While it's no surprise the words Maxim ( by Dennis Publishing) and sprung would be far apart, Gawker points to a marketing deal that is bringing them closer together. Dennis Publishing and TippingSprung, a New York-based licensing firm are hooking up so titles Maxim, Stuff and Blender can extend their reach even further. TippingSprung will help Dennis get its name out through multiple product categories, including vitamins, beverages, frozen food, sporting goods, and automotive products.
Steve Rubel points out Heineken has jumped on board the latest and the greatest new media channel - the podcast. A podcast is a lo-fi MP3 file created on a computer (or with any audio - video will soon follow - recording device for that matter) that can be subscribed to using RSS and easily and automatically transferred to your iPod or any other MP3 device. For its first podcast (to the right of the site), Heineken interviews Thirst Resident DJ Daniele Davoli.
For advertisers, this is a new and untapped medium. While early adopters are gleeful podcasts are commercial free, when everyone is carrying around their all-in-one digital device, podcasting is how they will receive media content and advertising - though hopefully in a format more interesting than the tired :60. More likely, entire podcast channels will be hosted and sponsored as a "service" to consumers as is this Heineken podcast. Be smart and check this medium out now. Don't be left playing catch up.
Behavioral targeting company Claria plans to cut its end-user agreement from 6,000 words down to 2,500 in an effort to be more concise with the explanation of its services. Claria serves ads to a user base who has, in return for receiving free software, agreed to receive targeted ads.
While this is a step in the right direction, when was the last time you actually read a user-agreement?
If you are old enough, you remember Mutual of Omaha's Wild Kingdom hosted by Marlin Perkins and featuring the crazy Jim Fowler in one of advertising's early sponsorship efforts. The series ran for 27 years - eight in primetime - beginning in 1963. It was campy by today's standards but, all the same, a good show.
Any good show with a long history is ripe for spoofing and there's a PlayStation spot that does just that. Of course, today's wild kingdom features pornstars and a football mascot. Yes. Very weird but worth a look.
