Katie's Media Connection

And Now it's Time to Say Goodbye...

2010-07-01T14:23:00.003-04:00

Sad, but true - today is my last day. It's been quite the journey over the last few years and I'm sad to see it end. Here's my parting gift to you:

Thanks for everything. It's been real. :)

World Cup News Flash: We're Going to Eat Like Pigs

2010-06-10T11:35:00.004-04:00

According to Nielsen, the World Cup triggers increased ad spending and food consumption. In other words, by July 11th we'll all be fatties. Or at least they will be in Indonesia, where this data comes from:

Stephen Mitchell, Managing Director for Consumers at Nielsen Indonesia, a subsidiary of Nielsen Company, a global information and media company, told a press conference that manufacturers will see the event as an opportunity to push more sales.

"Besides, advertisement spending will also see growth during June as World Cup sponsors are geared to air their commercials," said Mitchell.

In Indonesia, he said, Nielsen's data shows that sales of World Cup products categories during the event weeks of June 5 to July 9, 2006 increased 31 percent to reach 67 billion rupiah (about 7.2 million U.S. dollars) compared to the same period of 2005.

Meanwhile, he said, categories like snack, soft drink, peanuts, cigarettes, and energy drink are also expected to enjoy more sales.

"In the period of World Cup 2006, peanuts experienced the highest growth with 72 percent, followed by cigarettes (37 percent), energy drink (35 percent), snack (28 percent) and soft drink (19 percent)," said Mitchell.

WOAH, peanuts - way to be number one!

(Courtesy of People's Daily Online)

Steak Billboard Smells...Like Steak

2010-06-09T16:00:00.003-04:00

This billboard in North Carolina is promoting a grocery store's new brand of beef.

Seems pretty innocuous, right? Big fork, yummy-looking steak, catchy tagline...

Well, not only does the beef on this sign look delicious, but from 7-10am and 4-7pm, it smells delicious, too. This billboard pumps out the smell of steak during rush hour, because I'm sure the combo of auto exhaust and sizzling beef is mouth-watering to passing motorists.

I guess if you can dream it, you can do it.

(Courtesy of Geekologie.com)

It Only Takes 90 Minutes For Your World to Change...

2010-06-03T10:56:00.006-04:00

Plus injury time, of course.

As an MLS supporter since the league's inception, I feel it necessary to mention American soccer whenever I get the chance.

MLS is doing the smart thing this time around and stopping league matches for the first two weeks of World Cup action. Making people choose between the league games and world-class international matches is kind of silly. Only the die-hard fans will split their time between both - most casual fans are going to go for the big ticket tournament games. This way everyone wins.

Anyway, to capitalize on this league-wide pause for the the Cup, MLS has a new commercial on-air that I thoroughly enjoy and felt the need to share.

Watch the new commercial! Support the beautiful game in the USA! Watch the World Cup!

(Courtesy of adage.com)

World Cup Marketing - Don't Offend the Sponsors

2010-05-18T10:46:00.009-04:00

I was originally just going to post an article about World Cup advertising, but then I got to the part about "ambush marketing" and I was intrigued (and distracted)...

Why? Because of this:

The World Cup is the undisputed pinnacle of two things: One is soccer, and the other is ambush marketing.

"There's just so much passion behind soccer and such a large audience," explains Jim Andrews, a senior VP at sponsorship firm IEG. "It's irresistible."

He's not kidding: According to FIFA, the 2006 World Cup, held in Germany, featured 3,300 "rights violations" in 84 countries, a major concern given the eight-figure amounts that FIFA's six top-level partners and seven World Cup sponsors pay to officially align with the world's biggest sporting event.

Who could forget, for instance, the 2006 stunt pulled by Dutch brewer Bavaria, which handed out thousands of pairs of Bavaria-branded bright-orange lederhosen to fans of the Dutch national team? FIFA, defending exclusive beer sponsor Anheuser-Busch's turf, ordered fans to remove the lederhosen before entering the stadium, and many went on to cheer for their team in their underwear.

HA! I love it. Who needs pants, anyway?

(Courtesy of AdAge.com and Guardian.co.uk)

20 Ways to be Awesome

2010-05-12T10:21:00.004-04:00

Yeah, that's totally not the title of this article, but whatever... Creative liberties - I'm taking them.

Peter Madden put together what he calls "Madden's 20 Lessons in Small Agency Ownership" on the Small Agency Diary section of AdAge.com. While it's tailored specifically for small agency owners, I think it holds a lot of merit for businesspeople in general.

Check 'em out...

1. Realize what you're great at and do it all the time. Realize what you suck at and stop doing it completely (and put the right person in place to do it).

2. If you want to make a point that sticks, stop yelling. (Or keep yelling and look ridiculous.)

3. Work as hard on your presentations to your staff as you do on your presentations to prospects and clients.

4. Tell your clients when you screw up and how something could have been better. They already know you blew it, but just want to hear it from you.

5. Trust your instincts. You can interview a prospective employee or client 10 times, they can say and do all the right things, but if your Spidey sense is tingling, something is amiss.

6. Read Keith Ferrazzi's "Never Eat Alone" and stop handing out your business card like a Vegas dealer.

7. One out of every 10 consultants will actually be a help to you. Finding that one is the toughest part. The right one probably asks all the questions you hate.

8. Do pro bono work for non-profit organizations that are trying hard to make the world a better place. You'll get more out of it.

9. Don't obsess about the financials (I can hear a million Wharton grads groan). You'll get lost in them and forget what the hell your agency stands for in the first place. When I think about my score in golf, I completely tank. I apply that to everything.

10. Are you completely freaking out, nervous, worried and losing sleep over something about your business? Welcome to being alive. Now calm down, move on, and step up your game.

11. Call the head of an agency you compete with and invite him out for a beer. You'll either a) really enjoy the person and learn a lot or b) hate him and enjoy crushing him in defeat.

12. Regarding No. 11, 99% of the time it will be "a." You'll talk about your family more than the work and it will become a regular thing.

13. You aren't thanking people who work for you enough.

14. Did someone working for you just disagree with a decision you want to make? Good. Keep her around as long as possible.

15. RFPs are a complete waste of time. But it's still fun to compete.

16. Throw parties at your office, no matter how humble or grand the space, for no reason at all. It's all about the people in the room, good music, and not running out of booze or ice.

17. Put your f***ing BlackBerry/iPhone down when you're meeting with me.

18. One personal five-minute call equals 12 impersonal e-mails back and forth. You also get to know someone much better that way.

19. Call the businesspeople you respect the most in your community. Buy them lunch and seek their advice. Sometimes the bigger the individual, the more generous they are with their time and advice. One good mentor is equal to 100 consultants.

20. Write personal notes thanking people you meet with and who are in your life. Besides death and taxes, the only other sure thing in life is that no matter who you are, it's exciting to get a handwritten note.

This Madden guy knows what he's talking about. Especially #20. I get emails, phone calls, faxes, direct mail with my name stamped on it, and all kinds of other random correspondence all the time, even awards and rewards for a job well done occasionally. And out of all that stuff, what is it that I actually keep on my desk and look at everyday? The birthday card I received from my coworkers earlier this year, complete with handwritten messages from everyone in the office.

Right on, Pete.

(Courtesy of AdAge.com)

Yay for Dawn!

2010-05-06T11:29:00.006-04:00

I don't know how they make me love my dishwashing liquid so much, but Dawn keeps finding a way.

It's probably the cute little baby duckies on the press release announcing that the P&G product is going to continue its long-standing participation in wildlife rescue efforts, including stepping up production of Dawn in certain plants to help clean animals affected by the recent oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.

The Cincinnati Enquirer reports that P&G will try to speed up production in the Kansas City plant, further deepening my love for the blue detergent.

Nothing makes me cry like a little girl quite like seeing animals in danger (and sports, but that's a conversation I'll save for another time...), so please do the animals a favor - go BUY DAWN and check out the link/info below to help donate!

Dawn is also continuing its Dawn Saves Wildlife program, in which consumers can help support the ongoing efforts of the IBRRC and Marine Mammal Center through their purchase of a bottle of Dawn when they activate their donation online at
http://www.dawn-dish.com/en_US/savingwildlife/home.do.

(Courtesy of P&G and the Cincinnati Enquirer)

Are You a Mother Lover?

2010-05-04T11:08:00.003-04:00

No, not that kind of Mother Lover...

Have you noticed how the Mother's Day advertising has ramped up this week, since the holiday is coming up on Sunday? Have you also noticed the content of any of those ads?

"Hi, this is so-and-so from ABC Jewelers. When you're buying a present for your Mother from us, don't forget that your wife may be a mother, too, and she deserves something sparkly and new..."

OK, it's not a real ad, but it's almost word-for-word the same as one of the radio ads I heard yesterday morning. Wonder who they're trying to appeal to?

Oh, right...Men.

Between Valentine's Day and Mother's Day - two holidays when the men in our lives are expected to step up to the plate and present gifts of love and praise - I'd bet a majority of the advertising dollars are spent within about 7-10 days of the actual date of the holiday. (Don't ask me to provide any data on that, I have none, just personal experience)

Why? Because men shop at the last minute. I don't know about you, but my father hasn't ever bought a Christmas present before December 20th (and on the flipside, by December my mother is already preparing for my birthday in March), and my adult brother still requires reminder phone calls about upcoming holidays, birthdays, and celebrations. He heard from me just this past Saturday, and this is how our conversation went:

Me: Hey, don't forget Mother's Day is next Sunday, and Dad's birthday is the following Friday.

Bro: It is? (pause)

Me: Do you need me to buy cards now so that you can sign your name on them when you're home?

Bro: (Another pause) No, I think I can handle it.

Me: Are you sure?

Bro: (Another pause) No really, I can do it.

Me: OK, well consider this your official reminder so you'd better get on top of that, you don't have much time left...

Bro: Nah, I have a whole week!

Sigh.

Anyway, to all the Moms out there - thanks for everything you've done, and everything you'll continue to do. Love you.

AriZona Iced Tea - Caught in the Crossfire

2010-04-29T14:45:00.004-04:00

AriZona iced tea is wishing they were in Utah right now. Or maybe Canada...

As Todd Wasserman of BrandFreak writes:

Iced-tea maker AriZona is experiencing some collateral damage in the immigration debate over a new law in the state of Arizona. Since the law passed, making it a crime for illegal immigrants to be in the state and requires police to check citizens for evidence of legal status, opponents have called for a boycott of the state. On Tuesday, a comic writer named Travis Nichols suggested—jokingly, we think—that consumers should also boycott AriZona iced tea because it's "the drink of fascists." For whatever reason, others took Nichols up on the idea, even though the brand, now owned by Ferolito, Vultaggio & Sons, is based in New York.

"For whatever reason, others took Nichols up on the idea..." I'll tell you why - it's because people are sheep (read: morons) and see only part of the story without looking into context. Sometimes I just want to shake them! Grumble, grumble...

Good thing the chairman and founder of the company addressed concerns immediately, noting AriZona's proud standing as an American company.

(Courtesy of BrandFreak)

2010 Census Advertising Recap

2010-04-14T15:22:00.003-04:00

Did you get your 2010 Census form and answer the ten questions? Did it only take you ten minutes, as all the advertising promised?

We all saw the commercials ("We can't move forward until you mail it back...") and after looking into it a bit further there's some interesting information out there regarding all the paid advertising surrounding the 2010 Census.

Here are a few nuggets for you to chew on:

For three decades after the 1970 census, mailback rates fell sharply until the 2000 census. That was the first time the Congress authorized the Census to launch a paid advertising and public relations effort to help slow this rate of decline. We exceeded expectations in 2000, and we not only halted the decline but the American public increased their response rate. As a result the Census Bureau later in 2000 returned to the federal Treasury some $305 million in savings, partly because of this renewed civic engagement. The Congress and our oversight agencies generally applauded this effort in 2000, and encouraged us to do more for 2010 to help get a better count, improve accuracy, and hopefully again save the government some important funds.

We’re advertising again. The management equation on this is pretty simple. For every one percentage point we increase the mailback rate, we save about $85 million dollars of followup costs. This is a business proposition. We seek ways that get the message out, even if it is unusual for a Federal agency to do so. We spent about $85,000 on the Alaska trip to kick off the census, but garnered an audience from publicity (85 million) that would have cost 300 times as much in paid media (see earlier blog entries on the Noorvik trip). We will advertise on the 2010 Super Bowl, as we did in 2000. The Super Bowl is the top-rated and most highly anticipated television event in the U.S. An ad running once in the Super Bowl has the potential to reach 45% of adults over age 18. A thirty second spot on the top-rated regularly-scheduled show in America, American Idol costs $450,000 and is viewed by just about 9% or 10% of all households watching TV. The Super Bowl reaches 100 million viewers at a very efficient price compared to other shows.

To check out the rest of the blog post on the Census website, just click here!

(Courtesy of http://2010.census.gov/)

Sexiest Lamborghini Ad Ever

2010-04-07T10:55:00.004-04:00

Yeah, I don't really need to say much else about this one. Check it out for yourself:

(In honor of my Lambo-loving brother, who I hope never looks as ridiculous as Frank Reynolds does in his Countach...)

(Courtesy of the Lamborghini Channel on Youtube)

The Facebook Juggernaut

2010-03-16T11:19:00.003-04:00

I saw this months ago and forgot to post it, probably because I was busy playing Bejeweled Blitz...

The Facebook population is officially bigger than the population of the United States. And not only that, it's now passed Google as the most visited website in the U.S.

Holy crap.

We saw this coming so it's not much of a surprise, but still, the concept of a social networking website with more users than the U.S. has people is pretty staggering. All the information that's passed back and forth and "news" that is shared has obviously impacted the interwebs in a tremendous way.

Keep on rollin', FB...

(Courtesy Facebook and Digits)

Andy Bernard and Cornell - A Match Made in The Office

2010-03-11T11:53:00.007-05:00

HA! Oh, Andy....

As an Office fan, I'll just say it's about time Cornell jumped on the Nard-Dog bandwagon! Read the AdFreak blog post about it here.

(Courtesy of AdFreak)

Fake front page brings paper Disney dollars, debate

2010-03-08T09:48:00.003-05:00

By Alan Duke, CNN
March 5, 2010 6:47 p.m. EST

Los Angeles, California (CNN) -- At first glance of Friday's Los Angeles Times, you might think the Mad Hatter has taken over the newspaper.

Johnny Depp's colorful character in Disney's new film "Alice in Wonderland" dominates a faked front page, which includes the paper's traditional flag and two stories that appeared in the paper last month.

Los Angeles Times spokesman John Conroy said the "cover-wrap" was an "unusual opportunity to stretch the usual boundaries and design an innovative ad designed to create buzz."

Roy Peter Clark, a senior journalism scholar at the Poynter Institute, said tough economic times and lower ads sales have forced newspapers to tear down the ethics wall that separated a paper's front page from advertisers.

"The wall became in recent years a fence, but the Los Angeles Times has created a swinging gate," Clark said.

"What offends my traditional sensibilities is the notion that you would be willing to deceive the reader into thinking that this was the actual front page," Clark said.

Although Conroy said readers would not be confused by the fake front, several journalists in CNN's Los Angeles bureau did not immediately realize that the real front page was inside.

A Times reader who works for a movie marketing company in Hollywood said he felt deceived by the ad. He asked not to be identified because his company, which was not involved in the Disney campaign, deals with the newspaper.

"We propose these kinds of ads all the time but have never gotten them approved," he said. "I don't always agree with what we do."

He estimated that the ad would cost "well over $100,000."

Conroy would not disclose the price, but he said, "Our front page section is our most valued real estate. The ad was priced accordingly."

The use of real newspaper stories, published previously in the newspaper, to make the ad appear to be a real front page is another issue, Clark said.

"I'm particularly nervous about them running fake stories that are really real stories," he said. "That seems like a misappropriation of the journalism in the newspaper."

An online search revealed that the article on the left column -- headlined "To take reins on health proposal" -- was a slightly altered version of a story written by Tribune Co. Washington reporter Noam Levey. It was published February 18.

