Hasta La Creative!

Time Warner is planning a marketing push for its premium cable channel HBO later this year in a bid to accelerate growth at its prized TV network, the home of series such as “Game of Thrones,” “Girls” and “Boardwalk Empire.”

The campaign will take place in the fourth quarter across broadcast, cable and digital platforms, Chief Financial Officer Howard Averill said yesterday at a Bank of America Merrill Lynch media conference in Beverly Hills, California.

The growth potential of HBO, whose library available to subscribers also includes shows from “The Wire” to “Sex and the City,” was a factor in Time Warner’s decision to reject a $75 billion takeover offer from Rupert Murdoch’s 21st Century Fox this summer. Time Warner’s standalone strategy includes an upgraded HBO Go mobile app and easier access to the channel for broadband internet users who don’t want to buy a full cable-TV package.

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In, perhaps, the most baffling case of well, we’re not quite sure, an ad for the Vancouver Whitecaps soccer team was pulled because some felt the ad was sexist. We’re always up for a good controversy so we watched the 18 second ad waiting for some crazy, egregiously sexist moment.

After 18 seconds passed and the Whitecaps logo appeared, we scratched our head and thought, “Um…what?” The video is a candid capture of three women cheering on their team earlier in the season. It wasn’t staged. No actors where hired. Just three women enjoying the game.

Some say the video, produced in slow motion, is reminiscent of Pamela Anderson n the opening scene of Baywatch. And that was sexist how?

Emily Guedes, the woman on the left in the ad, has no idea either. But she is offended for another reason saying,”I am not offended by the video but I am adamantly offended by their removal of it.”

As to why the video, one of eight in a series highlighting fans, was pulled, Whitecaps President Bobby Lenarduzzi said,”It was never our intention to offend anybody. It was just one of a series of eight videos we are using to promote our upcoming season-ticket campaign. The fact that because there were people offended, we just thought the right thing to do was to pull it.”

A poll on VanCityBuzz finds 91.7% believe the ad is not sexist. Who the hell those other 8.3% are we have no idea.

Guedes added, “People need to lighten up. The only people who have a right to be offended by the video are me and my friends — and none of us are offended. I’m thinking about wearing an oversized turtleneck to the next game.”

Yea, maybe a potato sack. Afterall, WTF? It’s not like her boobs were falling out of a skimpy top. And, newsflash: WOMAN HAVE BREASTS! And in this case, it would seem some people would like us to believe that simply possessing a pair of breasts is somehow sexist.

Take a chill pill, people.

In a bold display of native advertising, a personal-injury firm that represents victims of faulty General Motors ignition switches sponsored two stories about ignition switch fails in the Daily Mail’s website, MailOnline, last week. The firm, Weitz & Luxenberg, also surrounded the posts with its banner ads, including one beginning with: “Does you GM car have a faulty ignition system?”

The ads look like typical Daily Mail stories except for a disclaimer above the byline that says, “Sponsored by Weitz & Luxenburg” (which is misspelled).

The first post, which ran on Sept. 10, called attention to the number of cars with faulty ignition switches that may still be on the road. The second, posted two days later, was about a lawsuit brought by the family of a nurse who was killed in an accident. The story did not say what firm represented the family.

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Você pode dar o brinquedo que quiser para algumas crianças, mas as chances de a caixa de papelão fazer muito mais sucesso são sempre enormes. Afinal, o brinquedo já está lá, pronto e definido, enquanto a caixa pode se transformar em absolutamente qualquer coisa, basta um pouco de imaginação. Mais ou menos como mostra a campanha Shoes that Move You, da rede de lojas Nordstrom, mais especificamente o filme Cardboard Box.

Com criação da DDB de Vancouver, o comercial nos lembra que, se na infância conseguimos enxergar tantas possibilidades contidas em uma caixa, isso também deveria valer na vida adulta – ainda que isso signifique sapatos.

A campanha conta ainda com um segundo filme, Cake, que também compara as alegrias da infância à idade adulta, como ficar com o maior pedaço do bolo em uma festa e finalmente usar aquele sapato novo.

É claro que essa coisa com sapatos só tem efeito na mulherada, mas está tudo bem, porque afinal, elas são o público alvo.

Post originalmente publicado no Brainstorm #9
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It’s the end of an era for the TV Guide brand as a TV channel. What is currently known as TVGN, formerly TV Guide Network, will change its name next year to Pop.

The rebranded channel will celebrate “fandom,” said Brad Schwartz, president, entertainment and media at Pop. Mr. Schwartz points to the growth in subcultures of fans for TV shows and bands, such as “Scandal” fans calling themselves “Gladiators.” The network will take a fun, enthusiastic and celebratory approach to fandom, and won’t be mean-spirited or snarky, he said.

Mr. Schwartz said the name Pop was selected to symbolize something that stands out and what everyone is talking about. “The idea of holding on to the TV Guide name didn’t make sense since we can’t own the name across platforms,” Mr. Schwartz said. TVGN is a separate entity from TV Guide magazine.

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