Tamsen Fadal remembers the exact moment she realized it was time to leave her longtime home at New York’s WPIX. While seated in the anchor’s chair one Friday night in 2019, the Emmy-winning face of the PIX11 Evening News suddenly felt her body temperature rise to inferno levels as her heartbeat quickened with increasing intensity….
Mother’s Day surprises were aplenty this weekend, including a big one for the U.S. women’s World Cup soccer team.
Due to their demanding schedules, it’s been years since many of the players have seen their moms on Mother’s Day. In a very sweet video uploaded to Facebook and YouTube by Fox Sports, the team sat down for a pre-game dinner, and their coach introduced special surprise guests—their moms.
The mother-daughter reunions are lovely to watch. Maybe even more remarkable is seeing the a second surprise happen—check out the video to see what it was.
“Abby’s been on this team for 14 years. For 14 years, I have not had you around for a Mother’s Day,” says Abby Wambach’s mom, Judy. The video cuts to the two of them standing side by side on the field.
The video closes with a request to “Cheer on our women this summer.” (Fox will be broadcasting the tournament across its networks, including 16 matches live on the flagship broadcast station.)
The team won the game 3-0 with their moms watching. Wambach scored career goals 179 and 180, and turned around after her second goal to point at her mom.
Heartwarming and inspiring all around.
Many actors deal with fans confusing them with their characters. But not many have a term like “adorkable” following them around.
Unfortunately for Zooey Deschanel, the star of Fox’s New Girl since 2011, a cute marketing ploy for the show’s first season has dogged her ever since. The combination of the words “dorky” and “adorable”—featured on billboards for the show’s first season—has come to define people’s perception of the actress.
“[Adorkable] was something that was calculated, you know what I mean?” she tells The Huffington Post. “That was our marketing department at Fox, and they did a really good job with our first season, but that’s a word that describes the character that I play, not me. I don’t personally have identification with that word myself.”
It seems marketing can be too successful sometimes. We’d bet Fox is still pretty happy with the campaign.
Tina Fey and Amy Poehler lay out their hosting strategies for this year’s Golden Globes in this blooper-reel-style NBC video that leans rather heavily on the ladies’ charm (and some well-timed edits), rather than the strength of their material.
For example: Tina’s “I’m not gonna dope” line, which would fall flat without the quick cut. Or Amy’s joke about Hollywood Foreign Press members being ghosts, which sounds like a rejected Anchorman line, though her bright-faced delivery makes it work. (We’ll ignore the Banksy thing altogether.)
Still, the spot fulfills its intentions to the letter. Awards shows are awkward and cursed with uninspired writing, but if the hosts are good enough, they still basically work.
Should today’s vote lead to an independent Scotland, the country will need a fearless leader to represent it on the world stage. Obviously, Groundskeeper Willie of The Simpsons is that man. It’s the latest bit of genius from the Fox show, and expect a lot more of it very soon.
MAC Cosmetics is producing a Simpsons-themed cosmetics line—including eyeshadow, lip gloss, blush, mascara and nail stickers—to honor the show’s 25th anniversary.
One can only imagine the challenges they faced getting this out of R&D. For one thing, the show’s color palette doesn’t really look good on anyone. The dominant color is yellow, and one of the cartoon’s enduring design characteristics revolves around not making anyone, including celebrities, look too attractive. This obviously clashes with beauty products. (The lip gloss colors alone are called Grand Pumpkin, Itchy & Scratchy & Sexy, Nacho Cheese Explosion and Red Blazer.)
“We are celebrating the country’s favorite animated family and its beloved matriarch Marge with a vibrant color collection that screams That Trillion Dollar Look,” the brand says. “Our classic formulas and finishes you love are to blue dye for with an animated twist. All in limited-edition packaging that can only be described in one word: Eeeeexcellent.”
Also, the show has been bad to the point of unwatchable for at least 10 years, so they’re chasing a vanishing audience that mostly watches out of habit with stuff that will make them look, at best, super weird.
Not to mention, any real Simpsons fan involved in this project would have made at least one shade of lip gloss that referenced the monorail episode.
Rejoice, Friends enthusiasts! Your dream of sipping coffee at the iconic Central Perk will soon become a reality.
