Intimate Animal Portraits – 10 Incredible Images (VIDEO)
Posted in: UncategorizedBullet-Shaped Bottles – Bollinger Bond 007 Champagne
Posted in: UncategorizedInspired by the upcoming James Bond movie, Quantum of Solace, Bollinger is launching a bullet shaped Champagne bottle that has Bollinger 007 inscribed on the exterior.
When empty, this unique bottle can…
BSkyB considers appeal against ITV decision
Posted in: UncategorizedLONDON – BSkyB is considering whether to appeal against today’s Competition Appeal Tribunal decision that it must sell down its stake in ITV from 17.9% to below 7.5%.
120 Luxuries Only Socialites, Like Kim Kardashian Can Afford
Posted in: UncategorizedThe AgencySpy Party Has Arrivedeth
Posted in: UncategorizedThe big day is finally among us — when the ad-world can finally come together and share the dirty little secrets that make us all happy we didn’t choose “humanities” as a major (ed’s note: if any of you studied humanities, we apologize; please replace humanities with Naval history). Tomorrow, we celebrate advertising under the auspices of a networking event. For all of you in New York, we can’t wait to see you.
But this won’t be like most events you normally attend. Please. Rather than allow you to grab your drink and walk around aimlessly, hoping to run into someone you know, we’re going to play match maker. Well, sorta.
I, Matt Van Hoven, will be wearing a fedora (or fedorka, as my brother refers to it). It’s light colored, so even though I’m not too tall, you’ll be able to find me. I may wear a brightly colored shirt, too. Nevertheless, I’m going to make a point to introduce myself to you, and make awkward conversation about why you’re there and how you’re much less boring than the last chump I met. That’s advertising!
Unfortunately, my cohort SuperSpy will not be doing the same. We all wish she could attend, but alas, anonymity forbids it. That said, I will act as her representative, and in her stead I hope to meet all of you before I turn into a pumpkin. Err. I’m not really a pumpkin.
A few notes: I’m a “fast-talker” from time to time, so feel free to stop me. I enjoy a firm handshake, and accept all forms of business cards/napkins with funny quips (just be sure to let me know who you are. Oh, and did I mention the first 100 drinks are free, courtesy girlsmiles.org? Because they are.
So get yo-self in gear, and get RSVP’d here or here or here or here (they’re all the same link).
(Ed’s note: We apologize for the grammatical error in the above image. The dog was too awesome to pass up on account of “your” where there should have been “you’re”.
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Cruise Ships With Lawns – Celebrity Solstice, the World’s Largest Cruise Ship (GALLERY)
Posted in: UncategorizedLighting on Fire for Awareness – BBQ Championships Burn Victim Stunt
Posted in: UncategorizedI do not know what is more unusual about this extraordinary publicity stunt: the fact that a man was intentionally set alight to raise awareness for burn victims, or that the stunt took place at the World…
Human Fires for Awareness – BBQ Stunt for Burn Victims
Posted in: UncategorizedI do not know what is more unusual about this extraordinary publicity stunt: the fact that a man was intentionally set alight to raise awareness for burn victims, or that the stunt took place at the World…
Citi to Remain Largest Bank After Wachovia Acquisition
Posted in: Uncategorized
YORK, Pa. (AdAge.com) — With the harried wave of mergers and acquisitions in the financial sector, rankings in the bank industry are changing almost daily. Citi held the title of country's largest bank until No. 3 Bank of America prepared to leap over it with its pending purchase of Merrill Lynch. However, now that Citi has declared its intention to buy Wachovia, it will remain largest after the deal.
Criminal Fame – 10 Celebrity Mug Shots (Including Heather Locklear) (GALLERY)
Posted in: UncategorizedBlooming Window Art – Flat Flowers Stickers (GALLERY)
Posted in: UncategorizedDos Equis teams with freak-show Jim Rose
Posted in: UncategorizedAfter a night of watching Japanese robotic dancers, fire jugglers and French burlesque singers, boy do you need a drink. Cue legendary “new circus” performer Jim Rose, who is teaming with Dos Equis for “The Most Interesting Show in the World Tour.” The show is scheduled to play in bars, clubs and small theaters in cities like New York, L.A., Chicago and Miami starting next month. “We’re focused on creating an engaging experience built around the essence of the ad campaign and the relevant passions and interests of our consumers,” says Dos Equis exec Elizabeth Costa. I’m not sure the brand’s drinkers enjoy hammering spikes through their heads and nostrils like Rose does. That’s more a Jagermeister thing. And while the artist might not personify the gravel-voiced and dashing “Most Interesting Man in the World” from Dos Equis’ spots, he surely ranks among America’s most perforated.
