Qtrax: 25 Million Free Ad-Supported Songs

In about an hour (midnight EST), Qtrax will begin offering any number of the 25 million music files in its library for free downloading in exchange for collecting usage info and inserting ads. Until a hack surfaces, the songs are not iPod-compatible. You’ll need to download a proprietary Qtrax player, too. More details when the thing is released, but here’s an article in the British Times. Wonder what the value of the ads would be if the songs can’t be played on the go.

It also seems that the company is yet to reach the agreement with all copyright holders, contrary to the claims in the newspaper article.

Update: So, it’s 10 past midnight, and the site is down. Blah.

Leung steps down as Starcom HK MD

HONG KONG – Mabel Leung is to step down from her role as MD of Starcom, after 13 years at the agency.

J&J’s Perkins: The Revolution Must Continue


BATAVIA, Ohio (AdAge.com) — Students of the marketing revolution should watch Brian Perkins closely. Innovation often means going against the flow, but the efforts of Mr. Perkins' centralized marketing-services team to modernize Johnson & Johnson's approach have encountered particularly tough headwinds of late.

Agencies Hiring CMOs to Fill a Strategic Role

SAN FRANCISCO (AdAge.com) — Blink-and-you'll-miss-it tenure, return-on-investment pressure, new-media chaos — the woes of chief marketing officers are all too familiar. But that isn't stopping ad agencies — from national shops such as DraftFCB to little Los Angeles indie G&M Plumbing — from adding the title to their ranks.

CMOs, Get Ready for a Rocky Ride


CMOs will come under pressure like never before in this recession as consumers desert the marketplace in droves.

How Banks Can Boost Image in Chaotic Times


Financial-services companies with the best brands, that have built and strengthened them for years and are managing them wisely, now reap the benefits.

Music-Download Sites Seek Marketers’ Money


NEW YORK (AdAge.com) — The market's still unproven, but the ad-supported-music industry just got two more major players knocking on doors looking for marketers' dollars: Last.fm and Qtrax

Mountain Dew Makes MMO More Than Just a Game


NEW YORK (AdAge.com) — Pepsi-Cola's rich, massively multiplayer online game "Dewmocracy" supports an ever-expanding plan to let consumers choose the next flavor of Mountain Dew. It's no low-involvement proposition for consumers, which is why the marketer is cheered by early returns.

Can Nancy Hill Make the 4A’s Matter Again?


NEW YORK (AdAge.com) — All hopes for preventing the 91-year-old American Association of Advertising Agencies from sinking to irrelevance have been pinned to a long-running effort to find a replacement for O. Burtch Drake, who's retiring as president-CEO this year after a 14-year reign. That search is now at an end. This week, the association's board likely will approve the appointment of Nancy Hill to the role.

Not Much Color in Cosmetics This Time


BATAVIA, Ohio (AdAge.com) — So much for the lipstick effect: The theory that lipstick sales not only survive but thrive during an economic downturn doesn't appear to be panning out this time around.

Pharma Biz Cops to $5 Billion Drug Problem

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AdAge.com) — The pharmaceutical industry is finally acknowledging that it needs a new marketing prescription after a perfect storm of waning patience in Congress, incredulousness from the medical community and growing angst among a skeptical public. It's all led the $5 billion direct-to-consumer ad business to concede it has a drug problem.

Challenge: Make Malt Liquor Look Good on Paper


CHICAGO (AdAge.com) — Talk about a marketing conundrum: Revive Colt 45 malt liquor — once seen as an exploitative product that preyed on the urban poor — as an edgy choice for young hipsters.

Custom Publishing Gets a Makeover


NEW YORK (AdAge.com) — Custom publishing, the arm of the magazine business that turns out titles such as Jeep and Departures, is being transformed as surely and swiftly as any other feature in the media landscape — to the point that some practitioners even correct you for still calling it custom publishing.

P&G Comes to Rescue of Soaps on the Ropes


NEW YORK (AdAge.com) — Soap opera ratings have declined steadily for years as once-enamored viewers drift away, and there is concern among media buyers about the health of the genre.

Mac Owners Just Like, Well, the Mac Guy


YORK, Pa. (AdAge.com) — So it's not just that Mac guy in the "Get a Mac" ads who thinks he's better than everyone else. Apparently so do many of the people who use Apple's computers.

Don’t Flush Your Ad Down the Super Bowl


You might make a cool ad, a memorable ad, an ad beloved by all who behold it, but unless you've incorporated some very fundamental cognitive elements, your ad most likely will be attributed to Bud.

Advertisers Score With Any Place in Game


CHICAGO (AdAge.com) — The New England Patriots and the New York Giants are from two top-five markets, and their storylines are compelling enough to hold an audience's attention whether the game is close or not, according to marketers and ad buyers.

What Housing Crisis? Realtors’ Ads Defy Reality


SAN FRANCISCO (AdAge.com) — The housing bubble has burst. Almost three-quarters of a million Americans are in foreclosure. The median price of a single-family home recently fell for the first time in at least 40 years, and many are predicting it'll drop further in 2008. But none of that stopped the National Association of Realtors promulgating a $40 million ad campaign urging Americans to think of buying a house as a get-rich opportunity.

Touch-Screen Menus – Restaurants & Bars with Interactive Tabletops (VIDEO)

(TrendHunter.com) A wave of ubiquitous computing is sweeping the world, with incredible inventions like touch-screen tabletops hitting restaurants and bars, allowing for waiterless ordering with interactive menus, or sheer entertainment.

The Adour restaurant in NYC’s St. Regis hotel opens tomorrow and will offer an …

Touch-Screen Menus – Restaurants & Bars with Interactive Tabletops

A wave of ubiquitous computing is sweeping the world, with incredible inventions like touch-screen tabletops hitting restaurants and bars, allowing for waiterless ordering with interactive menus, or sheer entertainment.

The Adour restaurant in NYC’s St. Regis hotel opens tomorrow and will offer an …