Blogger Founder Evan Williams will unveil his newest venture: Odeo.

Odeo is an all-in-one podcasting application which is said to make the creation, finding, organizing and listening to digital audio files as easy as Blogger made blogging. The application is said to be advertiser friendly following a model similar to radio. Williams predicts the adoption rate of podcasting will mirror that of blogging which grew from nothing in 1999 to 7.3 million today.

Acknowledging it's a lot easier to listen to something than to read something, the podcasting model is destined to experience rapid growth.

Already, there are close to 4,000 podcast available. Evan tells the story of how he came up with the idea for Odeo on his blog.

Posted by Steve Hall at 11:01 AM | Comments (0)

February 24, 2005

Walmart Poem Makes Good Ad

Adrants reader Sue Graham sent us this Wal-Mart love poem. Perhaps Walmart should consider hiring her as a copywriter.

Hurry, Hurry .....Dont delay, rush to Walmart buy today.

Have a baby? Need a crib? THEY have blue to match the bib.

Change the oil in the Car. Dont forget the roofing tar.

Take the battery for exchange, buy that handy outdoor range.

Give the gift that lasts forever! Diamond rings, aren't they clever? Milk, Bread and for a treat, sample turkey deli meat.

Get your pills and your meds, dont forget the full sized bed.

Shampoo, sheets, carrots, beets, cozy footies for those feets.

Cut your hair, buy a bear, visit at their summer fair. Dont forget that sappy movie, Isn't walmart just so groovy?

They have SOMETHING that you need, grab some handy garden seed. Fill the tank with walmart gas. Dont forget the frozen bass.

Check your eyes, buy a cake, do you need a garden rake? Charge it on your Walmart card, it's slighty used.. not badly mared.

Hurry ..Hurry...they have more..Visit at their online store..

Super Center Shoping Store?....Walmart's at the very core.

By Sue Graham....proud Walmart shopper!

Posted by Steve Hall at 07:41 PM | Comments (0)

Apple Rumored to Buy TiVo

Adrants reader John Brock points us to a CBS MarketWatch story in which rumors abound and are, of course, denied that Apple may be mulling a takeover of TiVo. Adding TiVo's capabilities to Apple's digital offerings would certainly advance Apple's capability in the digital delivery space. The company has done it to great success with iTunes. TiVo could be a great delivery device for Apple's iMovie. A move like this would not be all that surprising given Apple's success with the iPod and iTunes. Perhaps another success story similar to iPod/iTunes will make the fact that Apple computers are, unfortunately, never going to achieve wide adoption irrelevant.

Posted by Steve Hall at 07:33 PM | Comments (0)

Golden Palace Graces More Boobs

GoldenPalace.com, the online casino which simply can not keep its hands off other people's body parts, has found it way onto the chest/cleavage of LA actress and model Shaune Bagwell. She will wear "GoldenPalace.com" on her body for 30 days. Why is it that hot models always have names with double meaning?

Posted by Steve Hall at 12:36 PM | Comments (0)

MSN Search Launches Viral Campaign

Microsoft has launched an online viral campaign called MSN Found to aid in promoting its new search engine, MSN Search. The viral collects together six characters with their own weblogs which link together and out to MSN Search via odd search terms...which then link back to the viral.

Posted by Steve Hall at 12:36 PM | Comments (0)

Cereal Cartoon Characters Turn Parents Into Helpless Idiots

Referring to a study his company, Which, completed finding 77 percent of people say cereal packaging that uses cartoon characters like Shrek and Scooby Doo, Nick Stace said, "Too many characters loved by children are being used to promote foods high in fat, sugar and salt, leaving parents feeling powerless to say no."

While the proliferation of cereal promotions might drive anyone mad, as far as we know, the boxes do not contain a device which prevents parent's mouths from forming the word "no."

Posted by Steve Hall at 11:38 AM | Comments (0)

New York Post Text Link Ads A Mistake

The text link ads that appeared in the body of a New York Post article yesterday appeared in error. According to New York Post Spokesman Howard J. Rubenstein, as quoted in The New York Times today, the ads were not supposed to appear publicly. "That was a test of new technology that was not intended to be live. They have not debated or discussed it internally. They are not making any prediction whether they are going to use it."

Oops. Amusing that the mistake appeared in major, yet late, story on the launch of a $40 million, three year ad campaign by the Magazine Publishers of America - sure to be read by everyone in the advertising industry. The Post does not now how the ads appeared publicly and they were removed by 6PM yesterday.

Posted by Steve Hall at 11:29 AM | Comments (0)

Body Billboardz Launches Exchange For Human Ad Space

Aligning itself nicely with the explosion of eBay-sold body ad placement is Body Billboardz, a network bringing together those who are willing to sell space on their body with advertisers interested in buying that space. Body billboards, or human ad space, has become a, some say, unique way for advertisers to promote their product or service. BodyBillboardz.com is a brand new classified ad-style website. The website launched on February 2 and is especially popular with money hungry, carefree college students trying to pay off debts and earn a little extra cash.

And look stupid in the process. Profiles are created by those willing to be "branded" and matched the corporate sponsors, who can review each participant's demographic and psychographic profile and align it with their advertising plans. Members are from the United States, Canada, and Germany in the age range of 19-35 years and are allowed to upload photos so the advertisers can view the potential image of their 'walking billboard'. OK, GoldenPalace, here's your goldmine.

Posted by Steve Hall at 11:02 AM | Comments (0)

Pepsi Formally Announces Star-Studded Global Ad Campaign

Reported earlier, Pepsi has officially introduced it new, global ad campaign featuring Beyonce, Jennifer Lopez and David Beckham at a marketing event in Madrid. The campaign, which includes a spot in which Beyonce and Beckham do battle Kill Bill-style, will focus on music and soccer themes. The campaign will not air in North America.

Screenshots of a Lopez version of the commercial are here. The ad can be seen here. She is seen in the ad with Amr Diab, a popular Arabic musician. Reportedly, the Beckham and Beyonce commercial will mirror this one closely.

Posted by Steve Hall at 10:21 AM | Comments (0)

Calacanis And Copeland: Weblog Advertising Outlook

Network Landscape's Jason Clarke interviewed two entrepreneurs who have carved out successful business models centered on weblogs. Clarke spoke with Weblogs, Inc. Founder Jason Calacanis and BlogAds Founder Henry Copeland.

Weblogs, Inc. publishes 70 niche-focused weblogs. BlogAds in an ad network offering advertisers reach to weblog readership. Both companies have seen tremendous growth in the last year and it's very likely that growth will continue.

In the interview, Clarke asked Calacanis, perhaps referring to Adrants, Adland or the many other advertising weblogs, if he was concerned about launching his advertising focused weblog, AdJab, into a crowded space.

Without missing a beat, Calacanis responded, "I never worry about competition."

In what could be construed as either a validation of the weblog business model or a backhanded slap, Calacanis referred to competing Gawker Media publisher Nick Denton thusly, "When Nick Denton launched knock-offs of Autoblog, Joystiq, Gadling and HackADay three or four months after we launched them I was thrilled. Not just because it establishes us as a leader in the space and Nick as the follower, but because advertisers could look at each of the blogs and say "do I want Coke and/or Pepsi" as opposed to "do I want to drink that strange dark fizzing liquid?!?!"

When Clarke ask BlogAds Founder Henry Copeland about how advertisers should understand weblogs, Copeland responded, in part, "blogs are about "you and me" but big media is about "us and them" (journalists versus audiences versus sources) or "it and it" (corporations versus consumers.) Advertising that smells like anything not created by a human for a human doesn’t fit in the blogosphere." Copeland also believes most successful weblogs will come from individuals and not corporations which are tied down by shareholder and legal obligations.

Posted by Steve Hall at 09:40 AM | Comments (0)

Kiley: Airline Ad Budgets Wasted

Writing on his Business Week Brand New Day weblog, David Kirby is flumoxed by the money airlines spend on their ad campaigns citing personal evidence that most people select an airline based on frequent flyer miles and price. Price has become an even more important decision driver with the plethora of online travel cites placing airlines side by side in pricing charts. Given that deregulation has made airlines commodities, he also wonders whether the $30 million Delta spends on its advertising might be put to better use in reducing fares.

Posted by Steve Hall at 09:10 AM | Comments (0)

'Truth' Campaign Said to Stop 300,000 From Smoking, Campaign Funds in Jeopardy

While the American Legacy Foundation's Truth campaign has been found, through a recent study, to have prevented 300,000 kids from smoking, the money that funds the campaign may dry up. The fund comes as part of a $206 billion settlement between 46 states and the tobacco companies.

As part of the settlement, large tobacco companies can cease funding the campaign is their market share drops below 99 percent which may soon happened as small tobacco manufacturers grow.

Even if the fund stays solvent, it's an unequal war. Last year, the American Legacy Foundation spent $58.9 million on the Truth campaign while, in 2002, the tobacco companies spent $12.5 billion.

Posted by Steve Hall at 08:34 AM | Comments (0)

February 23, 2005

Online Ad Points to Product Commentary Rather Than Homepage

In an interesting and refreshing twist, an online ad for a new book by Murakami Haruki, Kafka on the Shore, does not link directly to the author's or the publisher's website.

Rather, the ad, running on weblogs via the BlogAds network, links to other weblogs which have commented on the book.

Publisher Knopf Books has hit on a unique form of paid, word of mouth advertising. Knopf is relying on the comments of others to talk up the book and to, ultimately, link to the book's website. In essence, Knopf is paying to point people to comments about the book.

Quite ingeniously, Knopf has bought their way into the word of mouth space and is, smartly, using the words of others, rather than its own, to promote the book. This approach works well on weblogs as linking to other sources is common practice. However, there's no reason why, say, opt-in banner ad company, Dotomi, couldn't promote itself through its own online ad campaign by linking to case studies by marketers who have successfully used Dotomi rather than directly linking to its own promotional site. While Dotomi is a fine, upstanding company, as an advertiser, it's likely more trust will be placed on those who have had experience with Dotomi rather than what Dotomi has to say about itself.

While this approach is not unlike typical endorsement advertising which has been around forever, a campaign geared towards driving people to commentary about a company rather than to the company itself is a new and novel approach to combining and capitalizing on both traditional one to many and word of mouth style advertising.

Posted by Steve Hall at 02:24 PM | Comments (0)

Industry Looks Inward Following Early Seifert Convictions

Upon yesterday's ruling that former Ogilvy & Mather execs Thomas Early and Shona Seifert were convicted for overbilling their Office of National Drug Control Policy client in 1999 and 2000, one can almost here the papers ruffling and the keyboards tapping as agency employees fly through billing records in a flurry, hoping to insure no wrong doing has been done on their watch. While the public already has a somewhat disdainful view of the advertising profession, yesterday's high profile ruling is doing nothing to change that unfortunate impression. While we can't recall the exact source, it was once found in a survey that advertising professionals were viewed by respondents with as much trust as afforded a car dealer. Writing in The New York Times, advertising columnist Stuart Elliot reviews all the sordid details and garners Ogilvy & Mather's position on the outcome.

Posted by Steve Hall at 01:16 PM | Comments (0)

Online Media Buyers Needed For Survey

Web Ad.vantage is currently conducting a survey of online media buyers regarding their satisfaction, expectations, and experience with online media buying reps. The company is reaching out to as many online media buyers as possible for participation. If you are involved with online media buying and like taking surveys, Web Ad.vantage would appreciate your participation. The survey is accessible here.

The results of the survey will be published by Clickz via Hollis Thomases, Web Ad.vantage President, and Clickz columnist.

Posted by Steve Hall at 11:54 AM | Comments (0)

Editorial Text Link Ads Raise Ethical Debate

While making our daily visit to the New York Post, we saw a story announcing the Magazine Publishers of America launch of a $40 million, three year campaign to promote the magazine medium. The fact that this news is four months old is irrelevant, though comical in its own right. What is relevant is the New York Post's adoption of Vibrant Media's IntelliTXT service which links words in article to ads. Rolling the mouse over the word pops up a window with a Google-like text ad which can be clicked on.

Forbes used Vibrant Media's product for a while but editors and others rebelled against it. The line of thinking is edit should be edit and ads should be ads and never shall the two intertwine. While we've had advertorials and other forms of paid edit for years, this move, combined with the intense proliferation of advertising in general have caused some to question the ethics of this form of advertising. One could debate these ads devalue the editorial content. Alternatively, one could argue they are simply non-intrusive, context-relevant ads readers can choose to view or not. That choice is not a possibility with many other forms on online and offline advertising. The questions as to which method of advertising is better will not be answered by advertising pundits but my the market. Just as pop up blockers rose to fend off aggravating popups, so might a technology that blocks or hides editorially linked text ads. The fact that ads are linked from within an article does not necessarily devalue the content of the article itself. The links are easy to ignore and don't alter the content. Sure, they are just another thing to process while reading but they are far easier to ignore than all over forms on online advertising. Given the choice between an Internet full of flashing graphic ads or only passive text ad links, which would you choose? Let us know.

Posted by Steve Hall at 11:12 AM | Comments (0)

CBS Markets 'Survivor' With Pretty People

We all know reality TV has nothing to do with reality and CBS has, again, confirmed that for us. Just as Survivor losers begin the leave the island, dirty truths rear their ugly head.

Not that we're very surprised but one of the first people voted off, Wanda, that weird singing lady, has revealed seven of the Survivors are professional models placed on the show by their casting agencies to "pretty up" the show.

Wanda tells TV Guide, "Out of the 20 people that were originally cast, they cut seven and put pretty people from modeling agencies in instead, so that they would have the eye candy. We found that out while we were there [in Palau]. When we asked [each other], 'What did you do for your audition tape?' some of the people would say, 'Oh, well, I didn't really do an audition tape.'" So there you have it. Seven worthy human beings were cast off in favor of bimbo factor. Perhaps the next Survivor should take a page from The Apprentice playbook and pit tribes against each other based on certain attributes.

Perhaps, planted modeling agency pretty people could be pit against regular humans. Then, we'd finally know whether or not looks really have anything to do with survival.

Posted by Steve Hall at 09:54 AM | Comments (0)

Tahoe Gets A Hoe

Writing on Mutually Exclusive, Eric Eggerston points out the hidden dangers of choosing a URL. In a campaign to promote Tahoe, the Nevada destination has used the URL www.GoTahoe.com.

Of course, when capitalization is removed as it commonly is when entering into a browser, www.gotahoe.com takes on a whole new meaning.

For those not inclined to notice that sort of thing, Tahoe, apparently wants to know if you've got a hoe. Now hopefully, they are referring to the garden tool and not the ever prevalent, in Nevada, prostitute.

Perhaps this was simple oversight, ingenious marketing or just a sneaky trick from the Tahoe marketing folks to get press. In any event, we're happy to help promote the world's oldest profession.

Posted by Steve Hall at 08:20 AM | Comments (0)

General Mills to Keep Marketing Food to Children

Taking the line of thinking that it's more a parent's responsibility than a marketer's to monitor a child's food intake and eschewing the thinking marketers cause obesity in children, General Mills, in light of a recent announcement by Kraft it would reduce advertising to children, stated it plans to keep marketing to children. General Mills EVP Ken Powell said, "We think that advertising cereal is a healthy thing to do." Powell claims cereal is the primary focus of the company's marketing and, because of its whole grain content, aligns with U.S.

Department of Agriculture dietary guidelines. However, the company will also continue to market its less than healthy foods as well.

Facing heat from consumer groups, Kraft, Kellogg and General Mills have banded together and formed the lofty sounding Alliance for American Advertising, a pro kid marketing lobbying group. Kraft Chief Executive Roger Deromedi told Reuters, "To be sure that you maintain self regulation, the company believes it is important to take steps to show that you can self regulate."

Posted by Steve Hall at 07:49 AM | Comments (0)

February 22, 2005

Apprentice Runner Up to Host TV Show

Kwame Jackson, runner-up on the first The Apprentice is said to be finalizing a deal with CNN to host a weekend business show. The show is described as a "Inside the Actor's Studio" for CEO's. Whether this will be any good or not is irrelevant. Jackson has found yet another way to put himself in front of CEO's. You can believe he'll be hitting them up for work if this show tanks.

Posted by Steve Hall at 12:00 PM | Comments (0)

Comcast Expands Ads-On-Demand Service

Following its launch in Philadelphia, Comcast has expanded its Ads-On Demand service to Baltimore. The service provides subscribers the same features of its content On-Demand service but provides consumers the ability to select commercial to view just as they might select a movie.

The trend towards consumer control over media consumption and the increasing ability to skip ads, forces this model. Of course, the time will come when a person can insulate themselves completely from all advertising messages. But, at the same time, people will still need stuff. One place to get info on stuff is ads. In a sense, this service is a benefit to people as they will now be able to seek out and view new product information and offers just as they do now on the web.

With this move to everything-on-demand, one hopes, marketers won't stop with :30's. In fact, everything should be on demand. Entire websites and ecommerce capabilities should be readily available through the TV remote control. Besides, shopping from the couch is a lot more comfortable then when hunched over a keyboard.

Posted by Steve Hall at 11:12 AM | Comments (0)

Viral Ad Experiment to Feature Victoria Beckham Look-A-Like

Most, if not all viral advertising is created to be just that - an ad that, hopefully, is engaging enough to be passed around like wildfire. Viral marketer Asa Bailey wants to try something a little different. He wants to create viral content for content's sake with sponsorship as an afterthought. Of course, sponsoring content is nothing new. It's been done in all media since advertising was invented. And certainly there has been viral content online that has been loosely tied to sponsorship before.This is a bit different.

Bailey wants to see if there is a new online viral advertising model.

One, in which sponsorship is secondary. To test his theory, he has placed an ad on eBay (where else?) soliciting sponsorship of a viral video he plans to create. The video, called Knocking Down Victoria Beckham, will feature a Victoria Beckham look-a-like prancing about a store, incognito, shoplifting items from the baby section, escaping, seeing hubby David across the street then running to him only to be smacked down by a bus. We do love whacking our celebrities, don't we? The sponsorship of the viral includes opening and closing logos as well as the pervasive presence of a URL along the bottom of the film. The bid and details can be viewed here.

Posted by Steve Hall at 10:52 AM | Comments (0)

NHL Dies A $230 Million Death

The IEG Sponsorship Reports estimates the NHL stands to lose $230 million in sponsorship dollars due to the season being officially called off last week.

"Assuming the league resumes play at some point, whether (the NHL) will again appear on those lists depends on whether the fans come back to the game," said IEG VP Jim Andrews. If they don't, then the league will have to win the fans back before it can even think of winning sponsors back." Things are not looking good for the sport or its sponsors these days.

Posted by Steve Hall at 10:23 AM | Comments (0)

Designer Gives Oscar Acceptance Speech

UK Designer Stuart Wilson, who's done some great work and is currently lending his expertise to TBWA in London has created his own acceptance speech.

While it's likely the sort of thinking that goes through a designer's mind when accepting an award for work that's been dumbed down by committee, it's also a great example of what you won't hear during acceptance speeches at this year's Oscar ceremony.

Posted by Steve Hall at 10:06 AM | Comments (0)

Yahoo Gets Phat With 'Fat Actress' Webcast

Perhaps because no one is actually going to watch Kirstie Alley's Fat Actress, Showtime has signed a deal with Yahoo to have the entire first episode of the series webcast on Yahoo. The episode will be made available in it's entirety, including commercials, March 7 through March 12. Maybe the air valve in our head is loose this morning, but we wonder why people would go out of their way to watch the episode online with commercials when they could view it offline on commercial-free Showtime. Check that valve for us, would you? Chiding aside, we think it's a great idea to take TV programming to the web. With audience segmentation growing, TV viewing down, multitasking up and personal video player usage growing, it makes perfect sense to "broadcast" programming from the web where it can be viewed at a time of people's choosing just as the TiVo and On Demand services provide offline. Additionally, actual viewership can be tracked more effectively online than off and advertisers will love that.

Yahoo Media and Entertainment honcho Lloyd Braun tells Ad Age he has plans for a "big signature event" that he likens to the sea changing qualities of I love Lucy and The Sopranos. We hope it's not all talk.

Posted by Steve Hall at 09:46 AM | Comments (0)

February 21, 2005

Abercrombie Legal Slap Down Gets Company More Unwanted Press

Sadly, it's predictable. A company reacting to the defacement of its brand almost always goes down the wrong road. Rather than enter into a conversation (or better yet, simply ignore these small stunts) with those defacing its brand, it calls in the lawyers. That's what Abercrombie & Fitch did after we called their attention to the existence of some Nazi-esque posters branded with the Abercrombie & Fitch logo but, in reality, were just social commentary. Now, like PUMA, Abercrombie & Fitch would like this to all go away but all they've done is fan the flames.

sfist has a lengthy interview with Chris, the creator of the A&F parody and, much to A&F's chagrin, even more Nazi-esque images from the parody. In the interview, Chris, while having nothing against Abercrombie & Fitch, says he is irked by "groupthink" which he likens to a "mindless conformity - that people are willing to adopt a logo." Going further, he adds, "the mechanics of wearing an Abercrombie and Fitch shirt are identical to wearing a Nazi armband."

While we're positive Abercrombie & Fitch-wearing teens have not joined a cult in preparation for world war III, the parody does raise intriguing questions about the power of a brand and how much importance it should have in one's life. It's not over for A&B either. Chris has plans to post A&B parody poster in the future.

Posted by Steve Hall at 01:54 PM | Comments (0)

Red Meat Rocks In Australian Ad

The Meat and Livestock group in Australia is running a campaign, called The Feel Good Campaign, promoting the benefits of red meat. In one commercial, the rock group is reveled to be something other than one might expect. Their performance, apparently, powered by the consumption of meat. Thanks to Rick.

Posted by Steve Hall at 12:47 PM | Comments (0)

Momints Calls Ice Breakers Campaign Bubble-Headed

No sooner do Hailey and Hilary Duff (what's with parent's obsessive need to make their kid's names rhyme or begin with the same letter?) become the new talking heads for Hersey's Ice Breakers mint do we receive some anti-PR from competing mint company, Momints. Positioning themselves as the intelligent choice to the bobble-headed Ice Breakers, the press release reads, "Not every company wants bubble-headed celebrity siblings who feign disputes over whether a product is liquid or ice a la Hershey's Ice breakers with the Simpson sisters, and now Hilary and Haylie Duff. Momints, America's original and boldest liquid filled breath mint, has just announced a search for a brainy spokesperson who's able to identify the contents of Momints. Momints' manufacturer, Westfield, NJ-based Yosha! Enterprises, invites these intellectually gifted consumers to apply at www.momints.com The release goes on to skewer its larger competitor and clarify its position as the company that started this whole liquid filled breath mint thing. "Siblings worldwide are in unanimous agreement that Momints is liquid, according to e-mails and letters received by Yosha! Enterprises, the manufacturer of Momints, the original liquid filled breath mint that was introduced to the American market in March 2003.

While a Johnny-come-lately Goliath liquid mint brand features a series of confused celebrity siblings who are unable to discern liquid from ice, Momints, the original liquid mint - and strongest on the market - has continually attracted intellectually gifted and sophisticated consumers who can differentiate solid bodies from liquid ones. The winning spokesperson, who will receive a lifetime supply of Momints, will embody the bold innovation and sophistication of the Momints brand."

We love a good underdog story.

Posted by Steve Hall at 12:14 PM | Comments (0)

Blockbuster Ads Amount to Big Fat Lie

In another example of a company attempting to compete with a competitors superior business model, Blockbuster has been caught with its pants down regarding its new "No More Late Fees" ad campaign. Unbeknownst to most, the video rental company's largest campaign to date amounts to a lie. New Jersey Attorney General Peter Harvey filed a lawsuit last Friday claiming Blockbuster did not disclose the reality of its new program.

While it's all in the fine print, Blockbuster's program does not do away with late fees. It simply recategorizes them into a "sale" on the eighth day. If, after 30 days, the video is returned, the charge is credited but then the company imposes the well known, "we'll do anything for a buck" trick and charges a restocking fee. Even if all is disclosed, this has to be one of the sleeziest marketing stunts in recent memory. "Blockbuster boldly announced its 'No More Late Fees' policy, but has not told customers about the big fees they are charged if they keep videos or games for more than a week after they are due," Harvey said. "Blockbuster's ads are fraudulent and deceptive. They lead people to believe that an overdue rental will cost them absolutely nothing when, in fact, customers are being ambushed with (a) late fees in some stores, (b) so-called 'restock fees,' and (c) credit card or membership account charges equal to the purchase price of the video."

Blockbuster, of course, in a desperate attempt to cover its ass, issued a statement claiming they were very thorough in explaining to customers how the program works. Even if Blockbuster bought all the time on the Super Bowl to announce this service, it's still a lie. The company not done away with late fees. It's just converted them into something else using deception and creative accounting. NetFlix all the way, baby.

Posted by Steve Hall at 11:53 AM | Comments (0)

Clooney Clarifies Crowe Commercial Comment

Last week, actor Russell Crowe struck out against George Clooney, Robert DiNiro and Harrison Ford who have used their fame to sell products in commercials. Crowe crowed, "It’s kind of sacrilegious, a contradiction of the contract with your audience. DeNiro advertising American Express — gee whiz." This week, Clooney shot back at Crowe saying, jokingly, referring to Crowe's band, 30 Odd Foot of Grunts, "I’m glad he set us straight. Because Harrison, Bob and I were putting a band together called Grunting for 30 Feet, and that would also fall under the heading of 'bad use of celebrity.' Thanks for the heads up." Glad we've cleared that mess up.

