Cuil Needs a Chill Pill

In this superhero-obsessed summer, it's about time everyone found an underdog to root for. In a feat as inexplicable as Tony Stark fashioning scrap metal into an Iron Man suit in an Afghan prison, Cuil.com gained almost iPhone-like levels of publicity for its launch yesterday. Yet Cuil is due for a run-in with Mr. Freeze as its media mojo gets put on ice.

ISEA 2008 – The Juried exhibition

Radar shows off its favorite party animals

Radaronlinebunny

We don’t visit Radar Online that much since their 2006 report (and breathless e-mail to us) that Justin Long was being dumped from Apple’s ad campaign. (As of July ’08, that remains not the case.) But what do you know, they’re still going strong—and they even have a splashy new ad campaign launching from New York agency Walrus. In addition to the fun-loving DUI Bunny shown here, the campaign’s other mythical beasts are the Plastic Surgery Fairy, who both inflicts and suffers bodily harm, and the Intolerance Bug, a DJ whose colorful outfit includes a Confederate-flag cape, swastika armbands and a Klansman’s pointy hat. All that’s missing is Exclusive Claus, a shadowy figure who is supposed to deliver scoops but who doesn’t really exist. Via Ads of the World.

—Posted by Tim Nudd

ITV2 to get new look

LONDON – ITV is overhauling the appearance of ITV2, with a new logo and interstitials.

Consumer discount websites thrive as economy suffers

LONDON – Websites offering consumers discounts were among the fastest growing UK sites over the past year, as concerns about the economy impacted consumers decisions, according to Nielsen Online.

Cuil – the prettier search engine adds odd images but can’t find Adland

Search engine cuil (yeah that’s supposed to be pronounced “cool” which makes me wonder what their verb for googling will be) officially premiered yesterday and some people thought that using it was no fun at all. “It is basically unusable – paint dries faster. I got two different search results on my name done within 2 hours.” said a dude called Gopal Shenoy at Chrisbrogan.com – meanwhile Chris Brogan naturally vanity-surfed and found that cuil did not find him at all.

Everyone seems to find odd images when they vanity search on Cuil, so naturally I wanted to get in on that action. Vanity surfing my full name in quotes “Åsk Wäppling” gets me lots of odd stuff – and not a single hit from Adland even though you’d think my name does appear often enough in the press clippings here. None of the images are me, nor from Adland (or dabitch.net) but they seem to oddly sync with me anyway – Swedish latte-slurping puppy-loving blogger, one gathers. Weird! Lars Werner in Norway wonders where all the supposed Lars Werners he finds on Cuil come from. What do you find when vanity surfing your own name (or adgrunt username?)

Searching for Adland does not give me Adland as top hit. Searching for Dabitch does not give me Dabitch.net anywhere near the top – searching for the URL’s themselves doesn’t either. Instead all sorts of blogger accounts, gawker commenting accounts or anything else I’ve used maybe five times pops up. You’d think that the author: Dabitch on Adland with 8493 posts on advertising under her belt would appear somewhere in the top ten and outdo my ever-so-silent Gawker login.

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SAS puts loyalty job into Carlson

LONDON – SAS Scandinavian Airlines has appointed Carlson Marketing to overhaul its customer loyalty marketing.

Live Unbuttoned, Make Waves, Cause Fender-Benders

levis-runaway-jeans.jpg

“Runaway jeans cause car crash” is the fourth installment of Levi’s “Live Unbuttoned” campaign.

Why the Internet Enhances TV Advertising

Many commentators on the subject of the rise of the internet as an advertising medium have reported that marketers have been shifting money from TV advertising into internet advertising. But research on product awareness and purchase decisions suggests it is the last thing they should be doing.

British Airways and Iberia in merger talks

LONDON – British Airways and Iberia are discussing an all-share merger between the two companies. The negotiations are supported unanimously by the boards of both companies.