The second article, appearing on the right column of the Disney ad, was headlined "Major Afghan Figure Caught." The original story was published February 19, with the bylines of Times foreign correspondent Laura King and Moscow bureau chief Alex Rodriguez.

"If I had written one of those stories, I would be pissed," Clark said.

CNN has received no response from e-mails and calls to the three journalists.

Although they may not be pleased with their work being used in a movie ad -- without the byline -- they have jobs while many of their co-workers have been laid off.

The Tribune Publishing Co., the paper's parent, has ordered several rounds of staff cuts at its newspapers and bureau in recent years. Some have left in protest of changes in editorial practices aimed at boosting revenue, Clark said.

"There's been one editor after another that's walked out the door because they didn't want to cave in to pressure from the top to do the wrong thing," Clark said.

What he might have objected to five years ago, he could now accept it helps papers survive, Clark said. But not if it confuses editorial content with ads, he said.

"Every time I see a big ad in my local newspaper I send up a little cheer," he said.

When HBO paid the newspaper for a wrap-around ad last summer, for the vampire series "True Blood," it was not mixed with the flag or editorial content.

The Los Angeles Times drew criticism in April when it sold NBC the right column of its front page, where a lead story is normally placed. The network used the space to advertise the debut of its "Southland" series.

(Courtesy CNN.com)

Noooo, Don't Take My Colbert from Hulu!

2010-03-03T10:26:00.003-05:00

Aw man, why do I have to get this crap news on my birthday? Click the title to go to the article...

Hulu Loses Viacom, 'Stewart' and 'Colbert'
Fast-Growing Video Site Fails to Reach Extension With Parent of Popular Comedy Central Shows

I can't stay up til 11pm to watch the shows when they're actually on (insert old lady joke here), so I usually watch them in the morning on Hulu before I head into work. What will I do now? Nothing goes with coffee like Colbert....

(Courtesy of AdAge)

Targeting "Life Stages" vs. Demographics in Advertising

2010-03-02T10:00:00.008-05:00

It's becoming harder and harder to segment the population for targeted advertising based on traditional demographics such as age, gender, and location. There are just too many variables in the world nowadays that it makes sense to look more toward behaviors and stages in life as more appropriate indicators of possible buying decisions.

According to a recent study conducted by the USC Entertainment Technology Center, Hallmark Channel, and E-Poll Market Research, people are more affected by their 'life stage' than other factors:

The wealth of information captured in the survey reveals that individuals in different life stages can have very similar demographic profiles but different attitudes and media usage. For example, the 18 – 49 demographic group familiar to TV and advertising executives is made up of people in seven different stages, with College Students, New Nesters and Married No Kids comprising nearly equal proportions. Three of the life stages have a median age of 37 or 38. Yet when examining behavior, the life stages are distinct and exhibit clear differences.

Ch-ch-check it out here....

(Courtesy of AdWeek and E-Poll)

Yahoo! Wants to Take Over the Interwebs...

2010-02-24T12:03:00.004-05:00

Well, maybe not really, but it sounds like they're trying.

What they have done is inked a new deal with Twitter that will allow Yahoo! users to see real-time tweets on all Yahoo! properties, and in turn allow Twitter users to tweet through their Yahoo! accounts.

This comes shortly after Yahoo! partnered with Microsoft last year to use the bing technology for internet searches.

Sounds like a well-planned interweb coup if you ask me....

(Read the full article here)

(Courtesy of CNN.com)

Mancrunch Swears This Isn't a Super Bowl Stunt

2010-01-29T13:05:00.003-05:00

From Ad Age:

Mancrunch's attempt to land a Super Bowl spot has kicked up a ruckus online, where commenters upset about CBS's decision to air an anti-abortion ad starring football star Tim Tebow are howling about the network's alleged double standards because it won't air a spot showing two men kissing.

Here's the ad, enjoy! You might not see it on national television...

Read the full article from Ad Age here.

(Courtesy of adage.com)

Brown's Massachusetts Win Could Mean Higher 2010 Ad Spending

2010-01-21T10:20:00.003-05:00

Tuesday's special election victory for Scott Brown has put the spotlight squarely on our little Northeastern state of Massachusetts. Considering the immediate political implications that come along with Brown's win, we're also looking at possible increased TV ad spending this year for the upcoming midterm elections in November.

As I posted a couple months ago, political advertising was already set to surge this year, but Tuesday's big win for the GOP will undoubtedly fuel additional spending.

Here's the article from Ad Age:

WASHINGTON (AdAge.com) -- Republican Scott Brown's win of a Massachusetts Senate seat could turn out to be a boon for media companies, increasing spending on political advertising this year from the $2.8 billion originally expected.

Together with announced retirements by some key Democrats, the outcome over filling Sen. Ted Kennedy's seat in yesterday's special election in Massachusetts offers an unmistakable signal to both parties that they are going to have to weigh in early to start courting voters for this year's November midterm elections.

There were signals from all sides that the election could increase the number of challengers running, which in turn would boost fundraising activities and, ultimately, lift ad spending.

The spending could increase even more if the U.S. Supreme Court frees businesses to spend on political advertising even in the last throws of a race. An important high court ruling could come down as soon as tomorrow.

Normally, off-year elections focus more on local, rather than national issues and the extent of media spending depends on how many primary races take place, where they are (big states have far more expensive media markets), how many incumbents are running and, finally, the number of major local referenda issues. Generally there isn't much national advertising. Political parties and interest groups buy markets in states with races.

This year Evan Tracey, president of TNS Media Intelligence's Campaign Media Analysis Group, a company that tracks political ad spending, was already predicting the combination of open gubernatorial races in Illinois, New York, California and elsewhere would hit the $2.8 billion spent in 2008, when the presidential race bolstered spending.

Mr. Tracey today said spending this time could now exceed that amount. The final figure, however, isn't yet clear -- in part because the economy and the Supreme Court decision could still affect the total.

Still, the Massachusetts race raised the stakes, he said.

"Anybody can win anywhere. There is no such thing as a safe incumbent any more," he said.

The Massachusetts results also could put more of a national debate in play, potentially benefiting cable news channels. It could also prompt the Republican and Democratic parties and advocacy groups to step up their local spending to make arguments about health care, the economy and other issues more typical to a presidential election year.

Today spokesmen for some cable companies and the Television Bureau of Advertising acknowledged they see the impact as potentially boosting political ad spending.

"It increases the importance of targeting your voters," said Tim Kay, director of political strategy for NCC, the national individual spot sales arm of major local cable providers. He pointed to independent voters, who were a major factor in the Massachusetts vote.

Greg D'Alba, CNN's exec VP-chief operating officer-sales and marketing, said advertising could be up for two reasons. First there could be more political advertising, period. Secondly, the results also signal more interest in politics this year and that could generate more corporate advertising in support of coverage.

"It's created another stellar political cycle," he said. "Last night's election supports our forecast that the midterm elections are going to be really important."

He said that he expected the political parties would do a national overlay of their messages to buttress local spending.

Jack Poor, VP-marketing for the Television Bureau of Advertising, said it sees the results as a fundraising boon to political parties, individual candidates and interest groups -- especially on the Republican side. That, in turn, will fuel ad spending on both sides.

"All that was missing [from the election races this year] was the full coffers," he said.

(Courtesy AdAge.com)

Follow-Up: Bar Codes in Advertising

2010-01-14T13:49:00.004-05:00

So I'm flipping through my February 2010 issue of Website Magazine today and happened to notice barcodes in a few of the ads, such as this one:

See it in the bottom left-hand corner?

If memory serves me right, I had posted about this same barcode technology last year when they were appearing in the National Post of Canada.

Pretty cool way for people with smartphones to be able to connect immediately with print advertising...

(Courtesy Website Magazine)

How the Hamsters Saved Christmas: Zhu Zhu Pets Recharge Battery Category

2010-01-11T16:17:00.004-05:00

So I get a call from my dad a couple weeks before Christmas that went like this:

Dad: Does your cousin's iPod run on AA batteries?
Me: No, sorry Dad.
Dad: What about his cell phone?
Me: Nope.
Dad: Game Boy? CD player? Anything?
Me: No, why?
Dad: I just bought 100 AA batteries at Costco for Christmas presents. I'm not sure what to do with them now...

Poor Dad, alkaline batteries used to be his go-to gift and now he's lost in a sea of rechargeables and lithium ion. If you've found yourself in a similar predicament recently, read on:

Loading up on alkaline batteries was once a familiar rite of holiday shopping for parents, but the category has been in a funk since well before the recession as traditional battery-operated toys and gadgets lost cachet to smartphones, laptops, iPods and other portable devices using different power sources.

But a funny thing happened this holiday season: Alkaline batteries had their best quarter for volume growth in at least three years and their first positive holiday quarter in terms of volume in four years. Zhu Zhu pets, one of the biggest breakout toy hits in years, may deserve the credit, though a round of savage price-cutting also played a role.

Don't worry, there's hope for you next year, Pops. :)

(Courtesy of AdAge.com)

DirecTV, ESPN, & Discovery to Launch 3D TV Channels

2010-01-06T10:45:00.005-05:00

I still don't want to see Avatar in 3D because the blue hybrid people-aliens kinda freak me out, but put anything else in 3D and I'll be there with bells (and my 3D glasses) on.

Coming off last week's news that DirecTV is planning to launch a HD 3D channel early this year, both ESPN and Discovery Networks have announced they are planning to launch 3D channels of their own:

The Disney owned sports operator is set to introduce ESPN 3D in June, launching with the airing of the first World Cup soccer games on June 11. The channel will air 85 live sporting events over the year, but will go dark when there is no event on.

World Cup replays, goal celebrations, and hard tackles in 3D? AWESOME.

Discovery, meanwhile, has launched a joint venture with technology companies Sony and Imax, to launch a 3D channel in 2011. Although, it hasn't announced what content it will air in 3D, the channel will be a 24 hour channel.

The only possible drawback? According to the article about DirecTV's HD plans:

If accurate, the newly available content for the firm’s subs would require both a 3D-equipped HD set (and the requisite glasses) in order to see the light, as it were. One Web site, HD Guru, which originated the story citing its own sources, said DirecTV will announce its 3D plans at CES.

You know, I'm tempted to be skeptical about this 3D channel business, simply because it seems untested and unnecessarily expensive to buy a completely new television to view only one or two channels.

But then think about early HD programming - it was only a couple channels and required a new TV - and how far that has come along in the last few years. Surely there are innovators out there who will jump on the 3D wagon and extoll its virtues to the rest of us who will slowly follow suit. Is this going to be another change that's going to revolutionize the way we watch television?

(Courtesy of TBIvision.com, tvtechnology.com, & HDGuru.com)

Seven Advertising Insights for the New Year

2010-01-04T13:43:00.003-05:00

Happy New Year! Dana Severson's seven advertising insights (below) are absolutely worth sharing and paying attention to in the new year. (I know, I know, this was written in December 2009, however it still notes some important points and things to consider for 2010):

1. Social networking is only a good idea if you are going to be social. Don't get me wrong, I'm not a social media "guru" by any stretch of my imagination. However, it's obvious to anyone who has a Facebook account that unless you're having conversations, you're not being social.

2. Just because newspapers are failing doesn't mean that print media is dead. Numerous studies have proven it. That said, forget the research. If you want real proof that print media is still alive, just look at the collection of magazines on coffee tables and in bathrooms at your next get-together. Or, better yet, consider your own relationship with your favorite magazine. Magazines are shuttering because advertisers are spending less. It's not, I repeat, NOT because readers stopped reading them.

3. For the reasons I just mentioned, do not eliminate print from your advertising plans. I'm generalizing here, but for the most part, rates are cheaper and there's less competition for the reader's attention between the covers. In other words, your ROI is going to be much greater.

4. The over-analysis of online advertising is detrimental to the concept of branding. Keep in mind, the measurement of success from your online advertising efforts doesn't always have to come in the form of clicks. Don't worry Mr. Client, it's not your fault, you've been misled. Ad networks have trained you to believe that the only value in online advertising is conversions. This is not true.

5. With that in mind, banner advertising is becoming increasing less effective (both in terms of brand exposure and conversions). Focus on online campaigns that engage, entertain and inform. In other words, branded content is an idea you should be exploring. And, by branded content, I don't mean sponsored blog posts. Those are nothing more than a banner ad made of words. Rather, think of engaging/entertaining the reader first, advertising second.

6. For once, green-light the third concept. You know, the one that's outside your comfort zone. This is the campaign that will more than likely drive the greatest results. Why? Because we know what we are doing and we just want you to trust our judgment on this -- just once. You won't be sorry.

7. And lastly, for god's sake, NO MORE BUDGET CUTS. OK, that was just some wishful thinking, but please do consider it.

(Courtesy of AdAge)

The Christmas Can-Can!

2009-12-23T10:30:00.001-05:00

Enjoy!

Happy Holidays!

2009-12-23T09:57:00.002-05:00

Hoping you and yours have a safe and happy end of 2010! :)

Get Your Own!

2009-12-17T16:32:00.002-05:00

If my office is anything like yours, everyone is food motivated. Here's to Subway for channeling the inner lunch room kid in all of us:

(Courtesy of Youtube)

Accenture Drops Tiger Woods as Sponsor

2009-12-14T09:17:00.004-05:00

Global consulting firm Accenture PLC has ended its relationship with Tiger Woods, marking the first major sponsor to cut ties altogether with the golfer since his alleged infidelities surfaced and he announced an indefinite leave from the sport to work on his marriage.

In its first statement since the Woods' scandal erupted, Accenture said Sunday the golfer is "no longer the right representative" after the "circumstances of the last two weeks."

The move ends a six-year relationship during which the firm credited its "Go on, be a Tiger" campaign with boosting its image significantly.

Accenture has used Woods to personify its claimed attributes of integrity and high performance.

"After careful consideration and analysis, the company has determined that he is no longer the right representative for its advertising," Accenture said, adding that "it wishes only the best for Tiger Woods and his family."

The firm plans to immediately transition to a new advertising campaign, with a major effort scheduled to launch later in 2010. An Accenture spokeswoman declined to comment further.

Advertising firm Young & Rubicam, which has handled the company's Tiger Woods ads, also would not comment on the move.

One of the risks of advertising tied to a celebrity is that "your image gets carried by someone you can't control," said Jonathan Bernstein, president of Bernstein Crisis Management.

"They definitely understand there's damage," Bernstein said of Accenture.

Accenture's advertising campaign was almost entirely built around Woods and his success, portraying his ability to sink a key putt or hit out of the rough.

If Woods had acknowledged mistakes and said he would be back in a month, Accenture might be able to ride it out, said Rick Burton, a professor of sports management at Syracuse University, in an interview.

But Accenture can't afford to wait for what could be a long time before Woods returns.

"They had tied everything in their campaign to Tiger Woods it appeared," he said. "If he's not golfing, those ads don't make sense."

Burton said Accenture's billboards and airport advertising need to be replaced quickly.
Without a backup plan, the company might fall back on something simple and conservative that could highlight its logo.

"It is probably prudent to take a low-key, conservative approach until they determine what their next message is that they want to send," he said. Accenture will have to determine whether it wants to stick with sports or whether its been too burned by what happened and will go another route, Burton added.

"Accenture has made a decision to not continue with their sponsorship. We are disappointed but respect their decision," said Mark Steinberg, Woods' agent at IMG Worldwide.

The PGA Tour said it would have no comment.

Accenture has been title sponsor since 2001 of the Match Play Championship, a lucrative World Golf Championship event that draws the top 64 players from the world ranking.

Accenture earlier this year renewed its sponsorship of the tournament through 2014. The contract is separate from its business endorsement with Woods.

The management consulting, technology services and outsourcing company has clients in more than 120 countries and about 177,000 employees across 52 countries.

Starting as the consulting arm of now-defunct accounting firm Arthur Andersen, it split off in 1989 under the name Andersen Consulting, eventually ending all ties with Andersen and changing its name to Accenture.

The company went public in 2001 and now has a market cap of $26 billion.

Earlier this year Accenture shifted its place of incorporation from Bermuda to Ireland, where it has done business for about 40 years.