Posted by Steve Hall at 11:34 AM | Comments (0)

Attention Deficit the Norm For In-Store Wal-Mart Ads

Wal-mart TV Network operator Premiere Retail Networks EVP Mark Mitchell says, "Attention deficit used to be a disorder. Now, I think it's the new order for consumers." His company works with agencies to create fact-filled ten second spots and urges agencies to steer clear of the usual tease and reveal format of most :30's. His company has worked with CoverGirl, Doritos and Kellog's to create informative spots that actually contain information a consumer can act on. Perhaps he should consider advising clients and agencies on :30's as well.

Posted by Steve Hall at 10:33 AM | Comments (0)

Duff Sisters Join Hersey Ice Breakers Campaign

Hilary Duff and her sister Haylie are the latest duo in the Hersey's Ice Breakers Liquid Ice campaign. The pair, who claim never to disagree in real life and who replace Jessica and Ashlee Simpson in the campaign, can't seem to agree on the product's liquid versus ice qualities. The campaign includes a website where visitors can answer stupid questions like, "What weighs more - a pound of ice or a pound of water?" and other noggin stretching gems.

"We agree on absolutely everything, especially the importance of fresh breath," said Hilary. "So when she thought that Ice Breakers Liquid Ice was liquid and I thought it was ice, well I knew she had to be right ... and she knew I had to be right!" Haylie said, "One thing we're both right about: Ice Breakers Liquid Ice totally rocks!" Like, OMG!!!!!!!

Posted by Steve Hall at 09:54 AM | Comments (0)

Rainier Brewing Wins Inagural Battle of the Brands

At last week's ANA/AICP Battle of the Brands, an Amercan Idol-esque style competition, Seattle's Rainier Brewing Company bested larger opponents and took home the Grand Prize for its Remember Rainier campaign for Rainier Beer. The first-ever collaboration between the Association of National Advertisers (ANA) and the Association of Independent Commercial Producers (AICP), the Battle of the Brands was designed to reward marketers and their creative colleagues for the successful use of entertainment properties in their brand marketing programs. The audience of national marketers and entertainment executives used hand-held devices to vote for the winners. Facing off against teams from Burger King, Sega, and ESPN, Rainier Brewing, a division of Pabst Brewing Company, took home not only the grand prize but top honors in three of the four categories: Strategy, Production Ingenuity, and Business Performance. The fourth category, Creativity, was won by Burger King for its Subservient Chicken campaign.

The four brand contestants were the finalists culled from all the entries to the Battle of the Brands competition, sponsored by ANA and AICP. Each of the finalists was invited to field a team to present its campaign and demonstrate how brand and entertainment are integrated within it. A panel of judges commented on the presentations and the winner was the team that accumulated the most points.

Posted by Steve Hall at 08:52 AM | Comments (0)

Viral Advertising Gains Ground With Consumer Packaged Goods Companies

Sounding a bit like a voice mail you might find on Paris Hilton's hacked Sidekick, the new Brawny man, cooing longingly into the camera, is featured in a new series of online viral videos on the Georgia-Pacific paper towel maker's Innocent Escapes.

Clad in his signature lumberjack plaid shirt, the hunky Brawny man has invented a new form of sociopathic humor with his gooey cam love which, we suppose, in some way, is enticing to the female gender. We don't see it.

Apart from the oddity most viral campaigns must clothe themselves in to cut through the millions of other online distractions, it's encouraging to see consumer packaged goods companies endorse the medium. The New York Times explores the trend highlighting other online involvement campaigns from Frito-Lay, which promoted Doritos with a text messaging campaign.

Posted by Steve Hall at 08:14 AM | Comments (0)

Maine to Market Prison Made Children's Clothing

With what some might call questionable moral alignment, the state of Maine is planning to market prison-made children's clothing under the tentative name, Harbor Blues.

Modeled after the Oregon-based prison-made jeans company Prison Blues, inmates at the Downeast Correctional Facility have been busy making 4,000 jackets with plans to make 2,000 more. Moral issues aside, the program puts inmates to work for pay, gives them something to pass the time and provides valuable, real-world skills which can be used upon release. Doubtless, they will sell out immediately.

Posted by Steve Hall at 05:46 AM | Comments (0)

February 18, 2005

Mini Cooper Promoted With 'Counterfeit' Site

For its client, Mini, Crispin Porter + Bogusky, it seems, has created a site for a ficticious group called Counter Counterfeit Commission, an organization whose apparent mission is to rid the world of counterfeit products. The site has a photo collection of tricked out vehicles purported to be fake Minis. It also has video footage of a police dogs sniffing out fake Minis trying to make their way into the country, a $19.99 consumer alert DVD detailing the apparent underworld of counterfeit Minis and even a phone number answered with a message machine by a guy code named "Bosco" claiming to be doing undercover work in Brazil and Copacabana.

The site is engaging enough with tips on how to detect a fake, an area to upload photos of fakes and rate their fakeness quotient and a victim support area where those who've been had can get support materials.

Posted by Steve Hall at 04:21 PM | Comments (0)

GoldenPalace.com Pays $75,100 For Lincoln Fry

While $75,100 isn't quite enough to offset the money McDonald's spent on a Super Bowl ad for its strange Lincoln Fry promotion, that's what GoldenPalace.com paid the company for the odd shaped, and ficticious, fry on an eBay auction.

It's all part of GoldenPalace'com's kooky eBay marketing scheme which involved buying space on pregnant bellies and foreheads all in the name of press. The online casino will be taking the fry, along with the Virgin Mary cheese sandwich it also bought on eBay, on a national tour just to get us to write even more about them. We're not sure whether to commend GoldenPalace.com on a brilliant marketing scheme or to wish them a slow, painful death for forcing us to continually write about them.

Posted by Steve Hall at 01:40 PM | Comments (0)

Microsoft's Xbox 360 Launch Gets Scooped

Gawker Media site Kotaku takes the winds out of Microsoft's sail by releasing details surrounding the upcoming launch of the company's second generation Xbox, the Xbox 360. For those who can't wait, the details are here.

The device is said to be available in late October or early November.

Posted by Steve Hall at 12:54 PM | Comments (0)

Saatchi Exodus Raises Questions

Following the resignation of 25 year Saatchi & Saatchi vetran Mike Burns who was head of the General Mills account and the subsequent resignation of 17 Saatchi senior staffers two days later, Ad Age reports Burns is in talks with Interpublic and, perhaps, other holding companies about a mass hiring of him and his former staffers.

While a General Mills spokesman insists they are pleased with Saatchi's work and have no plans to end the relationship because of this sudden "staff change," major upsets like this in the agency business always have major consequences. After all, while clients may hire agencies to do their work, they're really hiring the faces handling their account.

It doesn't take the organization of a traffic manager to realize Saatchi CEO Mary Baglivo and ECD Tony Granger are dripping salt profusely.

Posted by Steve Hall at 12:43 PM | Comments (0)

'Survivor' Debut Gets Big Numbers

Last night's debut of Survivor: Palau grabbed 23.6 million viewers according to Nielsen overnights. It garnered a 9.0 rating 18-49. Conversely, NBC's Joey and Will & Grace turned in low ratings of 4.0 and 4.3 respectively.

Posted by Steve Hall at 11:51 AM | Comments (0)

SEGA Puts Boy in Bubble For Game Launch

To promote its new PlayStation2 and Xbox Super Monkey Ball Deluxe, SEGA has launched a quirky "boy in a bubble" online serial campaign called My Big Ball. The campaign, created by San Francisco-based Mekanism, offers a peak into the trials and tribulations of the life of a boy so obsessed with the game, he's decided to live in a large, inflatable ball.

The campaign includes a Web site, a series of story driven Web shorts, and banner ads. The website features a series of short films entitled “The True Adventures of Chad, the Boy Who Was So Into Super Monkey Ball Deluxe That He Decided To Live In A Ball.” Apparently, Chad's obsession has led him to live life in a seven-foot rubber ball. The first episode follows Chad beginning his day and confronting the mundane challenges of personal hygiene. It gets messy. In the second episode, Chad struggles to find his place in academia. New episodes will debut every week leading up to the March 15, 2005 launch.

Posted by Steve Hall at 11:00 AM | Comments (0)

3M Proves Product Benefit With Money Filled Structures

In Vancouver, 3M is promoting its Security Glass with unique out of home structures which encase what appears to be real money in plain view of the public. News reports show people hitting and kicking the structures but, to date, the glass has held up to the test. While we wonder the sort or outdoor riots this could cause, we also think it's an ingenious method to explain the benefits of the product in a truly effective manner. View additional images here.

Posted by Steve Hall at 10:01 AM | Comments (0)

Maxim Radio In Search of Sexiest Voice

Maxim wants to offer fame to the man or woman with the sexiest voice.

The company, along with sponsor Bud Light is offering a Maxim Radio promotional gig and $1,000 to the man or woman with the sexiest voice.

Casting calls will be held in New York an LA Wednesday March 2.

Maxim Radio celebrity hosts will comment on the entries in terms of sexiness, uniqueness, delivery, tone and suitability for use. Beginning March 7, 2005, visitors to Maxim Online for one week will be able to hear audio clips of the finalists' entries and click their votes. The winner will be announced on Maxim Radio on Monday, March 21, 2005.

Those interested should bring 30 seconds of their own material to read at the auditions. The New York audition will be held at the SIRIUS Satellite Radio offices at 1221 Avenue of the Americas beginning at 9 AM. The LA audition will be held at the House of Blues on Sunset Strip beginning at 11 AM.

Posted by Steve Hall at 09:45 AM | Comments (0)

RAZOR Names Eric Simon Publisher

yesterday, RAZOR magazine founder Richard Botto announced the addition of Eric L.

Simon as publisher. In his new position, Simon will manage the magazine’s advertising and business operations. Previously, these had been overseen by Botto, who will now focus on directing RAZOR’s editorial operations as editor-in-chief, while also maintaining his role as the magazine’s CEO. Simon brings tens years of magazine industry expertise to his new post at RAZOR. He spent the last five years at laddie book publisher Dennis Publishing, most recently as associate publisher of music magazine Blender, where he helped manage sales and marketing and grew the book’s rate base from 525,000 to 630,000. While at Dennis, Simon also served as the company’s director of business development and licensing, established its custom publishing division and, as the founding advertising director for hottie magazine Stuff, helped that book quickly grow. Simon’s arrival at RAZOR marks the latest in a series of appointments expanding the magazine’s business team. Earlier this month, Botto announced the appointment of Nadine Weiss as RAZOR’s first West Coast advertising director, and also added two key sales leaders to the magazine’s New York office: Nicholas Pastula was named as fashion, grooming and fragrance director, while Peter Weinstock signed on as account director, entertainment, technology and finance.

Posted by Steve Hall at 08:57 AM | Comments (0)

February 17, 2005

Reality is For Losers

"I wish my life was a beer commercial." That statement has been said and heard many times. While said in jest, it alludes to the desire for a better life. Life would certainly be grand if it mirrored life as portrayed in advertising but, unfortunately, it does not.

Life gets a twist when it stars in commercials. Because marketers need to associate their products with positive thoughts, many paint an unrealistic picture of life and it's racial make up.

Georgia State University Sociologist Charles Gallagher calls advertising's growing need to show all races living harmoniously together a "carefully manufactured racial utopia, a narrative of colorblindness."

While that may be a welcome direction to travel, it does not reflect the realities of life in the real world. Census data states just seven percent of all marriages are interracial and 80 percent of whites live in neighborhoods in which 95 percent of their neighbors are white.

Gallagher says this paints a very slanted picture. "The lens through which people learn about other races is absolutely through TV, not through human interaction and contact. Here, we're getting a lens of racial interaction that is far a field from reality."

Of course, this isn't some underhanded, big brother-like attempt marketers have engaged in to change society. It's just positive thinking says Stanford University Professor Sonya Grier. "Often, advertising doesn't reflect reality - everyone is beautiful and pretty and thin, so a lot of advertising is very unrealistic. It's always been something that reflects our aspirations, what we can be."

It really begs the age old chicken or egg question. Advertisers and media organizations, for the most part, promote utopian perfection rather than gritty reality. Whether advertisers and media should promote perfection or reflect reality is not an easy question to answer. In essence, both directions are well intended. Promoting perfection and cultural ideals is simply a wish for something better.

Reflecting reality brings the hard truths of life to light.

Unfortunately, many of the efforts by advertisers and media in the direction of utopian perfection often seem forced and fake.

Perhaps it's all born out of human nature's natural tendency to move forward, to do better, to improve things. Perhaps the desire for perfection can not be held back. Maybe satisfaction with one's current place in life is not natural. Or, maybe, through media and advertising, the human race has been brainwashed into thinking reality is for losers.

Posted by Steve Hall at 11:14 AM | Comments (0)

Expedia, Ask Jeeves Launch New Campaigns

In this week's MediaPost Out to Launch column, Amy Corr reports on recent campaign launched from Expedia, Texas Tourism, Nautica, Suave, Ask Jeeves, TAG Heuer, Carlson Hotels, Homeland Security and Tivo.

Posted by Steve Hall at 10:26 AM | Comments (0)

February 16, 2005

Abercrombie & Fitch Deny Involvement With Nazi-esque Outdoor Posters

Previously, we reported the existence of outdoor posters in the window of an abondoned store in San Francisco for Abercrombie & Fitch which incorporate Nazi imagery.

Adrants has contacted Abercrombie & Fitch and the company has clearly denied any involvement with these postings or the imagery.

Posted by Steve Hall at 02:00 PM | Comments (0)

Online Political Ads May Face Regulation

Political advertising on the Internet has, to date, been a free for all. The money to pay for online campaigns can come from anywhere and candidates to not have to appear in the ads endorsing them. Currently, online advertising does not have to adhere to the stricter offline rules which are regulated by the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act. That may soon change as the Federal Election Commission begins to review whether the Internet should continue to be exempt from campaign finance law.

The FEC is revisiting the law after U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly ruled in September, the FEC's special treatment of the Internet flys in the face of the law's intent.

Posted by Steve Hall at 01:27 PM | Comments (0)

Pirillo: RSS to Replace Email Marketing

At a recent Blog Business Summit, industry consultant Chris Pirillo said, "Email marketing is dead."

He claims spam and filters have killed the channel as a viable advertising medium. A former fan of email marketing, Pirillo, and other industry luminaries have switched gears and are now proponents of RSS as the new method of content delivery and advertising.

Weblogs are the biggest users of RSS allowing readers to be notified through a newsreader when new content has been added to the weblog.

News organizations have also started using RSS to publish their news stories. So far, RSS is spam free and, as long as advertisers don't clutter feeds with ads, RSS will likely overtake email as the preferred method for receiving content.

Posted by Steve Hall at 12:52 PM | Comments (0)

ISP Blocks Body Parts to Promote Parental Controls

An Adrants reader points to today's edition of Metro newspaper in Toronto carries a four page cover wrap ad for ISP Bell promoting their Bell Sympatico online service which includes parental and viral controls. On one panel, using an image of a school text book showing a woman's body with breasts and pelvic region blurred, the headline reads, "You'll do anything to protect your kids from inappropriate content."

Apparently, we are to believe that sex education is a bad thing and kids should be protected from it. That's twisted logic. Now if Bell had used an image of, say, Jenna Jameson with appropriate body parts blurred, the message would make far more sense. This ad basically says Bell will shield your kids from beneficially educational content which wreaks of over protectionism.

View a larger version of the ad here.

Posted by Steve Hall at 12:32 PM | Comments (0)

Vibrating Couch Confuses Mum, Embarrasses Daughter

Oh those Brits and their humor. Here's a spot from Durex that has Mum stymied by the vibrating device she finds under the cushion of her daughters couch during a visit. Needless to say, the daughter is a bit embarrassed.

Posted by Steve Hall at 11:11 AM | Comments (0)

Brian Adams Valentine Viral Vomit Follow Up

OK, so Valentine's day was two days ago and on that day, aside from Hallmark's website crashing, Bryan Adams revealed he was behind the disgusting Who Ordered Room Service viral video in which a waiter enters a hotel room and pukes all over a knecking couple enjoying some love on the bed. Yup, Adams' new album is called Room Service and somehow he thought the relationship between puking and promoting an album was a good thing. Usually puking is associated more with having a great distaste for something rather than having a great love for it.

Perhaps, for some odd reason, we're all suppose to hate his new album.

Experience the power puking here.

UPDATE: It's all a hoax. We've been had. Adland discusses the fake viral trend and how it is ruining any semblance of trust that might have, at one time, existed between marketer and consumer.

Posted by Steve Hall at 10:06 AM | Comments (0)

Abercrombie & Fitch Spoofed By Nazi-esque Outdoor Campaign

Photopia reports seeing outdoor posters in the window of an abondoned store in San Francisco for Abercrombie & Fitch which incorporate Nazi imagery.

Other than grabbing attention, we wonder what A & F were thinking.

Nothing, of course. They had nothing to do with it. As others have pointed out, seemingly unable to grasp our sense of humor, this is, clearly, a spoof. The work of someone with a great distaste for AF. Now we've spelled it out for you. It really does takes the fun out of it, doesn't it? View more images here.

To be clear, Adrants has contacted Abercrombie & Fitch and they have clearly denied any involvement with this imagery.

Posted by Steve Hall at 08:11 AM | Comments (0)

Napster Wastes $2.4 Million on Super Bowl Ad, Music Stolen

Just a few days after Napster spent $2.4 million to promote it's new, $15 per month, music rental service, Napster To Go, enterprising souls have already cracked the code allowing people to get up to 20,160 minutes worth of free music during the service's 14 day free trial period. That amounts to 252, 80 minute CDs. The site reports the hack works with Napster's standard service as well. Seems Napster is destined to be a free music service after all.

While it takes some work and some time, the process is not complicated and is described here.

Napster has responded with "A note from Napster's CTO" on their website claiming, as if to deflect focus from Napster, the hack will work on any music service. We're wondering how other music services feel about Napster's CTO making that statement publicly. It seems, though, Napster's CTO statement is referring to a process other than the one described on the "marv on record" site. We'll leave that technical debate to the geeks.

While we don't entirely condone the stealing of music, we do get a rise from "power of the people" responses to large corporation's stifling business practices. Music executives everywhere are wishing the computer was never invented.

Posted by Steve Hall at 07:28 AM | Comments (0)

February 15, 2005

Reebok Launches New Site For The Pump

To promote its new shoe, The Pump, Reebok has launched a new website that incorporates the "pump" aspects of the shoe into the website. Just as the shoe is pumped for proper fit, the site can be "pumped" to access the various sections of the site. On the site, there are links to television spots, wallpapers, shoe details, a store locater and a boxing game. It's simple and straight to the point. LA-based Zugara created the site.

Posted by Steve Hall at 01:05 PM | Comments (0)

Hotel Ad Blocked By Competition

Hotel Chatter reports Las Vegas developer Steve Wynn's commercial for his new Wynn Las Vegas Hotel, originally intended to air nationally during the Super Bowl, was blocked by competing Las Vegas hotels when it aired locally during the game. The Bellagio and the Mirage hotels blocked the Wynn ad ny placing their own company logos on television screens when the ad was scheduled to air. While the ad mentions nothing about gambling, FOX and the NFL declined to accept it, apparently, because the hotel's location in Las Vegas insinuates the activity of gambling in the hotel. The ad can be viewed on the Wynn Las Vagas website.

Posted by Steve Hall at 12:43 PM | Comments (0)

Hispanic Branded Entertainment Firm Launches

Former Promofilm US VP Manageing Director Pablo Trench whose company produces shows for Telemundo and former Zubi Advertising Creative Director Hector Prado have teamed to create The Lab, a branded entertainment company concentrating on developing band integration programs for the growing Hispanic market.

Like in the general market, the Hispanic media landscape is mushrooming and fragmenting into better defined niches. From only two big networks a few years ago (Univison and Telemundo), now audiences have two other networks to choose from (Telefutura y Azteca America), multiple Spanish cable channels (Galavision, ESPN Deportes FOX Sports, Gol TV, Discovery en Español. The History Channel en Español, HBO Latino, CNN en Español, etc.); new emerging English cable networks (mun2, SiTV, LATV and VOY); and numerous international channels from their home country in satellite TV. This is in addition to the hundreds of radio stations, print and websites targeting the Hispanic population.

Posted by Steve Hall at 12:09 PM | Comments (0)

Mr. Peanut Hits Windshields With Registration Sticker

The image of Planters Peanut's Mr Peanut will appear on 75,000 automotive registration stickers in Suffolk, Virginia, home since 1913 of Planters Peanuts. The deal appears to be a simple acknowledgement to the good deeds the company has done for the town over the years and not a paid placement. The image on the decals will be that of the Mr. Peanuts city-owned statue.

Posted by Steve Hall at 11:53 AM | Comments (0)

McDonald's Eats Deep Fried Crow

For delaying its promise to cut trans fat from the oil used to cook its French fries in 2002, McDonald's will pay $8.5 million in damages. The suit was filed by consumer advocacy group bantransfat which claim McDonald's failed to inform customers trans fat was still being used five months after it claimed it had ceased its use. Seven million of that sum will go to the American Heart Association to be used in educational campaigns. Also, McDonalds's was instructed to spend $1.5 million on an ad campaign admitting its fault.

Posted by Steve Hall at 11:44 AM | Comments (0)

Cindy Crawford Super Bowl Pepsi Ad Most Viewed on AOL

America Online reports Pepsi's Cindy Crawford commercial was the most viewed 2005 Super Bowl ad on AOL. Not suprisingly, GoDaddy's "Hearing" ad placed close second. The ads, which were available through Saturday on the Web at AOL.com and on the AOL service, were viewed 18.6 million times, more than double the 9.2 million views recorded last year for the 2004 Super Bowl ads. AOL also announced that ads from its Classic Commercials package, which featured popular spots from previous Super Bowls, were viewed 3.8 million times, bringing the total number views for all Super Bowl commercials to more than 22 million. AOL ranked viewership as follows: 1. Diet Pepsi - Cindy Crawford -- 899,773 views 2. GoDaddy.com - Hearing -- 894,983 3. Bud Light - Skydiving -- 803,999 4. Bud Light - Cedric -- 648,430 5. Ford Mustang - Winter -- 605,585 6. Ameriquest - Store Trip -- 600,599 7. Diet Pepsi - P. Diddy -- 596,986 8. Bud Light - Sharing -- 573,280 9. FedEx - Ten Things -- 553,023 10. Ciba Vision - Bubbles -- 526,338 11. Bubblicious - Lebron -- 472,534 12. Visa - Super Heroes -- 459,337 While Pepsi took top viewership honors it was Budweiser's salute to the troops that garnered the most votes among AOL users as the best spot.

Commercials receiving the most votes among AOL users are ranked as follows:

Rank     Company            Spot                     Percentage 


1        Anheuser Busch     Tribute to US Troops             15% 2        Bud Light          Skydiving                        11% 3        Ameriquest         Romantic Dinner                   8% 4        Ameriquest         Store Trip                        7% 5        Diet Pepsi         P. Diddy                          7% 6        GoDaddy.com        Hearing                           6% 7        Ford Mustang       Winter                            5% 8        Bud Light          Sharing                           5% 9        FedEx              Ten Things                        5% 10       Diet Pepsi         Cindy Crawford                    4%

All the spots can be viewed here.

Posted by Steve Hall at 11:33 AM | Comments (0)

February 14, 2005

Aquent Launches Business Manners Tutorial Site

Aquent today announced the launch of a new Web site, The Business of Touch, designed to help business professionals create good first impressions with people from other cultures. The site demonstrates, through animated characters, the proper etiquette for successful greetings in nine languages and fifteen countries, including the United States - which is good since we Americans don't even know how to properly greet.

And no, "Hey, Dude" isn't quite right.

With a tongue-in-cheek style, the humorous animation, by internationally recognized American illustrator and graphic designer Paul Davis, Business of Touch gives site visitors practical tutorials on the very serious business of how to greet and take leave of associates from other cultures. Behaviors such as eye contact, when a kiss is appropriate, whether or not to offer a handshake to women, general body language, and personal space distances are several of the topics covered for each country. The site was created by Heller Communications.

Posted by Steve Hall at 02:44 PM | Comments (0)

Old Ad Guys Reminisce At VCU Adcenter Event

We are loathe to do this but we have to. Last week, VCU Adcenter hosted it's "Annual Event of the Century," a toast and roast to the accomplishments of ad greats Lee Clow, Jeff Goodby, Dan Wieden, David Kennedy, Andy Berlin and Steve Hayden. While, no doubt, these gentlemen are some of the finest in the advertising business and have led agencies and advertisers to tremendous success, the event seemed to portray them as a bunch of hairy old ad guys trying to cling to their youth and be cool by saying fuck and shit a lot. Oh don't listen to us. We're just bitter we're not on stage with them.

Have a look for yourselves.

View video clips at ihaveanidea's website.

Posted by Steve Hall at 02:26 PM | Comments (0)

Canadian Spoofs Cool American Coke Campaign

A while back, we reported on an ad-hoc campaign created for Coke by industry vet Harry Webber with the idea, Coke needed something bigger than its current campaign.

Coke didn't bite. In an interesting twist there's now a spoof of the campaign. That's right. A spoof of a campaign that never appeared anywhere. While the ad-hoc campaign endeavored to portray Americans as fine, upstanding citizens, the spoof, called A Real American, is more sadistically honest in its snarky portrayal. The spoof, created by Trevor Thomas, a Canadian, interestingly, is a must-see.

Posted by Steve Hall at 11:01 AM | Comments (0)

Tabasco Maker Sues Restaurant For Trademark Infringement

McIhenny Company, makers of Tabasco Sauce is suing a restaurant in Marion Iowa, Tabasco's Restaurant and Patio, for using its name. The restaurant says the use of an apostrophe eliminates brand confusion. Uh huh. The restaurant also states they named the establishment after the state in southeastern Mexico and not the hot sauce maker's product.

McIhenny Company "see you in court."