—Posted by David Gianatasio
The Disparate Forces Of Microsoft’s Advertising Tactics
Posted in: UncategorizedMicrosoft is busy advertising more products than just faux-love for the PC. Their new ad play is more like a straight up attack actually, in support of the brand’s virtualization solutions. Their largest competitor is VMware who is currently taking direct marketing and digital body blows from the giant.
Microsoft hired the Seattle-based advertising agency Wexley School For Girls to create a website titled VM Ware Costs Way Too Much. To get visitors to the site, Microsoft handed out fliers with $1 poker chips and the URL to recent attendees at a virtualization conference in Vegas. Subtle? Nope. Not even close.
By the way, Wexley is often a partner for Microsoft’s marketing initiatives including a recent one to talk about internet slicing (see pic above). This part is incredibly dorky, but it’s also an example of just how many shops Microsoft uses to push its many, many businesses.
Rand Morimoto, resident of Convergent Computing, told Channel Web that:
“I think Microsoft, in all of their recent marketing – including the Bill Gates and Jerry Seinfeld ads – is simply trying to get common people to “talk” about Microsoft.”
Well, it’s working.
More: Meet The Wexley School For Girls
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The Internet Never Sleeps
Posted in: UncategorizedVirginia Heffernan of the The New York Times Magazine had fun last week poking around some prominent banking and investment sites.
In my fantasies, banks are never financial-services firms, and Bill Clinton did not sign the 1999 law that repealed the Glass-Steagall Act of 1933, allowing commercial and investment banks to merge.
It seems that the once-glorious Wall Street investment banks — Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, Merrill Lynch, Lehman Brothers, Bear Stearns — don’t share my fantasy. Even as they were sick, dying or dead, their Web sites had a chipper, customer-service vibe. They were still babbling about helping me realize my dreams. And money, when I could follow it on these silly sites, tripped around the globe, becoming euros and yen only to spread subprime stardust on razed fields where enchanted condos grew.
I’m dazzled by the fine journalism here, but Heffernan also shines a light on an unmet business challenge. Namely, that corporate websites are not operating in real time. No one expects TV or print to be “on” but we do expect the internet to be on at all times.
Maybe all brochureware sites should just be scrapped. If you want the brochure, download it as a PDF. In their place would be some form of multi-stream dialogue—updates from the product, brand and PR teams mixed in with ideas and concerns from the company’s best customers.
Individuals are already migrating to this type of online presence by choosing to maintain soc net profiles versus a full blown website. It’s time for brands to catch up.
Advertising: Mad Men, Cavemen and Other Denizens of Ad Week
Posted in: UncategorizedMilquetoast for Breakfast, Milquetoast for Lunch…
Posted in: UncategorizedAgency execs are a conservative lot when it comes to pitching ideas.
That’s the latest news from a study by Menlo Park, Calif.-based executive staffing firm Creative Group.
According to Marketing Daily, marketing executives–whose products and services are at stake–said they needed to push for more risky marketing strategies. Sixty-five percent of survey respondents who are marketing executives and 45% of those who are advertising executives said their firms do not take enough creative risks with projects.
I have to laugh at this. When is the last time a client told you to dial up the crazy?
If clients do harbor these desires they must be keeping them to themselves. That is, until a caller from Creative Group gets them to open up.
p.s. If you ARE a client and you want to dial up the crazy, give me a ring.
Oglivy’s Dilemma: Wachovia Gets Bought By Citibank.
Posted in: UncategorizedThe latest in regards to Wachovia is that bank has been purchased by Citibank for $2.2B. That means no more Wachovia, right? Where does this leave recent account winners Ogilvy?
The winning of the account was huge for Ogilvy. Talk about a morale booster. It meant that the agency’s creative team beat out the pack, proved they could perform a real brand transformation. How much does this suck for Ogilvy creatives? Sorry guys.
We hear that… Wachovia has made no contact with Ogilvy so who knows how this will all go down. However, thankfully, our sources tell us that Ogilvy had yet to spend a dime on any bit of the account.
We also hear that… TBWA/Chiat Day is counting up the myriad of bills from Washington Mutual, which surely, will not be paid. How far down on the list of creditors do you think they are?
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Lighting on Fire for Awareness – BBQ Championships Burn Victim Stunt (GALLERY)
Posted in: UncategorizedFord Plays the Bad Guy in ‘Flash of Genius’
Posted in: Uncategorized
DETROIT (AdAge.com) — As if troubled Ford Motor Co. needed another problem, this week Universal Studios releases "Flash of Genius," a film that paints the company as a corporate ogre. The film is based on the true story of Detroit engineering professor Robert Kearns, who invented the intermittent windshield wiper in the late 1960s and shopped it around to carmakers. After he sued two dozen automakers for patent infringement, he eventually reached a $10 million settlement with Ford.