BK’s ‘Dark Knight’ ad looks awfully familiar

Burger King’s ads are as recycled as its food. This is according to the observant bloggers at Den of Geek, who noticed that BK’s new spot for the Dark Whopper, a sandwich “inspired by The Dark Knight,” is awfully similar to a previous ad for a previous Dark Whopper, back when it was “inspired by Spider-Man 3.” Oh well. Their taste in summer movies has improved—that’s worth something, right? And at least they didn’t bring back “Where’s Herb?

—Posted by David Kiefaber

Recruiting miners still a tough assignment

Consolsmall

Brunner returns with a new recruitment campaign for Consol Energy, less than three months after they last tried to convince us that coal mining was a good career alternative. In our view, it’s the most dangerous job on or below the earth, and should only be attempted by robots. I’m starting to think client and agency agree, on a subconscious level, in light of their advertising. New posters—visually arresting, to give Brunner its due—show cityscapes powered by coal-based energy and illuminated in the helmet lamps of miners. (See the full ad here.) Above ground there’s an industrial plant, an amusement park, office buildings—all safer places to work than coal mines. It’s almost as if the miners are trapped underground, imagining a world they may never see again. Dude, take the job punching tickets at the Ferris wheel! Carnies get lots of chicks, free nachos at the concession stand and always have enough air to breathe.

—Posted by David Gianatasio

Walkers is fastest growing website after Brit Trips promotion

LONDON – Walkers Snack Foods was the fastest growing website in the UK over the last year, due in part to its Brit Trips discounted UK holiday promotions, according to Nielsen Online.

Stock Photography, Up Close

Talk to any professional photographer today and they’ll invariably seethe at the mention of istockphoto or other websites that are lowering the costs of stock photos (and videos), and becoming the first choice of many cost-squeezed agencies or clients.

BusinessWeek takes a closer look:

But what should photographers and graphic designers do? They need to target that part of the market that isn’t looking for the lowest price, experts say, because budget Web sites have already won those customers. “Designers as a profession should be moving up the value chain,” says the design association’s Grefé. “What designers need to do is to explain that inherent in most design is the branding and the essence of the company.”

As the burden shifts to professionals to explain the value of their work, that may put some creative types out of their comfort zones (BusinessWeek.com, 2/06/08), Grefé says. “They have to reposition themselves in their promotional material. They have to get out and talk to small and medium size businesses. They’ve got to be in front of the Rotary Club and the Kiwanis,” he says.

Using low-cost, royalty-free stock photography means you could be using The Everywhere Girl, or HighJive’s favorite, The Hardest Working Man in Black Advertising.

What’s your agency’s attitude toward stock photography? Are your clients increasingly reluctant to pony up for a good photographer’s day rate?

Royal Mail service getting worse, say consumers

LONDON – The vast majority of British consumers (85%) think that the postal service has not improved over the past two years, a period that was admittedly marked by the disruption caused by striking postal workers.

Van Outen quits Capital Radio half a year early

LONDON – Capital Radio breakfast co-host Denise Van Outen is quitting only five months into her 12-month contract because she is finding it hard to combine her early morning start with her TV obligations.

Future bucks the trend with rise in revenue

LONDON – Future, the special interest publisher, has defied the gloomy economic climate to post a 1% revenue rise during the nine months to 30 June, boosted by a 4% rise in its advertising revenue.

Pru Parkinson set to leave Starcom

LONDON – Pru Parkinson, the group strategy chief at Publicis-owned Starcom, is leaving the agency.

Tesco hires Bradley as UK marketing director

LONDON – Tesco has appointed Carolyn Bradley as UK marketing director as part of a restructure following the supermarket’s £950m buy out of Tesco Personal Finance (TPF) financial services.

Figtree wins brief to create branding for merged Rainer and Crime Concern

LONDON – Figtree has been appointed to create a new brand for merged youth crime prevention charities Rainer and Crime Concern, following a three-way pitch.