Posted by Steve Hall at 10:32 AM | Comments (0)

Volvo First Major Sponsor of Podcast, Medium to Grow

Volvo has signed a deal with Weblog, Inc.'s Autoblog as launch sponsor of the automotive weblog's podcast. A podcast is an MP3 broadcast delivered via RSS making it easy and automatic for people to receive.

The sponsorship consists of an announcer-read :60 at the top of the podcast, other mentions throughout and logo signage on Autoblog's Podcast page.

iPodder.org, which tracks podcasts now reports there are over 3,000 podcasts. Podcasts are an extremely low cost method of publishing audio over the web allowing small sites to produce radio-like broadcasts for download and later listening on people's computers or MP3 devices. As citizen-produced media and MP3 player usage proliferate, this channel is well positioned for exponential growth and offers advertisers yet another niche targeted medium though which to advertise. Just as blog advertising network and rss feed ad networks have sprouted so, no doubt, shall podcast advertising networks providing advertisers efficient means by which to tap this channel.

Posted by Steve Hall at 10:25 AM | Comments (0)

Academy Fearful of Chris Rock

Drudge reports the Academy is concerned about their choice of Chris Rock for host of this year's Academy Awards show because of some recent comments he made. Reportedly, Rock said, "I never watched the Oscars. Come on, it's a fashion show. What straight black man sits there and watches the Oscars? Show me one! Awards for art are fucking idiotic." Looks like this year's broadcast could be a juicy one.

Posted by Steve Hall at 10:00 AM | Comments (0)

Insurance Company Re-Creates Famous Movie Car Crashes For Campaign

21st Century is taking an intriguing approach to promoting its car insurance services. It is painstakingly re-creating famous car crash scenes from Hollywood movies such as The French Connection and Speed.

Assuring the ads will mirror the movie scenes as closely as possible, Interpublic's Dailey & Associates worked with the original cinematographer for The French Connection spot and have hired Jan du Bont, director of Speed to film the Speed commercial.

Posted by Steve Hall at 09:06 AM | Comments (0)

February 13, 2005

Dove Milks Apprentice Debacle, Educates Candidates

Because each of the teams on The Apprentice created such horrible commercials during last week's challenge, Dove is extending its 15 minutes of fame by offering a Marketing Boot Camp to all Apprentice candidates, beginning with Kristen, who led the failing team. The Boot Camp will include training at Dove headquarters with sessions on advertising and brand marketing, as well as a critique on why the ads were so bad. We'd pay to be a fly on that wall. Particularly if one of the candidates asked Dove why there so-called professional commercial was so bad.

Posted by Steve Hall at 03:10 PM | Comments (0)

Russell Crowe Craps On Celebrities in Foreign Ads

Always one to cause a stir, actor Russell Crowe, in a GQ interview said actors who go overseas to do commercials are a bunch of money hungry losers.

Crowe told GQ, "I don't use my celebrity to make a living. I don't do ads for suits in Spain like George Clooney or cigarettes in Japan like Harrison Ford. And on one level, people go: 'Well, more fault to you, mate, because there's free money to be handed out.'" Take that you Hollywood sell outs.

He further snipped, "...to me it's kind of sacrilegious. It's a complete contradiction of the fucking social contract you have with your audience. I mean, Robert de Niro's advertising American Express.

Gee whiz, it's not the first time he's disappointed me. It's been happening for a while now." In today's over popified culture, he does have a point.

If you want to see more of what Crowe speaks, visit Japander.

There, you will see an enormous collection of Hollywood stars who do commercials in Japan to make more money thinking visibility there won't over expose them here. Perhaps they haven't heard of the Internet.

Posted by Steve Hall at 03:09 PM | Comments (0)

February 12, 2005

Valentine Vomit Viral Vexes

Here we go again with one of those mystery virals created by who knows who for who knows what. This site, called Who Ordered Room Service shows us a loving couple getting all misty eyed for each other in a hotel room when a room service waiter rolls in and proceeds to spews the contents of his stomach all over the pair. His reason? "I did it for you," says the waiter to the girl as the Brian Adams tune "Everything I Do" crescendos in the background.

The site was registered anonymously using Domains by Proxy on February 6 through, humorously, GoDaddy. We're not sure that has anything to do with GoDaddy's Super Bowl brand boost or why a puking waiter would have anything to do with a strap-challenged, court room hottie but stranger things have happened. The viral is being spread, it seems by an army of emailers, 15 of whom sent it to Internet oddity collector Screenhead. All is promised to be revealed Valentine's Day.

Posted by Steve Hall at 09:22 PM | Comments (0)

February 11, 2005

Campaign Reveals Women's Favorite Things

Now here's an ad that speaks the truth about what women love: IRN BRU and dick. Visit Hidden Persuader for the full sized image.

Posted by Steve Hall at 03:06 PM | Comments (0)

Neopets Teams With Limited Too For In-Store, Online Promotion

Online youth entertainment company Neopets, Inc. has partnered with specialty 'tween retailer Limited Too to offer a selection of exclusive Neopets themed CD/DVD cases at 568 Limited Too stores beginning February 11. The plush-covered, padded CD cases, which hold 8 compact discs each, come in three different colors with images of popular Neopets characters - a Uni, a Gelert and an Aisha. The CD cases are priced at $2.90.

In addition to the in-store promotion, Neopets is launching a Limited Too themed Immersive Advertising activity on the Neopets website. Site members can play the new Limited Too Mix 'n' Match game to earn the website's virtual currency - Neopoints. Neopets players can then use their Neopoints to "shop" for their virtual Neopets, with odd names like Shoyrus, Kacheeks, and Kougras. Other site activities include trading virtual items with friends online, playing online games, writing for the online newspaper (The Neopian Times) and exploring the expanding world of Neopia.

Posted by Steve Hall at 01:15 PM | Comments (0)

The Apprentice Dove Ads A Horror Show

Writing on MSNBC, RealityBlurred's Andy Dehnart reviews the horror show that was last night's The Apprentice.

In the episode the two teams were to create television ads for Dove Cool Moisture body wash. While Dehnart thinks one teams ad was no more horrible than both ads, we think they both just sucked. But, the contestants on The Apprentice are not advertising professionals. It really should not have been a surprise to Donnie Deutsch and Trump the ads might not end up so good. Deutsch informed both teams they were losers on the task forcing both teams to face Trump in the boardroom. We are so tired of writing about The Apprentice but can't seem to stop watching the train wreck product placement orgasm. If anyone cares, the leader of the marathon team that created the marathon ad was fired. View the two excuses for commercials here.

Posted by Steve Hall at 12:49 PM | Comments (0)

Brits Freak Over IKEA Brand

The combination of effective promotion and Brits apparently never having seen furniture before caused hundreds of people to be injured as 6,000 people crushed through the doors at the grand opening of the IKEA store in Edmonton, North London. Being fanatical about a brand is one thing but we certainly can't imaging the desire for a couch to be quite this powerful. Freaky.

Posted by Steve Hall at 10:28 AM | Comments (0)

Dogs Mug For Kennel Show

The 129th Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show airs February 14 on USA.

Promoting the event like it was a professional wrestling match, is a :30 set to the tune of Europe's "The Final Countdown" which features images of dogs mugging for the camera. With simple copy, "Destiny Awaits, Fetch It," and "tv announcer" voiceover, the spot is, in our opinion, effective in keeping your attention long enough to see the pay off at the end. The ad was created by 72andSunny. View it here.

Posted by Steve Hall at 10:00 AM | Comments (0)

FTC Says Product Placement Need Not Be Disclosed

Advertisers jumped gleefully into the air yesterday when the FTC decided not to require the disclosure of product placements on television. While the decision is not an indication of endorsement of the practice one way or the other by the FTC, it felt issuing one broad rule for all product placement was not the best way to go. The FTC, later, plans to examine celebrity endorsements on talk shows, entertainment and news programming.

Without surprise, Commercial Alert, the Ralph Nader group that proposed the rule requiring all product placements to be disclosed at the start of the show and during the placement, with the word "advertisement" on the screen, is pissed. Commercial Alert Executive Director Gary Ruskin said the FTC's position is out of date and "based on a totally antiquated notion that advertising persuades only through objective claims, and not imagery."

While this may be a coup for the advertising industry, we hope it doesn't open up a free for all product placement explosion. We also hope marketers allow the writers of shows in which products will be placed more creative control so placements don't look forced

Posted by Steve Hall at 09:15 AM | Comments (0)

Turmoil Surrounds Introduction of WOMMA Standards

Following the introduction of the Word of Mouth Marketing Association's Code of Conduct, a heated discussion surrounding the association's statement against including children under 13 in word of mouth campaigns and it's apparent neglect in establishing guidelines for children 13-17. While we hope WOMMA's intentions are honorable, both the Viral and Buzz Marketing Association and the National Institute on Media and the Family have taken issue with some current word of mouth marketing efforts. Last fall at the New York AD:TECH show, a conference about online marketing, VBMA founder Justin Kirby and a NIMF audience member questioned the practices of Boston-based BzzAgent, a company which recruits people to join the company as buzz agents who "talk up" the products of paying marketers. The NIMF audience member challenged BzzAgent to change its policy which urges its buzz agents to be "discreet" when talking about the products they have agreed to buzz about. While BzzAgent said they would revisit their policy to perhaps urge agents to be more forthright with the reason they are talking up a product, NIMF claims no policies have been changed.

BzzAgent Founder Dave Balter counters NIMF's claim the company's code has not changed saying, "We changed this code over two months ago because we realized that our code was out of date."

Balter also claims NIMF was premature in its attack on the WOMMA Code of Ethics saying, "We appreciate the Institute's feedback. However, we (WOMMA) were concerned about the glaring inaccuracies in the Institute's press release, beginning with their failure to note that this was not an established code, but a starting point and request for input."

Balter further lays blame on NIMF for not responding to WOMMA's requests for input during the establishment of the Code. "We did in fact contact them back in December, asking them to help us draft a more effective code. They never responded, choosing to attack instead of contribute."

As heated as this issue may have become, Balter simply wants to move forward and work with interested parties to establish effective and mutually acceptable guidelines. "we are in complete agreement that the need to protect minors is a critical issue. And we look forward to working with leading educational, consumer, and children's advocacy organizations in making sure that the bar is set properly high."

Posted by Steve Hall at 08:54 AM | Comments (0)

February 10, 2005

Fairchild Yanks YM Your Prom After Porn URL Found in Ad

MediaWeek reports Fairchild Publications has pulled 680,000 copies of YM Your Prom because an ad mistakenly carried the URL for a child-porn website. Two of the six ad pages prom dress maker Studio 17 placed in the issue contained the URL. While Fairchild is pulling as many issues as it can, Hearst, which publishes Teen Prom, in which the ad also appeared, has decided not to pull copies.

A Hearst spokesperson explained the decision telling MediaWeek, "This was a mistake on the advertiser's behalf - in fact, the error also appeared in their own catalogue. This is a very unfortunate situation and, quite simply, the result of human error. We've received very few complaints and have handled them immediately."

While no one's talking, we're guessing the URL may have been studio17.com (a redirect to http://www.clubseventeen.com/index-int.html) which is, most assuredly, a teen porn site. Very not safe for work.

Porn, of course, is everywhere and most likely no surprise to most teens but we think it might have been a wise move if Hearst had , at least, made some sort of effort rather than simply saying, hey, they made the mistake so why should we care.

Posted by Steve Hall at 07:53 PM | Comments (0)

Careerbuilder Extends Yeknom Promotion to Competing Job Sites

Careerebuilder's Super Bowl spots promoted their job service using a guy stuck in a company run by a bunch of monkeys called Yeknom Industries. The campaign also included a website for the Yeknom company complete with fake job listing. In a coup, those job listing have found there way to competing job sites and have been listed on Yahoo HotJobs as well as Monster.

That's a truly stunning promotional tactic.

While GoDaddy is getting all the press, Careerbuilder is shaping up to be the best, most smartly integrated, stealth-like campaign we've seen in a while.

Posted by Steve Hall at 03:08 PM | Comments (0)

Britney Spears Curious Ad Restricted Britain

With so much artsy-fartsy quick cut, double-entendre imagery going on in the Britney Spears Curious commercial, it's hard to imagine how anyone could see anything long enough to be concerned there might be some risque elements to the spot but the chaps over in Britain seems to have good eyes and have restricted the airing of the spot to after 7:30 PM when, presumably, untainted minds have gone to sleep.

The spot captures Britney in the throes of a fantasy with a guy in the next hotel room, complete with all the sexual imagery you'd expect; lips, fingers, blooming flowers, fingernails clawing skin, fingers against a rain soaked window, a pair of dolls kissing, clenched hands, bulls in a ring, crashing waves, writhing bodies and, finally, open mouth glee. It's 30 second of visual orgasmic bliss. Hmm, perhaps that's why it was restricted.

Posted by Steve Hall at 02:47 PM | Comments (0)

Yet Another Star Launches Fragrance Brand

Another actress is joining the stench parade. Sarah Jessica Parker has signed a global licensing deal with Coty's Lancaster Group to co-market and develop a line of fragrances, slated to launch this fall in department stores in the U.S. and U.K. Financial terms of the agreement were not disclosed.

This partnership is a first for Parker in the fragrance market.

Although marketing was not detailed, it is expected that she will support the line with her appearance, following J. Lo, Celine Dion and Britney Spears, who have their own fragrances. Parker currently stars in a marketing campaign for The Gap.

Posted by Steve Hall at 02:01 PM | Comments (0)

Alexander Gelman Publishes New York Design Book

Famed designer Alexander Gelman, known in the advertising industry for his work with Absolut, MTV, Pepsi and Shiseido, has, along with Mic Musolino and Helen Walters have published Infiltrate - The Front Lines of the New York Design Scene, a collection of today's cutting edge New York design. The book features 304 pages of work from 23 studios and individuals. Each of 23 groundbreaking New York studios and individuals is introduced by an interview, work examples and captions.

Posted by Steve Hall at 01:56 PM | Comments (0)

POPstick CEO Danny Kastner Is A Nice Guy

We wrote a couple of scathing articles about The Apprentice contestant and POPstick CEO Danny Kastner commenting on his performance during the show. Kastner, like many creative people in any industry portrayed on television, was "produced" as a bit "out of the Trump mold" in the show where success is usually attained through suit-wearing, cut throat, ass-kissing behavior. In fairness, we thought we'd better check out the un-produced version of Danny Kastner so we called him up to discuss his experience on The Apprentice.

The first thing we can say about Danny is he's a nice guy. He's assuredly a creative sole soul (we always get that one wrong) and while that might not be a fit for a stuffy Trump job, it seems to work just fine for his Boston-based company POPstick. When we asked about that "sidewalk show" during the first episode where contestants had to introduce a new Burger King product, Danny admitted it was "a bit gimmicky but it did work." He's right. While his team didn't win, his team's Burger King was packed with customers. They failed because they didn't have enough trained order takers.

Kastner also admitted his strategy of bringing the "immune" Michael into the boardroom with him was a bit of a counter-strategy - which led to a very heated exchange - but reports he has since had beers with Michael and things are cool. While Kastner may have been shown to be out there on The Apprentice, we can assure you, in real life, Danny Kastner is just cool, successful, creative guy.

Posted by Steve Hall at 12:31 PM | Comments (0)

Heidi Klum Face of Colon Cancer PSA

AdFreak reports the launch of a new colon cancer awareness campaign from the Entertainment Industry Foundation's National Colorectal Cancer Research Alliance and Olympus. The print PSA will feature Heidi Klum and includes the headline, "Help us make it fashionable to talk about colon cancer" and the tagline, "Be seen, be screened." While we're not sure it will ever be fashionable to talk about colon cancer, personally, it sure can be humorous.

Posted by Steve Hall at 11:40 AM | Comments (0)

Mandy Moore Launches Fashion Label

Mandy Moore says she's "a pretty modest girl so I’m not into anything too risque." That's one of the reasons behind the star's launch of her on fashion label, Mblem, a line of "functional, casual and sexy" T's Moore explains. "It all evolved from the fact that I’m totally the jeans and T-shirt girl. If I can get away with wearing jeans and a T-shirt somewhere, I’ll do it," Moore said in an Associated Press interview.

The other reason is her height. More says, "I’m a tall girl (5-foot-10), so I’m always searching for the perfect jeans and T-shirt," which would likely make most crop t's fall well above her belly button. Heaven forefend. The t shirts will be priced around $50 and be printed with the lyrics of her favorite rock songs.

Posted by Steve Hall at 11:13 AM | Comments (0)

Online Discussion Group Plans For Growth

Founded in 1999, the Oldtimers Discussion Group has been home to the brilliant minds behind companies responsible for enabling and nurturing the growth of online marketing and advertising. Because the field of online marketing has become an integral component of most current marketing and advertising programs, the group seeks to expand its membership to include additional industry influencers and thought leaders actively driving the online and interactive elements of those programs. The group is looking for senior level agency executives and brand marketers who are actively involved in creating, managing and analyzing online, interactive and e-business programs that might include elements such as viral, word of mouth, advergaming, product placement, SMS, IM and affiliate marketing and willing to pro-actively contribute to the discussion.

If you feel you are qualified and have value to add to this group or you are acquainted with someone who is, please send an email to membership@oldtimersexchange.com (that's "exchange," not "sex change") stating what you, or the person you are recommending, has achieved and can offer the Oldtimers Discussion Group. Be sure to include your resume. Membership is free but subject to application approval.

Posted by Steve Hall at 11:03 AM | Comments (0)

Reebok Launches Global Popeye Ad Campaign

Later this month, Reebok will launch a new global campaign it says will celebrate individuality and authenticity and will include the tagline, "I Am What I Am." While we wonder what Popeye and King Features will think of this, we also wonder if a better tagline might have been, "Fuck It. Why Should I Bother To Be Anything More Than I Am."

Created by New York advertising agency mcgarrybowen, "I Am What I Am" launches globally this month on TV, cinema, print and on billboards in cities such as New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Paris, London and Tokyo. The television spots debut during the NBA All-Star Game on February 20, 2005, and the print ads hit in March publications.

The campaign encourages young people to embrace their own individuality by celebrating their contemporary heroes including: music icons Jay-Z and 50 Cent; top athletes Allen Iverson, Andy Roddick, Kelly Holmes, and Yao Ming; screen star Lucy Liu, skateboarder Stevie Williams, and soccer star Iker Casillas. Or perhaps it just says, hey, it's ok if you're fat, ugly, lazy, dumb, unlucky, divorced, fired, a loser, have cancer, sterile, poor and stuck in suburbia driving kids to soccer games every thirteen seconds.

This spring, to further support the movement to celebrate authenticity, Reebok will launch an online forum on their website where consumers will have the opportunity to create their own "I Am What I Am" ads or nominate someone who they feel truly embodies the campaign message. That ought to be fun.

Posted by Steve Hall at 10:43 AM | Comments (0)

McDonald's Gets Free Promotion From Miss McDonald

While fan sites for celebrities are expected, fan sites for brands usually fall into one of three categories. They are either poor stealth marketing efforts by brands trying to look cool, they are the actual new cool created by brand aficionados or they are the creation of wackos with too much time on their hands.

We're not sure what category this LiveJournal site falls into but Random Culture points to A Day In The Like of Miss McDonald which contains image after image of a teenage, Asian (?) looking girl dressed in a less McHottie version of the Ronald McDonald ensemble. There are pictures of her with Ronald McDonald statues at various McDonald's restaurants, pictures of her hanging out with her family and even pictures of her doing laundry.

The site appears to have been launched last November and it's background is made up of the McDonald's logo. Along with the expected "You're hot!" and "I'd bang you" comments, one ingenious sole posted, as there comment, the McDonald's "I'd Hit It" banner. Never a lack of horny humor on LiveJournal.

Posted by Steve Hall at 10:13 AM | Comments (0)

February 09, 2005

See All The Super Bowl Ads Here

iFilm is hosting all the Super Bowl commercials here for your viewing pleasure.

Posted by Steve Hall at 11:59 PM | Comments (0)

Levis Posts Casting Call For Bloggers to Appear in New Ad Campaign

Gossip dripping Gawker received a tip Levis has made a casting call for bloggers to appear in an upcoming Levi's ad campaign called "A Style for Every Story." Gawker appropriately comments this would clearly be a shark jumping event for the blogoshpere.

Posted by Steve Hall at 04:06 PM | Comments (0)

Cheerleader Slam Dunked In AMC Pre-Movie Promo

We saw this a day or two ago and then again on AdJab which made us realize we'd seen, a month ago, images of one the actors in it on SportsbyBrooks where she's been modeling for almosta year. All of which promoted us to share it here. So what the hell are we talking about? AMC, Nokia and Best Buy have teamed to created an amazing, pre-movie, turn-your-cell-phone-off promo invloving cheerleaders (and the above mentioned actor) and a distracting cell phone. Consequences are hilarious but even more hilarious is an offshoot of the promo called Cheerleader Toss in which a cheerleader is successfully tossed, by stunt men, through a basketball hoop. While successful, it looks like the poor girl ended up with quite a headache. All very amusing.

Posted by Steve Hall at 01:15 PM | Comments (0)

UN Mine Action Service Launches Powerful PSA

The United Nations' Mine Action Service has launched a campaign which brings the dangers of landmines close to home in hopes awareness of the worldwide dilemma will increase. The campaign includes a website and shocking PSA that will likely never appear on TV but should. It opens with a scene of idyllic suburban tranquility. A young family cheers on their daughter who has just scored a goal in her soccer match when she suddenly, violently explodes. Chaos consumes the scene while the mother of the victim shrieks hysterically and her father cradles her lifeless body. A simple graphic reads: "If there were landmines here would you stand for landmines anywhere." It deserves to be seen by as many people as have seen the, in comparison, ridiculous, GoDaddy commercials.

The video was created by New York agency The Brooklyn Brothers.

Posted by Steve Hall at 11:31 AM | Comments (0)

Cabs to Get Wireless Multimedia Systems

Interactive Taxi, a subsidiary of Targeted Media Partners, based in New York, plans to install wireless touchscreen interactive devices in the back seats of more than 600 cabs in Boston, Chicago, and San Francisco.

The company used to offer screens that required large hard drives, mounted in the trunk of the taxi, which were hampered by bumps and the inability to remotely update. The new system will be powered by a 2GB flash drive wiith wireless connectivity for updates. The service will provide passengers new, movie trailers, restaurant listings and, yes, ads.

Posted by Steve Hall at 10:53 AM | Comments (0)

WOMMA Code of Conduct Released

The Word of Mouth Marketing Association released its code of conduct today, an industrywide effort to tackle the issue of ethics in word of mouth marketing. The WOMMA Code establishes guidelines and best practices so marketers have a framework with which to plan and execute ethical word of mouth marketing campaigns. At the heart of the Code is what WOMMA calls its Honesty ROI - honest disclosure of relationship, opinion, and identity. This demands that those who are spreading a marketer's message by "word of mouth" disclose their relationship with marketers in their conversations with other consumers; that they be allowed to form their own honest opinions and let those with whom they're communicating form their own opinions; and that everyone be transparent and reveal their identity to anyone with whom they're communicating. Another key provision deals specifically with the issue of marketing to children. In it, WOMMA states that they stand against any word of mouth marketing to children under 13. The code further emphasizes the important responsibilities, sensitivity, and ethical obligations of working with minors. The Code is being released as a draft for public comment as part of WOMMA's commitment to open, transparent communications. All interested parties are invited to voice their views and contribute to improving this ethical standard. WOMMA has previously emailed more than 1,100 people who expressed interest, inviting them to participate in the discussion. The comment period will remain open for one month, after which a final code will be adopted.

Comments can be submitted at the WOMMA website.

Posted by Steve Hall at 10:25 AM | Comments (0)

Pepsi Girl Blog Not Pepsi Marketing Ploy

A fan blog called That Pepsi Girl was launched Super Bowl Sunday in honor of the half-Asian model, Mandy Fujiko Amano, who appeared in the Pepsi/iTunes "Pop the Music" commercial. Beginning yesterday, bloggers speculated the site was another lame, fake blog marketing trick similar to the one McDonald's launched in support of its Lincoln Fry. The mystery and speculation can be put to rest. We know the creator of the blog and he emailed us Monday to tell us about it. Pepsi has nothing to do with this blog. It's simply a joke. Next.

Posted by Steve Hall at 09:51 AM | Comments (0)

PR Blogger Launches Blog Monitoring Service

CooperKatz & Company, Inc., a mid-sized New York City public relations firm, today launched a new service to help corporations monitor, analyze, plan for and respond to issues that might bubble up from blogs and other emerging online channels.

The service is the first in a series of planned introductions under a new agency practice called Micro Persuasion that will be led by Steve Rubel, VP, Client Services. Micro Persuasion capabilities will not only help companies address corporate issues and concerns but also capitalize on the vast opportunities that blogs and other new channels afford to engage key audiences in a transparent dialogue. Micro Persuasion counsel will be infused into the agency’s existing PR services, but can also be purchased as a stand-alone service. "Thanks to weblogs and other inexpensive online publishing tools, individual voices are more influential than ever in the marketplace," said Andy Cooper, an agency principal. "Corporations need to pay attention to this online commentary as well as engage in a one-to-one dialogue with its 'authors.' We see an opportunity to create a new kind of service that helps companies listen, prepare and manage issues – as well as their overall reputation – in this emerging era of citizen’s media.

When you couple our experience with online privacy, product recalls, litigation, strikes, mergers and acquisitions and controversial marketing categories with our knowledge of blogs and consumer-generated media, we feel we have a unique expertise that will be quite compelling."

Knowing Steve, this new offering will focus on joining the the conversation rather than controlling it as others have, wrongly, done. Steve details the offering further on his blog.

