LONDON – The vast majority (94%) of ads that make environmental claims comply with advertising codes, and “greenwash” is far from rife, according to research published by the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA).
Alaska is all over the place lately. (It’s a cool place, no joke!) Vaseline headed up there to promote its Clinical Therapy Lotion. The star of the campaign is Petal Ruch (shown here), a resident of Kodiak, who was given the product and encouraged to share it with friends and neighbors, who all presumably suffer from perpetually chapped skin owing to the cold. It’s unclear whether she gave any to Sarah Palin, and if she did, whether that’s what caused the vp candidate to “go rogue.” Vaseline is derived from petroleum, and Alaska has all that oil, so there’s an odd full-circle effect in these spots. Still, that does little to detract from the inherent kinky/creepiness of someone “prescribing” Vaseline products to his or her neighbors. I tried it with those co-eds next door, and they took out a restraining order. I guess folks really are more friendly in Alaska!
—Posted by David Gianatasio
LONDON – Kadence, the international market research business, has grown quarterly revenues by 68% year on year, boosted by a particularly strong performance from its UK office.
LONDON – The Financial Times has launched a comment and analysis area on its financial blog FT Alphaville.
Against all odds, DentalEZ’s online series of videos, created by Lanmark Group, lives up to its name: Funny Dental Videos. This is an industry-targeted play touting high-tech dental equipment, which in theory could make humor even more difficult. But these spots are so unrepentantly, sophomorically and at times delightfully goofy, it’s easy to see how dentists would be amused, particularly after a long day of asking people to rinse and spit. The RamVac Bulldog QT2 provides suction—we know this because the entire cast of the spot explains how thoroughly “it sucks!” Frankenstein’s monster introduces the Freedom Workstation, cringing and grunting when flames shoot out of the device. (Let’s hope they don’t use that on patients.) There’s even a Steve Irwin-type nature host who tracks handheld dental tools in the wild (they rise up from the bush like giraffes), and a poolside skit with sexy guys and gals lounging in J/V Generation dental chairs. These are like good Saturday Night Live ad parodies, except DentalEZ’s ads are for real. And that’s the tooth! Which, thankfully, is the kind of joke these clips avoid.
—Posted by David Gianatasio
LONDON – ITV1’s new family entertainment series ‘Britannia High’ got off to a disappointing start last night with just 3.3m viewers, as the kids were foiled by ‘Antiques Roadshow’ on BBC One, which also found success with the first instalment of Dickens drama ‘Little Dorrit’.
LONDON – Conde Nast has appointed senior executives Rachel Reidy and Claire Dobson to lead the commercial team for the UK launch of tech-magazine Wired.
I meant to tell y’all about the article in Resumé about “Adland’s near death experience” on Friday, but then I got the stomach flu of the “oh god, I wish I was dead” variety so it was put on the backburner until today.
I thought my “big plans need big server” bit was terribly quotable alas it didn’t make it in, but then the headline which was the reporters subject line on an email requesting to talk to me is hilarious, and I get to vent a little about the lack of Swedish submissions, so in the end that’s all good baby.
For you folk that don’t read Swedish, here’s a wee bit translated, and the subject of the article was our scary disk-crash last week.
Adland has around 40 000 visitors daly in the fall. The most visitors per day is in February during the Superbowl when well 100 000 visitors can stop by each day. During the low season in the summer around 30 000 people visit the site daily.
Swedish representation on the site is small however, both in content and in the visitors.
– “I have tried to get Swedish agencies to send in their films, but nothing happens. As a Swede, I want people around the world to see the Swedish work as well. But I get 70-100 submissions a day from all around the world, so I’m not sure why I have to run with a blowtorch to the Swedish agencies” Åsk Wäppling.
Yes, it’s a bizarre expression, but I like blowtorches. And hand on your heart people, how difficult is it to email your work to host – at – ad-rag.com? Email me baybeh, and don’t forget the credits! 😉
LONDON – Aegis Group has acquired Malaysian digital agency IF for an undisclosed sum.
LONDON – GMTV’s pre-tax profit rose by £6m in 2007, as a result of including revenue from its controversial phone competitions.
LONDON – Omnicom’s OMD network has been awarded Asics’ £15m media planning and buying business across six European countries, including the UK, following a three-way pitch against undisclosed agencies.
ASICS, the sportswear brand, has handed its pan-European media planning and buying business to OMD.
LONDON – Scottish agency family has won two accounts – for Edinburgh’s newest shopping centre, and an Aberdeen retailer.
LONDON – Condé Nast has made two appointments to the commercial team of its soon-to-launch technology title Wired.
LONDON – Russell Brand has apologised to ‘Fawlty Towers’ star Andrew Sachs for making a series of obscene phone calls with Jonathan Ross while on his BBC Radio 2 show, claiming he had slept with the actor’s granddaughter.
LONDON – With the new James Bond film released later this week, members of the public tell us what they think of the new ad for Sony HD, starring Daniel Craig.
LONDON – Panic selling fuels stock market collapse, US hopes for some less bad news, beer sales on skid row.
LONDON – ITV is considering changing the targets for its executive performance pay scheme following its recent relegation from the FTSE 100, according to reports.
LONDON – The Information Commissioner’s Office has ruled that the BBC does not have to reveal information about its TV detection operation, including how many detector vans it has, to avoid damaging the public’s perception of its effectiveness.
LONDON – British Airways leading marketer Katherine Whitton has resigned from her position as head of marketing communications, Marketing can reveal.
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