Woods' array of endorsements helped him become the first sports star to earn $1 billion, according to Forbes. But while not terminating its relationship completely, another major Woods sponsor pulled away this weekend.

On Saturday, Gillette, which uses the slogan "The best a man can get," said it won't air advertisements featuring Woods or include him in public appearances for an unspecified time. Woods was hired by Gillette in 2007 and has been in ads for Gillette Fusion Power razors with titles like "Phenom" and "Champions" with other stars including tennis great Roger Federer and soccer player Thierry Henry.

Other sponsors continue to stick with Woods for the time being.

On Monday, Swiss watch maker Tag Heuer said it will continue its association with Woods.
"He's the best in his domain," spokeswoman Mariam Sylla told The Associated Press. "We respect his performance in the sport."

Sylla said Woods' personal life was "not their business."

Electronic Arts, whose EA Sports division has been selling Tiger Woods video golf games for a decade, said Sunday, "We respect that this is a very difficult, and private, situation for Tiger and his family. At this time, the strategy for our Tiger Woods PGA TOUR business remains unchanged."

The game's next edition featuring Woods comes out in six months.

AT&T said Sunday that it continues to evaluate its relationship with the golfer.

Nike Inc. said late Friday that it supported Woods' decision to take time off.

(Courtesy ESPN.com)

Goal Celebrations - Coca-Cola Loves Them, Too

2009-12-03T10:57:00.006-05:00

Don't know who all follows soccer out there, but after hearing the news yesterday that my beloved Western Mass native Jay Heaps is retiring from the NE Revolution after playing in MLS for 11 seasons (we'll miss you, Jay!), I was in a soccer state of mind.

I have to say, one of my favorite moments in any game is the goal celebration. (Or most loathed, depending on who is doing the scoring.) It's just one of those joyous occasions where it's OK for grown men to act completely ridiculous and leap into each other's arms and celebrate. Love 'em.

Anyway, Coca-Cola has a few different programs they're launching for the World Cup that sound pretty awesome:

Coca-Cola Celebration Award
For the first time ever, Coca-Cola will recognize the tournament's best goal celebration. Fans will be able to vote for the eventual winner online. For every goal scored during the 2010 FIFA World Cup™ and celebrated with a dance, Coca-Cola will make an additional donation to the Company's "Water for Schools" effort that helps provide schools access to safe drinking water. The award will only recognize celebrations conducted within the rules of the game.

World's Longest Celebration
Coca-Cola is inviting football fans to film and upload their own goal celebrations to the Coke website. All clips will be edited into a continuous 'loop' to create a non-stop celebration that will air on the website. Eligible fans will have the chance of winning great FIFA World Cup™ prizes including match tickets.

'Coca-Cola Presents: Celebrating the Goal' Documentary
Coca-Cola is producing a 60-minute documentary which investigates the stories behind the world's most famous goal celebrations and catches up with 2010 FIFA World Cup™ players as they plan their African inspired celebrations for the tournament. The documentary will be broadcast globally in the run-up to the 2010 FIFA World Cup™.

Sweeeeeeet! Consider this my official run to the corner and fake-boxing-with-my-teammates dance of jubilation!

(Courtesy of Coca-Cola and YouTube)

Best Buy Holiday Ad Controversy

2009-11-30T09:17:00.006-05:00

Every year around this time, Americans are bombarded with holiday advertising messages.

Oh, whoops, I used the word holiday and not Christmas. I'll probably be hearing soon from the American Family Association that I'm anti-Christmas and get written up on their "Naughty or Nice Christmas list." On the naughty side, naturally.

Best Buy sent flyers out last week promoting Thanksgiving sales and included what seemed like an innocuous message saying "Happy Eid al-Adha," a holiday of sacrifice for followers of Islam that occurred on Nov. 27 this year - the day after Thanksgiving.

Apparently not so innocuous, according to some, but decide for yourself. The image below is the full page of the flyer, and the second image is a close-up view of the message under fire:

Close-up:
The AFA was already upset that Best Buy was going to use the phrase "Happy Holidays" instead of Merry Christmas" for it's December advertising and sales promotions, and it's not the first time for THAT either...

Karen Datko at MSN Money writes:

The Mississippi-based American Family Association targeted Best Buy Inc. in 2006 after a company spokeswoman said it would favor “happy holidays” in its ads in recognition that several holidays occur at that time of year. Meanwhile, Christmas themes did NOT disappear from Best Buy ads.

Sure, it's fine to say "Merry Christmas" to all those who celebrate that holiday, but we're not allowed to celebrate the multiple other holidays that occur around the same time? And sure, the shopping this season may be mostly for Christmas, but I don't think we need to be freaking out about this. Who cares what holiday someone is buying presents for? Shouldn't we be happy that consumers are actually spending some money?

You'd think the AFA would be pleased that so many parents are able to provide gifts for their children on Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, Solstice, etc. and in turn create happy family holiday moments.

But wait, I forgot, the AFA doesn't like it when other holidays are even mentioned in advertising, because the organization is calling on consumers everywhere to boycott Gap, Inc., and it's other properties, including Old Navy and Banana Republic:

Randy Sharp, a rep for the AFA, said that a Gap rep sent the group an e-mail alerting them to this year's campaign, via Crispin, Porter + Bogusky, that does use the word "Christmas," but Sharp said the ad, which features the line "Go Christmas, Go Hanukkah, Go Kwanzaa, Go Solstice," and beckons consumers to "86 the rules," is offensive. "It looks like an attempt to patronize people," he said. "What they did was almost make a joke of it."
A Gap rep, however, said the advertising mentions different holidays because the brand "is and has always been an inclusive, accessible brand in which everyone can participate and we embrace diversity across all of our customers, and more importantly respect their beliefs as individuals . . . We focus our marketing on the joys of the holiday season as a whole."

If you ask me, the AFA is sucking the joy right out of the season. The HOLIDAYS are about family and togetherness, no matter your religion.

If anything I think Hanukkah should be getting more advertising airtime - they have 8 whole days of presents! Think of the advertising opportunities there!

(Courtesy of AdWeek, Brandweek, AFA, and MSN Money)

Happy Turkey Day!

2009-11-25T14:29:00.003-05:00

Hope you and yours have a happy holiday tomorrow! :)

More than 8.6 million Households Obtain Coupons via Text Messages and/or E-mail

2009-11-24T15:10:00.003-05:00

Providence, RI, Top City for Text/Email Coupon Users

New York, New York (Vocus/PRWEB ) August 19, 2009 -Americans continue to watch their spending and to look for good deals in the sluggish economy, and coupons are an important method of saving money. Consumer and media research firm Scarborough Research released an analysis highlighting the ways households are obtaining coupons. The study found that text messages and/or email are an emerging method for households to obtain coupons. 8.6 million (eight percent) of U.S. households currently acquire coupons via text messages and/or email. While not the leading medium for household coupon obtainment - the Sunday newspaper holds this distinction, and other means such as in-store circulars and regular mail still surpass it - couponing via text messages and/or email is gaining a following among American consumers.

"We began measuring text/email coupon usage in our most recent Scarborough study, and I am not surprised to see that households are taking advantage of this new couponing medium," said Gary Meo, senior vice president of digital media and print services, Scarborough Research. "Coupons received via text messaging are typically sent only to consumers who have opted-in to receive them. This increases the relevancy of the offer and the potential for the consumer to act on that offer. An additional benefit is the mobility of cell phones and other personal communications devices, which allow consumers to access the coupon at the point of purchase."

Those consumers who obtain coupons via text messages and/or email tend to be young, affluent, educated and female. Scarborough data shows that they are 14% more likely than the average adult to be ages 18-24; 51% more likely to be a college graduate or have an advanced degree; and six percent more likely to be female.

Where do these consumers live? The top local market for text message and/or email coupon users is Providence, RI. Twelve percent of households in Providence typically obtain coupons via text message or email. Washington D.C., Atlanta, San Diego, Austin and Chicago, where 11% of households get coupons via this medium, are also among the leading markets for this activity.

(Courtsey of PRWeb)

Political Advertising to Surge in 2010

2009-11-18T14:22:00.002-05:00

It will rise 11% over '08 to $3.3 billion, but still lag behind the record-setting spending of '06

Oct 21, 2009

- Katy Bachman

NEW YORK Political advertising will hit $3.3 billion in 2010, an 11 percent increase over 2008, but a 4 percent decrease from 2006, according to a Wells Fargo Securities report released today.

The ad windfall, more than 60 percent of which goes to local TV, will be fueled by the election of 37 governors, 38 senators, the entire House of Representatives and issue advertising (which could approach $1 billion) on hot-button topics such as healthcare.

The factors affecting the 2010 forecast are similar to those that made the ad spending of $3.4 billion in '06 a record year for political advertising.

"2010 political spending will most closely resemble 2006, as it was the last time a large number of governor races were held, and congressional elections faced similar conditions (i.e., declining presidential and congressional approval ratings and contentious issues)," wrote Marci Ryvicker, senior analyst and author of the report.

Broadcast TV will reap the lion's share at $2.2 billion (or 67 percent of the total), with $2 billion going to local TV, $150 million to cable and $50 million to network TV. Direct mail will get $650 million (or 20 percent of the ad spend), followed by radio at $250 million (or 8 percent) and newspaper at $95 million (or 3 percent). Outdoor and the Internet are forecast to reach $55 million and $50 million, respectively.

A robust political advertising market couldn't come at a better time for the TV business, which has been hammered by the soggy economy and a sinking auto category. Political ads are likely to be large contributors to a modest increase for spot TV between 3.6 and 6.1 percent, according to the Television Bureau of Advertising's forecast.

TV groups most exposed to hotly contested races include Disney's ABC stations at 63 percent, Journal Communications (53 percent) and CBS (46 percent).

Although political advertising has made up only 3 to 5 percent of total revenue radio also stands to gain. Radio groups most exposed to political races include Disney's radio properties (63 percent), Beasley Broadcast Group and Regent Communications (both 61 percent) and CBS (58 percent).

"Any incremental ad dollars will contribute significantly to [radio's] year-over-year top-line growth, especially given the easy comparisons of 2009," Ryvicker wrote.

(Courtesy of AdWeek)

The Eternal Struggle: Miracle Whip vs. Stephen Colbert

2009-11-13T10:42:00.007-05:00

OK, "eternal struggle" is probably pushing it, but as sandwich condiment debates run, this is epic.

A few weeks ago on the Colbert Report, TV faux pundit Stephen Colbert picked a fight with Miracle Whip. Specifically, he poked fun at a new commercial targeted toward a younger crowd, claiming that Miracle Whip "will not tone it down."

Colbert, so offended by the so-called mayonay-sayers, created his own commercial extolling the virtues of mayonnaise. (Check it out here!)

Well, in the struggle for sandwich spread supremacy, the MW marketing team made a smart move by publishing an open letter in a number of newspapers calling out Colbert for his recent attacks and announcing they were buying airtime to run multiple ads during last night's episode of the Report:

Awesome. Not only does the BOLD MW marketing team understand the value of Colbert's quips, they see the value in engaging his audience in an ongoing mock debate about whether mayo or Miracle Whip is better.

Colbert banks on his viewers to do his bidding (as Colbert Nation has recently become a sponsor of US Speed Skating and is raising donations on the CN website) and true to form, he addressed the Great Mayo Debate on last night's episode. Here's the video:

The Colbert Report

Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c

Miracle Whip Buys Ad Space

http://www.colbertnation.com/

Colbert Report Full Episodes

Political Humor

U.S. Speedskating

(Courtesy of Comedy Central and YouTube)

Silly Ad Wednesday

2009-11-11T09:43:00.004-05:00

AdLab's 5th anniversary was yesterday - congrats!

Go check out some of the ridiculous advertising schemes that are posted over there, good for a chuckle on Hump Day:

Advertising on Flies - They have mini banner ads attached to them, check out the video

Armpit Video Advertising - Yep

School Exam Advertising - Just in case the kids aren't bombarded with enough ads, we'll throw this in for good measure

Branded Shadows on the Moon - You read that right, and it's just as ridiculous as it sounds

Enjoy!

(All courtesy of AdLab)

90% of Teens Disapprove of Advertisers Texting Them

2009-11-09T15:41:00.003-05:00

The following information nuggets were taken from a Teen Advertising Study conducted by Fuse Marketing and UMass (whoop whoop, my hometown of Amherst!):

- 75% of teens believe TV advertising is an appropriate way to reach them and/or prefer to be reached this way.

- Print ads receive high approval too - magazines (50%) are second most effective medium in reaching teens

- While 79% of teens surveyed have visited a brand's official website for product information, results indicate they are not interested in interacting with brands on social networks. Only 29% of teen respondents say they have "friended" a brand on their social networks.

- While 90% of teens text, the survey found that 90% of teen respondents disapprove of advertisers texting them with product messages

Obviously social media and cell phone advertising (including texts and apps) are a great way to connect businesses with consumers, we just have to remember that once advertising becomes too invasive it can start to turn teens off.

To view the full survey results, click here (and be prepared to sift through 90 Powerpoint slides).

The Power of Advertising - Ripley's Believe It or Not Style

2009-10-28T09:36:00.010-04:00

So I spent this last weekend in Branson, Missouri with my younger brother. We tooled around town, saw some GREAT shows (Liverpool Legends were fantastic, and the Dixie Stampede was the dinner show to end all dinner shows - if you are ever in Branson, see BOTH of these!), and met some really amazing people along the way.

And of course, the following exhibit in the Ripley's Believe It or Not Museum about the power of advertising caught my eye:

It's true the old "cure-all" and patent medicines had no basis in fact (or even in reality, I mean, a blood, liver, and stomach renovator? What does that even mean??), but they definitely knew how to advertise.

Here are a few funny ads for patent medicines. Don't be fooled!

Final Score - Revolution 0, Fire 0....Cranberries Win!

2009-10-19T10:46:00.008-04:00

Saturday night I was at Gillette Stadium in Foxboro, MA for a soccer game with my Mom and brother. (Go Revs!)

Anywho, the game ended in a scoreless tie but there were some interesting marketing opportunities that caught my eye, similar to the ones I'd mentioned in a previous post about the Red Sox sponsors...

As we entered the stadium, we were greeted by a number of people in Ocean Spray cranberry grower overalls (you know, like the ones from the TV commercials) handing out samples of various products. Along with that there was a simulated bog of the wonderberries:

Following our close encounter of the cranberry kind, we made a pit stop at the restroom, where we noticed the hand-dryers had been updated:

If you can't read the small print under DO SOMETHING PATRIOTIC, it says "INSTALL PATRIOTS HIGH-SPEED ENERGY-EFFICIENT XELERATOR HAND-DRYERS IN YOUR RESTROOMS."

Side Note: Maybe I'm totally missing it, but go to Patriots.com and try to find anything, anything at all, on purchasing Xelerator hand-dryers. I dare you.

And then, of course, American Airlines wanted to get in on the act. And since they are a sponsor of Susan G. Komen for the Cure and it's Breast Cancer Awareness Month, there were signs distributed that were pink on one side and said "GOAL for the cure!" which everyone was supposed to hold up when the Revs scored a goal. (It was a scoreless tie, so there was no opportunity for that to happen, but a solid idea). The other side that faced all of us in the stands reinforced the sponsor's logo:

I guess the moral of the story is that marketing is everywhere, even in the bathroom, so you really can't escape even if you try. I mean, we knew that already, but it's fascinating all the same.

Report: Top Keyword Price Nears $100 Per Click

2009-10-15T13:34:00.003-04:00

The highest-priced keyword in the United States last month sold on Google for $99.44 per click, according to the AdGooroo Search Engine Advertising Update: Q309.

And before I tell you what it is, why don't you think about it for a minute and take a guess...

Used Cars? Not even close.

Debt management? Nope.

Auto Insurance? Getting up there, but still not the correct answer.

Give up?

It's Mesothelioma. Yes, really.

The report released Wednesday pegs Mesothelioma as the highest-selling keyword in September. The same word sold on Yahoo in the No. 1 spot for $60.68 per click. The phrase "auto insurance comparison" took top honors on Bing, bringing in $55.20 per click.

