NEW YORK (AdAge.com) — Walt Disney Co. announced this morning it was acquiring Marvel Entertainment for about $4 billion, or $50 per Marvel share. The acquisition price represents a 30% premium to Marvel's current share price. Operationally Marvel appears to be a good fit for Disney. Disney's distribution could quickly exploit Marvel's strong licensing business.
Wikimedia's brilliance is in the fact that it's a living document, constantly shaped by its readers. So does it make sense to have an offline version? Yes, if you're interested in educating rural schoolchildren with no internet access.
(TrendHunter.com) Upon first glance at the hallucinogenic make-up on the models included in Indian fashion designer Manish Arora’s runway shows, thoughts of acid-trips past and trips down the rabbit-hole spring to mind.…
It's becoming as cliche as the hero who gets the girl in the end, but as the digital-advertising landscape evolves, patterns that worked well in traditional media may not be as optimal in the digital arena. This holds especially true for movie advertisers.
Verne Troyer may have questionable judgment for agreeing to do this ad, but D.R. Horton has no shame — or tact.
NEW YORK (AdAge.com) — If you want to understand how ESPN went from a two-story building surrounded by satellites in 1979 to the world's largest sports-media brand, spend a day at the company's campus in Bristol, Conn. On the eve of ESPN's 30th anniversary, MediaWorks took a trip up north to the company's Media Workshop, where dozens of reporters and bloggers convened for a tour of what makes Walt Disney Co.'s top-grossing cable property tick. Here are some highlights from the day's sessions.
Why are there so few women creative directors? Creative women have not enjoyed the level of success that women have found in every other advertising-agency department. Certainly some have succeeded, and research has sifted out the traits they share: great creative talent, a competitive nature, resilience and an outgoing personality. They are politically astute, primarily focused on career and/or childless. Aha, and there we have it: Gender isn't really the issue; motherhood is.
Consumers who buy a drink at Sonic in September can vote online for specific teachers to win $250 to $400 grants part of the chain's first national cause-marketing campaign, "Limeades for Learning."
Remember back in the day when a reporter would be admonished or even fired for not being the first to cover a breaking news? Well, the times have changed. An outdoor campaign by Stuff.co.nz boasts “if our team don’t break stories first, there are consequences.” Consequences, indeed (and not for the copy editors!). One of its billboards has a tomato-pelted reporter strapped to it, while another features a reporter being dangled out of a window from high above with a banner below him featuring the same line.
This kind of reminds me of a “Saturday Night Live” skit in the 70’s that depicted a bunny with a gun to its head and the tagline, “buy this (whatever) or the bunny gets it.”
Sure, humor is a fantastic motivator and will, in this case, drive traffic to the Web, but what I love about this campaign is that it raises the bar for creative. It’s not mirroring pop culture – it’s creating it, which is what Stuff does perfectly on its website, too.
Sara Barton is a copywriter, social media strategist, and avid blogger who is in search of her next opportunity. Contact her via Twitter, LinkedIn, or her blog.
Anheuser-Busch InBev has thrown down the gauntlet. Consumers in China must answer. An opportunity has presented itself for Budweiser enthusiasts to play creative director and develop an ad to commemorate the 2010 Chinese New Year.
There is one rule in this contest: the ad must feature ants. For the past decade, A-B InBev has incorporated the ant motif in every ad campaign for the Chinese New Year.
Paul Wong, the director of the Budweiser ants TV spots since 2003, said the ants depict “the Chinese national spirit of diligence, solidarity and intelligence.”
The digital contest was developed by A-B InBev’s marketing team in Shanghai to better engage the Chinese people by utilizing the Chinese video-sharing site, Tudou.com. The site will allow participants to write, draw and edit storyboards for a TV spot.
“We realized user-generated ideas and online video are both very popular among internet users at this stage, so this is the area that we want to use as well,” said Vivian Yeh, A-B InBev’s Shanghai based new media manager.
The grand prize winner will receive 100,000 RMB ($14,637) and will help produce the ad.
Note: I’d submit my own Budweiser Ants TV ad if it weren’t for my locale. I actually have a great idea for a spot. But to maintain the peace of mind of the contestants, I won’t divulge. However, I’ll tell you this… it involves myriad ants, an ant farm that extends across China, a sea of Budweiser brew, an eccentric panda and O’Hara from Enter the Dragon. Now, let it play out in your head…
Rohan Raj. Syrupy schmaltz. Finessing perpetual cadence. Boundless behemoth. Absence of mutual exclusivity? Priceless…Reach him via Twitter or LinkedIn.
