CHICAGO (AdAge.com) — McDonald's Corp. has voluntarily pulled its sponsorship of report-card covers in Seminole County, Fla., public schools. The fast-food giant had agreed to sponsor the jackets for the county's elementary schools to cover a printing fee of $1,600, and offered a free happy meal to any student with with all A's and B's, but strong reaction from some parents led McDonald's to reconsider.
NEW YORK (AdAge.com) — Taking after the lackluster results of its previous three quarterly reports, the Publishers Information Bureau's 2007 magazine-ad-revenue report has concluded ad revenue grew 6.1% over last year. But that belies the fact that total ad pages were down 0.6% overall, a less-severe drop than expected from the incremental drop over the year, thanks in part to a slight uptick in the fourth quarter (0.1%).
LOS ANGELES (AdAge.com) — After 12 weeks of alternately bargaining and bashing labor, the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers today achieved something that Hollywood hasn't had in a very long while: a workable deal.
It seems like only yesterday when Tivo first came on the market much to advertisers dismay. Marketers everywhere attacked the service, with the CEO of Turner going so far as to accuse commercial skippers of theft. A lot has changed since then. Advertisers have slowly come to terms with the fact that people will fast forward through ads and Tivo has introduced a new products in an attempt to appease these advertisers including pop-up banners and other more interactive units.
But even as this un-easy alliance has been forged, no one seems to be taking much notice of Apple TV. With the latest version now supporting not only a slew of popular tv shows but the ability to rent movies — and with both options being available in HD — I’m surprised we haven’t heard more screaming from marketers. Imagine if everyone started consuming all of their tv and movie entertainment in this a la carte style and the implications it would have not only for advertisers but cable providers as well. Let’s do the math. I’ll use my own television and movie consumption as an example. As someone employed in advertising I figure it’s my duty to watch tv, and I do enjoy a HD picture so I currently subscribe to DirecTV. My package includes some premium channels, the HD and the DVR options and currently runs me $101.97 a month. I also use Netflix which runs another $18.43. So a month of tv and movies costs me $120.40. The reality is I don’t watch that much tv and often don’t get through my 3 movies a month — who has that amount of time? Out of the zillions of channels I have I really only watch a handful of shows: 30 Rock, Lost, The Office, Project Runway, Top Chef and a few others that I’ll just refer to as guilty pleasures — so 7 shows in all a week or about 28 a month which is probably a little high since I never seem to catch them all. If I were to purchase those same programs through Apple TV I’m looking at $55.72. If I throw in 3 movies, which again is a little high, I’m looking at another $14.97 assuming I’m going with just new releases in HD. So for only $70.69 I can have access to all of the content I regularly watch (with much of it in higher quality HD) at a savings $49.31 a month and all without any advertising! Hmmmmm. Advertisers and cable providers need to prepare themselves as an increasing amount of different entertainment distribution models become available. TV spots, it’s been nice knowing you. Now back to your regularly scheduled program.
Technorati Tags: review, advertising, broadcast, beyond madison avenue
NEW YORK (AdAge.com) — "If anyone leaves here with just one thing, let it be this: Google is not starting an ad agency." That was Andy Berndt's No. 1 point this morning to a roomful of marketing executives at the Argyle Executive CMO Leadership Forum.
CHICAGO (AdAge.com) — Attention men: Cramer-Krasselt has your midlife crisis covered.
Ladies bopping around in retro aerobics suits will make you want to buy a car? MINI thinks so! The latest campaign by BMW MINI features a room full of neon leotard-clad ladies doing “MINIcize!”
We weren’t really sure what that is, and we can’t really describe it as well as this video does, so you’l…
Bad boys, bad boys, what’cha gonna do, what’cha gonna do when they come for you? The Design Police are here and they will cover your documents with screaming red alerts pointing out all the mistakes you’ve made. You too can be a design police deputy, download the visual enforcement kit and stick it to bad design. *
* sorry, my puns get worse the later it gets.
Want to feel like Pamela Anderson when you’ve stripped down to your undies? You’re in luck. The blonde bombshell is in the process of launching her own lingerie line.
“I am going to sit back and create a line of lingerie and body products, products that are really sexy and things that I love to wea…
Imagine trying to start a new car dealership network from scratch. That’s what SMART USA is doing. The first of the Smart Fortwos have arrived on U.S. soil and will be hitting the roads to 68 Smart dealerships to be open by the end of January 2008.
The Smart is eagerly awaited by buyers who have…
NEW YORK (AdAge.com) — Beauty giant Estee Lauder is reviewing its global media account, the company said. The company is planning to consolidate global media planning and buying, including digital, with one agency.