Well, that's certainly news to me. I've seen the TV commercials for the class-action lawsuits - "if you or someone you love has been diagnosed with mesothelioma due to negligence, etc..." - but wouldn't have guessed it would pull $100 per click as a keyword. You learn something new every day!

(Courtesy of MediaPost)

SEO & SEM - Can't we all just get along?

2009-10-08T14:56:00.012-04:00

Here's what you need to know about these two acronyms:

SEO = Search Engine Optimization
SEO is simply optimizing the keywords and links to your site and improving other aspects of your site to maximize your search engine rankings, resulting in an increase in traffic. Potential customers are already searching for your products and services, and by positioning your business at the top of the search engine results page (SERP) they will find you! SEO increases your organic (non-paid) search results.

SEM = Search Engine Marketing
SEM places your text ads to appear as sponsored listings on the SERPs (top and right-hand side of the page). It allows you to put your business in front of potential customers at the precise moment they're searching for what you sell. SEM makes it easy to test different ad copy, target local areas or the entire nation, and control your budget through spending limits and campaign optimization. Because your keywords are tailored to your business, you reach only those people interested who are interested, and only pay for your ad when it's clicked on! SEM increases your paid search results.

With the basics out of the way, you're probably wondering now why you'd pay for search results with SEM when you can get the organic results for free with SEO.

Think of it this way, if you've put the time and effort into creating, maintaining, and optimizing an SEM campaign to drive traffic to your website, you need your website to be set up correctly to give them what they came to find. If you can bring someone to your site but they can't find what they want immediately, your SEM is a waste.

From Raise My Rank SEO Services:

You only have a few seconds to convince them that your site can deliver what they want. Will your visitors, failing to find what they're looking for, click their browser's back button and try another site?

Your site has to be ready for your visitors. It needs to be written, structured, and coded in such a way that the information is clearly laid out and easy to find. If it isn't, your site will either be immediately forgotten by visitors, or worse, it will be remembered as one that fails to deliver.

On the other hand, SEO can take 6 months to fully optimize, which can be a long time to wait if you need to see results sooner or if you have a limited-time offer.

Gareth O Neill, a Microsoft Media Specialist, says:

If you do SEO properly then you will get clicks for free but if you have a fresh offer your site will take time to get spidered and start showing up in the organic listings.

This is where SEM will deliver better results. You can create the campaign straight away [...] and have your ads appearing in the paid listings.

For example, if you have an entertainment site and big news has come out from Hollywood or you have a computer games site and the latest game has just hit the shops, then there is nothing as quick as PPC to provide you with visibility.

So now what? Well, the bottom line is that your SEO and SEM should be working together. Here's just one great reason why your SEO and SEM should suck it up and be friends, from AllthingsSEM.com:

Recently Google made public some changes to their AdSense program. These changes include the addition of a quality score that is used when determining the cost of an ad. This quality score will mean that two exact ads will have different costs depending on the quality of the destination page. Although there are many factors that will be used to measure the quality of the destination page, most of these factors can be influenced by SEO. In fact, improving the quality of a web page as perceived by the search engines is pretty much what all SEO is about. So if you use SEO to increase the quality of your site, you will end up reducing the cost per click of your ads.

And now you know (and knowing is half the battle).

(Courtesy of Microsoft Advertising Community, All Things SEM, and Raise My Rank)

Times Square Owners Create Ad Network

2009-10-02T11:40:00.001-04:00

Sept 24, 2009

- Katy Bachman

NEW YORK A newly formed group of media companies controlling some of the biggest digital signs in Times Square will make it easier for brands to simultaneously put their names in lights across multiple venues.

Called Times Square Domination, the networking effort offers marketers a one-stop shop for creating an unprecedented campaign in the nation’s largest out-of-home arena, visited by 565,000 people each day.

The network will be able to sync marketers' messages across many of Times Square’s most captivating video billboards, including Clear Channel’s Spectacolor HD sign, ABC SuperSign, the Nasdaq monitor and News Corp.’s Astrovision sign. As part of the package, TSD offers accompanying marketing and event services such as sampling and the use of street teams to create brand immersion.

“Sometimes, the benefits of coming together as an industry for customers are so compelling that even strong rivals see the value,” said Harry Coghlan, president of Clear Channel Spectacolor, one of the companies participating in the network along with ABC Regional Sports & Entertainment Sales, Nasdaq, News Corp. and Reuters.

TSD will also include the Times Square Network, a fully integrated platform created around Clear Channel’s Spectacolor HD sign at 47th Street at Duffy Square. When it launches next year, Clear Channel is hoping to turn the sign into a new entertainment source, complete with original programming broadcast from a Times Square studio and streamed on a companion Web site. Short segments will focus on popular interests, including major product launches or interviews with people on the street. Sponsored advertising will air in pre-determined slots and be combined with live-event marketing, mobile messaging, polling and contests.

“When we build SpecHD, we knew this attraction could also support a new model,” said Coghlan. “We knew that we could enable true interaction with the audience, going beyond traditional one-way broadcasts to create true two-way conversations.”

(Courtesy of AdWeek.com)

Natural Born Clickers - Follow Up

2009-10-01T14:36:00.005-04:00

Following up on a previous post regarding click-through rates, Starcom has released a new report on measuring online ad success.

The number of people online who click display ads has dropped 50% in less than two years, and only 8% of internet users account for 85% of all clicks, according to the most recent "Natural Born Clickers" study from ComScore and media agency Starcom. As the pool of people who click on banner ads rapidly decreases, it begs the question: Is the long-used click-through rate now officially useless?

Useless? Probably not. Outdated? Absolutely.

"The click has always been of dubious value," said Joshua Spanier, director of communication strategy at Goodby, Silverstein & Partners. "But clicks are easy to understand and easy to measure. We still know that display advertising has unequivocal value; your search performance improves as well. Together, search and display are much stronger than apart."

So how do we now measure the success of an online campaign if we can't use the click-through rates? Here are some tips:

1. Goodby's Mr. Spaniers points out that it's important for marketers to ask their agencies how display ads fit into the larger marketing plan. "With the media mix, how do you set up overall metrics?" he said. "It's unrealistic to look at one element of one media for success. Since online media is so trackable, it's is held to a higher standard. The reality is no one looks at print advertising like that. You can't measure print that way or TV because they don't have built-in capacity. It's a little unfair that display becomes the whipping boy."

2. In the digital space, look at how elements like display and search coalesce, Mr. Spanier said. How do people end up at a website to make a purchase? Look at sales of a product on-site with consumers' exposure to ads. "There is no way display advertising is wasting money," he said, "even if people don't click."

3. Clicks are a direct-response measurement. For display campaigns, look at brand-awareness studies, purchase-intent lifts and engagement rates. "Users might work with an ad, but not click on it," said Paul Gunning, CEO of Tribal DDB Worldwide.

4. Look at display view-through rates. "CTRs have a value, there is still a hand being raised, but view-through is more important," Mr. Gunning said. "How many people actually end up where you wanted them to? How much time are they spending?"

5. Look at the creative. While consumer attitudes online have undoubtedly changed, think about how messaging does or doesn't demand clicks. If you want to measure success against click-throughs, include strong calls for action. Or, if you have a rich-media experience, other metrics such as engagement time are probably more telling. And that may be the case as more banners include innovations such as embedded video and rich media, said Atmosphere BBDO's Warren Griffiths, group account director for Visa, Emirates Airlines, Hertz and Starwood. "More banners have become the destination. I don't believe that would account for a 50% drop in clicks, but this may have had some impact."

Read the full article here.

(Courtesy of adage.com)

'Glee' banks on risky strategy

2009-09-22T16:48:00.004-04:00

By Lisa Respers France

(CNN) -- When Fox aired a sneak-peek episode of its new series "Glee" four months before the show actually premiered, it took a big chance that the audience would still care.

To help maintain the buzz, it delved into social networking, maintained a strong online presence, dispatched the show's actors to malls across the country and held a fan contest.

In an era when episodic television is battling for ratings against reality television and broadcast TV faces the loss of audience to cable networks, those familiar with the industry said, such innovation may have to become the norm.

"Particularly for those networks that skew younger such as Fox, CW and ABC to an extent, they are going to have to really promote all of their shows all year long and find new ways to keep them in front of their viewers and remind them that they are there," said Ed Martin, a television critic who writes for JackMyers.com. "What Fox did last spring was something totally new that had never been done before."

In a week when most prime time shows are debuting with the hopes of attracting an audience, "Glee" seems to have already found its niche. On Monday, Fox announced that it had ordered a full season of the show.

"Glee" follows the exploits of a group of underdogs who are members of a high school show choir.

The hour-long musical comedy, co-created by "Nip/Tuck" producer Ryan Murphy, created high anticipation after its first airing in May, following an episode of the wildly popular "American Idol."

The pilot was re-aired with a special director's cut prior to the premier of the actual season with Fox counting the pilot as episode one. Episode four debuts on Wednesday.

Bill Gorman, editor and co-founder of the site TV By the Numbers, said he would put the level of interest in "Glee" on his site "as pretty strong for a new show."

Gorman said the show -- whose premiere numbers may or may not have been helped by the fact it was one of the few airing during President Obama's health care address -- is initially faring well among the coveted 18- to 49-year-old viewer demographic.

According to the Nielsen Ratings, the "Glee" premiere garnered 7.44 million viewers, placing it in 19th place in the top 20.

"The 'Glee' premiere this fall did better than what Fox is calling the preview after 'American Idol,' " Gorman said.

To maintain interest over the summer, the show embarked on an ambitious marketing scheme. Joe Earley, executive vice president of marketing and communications for Fox, said the show was screened at summer camps, stars engaged in a 10-city tour, street teams handed out "Glee"-related items, and trailers were shown in front of the latest "Harry Potter" film.

Online, characters had Facebook pages and Twitter accounts, the pilot was available for streaming, and the show's stars took handheld cameras to events to gather behind-the-scenes content. The director's cut of the pilot was followed by a "Tweet-peat" where the stars and the fans took to Twitter to discuss the episode.

Martin said he was present when Fox screened an episode at the geekiest of all events: Comic-Con in San Diego, California.

"It was a standing-room-only crowd of several thousands of people," Martin said. "The cheering and yelling and screaming was ear-splitting. The crowd almost blew the roof off the place with their enthusiasm for the episode."

Visibility seemed to be key for the quirky show that some have referred to as " 'High School Musical' on steroids."

Earley said one challenge came in that the many facets that have given "Glee" its distinction -- it's a black comedy, it's a musical, it's a drama, it's about high school, it's about adults -- also made it difficult to market.

Still, airing the pilot four months before its regular run could have easily backfired, he said.
"If people didn't like it, it would have been four months of negative buzz," he said. "We could have been killing a show before it even began."

The result has been an strong fan base with a deep engagement who are taking to social networking to spread the message and buying the songs on iTunes, Earley said.

"What we have is this core of really passionate, very savvy fans, and they are definitely ambassadors for the show," said Earley, who added that executives have been pleased with the ratings.

Chicago Tribune TV critic Maureen Ryan said executives seem to have totally committed to a show that from the onset was a risk.

"You either love this show, or you really don't care," she said. "There's not really a huge amount of in-between."

Ryan said that, in her opinion, the show is far from perfect (she points to the unlovable character of teacher Will Schuester's wife as a weakness) but says it has an opportunity to do well commercially.

"The terrific thing about 'Glee' is not only that it has this interesting concept going for it, but it has a ton on money-making potential," she said. "They've been selling the DVD of the pilot at Walmart, and they sent out a press release saying five of the top 200 songs on iTunes are songs from the show, and they are releasing a soundtrack soon."

Critic Martin said, given its mix of music and satire, the "Glee" strategy may not work for every show -- say a medical drama -- but if the network strikes gold with the new series, he imagines that it may serve as a blueprint for others.

"It would not surprise me at all if Fox had another promising new show in their development plan for next fall and decided to give it the same treatment as 'Glee,' " Martin said.

(Courtesy of CNN.com)

Facebook is taking over the world...

2009-09-16T14:49:00.003-04:00

Or at least the United States. The big news today is that Facebook has reached the 300 million user mark, which is quite the feat considering I remember when I signed up about 5 years ago and it was only available to college students.

The bigger thing to note here is that the population of the U.S. is at about 307 million people right now, and it looks like Facebook will soon have more users than the United States has people.

Sort of makes me feel like a proud mama - Facebook is all grown up!

It also marks the first time that they've actually seen some profits, here's the deal:

As Facebook has grown, it also has drawn criticism from privacy groups like the American Civil Liberties Union, which says people on Facebook unwillingly give up personal information to advertisers and Facebook application developers.

In a video interview with Fortune, Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg said Facebook gives its users robust privacy controls.

She also told Fortune that a new approach to online advertising has helped Facebook's revenue grow throughout the recession.

"Our advertisements are very much part of the user experience," she said. "So the same way you can RSVP for an event on Facebook -- you know, a party your friend might throw -- you can RSVP for a movie premiere. And that's really a movie advertisement saying, 'Our movie is opening this weekend. Do you want to go?' "

Read the rest of the article here.

(Courtesy of CNN.com)

Proofreading: The Lost Art

2009-09-15T16:09:00.003-04:00

Without further ado, your Tuesday afternoon silliness...

These are headlines that probably should have been proofread before they were published:

Man Kills Self Before Shooting Wife and Daughter
--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---
Something Went Wrong in Jet Crash, Expert Says
--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---
Police Begin Campaign to Run Down Jaywalkers
--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---
Panda Mating Fails; Veterinarian Takes Over
--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---
Miners Refuse to Work after Death
--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---
Juvenile Court to Try Shooting Defendant
--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---
War Dims Hope for Peace
--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---
If Strike Isn't Settled Quickly, It May Last Awhile
--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---
Cold Wave Linked to Temperatures
--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---
Enfield (London) Couple Slain; Police Suspect Homicide
--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---
Red Tape Holds Up New Bridges
--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---
Man Struck By Lightning: Faces Battery Charge
--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---
New Study of Obesity Looks for Larger Test Group
--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---
Astronaut Takes Blame for Gas in Spacecraft
--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---
Kids Make Nutritious Snacks
--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---
Local High School Dropouts Cut in Half
--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---
Hospitals are Sued by 7 Foot Doctors
--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---
And the winner is....
.
.
.
.
Typhoon Rips Through Cemetery; Hundreds Dead

Number 9...Number 9...

2009-09-10T09:32:00.002-04:00

In honor of 09/09/09 - a day I've been counting down to for 6 months - here's a short film for The Beatles Rock Band game that was released yesterday. (I saw it when watching John Lennon's film Imagine on Palladia last night.)

Even though it looks waaaaay better in HD, it is 100% worth watching:

(Courtesy of YouTube)

Yahoo! and Microsoft to Challenge Google Search?

2009-09-02T14:12:00.003-04:00

Yahoo! will soon be using the bing search technology to power it's own searches, but only on the back end. This means Microsoft will have a bigger share of online search (about 30% of the market), and be positioned to take on search giant Google.

So if you've been optimizing and marketing your website with Google and thinking you're all set - think again. Even though Google controls much of the internet search today, this Yahoo/Microsoft partnership opens the door for some real competition.

Michael Learmonth of Advertising Age writes:

Turning up on the first page of organic search results when someone types your product or brand into a keyword box is pretty much the cost of entry for any substantial e-commerce entity or marketer. And for the past decade or so that's meant pretty much one thing: optimize your site for Google, maybe a tweak or two for Yahoo, and everything else, well, didn't matter all that much.

"If you were well-optimized for Google, you were pretty much set, because it means you were well-optimized for everyone else out there," said John Ragals, chief operating officer of digital agency 360i. "The gap wasn't significant enough to warrant the extra investment."

But Bing is quite a bit different from Google and Yahoo, both in the way it ranks pages and the way it presents results on the page. And if search becomes more of a two-player market, it could mean a return to the late '90s, when it was common for marketers to create separate pages optimized for Yahoo, Google, Lycos and AltaVista, and as they do now for the iPhone or other mobile devices.

