Hasta La Creative!

US swimmer Michael Phelps, the current holder of the most Olympic golds at 8, is no doubt to be the next phenom in the world advertising as he is now a household name. Practically anywhere in the world, this 23 year old swimmer is a brand in his own right, being perhaps the greatest Olympian to date for his historic feat.

Now if people are looking on, then so are the different companies who want Phelps in their advertising program. The last time so much hype was being built on promotional campaigns was during the time of golfer Tiger Woods. But that was yesterday’s news. Today is Michael Phelp’s time so don’t be surprised to see him a lot in the various advertising mediums such as print, radio, TV and web advertisements.

It appears that Phelps is next in line. According to CNN, Phelps is set to become the highest earning Olympian of all time, possibly bringing in a paycheck of between $30 and $50 million.

(Source) Northern Star

Brian Yalung is a Problogger at Talent Zoo mainly contributing to latest news and issues on advertising and marketing. The sites are as follows: www.beyondmadisonavenue.com, Talent Zoo is the #1 site for Ad, Marketing, and Media Professionals. Catch the Buzz at Beyond Madison Avenue!

Coca-Cola is introducing a new vending machine that dispenses 100 different flavor combinations. This will bring Coke’s flavor choice almost equivalent to the number of jingles they have.

The machine…

(TrendHunter.com) Inspiration for art can be found anywhere. This balloon Panzer tank seems to be exactly replicated based on the quote “If stripped of all it’s glory, war is nothing but hot air” – by General Eisenhower,…

View of the Manifattura Tabacchi. Photo © Hugo Munoz /Archivio Ufficio Stampa PAT

A couple more posts about this year’s edition of Manifesta. Apart from Bolzano which i started covering this week, another location for the biennale is Rovereto. The Manifattura Tabacchi, an ex-tobacco factory built in the 1850s, hosts one of the exhibitions set up in the tiny city. The show curated by Adam Budak is called Principle Hope, and i must say that it kicks off jolly well.

Right after passing the ticket booth, there;s the free ice cream. Hurray! I’m lactose intolerant. Art Flavour by Tim Etchells translates into gelato flavours some key themes of contemporary art: The Body, Memory, Spectacle and The Archive.

Party goes on! In the courtyard, there is a bouquet of giant helium-filled balloons.

Ricardo Jacinto‘s Labyrinthitis (2007) physically alter’s visitors perception by upsetting their system of balance and therefore upsets the relationship of their body with space. You can grab the bar, lift your feet and hang gently from this levitating sphere-cluster. Your weight is diminished by roughly 35kg.

However, the colour of the giant bouquet is black and its title refers to something as dark as balance disorder, the labyrinthitis. The work seems therefore almost more ominous than playful. As the description of the work states: the monumental sculptural “cloud” announces a decline of modernist utopias and articulates the precariousness of political balance.

At some point during my visit i saw Guido van der Werve‘s video Nummer acht. Everything is going to be alright (there’s a poor version of it on youtube). I found it so mesmerizing that the rest of my visit at the ex-tobacco factory is lost in some kind of fog so i’m afraid my report from Rovereto will end here.

The film documents a performance that saw the artist walking 15 meters in front of an icebreaker in the landscape of the Finnish Gulf of Bothnia. The performance lasts only 10 minutes, the time of one roll of film but this duration bears a sort of never-ending and meditative quality.

Guido van der Werve, Nummer acht – Everything is going to be alright, 2007
Roofvogel 2007 © Guido van der Werve. Photo by Ben Geraerts

Manifesta, the itinerant European Biennial of Contemporary Art is hosted this year by the Trentino – South Tyrol Region. It runs until November 2, 2008.

Discovery Channel’s Mythbusters team are known for exposing flawed myths through science and unique testing. There are some myths, however, that even the Mythbusters can’t touch. In the first two minutes…

LONDON – The radio sector is hoping for an ad spend boost in the pre-Christmas period, as it emerged that advertisers’ radio spend fell by 10.2% year on year in Q2.

LONDON – Virgin Media is to launch a digital version of its bimonthly entertainment magazine, Electric!, which it claims will be e-mailed to more than one million of its customers.

LONDON – Allianz Animal Health, the pet insurer, has appointed Mike Colling & Company to handle its media duties following a three-way pitch.

LONDON – Clear Channel UK group development director Pat Chaundy has been made redundant after his role was absorbed by the company’s recently appointed managing director Rob Atkinson.

LONDON – News Magazines chief executive Camilla Rhodes has left the company after a career of 28 years with its owner, News International.