It’s been 20 years since Ross, Phoebe, Monica, Joey, Chandler and Rachel first graced our TV screens, and the love for the gang remains strong, if all of the people on my Facebook feed are to be trusted. To celebrate two decades of shouting “Pivot!” every time a friend announces he’s moving, Warner Bros. Television Group, Warner Bros. Consumer Products and Eight O’Clock Coffee are partnering to create a Central Perk pop-up in Manhattan.
It’ll be short-lived—the shop, created with help from agency Source Marketing, will open Sept. 17 at the corner of Lafayette and Broome Streets, and close Oct. 18—but fans can hang out on the weird orange couch, listen to a rendition of Smelly Cat, see some special guests (Gunther will be there) and maybe, I don’t know, try to figure out how Rachel afforded to live in a sprawling Manhattan apartment on a barista’s salary.
It’s a brilliant partnership for Eight O’Clock, which will also be adding a special Central Perk blend to its coffee line next month, if you want to K-Cup your way to a Friends-in-your-travel-mug experience.
By David Schwab, Octagon First Call
Season 18 of Dancing With the Stars kicks off Monday night with some big changes—most notably, Erin Andrews is the new co-host, replacing Brooke Burke. Like Burke, Andrews is a past competitor—she finished third on Season 10. Andrews has a strong (mostly male) fan base from her days on ESPN and current gig with Fox Sports, so this new role should make her more of a household name with women. She is already busy in the endorsement space, with current and past deals including Reebok, TruBiotics, Diet Mountain Dew and Ticketmaster. It's also worth noting that Burke is still incredibly relevant and popular with brands, especially with her ModernMom.com platform reaching women 25-54.
Here's a look at our marketing predictions for the new cast:
Drew Carey: Carey has been a TV mainstay for two decades, most recently as the host of The Price Is Right. His endearing humor and nice-guy image will garner him much fanfare and show success. Carey's awareness level among adults 25-54 is twice as much as the average celebrity comedic personality, and DWTS will only increase that. His inspiring 80-pound weight loss over the last few years was a big media draw and gives Carey added relevance in the health and wellness space. As DWTS draws back the curtain on Carey's off-screen life and interests, look for opportunities with brands and organizations in the photography (he is an amateur photographer), health/nutrition and literacy (he is a strong advocate for libraries) spaces.
Candace Cameron Bure: Bure played DJ on the ABC show Full House and has made several appearances in television and film since the show ended in 1995. A devout Christian and mother of three, she has written two books about her approach to juggling motherhood; her most recent sparked a minor controversy in regards to her family structure. Still, she will be of interest to wholesome, family-targeted programs, and there are always plenty of mom-driven PR campaigns popping up. Working in her favor is the fanfare surrounding Full House after John Stamos, Bob Saget and Dave Coulier reunited for an Oikos Super Bowl commercial. It would be fun to see them and other Full House castmates show up to cheer her on and further fuel cast-reunion buzz.
Danica McKellar: Another child TV star turned nostalgia icon, McKellar is still best known for her role as Winnie Cooper on The Wonder Years, but she has also authored four books on mathematics primarily targeted at adolescent readers (check out her "Pi Day" tweet from last Friday). A television veteran with a mass-appealing platform of youth empowerment and education, McKellar has all the makings of a fan favorite. Prime for the brand space, she is obviously great for education/academic-focused brands (LeapFrog, TI, Teach for America, etc.) or brands looking to activate with an intellectual spin (e.g., Gillette's "How Does Superman Shave?" campaign). Beauty, health and apparel brands should also watch closely as Danica is attractive, too.
NeNe Leakes: Leakes transitioned from The Real Housewives of Atlanta to a starring role in the short-lived NBC sitcom The New Normal and a continued recurring role on Fox's Glee. Her vibrant personality is sure to be a hit with viewers and will deliver some entertaining postperformance banter with the judges. She has participated in past marketing partnerships with Pretzelmaker and Sears. She made a smart choice to join DWTS, which could further incite interest from brands looking to activate campaigns that need a "larger than life" personality. More of a bump in marketing, not a mainstay.
Cody Simpson: At just 17 years old, Simpson is the youngest competitor this season. The Australian pop star is one of two cast members DWTS is likely banking on to bring in younger viewers this season. Unlike past teen stars on the show who hadn't resonated for brands yet, Simpson has already partnered with Bing, Jay Jays clothing and Teen Cancer America. His burgeoning music career sets him apart from past teen competitors who were associated only with Disney shows. Categories to consider would be soda, tech and shoe/accessory lines. Solid fan base of almost 6.5 million Twitter fans.