Posted by Steve Hall at 09:48 AM | Comments (0)

Super Bowl Sex Peaks Internet Traffic

While the game, itself, was good, Super Bowl XXXIX will also be remembered for its prudishness and skittish advertisers, largely the result of a stricter FCC following last year's halftime "wardrobe malfunction." Not surprisingly, new Internet data now show advertisers with the most sexually-nuanced commercials were the top drivers of Internet traffic on Super Bowl Sunday.

According to Hitwise, an online competitive intelligence service, GoDaddy, the most provocative advertiser, led the pack. Its total market share of U.S. Internet visits increased 260 percent on Super Bowl Sunday versus the prior day.

Meanwhile, traffic to the Web site for the male impotence drug Cialis increased 155 percent. Visits to the Tabasco Web site increased 118 percent, driven by an ad featuring a bikini-clad actress.

Whether GoDaddy's ad will sell domain names is another story, as Hitwise clickstream data reveal that 23 percent of visitors to GoDaddy went to company founder Bob Parson's blog. which revealed the story behind the ad as well as why the second showing of the ad was cancelled.

The chart below, from Hitwise, reflects Super Bowl-induced changes in Internet traffic:

Super Bowl advertiser web sites with largest change in Market Share of Internet Visits Period - February 6, 2005 compared to February 5, 2005
Site	Change 2/5 -2/6
www.godaddy.com	260.21%
www.cialis.com	155.41%
www.tabasco.com	118.57%
www.dietpepsi.com	94.32%
www.nfl.com	90.95%
www.cadillac.com	74.82%
www.olympus-global.com	73.69%
www.lincolnvehicles.com	57.86%
www.frito-lay.com	57.28%
www.tacobell.com	48.74%

Posted by Steve Hall at 09:27 AM | Comments (0)

Now Corporation to Host Viral Awards

On February 15 at the Museum of Contemporary Art, the now corporation will host The Viral Awards 2004 benefiting The Food Bank for New York City. Awards will be given for "the most infectious North American viral." Finalists for Most Infectious North American viral include Burger King for Subservient Chicken by Crispin Porter & Bogusky, MTV for Instructoart by Matt Vescovo, Scienceworld for Boardroom by Rethink Advertising, Napster for Venables by Bell and Virgin Atlantic for Haircut by Crispin Porter & Bogusky. More info and tickets here.

Posted by Steve Hall at 07:58 AM | Comments (0)

February 08, 2005

Career Builder Expands Super Bowl Monkey Business With Website

To accompany it's round of Super Bowl commercials which feature bunch of monkeys working for a company called Yeknom Inc., Career Builder has launched a purposefully poorly designed spoof site based on the Yeknom (yes, that's monkey spelled backwards) company and all the monkeys that work for it. The site includes a history section detailing the company's inventing of the first tool, a stick, an About section with employee photos, a section highlighting the less than stellar accomplishments of employees and, of course, an employment section which leads to phony job listings on Careerbuilder. There's even an 800 number offering even more monkey business.

The ads and the site nicely wrap together the theme of working for monkeys as in impetus to using Careerbuilder to find a new job. The site is humorous and, hands down, far better integrated into its campaign than the McDonald's Lincoln Fry site an its fake weblog.

Posted by Steve Hall at 04:37 PM | Comments (0)

Late to Party, GoDaddy Ad Production Company Gloms Publicity

We just received a press release touting the involvement of a company in the production of the GoDaddy Strapless Super Bowl commercial.

Hello? The Super Bowl was two days ago. If the production company was after awareness by association, there was plenty of controversy surrounding the GoDaddy ad prior to its airing into which the production company could have inserted itself without having to resort to this post-event, oh wait, me too, plea for inclusion. It's like Joe Simpson using Jessica's populartity to sell Ashlee. We all know how that turned out. We're not mentioning the PR agency which sent the release because we hope they tried to talk the production company out of it but were ultimately bullied into this desperate attempt to milk every last drop of GoDaddy publicity.

Posted by Steve Hall at 03:45 PM | Comments (0)

Jane Magazine Needs to Move Out

Writing in mediaPost's Magazine Rack, Larry Dobrow comments on girly-mag Jane has gone downhill resorting to Paris Hilton covers, out of date Gwyneth references and non-sensical Jude Law references. Dobrow thinks Jane needs to move on writing, "... it doesn't take someone in the mag's demographic crosshairs to notice that lethargy seems to have set in.

This magazine once thrived owing to its cool-older-sister persona, yet the February issue suggests that this cool older sister hasn't found her way out of the bedroom above mom and dad's garage."

We can't really comment as we don't routinely read Jane but we'll take Dobrow's word for it. We here the new teen cool can be found in old standby Seventeen.

Posted by Steve Hall at 01:52 PM | Comments (0)

Oxygen Promotes Reality Series With 'Select A Hunk' Valentine

With a "Select A Hunk" site, Oxygen Network is promoting Mr. Romance, Oxygen's new reality series that culminates in America's First Annual Man-pageant hosted by Fred Willard and uber-hunk Fabio. Visitors to the valentine video/egreeting site can view and listen to the schmaltzy come-on lines the Mr. Romance hunks utter into the camera. The best line comes from the guy dressed in a police uniform who says, "I know how to make you spread 'em." The series premieres on the Oxygen Network March 14th at 10pm.

Posted by Steve Hall at 12:30 PM | Comments (0)

Online Dinner Date Promotes KY Lubricant

KY is capitalizing on Valentines Day to promote their KY Warming Ultragel with a kooky "Warm Up Date" online dating skills test. Visitors first choose their date, then experience a dinner date sprinkled with dilemmas. Navigating through the dilemmas properly shoots the dating thermometer upwards and gets you into bed - with KY Warming Ultragel, of course.

Posted by Steve Hall at 10:51 AM | Comments (0)

Kathleen Turner Provides Voice For Citymeals 'Silence' Ad

In a new commercial, entitled, "Silence," Kathleen Turner lent her distinctive voice to New York's Citymeals-on-Wheels. Indicating the loneliness some homebound seniors face, the spot shows an elederly woman sitting alone at her table in silence. Half way through, Turner's voice is heard saying, "There are 86,400 seconds in her day. These are only 30 of them."

The pro-bono work was created by New York based Urban Advertising.

Urban Advertising President Bernard Urban explained the creative process. "Having Kathleen Turner's voice adds another layer of depth and urgency to the spot", he said. "Not only did she do an incredible job, but she also waived her fee, which is what makes PSA's like this possible. She was amazing, actually the whole team that made this happen was amazing. Everyone donated their time and talent, the producers Sherri Hollander and Hillary Cutter, the sound people at Tonic, editor Rich Rosenbaum at Convergence, they were all moved by the cause and wanted to help out."

Citymeals is currently negotiating with local outlets for airtime and also investigating the option of having thespot shown in movie theaters.

Posted by Steve Hall at 10:14 AM | Comments (0)

Pepsi Girl Spawns Fan Site

Another commercial model fan site has reared its freaky head. Just as the Old Navy Girl did a month or so ago, so has the Pepsi Girl who appeared in the Pepsi/iTunes "Pop the Music" spot aired during the Super Bowl. It's the same spot in which Gwen Stefani appeared wearing a skirt smaller than a bandana. Justin, creator of That Pepsi Girl, writes, "Oh Pepsi Girl. I wish i knew your name. Because i'm in love with you Pepsi Girl. Your eyes, that smile, they way you unscrew that bottle of Pepsi... you're so hot. I love you. Please marry me. I'll buy you all the Pepsi in the world. And maybe an iPod too. I'll try to score one for you by doing that free iPods thing." OK, now that's obsessive.

Posted by Steve Hall at 09:35 AM | Comments (0)

Fury Anti-Fur Ad Blankets Chicago

In an less celebu-focused ad campaign than Dennis Rodman's recent nude appearance in a PETA anti-fur ad, this month In Defense of Animals and the Humane Society have teamed to blanket Chicago's red line with a Valentine’s Day message for Chicago cupids. The oh-so-cuddly-but-looks-like-it-was-created-by-fifth-graders ad reads "Beavers and foxes have as much right to live as cats and dogs" aims to remind Chicago residents to treat all animals with the same kindness they would there on dog or cat. The campaign, by artist Peter Max, was originally launched last September.

Posted by Steve Hall at 09:03 AM | Comments (0)

Dennis Rodman Gets Nude For PETA

Dennis Rodman was in New York City for Fashion Week yesterday to unveil his a new PETA ad, part of the anti-everything group's "Rather Go Naked Than Wear" campaign. In the ad, Rodman appears nude, except for his tattoos, alongside the caption, "Think Ink, Not Mink," and urges: "Be comfortable in your own skin and let animals keep theirs."

Rodman is the first man and the first sports star to pose for PETA's anti-fur campaign, which has featured Pamela Anderson, Kim Basinger, and Christy Turlington. When the basketball oddity, whose own Dennis Rodman Foundation helps the homeless, heard about PETA's program that donates thousands of castoff fur coats to homeless shelters across the country, he agreed to pose for the cause, explaining that furriers have pushed free furs on him over the years and he’s always refused to take them. He claims he has only worn fake fur.

Posted by Steve Hall at 07:41 AM | Comments (0)

February 07, 2005

GoDaddy Crushes Adrants

GoDaddy's oversized, unrestrained breasts unleashed upon Adrants a torrent of visitors and crushed our servers this morning as the entire world just had to see what all the fuss was about. Being listed the second result for search term "GoDaddy" on Google Search and Google News for the headline, "See the Banned GoDaddy Super Bowl Commercial," pummeled our operation and we've had to move to a more industrial strength server. We can't imaging a worse moment for an advertising site to be down. Oh well. The price of popularity. Or maybe it was just a well written headline.

Posted by Steve Hall at 01:24 PM | Comments (0)

Second Airing of GoDaddy Spot Pulled During Super Bowl

GoDaddy CEO Bob Parsons explains on his blog why the second airing of the company's busty-babe-in-the-courtroom spot was pulled. Apparently, uptight NFL officials saw it, confered with FOX and said "Uh, uh, that ain't running again." The company's closing billboard was pulled as well. Oddly, this spot that did air struck us as more "racy" than the one that was banned prior to the game. In all, it's just a stunt marketing strategy that worked. Everyone is talking about it and will be for a long time.

Posted by Steve Hall at 10:25 AM | Comments (0)

Anheuser-Busch Tops USA Today Ad Meter

As we suspected, Anheuser-Busch and Ameriquest scored highly in USA Today's Annual Super Bowl Ad Meter ranking.

The brewer took the number one slot for is Bud Light commercial in which a hesitant sky diver jumps out after a six pack. Also placing in the top ten were AB's "American Troop Thanks You" spot (3rd) and it's cell phone ad in which a guy sees a pic of his girlfriend with another guy. As we also expected, the Ameriquest spot in which a babbling cell phone user is misinterpreted to be a robber placed number two on the list. The mortgage company also placed i8th for its spot in which a guy, after struggling with his cat and a pot of tomato sauce is seen by his girlfriend holding the cat in one hand and a knife in the other.

Napters placed last on the list for its commercial promoting it dead-on-arrival Napster To Go music rental program.

Posted by Steve Hall at 09:46 AM | Comments (0)

Rap With Bob Garfield Monday Afternoon

If you're already overloaded with Super Bowl commercial commentary, here's more. USA Today, at 2 PM EST, is hosting a live conversation with Ad Age ad critic Bob Garfield. Here's your chance to ask him when he last changed his hair style and other important things like why one GoDaddy spot was banned and the other wasn't.

Posted by Steve Hall at 09:33 AM | Comments (0)

Copywriter Reviews Super Bowl 2005 Commercials

Freelance copywriter Kimberly Freeman offers her own personal take on Super Bowl 2005 commercials. Her top pick: the FedEx Kinko's spot.

Posted by Steve Hall at 09:16 AM | Comments (0)

McDonald's 'Lincoln Fry' Promo Includes Fake Blog

Far too busy to visit every detail of last nights Super Bowl extravaganza, Strategic Public Relations points out the McDonald's Lincoln Fry promotion, along with it's odd website detailing a couple's experiences after finding a French fry that has the profile of Abe Lincoln, also has a weblog as a component. But after spending a few minutes with the blog, it's clear it's fake. Just another manufactured part of a campaign. We can't understand why marketers feel the need to do this.

Posted by Steve Hall at 09:10 AM | Comments (0)

February 06, 2005

Mastercard 'Priceless' Commercial a Brand Orgasm

Continuing its "Priceless" theme, Mastercard gathered every major grocery brand around a table for dinner including the Jolly Green Giant, the Pillsbury Dough Boy and the Vlasic pickle pelican. For a minute there, we didn't know what brand we were supposed to be taking in. Sometimes these brand mix things work. Sometimes they don't. Not sure this one did.

Posted by Steve Hall at 09:33 PM | Comments (0)

FOX Thinks It Paid $2.4 Million to Promote '24'

FOX wants us to believe it actually paid itself $2.4 million for the promotional spot it ran for its series "24" by claiming, in the ad, it was worth it. Wait until the accountants see this one.

Posted by Steve Hall at 08:59 PM | Comments (0)

Anheuser-Busch Thanks Military in Emotional Spot

We admit it. We're a sucker for emotional commercials and we're especially moved by emotional military commercials. During the Super Bowl, Anheuser-Busch ran a minute long commercial, set in an airport, showing troops returning while travelers in the terminal stood and applauded their efforts. Very moving. It reminds us of the 2002 Anheuser-Bush spot in which Clydesdales kneel to New York City following 911. We give high marks to this one. View the commercial here.

Posted by Steve Hall at 08:53 PM | Comments (0)

Ford Clubs Viewers Over Head With New Mustang Spot

OK so frequency can be a good thing in a media buy but three spots in the Super Bowl that are exactly the same? Waste of money. At $2.4 million per :30, it likely costs less to produce a spot than to air it so Ford could have easily ponied up more money rather than bore us with three identical spots - two within five minutes of each other.

Posted by Steve Hall at 08:39 PM | Comments (0)

McCartney Rocks Half Time With 'Live And Let Die'

To the classic James Bond movie Live And Let Die accompanied by a massive display of fireworks. He also performed 4-5 more of his classics from the Beatles days delivering one of the best half time shows in memory. Janet who?

Posted by Steve Hall at 08:26 PM | Comments (0)

AdJab Ad Blog Launches And Blogs Super Bowl Commercials

The latest weblog from Weblogs, Inc., AdJab, has launched and is blogging, with an apparent army of bloggers, what appears to be every Super Bowl commercial. Doesn't anyone just watch the game anymore?

Posted by Steve Hall at 08:07 PM | Comments (0)

Cell Phone Habits, Lincoln Fries, Handjobs and Cadillac

Ameriquest, in a spot that really calls attention to how idiotic people look when they use an earpice/microphone device while talking on their cell phones, gives one cell phone user his due as he talks to his friend about being robbed in front of a convenience store clerk. Funny.

McDonald's creates and promotes a website whose sole purpose is to feature a French fry that is shaped with the profile of President Lincoln. There's a long form commercial and even an auction.

A very odd looking spot for Degree deodorant goes through this elaborate plot which even contains visuals of a wife giving a handjob to her husband the Mama's Boy In-Action Figure and his mother giving him what looks like a handjob while pushing him in a shopping cart. Very weird. Why that didn't get banned, we'll never know.

And here's the Cadillac spot we got a glimpse of earlier today.

Posted by Steve Hall at 07:28 PM | Comments (0)

Fedx Provides Ten Tips For Great Super Bowl Commercial

Diet Pepsi ran a spot that reminded us of the dueling, tricked out FedX/UPS truck commercials. It featured P Diddy, Carson Daly and Eva Longoria. We liked it. During the same break was an iPod imitator style spot promoting an iPod-like device - the Olympus Mrobe personal video player. It had some funny Asian middle aged dancers. UPDATE: A different version of this spot ran in the second half and was a bit better including some better dance freakiness.

The best commercial so far comes from FedX whose commercial centered on the ten thing which make a successful Super Bowl commercial. From celebrity (Burt Reynolds) to hot chics to animals to cute kids, it was quite humorous in an insiderish way.

This just in: GoDaddy runs "toned down" spot. It was just as racy as the banned spot so we don't know what the big deal was about except for the fact that it was all just a publicity stunt.

Posted by Steve Hall at 06:52 PM | Comments (0)

DirecTV Travels TV Generations in Super Bowl Spot

DirecTV ran a spot during the pre-game show, called "Rethink," which followed an man through the early days of TV with Lucille Ball all the way up through current day when the man sits down to watch TV with his grandson. Sure it's the saccharine, emotional approach but it conjures DirecTV's understanding of television's place in life. See it here.

Posted by Steve Hall at 06:44 PM | Comments (0)

Cadillac Super Bowl Ad Sneak Peek

It's not much but here's some footage from one of the Cadillac spots to air in tonight's Super Bowl game.

Posted by Steve Hall at 02:03 PM | Comments (0)

Many Sites Post Super Bowl Commercials

There are many sites hosting this year's Super Bowl commercials. Ad-Awards is one of them. Adland is another where you can also find 32 years worth of commercials. SuperBowlAds is another perennial collector which actually uses iFilm to host. These sites will add spots as they air.

Posted by Steve Hall at 01:57 PM | Comments (0)

February 05, 2005

Alternative Marketing Brings Trust to the Forefront

Oh we can't help but gloat a bit when we get a little press so bear with us as we point you to an article in the Hartford Courant about the decline of the :30, the rise of guerrilla, buzz, viral and word of mouth advertising and how that has effected people's trust of marketers.

Referring to the Super Bowl, Hartford Courant reporter John Jurgensen writes, "...operating under the surface of that ad extravaganza will be the mechanics of an industry trying to reinvent itself in order to reach a fragmented and indifferent population of potential customers."

He's right and we're just at the tip of that sea change. As the vicious circle of people's increasing avoidance of advertising collides with advertiser's attempts to circumvent that avoidance, establishing trust will become and ever important consideration when planning a campaign.

Posted by Steve Hall at 08:33 PM | Comments (0)

Jerry Orbach's Wife Miffed Hubby's Ads Not Pulled After Death

Elaine Orbach, wife of the late Law and Order star Jerry Orbach, who died December 28, is upset the ads for Senior Lending Network featuring her husband are still running. SLN President David Peskin said, "Yes, it's true that one or two ran as many as 10 more days (after Orbach's death). But we asked the stations to pull them, and they told us they couldn't be pulled out of rotation."

Somehow we think every broadcast traffic manager in the country has heard of Jerry Orbach and would have had no problem slotting another advertiser or station promo. For SNL's sake, let's just hope it was human oversight and not one last morbid grasp at capitalizing on the star.

Posted by Steve Hall at 08:10 PM | Comments (0)

See The Banned GoDaddy Super Bowl Commercial

In case you haven't already seen the banned GoDaddy SuperBowl spot, you can view it here.

There was no way it was going to run and GoDaddy new it. They played up the PR for all it was worth and still ended up running a spot as racy as the banned spot. GoDaddy will be one of the most talked about companies following this year's Super Bowl.

Posted by Steve Hall at 07:50 PM | Comments (0)

Blog Ad Network Founder Profiled

Jim Kukral, founder and BlogKits BlogMatch Network is profiled in this Internet Week article. The company plans to match bloggers with marketers and has also proposed banner ad size standards specific to blogs. BlogKits joins more established BlogAds as a means to harness blogs as an advertising medium. While blogs have already become valuable channels for marketers to tap, it's unclear whether a new set of standards will help. BlogKits argues their proposed standards cater to common blog layouts but many IAB standard banner sizes work equally well. Having been involved in the creation of multiple ad sizes for online campaigns, we can safely say standards that require campaigns to be resized more than they already are will not be met with a smile.

Posted by Steve Hall at 07:10 PM | Comments (0)

Super Bowl Advertising Facts And Figures

Ad Age has put together a comprehensive chart containing data for 38 years of Super Bowl broadcasts. Included in the chart are prices paid for spots, broadcast network, game ratings, and cost per thousand figures which indicate the rising cost of the Super Bowl as an advertising channel. In 2004 dollars, the CPM in 1970 was $8.88. In 2004, the figure was $25.06.

Posted by Steve Hall at 06:37 PM | Comments (0)

Ask Jeeves to Buy Bloglines

Steve Rubel of Micro Persuasion points to a report by Mary Hodder that reveals Ask Jeeves will announce its purchase of blog search engine and content management company Bloglines on Monday.

Posted by Steve Hall at 06:20 PM | Comments (0)

February 04, 2005

Marketers Turn to Web During Super Bowl For Feedback

Now that everyone is multitasking, blogging and posting to forums, Marketers have come to realize, the best feedback on their Super Bowl marketing efforts will not come from formal research but from monitoring and joining the worldwide discussion racing around the Internet in real time.

Intelliseek and New Media Strategies are two of the companies who have taken on the challenge of measuring and monitoring conversation for marketers during and after this tear's Super Bowl. The will do it by monitoring blogs, forums, industry analyst commentary and, in the case of Intelliseek, their own panel of bloggers. No doubt, there will be a flurry of activity and commentary for marketers to dig through. All this heightened communal conversation makes us want to simply close the laptop and actually watch the game.

Posted by Steve Hall at 10:00 AM | Comments (0)

Conde Nast to Launch $3.5 Million Pro Magazine Ad Campaign

On the heels of the Magazine Publishers of America's launch of a trade pro-magazine ad campaign, Conde Nast is launching their own $3.5 million campaign aimed at consumers. The campaign, which will appear in outdoor media as well as trade, will carry the tagline "The point of passion" and show readers having a love fest with their favorite Conde Nast magazine. San Francisco based Heat created the campaign which will also play up the high "time spent reading" figures magazines can claim.

Posted by Steve Hall at 09:41 AM | Comments (0)

Late Night Question Mark Man Starts Blog

Thank God we don't watch late night TV and subject ourselves to the oddity of Matthew Lesko, the question mark-wearing, Free Money, infomercial screamer. Anyway, he's started a blog. Why we're telling you this, we don't know.

Posted by Steve Hall at 09:00 AM | Comments (0)

Marketer Fails Again in 'The Apprentice'

Doofy Danny did it again. Apprentice candidate and CEO of Boston-based POPstick Danny Kastner, who had a less than stellar performance in the first episode, led this his team to dismal failure on this week's The Apprentice.

Supposedly a creative genius, Kastner received poor marks from Nestle on some promotional work done for Taster's Choice. Displaying zero leadership skills (again, producers love to edit people into idiocy), Kastner, apparently, couldn't make a decision if his life depended on it. Losing valuable time, he waited until the absolute last minute to choose a partner company capable of pulling off the promotional idea his team came up with. How Kastner has built a successful company remains a mystery.

Kastner was not entirely alone in the episode display of less than smart behavior. His entire team displayed some serious idiocy as well by banding together on a plan to suggest to Trump that Michael, a team member who received exemption last week, be fired. Granted, Michael came off as a sexist, Neanderthal loser-slacker but there was no way he could go down for this week's task. In a cluster fuck of the boardroom, the team turned on Kastner as he tried to blame Michael for the failure and Trump lambasted both Kastner and Michael, both from Massachusetts which might have some hidden reason why they nearly came to blows during the episode. And in the ultimate display of bubble headed logic, Kastner selected the un-fireable Michael as one of the two teammates he brought back into the boardroom to face Trump. We suppose in this day of crazy-ass stunt marketing, that's just par for the course.

And if that display of brilliance didn't make it a very good thing Kastner already runs his own company, his guitar playing, folksy send off in the cab pretty much eliminated the likelihood anyone else would be knocking at his door to offer him a job. Unless of course it's in the ad business. We love that kooky stuff, don't we?

Posted by Steve Hall at 08:36 AM | Comments (0)

February 03, 2005

I-Mockery Spoofs 'I'd Hit It' McDonald's Banner

Last week, we reported on McDonald's apparent lack of street smarts or its odd juxtaposition of sex and its Double Cheeseburger when it ran an ad banner containing the phrase "I'd Hit It." Now, of course, the spoofers have had there fun with it and have created new takes on "hitting" a burger. Actually, McDonald's is probably fooling all of us knowing this would race around the net like the Suicide Bomber ad. View the banners here.

Posted by Steve Hall at 04:41 PM | Comments (0)

Nielsen to Launch Ethnic Focused Ad Campaign

Nielsen Media Research will launch a branding advertising campaign in February to heighten awareness about who Nielsen is and how its TV reports accurately reflect the viewing habits of all different kinds of people.

Nielsen has partnered with Burrell, one of the nation's largest African American full-service communications agencies, to create and execute the campaign. It includes print, radio, online and cinema advertising, targeting Asian, African-American, Arabic, and Hispanic consumers and opinion leaders. The informational advertising campaign is also designed to inform multicultural audiences about Nielsen's role in television ratings. One wonders why "whites" don't need this information as well.

As part of the campaign, Nielsen will roll out print ads featuring the faces of adults of various ages and ethnicities merged together, to illustrate the company's inclusive research methods. The print ad copy is translated in Chinese, Spanish and English for respective audiences and will run in ethnic weeklies in and national publications that reach ethnic opinion leaders. The radio ads will run on top-rated African American and Hispanic (Spanish and English language) stations. The campaign also includes on-screen advertising in multicultural movie theaters.

Posted by Steve Hall at 04:16 PM | Comments (0)

Pregnant Women Gets $4,050 For Ad On Pregnant Belly

The woman who offered her pregnant belly as ad space on eBay has found a buyer.

Not surprisingly, The Golden Palace, famous for placing logos on nude people at widely attended events, has paid Amber Rainey, 22, $4,050 to place its logo on her protruding stomach.

UPDATE: Truly disgusting: eBay Colon Advertising Auction

Posted by Steve Hall at 01:01 PM | Comments (0)

Super Bowl Commercial Foreplay

MediaPost's Amy Corr has compiled a comprehensive, quarter by quarter preview of this Sunday's main event: The Super Bowl Commercials. If you want to know what you'll see before you see it, her column is the place to visit.

