NEW YORK (AdAge.com) — Could Carl Icahn be Microsoft's white knight? The financier hopes to reprise the Microhoo saga as he launches a proxy fight today for Yahoo by nominating and alternative slate of directors to Yahoo's board.
Any company winding down has an obligation to dispose of its assets. That’s a lesson being learned right now by Firebrand, the defunct Web venture and TV show that featured nothing but commercials as content. When Firebrand got doused, its Facebook group smoldered on.Now Chris Abraham, a PR guru doofus who helped craft Firebrand’s social media strategy, is using the Firebrand TV group to pitch random stuff to the 581 lingering members. Yesterday, more than two months after Firebrand faded to black, I got a Facebook message from Chris with “an offer for bloggers in the house†to get a review copy of a self-help book. Awesome, just what I wanted. Obviously, when I signed up to keep updated on Firebrand, I was also expressing my desire to review self-help books. Tres contextual. When I contacted Chris about why he’s sending me this crap, he said that Firebrand still owed him money, so he’s using the group until they pay him. The moral: When you turn out the lights and lock the doors, make damn sure you gathered up all the keys.
—Posted by Brian Morrissey
It never ceases to amaze me how GMC, Ford, Toyota and Dodge always seem to get it right when targeting their core audience when it comes to truck buyers. For example, when you’re watching your next sporting event on TV this weekend there is a 90% chance you will see all of the following: heavy duty manual labor being performed, a ball-cap and/or flannel shirt, some rough terrain driving, and of course a shiny new truck. That’s a given, it’s been that way for at least thirty years.
 
Now, here’s where it gets really clever. You will probably see four or five different landscapes that represent a generic part of the US. This gives the prospective buyer their real sense of identify. Much more so than the other characteristics listed above. To me, this marketing scheme is brilliant. What these advertisers have figured out is that “America’s Heartland” is not in the fields of the Midwest, the Texas plains, or the back roads of the South, but rather about thirty miles outside the city limits of anytown USA.
The bottom line is this; the truck is distinctly American. Not rural American, country American, western American, northern American , southern American, etc. And if you think I’m wrong, go to any major city and look at who is driving them. There is no “typical” owner. America identifies with trucks not so much for use anymore but rather for landscape and memories.
NEW YORK (AdAge.com) — At a time when marketers are increasingly curious about media venues other than broadcast TV, executives from Fox network said they intended to keep their focus on the traditional living-room screen, while launching new programs for the 2008-09 season in staggered fashion.
Well OK. So now when you troll MySpace, Facebook or whatever your favorite daily social diversion may be, you can view, yes, even more ads courtesy of SocialVibe.
(TrendHunter.com) When dealing with sexuality, most magazines do it stealthy… but not German Vogue. The only words on the cover of the June 2008 issue are “SEX by Mario Testino” written across an image of a nearly nude, masked Claudia Schiffer. The theme of the issue is clearly the timeless topic of sex, yet Vogue …
(TrendHunter.com) Designed by Charles Constantine, Memento is a wooden coffee table that can store books, magazines and other personal mementos during your lifetime. The design twist is that it also awaits your death to store YOU. As a bonus, an open casket is easily arranged with the conveniently removable top piece…
While we rate movies R for even the mildest hint of nudity or sexual conduct, a PG or PG-13 movie can blow the shit out on an entire city or country killing millions in an instant and no one bats an eye.
Oh my god, I’m so grossed out. These helpful little bins allow you to dispose of your cigarette butts there, while doubling as a really gross image that may indeed turn you off from smoking, at least temporarily. See, part of the X-ray image is transparent allowing for the accumilated butts inside to be part of the visual. Apparently this is a new medium called “adbins”.
LONDON – Paramount Pictures UK has teamed up with online loyalty service Maximiles to promote its new film, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull.
(TrendHunter.com) Stanford University scientists have now developed and patented special bandages to prevent the stretching and raising of scars. They are made from special “memory†polymers which remember their shape once applied. Very strong adhesives or sewing and stapling during surgery have to be used to ke…
It seems almost impossible that I would thoroughly dislike NBC's revamp of "American Gladiators." The fighters throw each other in the water. They tackle, snort and prod. They shoot stuff. This was my early adolescence. Sadly for lapsed teens and junk-sport aficionados alike, NBC has chosen to weigh down "American Gladiators" with manufactured emotion. As opposed to the campy, syndicated version of the show that aired in the 1990s, in which Nitro, Lace and the rest presented themselves as human cartoons, NBC's reinvention gives its warriors and contestants feelings.
(TrendHunter.com) The next home dental hygiene tool to enter the consumer market could well be high pressure tooth spray. Sonic toothbrushes, while relatively effective, can’t reach tough spots. Water picks, well, just pick at things. The idea of adapting high pressure hoses used to clean houses and cars to cleanin…
In hopes of selling, I don’t know, more sweet potato casserole through May, Boston Market is trying to turn Mother’s Day into a month-long event.
(TrendHunter.com) Doug Selsam’s turbine ideas are not just blowing in the wind; they are transforming the wind into power-generating machines. At a cost of $250,000 to develop, the 25-rotor turbine ‘Sky Serpent’ is said to produce three kilowatts (3000 watts) of power. The Sky Serpent is still in the concept st…
NEW YORK (AdAge.com) — The return of "Sex" has marketers sighing with pleasure. On May 30, rabid fans will finally get another dose of Carrie, Charlotte, Samantha and Miranda, the foursome synonymous with fashion, cocktails and launching brands into the stratosphere of pop culture iconography.
NEW YORK (AdAge.com) — Before presenting its 2008-09 programming lineup at its upfront presentation yesterday, CBS spent about 45 minutes talking about opportunities in outdoor advertising, syndication, radio and online. CBS was thus able to do something the other networks have so far not: demonstrate how broadcast-TV content makes an appealing option when extended into media venues that are decidedly ancillary to traditional TV.
DUBAI – Synovate has moved its Central European managing director George Christodoulides to the Middle East to oversee the growth of its Gulf division.
LONDON – GCap Media has announced that its £375m takeover by Global Radio is set to be completed by 6 June.
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