Philly Inquirer Uses New Media (Eh?) to Promote, Spoof Old Media

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The Philadelphia Inquirer is launching a campaign called "The Return of the Flying Pigs" with the help of Gyro Worldwide. See all the creative goodies.

The campaign promotes the Philly Inquirer's increase in daily circulation, the highest among America's top 50 newspapers.

The campaign aims to both bow to and spoof traditional major motion picture marketing. It includes film trailers, magazine inserts, movie posters and other forms of traditional media that are also being heavily promoted on "new media" (online?), though we're not sure how.

Cute. That's all we can think of besides, "At least it's not an anti-piracy campaign." Because we really hate watching anti-piracy ads in movie theatres. (We paid to get in, right? Assholes.)

by Angela Natividad    Nov-12-07    
Topic: Promotions, Publishing



TBWA Get Icy, Black Publishes, Sexist Ads Collected, Douchenozzles Celebrate

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- TBWA has opened an icy cold office in Reykjavik, Iceland with a staff of 20 who hope to tap the country's growing economy and serve one of the world's highest per capita income populace.

- Cathie Black is out with her new book, BASIC BLACK: The Essential Guide for Getting Ahead at Work (and in Life) from Crown Publishing. "BASIC BLACK is a memoir masquerading as a guide to career and life from one of the first women to take a forefront role in the advertising industry, American magazine and newspaper publishing."

- Using its out of home touchscreen network, Ecast delivered a 14 percent click through for AMC's The Two Corey's. Now if we could only get results like that online.

- Want sexism in advertising? Media Circus has a collection of the twelve most sexist ads in recent years.

more »

by Steve Hall    Oct-24-07    
Topic: Agencies, Outdoor, Publishing



After 3 Weeks on a String, Gum Thief Proves Decidedly Worthy of Perusal

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Final reactions to the last installment of the Crush, Toronto campaign for Douglas Coupland's The Gum Thief:

- Roger, pt 3: If people wore costumes 365 days of the year, it wouldn't be cool, it would just be Second Life
- Bethany, pt 3: This clip was chillingly short. We think she is going to kill herself, or at least try, for attention's sake
- Glove Pond, the novel within the novel, pt 3: Gloria and her husband bond over dinner party sadism. We like where this is going

And we have no idea why these ads are now compelling us to buy this book. Maybe it's because we actually did wait anxiously for each installment. Or maybe the thought of poisoning people at a dinner party -- or at least making their tummies hurt -- is almost appealing. Or maybe, once upon a time, we did scribble Anarchy symbols onto office supply shop property with felt pens.

It's anybody's guess, really.

Catch parts one and two here.

by Angela Natividad    Oct-22-07    
Topic: Good, Online, Promotions, Publishing, Video



Copywriter's Novel to Become Hollywood Movie

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EMI Strategic Marketing Creative Director Rob Vlock recently sold a novel manuscript which will become the Sony Pictures Entertainment film Off Strategy. The romantic comedy focuses on the story of a copywriter who falls for a women who turns out to be the same woman with whom he already has an acrimonious phone relationship.

There's been plenty of movies, not to mention AMC's Mad Men, that do center in one way or another on advertising but it's nice to one actually written by a person who actually knows what he's talking about. Whether or not the film will actually get made or how badly Vlock's script will be re-written by Hollywood hacks is subject for a different discussion.

Congrats, Rob. Here's hoping the film gets made the way you envisioned it. Maybe this time around, Hollywood will get it right.

by Steve Hall    Oct-22-07    
Topic: Publishing



Joe Jaffe Climbs Amazon Book Charts With 'Bumrush' Stunt

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Not necessarily sure what to make of all of this but, if anything, when Joe Jaffe is involved, it's bound to be a gleeful tempest in a teacup though one which manages to capture quite a bit of attention as well as achieve marked significance and success. Jaffe asked everyone who was planning to buy his new book, Join the Conversation, yesterday on Amazon so that the book would climb the daily sales charts. And climb it did.

At 8:52AM, the book was listed at number 4,840. By 6:23PM, the book has risen to number 26 overall and the second most sold business book of the day behind Alan Greenspan's book. Whether or not cramming all his book sales into one day will make him more money is unclear but that doesn't matter to Jaffe. He wants to get people involved, more so that they normally would. He's turned the mundane process of buying a book into a communal event of sorts which is in complete alignment with the subject matter of his book.

by Steve Hall    Oct-22-07    
Topic: Good, Guerilla, Online, Publishing



Jaffe Bumrushes the Charts With New Book

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Joe Jaffe, author of Life After the 30-Second Spot and host of the Across the Sound (recently renamed Jaffe Juice) podcast has published a new book, Join the Conversation. The book covers the notion of conversational marketing, originally sparked by Tom Hespos and loosely described as the "conversation" that happens (or should be) between marketers and consumers.

more »

by Steve Hall    Oct-18-07    
Topic: Publishing



'Elements of Persuasion' Boasts Time-Honored Elements for Success

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When in doubt, nothing wins people over like a good story. Playing the bard is a standby for good CEOs and, we think, great marketers.

That's one reason why we found Richard Maxwell and Robert Dickman's The Elements of Persuasion so interesting. It doesn't just emphasize the importance of telling tales to persuade; it does so from a branding and sales perspective, without neglecting the importance of listening, and sharing plenty of relevant stories along the way.

It's also compact, easy to read, and orange. How do you beat orange?!

by Angela Natividad    Oct-14-07    
Topic: Good, Opinion, Publishing



Crush, Coupland Explain Why Seratonin Levels Drop Inside Office Supply Stores

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This is the first of a promotion by Crush, Toronto for Douglas Coupland's new novel The Gum Thief, "a story of love and looming apocalypse set in the aisles of an office supply store."

We're going to take a wild shot in the dark and say the innocuous office supply is Staples, because use of the word staples, the brand Staples and the object staples has hit us a few times. Of course, we could be totally wrong.

The spots cover three elements: protagonists Roger and Bethany, and The Glove Pond -- a novel inside the novel. Coupland narrates and each spot kind of makes us hate life, but in a funny way. We'd be receptive to reading the book, but mainly we feel compelled to sit around making staple animation. (See Bethany.)

by Angela Natividad    Oct- 9-07    
Topic: Commercials, Good, Promotions, Publishing



Models Steal, Paddinton Eats Marmite, Playboy Cuts

- Even fashion models can sound intelligent. Especially when they steal their lines from an MIT professor.

- Paddington Bear creator Michael Bond and fans are angered because Karen Jankel, Bond's daughter gave the go ahead for the character to be used in a Marmite ad when it's well known Paddington likes marmalade.

- As more and more nudity becomes readily and freely available online, Playboy has decided to cut back paid circulation 13 percent to 2.6 million as well as offer more free content online.

by Steve Hall    Oct- 3-07    
Topic: Magazine, Policy, Publishing



There's a (No-Bullshit) Textbook for Making Money in Marketing. Who Knew?

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Ahh. Here's what Profitable Marketing Communications aspired but failed to be because the authors were too busy trying to be memorable writers. Jason Burby and Shane Atchison make no such pretension.

Actionable Web Analytics reads more like a textbook than an indulgent marketing tourguide. Its lessons are practical, actionable, simply explained and well-illustrated.

Buy it. You don't even have to read it; if it's on your shelf, you'll actually seem smarter. We'll even overlook the fact that co-author Shane looks like a hipster.

by Angela Natividad    Oct- 2-07    
Topic: Good, Opinion, Publishing