Meryl Davis and Charlie White: We anticipated a surge in Davis and White's marketability following their Winter Olympics gold medal performance and even mentioned that competing slots on DWTS would be most advantageous for them. They are not completely new to the DWTS family, as pro Derek Hough choreographed their Olympic routine. Davis and White were prominently featured in Kellogg's, Visa and P&G TV ads around Sochi, and those brands should take advantage of this extended spotlight. I don't see many new marketing deals but definitely an increase of performance fees at skating shows around the country.
Amy Purdy: As a Paralympian (bronze medalist, snowboarding), Purdy is the best human-interest story in the field. She is a double amputee and also underwent a kidney transplant from her father at 21 years old. Her magnetic personality, undeniable athleticism and inspiring story have already attracted brands including Toyota, Kellogg's and Runway. An occasional actress, she's also comfortable playing to a camera and being on the national stage. DWTS will introduce her to a whole new wave of opportunities and a definite future in motivational corporate and public speaking.
James Maslow: Maslow, 23, is the latest in a long tradition of young stars competing on DWTS (see Simpson above). As Disney is the parent company of DWTS network ABC, most young competitors have come from Disney Channel properties, but Maslow launched his career on competing network Nickelodeon's hit show/boy band Big Time Rush. A run on DWTS could help propel him as a solo musician (the show ended last year, and the future of the band is still TBD).
Diana Nyad: After years of preparations and four failed attempts, Nyad in 2013 became the first person to swim from Cuba to the Florida Keys without a shark cage. Her endurance and no-quit attitude are obvious and should mitigate her advanced age (64) in terms of the competition. She is already an established motivational speaker, and the DWTS exposure will introduce her to further corporate speaking opportunities as brand execs tune in and track the cast throughout the season. However, she probably won't draw the same interest for marketing deals that her fellow competitors will.
Billy Dee Williams: At 76, Williams is the oldest competitor in this season's cast. He is rumored to be returning for the next installment of the Star Wars franchise, which could make this DWTS stint the beginning of a late-career renaissance for him. During his heyday, Williams was most famously the spokesperson for Colt 45 malt liquor, but we see few marketing opportunities for him post-DWTS. He probably won't be the one to do the typical PR runaround in New York or L.A., but his built-in sci-fi fan base and likable persona could potentially still be leveraged in digital content and marketing activations at sci-fi focused events (e.g., Comic-Con).
Sean Avery: Avery is a former NHL-er who spent the prime of his career with the New York Rangers and in the penalty box. He built a reputation as a bad boy during his hockey career, so expect him to carry that mantle throughout the DWTS season. Following his retirement from hockey, Avery modeled in campaigns for 7 for All Mankind (directed by James Franco) and Hickey Freeman. While Avery has tried to showcase the dynamics of his personality over the years, DWTS may not help his cause as he will be fighting an uphill battle to shine through a mix of personalities who are better known, have stronger and more positive backstories and/or have stronger marketability. He is the first hockey player to compete on DWTS, but that won't mean much to brands.
David Schwab is managing director of Octagon First Call, experts in aligning celebrities with brands to deliver a quantifiable return on objectives. Follow him at @david_schwab.
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Late-night talk-show hosts already commandeer your living room in the wee hours. Now they're expanding their purview.
Following Jimmy Kimmel's bit before Sunday's Oscars in which he pretended to climb through the camera into a couple's living room to berate them, today we have this new Time Warner Cable ad starring Jimmy Fallon—in which the Tonight Show host shows up (with his whole band) in a guy's home just as he's eating breakfast. The point: Now you can watch NBC shows anytime as part of TWC's on-demand services.
Fallon is already everywhere these days; it only makes sense that he should be there anytime as well. He even popped up briefly in Ogilvy New York's previous ad for TWC—the minute-long extravaganza, also posted below, hosted by Diddy.
