Hasta La Creative!

After 10 long years, MTV is finally taking TRL off the air this November. MTV claims it wants the show to go out while it’s on top. (That’s a blatant lie, since the show has been losing viewers for a while. Hands up if you didn’t know Total Request Live was still airing?) Supposedly, the remaining audience will all head over to Pete Wentz’s MTV show, FNMTV (Friday Night MTV, or F’nMTV if you like—check out the promo), which boasted good ratings during its limited summer run. You know Wentz—he wrote a couple books, wears too much eyeliner, married the lesser Simpson. Oh yeah, and in his spare time he’s the bassist/lyricist for the band Fall Out Boy. Though the headlines claim that TRL is RIP, don’t believe it. MTV just needs some space right now, and they’re taking a break. I’m sure that in a decade or so, when they find a new Carson Daily to host, TRL will be back, and it’ll be like it never left—except for the new threesome segment, of course. Until then, let’s take a look back at the TRL legacy.

—Posted by Rebecca Cullers

UXB’s commercial for Cleatskins, a product that converts cleats to street shoes, scores in more ways than one. The lighting, design and direction perfectly evoke and skewer so many macho and tiresome jock-ad cliches. And the pompous faux-Nike soundtrack really seals the deal. When that muscle-bound bruiser goes crashing to the floor, I laugh like only a vindictive, oft-wedgied nerd who still holds a grudge from high school can. Think I’ll hit replay right now. Uh-oh, watch out for your chin! … Ha ha ha! This clip never gets old. Enjoy your trip to the orthodontist, Pigskin Pete. I just hope they fix your face in time for the yearbook photo. Not.

—Posted by David Gianatasio

LONDON – CNN International has promoted Nick Wrenn from managing editor for Europe, Middle East & Africa, to the new position of vice president of digital services.

A b3ta prankster included the “facts” in the wikipedia article about AC Omonia that;

A small but loyal group of fans are lovingly called “The Zany Ones” – they like to wear hats made from discarded shoes and have a song about a little potato. They are known to keep their season tickets in the oven for safekeeping.

– he was surprised to see these facts repeated in The Mirror: “…..whose fans are known as the ‘Zany Ones’ and wear hats made from shoes.” so he decided to email them about the prank to point out their lazy research. Still this ended up in print and in another article the next day: “Omonia made City pay for their wastefulness when they opened the scoring four minutes after the break to send their fans – nicknamed the Zany Ones – completely wild.”. Tsssk!
The email sent to the journalist:

Dear David (and could the mirrornews email please be forwarded to the sport/football editor),

Thank you for your article in today’s Mirror (18th September 2008) about Omonia Nicosia. The bit I enjoyed most was the following paragraph –

“Despite City’s raised profile, they must make do with the UEFA Cup this season and Hughes will not tolerate any slip-ups against the Cypriot side, whose fans are known as the ‘Zany Ones’ and wear hats made from shoes.”.

Why? Well, shortly after the draw was made, a friend and I made a few alterations to the Wikipedia page for Omonia. The “Zany Ones”, “hats made from discarded shoes” and the “song about a little potato” are, as you may have discovered in Nicosia, completely fabricated.

The clues were there in the rest of the article.

They have a new sponsor – Natasha Kaplinsky – and their former players include Jean Claude Van Damme and Richard Clayderman. My favourite is in the Board of Directors section…
# Governor of Football: Nikos Charalambous
# Governor of Basketball: Petros Souppouris
# Governor of Volleyball: Photos Ioannou
# Governor of Hitlersball: Albert Hall

I hope you take this in the spirit it was meant, and hope this reminds you not to trust everything you read on Wikipedia.

Any donations to our Friday beer fund would be most welcome. Perhaps your editor would like to contribute your fee for the article, as you evidently didn’t do any fact checking.

Thank you,

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LONDON – German publisher Axel Springer is launching a Polish weekly newspaper called Fakt for Great Britain, in a bid to cash in on the UK’s burgeoning Polish population.

LONDON – The Radio Advertising Bureau is creating a £3m advertiser-funded partnership kitty to help clients gain more from their radio activity.

LONDON – McAfee, the world’s largest dedicated security technology company, has appointed Tribal DDB Worldwide to lead its global advertising account.

LONDON – All3Media, the independent TV production group, is backing the launch of a branded content agency headed by a breakaway team from MindShare.

LONDON – The Radio Advertising Bureau (RAB) is to invest £3m in an ad-funded partnership, which will help brands to get more from their radio campaigns.

LONDON – Over-50s marketing specialist Millennium has been recruited by Reader’s Digest to support the magazine relaunch and direct product-led marketing activity.