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Jessica Simpson Video Slathered With HP Product Placements

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Not that featuring a product in a music video is anything new but HP reportedly paid $200,000 to place products in Jessica Simpson's candy-coated, new video A Public Affair as part of its "The Computer Is Personal" campaign. In the video, Simpson raps with Christina Applegate, Christina Milian and Eva Longoria about how cool it is to be famous then the girls hit the roller skating rink and offer up more bubble-headed tripe. Towards the end of the video, comedian Andy Dick reaches into his pants as if he's misplaced his last name and pulls out an HP Ipaq emblazoned with the campaign's hand imagery. A laptop and a TV/monitor make an appearance as well.

UPDATE: HP's PR agency, Porter Novelli contacted us to correct a couple of facts we and the New York Post had incorrect.

"While we can not share the exact figure, the $200K quoted for HP's product placement in the Jessica Simpson video is incorrect. The Jessica Simpson video product placement is not an extension of 'The Computer is Personal Again' campaign. HP has an on-going product placement program and this deal was part of an existing relationship."

by Steve Hall    Jul-27-06   Comments ()    Bookmark and Share     
Topic: Celebrity, Product Placement, Video

Crispin Porter + Bogusky Scripting Burger King-Themed Movie

It's well known we in the ad business are just a bunch of Hollywood wannabes stuck creating ads when we'd rather be making movies and hangin' with the celebs. One agency got tired of its wannabe status and is making a movie. The agency is Crispin Porter + Bogusky and the movie is being scripted to take place above a Burger King restaurant. Yes, CP+B is scripting a movie which may or may not star the King. What it will do, likely, is prominent feature Burger King and, if the movie is any good, open up a whole Pandora's box of imitators.

Ads promoting movies. Ads before movies. Ads in movies. An entire movie crafted to be an ad. Is anyone else pulling out their hair right now and screaming, "Stop! Stop! I wanna get off! Please! Is there life on Mars? I don't care, I volunteer to be the first!"? OK, we can't help it. We can't wait to see this movie. But CP+B really needs to come up with a Burger Queen (no the gay kind). The King just doesn't have the right eye candy qualities to attract all those 16 year old boys that frequent movie theaters.

by Steve Hall    Jul-10-06   Comments (17)    Bookmark and Share     
Topic: Product Placement

Editors Asked Not to Review Book With Product Placements

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Commercial Alert has sent emails to 305 book review editors asking them not to review a teen book called Cathy's Book because it will contain product placement from Procter & Gamble Cover Girl products. There's always a mixed feeling about this. One the one hand, completely eradicating brand names from everything makes it seem as though one is living in an artificially fake world. On the other hand, reading a book is supposed to do just that - whisk one away from the stress of the real world and provide a temporary sanctuary from it all. It's a tough call. What do you think? Commercial Alert's letter is below.

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by Steve Hall    Jun-13-06   Comments (6)    Bookmark and Share     
Topic: Product Placement

PR Firm Exploits Baby Shiloh For Product Placement

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In a PR coup or just another disgusting manipulation of humanity to further a marketer's end, 5W Public Relations sent baby clothing from Belly Maternity all the way to Africa so Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie's baby Shiloh Jolie-Pitt could wear it thus allowing the brand to appear in just about every publication known to man. With price wars in play over images of Shiloh and New York Magazine writing, in a stretch, "Not since Jesus has a baby been so eagerly anticipated," it may just be a pretty good PR coup. That is, if anyone takes a microscope to the images and tries to find the brand name on the shirt. Be sure to read the ego-infested, chest thumping press release from 5w, reprinted in full over at Gawker.

by Steve Hall    Jun- 9-06   Comments (1)    Bookmark and Share     
Topic: Bad, Celebrity, Good, Product Placement

'Apprentice' Product Placement Collides With VW Crash Ad

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Here's a humorous mash up of the over bearing product placement on The Apprentice and the recent crash commercial from VW.

by Steve Hall    Jun- 7-06   Comments (3)    Bookmark and Share     
Topic: Product Placement, Television

Branded Entertainment Increases, Measurement Difficult

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A recent Association of National Advertisers survey found 66 percent of advertisers involve themselves in some form of branded entertainment. Eighty percent use television as the channel through which to launch branded entertainment initiatives and 76 percent plan to include those initiative in their upfront dealings with broadcasters.

While marketers acknowledge impact on sales is of great importance and are measuring their efforts, 62 percent say it is not easy to do and 87 percent say existing measurement tools can't do the job. Sixty two percent say the money to fund branded entertainment initiatives comes from television budgets, up from 52 percent last year and more (35 percent) are funding initiatives incrementally, up from 18 percent last year. More than half (60 percent) do not rely on their agencies for branded entertainment and initiate projects themselves.

by Steve Hall    Apr-19-06   Comments ()    Bookmark and Share     
Topic: Brands, Product Placement, Research, Television

Coke Launches Music Show, Features R&B Artist Ne-Yo

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To help promote its free music site/show, Stageside, Coca-Cola has signed a deal with Billboard R&B fave Ne-Yo to be the first feature artist on the the show. Subsequent episodes will feature other artists along with live concert footage and interviews. Each show will be subtlety branded by Coke. The segment with Ne-Yo is interesting enough but whether or not it gets peope to buy rather than file share his music is another story. Still, it's a good way for Coke to get its name in front of a hard to reach audience.

by Steve Hall    Mar-28-06   Comments (1)    Bookmark and Share     
Topic: Brands, Good, Online, Product Placement

'America's Top Model' Gets Product Vision Spoof Treatment

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Just as they did with Survivor and The Apprentice, anti-product placement group Product Vision has created another spoof called Top Model For Sale which pokes fun at UPN's America's Top Model product placements. As usual, product placements are blatantly made fun of. Give it a look if only to see a bunch of scantily-clad women prance about.

by Steve Hall    Mar- 9-06   Comments (2)    Bookmark and Share     
Topic: Product Placement, Spoofs

Rocketboom to Sell Ad Time Via eBay, Retain Creative Control

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The madly successful video podcast Rocketboom, which garners 130,000 downloads per day, has decided to accept advertising and will do so by auctioning off ad time on eBay. Rocketboom, produced by Andrew Baron and anchored by Amanda Congdon, will require the winning bidder to relinquish creative control and allow Baron and Congdon to create the ad. If the advertiser does not like what Rocketboom creates, the deal is off. Separate from the auction, and in the future, Rocketboom says they will consider any company and their post-roll ad.

UPDATE: Baron clarifies writing us, "The advertiser will relinquish all control. If we get a high bidder, they will pay us right away. Then we will make the ads and play them on Rocketboom whether they like the ads or not. They will understand that by placing a bid, they give up complete control to us to do what we will."

UPDATE II: The bid is up to $15,000. Not bad.

by Steve Hall    Jan-28-06   Comments (21)    Bookmark and Share     
Topic: Good, Podcast, Product Placement

CBS to Air Pontiac-Sponsored Micro-Series During Ad Breaks

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Making sure to ward off criticism by calling it an experiment, CBS will launch an advertising-sponsored week-long "micro-series" titled The Courier on Tuesday, January, 24 in the first act break of CSI: MIAMI after 9:00 PM EST/PST. The serialized short film, sponsored by Pontiac and broadcast about the same time each night in seven short episodes, will premiere as a 60-second installment with subsequent editions running for 40-seconds.

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by Steve Hall    Jan-17-06   Comments ()    Bookmark and Share     
Topic: Online, Product Placement, Television

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