Posted by Steve Hall at 10:42 AM | Comments (0)

YWCA Debuts Anti-Racism Campaign

With the tagline "Eliminating Racism. Empowering Woman," the YWCA launched a national advertising campaign January 31 that points out the subtle and not so subtle existence of racism in society and how it affects people.

The campaign will include national television, online, radio and print.

Created by Bozell & Jacobs and directed by Bronwen Hughes, two spots kick off the campaign. The first, "Unspoken," illustrates the many subtle ways that racism occurs in everyday situations, from a man shunning another of a different race as they enter their identical apartments to a Native American child sitting alone as an outcast while other children play around him on a playground. The second, "Little Girls," demonstrates the blatant ways that women and girls are routinely devalued in today's society. This spot uses harsh music lyrics as a metaphor for the underlying opinions and attitudes that are still commonly accepted. Visually, the spot celebrates the enthusiasm, innocence and spontaneity of little girls, while the soundtrack emits jarringly derogatory rock, hip hop, pop and country music lyrics. It's quite stunningly effective.

Through a media partnership with Viacom Plus, Viacom's cross-platform sales and marketing group, the YWCA will target young adults ages 18-34 with the campaign on MTV, MTV2 and BET as well as MTV.com and BET.com.

The components of the campaign can be viewed here.

Posted by Steve Hall at 10:00 AM | Comments (0)

Ford Pulls Lincoln 'Lust' Super Bowl Commercial

Yesterday, Ford joined Budweiser as another marketer getting cold feet prior to this year's Super Bowl and has cancelled a planned commercial for its new Lincoln Mark LT pick up truck. The spot, created by Young & Rubicam Dearborn, shows a clergyman finding a key to the Lincoln truck in the collection plate. Following the service, the clergyman is seen lusting after the vehicle in the parking lot only to find out from a church member it was a joke played by his daughter. He is then seen placing the word "Lust" on sign outside the church indicating the topic of his next sermon.

Once again, we have become a bunch of humorless, PC-controlled bores with no backbone. It seems Janet Jackson's right breast has become the most powerful cultural anomaly now guiding our lives.

Posted by Steve Hall at 09:35 AM | Comments (0)

February 02, 2005

Nurses Fight Schwarzenegger With Ad Campaign

Angered by California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger's comments on the nursing profession and his plan to freeze nurse-patient staffing levels, the California Nurses Association has launched a $100,00 national (that won't go far) cable campaign in support of the nursing profession. The campaign takes aim at Schwarzenegger's calling nurses "special interests" and that he said, "I kick their butt." The campaign also takes shots at hospitals which ran a campaign thanking Schwarzenegger for putting a stop to lowering patient to staff ratios previously approved by former Governor Gray Davis. In other news, Schwarzenegger will appear in Terminator 4 only if it is shot in California.

Posted by Steve Hall at 11:00 AM | Comments (0)

Model Gets $15.6 Million For Photo Shoot 19 Years Later

Indicating we all might want to look at packaging more closely the next time we shop, Russell Christoff, whom, in 1986, was photographed by Nestle for possible use on company packaging was surprised, in 2002, to see his image on a Taster's Choice package because he was never told his image would be used. In 1986 a Nestle employee believed permission had been obtained and the company started using his image on Taster's Choice packaging and from 1997 to 2003, his image was used on packaging in the U.S. Mexico, South Korea, Japan, Israel and Kuwait. For Nestle's transgression, an LA County Superior Court jury awarded Christoff $15.6 million form profiting from his image without his permission, The award was based on 5 percent of Taster's Choice sales from 1997 to 2003.

Posted by Steve Hall at 09:41 AM | Comments (0)

Goodyear Advertises on Basketball Player's Head

Seems there's no end to the use of the human body as a walking billboard.

Just a few days ago, Detroit Pistons guard Richard Hamilton wore the pattern of Goodyear's Assurance TripleTred tire pattern as a hairstyle during the game against the Knicks in Detroit. Hamilton plans to keep the style for a week or so. Neither Hamilton's management nor Goodyear would comment on what, if anything, was paid to Hamilton.

Posted by Steve Hall at 08:29 AM | Comments (0)

Yogi Berra Upset Over TBS 'Yogasms'

Baseball legend Yogi Berra has sued TBS for referring to him in a billboard campaign for Sex and the City. One of the boards asks for a definition of "Yogasm" and one of the answers in "sex with Yogi Berra. There is no comment from TBS but the lawsuit ways the ads "damaged his otherwise spotless reputation, is hurtful to his personal sensibilities and has created a false image."

Posted by Steve Hall at 01:32 AM | Comments (0)

February 01, 2005

Group Says Too Much Sex on MTV

The Parents Television Council has released a report condemning MTV for peddling sex to kids. The report, titled MTV Smut Peddlers: Targeting Kids With Sex, Drugs And Alcohol, claims MTV consistently goes over the line. PTC President L. Brent Bozell said, "MTV is blatantly selling raunchy sex to kids. Compared to broadcast television programs aimed at adults, MTV's programming contains substantially more sex, foul language and violence and MTV's shows are aimed at children as young as 12. There’s no question that TV influences the attitudes and perceptions of young viewers, and MTV is deliberately marketing its raunch to millions of innocent children."

Upon viewing 171 hours of programming, the group found MTV reality programming to contain 13 sexual scenes per hour and its music videos to contain 32 utterances of foul language per hour.

And so goes the argument. Some say parents should just turn the TV off.

Others say MTV, because it is part of basic cable, does not allow parents to decide whether or not it comes into the home. Bozell asks, "Given a choice, how many parents now being forced to take and pay for MTV as part of a basic cable package, would continue to do so?"

Posted by Steve Hall at 06:43 PM | Comments (0)

Zodiac Vodka Launches 'Everything' Campaign

In this world of sports stadiums named after brands, product placements intruding upon content and logos affixed to everything including foreheads, Zodiac Vodka has decided not to up the anti. In a series of print ads, the distiller has positioned itself as the official sponsor of everything. The ads contains headlines such as, "Life is always half full" paid off with the tagline, "Zodiac Vodka. Official Sponsor of Optimism." Others include "If opposites attract, how come positive wants nothing to do with negative"? paid off by, "Zodiac Vodka.

Official Sponsor of Physics.

Posted by Steve Hall at 01:40 PM | Comments (0)

Swedish Woman Overreacts to L'Oreal Ad

The insanity of advertising complaints isn't exclusive to America as witnessed by a recent complaint lodged by a Swedish woman about an L'Oreal ad showing a man's hand on a woman's body. Sending her complaint to the Ethical Advertising watchdog of Sweden, the woman, Sara, claims the ad is pedophile-like because the woman in the ad looks like a small girl. Adland has the entire story including the fact that the woman in the ad is, in fact, a woman and that the ad was retouched to remove her breasts thereby, perhaps, causing the woman's complaints. If you ask us, we don't know what the big deal is. It's one of the most innocuous ads we've seen.

Posted by Steve Hall at 01:29 PM | Comments (0)

Universal Orlando Launches 'I Want My Vacation!' Campaign

As part of an ongoing TV campaign which thanks corporate America for not taking too much vacation, Universal Orlando Resort has launched a website focusing on the negatives of not taking a vacation but gives you the tools to improve your vacation going skills. It provides the chance to fight back with some statistics (Americans take the least amount of vacation days), calculate your Vacation Deficiency Quotient and beat your boss up in an online game. All this leads to another site complete with motivational techno music and means to explore what Universal Orlando has to offer.

Posted by Steve Hall at 10:30 AM | Comments (0)

MSN to Launch Google Killing Advertising Orgasm

MSN Search is pumping itself up with an expansive ad campaign which, at it's final girth, will cover 90 percent of U.S. households 40 times over the next eight weeks. We have to admit, that's some serious stamina but, then again, this is Microsoft. Further explaining how the campaign will penetrate the market, MSN Director of Global Campaigns Chris Cocks (we don't make this stuff up!) said, "This will be our biggest campaign since the introduction of the MSN Butterfly in 2000."

If you're happy with Google, get your protective gear on because MSN will soon be knocking, ever so urgently, at your doorway.

Posted by Steve Hall at 09:58 AM | Comments (0)

Lee And Dan Apologize For VW Suicide Ad

Lee and Dan now have last names. They are Brooks and Ford respectively and they have formally apologized to VW for the creation of the Suicide Bomber ad in which a Middle Eastern looking man blows himself up inside a VW Polo. VW received sworn statements from the two acknowledging their involvement in the creation of the ad along with this statement, "The creators regret the distribution of the film, will not publicize it further and apologize unreservedly for the damage caused to Volkswagen." VW has dropped legal action toward the two.

OK, good. Next?

Posted by Steve Hall at 09:36 AM | Comments (0)

Tommy Hilfiger Signs Enrique Iglesias For New Fragrance Campaign

While we haven't seen much of Enrique Iglesias recently ion the American music scene, he is, apparently, still popular the world over and Tommy Hilfiger is tapping that popularity. Tommy Hilfiger Tioletries has signed a deal with the singer to be the face of its new True Star Men fragrance line planned for a fall 2005 launch. Beyonce recently signed on as spokesperson for True Star Women. Somehow, we think True Star Women will fare better.

Posted by Steve Hall at 09:26 AM | Comments (0)

Adholes Launches Super Bowl Ad Commentary Site

Adholes.com, a 1,500 member social networking site for the advertising industry started last November, has made a special blog available for members of the ad industry to offer real-time Super Bowl critique to this year's newly launched commercials. The blog, available at superbowl.adholes.com (registration required) allows Adhole members to log their opinions on the blog and for others to comment on those opinions.

Posted by Steve Hall at 06:50 AM | Comments (0)

January 31, 2005

Nike Launches Lance France Ad

A new campaign for Nike, originating from Melbourne agency, Publicis Mojo, is designed to pay tribute to the larger-than-life heroics of Nike personality, Lance Armstrong. The press and poster work, entitled, "Conqueror," features a close-up glimpse of a classic-style map of Europe,­ only if we look carefully, France has become Lance.

The creative team of writer, Paul Bootlis and art director, Tim Forte used an actual cartographer (from Philips Maps in the UK) to make the ad look more authentic and un-ad-like ­ in the tradition of elementary school Atlases. The ad will be featured in cycling magazines, outdoor and point-of-sale.

Posted by Steve Hall at 08:21 PM | Comments (0)

Nike Launches New Soccer Site

To promote its soccer gear, Nike has launched a new website created by Odopod and ourcommon.

The site asks, "What do the Brazilians know that allows them to win world championships?" The site then digs deep into the Brazilian culture all while selling Nike stuff. The site also lets visitors register to receive information about soccer all over the world, enter contests and to be notified when new content is added to the site.

Posted by Steve Hall at 04:38 PM | Comments (0)

Clothing Store Campaign Hangs, Shoots, Burns to Sell Clothes

A Chinese looking ad campaign which ran in the December issue of Next Magazine for clothing store Bauhaus shows a man being hanged "for not giving up his HIV+ friend," a woman being shot "for voicing money is not everything to 53 people," and a couple being burned "for having each other as the only partner for the past five years." This odd societal flip on norms is, apparently, the latest twist on selling jeans. It makes those old Diesel Jeans ad campaigns look downright tame. View the ads here.

Posted by Steve Hall at 04:20 PM | Comments (0)

Freakish Woolly Mammoth Truck-Like Thing Explains Proper SUV Driving

As a result of all those yahoos who think they can step into an SUV and become instantly impregnable, comes this website and campaign from states attorneys general and consumer protection agencies explaining otherwise. Along the lines of coffee is hot and too much food makes you fat, this site explains the steps which should be taken when getting behind the wheel on an SUV. We have to admit, the beast is very interesting looking and the spot hosted at Ad Age is quite amusing in that "we're trying really hard not to laugh, dry humor, fake serious, you're an idiot" sort of tone. On the site, the creature is really the only thing of interest. Once you get past watching him a few times growl like he hasn't visited the bathroom in a few days, there's just the usual common sense for idiots content such as, "SUV's are not cars. They are typically bigger and heavier."

Posted by Steve Hall at 11:43 AM | Comments (0)

Carat Brings Organization to Ad Council PSA Campaigns

After realizing its campaigns were being scheduled based on the whims of broadcast traffic managers, Time-Warner Chairman/CEO and Ad Council Board Member Philip Kent decided to bring some order to the millions of dollars of free inventory granted to Ad Council campaigns. The Ad Council hired Carat to handle the account on a pro bono basis. Carat is approaching the placement of Ad Council campaigns as it does paid campaigns attempting to procure fairer placement.

Posted by Steve Hall at 10:40 AM | Comments (0)

Highschool Kid Gets Off On Starburst Girlfriend

With geek-like highschool doofiness, a boy, hot for a girl, makes a sculpture of her out of Starburst candies then proceeds to molest the statue in front of the poor, freaked out girl. That's how we sell candy these days.

This weeks's Ad Age TV Spots of the Week is also chock full of long, tease and reveal style spots. First, Renault gives us "paper man," a cartoon character who's left his strip to illustrate the wide open spaces of the car maker's minivan. Then, Fat Tire beer forces us to sit through an agonizingly long commercial just to realize we're watching a beer commercial. Pedigree pours on the man's best friend "ah, gee" cuteness only to reveal it's just a dog food commercial. It almost makes one wish for more of those car dealer ads that just can't seem to mention their name enough in thirty seconds. Either way, this squishy, feel good tease and reveal thing just doesn't work in today's ADD society.

Posted by Steve Hall at 10:14 AM | Comments (0)

Match.com Launches National Print Campaign

A new national print campaign, created by Hanft Raboy, introduces the theme line "Love is complicated. Match.com is simple."

The work, which launches today, uses photographic images from Elliot Erwitt and others to "capture love's mystery and complexity" as the releases explains. The ads will appear in People, Entertainment Weekly, Rolling Stone, The New Yorker and other publications. Soon to follow is a multi-million dollar national television campaign that is slated to break in March. Larger images of the campaign can be seen here and here.

Posted by Steve Hall at 09:15 AM | Comments (0)

Hong Kong Sprite Campaign Reminiscent of Proposed Coke Campaign

A current Sprite campaign running in Hong Kong gleefully aligns itself with individual lifestyles in a campaign that is oddly similar to a campaign proposed a few months ago to Coke called " A Cool American."

Both campaigns celebrate individual traits and lifestyles and align that with the choice to drink a particular beverage. Sprite, of course, is a Coke company and we wonder if the "A Cool American" layouts somehow found their way to Sprite's Hong Kong ad agency. The "A Cool American" campaign can be seen here. The Sprite campaign can be seen here. You decide.

Posted by Steve Hall at 08:39 AM | Comments (0)

Sony Endorses Weblogs With Site Integration Sponsorship

Indicating increased validation of the weblog medium by major marketers, Sony Electronics has signed a deal with Gawker Media to become the exclusive launch sponsor of Lifehacker, a software version of Gizmodo, Gawker Media's gadget review weblog. It is the electronic giant's first foray into weblog sponsorship and, to date, the largest consumer electronics company to make a weblog media buy. Audi, Nike, GE, AT&T, Disney, Viacom and Hewlett Packard have all, previously, used the weblog medium.

Sony's site integration sponsorship of Lifehacker will include the integration of the Sony logo with the Lifehacker masthead, as well as standard IAB ad units. The buy also includes Gizmodo, Gawker Media's gadget title. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Edited by Gina Trapani, a blogger best known for Scribbling.net, a personal journal with the occasional foray into technology, Lifehacker reviews software downloads, spam filters, virus killers, spyware, cleaners, search engines, email applications, internet phones and general productivity tips.

In addition to the launch of Lifehacker, Gawker Media, today, also launches urban chic travel weblog, Gridskipper, with Cheaptickets as its site integration launch sponsor. Gridskipper is edited by Andrew Krucoff, a former guest writer on both Gawker and Fleshbot, two other Gawker Media titles. Both deals were put together by interactive business development agency BlackInc Ventures.

Gawker Media consists of Gawker, Gizmodo, Wonkette, Defamer, Fleshbot, Jalopnik, Kotaku, Screenhead and weblog aggregator Kinja.

With the addition of Lifehacker and Gridskipper, the group now has 11 titles which, according to Gawker Media, serve up more than 30 million page impressions per month. Published by Nick Denton, the group last week received seven nominations for Bloggies, a sort of weblog equivalent of the Oscars, including two for best weblog.

Posted by Steve Hall at 01:11 AM | Comments (0)

January 30, 2005

Golf Club Maker Spoofs Erectile Dysfunction Ads

Adland points to a website called TracjectileDysfunction containing a hilarious spoof of those ridiculous drug company commercials from Viagra and Levitra. Promising "longer, stronger drives that go all day" and using every possible double entendre, the spot, for Cleveland Golf, works. It's funny and, at the same time, explains product benefit.

Posted by Steve Hall at 08:40 PM | Comments (0)

Florida Couple Auctions Super Bowl Stealth Marketing Program

A Jacksonville couple has placed an ad on eBay promising they will promote the winning bidders brand at the Super Bowl. The two will attend the game at meander around AllTell Stadium in Jacksonville as well as attend pre and post-game event. They promise to wear and had out any supplied marketing material. While we're not quite sure how they plan to get past the brand police at the entrance carrying a duffle bag full of non-paid brand paraphernalia, we'll be anxious to see how it turns out game day.

UPDATE: We asked the couple how they planned to get all that non-official brand stuff past the AllTel "brand police," and they have clarified the won't actually be inside the stadium but nearby. The couple writes, "We will not be in the stadium. We will be walking around the stadium all day long and we will be at all of the events all of the other days. We will carry bags with product samples if someone has them for us to distribute. There will be 400,000 to 500,000 people walking around downtown Jacksonville at any given time and that's where we will be. We will be in front of the cameras."

Posted by Steve Hall at 08:39 PM | Comments (0)

Apple Favorite Brand Among BrandChannel Readers

A recent poll of BrandChannel readers found Apple to be their favorite brand.

While it's more of a popularity contest than a test of the brand's effectiveness, popularity is a big part of any brand effort. Also at the top of the list are Google, Starbucks, eBay, Target, Ikea, Virgin, H&M and Nokia.

Posted by Steve Hall at 07:52 PM | Comments (0)

January 28, 2005

Bush Tells Parents to Pay Attention to Kid's Media Habits

In a refreshing bit of common sense, President Bush, in C-SPAN interview Sunday, lauded free speech and said parents who complain about television content, music lyrics and movies need to "pay attention to what their children listen to." He added, "They put an off button on the TV for a reason."

As much as we're all for free speech, we, somehow, get an icky feeling imagining Bush seeing Janet Jackson's breast last year and saying, "Hey, I like that!"

Posted by Steve Hall at 07:19 PM | Comments (0)

Honda UK Launches Unique FR-V Campaign

John from Random Culture points to a new UK campaign for the Honda's FR-V and how its agency, Wieden & Kennedy, zeroed in on one of the car's attributes and drove it home in three very engaging, very different spots. The spots highlight the vehicle's front seat three-across seating capacity by aligning that with common activities families do together. They are so dramatically different from standard car commercials, that, alone, makes them interesting and a brilliant break from the plethora of car ad boredom the industry can't divorce itself from.

Way back when, Boston-based Hill Holiday attempted a break with tradition and created a campaign for the launch of Infinity which incorporated nature visuals geared to emote the feeling the care showered upon its owner. It was a valiant attempt but, ultimately, did not work and was replaced with standard fare. Perhaps Honda will have more success as it recently did with "groovy" spot for the launch of its new diesel engine.

Posted by Steve Hall at 03:27 PM | Comments (0)

Growth is Painful, Adrants to Re-Launch

As many have noted, Adrants has been sick. Ill from popularity.

Strangled by those maddeningly eager to see what will be the next greatest advertising move. As a result, we are causing a server to stress out and exploded under the load. Hosts don't like when that happens and they turn you off. Well, if you're reading this, we've successfully moved off the coughing, gagging, suffocating server to a new, Hulk-strength server capable of serving the advertising industry's salivating need for Adrants-style advertising news. Welcome back.

Aside from getting our head above water, we'll be debuting a new site design along with the addition of contributed feature articles from practitioners in the field. They'll share with you their expertise on various areas of marketing and advertising. The features will appear on a semi-regular basis.

Posted by Steve Hall at 02:35 PM | Comments (0)

Carlsberg Launches Lost Passport Campaign

Finding a "lost" passport in the back of a cab or at the end of a bar may become a trend in cities across the countries if New York-based communications agency Cossette Post has their way. The company will litter cabs, bars, libraries, malls and other popular locations around the country with fake branded passports. Upon finding the passports, people will find in place of a photo of a fellow American, information on Carlsberg beer. For its first major targeted consumer effort in the US, New York based advertising agency Cossette Post has created the Carlsberg Passport, inviting consumers to "Drink with a world of friends." The guerilla marketing "passport" campaign will commence across the U.S. on February 1, 2005 in key cities in 35 states across the country including Chicago, Boston, New York, Las Vegas, San Francisco and Philadelphia. The passports will be distributed through April of 2005 by local Carlsberg affiliates. A national television campaign will follow.

The faux passports, which look and feel like the real thing, feature textured covers in Carlsberg Green and include 12-pages of company facts and worldly information presented in a fun and attention getting fashion. Designed to appeal to the worldly consumer, the inside pages include the requisite “stamps” from countries around the world along with information on how to toast in 34 different languages and how to ask "May I please have a Carlsberg beer" in everything from French to Romanian. There is also a two-page outline on "The Carlsberg Way of Making A World of Friends," which includes international do’s and don'ts for world travelers. For example, in China, "spitting, staring and drinking Carlsberg are acceptable. However, wearing shorts isn’t," and in the Netherlands, "if you split the bill, never say your ‘going Dutch.' It’s really an insult."

We wonder how our security conscious, over-reactive society will take to this. We're sure it will be much fun to watch.

Posted by Steve Hall at 01:00 PM | Comments (0)

McDonald's Wants People to Fornicate With Burgers

Adrants reader Andrew points us to a campaign McDonald's is running on ESPN which has a guy lewdly thinking about a Double Cheeseburger followed by "I'd Hit It." No matter how many mood-altering chemicals they put in their burgers, we just don't think they are quite that hot.

Posted by Steve Hall at 12:21 PM | Comments (0)

Beyonce Launches Clothing Line

We knew this was coming. Beyonce Knowles has signed a license agreement with the Tarrant Apparel Group to produce the House of Dereon line of clothing she named after her grandmother, Agnes Dereon. The line will be targeted to 18-28 year old women - which means 13 year olds will buy it. Beyonce says, "There will be a lot of sexy tops, sweaters and party dresses, things that I would wear either on or off the red carpet."

Hmm. Middle school goes Hollywood. Parents are gonna love this.

Posted by Steve Hall at 11:35 AM | Comments (0)

Bob Brennan Moves to Miller

Former Leo Burnett President Bob Brennan has been named director of marketing foe SABMiller's Miller Brewing Company. He takes over for Steve Buerger who left for Time Warner. After Brennan's exit from Leo Burnett, we all wondered where he'd end up and speculation abounded he would head up a media group at Interpublic or launch an uber-media shop of his own. Some say Brennan could be tough to get along with and was referred to as "Chainsaw Al." I never saw that.

I spent a year at Starcom under Brennan and Jack Klues as a media director hired to start a media division to handle the media needs of recent Leo Burnett acquisition, TFA, a Chicago-based high technology agency with offices in Chicago, Boston, San Francisco and Austin. I spent another 1.5 years working at TFA in association with Starcom. To say the least, it was excrutiatingly difficult and I ultimately left.

It was the dot com era and there were new business pitches every other day it seemed. Couple that with the day to day media needs of clients across the four offices, the work, with no support staff, quickly turned into a recipe for burnout. This was during the birth of StarcomWorldwide, StarLink and the growth of a high tech agency from nothing to over $200 million in a year and there were, to say the least, some juicy management issues to deal with.

While it was a difficult time and there were those that made life miserable, Bob Brennan was not one of them. As a newcomer to the Starcom "media director's club," Brennan was supportive and, on several occasions, personally made sure I was aware, and invited to, important agency functions and social events. It was a dynamic time full of positives and negative and, in a sense, the whole thing begs for a book to be written on the experience. Someday, perhaps.

Posted by Steve Hall at 10:22 AM | Comments (0)

eBay Ad Bid Insanity Continues

Foreheads, skulls, arms, chests. Body parts auctioned off on eBay as human ad placements have become the most annoying trend we are forced to cover recently. This time, 22 year old Amber Rainey is auctioning off her very large, very pregnant stomach. "I got the idea from the guy who put his forehead up for bid and he got $37,000 doing it. I was like joking around. I'll put my face up. I said, wait a minute. I have a really big stomach, you know. Hey, and you can't help but to look at."

Hopefully, there's an upside to all this eBay oddity. Perhaps, this is just the messy start of what could be a billion dollar business for eBay when serious ad dollars and ad placement are auctioned on the site.

Posted by Steve Hall at 10:02 AM | Comments (0)

Man Sells Body Ad Tattoos on eBay, Industry Yawns

In the so over category, Joe Tamargo has joined the legions of odd soles selling off their bodies on eBay as moving billboards. We're not even going to bother summing up recent stories on the trend. There everywhere and easy to find. Wait til you hear the one about the pregnant woman who is selling her tummy to advertisers on eBay.

Posted by Steve Hall at 06:51 AM | Comments (0)

January 27, 2005

Mister Softee Brand Gets Partially Silenced

The Mister Softee brand has, forever, been identified by its truck's trademark jingle. Mayor Bloomberg has proposed a ban to eliminate the jingle as part of the city's noise code but Mister Softee execs claim that would put the company out of business. However, a compromise has been reached that allows the company to play its jingle while its trucks are moving but not when they are parked. While the reduction of the, to some, annoying, Mister Softee jingle may help reduce city noise a bit, the physical removal of horns from every New York City cab would certainly make greater headway toward a quieter city.

