BATAVIA, Ohio (AdAge.com) — In one of the odder but potentially most revealing looks at Super Bowl ads to date, start-up "neuromedia" research firm Sands Research last week strapped caps with electrodes wirelessly linked to electroencephalography machines on the noggins of about 20 test subjects in El Paso, Texas.
(TrendHunter.com) The new blood in Hollywood is taking over. At least according to Vanity Fair which just released the cover for its annual Hollywood issue. The March cover, whose theme is fresh faces of Hollywood in 2008, was shot by celebrity photographer Annie Leibovitz.
Ten fresh faces star in this shoot: Emily…
Page three girl Keeley Hazell helped launch a new fragrance for Lynx in London today, and judging by the pictures alone I gather that:
1) Whatever Keeley is getting paid is not nearly enough for standing outside in London in February wearing nothing but a chocolate colored bikini. Astronauts have less risks involved in their jobs.
2) The chocolate dummies/men hanging around indicate that Lynx has finally discovered the one true scent that will attract all females namely chocolate. Sadly it works even on your Mum. Be afraid boys. Be very afraid.
Mad pictures inside.
As regular readers know, we featured a lot of celebrity products at Trend Hunter, but this is the first time we’ve seen surfboards created by stars.
Evolution Surf has released their 2008 line of surfboards with art created by celebrities. The Summer 2008 Evolution Surf line was designed and inspi…
(TrendHunter.com) As regular readers know, we featured a lot of celebrity products at Trend Hunter, but this is the first time we’ve seen surfboards created by stars.
Evolution Surf has released their 2008 line of surfboards with art created by celebrities. The Summer 2008 Evolution Surf line was designed and inspi…
(TrendHunter.com) Modu unveiled a revolutionary tiny new modular mobile phone that can work on its own or be slipped into assorted “jackets” that transform it into different types of devices. Slide it into a jacket with a 3½-inch screen, and the device turns into a media player perfect for watching movies. Slip it i…
NEW YORK (AdAge.com) — For retailers across the country, January will be one for the record books, although not in the way they had hoped. The month goes down in history as the worst January on record for retailers since the International Council of Shopping Centers began tracking same-store sales among U.S. retailers in 1969. The industry association said sales across the U.S. grew a meager 0.5% year over year.
(TrendHunter.com) Some may feel that any talk of death or burial is cold and morbid, while others will see it as rebirth and rejuvenation, some look forward to it, while others try to outpace it with every lotion, potion and drug available. However, the result is that we will all be pronounced lifeless at some point …
(TrendHunter.com) Doing your part to offset carbon emissions could be as simple as drinking bottled rain from the skies of northwestern Tasmania, Australia at “The Edge of the World.” The World Meteorological Organization recognizes the air in this region to be the cleanest in the world.
Tasmanian Rain bottles natur…
YORK, Pa. (AdAge.com) — Sports video gaming used to mean sitting around on couches frantically punching buttons on a controller — with the only other minimal exertion being smack talk. Then came the Nintendo Wii. Suddenly, sports video gaming meant getting up off the couch to virtually play by actually jumping, running, swinging and pitching.
Click to see “Library”. Click to see “Friends”.
While price remains the focal point (but treated in a more discrete way than previous editions), the main concern when developing this campaign was to create a bond with teenagers by showing situations in which they’d feel reflected.
Starting by acknowledging that Eurosaver is a platform that is “always there for you” (it is a permanent range) at a friendly price, this led TBWA\Portugal and McDonald’s to search what this really meant to teenagers. In reality, Eurosaver allows teenagers, who tend to have short financial resources, to spend less money on good food so that they can use it in stuff they really love such as music, concerts, clothes, games, etc. This belief became the insight that has motivated the current campaign.
Thus, the idea behind this campaign is that “it’s all for one Euro and nothing else matters”. As so, TBWA\Lisboa has developed several situations were you can see teens having a dialog being the product the subject of discussion. The tone chosen is humorous with a special type of humor that makes sense to Portuguese teens trough a well-known group of humorists in Portugal.
TV Translations
“Library”
FRIEND1 (with a greedy look, preparing to take one Chicken McNugget): Great, Chicken McNuggets. May I…
FRIEND2 (removing the box out of his friend arm’s length): One Euro.
FRIEND1 (trying again): But I just…
FRIEND2 (interrupting): One Euro
FRIEND1 (insisting): What If I…
FRIEND2 (and again): One Euro
FRIEND1 (insisting): But…
FRIEND2 (and again): One Euro
FRIEND1 (trying one last shot): So…
FRIEND2 (and again): One Euro
FRIEND1 (waiting a little, then changing the strategy): …can you spare me one Euro?
VO: McDonald’s Eurosaver: it’s all for one Euro and nothing else matters. Seven wonderful products for just one Euro each.