"You'd effectively have two pages, one for Google and one for Bing," said Danny Sullivan, editor of SearchEngineLand.com. If all goes according to plan, Yahoo will make the switch to Bing's organic search results in the third quarter of next year, and then fold in Bing's paid search results soon after.

Other interesting reading on the subject (links directly to article):

Yahoo! still intends to compete with Microsoft on internet search
Yahoo unveils new features
Microsoft, Yahoo's next battle: Antitrust probe

(Courtesy of AdAge, bloggingstocks.com, San Francisco Chronicle, and Chicago Tribune)

The Slammer - Nothing Sells Newspapers Like a Mug Shot

2009-08-28T10:52:00.007-04:00

One newspaper that's still alive and kicking is The Slammer, a 15-page collection of crime stories and mugshots that's apparently selling like hotcakes in Phoenix right now. From The Slammer website:

Why is The Slammer important?
The Slammer provides important information related to your community- local arrests, sex offenders, fugitives and most wanted, missing persons, and many more note-worthy crime stories concerning your area. We have numerous success stories of helping find absconders from the law.

There's nothing I love more than finding absconders from the law. Except maybe using the word 'absconder' in an actual sentence.

(Courtesy of Ad Lab, abc15, The Slammer)

RadioShack would like you to call it 'The Shack'

2009-08-26T11:10:00.005-04:00

Apparently the 'Radio" in the name sounds too old-timey, so RadioShack is re-branding itself as 'The Shack' - a move that doesn't just happen overnight:

Analysts say that a brand overhaul requires lots of time and capital — and consumer acceptance.

Sales of sports drink Gatorade have suffered since changing its name to "G" in January. After a test earlier this year to change its name to The Hut, Pizza Hut is sticking with its original.

There's also risk involved, especially as the company markets itself as The Shack but operates its 4,450 U.S. retail outlets as RadioShack. The company's logo also will go unchanged.

Martin Bishop, director of brand strategy for the San Francisco office of design and branding firm Landor Associates, says there's a logic to what RadioShack is doing. " 'Radio' sounds old-fashioned, and they want to sound cutting edge," he says.

But Bishop warns of possible trouble. When Federal Express changed its name to FedEx, he says, "FedEx had no other meaning than Federal Express. With The Shack, there is a contrived familiarity that I'm not sure is helpful."

Yeah, I don't know about you but "The Shack" conjures up images of leaky tin rooftops and dirt roads for me - not exactly the techno-savvy image I think they're hoping for...

Anyway, I posted all that to get to this gem, one of my favorite current ads:

(Courtesy of USA Today, YouTube, and Radioshack)

The Monetization of Mimi: Mariah CD to Have Ads

2009-08-19T13:39:00.002-04:00

Aug 1, 2009 By Becky Ebenkamp

As music sales continue to drop like they’re not so hot throughout the industry, Island Def Jam Music Group is jamming on a new business model: integrating brands into artists’ CD booklets.

The first deal, created for the Mariah Carey release Memoirs of an Imperfect Angel on Sept. 15, is a 34-page co-production with Elle magazine that includes lifestyle ads from Elizabeth Arden, Angel Champagne, Carmen Steffens, Le Métier de Beauté and the Bahamas Board of Tourism. Providing the experiment goes well, the label is eyeing bigger brand deals for booklets of CDs by Rihanna, Bon Jovi, Kanye West and other artists.

The mini magazine contains Mariah-centric editorial (“VIP Access to Her Sexy Love Life,” “Amazing Closet,” “Recording Rituals”) and lifestyle advertising along with lyrics and other CD booklet elements. Elle contributed the editorial and designed the layout.

The booklets were created for the first run of U.S. CDs (1 million) and the first 500,000 overseas, said Jeff Straughn, svp-strategic marketing for Island Def Jam Music Group. It will also be available in a digital format for those who buy music online. A condensed version of the Mariah mag, sans the 14 pages of CD-specific material, will be inserted into 500,000 subscription copies of Elle’s October issue, which arrives mid-September.

“The idea was really simple thinking: ‘We sell millions of records, so you should advertise with us,’” said Antonio “L.A.” Reid, chairman, Island Def Jam Music Group, a unit of Universal Music Group. “My artists have substantial circulation—when you sell 2 million, 5 million, 8 million, that’s a lot of eyeballs. Most magazines aren’t as successful as those records.” Carey was “very open” to the concept when Reid showed her a mock-up of the booklet in a magazine format that included brand imagery synonymous with her lifestyle. “I wouldn’t want to do Mariah Carey and Comet abrasive cleaner,” Reid said, laughing. “I wanted things that really reflected her taste.”

Reid said the program was unprecedented. Terry Dry, president of Los Angeles-based digital-word-of-mouth marketing agency Fanscape, agreed, saying that the CD booklet advertising is a first, though he wouldn’t be surprised if more labels look into doing the same thing: “Hollywood Records [Disney], I know they love to monetize all over the place for something like a Jonas Brothers record. Open any rap record and a couple of inserts will come flying out, usually for a business the artist is a part of. I wouldn’t be surprised if 50 Cent had a Vitaminwater thing.”

Labels are looking for ways to eke out extra bucks, borrow equity and cut costs anywhere they can today. Year-to-date album sales were down 13.9 percent for the week ending July 19, 2009, compared with the period last year, according to Nielsen SoundScan (227 million units vs. 195.5 million units). Of those 2009 sales, 18.9 percent, or 41.9 million, were digital. Ad revenues are subsidizing 100 percent of Island Records’ costs for the Carey booklet, but label execs also see the alliance as a way to expand distribution at a time when the local music store is becoming as rare as the Beatles’ Yesterday and Today LP with the “Butcher” cover.

“We don’t have music retailers any more, so a smart consumer products company that understands the value in distributing music is going to restore the vitality of our business,” Reid speculated. “If we distribute music properly and if it’s done tastefully, it could be a huge profit center for all of us. That is the missing link—we need partnerships.”

To underscore the point: At one large retail establishment, partner Elizabeth Arden is allowing the label to cross-promote the release. The CD Memoirs of an Imperfect Angel will be merchandised directly outside Walmart’s music aisle with Carey’s new signature Arden fragrance, Forever, which has its ad on the booklet’s back cover. The CD and scent will also be displayed together in the beauty department.

(Courtesy of Brandweek)

Official Tarp Sponsor of the Boston Red Sox

2009-08-12T10:32:00.007-04:00

I was watching the Red Sox game last night with a few friends, and when we were done laughing at Youk for throwing his batting helmet at the pitcher while charging the mound after getting hit by a pitch, there was a rain delay and the tarp came out.

I don't know if I've just never noticed before (and I don't know why I was at all surprised knowing the team's history of odd sponsorships) but there it was - the Bob's Stores logo:

That got me thinking of other sponsorships around Fenway, and I remembered I had seats on the Right Field Bud Deck when I went to a game in June:

And that led me to continue finding other interesting Red Sox sponsorships. During my search in the depths of the interwebs, I found this funny blog post from Surviving Grady, which I'm posting here for your amusement:

So, having been kicked out of every other bar in town, I found myself strolling into a 99 Restaurant the other day, and saw a sign on the door proudly proclaiming that the 99 is, in fact, "The Official Family Restaurant of the Boston Red Sox." Just a few days earlier, while fetching one of my kids a Hoodsie cup, I saw that Hoodsies have also achieved lofty "official" status, being the "Official Ice Cream of the Boston Red Sox." So it got me thinking. Am I, as a fan, doing enough to live the "official" Red Sox lifestyle? And could I go through an entire day utilizing only those officially sanctioned-by-the-Red-Sox products?

I'm happy to report that I'm almost there. I spend most of my free time sleeping on a couch procured through Jordan's Furniture, the Official Furniture Store of the Boston Red Sox ("Julian Tavarez buys all his bedding and harnesses here" would have been a great Sunday-circular headline, IMO.). I'm often found drunk in local alleys in my Schilling jersey from Bob's Stores, the Official Apparel Store of the Boston Red Sox. And this blog gets typed up on a desk brought to me through the good folks at W.B. Mason, Official Office Supplies Supplier to the Boston Red Sox. If I can round the day out with a couple meals at the 99, getting my blood alcohol content checked by the good docs at Beth Israel (Official Hospital of the Boston Red Sox), taking a business trip on The Official Airline of the Boston Red Sox, snapping some photos for this silly-ass blog with my Nikon (Official Camera of the Boston Red Sox), making some hefty withdrawals from the Official Bank of the Boston Red Sox, experiencing only music that is channeled to me via products bought through the Red Sox' Official Sound Partner, and limiting my noshing to Official Snack Foods of the Boston Red Sox, then I could do it even better.

(Courtesy of Youtube, Boston.com, & Surviving Grady)

Size DOES Matter When it Comes to Newspapers

2009-08-10T11:32:00.006-04:00

But it may surprise you to find out that smaller may be better...

As I touched on in a previous post, smaller community newspapers are continuing to flourish even in these tough times for the industry.

The AP reports that the hyperlocal focus of these daily and weekly papers makes them an asset to the communities they serve:

CNN is not coming to my town to cover the news and there aren't a whole lot of bloggers here either," said Robert M. Williams Jr., The Times' editor and publisher. "Community newspapers are still a great investment because we provide something you can't get anywhere else."

The scarcity of other media in small- and medium-sized cities has helped shield hundreds of newspapers from the upheaval that's causing dailies in big cities to shrink in size and scope as their print circulations and advertising sales decline.

Less competition means the print editions and Web sites of smaller newspapers remain the focal points for finding out what's happening in their coverage areas.

In contrast, large newspapers carry more national news, as well as local, and have many competitors, including Web sites and television and radio stations. They report much of the news the day before printed newspapers reach homes and newsstands. Large newspapers' Web sites also provide the news for free a day ahead of print editions.

And the larger the paper, the higher the operating costs. While the major players have had huge staff layoffs, fought with the unions, and stopped printing on certain days of the week, the small papers don't have many of those concerns simply due to their size.

That's not to say that community papers don't face challenges - the changing marketplace has affected everyone across the board.

"It would be wrong to assume there is some sort of bubble over our market," said Chris Doyle, president and publisher of the Naples Daily News, a daily newspaper in southwestern Florida with a circulation averaging about 64,000 during the six months ending in March. "We are becoming leaner, more scrappy and more aggressive than ever before."

So if you're looking to market your products or business in newspapers, go where the readers are:

Rather than filling their pages with material that is readily available on the Internet, smaller newspapers focus on the politics, business, sports, crime and community affairs occurring in narrowly defined geographic areas — a county, a town or, in some cases, even a few neighborhood blocks.

"If it walks, talks or spits on the concrete in our area, we cover it," said John D. Montgomery Jr., editor and publisher of The Purcell Register in Oklahoma.

(Courtesy of the Associated Press)

Interactive Travelers Insurance Wall Ads

2009-08-06T16:53:00.002-04:00

After returning from an out-of-town family vacation on Tuesday, we passed some pretty cool interactive wall ads for Travelers in the airport terminal. Not the first time I've seen them, but definitely still worth sharing.

True to form, my 7- and 10-year old cousins and I waved our arms and jumped around like lunatics while our parents stood there saying "Huh, I didn't realize those pictures moved."

Click Here to check out how it looks in person!

(Courtesy of Monster Media)

Shark Week, Long John Silver's, & Hammerheads

2009-07-16T10:54:00.005-04:00

So Long John Silver's is promoting it's new fish tacos by buying up a ton of ads on the Shark Week microsite at Discovery.com.

According to the article in MediaWeek:

“Long John Silver’s partnership with Discovery.com is a unique opportunity to organically marry two brands with strong commitments to quality,” said LJS senior marketing director John Villanueva, by way of announcing the deal. “It’s a playful, creative fit.”

Sure, it's a cute move, but honestly? Fast food fish has always given me the jibblies...

Fun side note, the Shark Week website has a quiz that will tell you what type of shark you are. Here's what I got:

You're like a... Hammerhead Shark!

You may be goofy, but don’t think other sea creatures aren’t aware of you! You like to swim in large schools, and your sleek and slender figure lets you get up to speeds of 25 mph. You are normally calm unless provoked, and you usually feed around dusk. You like to live in tropical climates with warm waters, and most of your litters have up to 25 little sharks!

Hey, what a coinkidink! I DO usually feed around dusk...

(Courtesy of MediaWeek and Discovery Channel)

Quote of the Day - David Ogilvy

2009-07-13T11:18:00.007-04:00

Because I'm a self-proclaimed nerd, I really enjoy the "Quote of the Day" application on my homepage. Here's a relevant one from today, from "The Father of Advertising," David Ogilvy:

Political advertising ought to be stopped. It's the only really dishonest kind of advertising that's left.

For more on Ogilvy and his influence on advertising, visit this website. I particularly enjoy the Ogilvyisms...

Moonfruit's Twitter Push Provides Cautionary Tale

2009-07-08T14:34:00.002-04:00

NEW YORK Marketers looking to leverage Twitter beware: the company will only let you rig the system so much, as one brand recently discovered.

Moonfruit, a U.K.-based company that offers free Web site building tools, saw a great opportunity to raise brand awareness on Twitter. The company last week kicked off a sweepstakes, giving away 10 MacBook Pro computers to Twitter users that include the #moonfruit tag in their tweets. (The sweepstakes ended on July 7.)

The campaign worked, maybe too well. The hashtag #moonfruit was Twitter's top trending topic for several days, with more than 250 tweets a minute. According to the site builder, at its peak Moonfruit represented 2.5 percent of all Twitter traffic, beating topics like Michael Jackson, Iran and Wimbledon. Twitters also created posters and a Moonfruit song, which helped shape the campaign, said Wendy Tan White, Moonfruit's founder.

Then it was suddenly over. Late last Friday, Moonfruit dropped from the top of the trends list and never returned. According to the company's stats, however, Moonfruit was still emerging above other trending topics. White said Twitter seems to have removed Moonfruit from the trend's list. Twitter could not be reached for comment at press time. But according to Moonfruit's blog, "the campaign sets a dangerous precedent and could have implications for how Twitter is used and abused by marketers . . . it's certainly their right to protect their network and technology investment." What left Moonfruit puzzled is why it was censored without explanation.

Ben McConnell, co-founder of the Society for Word of Mouth (an educational network for word of mouth efforts) and co-writer of the Church of the Customer blog, said Twitter might have been annoyed by the attention Moonfruit was consuming, or simply tired of the topic. "There's not a big basket of marketing campaigns successfully launched via Twitter because, people being people, there's a natural resistance to being a receptacle for marketing messages," McConnell added. "Plus, there's no formula for creating consistent viral success."

In offering advice to other marketers launching similar campaigns via Twitter, White said it's important to "keep on your toes" as things can change very rapidly. "The difference between this and a normal campaign is that it is an ongoing conversation," said White. "This means messages can evolve over the period, but it also means you have to stay on top of it and react fast."

There is another lesson to be learned here for marketers. "The Moonfruit story is a great example of money versus gold," said McConnell. "Give away money and people will question your motives or yawn in boredom. Give away gold, in this case MacBook Pros, and they'll line up for blocks."

(courtesy of adweek)

Iran Blocks Opposition Party Newspaper

2009-07-01T15:27:00.004-04:00

TEHRAN, Iran (CNN) -- Iran's government was accused of blocking publication of a reformist party's newspaper Wednesday to prevent it publishing a letter from a presidential candidate questioning the legitimacy of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's victory in last month's election.

Meanwhile, questions surrounded an announcement in government-run Iranian media that Ahmadinejad canceled a planned trip to Libya on Wednesday for undisclosed reasons.

In the letter due to be printed in the Etemed Melli party newspaper, Mehdi Karrubi vowed to "stand by the people and the revolution, until the end of my life," describing the actions of the government over the June 12 vote as "the foundation for the annulment of the elections."

"I will not recognize the legitimacy of the government which has resulted from this process," the 72-year-old cleric and former parliamentary speaker wrote.

Karrubi's letter was instead published on the Etemed Melli Web site. The party said Iran's Ministry of Culture and its Attorney General prevented the publication of its newspaper because it carried the letter.