Posted by Steve Hall at 02:12 PM | Comments (0)

Director of VW Suicide Bomber Ad Revealed

MediaGuardian reports commercial director Stuart Fryer directed the hotly debated Volkswagen Polo viral ad in which a suicide bomber detonates his bombs within the vehicle. The spot has been linked to a London-based creative partnership called Lee and Dan who are currently being sued by Volkswagen for their part in the creating of the ad.

Fryer claims the spot was created and shot for use on a show reel and was never intended to be seen by the public. Fryer explains saying, "I just wanted it for show reel purposes, not seen by millions of people around the world. I don't want to offend people, I just want to make advertisements. I wanted to show it to the Saatchis and BBHs of this world. Little did I know that the advert that I made would be sent out on the internet and create such a fuss - it's shocked me."

Volkswagen is approaching the legal aspects of this a bit better than PUMA did when it was caught off guard a couple years ago by an unsanctioned ad. PUMA decided to sue all the bloggers who wrote about the story and posted images of the ads rather than trying to figure out who created the ads and sue them.

We're thankful times have changed.

Posted by Steve Hall at 01:24 PM | Comments (0)

Eighties Hair Band Sells Hair Transplant Surgery

Why no hair transplant company hasn't tried this approach before is beyond us but we can now thank (or hate) Medical Hair Restoration for riffing on eighties hair bands to promote their hair restoration service. The campaign includes three :30's featuring the ficticious band, The Hair Dudes, which poke fun at other self-improvement products hawked to hair-challenged men and suggest a full head of hair is the only path to well being. The spots can be viewed here.

Posted by Steve Hall at 11:35 AM | Comments (0)

eBay Forehead Ad Sale Rumored to be PR Stunt

A comment under our story on the Omaha man who sold his forehead to California-based SnoreStop through an eBay auction for $37,375 is rumored to be a well organized public relations stunt. The rumor states the daughter of SnoreStop CEO Melody de Rival actually went to college with the Omaha man, Andrew Fischer, and the two set the entire thing up together. In the comment section, David Hume writes, "Do you believe everything you read in the papers? Watch this story unfold. When is the guy getting paid? In one payment or in 12 monthly installments, as agreed upon. And who is going to see his forehead? This entire thing was very iffy and scammy and media savvy, they even had a PR firm ready to give out photos in a jiffy. Who arranged all this to happen with such magic speed? Again, don't believe everything you read in the papers. And stop snoring!" We must admit, it has been one of the more well organized, better covered eBay stunts in recent memory. We've placed clarification calls to Crier Communications, which wrote the original press release on the news and to SnoreStop.

UPDATE: The Omaha man, Andrew Fisher, has written Adrants claiming the sales of his forhead to SnoreStop is no stunt and was not planned in advance as a publicity stunt. He writes: "In fact no, I have never been to college in my entire life, nor have I ever met this girl even to this day. Where or how this rumor got started I do not know, but I can assure you I have never even heard of SnoreStop before this auction.

How did the PR company get my picture so fast? Let me think. I took a digital picture of myself, and then emailed it to them. Follow? This is just a rumor made up by someone who is jealous of the fact that I had a good idea that worked out very well for me. I have added this question to the FAQ page on my website as well to prevent this rumor from spreading. Not everything in life is a conspiracy.

-Andrew"

Posted by Steve Hall at 10:14 AM | Comments (0)

Budweiser Releases Jackson Boob Joke Spot

Just one day after agreeing with FOX not to air a spot that pokes fun at last year's Super Bowl "wardrobe malfunction," Budweiser has, itself, released the spot on the web heading off the underhanded efforts of those who would have spread it virally anyway. It was probably the right choice not to air the ad. Not because it might catch the attention of the FCC or any cause group but because it's simply not a very good commercial. It plays like a joke that has been told millions of times before by someone who still thinks it's funny. It might have been funny if it ran during the Oscars last year. This year it just screams like a wannabe, "Dude, isn't this hilarious?" View the spot at Budweiser's site.

Posted by Steve Hall at 10:00 AM | Comments (0)

Radio Team Gets Boot For Tsunami Song Joke

We heard the broadcast and it was clearly a joke albeit an insensitive one. New York WQHT Morning DJ Miss Jones and her Hot 97 team have been suspended for airing a song making light of the disaster. Set to the tune of "We Are The World," the song is filled with racial slurs such as "chinks" and Chinaman." The song first aired January 18.

Emmis Radio President Rick Cummings said, "What happened is morally and socially indefensible. All involved, myself included, are ashamed and deeply sorry." You can hear the song here.

Posted by Steve Hall at 09:41 AM | Comments (0)

January 26, 2005

FOX, Anheuser-Busch Get Cold Feet, Cancel Jackson Boob Joke Spot

An Anheuser-Busch Bud Light spot poking fun at last year's wardrobe malfunction, set to air during the Super Bowl, will not be seen after FOX and Anheuser-Busch execs met to discuss the potential backlash. In the spot, a man, backstage at last year's half time show, uses Jackson's dress, hanging over a chair, to get a better grip opening his bottle of Bud Light. This apparently damages the dress. No doubt, this spot will be released on the web anyway for all to see.

Anyone over at DDB Worldwide that wants to get that ball rolling, feel free.

Posted by Steve Hall at 10:43 AM | Comments (0)

Maxim Launches 'Endangered Man' to Preserve Waning Circulation

Recently, Dennis Publishing's Maxim launched a site called Endangered Man which highlights some of men's traits and why man must be added to the Endangered Species list. The kitschy, tongue-in-cheek site contains a petition addressed to United States Secretary of the Interior Gale Norton and Director of U.S. Fish and Wildlife Steve Williams arguing why man should be added to the list. The site is filled with humorous man references including mans' favorite tools: The Sanity Retention device (satellite dish), The Veal Chunk Transfer Device (fork), The Freestyle Landscaping Device (motorbike), The Rent Money Acquisition Machine (foosball table) and the Cheerleader Viewing Device (arena scoreboard.

The site is quite involving following the style of documentary-like, Mutual of Omaha's Wild Kingdom-style references to man's habits and lifestyle and why they should not be left to extinction. Ironically, it's Maxim's circulation that's in greater danger of extinction.

Posted by Steve Hall at 10:32 AM | Comments (0)

MTV2 Behind Two Headed Dog Teaser Site

Marketers and those that work for them continue to under estimate the resourcefulness of inquiring minds. Either that or they are just lazy when it comes to covering their tracks. Earlier this month, a strange site called Two Headed Dog launched with images, games and videos, all "two headed dog" themed. We, and others, eventually surmised it was related to MTV2. We were right.

Today, an email pointed us to an Animated Republic message board posting by "Daikun" who picks up on how another poster "Albright" saw a promotion for the Two Headed Dog site on GameSpot's On the Spot. "Daikun" then looked at source code of the promo - just as someone who recently cracked a GM online promotion did - and, whadda ya know, right there in the code was reference to MTV2. We may never know whether this was the result of sloppy project management or whether the code was "leaked" intentionally. Either way, MTV2 is up to something.

Posted by Steve Hall at 10:09 AM | Comments (0)

Pepsi Screws Up iPod Bottle Cap Promotion Again

Seemingly unable to learn from their mistakes, Pepsi has relaunched its Pepsi iTunes Music Promotion using the same code-under-the-bottle-cap tactic which, early last year, people cracked and have again, this year, cracked. The promotion calls for people to use the winning code found under the bottle caps of 20 oz. and liter sized Pepsi products to redeem songs from Apple's iTunes Music Store.

200 million songs will be given away. Last year, people only bothered to download 5 million due to lack of interest and Pepsi shipping "problems."

Without the promotion having launched yet, websites are already abuzz with tips and tricks to scam the promotion. With a simple tilt of the bottle or a flashlight/tilt/reflect trick, the code under the bottle cap can, apparently, be seen allowing the person to get the redeemable code without having to buy any Pepsi product. Perhaps a good ol' cash register-produced, code-containing coupon would solve the whole mess.

Posted by Steve Hall at 09:35 AM | Comments (0)

January 25, 2005

Video of Macintosh Introduction Surfaces

Twenty one years ago, Steve Jobs, to the tune of Chariots of Fire, introduced the world to the "insanely great" Apple Macintosh at the Cupertino Flint Center. We've all seen the commercial but many have not seen the birth of the Mac itself. In the video, Jobs pulls the tiny Mac out of its case, pops in a disk, and let's the Mac take over the presentation. It even speaks (hey, it was 1984). Along with witnessing the glory of the Macintosh being born to a standing ovation, it's one of the few times you'll see Jobs, out of his signature jeans and black turtleneck, in a suit and tie. Author Scott Knaster,apparently, had the only copy of the public TV broadcast and kept it for 21 years unseen by anyone else. It was tracked down by the folks at Industrial Technology & Witchcraft who, working with Knaster, cleaned it up and digitized it for all to see. In total, there's two hours of content on the video. Only the section where Jobs introduces the Mac has been released. Jason Kottke has collected several links to the video here.

Posted by Steve Hall at 10:01 PM | Comments (0)

Career Builder Releases First Super Bowl Campaign Spot

CareerBuilder has just released the first of several spots in a campaign which will launch Super Bowl Sunday. In the first spot, a man on the phone with a customer can't carry on a conversation because he works with a bunch of monkeys who can't keep quiet. Not all that exciting. View the spot here and sign up to be notified when new spots are posted.

Posted by Steve Hall at 02:50 PM | Comments (0)

Site Spoofs Crispin Porter & Bogusky

Fave agency Crispin Porter & Bogusky, famous for Burger King's Subservient Chicken, Dr. Angus, Virgin Atlantic Porn, Mini Cooper Robot, Chicken Fight, farting grandpa and more is now getting the ultimate endorsement - a spoof website. Like Crispin Porter describes itself as "not exactly the same as Crispin Porter. We don't have clients. Or an office. Or a staff. In that sense I guess we could have called ourselves Like Grey Worldwide Canada. But we didn't.

Because we're Like Crispin Porter."

The site has section called Like Work which contains none, Like Bios which spoofs CP&B execs and Like Bush which makes odd reference to Bush tax cuts. Of course, knowing CP&B, they're behind it. The hosting site (theneep.com) has "B K (webmaster@theneep.com)" listed as its registrant. BK. Get it? UPDATE: While we love viral jokes and conspiracy theories, we are assured this site has no connection to Crispin Porter & Bogusky and neither does the poor soul whose phone number is listed on the WHOIS info page. So all of you who have been calling him can now stop.

Posted by Steve Hall at 01:30 PM | Comments (0)

Forehead Advertising eBay Guy Gets Buyer

Oh please. The dude who auctioned off his forehead on eBay found a company willing to pay $37,375. In a twist, the company that ponied up the money for the privilege or adorning Omaha resident Andrew Fisher's forehead is a company called SnoreStop. The company better not find Fisher snoozing and snoring on the job.

Posted by Steve Hall at 11:34 AM | Comments (0)

Vonage and BroadVoice Engaged in Brand Confusion

Maybe it's just us but we wonder if broadband phone company BroadVoice couldn't have made it's ad campaign and website just a little bit closer to an exact replica of competitor Vonage's website. From typeface similarity to the use of International flags to the duplication of page layout, there's something strange going on here.

Who knows. Maybe the two companies own each other but hat's for the financial media, not us, to worry about. For us, it's just wrong for two different brands to look so similar. It's confusing for the consumer. Vonage? BroadVoice? Ah, who gives a shit. There just phone companies. Is that the reaction brand managers of Vonage and BroadVoice want their customers to have? Perhaps it's all just a clandestine brand preference experiment.

BroadVoice. Vonage.

Posted by Steve Hall at 11:04 AM | Comments (0)

Advice: Advertisers Prepare For Post Super Bowl Buzz

Writing in ClickZ, Pete Blackshaw reviews last year's Super Bowl fiasco in terms of it stealing buzz from advertisers which usually become the topic of water cooler discussion for days following the game. Sadly, last year Janet Jackson's boob stole advertiser's thunder. Blackshaw speaks to the power of consumer generated media (blogs, chat rooms, forums, etc.) and how monitoring these channels can contribute to brand metrics and buzz. He offers five steps every Super Bowl marketer should take in preparation for consumer reaction.

Posted by Steve Hall at 10:32 AM | Comments (0)

Guerilla Tactics Get Creative Team Hired

Canadian-based ihaveanidea Events Editor Brendan Watson, writing on organization's website shares how he and his creative partner, Jana, used some very inventive tactics to get noticed by those they wanted to work for. From Peanust paraphanalia to branded caffeine capsule packaging to self-created office space, Brendan and Jana got noticed and got hired. Now don't go copying their ideas but a resume and a book are useless unless they get seen. This creative team found methods that got their work seen.

Posted by Steve Hall at 09:02 AM | Comments (0)

Seven Years later, Pitt Snubs Tibet in Ad

Choosing a more current pop culture reference certainly wasn't the strategy behind Amsterdam-based Selmore for its broadband client Chello when it chose to wink at the Brad Pitt movie Seven Years in Tibet with its Seven Seconds in Tibet spot. Humorous enough, the spot shows "Pitt" stepping off the plane, seeing the effects of local goat milk, thinking twice, and stepping right back on the plane. Perhaps the movie was just released in Amsterdam but for the rest of us, we say, "Huh? Seven Years Where? When? Who?" Other spots in this weeks' Ad Age TV Spots of the Week include a lavish looking, black and white spot for William Lawson Scotch featuring Sharon Stone which pokes fun at her Basic Instinct days; a spot by Minneapolis-based Colle & McVoy for Minnesota Tourism which promotes the frigid state by illustrating how much fun a bear can have when it doesn't hibernate; a weepy, somber spot set to cat Stevens' Morning Has Broken by Sydney-based DDB for McDonald's mourning the death of the late former CEO Charlie Bell - very well done; a spot by Modernista showing a family tobogganing from the top of a mountain to which their Hummer brought them causing Ad Age to , rightly, suggest the tagline for this ad could be "Hummer, The Vehicle of Idiots;" a Cliff/Freeman spot for Snapple which has Wendy getting a woman to say nice things about a mechanic who placed the woman's car in a junkyard; a spot for Quiznos by LA-based Siltanen & Partners featuring the talking Baby Bob; and a spot from Leo Burnett for Allstate which places its insured on mountain vista roadways to illustrate its rapid addition of customers in the past year.

Posted by Steve Hall at 08:33 AM | Comments (0)

adMarketplace Cuts Publishers in on Network Sales

adMarketplace, an auction-based market for buyers and sellers of graphical online advertising and seller of eBay keywords, has announced the launch of a new affiliate program for Web publishers. Through the Program, publishers can choose to add a link on their site that leads prospective advertisers to a co-branded registration page introducing the adMarketplace Network. Referring Publishers receive a portion of total revenue across adMarketplace's entire network for advertisers that sign up through this Program.

Posted by Steve Hall at 06:56 AM | Comments (0)

January 24, 2005

Sexy Billboard Ads Torn Down By Muslims in London

A British Muslim activist group, Muslims Against Advertising, is fed up with sexually charged ads and has begun defacing and tearing down billboards that show scantily clad women revealing "offending" body parts. The group has set up a website (a lame geocities site down, apparently, due to all this news) listing advertisers it feels are offensive and offers tips to vandals.

Thong-maker Sloggi, which runs provocative billboards specifically to push limits to garner press coverage, is one of the groups biggest targets.

Posted by Steve Hall at 03:15 PM | Comments (0)

EU May Ban Fat Food Ads

The European Commission has warned fast food companies to stop advertising junk food to children and suggests the industry self-regulate itself or face legislation which would limit advertising. Along with America, Europe is getting fat. A recent study predicts 50 percent of British children will be obese by 2020. In Southern Europe, one in three kids are clinically obese, 36 percent of Italian nine year old are overweight and 27 percent of Spanich children are deemed overweight.

Australia has dubbed its obese kids Generation O. Writing in Ad Age, Executive Editor Jonah Bloom says the obesity scare is blown out of proportion and food giants are not entirely to blame.

UPDATE: Association of National Advertiser CEO Bob Liodice wrote an editorial in today's Ad Age arguing the recent issuance of the Center for Science in the Public Interest's "Guidelines for Responsible Food Marketing to Children" is an infringement on free speech. He posted the editorial on his weblog.

Posted by Steve Hall at 02:35 PM | Comments (0)

Yo Dude, This Campaign is Cool

Created by 72andSunny, trendy sports fashion brand Quicksilver has launched a collection of television spots that feature X Game medalist Todd Richards and Danny Kass.

The Richards and Kass spots use kitschy surf movies from the 1960s (like Gidget and Beach Blanket Bingo) as visual inspiration. The ads incorporate music produced and composed by Tom Baxter, grandson of Les Baxter, who scored many of the surf movies of that era. For the humorous dialogue scenes between the two athletes, Kass and Edwards were shot against a rear projection screen, which created the purposefully low budget look and effect of Kass and Richards ³snowboarding² against a park background when, in actuality, they were goofing off on a Burbank sound stage. The director then interspersed these dialogue segments with cutaway trick shots culled from stock footage.

The spots break January 20 on ESPN, FOX Sports and ABC, with additional ads created for viewing on the Quicksilver website.

Posted by Steve Hall at 11:05 AM | Comments (0)

Jamster Rips Off Blockbuster Super Bowl Ad

Ripping apart a current television campaign for Jamster Ringtones which employs the visual of a dancing guinea pig to promote its new Hampster Dance ringtone, Claymore, writing on Adland, points out the crude animation was basically stolen from a Doner Advertising created 2002 Super Bowl spot Blockbuster ran called "Kung Fu" featuring a guinea pig and a rabbit.

With side by side comparison, Claymore makes it quite clear the visual was obviously ripped right out of the Blockbuster spot and slammed, badly, into the Jamster spot. Hmm, do we hear the lawyers making calls today?

Posted by Steve Hall at 10:21 AM | Comments (0)

Tide Coldwater Campaign Employs Six Degrees of Separation Strategy

For the introduction its new cold water laundry detergent Tide Coldwater, Procter and Gamble has launched a website to promote the product, give away free samples, allow visitors to tell their friends and add their zip code which places them on an American map to illustrate how product usage has spread. Signing up to receive the free product leads visitors to a data gold mine-building optional survey which queries laundry detergent brand usage, feelings about Tide, temperature used when washing clothes and Tide Coldwater purchase intent.

A social network of sorts and a real world demonstration of the six degrees of separation concept, the Tide Coldwater site is powered by Eyebeam's Forward Track, an open source project designed to promote online activism.

Posted by Steve Hall at 09:24 AM | Comments (0)

Cadillac to Launch Consumer Created Ad Promotion

Following the January 15 launch of its 5 second television campaign to promote its V-Series cars, Cadillac is set to announce a contest wherein amateur filmmakers can submit their own 5-second spots, with the winner driving off in a CTS-V. The contest will be announced at Sundance, with submissions taken between Super Bowl Sunday and Feb. 17. Submission will be made through CadillacUnder5, a site which features John Travolta in his Chili Palmer character from the upcoming MGM movie Be Cool.

Posted by Steve Hall at 08:12 AM | Comments (0)

January 21, 2005

Marvel Super Heroes Coming to Ad Campaigns Everywhere

Stock photo house Corbis and uber-comic company Marvel Enterprises, Inc.

today announced an agreement to make Marvel’s world-renowned Super Heroes available for use through Corbis. The deal grants Corbis with the rights to license Marvel’s digital content for editorial and commercial use on a global basis. Shortly, the world of advertising will be saved.

Under the new multi-year license agreement, Corbis will gain rights to the thousands of images featuring Marvel’s library of more than 5,000 characters -- including such ever-popular figures as Spider-Man, the Incredible Hulk, the Fantastic Four, The X-Men, Elektra, and Captain America – and makes them available for use in print and broadcast media. The arrangement provides creatives with simple access to Marvel character art and the rights clearance services necessary to use them in editorial and commercial advertising projects.

Marvel content will be available for licensing at Corbis beginning January 19, 2005. Marvel content at Corbis is available for preview here.

Please, don't everyone jump at once. We love the Super Heroes but, like the Matrix/Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon-based cam span pivot trick, we'll tire of Hulk "crushing the competition" very quickly.

Posted by Steve Hall at 11:20 AM | Comments (0)

Nineties Barely Over, Already in Revival

Just five years out of the decade, the nineties are already making a comeback. Next week, Nerveana, a 90s-themed nightclub will make its debut. The club will have a "Basic Instint" room, a VIP booth inside a white bronco and will serve Monica cocktails. With the premiers of VH1's I Love the 90's, Part Deux, 90s CDs and other 90s-themed club sprouting up, the decade is roaring back. We think it's insane but marketers won't. Expect tributes to the 90s popping up in ad campaign very soon.

Posted by Steve Hall at 09:51 AM | Comments (0)

AMD to McCann Erickson: You're Fired!

Upon hearing it's agency, Interpublic Group's McCann Erikson Worldwide, was going to pitch the $300 million Intel account, AMD, treated like a cast off wall flower, said screw you to McCann and put its account up for review. Joining Interpublic for the Intel chase will be WPP's Berlin Cameron/Red Cell along with Y & R. Incumbent Euro RSCG Worldwide is out.

Posted by Steve Hall at 09:18 AM | Comments (0)

Jenna Jameson Launches Wireless 'Moantones'

Wireless entertainment publisher Wicked Wireless announced Wednesday it has partnered with adult entertainment star Jenna Jameson to create an adult wireless entertainment offering. New York-based Wicked Wireless said the Modeltel Mobile Storefront, featuring R-rated wallpaper, "moantones" and other content, will first launch for Telefonica subscribers in Central and South America before being offered in the U.S. on a limited basis in late 2005. Jameson explains the offering, saying, "W'll provide [moantones] in the universal language of sexy sighs recognized around the world but with our own personal touch. The technology is way beyond most of us, but the bottom line is that you'll able to hear the other Jenna's Web Girls moan and me when your phone starts to ring.

We'll also provide audio content in Spanish plus photos and text features."

We're quite sure this service will be quickly and secretly downloaded to friend's phones becoming the biggest phone-related practical joke since calling a bar and asking the bartender to page "Mike Hunt."

Posted by Steve Hall at 08:53 AM | Comments (0)

Intelliseek to Monitor Weblog Reaction to Super Bowl Ads

Intelliseek, parent company to BlogPulse, will monitor weblog commentary on Super Bowl ads for its clients. The market research company has also set up a panel of bloggers specifically to offer comment of the ads during the game. Many weblogs, including this one, have offered creative commentary but it has, mostly, come from advertising industry professionals. Those of us in the industry approach commentary differently than those outside the industry. And, in reality, it's the commentary from outside the industry which is more important to the advertiser. Intelliseek's approach may well have some very beneficial value to advertisers interested in the blogospere's conversational commentary though do not have the ability to do it themselves.

Posted by Steve Hall at 08:07 AM | Comments (0)

January 20, 2005

Agency CEO Portrayed As Fool on 'The Apprentice'nm

While it's known the producers of The Apprentice get sadistic pleasure out of editing contestants into idiots, it was still embarrassing to see a fellow industry professional get chopped up and fed to the nation as another twisted, reality show moron. In last night's season premier, Boston-based POPstick Chairman and CEO Danny Kastner was the buffoon of the episode, painted into a caricature not unlike a circus clown. Of course Kastner didn't help matters by dressing in distracting, oh-so-cool ad-wear, leading his team in a feel-good kumbaya campfire-like moral building exercise and, worse, failing miserably at his assigned task.

In the episode, the two teams, college grads versus highschool grads, had to develop a new burger for Burger King and sell as many as they could. The highschool team, with a much better sense of the fast food environment, of course, won. The college grads, Kastner's team, lost.

Kastner's job was to put together a marketing program to get people into the restaurant. As part of his plan, he came up with a freak sidewalk show, replete with his horrible guitar playing and some kind of carnival-like ring toss. Oddly, the stunt seemed to get people into the restaurant but the so-called college smarties were clueless behind the cash registers making for a cluster fuck of customer service.

In the boardroom, Kastner was slammed by Caroline who simply couldn't believe what he had done in the name of promotion. While he wasn't fired (his team leader was), Kastner degraded the perception of the advertising profession which, today, is already in tough shape. We know we're sometimes a bunch of weirdos with our own incomprehensible language and odd characteristics but Kaster's performance on the show exposed our worst side.

We feel for POPstick employees this morning.

Posted by Steve Hall at 10:07 PM | Comments (0)

GM Leaves Answer to National Billboard Campaign Puzzle On Website

GM has launched a unique national outdoor campaign that reveals a new, one word billboard each day. On January 31, when all 17 boards are revealed, a sentence will be formed. The campaign includes a website called findthemessage which reveals each day's word and places it in proper order, provides message boards for people across the nation, prior to January 31, to work together towards solving the puzzle and allows visitors to enter a sweepstakes to win 100 daily prizes along with one grand prize consisting of a choice between eight new 2005 GM cars. So far, 6 of the 17 words have been revealed. The 17th word appears to simply be a period leaving 10 more words to be revealed.

However, all the words are readily available in the source code of the findthemessage website. One programming-literate literate sole on the message boards claims the sentence is, "This is the last time you will ever have to feel alone on our nation's highways.," pointing to the possibility GM will offer OnStar in all of its vehicles and to the source code of the website's Flash file (text of file here) easily visible to those who have the technological know-how. Oops.