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The Tonight Show is moving from one smug cultural petri dish to another, thanks to Jimmy Fallon, who will be taking the show back to NYC when he replaces Jay Leno next month. To commemorate this historic shift into reverse gear, NBC has released a print ad of a snappily dressed Fallon walking the edge of a high-rise building in Manhattan. I have to say, it's weird to see Fallon looking directly into a camera without corpsing like an amateur. It's a pretty standard ad for this sort of thing, but it gets the point across and the skyline is cool, which is all they need to prompt New Yorkers to pat themselves on the back about yet another thing. Below is the first TV promo, which features all the past hosts of the show—even, for literally half a second, Conan O'Brien.
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Most presidents go through a second-term depression, but Obama's has been particularly dismal. To help out, Saturday Night Live has introduced Paxil Second Term Strength, a depression medication for the narrowest target market imaginable: the president of the United States. Paxil Second Term Strength makes you feel like you're giving a speech on a college campus in 2008 or getting Bin Laden all over again. It's even powerful enough to deal with symptoms from Benghazi to that time Jay-Z and Beyoncé went to Cuba. Not a Democrat? No problem. There's also new Paxil Republican Strength for when you have to answer to Congress or the Koch Brothers. It's not the funniest of SNL, but it's worth a chuckle. It also appears to be some excellent product placement, given that Paxil is a real medication with a registered trademark whose packaging and logo were used in the spot—a fact which should be far from depressing for Paxil's brand managers.
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Actress and comedian Rebel Wilson is a quirky rule breaker, so why should she adhere to some old-school network-TV model for promoting a sitcom? She shouldn't, ya hear? Regular 30-second promo spots? Pshaw.
Wilson, who stars in, writes and co-executive produces ABC's upcoming series Super Fun Night, conceived the idea of a full-length music video to hype the show. The Aussie, who broke out to U.S. audiences in Pitch Perfect and Bridesmaids, wanted to show her vocal chops and give a snapshot of the lovable nerdiness of the fall comedy, which isn't, in fact, a musical. It is, however, self-deprecating in the extreme, with Wilson coining the term "eye broccoli" to describe herself and her pals in the pilot.
The music vid, from Stun Creative, a Los Angeles marketing and promo shop that's now producing its own original content, uses Queen's anthemic "Don't Stop Me Now" to let Wilson and co-stars strut, sing, pose and perhaps stand out from the pack of new TV series debuting in the coming weeks.
Super Fun Night revolves around Wilson, a Manhattan office worker sporting an American accent, and her longstanding weekly date nights with her two geeky besties. Catch the awkward hilarity starting Oct. 2.
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We've all been there. Heartbroken, bearded and alone. This is place that some might call "the dumps," an unbearable place full of darkness, loneliness and misery. It's all because you've been without "the one" for far too long. (It reminds me very much of the time my dog ran away when I was 5. I still wonder where Kujo is. Or that time my 7th grade girlfriend left me because I got braces.) And even though Blake Shelton takes you fishing to cheer you up, it's not working. You still miss 'em. I guess the only thing left to do is belt out arguably the most passionate lyrics ever laid to vinyl: "Reunited," by Peaches and Herb.
Before you know it, the sun will shine again, the animals will begin to chirp again, and Christina Aguilera's angelic voice will rise behind you—seconds before she pulls a Jesus and walks on water to join you and Blake. If that's not magical enough for you, there's more. Moments later, Poseidon, ah hem, the great Cee Lo Green, emerges with three lovely mermaids to round out the hook. "Reunited and it feels so good!"
At this point, you may have a hard time believing what you've just witnessed, but what the hell. The band is finally back together! Or is it? This all can't be real, right? Guess, we'll have to tune into NBC's The Voice on Sept. 23 to see if dreams really do come true.
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If CBS' The Crazy Ones seems like a day at Leo Burnett in Chicago, there's a good reason for that. The agency's executive creative director, John Montgomery, works as a consultant and executive producer on the fall comedy—and, in fact, inspired the show, which marks the network series return of former Mork from Ork Robin Williams.
It's no accident, then, that the pilot has the fictional ad folks working on a campaign for McDonald's, one of Burnett's biggest clients. (They want pop star Kelly Clarkson to shill burgers. "I don't do jingles," she sniffs, but eventually belts out a meat-loving ditty.) The brand didn't pay for the prodigious placement, though Williams told 200-plus reporters at a Television Critics Association panel on Monday in Beverly Hills to "look under your chairs—there's a Happy Meal!"
