Last Year's Hottie
As pleasing as it is to see breasts, and the models attached to them, in print, it's a whole lot more fun to see them in motion. Sports Illustrated knows this and so does NBC. The two have teamed to produce a six episode reality series for its "Sports Illustrated's Fresh Faces Competition." To wet appetite for newsstand sales, the series will air just prior to the February 15, 2005 release of the Sports Illustrated swimsuit issue. Sounds like a good plan.
Following it s Subservient Chicken and Ugoff sites, Miami-based Crispin Porter + Bogusky is now promoting Burger King's new Angus Steak Burger with a site featuring a guy called Dr. Angus. Positioned as an inspirational speaker and personal interventionist, Dr. Angus espouses the many benefits of eating beef. The simple mantra of the diet is, "If it feels good, do it." Unfortunately (but necessary in our lawsuit-driven world), the site is peppered with all kinds of "this site is just a joke" statements taking away some of the site's punch. No fault of Crispin's though. Blame those lawyers.
Burger King had its Subservient Chicken. Now some pro-Kerry people who may or may not be involved with MoveOn.org have created Subservient President. Just like Subservient Chicken, you can tell the president to do things like, oh, find Osama Bin Laden. it's funny...for a few minutes. Via Rick Bruner.
UPDATE: Tig Tillinghast over at MarketingVOX interviewed the site's creator and has the backstory.
Urinal advertising has been around for some time but now it's taking a step in a new direction from a company called AllOver Media which has placed 65 video monitors above urinals in the Twin Cities area.
Today, the IAB and MediaPost Communications announced a call for entries for their first-ever interactive advertising awards program, honoring excellence in interactive marketing and advertising. Titled the "Online Media, Marketing and Advertising Awards" or "OMMAs" the program will celebrate the creative teams and agencies that continue to push the creative potential of Interactive advertising. The gala awards ceremony will be held on September 21, 2004, the second night of Interactive Advertising World (IAW) and Advertising Week in New York City at the IAW event site - the Hudson Theatre at the Millennium Hotel in New York. A special website for the awards is live at www.omma-awards.com.
At a recent Jupiter Media Advertising Forum, agency and search engine marketer types traded barbs regarding whether agencies know enough about search engine marketing to properly serve their clients. According to one SEM executive, they do not. Wahlstrom Interactive Director of Market Development and Worldwide Agency Relations (how big is your firm, Kevin?) Kevin Ryan quoted one as saying, "Agencies don't get it. They just don't get it, and they never will." Aside from some interactive agencies, most don't know or don't care to know about search engine marketing. Why? Because it's a hell of a lot harder to do than old school advertising. And like anything, change comes slowly.
This is exacerbated by the standard agency practice of pretending to know how to do everything rather than acknowledging limitations and outsourcing what they can't do. Why? Because an agency can make more money if you claim to be able to do it yourself. It's a short sighted solution though. Just as media is fragmenting, so are the multitude of skillsets required to manage an effective marketing campaign.
