LONDON – Hewlett-Packard (HP) has unveiled a new website in conjunction with Barry Humphries (aka Dame Edna Everage) as part of its global ‘What Do You Have to Say’ campaign.
LONDON – Hachette Filipacchi UK has appointed Rick Herman as its head of digital sales.
LONDON – Archant Specialist’s Travel Division, publishers of In Britain, Heritage and So British, is launching a new free guide targeted predominately at the inbound tourist.
For another example of how bizarre the world is getting, we turn to Hershey, which has stopped making Ice Breakers Pacs — which are “nickel-sized dissolvable pouches with a powdered sweetener inside†— because the law-enforcement community feels that they look too much like heroin. Their main concern is that the Pacs would desensitize children to the more potent snortables in today’s flourishing drug market. That risk, I feel, is overshadowed by how bad it would hurt to shove one of those things up your nose, let alone catch a snoot full of the mint powder. But I can understand the concern, given the challenges of policing other drug look-alikes, such as oregano and confectioner’s sugar.
—Posted by David Kiefaber
So, if I correctly understand this Super Bowl spot from the Office of National Drug Control Policy, I should get high on pills from my parents’ medicine cabinet, because that will put drug dealers out of business. Cool! Our neighborhoods will be a whole lot safer. Kidding! Before the ONDCP or the creative gurus at DraftFCB start in with the angry calls, I want to make it clear that I comprehend the real message of this commercial: Don’t get high on pills found at home. Buy illegal drugs on the street instead, and keep your friendly neighborhood pusher in business. When you’re the nation’s anti-drug czars, creating a sympathetic drug dealer in your ads might not be the best way to go. (Didn’t I see that guy on a rerun of Starsky & Hutch? Maybe it was Miami Vice.)
—Posted by David Gianatasio
Anyone who’s seen Activia’s ads knows they’re bizarre. But do they also make false health claims? Dannon, say it isn’t so! Attorney Timothy Blood (cool lawyer name) tells Brandweek: “Deceptive advertising has enabled Dannon to sell hundreds of millions of dollars worth of ordinary yogurt at inflated prices to responsible, health conscious consumers.†Dannon says Activia and DanActive aid digestion and boost immunity, but a new lawsuit by a client of Blood’s maintains there’s no evidence to support such claims and asks Dannon to issue $300 million in refunds. Now that I can make a few bucks off it, I’m running out and buying cases of the stuff. The ads always were a bit loose in most respects—sort of appropriate, considering the supposed health benefits of the brand in question. A Los Angeles court will now decide if they were loose with the facts as well.
—Posted by David Gianatasio
LONDON – WL Gore is set to launch a spring promotion for its Goretex brand to encourage sales of product lines that use the fabric.
It seems more things have been gummified than I thought. Aside from your typical gummi worms and gummi bears, there’s a whole range of items that, according to YesButNoButYes, shouldn’t have been gummied at all. They include internal organs, bacon (which, inexplicably, is strawberry flavored), banana slugs, haggis (gross, but there are worse bits of Scotland to gummi), and finally, tapeworms. And then, of course, there is the horror that is gummi genitals.
—Posted by David Kiefaber
LONDON – Below-the-line agency Joshua G2 has appointed Verra Budimlija, the former head of planning at Nitro London, to its newly created cross-agency head of planning position.
LONDON – Nine out of 10 teenagers feel safer using social networking sites than they did a year ago, despite almost a quarter having experienced bullying at some stage, according to the findings of a new report.
LONDON – Online DVD rental service LoveFilm.com is linking up with the global Bono-backed aids fund Red and Flowersdirect.com for its Valentine’s gift offering.
LONDON – ITV1’s new primetime drama ‘Trial and Retribution’ shed more than a million viewers following its opening episode last week, but still won its slot with an average audience of 5.4m viewers.
LONDON – The freesheet bubble appears to have burst in the US as publisher Metro International makes 27 employees, around a fifth of the workforce, redundant at its three Metro US editions, amid speculation it is preparing to sell them.
LONDON – Rupert Murdoch has said that the Wall Street Journal’s website will not go entirely free and will instead retain an element of subscription.
LONDON – The Weight Watchers food range is running a sampling roadshow to drive sales of its licensed food ranges during the New Year health kick.
Looks like the creative group at Jung von Matt had a lot of fun when they created this ad for the Dortmund Concert Hall to show that said hall has music for everyone. Even porn stars and pierced people.
WASHINGTON: The Travel Industry Association (TIA) has launched a campaign encouraging presidential candidates to talk more about solutions to US travel problems, such as long security lines.
LONDON – OMD has promoted Peter Magnani to the newly created role of director of international clients.
Campaigners calling for stringent regulation of the public affairs industry were given a rough ride in the House of Commons yesterday.
LONDON – The Meningitis Trust has signed a licensing deal with games brand Hasbro to launch a fund and awareness raising promotion based on its Subbuteo game.
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