Either the site's creators embedded the answer on purpose to throw people off or GM spent a ton of money only to have the fun taken out of the campaign. Just as we're assured of hearing "You're Fired" on tonight's The Apprentice debut, we're certain to hear the same words screamed by an angered GM marketing executive very soon.

UPDATE: MarketingVOX suggests that GM act quickly and, working with the already revealed words, change the sentence to one reflecting the true outcome of this campaign: "This campaign costs big bucks; you will surely have higher car payments on this nation's car lots."

Posted by Steve Hall at 03:58 PM | Comments (0)

Social Networking Site Adholes Membership Passes 1,000 Member Mark

Along with the Adrants Network, another new social network for those in the ad industry has seen rapid growth. Adholes, launched at the beginning of November by Marc Lefton, a freelance advertising creative, and Mary Crosse, a project manager at Euro RSCG Worldwide, now has 1,000 members.

Much like social networking sites Myspace or Friendster, AdHoles, like the Adrants Network, is a niche advertising industry targeted social networking website that allows advertising professionals to keep track of their current contacts and meet new ones from independent and major agencies. Additionally, users can post blogs on industry topics, which spur comments from members of the site, forming a very collaborative and information rich environment.

Currently, the Adrants Network has 1,265 members.

Posted by Steve Hall at 03:05 PM | Comments (0)

College Marketers Expand Tactics to Recruit Students

From sex appeal to rock stars to skiing, colleges have ditched standard course catalog and brochure recruitment tactics and, instead, turned to racier, less collegial methods.

Doane College in Nebraska found itself apologizing after it sent out a post card mailing to 13,500 California high school students that featured the image of a male student surrounded by women with copy that encouraged students to play the field.

University of Nebraska, facing enrollment declines, allowed Motley Crue's Tommy Lee to film his "Tommy Lee Goes to College" reality show on campus. Of course, complaints arose surrounding his jail term for kicking his former wife, Pam Anderson.

Saint Vincent College in Latrobe, PA took a less racy but equally alternative approach to recruitment by inviting applicants to an all expenses paid weekend ski getaway. Small college Centre College in Danville, KY sends highschool seniors personalized birthday cards and makes birthday phone calls.

Posted by Steve Hall at 02:45 PM | Comments (0)

Volkswagen Plans Legal Action Against 'Suicide Bomber' Creators

Whether or not it's an inside job, Volkwagen is planning legal action against the creators of the Suicide Bomber Volkswagen Polo viral ad that has been making rounds this week. While it's not clear in the New York Post article, the likely recipients of Volkswagen's legal weight will be creative shop Lee and Dan who have admitted to creating the ad. Planned or unplanned, VW is getting some precious, free publicity this week.

Posted by Steve Hall at 12:58 PM | Comments (0)

Susan Sarandon New Face of Revlon

Actress Susan Sarandon has joined the growing list of Hollywood celebrities featured in Revlon's ongoing ad campaign. Ad featuring Sarandon will debut Monday, January 24. Other celebrities having appeared in the campaign are Julianne Moore, Halle Barry, James King and Eva Mendes.

Commenting on the Revlon's desire to hire her, Sarandon said, "It was so unusual for a cosmetics company to hire somebody instead of fire somebody even younger than I am."

Posted by Steve Hall at 12:09 PM | Comments (0)

PR Professional Slams Clueless, Money-Hungry PR Firm

CooperKatz Public Relations VP Steve Rubel, writing on his weblog, Micro Persuasion, slams PR firm Delahaye for conducting a webinar designed to help PR professionals "deal with" weblogs which Delahaye calls "unfiltered channels of communication. According to Rubel, the seminar, entitled "Surviving Blogs: Monitoring and Analyzing Blogs to Protect and Direct Public Relations Strategy," treats weblogs as an enemy versus a phenomenon to be embraced. Calling blog content "conversations" which should be joined rather than managed, Rubel says Delahaye is just trying to sell its monitoring services and points out those running the seminar don't even have weblogs. Spending a bit of time on the Delahaye website brings back many strategic concepting session nightmares in which fancy marketing babble was developed instead of clear language to describe what a company does. Delahaye does media monitoring for clients. They should clearly state that on their website. This insanity exists in the ad agency world too. For years, agencies have used thousands of variations of "we're not an ad agency" language to try to differentiate themselves from other agencies. It's true the face of advertising is changing, as are the methods of commercial conversation, but if a company whose purpose is to create something for another company that is designed to be seen/heard/experienced/etc. by an individual with the purpose of getting that individual to buy something, they are an ad agency. And forget that "we're building a brand" babble. No one builds a brand for fun. A brand is built so people will pay money for a piece of that brand.

Posted by Steve Hall at 11:49 AM | Comments (0)

BMW Promotes New 3 Series With Mobile Campaign

BMW is launching a mobile-centered campaign to promote the launch of its new 3 series. The campaign begins with a mobile phone number that will be distributed from the automaker's website, at autoshows and at other promotional events. The number, 703-286-BMW3, returns a text message to the caller's phone providing a link to a mobile-enabled website containing information about the new vehicle and a gallery of past models. The campaign also provides a notification service which will send an additional text message when the car nears availability.

The campaign, created by Boomerang Mobile Media, was crafted to open dialog with people when they are in an automotive mindset. Boomerang Mobile Media Chairman Lou Schultz explained saying, "It's tapping a consumer when they're in a frame of mind where they want to know more.

If you're watching traditional advertising, and you see an ad and it calls for interaction, you might go to the Web, and you might not. But here's a way to create something different that the consumer can tie into."

Unfortunately, the campaign and the URL aren't friendly to non web-enabled phones. Granted, most phones are web enabled but our LG VX4400 isn't though we are definitely in the target audience for the 3 series.

Posted by Steve Hall at 10:51 AM | Comments (0)

iPod Threatens Broadcast Radio

While Emmis Chairman and CEO Jeff Smulyan thinks satellite won't be a threat to terrestrial radio, he does feel the iPod, and likely all other MP3 players, are a bigger threat. Writing on the Emmis website, Smulyan said, "Despite the buzz surrounding satellite radio, I believe iPods are a bigger threat, because you have a larger number of people with an alternative source of music. That said, I can remember when people were predicting the death of radio after 8-tracks came out. Despite continually evolving technologies, nothing has replaced the local information and local personalities we give our audiences. We know our communities, and we respond to their needs. Over the holiday season alone, Emmis radio stations raised $500,000 for charitable causes in their local communities - I don’t see how satellite radio can match that reach. Sirius and XM may or may not be viable businesses, but the reality is that two of Emmis' stations reach more people then the entire satellite industry, and those satellite subscribers still spend much of their listening time with terrestrial radio."

Either this is a bit of realistic common sense regarding the excitement over satellite radio or it will be looked back upon as another clueless comment from a company that doesn't get it. As they say, time will tell and with it, bring a brutal reality for some and a rosy future for others.

Posted by Steve Hall at 10:30 AM | Comments (0)

Expert Offers Online Sponsorship Advice

Riverside Marketing Strategies Principal Heidi Cohen, writing on ClickZ, offers some hints and guidelines to maximize the effectiveness of online sponsorships. From specific content to contests to blogs to interactive photo galleries, Cohen provides practical advice for those looking for online sponsorship ideas.

Posted by Steve Hall at 10:17 AM | Comments (0)

Air America Sounds Like Spam

An article on the website of The Church of Critical Thinking, which is not a religious organization, comments on left-wing Air America Radio's commercial breaks. While the article is a bit longer than our ADD-addled brain is use to, the writer, who likens Air America to his spam folder, does put forth a concise commentary on how the network's advertisers all seem to be a bunch of low-life, get-rich-quick, save-your-sole hucksters. While we don't listen to Air America, upon reading the lengthy dissertation, the situation doesn't sound all that different Howard Stern and his merry band of advertisers.

UPDATE: Air America co-founder Sheldon Drobny responds.

Posted by Steve Hall at 09:39 AM | Comments (0)

January 19, 2005

Dog Marks Territory, So Does Mazda

In a viral ad much less contentious than this week's Volkswagen Polo Suicide Bomber ad, comes this mildly humorous creation for the Mazda 3. It's well known dogs need to mark their territory but it's less well know that cars do too.

London's DMC planned, seeded and will track the campaign which was created by JWT Europe.

Posted by Steve Hall at 11:39 AM | Comments (0)

Bloggers Can Lend Success to Marketers

Writing in iMediaConnection, CooperKatz & Company's Steve Rubel says marketers can capitalize of the status of popular bloggers by signing them to endorsement deals, hiring them to write a custom-published blog, pay them to use product, use blog evangelists in a PR campaign or simply hire a blogger to go to work for you and garner the free press that goes along with it all.

There is a pecking order in the blogosphere but once you've pecked you way in, your in. You're known. Your opinion and commentary circulate faster than a ten ton marketing campaign. Marketers, ever in search of better ways to reach their target, would do well to explore the unique conversational nature of the blogosphere and explore opportunities to leverage it for success.

Posted by Steve Hall at 10:58 AM | Comments (0)

Targeting Ain't Seen Nothing Yet

A new study released by Deloitte's Media and Telecommunications division points to a future in which mass marketing shifts to micro targeting. While not surprising, the report speaks to the convergence of of media and the continual merging of electronic devices into one, through which all content will flow - likely the cell phone. Along with the merging of devices will be the transference off all media to digital form coupled with the rise in consumer conversation afforded by weblogs and wikis.

This nichification of content will be fast followed by the nichification of advertising.

Posted by Steve Hall at 10:44 AM | Comments (0)

Volkwagen Denies Responsibility For Suicide Bomber Ad

While no company would ever own up to a viral clip such as this week's Suicide Bomber viral ad for the Volkwagen Polo, VW, is predictably, disavowing any knowledge of the ad. Revolution Magazine reports the ad was created by a company called Lee and Dan, creators of the Ford SportKa StreetKa and other viral ads.

Sounding as if lying through his teeth, Lee and Dan's Dan said, "The ad got out accidentally and has spread like wildfire. It wasn't meant for public consumption. We think the spot reflects what people see in the news everyday, and in this instance the car is the hero that protects innocent people from someone with very bad intentions. We're sorry if the ad has caused any offence." No company is going to spend marketing dollars on anything just to let it sit in the closet. This was very much a planned campaign.

Both Volkswagen and its agency, DDB, claim they had nothing to do with the creation of the spot. Clearly someone is lying. Very likely, someone deep inside the bowels of Volkswagen and DDB gave the green light for this. In fact, it's probably a case of plausible deniability.

Some renegade account exec or brand manager told a few people to go do some cool viral thing but, at the same time, to keep quiet about it. In fact, there's probably an annual budget set aside at the beginning of each year for this sort of thing and those using the budget are simply told to do with it what they choose on a timeline of their choosing.

In the world of viral and word-of-mouth advertising the debate will continue to center on transparency. Some practitioners believe companies should be upfront and acknowledge all involvement with campaigns. Others feel success hinges on gray area or planned denial as is the case in the Volkswagen Polo situation. While it may not be the most successful, at the end of the day, honesty is the best policy.

Posted by Steve Hall at 10:17 AM | Comments (0)

Porn Star Jenna Jameson Hawks Personal Media Player

While Engadget reported this four months ago, the rest of us, sadly, are just getting around to it. While iriver ads have always been racy, the MP3 and personal video maker iriver has taken it a bit further and enlisted porn star Jenna Jameson to appear in its ads promoting the company's new PMP-100 personal video player.

Extreme Tech's Jim Louderback thinks the device will be a film and video industry killer while making it socially acceptable to view adult video in public. While we have no problem with anyone viewing porn including the very cute Jenna Jameson, we still think it's an activity best suited for private spaces.

Posted by Steve Hall at 09:37 AM | Comments (0)

January 18, 2005

VW Promotes Car With Terrorist Bombing

There's a VW viral ad floating around today for the Volkswagen Polo. It's a smaller car than the Golf and has undergone a facelift. Currently, the car sells in Europe. It's unclear whether it will be available in the U.S. Considering current world events, this creative is quite daring but, at the same time, very supportive of the tagline, "Small but tough." Unfortunately, the guy in the spot chose the wrong car for his job.

Posted by Steve Hall at 12:27 PM | Comments (0)

Ad Creatives May Lose Jobs to India

Just as many other industries outsource the bulk of their work, it's not surprising it's now being done in the advertising industry. Ad execs David Banjeree and Seema Trivedi have launched Banjeree & Partners, a New York-based agency which will outsource a portion of the creative process to India. Founder Banerjee says research and initial concepting will be handled in New York and then sent to 15 teams in India who will create the actual work. Banerjee claims his shop can do the work for 40 to 60 percent less than going rates.

Posted by Steve Hall at 11:43 AM | Comments (0)

American Marketing Association to Debut Internet Radio Show

Tomorrow and noon EST, the American Marketing Association will debut its Internet radio show Marketing Matters LIVE! hosted by Tim Riester. The show will be webcast on wsRadio and include interviews with AMA members on marketing topics including the growth of Internet radio.

Posted by Steve Hall at 11:22 AM | Comments (0)

Viral Award Winners Announced

The winners of the Viral Awards were announced last week in London at the Royal Society of Arts for an evening of viral celebration. More than 200 members of Europe's advertising community turned out for the festivities. Winners included Crispin Porter + Bogusky with three first prize awards including Best Writing, and Creative use of Media; Matt Vescovo picked up an award for Best Use of Humor for a series of "Instructoart" spots for MTV; McCann Erickson USA took the Word of Mouth Award for their work on the Masterclass “Priceless” campaign. The Best Campaign went to The Viral Factory for its "Trojan Games." A full list of winners is here.

Posted by Steve Hall at 10:56 AM | Comments (0)

Rolling Stone Rejects Bible Ad

At first look, sex, drugs and rock and roll might not be an environment in which a bible advertiser would want to associate with but for Zondervan, publisher of Today's New International Version of the Bible, it's right where its target audience of 18-34 year olds hang. So maybe Rolling Stone isn't completely about sex, drugs and rock and roll but the iconic publication doesn't want religious ads in its magazine and has rejected an ad for Zondervan's new edition of the Bible.

The word "truth" in the ad's tagline, "Timeless truth; Today's language," raised the eyebrows of Rolling Stone parent company Wenner Media General Manager Kent Brownridge who said, "The copy is a little more than an ad for the Bible. It's a religious message that I personally don't disagree with [but] we are not in the business of publishing advertising for religious messages."

Posted by Steve Hall at 10:30 AM | Comments (0)

Electronic Arts Signs Fifteen Year Deal With ESPN

Fifteen years is a long time to commit to anything especially in the fast paced world of marketing but that's exactly what Electronic Arts decided to do with ESPN. The video game maker will pay ESPN between $750 and $850 million for the exclusive right to use the ESPN brand name in at least nine of its sports games. The deal follows another in which EA paid the NFL $300 million to use the likeness of the League's players, stadiums and uniforms.

Posted by Steve Hall at 10:10 AM | Comments (0)

FCC Insanity Continues, FOX Pixelates Cartoon Butt

Even though the episode originally ran five years ago, FOX, in light of the recent FCC crack down, decided to digitally cover the butt of the baby Stewie character in a recent re-run of The Family Guy. The move is, perhaps, in reaction to its recent run in with the FCC which, in October, fined 169 FOX stations $7,000 each for a Married By America episode in which whipped cream was licked from a strippers body.

While Anheuser-Busch has already stated one of its spots will make fun of last year's Super Bowl halftime show which kicked off all this insanity, there are sure to be more humorous references to this year's heightened sensibilities.

Posted by Steve Hall at 09:50 AM | Comments (0)

January 17, 2005

Google Says FU to Blog Comment Spammers

Writing on Micro Persuasion, Steve Rubel sums up a percolating rumor which points to Google's pending announcement it will kill weblog comment spam in it's tracks. Through the simple application of code by bloggers and blog software publishers which informs Google robots not to follow/index certain pages (blog comment pages), links in blog spam, which spammers use to move up their position on search results pages, will become useless and, over time, blog spammers will realize the pointlessness of their scum sucking ways.

Posted by Steve Hall at 02:34 PM | Comments (0)

Brad Pitt Joins Super Bowl Ad Line Up

Recovering former Mr. Aniston, Brad Pitt will shill for Heineken during this year's Super Bowl. In the spot, directed by David Fincher, Pitt is seen buying a six pack of Heineken. He is then chased by paparazzi who, in a far-from-reality twist, are after the beer instead of Pitt.

Posted by Steve Hall at 01:41 PM | Comments (0)

Moving Company Engages in Philanthropic Advertising

With millions of dollars flowing into Tsunami relief funds and donating companies receiving press for their good will, one small moving company, without millions to donate, did their part right at home in New York City. FlateRate Moving engaged in a bit of "Philanthropic Advertising." Over the holidays, a slow time in the moving industry, rather than laying off workers and letting trucks remain idle, the company donated time, trucks and people power to pick up furniture from well-to-do families and donate it to formerly homeless. With 17,000 homeless families in New York alone, they were able to make a big difference. Along the way, the company garnered press for its efforts which brought awareness of its services to those in need while gaining a little publicity for itself.

Posted by Steve Hall at 01:04 PM | Comments (0)

China to Get Fat on KFC

Already with 1,200 locations, China can't get enough of the Colonel's fried chicken. With America eschewing any food with two or more grams of fat per serving, KFC is looking outside the country for growth hoping to fool China and other nations into thinking their food is healthy before they wise up. With profits of $200 million in China, KFC already has a strong foothold. The company launched 275 stores last year and plans to open the same number in 2005. Skinny Asians may become a thing of the past as China latched on to American glut.

Posted by Steve Hall at 11:41 AM | Comments (0)

Ad Age Editor Says 'Cut the Crap' to Slimy Practitioners

Calling attention to the recent over flow of scandalous behavior in the media and advertising industries, Ad Age Editor Sott Donaton says it's time to "cut the crap." Citing the Armstrong Williams "No Child Left Behind payola scam, the Bush administrations fake "No Child Left Behind" video news releases and, among others, Pfizer's stretching of the truth for its Listerine brand, he says the only solution is simply to stop. We agree. Trust between consumer and marketer is nearing the breaking point. Honesty is in short supply. Truth is the only medicine that will turn this train wreck around.

Posted by Steve Hall at 10:07 AM | Comments (0)

Anti-Smoking Spot Says Smoking Worse Than Farting

Going against the "he who smelt it, dealt it rule," poor grampa gets fingered by his family for passing gas in a new spot for the American Legacy Foundation and the Ad Council. Of course, it's not exactly gas he's passing. It's from our Subservient Chicken friends Crispin Porter + Bogusky. Also in this week's Ad Age TV Spots of the Week is a very innovative and effective spot from Nextel by TBWA which features construction site employees working in perfect concert like ants, a spot for Vonage from Arnold in which a snowmobiler does something stupid that is then related to making better phone service choices, a boring spot from the New York Jets by Grey Worldwide in support of the New York Sports and Convention Center, a fairly hilarious spot from Dairy Queen also from Grey which promotes its new calorie-laden, artery-clogging, heart attack-causing Quarter Pounder and the fact it takes two hands to eat, another fat-burger spot from Jack in the Box by Secret Weapon Marketing which shows the company icon ogling and commenting on health club imagery and, lastly, an Ad Council spot by Merkly & Partners illustrating that a space suit really isn't necessary to avoid catching the flu.

Posted by Steve Hall at 09:55 AM | Comments (0)

The Super Bowl Commercial Line Up

Ad Age has published a chart outlining which marketers will advertise during the 2005 Super Bowl, how much time each advertiser bought, the agencies behind the spots and a summary of planned creative. We especially look forward to an Anheuser-Busch commercial which, reportedly, will make fun of last years half time show.

Posted by Steve Hall at 09:22 AM | Comments (0)

January 14, 2005

Jamie Lynn Spears The New Marketing 'Must Have' AUTHOR: Steve Hall

As Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen, Linsay Lohan, Amanda Bynes, and Hillary Duff shift from tween/teen queens to adults with flaws, marketers are now clamoring for the next new fresh face and they may find it in a younger, less tarnished version of Britney Spears: her sister Jamie Lynn Spears. Spears just debuted her new Nickelodeon show, Zoey 101, in which she plays a student at a California boarding school. Yahoo searches for the show are up 1,733 percent this week.

Soon, no doubt, the sponsorship requests will pour in as marketers shed themselves of Olsen drug scandals, Lohan breast obsession and Duff stuff overdose. Yet, dampening hopes the younger Spears will cast off the baggage of her elder stars to display much needed refreshing intelligence and cultural insight, she said, in a USA Today interview, "I want to get a new Louis Vuitton purse. I've had that one (a Murakami) for a while. I need something a little bigger." Yes. A brain.

Posted by Steve Hall at 01:11 PM | Comments (0)

Blogging Offers Marketing Professionals Many Benefits

From interactivity to humanising a company to their viral nature, Yellowfin Direct Marketing Senior Creative Dirtector Bob Cargill, writing in Digital Bulletin, offers ten reasons why advertising, marketing and public relations professionals should blog.

Posted by Steve Hall at 10:25 AM | Comments (0)

McDonald's Ad Spoofs 'Pulp Fiction'

In the movie, Pulp Fiction, there's a scene in which the John Travolta character asks the Samuel L. Jackson character, "You know what they call a Quarter Pounder with Cheese in Paris?" In this Israeli ad for McDonald's, two actors, who are dead ringers for Travolta and Jackson, re-enact the same scene talking about McDonald's new Pita bread turkey sandwich, the McShwarma. The spot ends with a bit of Israeli cultural humor (not known for their politeness) with the Jackson character asking, "So a guy just walks into a McDonalds and says, "Can I have a McShwarma please"? To which the Travolta character replies, "Yeah, except they don't say 'please' in Israel."

The script of the commercial is here. Quite funny.

Posted by Steve Hall at 09:48 AM | Comments (0)

Clear Channel Supports New Ad Pod Strategy With Study

In another stunning waste of time, money and resources to prove the obvious, a recent study conducted by Naviguage for Clear Channel found, shockingly, listeners don't like long commercial breaks on radio and switch stations as breaks get longer. During a commercial break, the study found 80 percent stay tuned after the second spot, 70 percent after the third and less than half remain after six or more spots. That, pretty much, makes a spot in the last half of a Howard Stern commercial break a complete waste of money.

Now for the self serving part of the study, it was found :30 spots keep more listeners than :60's. This supports Clear Channel's recent pushing of advertisers from :60's to :30's. While we jest, commercial radio breaks of three spots or less, clearly, work better than longer breaks.

The dilemma, as Clear Channel is discovering, is getting the prices for individual spots back up to a point that allows for reducing spot load without harming revenue goals.

Posted by Steve Hall at 08:50 AM | Comments (0)

Groups Asks Johnson & Johnson to Stop Lying About Splenda

While other groups have already complained, a group calling themselves Generation Green, yesterday, asked the Federal Trade Commission to investigate what it calls false claims made by Johnson & Johnson's McNeil Nutritionals LLC in its ad campaign for the sweetener Splenda.

The group claims Splenda is being portrayed as natural because of the use of the word "sugar" in the product's advertising whose slogan is "made from sugar so it tastes like sugar." In a letter to the FTC, the group wrote, "Any substance whose listed ingredients include 4-chloro-4-deoxy-alpha-D- galactopyranosyl-1 cannot be considered natural."

All this food fabrication makes one pine for the days when the proper approach to a diet was simply, "everything in moderation."

Posted by Steve Hall at 07:57 AM | Comments (0)

January 13, 2005

Newspaper Teaser Campaign Promotes Movie

Adrants reader Steve Portigal points to a print teaser campaign consisting of small space ads, placed in the front section of newspapers, that speak obliquely about the arrival of someone called Charlie. Portigal surmises it's a campaign leading up to the January 28 release of the John Polson Film Hide And Seek which features an imaginary friend, Charlie.

Posted by Steve Hall at 07:30 PM | Comments (0)

eBay Ad Sells Forehead Ad Blocker

Finally reaching the level of idiotic insanity, forehead advertising and stupid eBay ads have come together. This eBay ad promotes a device, called The Forehead Ad Blocker which is nothing more than a retrofitted pair of completely out of style eye glasses, that is said to have the ability to block forehead ads. Oh sure it's a joke but maybe Saatchi & Saatchi CEO Mary Baglivo is right afterall.

UPDATE: Even more.

Posted by Steve Hall at 01:52 PM | Comments (0)

Google Takes Advertisers to Grammar Class

To see how the English language has devolved into something that sounds like a cross between a retard and a rap artist, one only need read the forum rantings of Ashlee Simpson fans, hopelessly in support of her failing career. Thankfully, Google, who seems to be blessed with the ability to do everything right, has come to the rescue. Google's AdWords group uses a style guide and insists on proper use of the English language in its text-based ads. Of course, proper grammar has never been advertising's strong suit and, often times, grammatical license is taken. But Google doesn't want its search product, of which ads are an integral part, to be misunderstood by people looking for information. There's a line between well-formed grammatical license and plain stupidity. Google is drawing it.

Posted by Steve Hall at 09:51 AM | Comments (0)

Regis to Give Away Pontiac Minivans

Following it's Oprah car give away, GM will, beginning February 1, give away 20 2005 Pontiac Montana SV6 minivans on Walt Disney Co,'s Beuena Vista syndicated show Live With Regis and Kelly. Late last year GM partnered with Oprah to give away 276 Pontiac G6's to every member of her studio audience in a scream-fest rivaling that of 1970's game show contestants winning "a neeeew toaster oven!" as if that was something to get excited about.

Posted by Steve Hall at 09:16 AM | Comments (0)

Red Sox Manager Signs With Metamucil

Writing on his weblog, A Fine Kettle of Fish, Bob Cargill gives us a humorous take on World Champion Red Sox Manager Terry Francona recent advertising spokesman deal with laxative maker Metamucil. Cargill also ranked the many post-game congratulatory ads and named Metamucil's, which had the tagline, "Way to go! Congratulations Boston on your World Championship.