Read the rest of the article here.

(courtesy of CNN.com)

Paid Search 101 Rap

2009-07-01T10:46:00.004-04:00

Check it out! The basics of Search Engine Marketing laid out in a 2-minute rap:

(courtesy of Mo Serious and Youtube)

Ninja vs. Penguin and Alien vs. Predator

2009-06-29T15:35:00.010-04:00

On the lighter side of things, check out Ninja vs. Penguin for some awesome creative work and fun commentary.

Loved finding this older series of ads for Alien vs. Predator, mostly because it reminds me of the last time I watched the movie with my dad and he felt the need to explain all of the intricacies of the plotline even after I told him I had already seen the movie. Sigh.

Anycrap, they're pretty amusing:

(courtesy of Ninja vs. Penguin)

Jon & Kate Plus Ad Dollars?

2009-06-18T13:27:00.007-04:00

The Discovery Communications family of networks has been cashing in lately on ad sales due to diverse and popular programming like Deadliest Catch on Discovery and Jon & Kate Plus 8 on TLC.

As you may have noticed in a previous post, I'm a big J&KP8 fan. In my own life it's always been a "family first" mentality, so I always appreciated their commitment to the kids and keeping the family together. With Jon & Kate's recent marital troubles, though, the increased press has put a huge strain on the family.

That's not to say the show itself has suffered - in fact, the season 5 premiere in May was the most-watched program on TLC....ever.

Even with record-breaking numbers, it's still unclear whether the show will return for additional seasons. While I'd miss the weekly episodes and seeing the adorable kids grow up, it's important they do what's best for them right now. Whether it's continuing the show, ending the marriage, only filming a couple times a year for some one-hour specials, etc., I don't really care as long as they pull through and make it work for their family.

With that said, imagine my extreme distaste when I read the following comment from Joe Abruzzese in the June 15 edition of Broadcasting & Cable Magazine:

As for the publicity surrounding Jon & Kate, the Discovery reality show about a couple with eight children—the couple's marriage problems are all over the tabloids—he is sanguine about the benefits of such exposure.

“The good thing is, we've got great sampling; it will be a disappointment if they don't come back,” he says. “The fear is, what's the show going to be? That's on everyone's mind. It may not be the show it was. We need to find out what the show will become and sell its value.”

Excuse me? I thought the fear was that a family would be torn apart by the constant media scrutiny and end up suffering in the long-term. While Discovery is obviously happy that the current media exposure is allowing them to rake in the advertising dollars, I don't think it's fair for Mr. Abruzzese to be so openly blasé when he's talking about real people's lives here. Sure, it may help business, but remember that in the end these people aren't TV show characters and their lives are affected by everything that goes on around them.

I don't know, I guess I'm not old and jaded enough by the advertising business to understand Mr. Abruzzese's point of view. Actually, I kind of hope I never do.

(Courtesy of broadcastingcable.com and hollywoodinsider.ew.com)

Bain Capital managing partner emerges as potential buyer of Boston newspaper

2009-06-18T12:15:00.002-04:00

A managing partner at Bain Capital is among three parties interested in buying the Boston Globe newspaper, according to Financial Times.

Bain’s Stephen Pagliuca, who co-owns the Boston Celtics basketball team, has emerged as a potential buyer of the daily newspaper, which is being sold by the New York Times Company.

The Times Company is reportedly seeking a buyer for the Boston newspaper after cutting Globe employees’ pay by 23 percent. The Globe is said to be on track to lose $85m this year.

The newspaper’s management is currently in negotiations with Boston Newspaper Guild over cost-cutting measures, but the union is said to be hopeful of a settlement soon.

Pagliuca is apparently willing to discuss working with union leaders, according to the FT.

Other potential buyers include former advertising executive Jack Connors and Stephen Taylor, a former executive at the Globe and a member of the family that controlled it until its sale to the Times Company in 1993.

(Courtesy of altassets.com)

N.Y. Times Co. Shops The Boston Globe

2009-06-10T16:27:00.005-04:00

CLICK HERE FOR FULL STORY

And according to WCVB out of Boston, the New York Times Company "reversed course Tuesday and said there were no plans to close the paper."

Full Story Here

(Courtesy of upi.com and thebostonchannel.com)

Boston Globe Union Rejects Cuts, Times To Slash Pay

2009-06-09T17:04:00.003-04:00

CLICK HERE FOR FULL STORY

I wanted to post the full article here but my computer thinks it's smarter than me and I'm not willing to fight that battle right now...

(Courtesy Rock102.com, Story Copyright 2009, Reuters)

The Making of the Prius "Harmony" TV Commercial

2009-06-03T14:51:00.005-04:00

So, originally I was just going to post the video and blather about how much I love this spot....

But this is better - A behind-the-scenes look at the making of the commercial!

(If you only want to see the actual commercial, skip ahead to about 4:08)

(Courtesy of Toyota)

A Newspaper Business Model That's Working

2009-05-13T11:01:00.003-04:00

Those of us in the newspaper industry have been closely following the struggles of the daily newspapers for some time now. Business models have changed, advertising has changed, prices keep going up, and readers are finding their news elsewhere.

However, I'd like to point out (again) that weekly and community papers should not be listed among these seriously struggling major news entities.

Dan McDonough Jr. and Alan Bauer - founders of a community newspaper/media company based in Haddonfield, N.J. - comment on this topic in a recent article:

The National Newspaper Association (NNA) last month reported on a study that showed community newspapers were far less affected by the challenging economy than the industry in general (or the economy in general, for that matter). The Suburban Newspapers of America and NNA's reporting group showed 2008 fourth-quarter advertising revenue of $428.7 million, only a 6.6 percent decline from the same quarter in 2007. The Glennco Consulting Group estimate was much worse, however, for the overall newspaper industry. There it showed decline in fourth-quarter advertising expenditures of 21 percent, according to the NNA.

So while advertisers cut their spending by 21 percent across the industry, the impact to community newspapers was less than 7 percent.

In addition, 26 percent of the SNA/NNA reporting group launched new products in 2008. Indeed, many community newspaper companies are growing.

Further:

We know that, for advertising to be effective, people have to actually see the ads. Our business model and philosophy of making sure "Everybody Gets It. Everybody Reads It." pushes us to bring local news not found elsewhere to everybody who has an address in town [...]

For instance, huge regional daily newspapers would do better to stop requiring people to subscribe and instead deliver the paper to everybody in their target demographic (the market that key advertisers want to reach). If big newspapers would charge the advertisers, not the readers, they could still turn things around.

I wholeheartedly agree that local news is a product that is never going to get stale.
However, I strongly disagree that charging advertisers more will help big newspapers turn things around. The majority of newspaper revenue already comes in from advertising, not reader subscriptions. As someone who works with newspapers daily, I'll tell you that big newspapers already charge their advertisers a ridiculous amount of money, and raising prices any higher would cause some major waves in an already tumultuous industry.

A better solution? Work with advertising agencies to create relationships that are mutually beneficial! Many of the community newspapers (and newspaper associations) have taken this route, and according to the recent revenue numbers, it seems to have been a wise choice.

(Courtesy of The Christian Science Monitor and Yahoo! News)

The Great KFC "Free Chicken" Fiasco

2009-05-11T14:50:00.005-04:00

We all know the story - Oprah gives out free KFC coupons, people flock to KFC, and then KFC runs out of chicken, prompting chicken-fueled chaos (or non-chicken, in this case)!

Obviously, this woman has the power to influence people. And I'll tell you, nothing gets people moving like the word FREE, especially when it comes from someone as influential as Oprah.

Well, imagine the pandemonium (riots!) when we find out there isn't enough chicken for America to cash in its free coupons. KFC is out of chicken? Really? Uh-oh, that can't be good...

So in a very obvious "save the campaign" PR move, I start seeing various commercial spots this weekend (like the one below):

From a PR standpoint, great crisis management. Reassure the people, let them know you care and appreciate the overwhelming response, while at the same providing a way to cash in on the freebie.

Oprah said, "Let them eat chicken!" And Roger Eaton replied, "Just not in the next few weeks..."

The Boston Globe - Optimistic or Desperate?

2009-05-01T10:55:00.005-04:00

After hearing rumors a month or so ago that the Boston Globe was going to close, and after their April 4th article explaining how the NYT Company threatened to shut them down unless the unions agree to make concessions, I can't say I was surprised to see this commercial start popping up during recent Red Sox games.

Dan Kennedy of Media Nation quoted a source inside the Globe (from April 4):

...the Globe will launch a new brand campaign that reinforces the value of the Globe's journalism among our core readers. A TV commercial showcases the Globe's award-winning photography while focusing on the compelling stories found in the Globe. The spots (60 sec. & 30 sec.) will initially run on NESN during the highly rated Red Sox games. More than 24 print ads were created to run in the Globe and Metro. On-line ads will run on Boston.com. The campaign also has a Web page with all the creative where readers or advertisers can find more information. The entire campaign was conceived and executed internally by our marketing and creative services teams.

Obviously, the Globe has to do SOMETHING to save the sinking ship. But is this move desperation or optimism? (Dan Kennedy calls it "The Globe's oddly timed ad campaign")

Sure, they're compelling ads and we all appreciate the message. The hometown paper gives you stories that matter in your life, reports of people you care about in your neighborhood, and keeps you connected in the local community. It's a feel-good campaign that just oozes a "We know what you want to read because we live here, too" sentiment. How could you NOT appreciate that feeling and want to stand behind the Globe?

Well, here's one reason - The Globe and Herald just announced that single-copy prices are going up. Sure, it's not much (25 cents on weekdays and a dollar on Sunday), but for a struggling paper that's looking for a strong local backing to keep it afloat, raising prices for the locals is not going to sit well.

Stay tuned for more updates....

(Courtesy of Media Nation and Boston Globe)

Wall Street Journal Recognizes Strength of Community Newspapers

2009-04-30T10:43:00.004-04:00

The loyalty and buying power of community newspaper readers are among the attributes that continue to be recognized by advertisers and investors, and most recently by a story in the April 28, 2009 edition of The Wall Street Journal.

The story confirmed many facts about smaller market papers that industry insiders have long recognized. Specifically, that one of the many attractions of smaller papers is their intense local focus and community connections, which continue to generate solid returns for advertisers and smaller market newspaper owners.

Newspaper industry leaders echoed the findings in the financial publication's story.

“Newspapers are too often painted with a broad brush, and it’s nice to see The Wall Street Journal acknowledge the realities and diversification of our industry,” said Gareth Charter, publisher of six weekly newspapers in Massachusetts. “Of course, we are affected by the economy, but community publishing has a very bright future. We purchased a 21-year-old weekly in May 2007 and grew its revenue 30% the first year. It’s up another 19% through (the first quarter) of this year.”

The Wall Street Journal article focused on three newspaper executives who recently purchased or are in the process of purchasing community newspapers. Advertising revenue has remained relatively consistent for many smaller papers, a significant and noteworthy explanation for why community newspapers are continuing to draw advertiser and investor interest.

This story in The Wall Street Journal underscores a message spread by Suburban Newspapers of America (SNA), an industry trade association representing more than 2,000 suburban and community newspapers.

"Community papers, with their hyper-local coverage and ‘news you can't get anywhere else’ advantage, remain the bright spot in the industry," said Nancy Lane, president of SNA. "While community papers are also impacted by the economy, it is often to a much lesser degree than our larger counterparts. And even though the effects of the economy have carried over into the first quarter of 2009, community papers and their related Web sites are in a better position to take advantage of new and bold opportunities, many of which involve shifting dollars from major and national advertisers."

Indeed, according to Lane, LocalPoint Media, the SNA-affiliated national advertising network launched in late 2007 to represent the community segment of the industry, has attracted several new advertisers in 2009 such as ExxonMobil, USAirways, New York Life, Pedigree Dog Food and others that have not traditionally used community media. Just last week, a national restaurant chain purchased an extensive online-only buy using community newspaper Web sites. LocalPoint Media will be announcing other initiatives in the coming weeks that will provide tremendous new revenue opportunities for community papers and their related Web sites.

According to The Wall Street Journal, purchasers of the local newspapers also cited greater consistency of classified ad revenue and a loyal, local advertising base as reasons for investing in community newspapers.

Quarterly financial surveys conducted jointly by SNA and the National Newspaper Association (NNA) support this belief. Based on four quarters of survey results, overall advertising revenue for the participating suburban and community newspapers declined an estimated 3.6% for the full year 2008 versus a decline of 16.6% percent for the industry in general as reported by the Newspaper Association of America (NAA). SNA/NNA financial data is based on responses to quarterly surveys from publishers of hundreds of daily and weekly community newspapers in the United States and Canada, mostly large weekly groups and dailies under 50,000 circulation, representing nearly $2 billion in annual revenue and more than 10 million circulation in each quarterly voluntary reporting group.

Suburban Newspapers of America is a trade association representing more than 2,000 daily and weekly newspapers in the United States and Canada. SNA has experienced eight years of record growth — another indication of the strength of this segment of the industry. For more information, visit SNA at www.suburban-news.org, our media buyers’ resource center at www.snalocalpapers.com and LocalPoint Media national advertising network at www.localpointmedia.com.

(Courtesy of SNA)

My All-Time Favorite Commercials

2009-04-23T10:32:00.004-04:00

Just because!

#1 (The look on Ronaldo's face at the end, heh):

#2 (Because who doesn't bust a move with their friends?):

Bar Codes In Newspaper Ads Link To Web Content Via Mobile App

2009-04-09T12:52:00.004-04:00

The National Post of Canada has been running ads with barcodes in them that link to additional online content through a mobile application. Readers take a photo of the ad with a cell phone, the app reads the barcode, and VOILA! Your mobile browser opens with the appropriate website that's linked to the barcode in the ad.

Tricky, right? What a cool way to make newspaper advertising relevant to the new generations of smartphone and internet users. Click here for the link to the main article.

Parting shot:

Bulkeley said he has been considering getting a 2D bar code tattoo to have something readily available that can demonstrate the technology. "You could have one code and continually change the link behind it to pull down different content," he said. "It's like redirecting a URL."

OR, how about you put the barcode on the back of your business card? Last time I checked, those were readily available, too. Sure, it would be a LOT cooler when you scan the barcode on your forearm and get directed immediately to the ScanLife website. But seriously, would you be able to help feeling like a box of cereal when they scan you?

Price check on Mr. Bulkeley...

(Courtesy of Mediapost, ScanLife, and National Post)

NCAA March Madness Advertising - Guitar Hero and More

2009-03-30T15:48:00.009-04:00

Mmmmmm, college basketball. If you can smell it in the air, it must be March.

I love March Madness, not only because my UConn Huskies are in the Final Four this year (woohoo!), but because any event that makes it acceptable for Bob Knight to toss a Guitar Hero drum kit at Metallica is OK in my book.

In other NCAA advertising news, TNS Media Intelligence released a report on March Madness advertising trends a few weeks ago. Here are the most interesting tidbits:

Tidbit #1: The post-season NCAA Tournament brings in more national TV ad revenue than the post-season playoffs for professional baseball, professional basketball or college football. Only the National Football League playoffs, which includes the Super Bowl, is more lucrative.

Tidbit #2: Among the major televised sporting championships, only the Super Bowl commands a higher advertising unit rate than the NCAA Men’s Basketball championship game. College hoops has higher unit ad pricing than the major college football bowl games; the NBA championship; and the MLB World Series.

Tidbit #3: March Madness has a core group of TV sponsors that invest heavily in the broadcasts year after year. On average, more than 80% of the tournament’s network TV ad revenue has come from returning advertisers, an above-average retention rate versus other top sporting events.

Read the full report for more insight.

(Courtesy of TNSMediaGroup.com)

Newspapers Need to Build Relationships with Advertising Agencies

2009-03-25T10:34:00.002-04:00

Indeed, newspapers in this day and age need to be especially aware of how they cooperate with advertising agencies. As major dailies continue to stop printing or threaten to fold on what seems like a daily basis (as noted in my last post), it's time that these publications take a moment to realize the value of an agency and what it brings to the table.

