The outpouring of memorials and remembrances following the death of TV pitchman Billy Mays was a testament to the career he had built, while also speaking to the true reach of direct-response TV. He had achieved a kind of cult status that made him interesting to almost everyone, and contradicted the common misconception that only a select demographic watches DRTV.
INTERVIEW: Domino’s marketing director Robin Auld on why the pizza delivery chain’s sales are up, the joy of cheaper media and the techno-marketing developments in the Domino’s pipeline. YouTube video, anyone?
LONDON – News Corporation is in talks with rival publishers about forming a consortium to charge for online news, according to reports.
(TrendHunter.com) Diesel is well-known for their head-scratching ads, and their new Fall/Winter campaign continues that legacy.
We’ve had a sneak peek at the concept with a curious Twink vs. Bear billboard earlier, and…
For the past few weeks, there has been a lot of of talk about the Palm Pre spots by Modernista! – ranging from creepy, annoying, and bizarre to genius. Face it, you’re still talking about these otherworldly spots. However, some critics have brought to mind the possibility that the commercials aren’t effective, especially since there is hardly any mention of the phone’s functions. Despite the campaign’s shortcomings, the stunning visual effects are not to be missed. The key is getting past Canadian actress Tamara Hope’s nonsenciscal ramblings about deja vu, clowns, and juggling.
I really want to like this campaign, if nothing other than for the originality of it, but it doesn’t tell a story and it doesn’t really sell the phone, either. It just makes me feel weirded out. For example, in one of the spots, Hope tells viewers that she feels her phone can read her mind and recalls how a man once asked her, “Does it know you’re crazy?” “Well of course it does, sir,” she says, “It’s mine.”
Does crazy sell? I don’t remember learning that in my advertising classes in college, but I did go to a liberal arts, theater-focused school where crazy is embraced. But I digress…
What concerns me about this campaign is the soft focus on a product that is the first viable competitor of the iPhone. There are no mentions of the Pre’s operating system, which is a major advantage, nor will you see the spots as often as you do the ones from Apple (this may be by design). Despite cyber-blabber and blog entries about how people think the commercials are creepy and annoying, studies show that many viewers find the spots soothing and inspiring. In fact, the company is on track to sell 400,000+ units per quarter.
Huh… maybe crazy does sell.
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.
(TrendHunter.com) I’m loving the crazy photo manipulation work of HumanDescent, who cleverly morphs different species of animals together to create these humorous hybrids.
My favorites from HumanDescent’s designs include…
(TrendHunter.com) Dutch photographer Erwin Olaf celebrates being 50 years old with self portraits that show how he currently looks like, how he wishes he looked like, and how he will look like as he gets older.
His new…
LONDON – BSkyB is to close seven of Sky.com’s portals due to their inability to contribute significant profit, with up to 10 jobs going as a result.
LONDON – Channel 4 is broadcasting a week of 3D programming to celebrate the history of 3D footage.
LONDON – Club Asia, the London radio station targeting the South Asian community, has gone into administration.
Australia’s ANZ Small Business tapped M&C Saatchi to develop a spot that’s both funny and sympathetic to its target demo: small business owners.
LONDON – Social media outfit Reality Digital has signed a deal with parenting community Gurgle.com to introduce richer video and social networking capabilities to the site.
LONDON – Premier Inn is launching a £58 honeymoon deal for cash strapped-consumers.
Speaking of MySpace, the hot mess at left was recently rejected by the social networking site for being too sexually explicit.
LONDON – Rightmove, the property search website, has seen revenues slump by 11% in the six months ended 30 June 2009 as advertisers pulled away from the site.
How completely insane. Here is a series of videos that purport to teach you how various indie emo hipster-looking people achieve their MySpace profile pic angles.
LONDON – Twitter is to allow its users to add global position data to every tweet posted, on an opt-in basis, a potential Pandora’s Box for third party developers – but is the company finally ready to start plopping advertising in front of its users?
– Prior to the premier, Mad Men season 3 leaks on iTunes just long enough for a bunch of madcap bloggers to publish stuff like this.
Depois que ficou velho e não tem mais nenhuma garota gritando por ele, como sempre vemos nos comerciais, Alice Cooper deve estrelar pelo menos umas duas campanhas publicitárias por ano. Sinal de que ele não ficou maluco, e aprendeu a brincar com a sua própria persona. Alguém falou em Ozzy?
No filme lançado hoje pela Sony, Cooper e sua equipe contam como era a vida de rock star na década de 1980, quebrando e jogando televisores pela janela do hotel e do ônibus. Isso tudo para dizer que hoje você precisa jogar a sua TV fora, já que a Sony paga até 150 euros por ela na compra de uma Bravia.
A criação é da TBWA\London.
| Via Brand Republic
Post originalmente publicado no Brainstorm #9
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LONDON – Spotify, the online music service, has secured investment from one of the world’s richest individuals, Asian billionaire Li Ka-shing.
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