Let's hope it becomes a regular thing," the best.

Posted by Steve Hall at 08:48 AM | Comments (0)

Baby's Parents Turn Down Lucrative Advertising Deals

As if China needs to get any bigger, its 1.3 billionth citizen recently entered the world and has been showered with advertising spokesbaby offers. In a uniquely smart and very un-American move, the baby's father, Zhang Tong has turned down all offers except one which provides insurance to his child saying, "It's lucky to be China's 1.3 billionth citizen. But it's unnecessary to act as an image representative for so many products, since Zhang Yichi is too young and too many commercial activities will have negative impact on the boy's healthy growth."

Posted by Steve Hall at 08:37 AM | Comments (0)

TiVo Co-Founder Steps Down As CEO

TiVo CEO and Co-Founder Mike Ramsay, 55, has announced he will step down as CEO, a position he held for eight years, after a successor is in place. TiVo has been under the gun from cable and satellite operators who have been building their own, non-TiVo technology into set top boxes. On a brighter note, TiVo recently launched TiVoToGo, a product that enables TiVo users to transfer recorded programming to their computers and portable media players. Ramsay says his move has been in the works for some time and is not in reaction to any particular event.

Posted by Steve Hall at 08:01 AM | Comments (0)

January 12, 2005

Plight of CMO Explained

Author and marketing luminary Seth Godin explains the myth behind the Chief Marketing Officer and why blame for bad marketing should not always be heaped upon the person in this position.

Posted by Steve Hall at 12:35 PM | Comments (0)

Hall's to Offer 'New' Print Product Placement Tool

Retooling what it has done for years, Hall's Reports LLC which tracks editorial content, ad to edit ratios and brands mentioned in print, is re-purposing its service and offering it as a web-based print product placement tracking service for media planners. Called "Hall's Reports: Editorial Credits," the service will monitor print and photographic editorial mention of brands in 130 magazines beginning in late March.

Posted by Steve Hall at 11:44 AM | Comments (0)

Woman Sues Estee Lauder Because Ads Said She'd Stop Aging

Fourty-seven year old Debra Scheufler has filed suit against Estee Lauder and other cosmetic companies claiming their advertising makes false claims with respect to their "anti-aging" properties. Scheuffler, refreshingly, wants only for the alleged false advertising to stop and to be reimbursed an estimated $1,000 she spent on the products.

"The real question is, what does anti-aging mean? If a product has a sunscreen in it, it has anti-aging properties," she said. "And moisturizers can give the appearance of decreasing wrinkles. Or if you have dead skin that's exfoliated, the light reflects better and skin looks younger and better."

The answer is simple. Anti-aging means one stops getting older and no product has, to date, been able to accomplish that.

Posted by Steve Hall at 11:26 AM | Comments (0)

Kraft Ends Junk Food Advertising to Young Kids, Still Makes Older Kids Fat

Under the delusion that junk food, apparently, makes only young kids fat, Kraft Foods has, rather than actually introduce healthy foods, decided to placate those concerned with childhood obesity by ceasing the advertising of it's snack foods to children under 12. Perhaps no one's told Kraft that media isn't yet quite that exact when it comes to targeting and kids under 12 are still very likely to see ads aimed at older kids.

Kraft PR mouthpiece Mark Berlind said, "We do recognize that people and parents are concerned about advertising to young children. We hope this will address that concern." Mark, tell management that an Oreo cookie has the same amount of fat in it whether it's eaten by a 5 year old or a 50 year old.

Posted by Steve Hall at 11:13 AM | Comments (0)

Monster Will Not Advertise on Super Bowl

After a six year run, job site Monster will not advertise on this year's Super Bowl and will instead use local radio, television and online marketing. Radio advertising on 180 stations will include a partnership with Infinity Broadcasting consisting of one minute Monster Career Moments featuring Monster founder Jeff Taylor and interview clips from business people, athletes and celebrities. Monster has also partnered with online local TV network Internet Broadcasting Systems to provide career content on the education, technology, business and family pages of IBS television websites.

Posted by Steve Hall at 02:15 AM | Comments (0)

January 11, 2005

Teaser Site Launches With Two Headed Dog Theme

A tipster keeps wetting our appetite by sending pictures and pointing to a site called The2HeadedDog so we thought we'd take a look. As the name connotes, it's all about a two headed dog. That theme carries through to several sections of the site. On the homepage, there are "Tricks Du Jour," a collection of really strange looking videos, all of which, incorporate a logo of a dog with two heads. Another section, called "Dog Pound," allows people to upload interpretive images of the two headed dog logo. A section called "Freestyle" appears to be a bunch of "on-the-street" amateur rap takes incorporating the phrase "two headed dog." Lastly, a section called "Arcade" contains, as the name suggests, three online games which are actually quite fun to play, especially the ones called "Ass Blaster" and Mailman Attack." A little addictive actually.

Of course, the theme here is "two" so it's likely some brand that is about to re-launch or introduce a new product is behind the stunt. The site is registered to Pier Borra in New York which, upon searching, doesn't point to much other than the CEO of healthcare company CORA Rehabilitation Clinics which seems unlikely to be the type of company which would engage in stealth marketing of this sort. As is always the case with these things, it's only a matter of time before that cat is out of the bag. Stay tuned.

UPDATE: Comments point to this being something from MTV.

UPDATE 2: A reader named "James," claiming to be in the know, assures us this is for the re-launch of MTV2.

Posted by Steve Hall at 08:00 PM | Comments (0)

Wrangler Drops Frozen Jeans On Cities

Amsterdam-based BSUR recently completed a unique street marketing program in three German cities for its client, Wrangler Jeans. As part of the company's "Wanted" campaign, one-ton ice blocks were placed around the cities as if they had dropped from the sky. Inside the ice blocks were Wrangler jeans with WANTED sprayed on them. Upon discovery, people stared at, touched, chopped, climbed on and, otherwise, just plain had fun with the gigantic ice blocks. Wrangler Promotion teams took pictures of people interacting with the blocks and placed them in area retailer window displays where the frozen ice block theme was continued. Full size images are here, here and here.

Posted by Steve Hall at 04:50 PM | Comments (0)

New Tactic Gets Consumers to Call Telemarketers

In September, Delray Beach, Florida-based ON-CARD introduced a reverse direct marketing concept, not unlike current call-to redeem-prize direct marketing programs, which allows marketers to provide free gifts to recipients provided they, upon receipt of the offer, call ON-CARD tool-free and provide any information the marketer has asked ON-CARD to obtain. Of course, during the call, other offers, which , no doubt require the opening of a wallet, are foisted upon the caller in hopes they bite. The program, which was just approved by the USPS, makes the offer via standard direct mail. Verizon is one of the first marketers to use ON-CARD.

Posted by Steve Hall at 04:22 PM | Comments (0)

Website Decodes Agency Blather

We've all heard of it and we're all guilty of it. Come clean. You know what we're talking about. Those intelligent sounding phrases you hear coming out of your mouth when you, clearly, have no idea what you are talking about. East Bank Communications has collected some of these and provided a translator, called Dr. Gary's JiveCoder, to decode your industry standard statements and mindless blather-speak.

Unfortunately, it's not that funny. However, visitors can submit their own phrases (via a form that collects contact info, of course) but can't offer a funny decode. Submitters have to rely on East Bank Communications to email their translation back which is then added to the JiveCoder.

While East Bank is using industry humor to gain awareness and collect leads, they should at least allows those who are more humorous to submit statements and translations.

Posted by Steve Hall at 01:24 PM | Comments (0)

Luxury Watchmaker Launches Star-Studded Ad Campaign

LVMH watchmakming company TAG Heuer is launching a new "What Are Your Made Of" ad campaign featuring actress Uma Thurman, golf legend Tiger Woods, tennis champion Maria Sharapova, and NASCAR icon Jeff Gordon. With Thurman and Sharapova, TAG Heuer hopes to shift the brand from sports focused of one that reflects both sports and glamour

Posted by Steve Hall at 11:25 AM | Comments (0)

Marketers Push Sex Appeal

While it's become almost normal to occasionally mistake a 13 year old girl for an 18 year old, the sexing up of tweens continues to spiral even younger as kids discover sex appeal earlier - and marketers capitalize on it. It's become so common to see stripper-esque tweens it's likely, in a few years, we'll soon see a babies pop out wearing thongs.

In a CBC News interview, Wendy Mesley asks media expert and author, Shari Graydon, "Why are [retailers] selling bras for little girls?" Graydon, not so subtly lays partial blame on marketers answering, "Well, I suspect that the advertisers would tell you 'we're doing this because there’s a demand for it.' And they sort of escape --or avoid-- acknowledging that they have created the demand."

From Bratz Dolls to padded bras to Ashlee Simpson to sex bracelets, tween girls are being taught, at a very early age, that sex appeal is very powerful. Explaining the reason she buys sexy clothes, twelve year old Amanda says, like it's a good thing, "You get more attention. And strange guys come up to you and try and get you to go to nightclubs."

Amanda's friend, Natasha adds, "A lot of guys stare." That stare, perhaps, comes from rectifying the sensations that occur when seeing a sexy "woman" with the stunning realization the girl is just twelve.

It's creepy.

In today's culture, your daughter isn't your mother's daughter anymore.

She's more like a Maxim model without knowing what that imagery connotes.

Posted by Steve Hall at 10:49 AM | Comments (0)

Man Offers Forehead As Ad Space

In the so totally over category, yet another poor sole is committing a double cultural oddity - placing an ad on his head and using eBay to auction off the space. Aside from being sick of this trend, it's been done, one way or another many, many times before. Let's move on.

UPDATE: And now for cleavage advertising.

Posted by Steve Hall at 09:43 AM | Comments (0)

Pepperidge Farm Launches Animated Goldfish

Today, Pepperidge Farm will launch a new ad campaign featuring "Finn," an animated Goldfish cracker character. The campaign, which includes four :30 ads and three :15 ads, is the first step in the company's planned brand update.

Posted by Steve Hall at 09:01 AM | Comments (0)

January 10, 2005

Control, Quality, Relevancy Key to Establishing Consumer Trust

As online merchants and marketers search for the shifting line between invasion of privacy and effective targeting to consumers, a new study by the Ponemon Institute, a research institute dedicated to privacy management practices in business and government, has published an analysis of how online marketers can build and capitalize on trust through their communication with consumers. The Online Permissions Survey, sponsored by Dotomi, is based on 1,799 responses from Internet users in all major regions of the United States.

The Internet has quickly developed into a ubiquitous presence in commerce, and the public's perception of online marketing and merchants continues to evolve. Consumers are becoming more comfortable with buying online, but remain wary of sharing vital information such as credit card numbers with merchants they don't trust. Building and retaining trust with consumers is therefore critical for online merchants to succeed, and the survey found that trust is significantly correlated to improving the relevance of communication with consumers:

• 84 percent of consumers stated that they want control over the types and frequency of Internet ads sent from a specific merchant.
• 64 percent of consumers would trust a marketer more if they had control over the types of online communication that were sent to them.
• 89 percent of consumers would let a trusted marketer share their personal interests with a third party without permission, in order to increase the quality of services and products produced.
• Merchants using adware or spyware to advertise online should take note, however, that only 20 percent (the lowest response) would let the marketer share information to track their buying behavior to influence future purchasing decisions.
• 56 percent of consumers feel that the online merchant respects them when it demonstrates understanding of their interests and is better able to market to them.
• 82 percent of consumers responded to wanting to be notified by an online merchant if they are provided with an incentive (i.e. discount or free offer), and 92 percent asked to be notified if a product or promotion would be of great value to them based on past purchasing habits.

This, of course, points to Dotomi's business model which is opt-in, on page banner ad messaging. Dotomi works to bring publishers, advertisers and consumers together for a permission-based relationship that adds value to publisher's advertising programs, advertiser's targeting efforts and consumer's move towards control over media consumption.

Posted by Steve Hall at 01:06 PM | Comments (0)

Four Letter Word Clients Rankle Agency Types

Writing in MediaPost, Seana Mulcahy shares her client behavior horror stories which we all, on the agency side, at one time or another, have experienced. There's plenty of horror stories about agency personnel from clients but Seana's from the agency side so, today, if you work in an agency, gleefully identify with her commentary. If you work on the client side, gleefully poke holes in her every complaint and offer up your own reason why it's really always the agency's fault and not yours. Have fun.

Posted by Steve Hall at 01:00 PM | Comments (0)

Ford Opens Hollywood Office, Expect More Fords in Movies

In what is believed to be a first, a Detroit automaker has opened an office in Hollywood for the express purpose of pressing the flesh to get more of its cars into films. Ford is the company and Al Uzielli is the man who will sit in that office. Uzielli is the cousin of Ford CEO Bill Ford and great-grandson of Henry Ford. Uzielli, 38, has been an independent film producer for 15 years producing such gems as Bongwater.

As head consultant to Ford Global Brand Entertainment Uzielli will use his Hollywood connections to get more Ford vehicles into movies and television.

Posted by Steve Hall at 11:58 AM | Comments (0)

Farkers Fool With Famous Brands

For a bit of truth and humor in advertising, check out these "tweaked" ad banners from members of online community Fark as they demonstrate their artistic abilities and quick wit.

Posted by Steve Hall at 11:33 AM | Comments (0)

Olsen Sisters Launch Line of Perfume

Moving on from their fame as popular objects of desire for perverted, Olsen Eighteen Year Old Birthday Countdown watchers and, in the case of Mary-Kate, poster child for starved, third world countries, the Olsen sisters have launched two perfumes. Called Coast to Coast NY and Coast to Coast LA, the perfumes will be scented citrus and tropical respectively. The brands will hit stores in March.

Posted by Steve Hall at 11:06 AM | Comments (0)

Retailer Gets Pussy

U.K. Retailer Marks & Spencer is getting 77 year old "pussy." Honor "Pussy Galore" Blackman, that is. Blackman is famous for appearing in the James Bond movie Goldfinger and has been tapped by the retailer to become its spokeswoman in a new ad campaign. Blackman will model the company's Classic Collection fashion line.

Posted by Steve Hall at 10:45 AM | Comments (0)

Kraft Sponsors White Supremacist Website By Mistake

Kraft Foods was a bit surprised when they found themselves advertising on whiterevolution.com late last year. Kraft had used Google's AdWords contextual advertising program which matches page content to keywords the advertisers select. Google offers a free search engine to website publishers which, when results are returned, AdWords advertising appears above or next to the search results.

Whiterevolution.com used this Google feature and when Milford, Connecticut freelance reporter Tom Giordano entered the search term "Halloween" on whiterevolution.com, Kraft's text ads appeared near the results. Giordano was researching a story on the group who had distributed fliers locally.

Google, of course, forbids sites that contain pornographic, hate-related or violent content from using its search tool but the search code is freely available to all who wish to use it even if they do not conform to Google's requirements. Upon discovery, Google has disallowed whiterevolution from using its tools.

Posted by Steve Hall at 10:30 AM | Comments (0)

Verizon Wireless to Open Phone Content Floodgates

Paving the way for more content, Verizon Wireless is dramatically expanding its high-bandwidth Vcast service which allows for delivery of music videos, television shows, newscasts, and, we're sure, the birth of the "phone-porn" industry. The service, already available in San Diego and Washington, D.C., will expand to 60 cities by year's end.

Posted by Steve Hall at 10:28 AM | Comments (0)

Ad Exec Inserts Foot In Mouth

For the reason many large ad agencies will drop off the face of the planet suddenly, leaving them homeless on Madison Avenue, looking upward, longingly, saying, "Huh? What just happened?", rather than successfully morph into agencies that have a clue and are open to the future, we need look no further than a recent AdWeek poll that asked, "What advertising trend would you like to see die in 2005?" Taking the homeless agency exec prize is this nugget of intelligence from Saatchi & Saatchi CEO Mary Baglivo who said, "The trend I would love to see die is the frantic production of non-traditional, non-TV marketing ideas. In the quest to be smart, effective and media-agnostic, many marketers have become manic." No witty comment needed on this one.

Posted by Steve Hall at 08:53 AM | Comments (0)

January 07, 2005

Listerine's "Effective As Floss" Campaign Killed By Judge

Recently, Pfizer has been running a campaign touting a study claiming use of Listerine is as effective as flossing teeth. U.S. District Judge Denny Chin says Pfizer is engaging in false advertising and posing a treat to the public.

"Dentists and hygienists have been telling their patients for decades to floss daily," Chin wrote. "They have been doing so for good reason.

The benefits of flossing are real -- they are not a 'myth.' Pfizer's implicit message that Listerine can replace floss is false and misleading."

The ruling followed a suit filed by Johnson & Johnson subsidiary McNeil-PPC Inc. Chin says Pfizer twisted the results of the study whose writers urged dental professionals to continue to recommend daily flossing and not to replace flossing with mouthwash.

Posted by Steve Hall at 02:29 PM | Comments (0)

Record Label Vandalizes Own Billboard Campaign

A recent billboard campaign placed by Champaign, Illinois hip hop record label Up A Notch Records apparently encouraged local student organization UC Hip Hop to "vandalize" this billboards to achieve more publicity. The boards, with the headline, "Hip Hop Rots Your Brain," were accompanied by a logo for the fictitious Coalition of Responsible and Attentive Parents whose acronym, not surprisingly is CRAP.

One of the boards was vandalized to read, "Stereotypes, Racism, Ignorance Rots Your Brain." The campaign and the vandalizing are hot topics of discussion on a UC Hip Hop and LiveJournal forum. The cynic in us, along with the all too convenient images and forum commentary, makes us think the whole thing is manufactured but, then again, we are very cynical.

Posted by Steve Hall at 02:16 PM | Comments (0)

Ad Space on Kournikova's Bikini Worth More Than Super Bowl Spot

There's always a premium on well placed, well viewed media and, today, Anna Kournikova's bikini is no exception. Trouble is, planning a media buy to coincide with these well viewed bikini appearances would not be an easy task. Though, with paparazzi recording her every move, an enterprising media planner could cut a deal with Kournikova's handlers or, better yet, directly with the photographer who could, with the help of a graphic designer, easily photoshop a brand's logo onto her swimwear. Then when Kournikova's images race around the Internet faster than a teenage boy's first time with a....oops, yes, we know that one is so over...the brand would reap more exposure than all the Super Bowls combined. And talk about time spent viewing.

Today, though, might not be a good day for an advertiser to avail themselves of Kournikova's worldwide reach as it seems she's either suffering some sort of bikini bottom malfunction or has acquired a sudden fascination with her most private of parts. It might be best to view these images when your boss isn't looking.

Posted by Steve Hall at 11:48 AM | Comments (0)

January 06, 2005

Mitsubishi Pitch Team Adds Emmy-Award Winning Producer

With its U.S. corporate management in turmoil, sales sagging, and an ad agency review tainted by dealer complaints, Mitsubishi is in need of all the help it can get. It may soon have some from a less than traditional source. Reported earlier, the DoubleThink Ad Hoc Creative Team are preparing a presentation for Mitsubishi and newly named CEO Rich Gilligan. Commenting on the approach the group is taking, DoubleThink's Harry Webber, today, said, "This is a brand immersion campaign that utilizes technology and branded entertainment as well as advertising to fully envelop the lifestyle of their (Mitsubishiu's) Gen Y target audience. An audience that is extremely adverse to traditional marketing methodologies."

In preparing the campaign, Webber has announced the addition of Emmy-Award winning Producer John Feist to DoubleThink. Feist, who produced Survivor, Restaurant and Casino will serve as executive producer on the branded entertainment elements of the mystery-shrouded campaign. Commenting on his decision to join DoubleThink, Feist said, "When I saw the scope of what Harry Webber's group had created for the launch of the 2006 Eclipse, I had to be involved. This campaign leaves cutting-edge in the dust."

Webber's DoubleThink previously created an ad hoc campaign for Coke with the tagline "A Cool American" which caught the eye of Coke execs but, ultimately, did not go any further. This time, Webber is looking to gain more ground with a campaign that doesn't just speak to but lives and breathes the language of the Mitsubishi Eclipse target audience.

Posted by Steve Hall at 07:57 PM | Comments (0)

GM's Bob Lutz Launches FastLane Blog

Following the launch of the GM SmallBlock weblog, as expected, GM has launched another weblog. This one, called FastLane Blog, will feature the writings of GM Vice Chairman Bob Lutz and other GM corporate management. In Lutz's first post, he discusses the success of Saturn and GM's plans to refresh the aging lineup with new products. One of the new vehicles is a convertible called SKY.

GM is the first large scale company to bring the human voice of its corporate executives to the public in the weblog format. While we don't expect to hear about about Bob's Saturday afternoon barbecues or his favorite movie, we can, perhaps, catch a glimpse of into one of human beings behind the coprporate monolith.

Posted by Steve Hall at 05:36 PM | Comments (0)

Naming Returns to Normalcy

Having worked through and contributed to the insanity of dot com era inspired brand naming, we're pleased to see an end to ridiculously idiotic sounding corporate names created though marathon, caffeine-induced brainstorming sessions supported by lengthy PowerPoint presentations so fluffy, not even the most verbally diarrhetic account manager, skilled in the art of brand puffery, could pass off as strategically sound. Writing in business 2.0, Alex Frankel walks us though how we got to that level of insanity, why naming trends change all the time and why we're back to a more common sense-based approach to naming.

Posted by Steve Hall at 03:44 PM | Comments (0)

Curvaceous Silhouettes Yeild to Flapvertising

If FlapMedia has its way, we won't be seeing the usual silver silhouetted busty babe, or other such low brow imagery, on mud flaps of passing trucks much longer. FlapMedia has introduced flapvertising and signed Wyoming State Tourism as its first client.

"We thought FlapMedia was a terrific idea and wanted to be the first to put our brand on the road," says Diane Shober, Wyoming state tourism director. "I knew we'd made a good choice when a friend from Chicago told me he'd seen a great ad for Wyoming on the mud flaps of a truck driving down I-55 near I-294." Friend-based media research. That's a new one on us. FlapMedia has, however, done its homework and claimed its medium effective by hiring Harris Interactive which found flapvertising to have the highest recall compared to other forms of out of home media. It's truck flaps are priced under one dollar per thousand.

Posted by Steve Hall at 12:12 PM | Comments (0)

Boston Herald Publisher Says Times Purchase of METRO Illegal

Like the band geek who lost the girl to the quarterback, Boston Herald Publisher is crying over Boston Globe parent company The New York Times purchase of the METRO, of which Boston METRO is a part, claiming it gives the Boston Globe an illegal circulation advantage.

Not missing a chance to slap broadsheet Boston Globe, Purcell said, "We are intrigued that the Boston Globe has finally recognized the merits of tabloid newspapers, but the fact is this deal is aimed directly at the Herald."

While Purcell might be crying, he has good reason. The combined circulation of the Boston Globe (450,000 daily) and the Boston METRO (180,000) is 39 percent higher than allowed by Justice Department rules.

Globe Publisher Richard Gilman brushes off Purcell saying, "The Metro is a single free newspaper in the Boston media market, which has 18 paid daily newspapers. In addition, there are a considerable number of free weekly newspapers, including the many owned by Herald Media Co."

We love a good 'ol smack down among publishers.

Posted by Steve Hall at 10:54 AM | Comments (0)

Hispanic People Ups Rate Base to 450,000

Purely to offset the the roadblock of the female form here on Adrants, we are pleased to announce, as well as provide hunk imagery, People en Espanol has raised its rate base from 425,000 to 450,000 with its February issue making it the number one Hispanic magazine in America. Both its ad pages and newsstand sales are up dramatically. See. We're not completely one-sided.

Posted by Steve Hall at 10:38 AM | Comments (0)

Ad Industry Newsletter Hires New Editor, Relaunches

The AdBumb Newsletter, loved by some, maligned by others, has relaunched with a new design and the hiring of Editor-in-Chief Elizabeth Hines.

Founded in 2001 and with a claimed circulation of 25,000, AdBumb covers new media for publishers and sales organizations. For those who fall into the "maligned by others" category, Hines has, admittedly, made a vast improvement to the quality of the editorial. Though, we're still not to happy about those massive 700 X 700 ads.

Posted by Steve Hall at 10:14 AM | Comments (0)

Radio Station Terrorism Ad Gets Banned. Sort Of

Dallas/Fort Worth talk radio station KLIF is manufacturing its own controversy having created a low-budget, terrorism-focused, self-promotional TV spot that area broadcasters then declined to accept. The station is promoting the spot on its website. Tom at The Media Drop suggest KLIF, knowing the spot would likely be banned, should have released the ad through viral channels rather than attempt to place it traditionally. Oddly, KLIF will achieve it's goals anyway as the banning receives media coverage.

Amid visuals of happy family life which quickly shift to images of explosions, a suicide bomber and Osama Bin Laden, the spot's voiceover says, "There are people in this world who want you dead. We need to talk." While being promoted as "banned," The Dallas Morning Herald is reporting Comcast cable will accept an edited version of the spot that removes a baby targeted by a gun sight. Drama in Dallas. More at 11.

Posted by Steve Hall at 09:30 AM | Comments (0)

January 05, 2005

Ikea Brand Name Questionable

Looking more like some kind of elaborate mobile bedpan for geriatrics, and perhaps the reason behind its strange name, IKEA has introduced a new work bench for kids called FartFull. It's either ingenious marketing to bathroom humor-fixated kids or some form of odd Swedish language barrier.

Posted by Steve Hall at 10:07 PM | Comments (0)

Ashlee Simpson Loves Public Humiliation

Either masochistically begging for torture or playing a sick joke on the public for its SNL lip synch debacle bashing, Ashlee Simpson, again, proved she's destined for a career that doesn't involve opening her mouth. During last night's Orange Bowl half time show, Simpson did