The Arab Press Network recently published a report by the Shaping the Future of the Newspaper project that touched on a number of key points in the relationships (or lack thereof) between agencies and publishers.

Besides obvious overpricing and lack of organization in advertising departments at large daily newspapers, there are a whole host of issues that daily newspapers need to address when working with advertising agencies.

This is not to say that every newspaper is incapable of working with agencies - there really are some amazing people out there who have bent over backwards to make a campaign work for a client. As someone who speaks with newspapers every single day, you come to find out quickly who has your clients' best interests in mind and who just wants to make a buck.

And on that note, if there's one thing that is always been an issue, it's trying to make the newspapers understand the importance of the agency commissionable rate. When newspapers don't offer discounts to agencies or are unwilling to negotiate, what they're really saying is "Even though you are doing the work and selling our product for us, we aren't going to cut you a break."

When, according to this study, 90% of major newspapers' display advertising revenue is funneled to them through agencies, it may be time to rethink how they are treating the agencies that continue to send them business, especially now when the papers are as desperate for revenue as ever:

In the United States, national newspapers receive 90 percent of display advertising revenue from agencies, while local newspapers receive about 10 percent. The rest is earned from in-house departments and selling advertising to local clients.

The benefits of building a better relationship with agencies include more advertising volume and share of the market, access to more potential clients, getting earlier information on upcoming campaigns, more information for building cross-platform deals, and access to more people in the agency.

For an industry that is trying to stay afloat, it's sure not trying hard enough in the right areas.

(Courtesy of APN, WAN, and SFN)

Seattle Post-Intelligencer Stops Print Edition - Now Online Only

2009-03-19T14:18:00.004-04:00

The Seattle Post-Intelligencer is one of the latest daily newspapers to stop its print publications and move to an online-only format.

There'd been speculation regarding this move for months now, however one of my contacts at another major daily newspaper owned by the Hearst Corporation confirmed it last week.

Another interesting fact - according to one of my contacts in the Seattle area (confirmed by the Times), the Seattle Times is going to be picking up the P-I subscribers, so those who currently advertise in both papers won't automatically lose that circulation.

So who's next?

Time Magazine lists ten "Endangered Newspapers" that are worth taking a look at. Here they are in order:

1. The Philadelphia Daily News
2. The Minneapolis Star Tribune
3. The Miami Herald
4. The Detroit News
5. The Boston Globe (One contact says June as a potential door-closing date, though another claims it’s all rumors…hmmmm)
6. The San Francisco Chronicle
7. The Chicago Sun-Times
8. The New York Daily News
9. The Fort Worth Star-Telegram
10. The Cleveland Plain Dealer

There's also a lot of talk about major restructuring at the New York Times. If you have time (and we're talking at least an hour here), check out the Buzz Machine for a fascinating post, complete with comments and reader interactions on the Times dilemma.

(Courtesy of Cnn.com, SeattlePI.com, NPPA.org, FindingDulcinea.com, Hearst.com, SeattleTimesCompany.com, Time.com, NYTimes.com, and BuzzMachine.com)

81st Annual Academy Awards & Advertising

2009-02-24T15:27:00.003-05:00

A week late and a buck short, oh well...

Two previews of Oscar advertising:

CNBC - Oscar's Advertising Gold

NY Times - Marketers Soft-Pedal the Oscars This Year

In case you'd like to invest in any of the companies who've advertised during the event, this link has interesting information. The author makes note of the fact that investors will want to pay attention to the advertisements when considering candidates for future investment:

Investopedia - Who's Who In Academy Awards Advertising

And of course, the Gold Standard of advertising recaps - Nielsen Media. Note that Hyundai stole the show with 4.5 minutes of advertising aired (which is a lot for a new advertiser this year). You'll also want to look at the advertising spend comparison for the Best Picture/Best Actor/Best Actress nominated films, with numbers that seem to follow the trend of big budget movies failing to win the big awards:

Nielsen Wire - 2009 Academy Awards Advertising

(Courtesy of CNBC, NY Times, Investopedia, and Nielsen)

Superbowl XLIII Advertising Recap

2009-02-16T15:31:00.007-05:00

Two weeks ago The Nielsen Company released its annual Superbowl advertising report. Findings include total viewership, advertisement recall and likeability, and new advertisers.

Click here for a list and description of all Superbowl XLIII advertisers.

True to form, the sponsorship, product placement, and brand exposure numbers caught my eye first. Not surprisingly, Gatorade, Reebok, and Motorola come out waaaaaay ahead of other sponsors in total time of exposure, due to their consistent placement on the sidelines, in the stands, and on the field of play.

Gatorade is owned by PepsiCo, so technically they have both "in-game" product placement, like sideline cups and coolers, and also paid advertisements, like the following ad for the "What's G" campaign:

Which brings us to an interesting thought... Not every advertiser or sponsor can pull double duty like Gatorade. Would you want to be a sponsor like Motorola, with 336 seconds (over 5 and a half minutes) of exposure throughout the game, but without the creativity and flair of a big Superbowl ad? Or an advertiser like Doritos, which only had two :30 spots throughout the entire game, but utilized the Superbowl advertising buzz and scored high on both ad likeability and recall?

(Courtesy of Nielsen and Ad Age)

Google Ends Program to Sell Radio Ads

2009-02-12T15:33:00.005-05:00

Is Google getting too big for its britches? Sort of seems that way, after announcing today in its blog that it will be ending the Google Audio Ads program that began in 2006.

The New York Times reports:

Audio Ads is the second offline advertising initiative that Google has shut down in as many months. In January, Google pulled the plug on its Print Ads program, which sold advertisements in newspapers.

Another, more ambitious, program to sell ads on television continues for now. Ms. Wojcicki said that Google would continue to invest in it.

A few months back I posted an article about the FCC allowing Google to use the unlicensed vacant television airwaves that remain after the coming switch to digital.

It remains to be seen if Google will be able to jump offline and really make any kind of splash in traditional media.

(Courtesy of Google and NY Times)

Hulubowl? SuperHulu?

2009-02-04T15:31:00.004-05:00

Ah, the Superbowl. The advertising event of the year within the sporting event of the year. For someone who is an avid sports fan working in the marketing world, is there anything better?

How appropriate that Hulu.com - partly owned by NBC, the station broadcasting the Superbowl this year - was able to get in on the action. With increased online viewership of television shows and movies, it's obvious that NBC would push it's own online video service when given the chance.

But when to do it? When is the right time to tell your valued television viewers to actually go somewhere else to watch television? How about the one day each and every year that people who don't even like football take the time out to specifically watch commercials that they'd otherwise ignore? Hmmmmmm....

Yep. The Superbowl. (These guys aren't dummies.)

Anyway, this Hulu spot is a stand-out:

Mmmmm, I can feel my brain ripening.

(courtesy of hulu.com)

Dental Marketing: Radio Ads Lead to More New Patients

2009-01-22T08:59:00.003-05:00

Well, after having my third root canal procedure last Thursday, I think it's safe to say that at least in my world, dentists are an unfortunate necessity. The fact that I can walk into my dentist's office and everyone asks, "Didn't we just see you last week?" is a sure sign that I see my dentist far more often than anyone should.

With this most recent dental visit fresh in my mind (and mouth), I just came across this press release on PR Leap about radio ads as an effective tool for bringing in new patients to dental offices:

Dentists in rural areas are far more likely than their urban counterparts to run broadcast ads. They often find that radio and TV allow them to reach dental patients in a large geographical area. "We advertise on radio for sedation dentistry and complex dental services. People drive well over one hundred miles, or as far out as they receive the radio’s signal," raved a California dentist.

Dentists don’t always realize how far patients are willing to travel for dental treatment. "I have had a few patients who have travelled 150 miles one way to come to my office," said a suburban orthodontist.

Radio advertising can be a particularly effective form of dental patient marketing. "Talk radio is the only way to go!" advised a South Carolina dentist.

(courtesy of PR Leap)

Laugh It Up, Job-Seekers!

2009-01-14T13:08:00.008-05:00

Monster.com feels your pain, unemployed and job-hating people of the world. The remedy? Laughter! (Plus a redesigned website and advertising campaign...)

After researching the needs of job-seekers, Monster found that even with the terrible employment market, everyone still needs a laugh. Not exactly rocket science, but hey, at least they're trying:

The entire campaign features humor, even in print ads aimed at employers running in human-resources magazines — not quite havens for comedy. Lines in the ads include, “Our new Web site is so easy to use it will make the glue stick seem intellectually challenging,” and, “It’s like online dating without that awkward kiss good-night.”

Thanks for skipping the kiss, Monster, because I'd hate to give you cheek.

(Courtesy of The New York Times)

I Get By With a Little Help From My Friends

2008-12-29T10:23:00.009-05:00

Well, it's not shameless self-promotion, but it's pretty close...

A good friend of mine is helping sell T-Shirts to commemorate Barack Obama's Presidential Inauguration coming up on January 20th. Here is the blurb from the website:

History has been made as America continues its arduous path towards becoming an even greater country than it already is. Join us as we celebrate this historic inauguration on January 20th, 2009 and wear this limited edition commemorative tee as "NEW HOPE" sweeps the nation and brings us together as one. America has stood up in the face of abundant adversity and collectively we have decided to band together and forge a path to unity.

If you'd like to check them out, please visit http://www.inaugurationtee.com !

What's Black and White and Completely Over?

2008-12-16T16:15:00.005-05:00

Well, according to Jon Stewart, it's newspapers. Check out the video for Stewart's hilarious take on the not-so-hilarious decline of newspapers.

The Daily Show With Jon StewartM - Th 11p / 10c

http://www.thedailyshow.com/video/index.jhtml?videoId=213347&title=clusterf#@k-to-the-poor-house

Barack Obama Interview
John McCain Interview

Sarah Palin Video
Funny Election Video

(Courtesy of Comedy Central)

All Frocked Up

2008-12-15T14:53:00.006-05:00

In honor of our Director of Media - Tina Hemond, a woman with a frock for every occasion - here are a few 1930s era Christmas ads for your enjoyment!

(Courtesy of the Chicago Tribune - Check out the link above for a bunch more)

Apps: The Newest Brand Graveyard

2008-12-11T15:34:00.003-05:00

By Brian Morrissey (AdWeek)

NEW YORK Standing before an overflow crowd of the crème de la crème of the advertising world in Cannes this summer, Nike global director of digital media Stefan Olander explained how the brand saw its mission as building community through applications. He highlighted a new initiative: the Ballers Network, a robust Facebook application built by digital shop R/GA for basketball players to find games and manage leagues. On its Web site, Nike promises it will "revolutionize the way players around the world connect online and compete on the court."

Six months later, Nike is confronting a dilemma familiar to many brands that charged headlong onto Facebook: very few people use Ballers Network. Despite its global ambitions and support in three languages, the application has a mere 3,400 users per month. According to Nike, it's still testing the application.

Brands, in general, have found Facebook unforgiving terrain for marketing. It's well known, for instance, that banner ads perform poorly on the site. (A recent IDC report called advertising on social networks "stillborn.") But the Facebook Platform, launched 18 months ago -- which lets developers create social applications for users -- was thought to offer the perfect opportunity to move beyond banners to provide "branded utility." So far, however, Facebook apps from brands like Coca-Cola, Champion, Ford and Microsoft are as popular as desolate Second Life islands.

Mike Murphy, vp of global sales at Facebook, defends the platform by noting success stories would likely involve much broader efforts than they've seen so far. "We find that if a brand builds an application as their social strategy and not as a tactic that contributes to their overall strategy, then more than likely they won't see good results," he said.

Application experts pointed to several other reasons so many top brands have fallen short. In some cases, they said, brand apps are too complicated. Some provide little worthwhile interactivity and are overly branded. And despite Murphy's admonition, most exist as one-off experiments, tied to a launch-and-forget campaign approach versus one created with the mind-set of a developer, which leaves room for tinkering. What's more, many companies build applications on the cheap, frequently relying on "viral" distribution rather than buying media. One overriding criticism: They're often little more than ads.

These applications, said Adrian Ho, partner at Zeus Jones, a Minneapolis brand consulting shop, are "still about being disruptive and grabbing attention. [But] if you talk to most designers who do things useful, they try to make them as invisible as possible."

Take Ballers Network. The application, say some developers, is too slick. Unlike the most popular applications, it resembles a Flash microsite with lush photography. And while simple typically wins out in social networks, where users jump from activity to activity, Ballers Network has myriad options. These include finding courts, creating pickup games, managing league results and trash-talking opponents. Nike also hasn't promoted the application through media buys. Perhaps most important, said Chris Cunningham, CEO of Appssavvy, an ad rep firm for developers: Ballers Network feels all about Nike.

"Marketers want to build something that's product and marketing first," he said. "The developer wants to provide utility, functionality and better someone's life."

Even Facebook application "success" stories have fleeting appeal. FedEx proudly trumpeted the viral aspect of Launch a Package -- an application for the sending of virtual gifts in FedEx packaging -- that gained 100,000 installations in three days. In all, FedEx reported, 1 million packages were sent. But many of those users didn't stick. The numbers indicate that by late September, just 4,000 people were using Launch a Package per month, according to Appdata. Now it attracts just 1,500 monthly users.

One possible reason for the big dip: People were acquired through pay-per-install ad networks, where application makers "guarantee" downloads by inviting users getting another app to add one from an advertiser.

"People are tricked," said Cunningham. "They have no idea what they're installing."

Andreas Combuechen, CEO of FedEx digital shop Atmosphere BBDO, believes the program was a success, if only in the short term. "Do we know what the magic formula is? I don't think so," he said.

Success stories seem to involve simple messaging and modest expectations. Anheuser-Busch, for instance, used a Facebook application as part of a Bud Light party cruise. The app was given to 4,600 cruise goers who could use it to see who else would be on the ship, upload photos and keep in touch afterward.

"There's a social context for the cruise that makes it fundamentally better," said Michael Lazerow, CEO of Buddy Media, the firm that created it.

For big brands needing mass reach, partnering is easier. Gap reached 7 million users in a little over a month by partnering with RockYou's Pieces of Flair during the presidential election for an app that distributes virtual campaign-style buttons. Digital shop AKQA considered building a Gap application, but decided against it, according to Scott Symonds, executive media director at AKQA.

While such media buys aren't revolutionary, they're probably the best way for brands to participate on social networks, he said. Slide, a top app company, has integrated brands like VitaminWater and Starbucks into their most popular Facebook franchises. Microsoft tried building its own "poking" application to promote Office, but an integration with Slide's FunSpace app, which has 14 million users, got the same engagement at a tenth of the cost, according to Kevin Freedman, CFO of Slide.

"You can take that same amount of money and spend it to reach the consumers who are going to use your product," he said. "Just look. It's pretty clear building [brand] applications isn't working."

(courtesy of AdWeek)

Google Knows When You Sneeze...

2008-11-13T10:15:00.004-05:00

When you're trying to look something up on the internet, if you're like millions of other people in this world, you go to Google first.

Well, apparently Google has started tracking and compiling data on searches related to flu symptoms. They have been creating a data-tracking tool that they hope will detect outbreaks of influenza faster than other traditional systems in place.

Of course, no program is foolproof, as stated in this CNN article:

The tool may miss cases of influenza spreading among elderly people, because they are less likely to use the Internet than younger people, Stafford said. He also noted that many people who search for flu-related terms have viral infections that are not actually influenza.

Google has also taken into account that people sometimes look for flu-related terms in response to certain news headlines and do not actually have the flu, Ginsberg said. The tool looks for terms that, for example, reflect searches by a person who has chest congestion or wants to buy a thermometer, he said.

Hmm. Just one more way search engine technology is evolving.

(Courtesy of CNN and Google)

How Can Radio Complement a Newspaper Campaign?

2008-11-05T15:14:00.002-05:00

Both newspapers and radio are extremely valuable advertising tools, and where one may lack some crucial element, the other can fill in the gaps. So it would make sense that combining the best features of both media would create a solid advertising venture.