Coup de cœur pour cet excellent concept de poster, réalisé par l’artiste Roland Tiangco. Une série d’affiches où le message n’apparait que lors d’une manipulation avec des mains sales. Explications et plus de visuels dans la suite.
Um robô segura uma garrafa de Coca-Cola em uma mão, e na outra um objeto estranho qualquer (como gelatina, anão de jardim, LEGO, etc), com diversos movimentos diferentes. É aí que você entra: se conseguir fazer o robô abrir a garrafa, concorre a Xbox 360 e celulares.
No fim das contas, o “Desafio Abra a Felicidade” é uma promoção com sorteio como outra qualquer, mas com a diferença de contar com uma interface interativa e divertida. Se você acertar a sequência de movimentos da máquina, recebe um bilhete para participar.
Obviamente, a estrela é o robô Motoman SDA 10, e suas 15 articulações com agilidade para reproduzir ações humanas. E sim, você acertou, é coisa de japonês.
A criação é da Gringo e da CIT, com campanha de mídia da JWT.
Post originalmente publicado no Brainstorm #9
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NEW YORK (AdAge.com) — A lot of global marketing is about translating a single idea for dozens of markets. But, let's face it, local executions don't stay local for long, especially if they offer bloggers a chance to embarrass a multinational brand. Microsoft learned this last week, when blogs and mainstream media alike seized upon an image from Microsoft's Polish business website featuring a clumsy Photoshop job that turned a black man white.
Dirigé par Sil Van Der Woerd et en collaboration avec l’école Gnomon School pour la post-production, voici ce très élégant clip musical intitulé White Swan. Il reprend un titre de l’artiste “Lolly Jane Blue” dans un très bel univers graphique. A découvrir dans la suite.
CHICAGO (AdAge.com) — Under Armour, which has quickly built one of the most iconic brands in sports with its internal creative team, is seeking some outside help. It has narrowed a quiet agency review down to two shops — Omnicom Group's Goodby, Silverstein & Partners and independent Cramer-Krasselt — for a project involving its expanding women's line.
NEW YORK (AdAge.com) — It will be at least nine months — and probably closer to a year — before Microsoft takes over Yahoo's search infrastructure, theoretically consolidating 28% of the U.S. search market and mounting the first credible challenge on Google in a decade. But it's not too early for marketers to wonder if they need to ask: Do we, uh, speak Bing?
NEW YORK (AdAge.com) — Got some old airplanes lying around collecting dust? How about some flavored ground beef from a new burger offering that didn't go over well? Don't worry, because there are a few agencies out there that can help you trade your impaired assets for ad space.
“Dog’s Life” is a TV commercial for Amnesty International, about how fast the social injustice is growing in Europe (and Portugal, to be more specific). With the economic crisis and with so many people loosing their jobs, everyone – politics, journalists, NGS, society in general – should discuss this issue very seriously. Portuguese Hollywood star Joaquim de Almeida (“24”, “Desperado”, “Clear and Present Danger”), was very touched by the project and agreed to do all the voice over in the spot. One last note: the dog that appears on the spot is a canine star, one of the most requested “animal actors” in Europe, and was flown specially to take part in the spot.
Advertising Agency: Fuel, Lisbon, Portugal
Creative Director: Marcelo Lourenço/Pedro Bexiga
Art Director: Pedro Bexiga
Copywriter: Marcelo Lourenço
Director: Rita Nunes
Dop: André Schankovsky
Art Director: Artur Pinheiro
Stylling: Carlos Soares
Make-Up: Rosarinho
Dog: Zooco
Tv Producer: Miguel Barbosa
Accounts: Sergio Resende/Joana Gomes Pedro
Sound: Indigo
NEW YORK (AdAge.com) — Many marketers are struggling with the new world of Twitter and social media but few face the dilemma of pharmaceutical giants such as Pfizer. Twitter-using consumers are highly interested in their drug products, but their marketing communications are rigidly constrained by federal regulations. While Pfizer has just launched a Twitter site, the company is not exactly sure what it's allowed to say on it.
Découverte de Mladen Penev, un photographe bulgare de talent. Un véritable univers et de nombreux travaux en photo-manipulation, sur son portfolio ou dans la suite de l’article.
This is site is run by Sascha Endlicher, M.A., during ungodly late night hours. Wanna know more about him? Connect via Social Media by jumping to about.me/sascha.endlicher.