“Friends”
Friend1: Just tell me something: if both apple pies cost you one Euro…
Friend2 (eating): Hmmm…
Friend1: and we are two…
Friend2 (still eating): Hmm…
Friend1: and the Euro was mine…
Friend2 (still eating): Hmm-hmm…
Friend1: … why I’m I not eating anything?
Friend2 (finishing eating): …… Sorry, I was never good at mathematics…
VO: McDonald’s Eurosaver: it’s all for one Euro and nothing else matters. Seven wonderful products for just one Euro each.
This is the second film of our 2008 Media Markt Campaign. The boy scouts don’t like it. We hope you enjoy it.
Catharine P. Taylor wants to know what we think of the new Adweek site design.
I’m thinking it might be instructive to compare their remodel to HOW’s new upgrade.
In other trade rag news, something funny’s happening in the comments on Brand Autopsy’s “Would You Miss Advertising Age?” post.
Both of the rock giants’ publicity-grabbing initiatives came with strings attached: Prince’s CD was soon on sale in shops, while Radiohead’s “honesty box” approach encouraged punters to download the album for whatever they thought it was worth, which was nearer pounds 2.90 than the pounds 13 store price.
Yet Little’s experiment also comes at a price – or rather it doesn’t. On the plus side, her website presents her recording of solo works by Bach, Ysaÿe and Patterson beautifully. This is imaginative programming of the kind that few record companies, who prefer single-composer discs or collections of artist-orientated “lollipops”, would encourage. And Little uses the internet intelligently by providing the option of hearing her introductions to the music and offering suggestions that might inspire teachers to plan lessons around the pieces.
But, although Little’s innovative project could hardly have been better delivered, I still feel that recordings should not come for nothing. The day the public believes that it shouldn’t have to pay for recorded music, the physical product is doomed and, especially for those of us brought up in the era of the LP, that would be a sad day indeed.
There was a thrill of anticipation around a new release by a favourite artist or of music by a favourite composer. There was the lovingly produced art work, the erudite sleeve notes and, best of all, the mystery that lay within those vinyl grooves. And somehow, despite their tacky plastic cases, diminutive artwork and barely legible sleeve notes, the magic persisted with the arrival of CDs – although there were those who found their digitised sound too clinical and antiseptic.
But what could be more antiseptic and, ultimately, antisocial than music received via the internet – with no sleeve notes, no art work: in short, no romance? The logical conclusion of Little’s endeavour removes the need for a physical product but there is also no denying that, from her point of view, it has been a conspicuous success. Faced with the choice of making money or having their music heard, most musicians would choose the latter, and in a matter of weeks The Naked Violin has received more than 200,000 downloads – an inconceivable figure for the average classical CD.
But Little is an established artist who has benefited previously from record company investment. An unknown could never make such waves and would almost certainly be unable to afford the cost of the recording.
Ironically, on her new recording, Little plays two different, incredibly expensive, violins, one of which – a 1757 Guadagnini – she owns. Little knows the rhythm of life that, for all but a very few, beats with monotonous regularity: “You work to get paid” not “You pay to work” – which is effectively what she has done.
So, the next time a musician is tempted to get naked with their instrument, could I suggest that they offer the public a glimpse, rather than the full monty?
– While Salesgenie has pulled its Panda ad, Salesgenie CEO Vin Gupta told The New York Times, “Pandas are Chinese. They don’t speak German.” – A campaign for the UK’s NSPCC gets bloody with ad to curtail pedophilia and…
OK, this may or may not have been plan from the very beginning, after all when we talk about Superbowl ads past how often doesn’t mainstream media mention GoDaddy and Hilton hotels? Flopping spectacularly might be a ticket into repeating Superbowl fame, at least until something worse comes along.
The New York Times resident ad columnist Stuart Elliot reports in “An Ad With Talking Pandas, Maybe, but Not With Chinese Accents” that the chairman and chief executive of InfoUSA in Omaha, Vinod Gupta, says he is sorry about the Salesgenie ads offending people, and promises to stop running one of them.
This was the second year in a row that Salesgenie advertised in the Super Bowl with animated spots written by Mr. Gupta rather than an outside agency. This time, an outside agency, Creative Mint in San Francisco, handled production for the animation.
Am I misreading this? Were the spots in 2007 animated as well? Lets check our 36 years super bowl commercials archive shall we? Nope, the Salesgenie ad of 2007 wasn’t animated, just ugly.
It’s not Justin Timberlake’s Dick in a Box, but Dawn’s Early Knights have our more immediate interests at heart: honey-sweet lovin’, coated in chocolate romance.
(TrendHunter.com) Scientists have discovered how to create an onion that will be “tear-free” ending whole eye watering fiasco when cooking with them. They used biotechnology to switch off the gene that makes our eyes sting, and therefore water.
The success of the New Zealand and Japanese is being widely celebrated a…
Check out this fun new Honda ad by Wieden + Kennedy. Also see LOL-worthy website Problem Playground. It will bring out your inner Alice.
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