Expect to see other real brands on the show, likely from Burnett's stable, that were willing to let the creative team poke some irreverent fun at them. Montgomery has been spending several days a week with the sitcom's writers, said executive producer David E. Kelley, giving them agency scoop that's "sometimes crazier than we could imagine." Kelley and Williams also visited Burnett's offices to soak up the agency flavor. Even the show's title comes from advertising—"Here's to the Crazy Ones" was the anthem spot from TBWA's "Think Different" campaign for Apple.
There's another ad connection with The Crazy Ones. James Wolk, who plays the shadowy Bob Benson on AMC's Mad Men, stars as the new show's office lothario and creative whiz. "I only do advertising and marketing shows," he joked during the panel. The workplace comedy, premiering Sept. 26, also features Sarah Michelle Gellar as Williams's pragmatic daughter who's trying to keep her screwball dad in line.
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This hilarious promo for the final season of CBS's How I Met Your Mother takes the show's weird framing device to its logical and deeply unsavory conclusion. The premise of the show is that our narrator, Ted, years from now, is actually telling his kids the extremely long-winded story of how he met their mother. Thing is, the show's been on for eight years. So, if you think about it, Ted has spent all that time recounting an endless series of women he slept with while his kids were trapped on the living-room couch. In this bleep-laden promo, Ted's adorable children, now surly teenagers, point out that in the past eight years they've gone through puberty, survived by crapping in a bucket, drinking rainwater and eating spiders, and are starting to have disturbing feelings of sibling lust—and he still hasn't gotten to how he met Mom. As the series finally ends, all of us, but especially Ted's kids, are excited to hear the motherf**king ending. The final season premieres Sept. 23.
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Thirteen, a PBS station in New York City, continues to insist that its programming is better than the dreck you find elsewhere on cable—by inventing more bogus ads for reality shows that don't exist. Back in May, the NYC office of CHI & Partners rolled out posters for three such shows. And now, it's got three more for your guilty pleasure—Clam Kings, Long Island Landscapers and Meet the Tanners. I'd probably watch all of them, or at least pause, intrigued, on my way up the dial. "The fact you thought this was a real TV show says a lot about the state of TV," the promo say abruptly, just as you're getting drawn in. The tagline is, "Support quality programming," and the campaign is using the hashtag #TVgonewrong.
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Let's say it like Comic Book Guy: Best. Collaboration. Ever. Fox's dysfunctional yet loving animated family, The Simpsons, have joined with Converse for a line of screen-printed Chuck Taylor sneakers. Through Converse retailers and Journeys.com, you can get your paws on these colorful high-tops festooned with Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa, Maggie, catch phrases, chalk scrawls and more. The Simpsons, in production now on its 25th season, is the longest-running scripted show in TV history and one of the biggest licensing hits of the past few decades. It's a multibillion-dollar franchise in swag alone, with plenty of footwear over the years. You didn't have puffy, oversized Bart-head slippers? What a sad childhood that must've been. The Chuck Taylor All Star collection comes in adult and kid sizes. All together now: Woo-hoo! More images below.
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Fox's Family Guy has a new "For Your Consideration" ad for this year's Emmy Awards, because Seth MacFarlane's unfunny Rat Pack schtick hasn't ruined enough award shows yet. The latest ad references an episode of HBO's Girls in which someone received a pearl necklace. Hence the Family Guy headline: "Here's a load of comedy to shoot on your chest." Groan. It's better than the lazy Jew-baiting that MacFarlane and company have been relying on lately, but that Girls episode was beaten to death long before they got to it. But that's to be expected from a show that hasn't been funny since I was in college.
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Excited about the reality show Knitting Wars? If sew, too bad—it's fake. It's one of five bogus lowbrow programs dreamed up by CHI & Partners in New York for a poster campaign advertising New York PBS station Thirteen. The other shows: Bad Bad Bag Boys ("Cleanup on every aisle"), Bayou Eskimos ("Their life is headed south"), The Dillionarie ("Life's a pickle") and Married to a Mime ("She's got plenty to say"). They're all ludicrous, but you wouldn't bat an eye if they were on TLC. "The fact that you thought this was a real show says a lot about the state of TV," says each ad, before asking you to support more "quality" programming on PBS. It is sort of sad that quality programming is so scarce today. It's like each new show is trying to out-stupid the last. So PBS makes a great point and delivers it with its trademark dry wit. That's just like them. They're such killjoys. More posters below.
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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.