Here are five solid reasons to use a combined newspaper/radio campaign:

1. Extra local impact in relevant markets or regions

2. Radio can break through ad clutter in newspapers by directing listeners to advertisers' coupons

3. Newspapers allow advertisers to provide more detailed information than would fit in a typical 60-second radio spot

4. Radio's demographic targetability increases the reach of an ad and ensures greater coverage among light readers and younger consumers

5. Radio can complement targeted newspaper section placement with programming features or sponsorships - sports, business reports, etc.

Still not convinced? Check out this study by the Radio Marketing Bureau that "highlights the implications of adding radio to newspaper campaigns. Opportunities for exposure, brand recall and preference, message playback, advertising efficiencies and communication strengths are explored."

FCC clears Google-backed plan on airwaves use

2008-11-05T14:26:00.002-05:00

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Federal Communications Commission on Tuesday approved a plan sought by tech companies like Google Inc and Microsoft Inc to open soon-to-be-vacant television airwaves to new wireless devices.

The five-member FCC voted to open unlicensed pockets of the spectrum known as white space that will become available when U.S. broadcasters are required to move to digital television next year.

Companies like Google and Microsoft, as well as consumer groups, said access to the white space airwaves would encourage innovation in cellular telephones and wireless devices, much as WiFi did.

"Let's hope it's not just Wi-Fi on steroids but Wi-Fi on amphetamines," FCC Commissioner Jonathan Adelstein said.

FCC commissioner Deborah Taylor Tate dissented in part, saying she preferred a more formal process to deal with interference issues.

Traditional broadcasters such as Walt Disney Inc's ABC, General Electric's NBC, CBS Corp and even country singer Dolly Parton opposed the plan. They said signals sent over that part of the spectrum could cause interference with broadcasts or wireless microphones at live productions.

A broadcasters' group, Maximum Service Television, said the decision "imperils American's television reception in order to satisfy the "free" spectrum demands of Google and Microsoft."

The FCC sided with the tech companies and consumer groups after two rounds of testing the devices. An agency engineering report released several weeks ago said the spectrum could be used without causing harmful interference.

Harold Feld, senior vice president at the consumer group Media Access Project, said the vote will lead to expanded investment in broadband and other technologies.

"Motorola, Google and Microsoft have invested five years and millions of dollars to get this approved," Feld said. "The people that made those decisions are going to show they made good decisions."

The bi-partisan vote by three Republican and two Democratic FCC voting members signals that greater access to white space will move forward regardless of whether Republican John McCain or Democrat Barack Obama wins the presidency, said Ben Scott, policy director of the advocacy group Free Press.

Republicans back white space access as a free-market approach, while Democrats like that it improves affordability and is pro-consumer, Scott said. "No matter who is president, this white space policy will be expanded upon," he said.

The decision "will allow the marketplace to produce new devices and new applications that we can't even imagine today," Republican Commissioner Robert McDowell said.

The order requires both fixed and portable devices to be capable of sensing television stations and wireless microphones and that those devices be registered in an FCC database.

(Courtesy of Reuters and Yahoo)

The :30 Second Presidential Candidate

2008-11-04T15:13:00.005-05:00

In the spirit of Election Day today, here's a link to some great information from a Wisconsin PBS production called The 30-Second Candidate. It chronicles the history of political TV advertising from the first ads in the early 1950s through the presidential campaign in 1996.

Check out the Tricks of the Trade for a neat walk-through on ways to put together elements in a political ad FOR or AGAINST a candidate using exactly the same footage.

It's also definitely worthwhile to flip through the Rosser Reeves Collection. Awesome photos and videos from over 50 years ago, including media-buying documents (with rates!) and storyboards. Fascinating guy, here's a little more about Reeves:

One of the best ad men was Rosser Reeves. He'd made a name for himself creating campaigns for big clients like Anacin, Colgate, and M&M's. Famous for catchy slogans like "Melts in your mouth, not in your hands," Reeves was approached by a group of Texas business men to come up with a Republican slogan to compete with the Democrats' "You Never Had It So Good."

Instead of a mere slogan, Reeves pitched an entire campaign. Republican presidential candidate Dwight Eisenhower would speak to voters' chief concerns in a series of short television "spots" airing shortly before the November election. "Eisenhower Answers America" was just underway.

In any case, it's a great look back on the progression of political advertising in the medium. Check it out!

(Courtesy of PBS)

14 Tips for Better Newspaper Advertising

2008-10-30T14:15:00.003-04:00

If you've advertised in newspapers before, the tips below should look pretty familiar. If not, then it will definitely be worthwhile for you to review this information. Quite honestly, whether you've seen these before or not, it's a smart idea to periodically revisit good newspaper advertising techniques to make sure you're getting the best value for your investment.

Number 4 - dominate the page without paying for it - is an especially great tip because everyone is feeling the budget crunch right now. By making your ad just big enough to take up over half the page, it makes it harder to place other ads around it and creates an "island." In fact, there are some publications that even offer "island" advertising on a normal basis.

Let the learning begin...

Tip #1: Consistency is key in newspaper advertising. Whether you’re interested in community, local or national newspaper advertising, always think in terms of using it consistently no less than once a week.

Tip #2: Certain days work better than others for certain types of advertising. Generally, the best day to run a newspaper ad is Sunday. That’s when most people spend the most time reading the paper. Let’s take a look at the other days:

- Monday is good if your audience is primarily men all weekend sports are usually summarized on Monday.
- Tuesday and Sunday are great days for classified ads, especially financial or business related classified ads.
- Wednesday and Thursday are good days if those are the food or health days in your paper, and yours is a food or health related offering.
- Friday is a good day if your business picks up on the weekends restaurants, bars, nightclubs, some retailers, concert venues, farmer’s markets.
- Saturday is good because fewer advertisers use the Saturday edition, thinking it’s a bad day for readership. This means less competition for your prospects attention and money

Tip #3: Positioning your ad. To gain maximum exposure, request that your ad run in the main news section of the paper, as far forward as possible. Traditionally, you were told to always ask for a right-hand page, but recent studies have shown it doesn’t really make a difference. Half the people read the newspaper front to back, the other half, back to front. You should, however, request that your ad be positioned above the fold.

Tip #4: Dominating a page, without paying for it. To dominate a page in the newspaper, which is usually 8 columns wide by twenty-two inches high, design an ad that is five columns wide and twelve or more inches high. This is proven to have the same affect as a full-page ad, at a much lower cost.

Tip #5: Use color. You should also inquire about adding one color. The use of just one color, any color, can dramatically increase your “net exposure” (that's what I call the number of people who actually read your ad) and nearly double your response rate.

Tip #6: Whatever you do, don’t let the newspaper people design your ad for you. Have your ad professionally designed, otherwise it will look like every other ad in the paper. (I once worked in a newspaper ad department, believe me, I know!) Be sure the designer has experience in newspaper ads, too. You want your ad to reproduce properly, which means it may need a certain line-screen. Also, stay away from reverse-type white type against a black background. Keep your type clear; your headline bold.

Tip #7: Make your ad newsworthy. People read newspapers to get the news, so try to make your ad as newsworthy as possible. If your ad is small, give it a distinctive border so it creates a visual identity for your ads.

Tip #8: You’re paying for that space – use it! Be sure to give your prospects enough information to buy what you’re selling. And don’t fall into the trap of revering white space because it looks good. You’re paying for every square inch of that ad – use it. Your ads should win sales, not design awards.

Tip #9: Test, test, test! If you’re just getting started in newspaper advertising, don’t settle on just one newspaper. Test your ad in the various newspapers available to your market to figure out which one works best. Once you’ve figured out which newspapers are read (the most) by your prospects, stick with them.

Tip #10: Don’t expect it to work overnight. CARDINAL RULE: Don’t expect newspaper advertising to work instantly! (This takes us back to Tip #1: Consistency is key.) Unless you make a time-sensitive offer such as a free gift for stopping by before a certain date, or offer a discount coupon with an expiration date, don’t expect a stampede of customers through your door the day you run your ad. It won’t happen. Never does.

Tip #11: Use “tracking devices” to measure ad performance. A “tracking device” is any element you can include in your advertising that makes it easier to measure that ad’s effectiveness. Adding a number code or color code to your coupons is a good example of a “tracking device.” This will make them easier to track if you’re using more than one newspaper or advertising on different days. You want to know which coupons came from where, when, and how many. That way, you’ll know which newspapers work the best for you, and on which days, and even which headlines work best for those papers on those days. Get it?

Tip #12: The “big” newspapers aren’t as expensive as you think. If you’re not happy with your local newspaper, or you’d like to hit a larger audience than just your town, look into advertising in the regional editions of USA Today, The New York Times or The Wall Street Journal, if your prospects read them. These regional editions, while more expensive to advertise in that your local newspaper, are much less expensive to advertise in than the national editions. (If you’re a local or regional business, you should NEVER advertise in the national edition. I don’t care what the ad rep tells you, don’t waste your money.)

Tip #13: The first thing people will see in your ad is your headline. This should entice the reader into wanting to learn more. I always INSIST that a headline make a meaningful or fascinating statement of benefit – or an outright offer – to the reader. For instance, “Get Your Tax Refund Today!” or “Professional Tax Preparation Only $10” are much better headlines than “Bob Jones Tax Service.” That’s pretty obvious, I know, but I can’t tell you how many people put the name of their business or product or service or worse yet, some totally worthless copy, in place of a headline and then hide the meaningful, fascinating stuff in the copy. It’s the biggest mistake in advertising! Put your main benefit or offer in the headline (and/or subheading) so even those who don’t read the entire ad will get the main point.

Tip #14: Next, people will see the visual, any subheadings, and then your name. Adding a visual can TRIPLE the “net exposure” of your ad. More people will notice it if it has a photo or image, which means more, in turn, will RESPOND to it. A photo of yourself will add instant credibility. A product image is better than a logo. Even better is an image of your product or service being used. Let people see it in action. Let them see how good it looks, how good it fits or how good it works. Let them see the smile on the face of a person using it.

(Courtesy of Phil Autelitano)

FCC considers product placement rules for TV

2008-10-21T15:14:00.004-04:00

So I was watching Jon & Kate Plus 8 the other night because I may or may not be obsessed with their adorable kids. For those of you not aware, Jon & Kate Plus 8 is a show on TLC that follows a family of 10 - the two parents and their twin girls and sextuplets - through their everyday lives.

It's become clear to me that the product placements on this show are getting more and more pronounced. In previous episodes there were lingering camera shots of certain juice bottles and obvious references to food and clothing brands, but at least they were not totally in-your-face endorsements.

Well, in Monday night's episode, there was a toy kitchen that Jon (the father) had gotten for the younger girls to play with. While he was setting it up there was a shot of the box and the name of the toy brand. He mentioned it like it was no big deal, just bought it for the kids to play with.

A few minutes passed and I forget about the toy kitchen set until the next commercial break, when what do you know, there's a commercial for the very same toy kitchen set. Must be magic!

In any case, it got me thinking about the evolution on product placements over time. From the Reese's Pieces in the movie "ET," to the ridiculous and continuous product plugs in American Idol, which "logged a impressive 4,636 product placement shots during the first half of this year."

Apparently the FCC is now thinking about an initiative to make advertising placements more obvious to viewers. Reminds me of the children's shows that I grew up with having to announce a disclaimer when going from tv show to commercial because the kids couldn't tell the difference between the programming and the advertisements. ("After these messages, we'll be right back!")

In fact:

The Children's Media Policy Coalition warns that embedded ads worsen toddlers' "inability to distinguish commercials from programming, and makes it more difficult for them to discern persuasive content."

Click the link above for some additional reading.

(Courtesy of ars technica)

Rumours of a Facebook Block Persist in Egypt

2008-10-16T17:22:00.003-04:00

Fascinating article from the Arab Press Network. I guess Facebook is used for something other than virtually stalking strangers...

A recent surge of social activism among Egyptians has alerted the government to a networking force that has thus far eluded their control: Facebook. Since the 6 April general strike, rumour has it that the social networking website has been front and centre on the Egyptian authorities' radar as they mull over the possibility of a block.

Further:

Wael Nawara, an avid blogger and Vice Chairman of Egypt's El Ghad opposition party, once depended on independent El Ghad newspaper to represent an alternative voice to the official publications. The paper was founded in late 2004, with famed Al Dustour editor-in-chief Ibrahim Eissa at the helm, but after a string of scandals, the paper was finally banned in August 2007. Within days of the banning Nawara turned to Facebook as a channel to broadcast his oppositional message, initially starting with two groups: The Third Republic and Egypt Remembers."

Facebook came as a surprise to everyone," Nawara explained. "When the government realized that tens of thousands of people and activists can be rallied in a few days time using viral communication techniques available on Facebook, they started to monitor the social network more closely. The word is that there is even a special division called the State Security Investigation Police for Facebook."

Holy crap.

(Courtesy of the Arab Press Network)

Academy to Allow Film Ads on Oscars

2008-10-15T14:26:00.004-04:00

It was only a matter of time before the Oscars allowed movie advertising back into the awards telecast. The Academy understandably wanted to rule out any notion that movie studios were able to "influence" the awards, and for years did not allow any movie advertisements.

From Gregg Kilday of The Hollywood Reporter:

The opportunity to promote upcoming movies -- particularly summer tent-poles -- is sure to appeal to the studios, which already use the Super Bowl broadcast to unveil new ads. And just as there are viewers who watch the Super Bowl simply for those ads, previews of highly anticipated summer movies also could lure more eyeballs to the Oscarcast.

Of course, there are a number of carefully constructed rules to ensure an unbiased approach. Studios can't promote nominated movies (including any prequels or sequels), only one movie spot can air per commercial break, each spot can only promote one film at a time, and the spots cannot make any mention of the words "Oscar" or "Academy Award".

Seems a small price to pay to be able to promote films during the industry's biggest night.

(courtesy of Adweek)

Shameless Self-Promotion!

2008-10-09T15:17:00.004-04:00

It's about that time...

Check out my new blog, Katie's Advertising Deals, for information on advertising specials I can provide. I'll keep it updated with exciting new services, remnant space offers, last-minute deals, and anything else I can get my hands on!

I specialize in newspaper networks, and can place your classified or display ad all over the country with only one insertion. Want to learn more? Send me an email!

Remember to check often, as many of the deals I get are only offered for a limited amount of time. If there's something specific that you want and you don't see it there, let me know! I'll be happy to do the legwork for you.

Font Play

2008-10-08T15:06:00.000-04:00

Folha de São Paulo, a Portuguese language newspaper from Brazil, is running these very cool ads of celebrities created solely from characters in different font characters.

Brando's still pretty fine, considering most of his top half is made out of punctuation.

(Courtesy of Geekologie and Walyou)

Natural Born Clickers

2008-10-06T12:59:00.000-04:00

A study commissioned by Starcom and Tacoda, and conducted by comScore shows that only 6% of the online population accounts for 50% of all display ad clicks.

While click-throughs are generally a valuable tool for judging campaign effectiveness, don't be fooled into thinking that they provide 100% accuracy. The study suggests that this small percentage of "heavy clickers" does not represent the click habits of the general public:

In fact, heavy clickers skew towards Internet users between the ages of 25-44 and households with an income under $40,000. Heavy clickers behave very differently online than the typical Internet user, and while they spend four times more time online than non-clickers, their spending does not proportionately reflect this very heavy Internet usage. Heavy clickers are also relatively more likely to visit auctions, gambling, and career services sites – a markedly different surfing pattern than non-clickers.

Click the title above for the full press release.

Jeans Theme: Unbutton Your Beast

2008-10-02T10:40:00.000-04:00

I'm sensing a trend here. First it was Quiksilver Deep Blue, making their jeans into creatures from the deep sea.

Now? Trout Troutman literally pops out at you from a pair of Levi's and starts talking.

Levi's 501 is letting you "unbutton your beast" on their website. There are some critics that see this as a campaign "so lacking in nuance, it makes you want to cringe."

To that I say...

If it's generating buzz, it's working! And really, tell me who doesn't appreciate a hilarious penis joke - subtle or not. I think we are all winners here.

In any case, between the actual claw, the dangling toothpick, and the nut-cracking, I'd be a little nervous if I was a dude and THAT was in my pants.