Fans of specialty beers should be on the lookout for Budweiser/Bud Light and Clamato Chelada. Latinos have been mixing beer with Clamato juice for decades. Anheuser Busch had an “aha” moment and will be rolling it out nationwide after great success testing the fizzy red cocktail concoction in test …
If you watch TV or surf the Internet at all, I’m sure you’ve seen at least some of the 2008 Chevrolet Malibu’s “Can’t Ignore” campaign. With an impressively sizeable investment in this critical launch, GM’s Chevrolet division has done everything by the book (and then some) in hopes of securing success. It has teased us with :15 spots with only a glimpse of the all-new 4-door sedan, it has roadblocked popular search engines, it has snatched key phrases from critics’ positive remarks, and even tried to be humorous in capturing our attention in a few executions.
But does it work for me? I guess a little. But, one does not easily shift feelings that have been imbedded in us for years (if not decades). One spot even uses a Car & Driver quote to dramatize a warning to the Toyota folks, “Camry beware.” I don’t think the manufacturer of the best selling car in America is all that scared. But, I can appreciate the bold attempt to strive to that gold standard set by the Toyota Camry.
Overall, the campaign has pinned its hopes that we prospective consumers cannot “ignore” this particular 4-door sedan. Is it all that different? Is it the stunning beauty that takes your breath away? Probably not. But, is it a good value? With an attractive advertised price “starting at $19,995″, this may be its best asset. The price/value relationship may allow the 2008 Malibu to be placed on the shopping list of those hundreds of thousands of us who want or need sedans. But, I’m not so sure I really can’t “ignore” Malibu and just buy another popular, high-quality sedan that has already proven itself.
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Technorati Tags: Chevrolet, GM, Malibu 2008, Beyond Madison Avenue
NEW YORK (AdAge.com) — In what seems a most unlikely ploy to drum up pre-Super Bowl buzz, Hyundai Motor North America today ended its Hamlet-like indecision and said it is committed to keeping the ad time that it has bought for the Super Bowl.
Amy Jussel, Founder and Executive Director of Shaping Youth, is unhappy with the sexual innuendo implied in this outdoor board from Target.
What’s wrong with the ad can be debated, but there’s little to debate in Target’s response to Amy.
“Good Morning Amy,
Thank you for contacting Target; unfortunately we are unable to respond to your inquiry because Target does not participate with non-traditional media outlets. This practice is in place to allow us to focus on publications that reach our core guest.
Once again thank you for your interest, and have a nice day.â€
I know it must be hard to engage with just any old customer, but companies are going to have to try a lot harder, or they will be consistently BLASTED on these here interwebs.
No, I don’t really think this macabre European ad for Burger King is taking aim at Pakistan’s “president for as long as I want to be†Pervez Musharraf. (It actually looks a bit more like Manuel Noriega.) But you know someone’s bound to raise a ruckus (or at least an eyebrow) over a political assassination- themed ad that comes so soon after a major political assassination. For that matter, has there ever been an ad that succeeded in finding humor in assassination? (If so, it wasn’t this one.) All that said, I’m still more freaked out by the BK campaign’s highly unappetizing whorehouse, which says you can choose whether you like it “pickle in†or “pickle out.†I’m going to vote “pickle out.†Or better yet, “pickle really far away from my food.†Via Ads of the World.
—Posted by David Griner
“To point at the moon a finger is needed, but woe to those who take the finger for the moon.”
Symbols can become powerful conveyors of emotion and meaning. However, you should never confuse the symbol with the meaning, like many marketers frequently do. They absolutely love to commiserate (and waste a lot of money and time) on logos, colors, fonts, sizes, placements, ad nauseum. They don’t just “take the finger for the moon,” they suck on it for comfort. In contrast, great marketers keep their sights (and investments and activities) firmly set on the moon; co-creating meaningful, valuable and ever evolving customer experiences.
Take Nike’s logo. As the story goes, Carolyn Davidson designed the swoosh in 1971 while a graphic design student at Portland State University. For her services, she billed the company a whopping $35 (around $180 in today’s dollars). Or look at Google’s logo. Yes, Google has had several logos since its renaming from “BackRub”. But none took years to conceive and six figures to create. In fact, the first one was created by founder Sergey Brin using a free graphics program after teaching himself how to use it.
The question is not whether the choice of a logo is important. The important question to ask about a logo – about any and all aspects of your brand – is: is it appropriate for the feelings that I want people to conjure up? If so, don’t get all hung up on it. It’s simply the visual representation of an invisible meaning; meaning that gets built into the symbol as distilled perceptions and feelings accumulate over time in people’s unconscious minds.
CHICAGO (AdAge.com) — Attention, dieters: Now you can drink twice as much light beer for nearly the same amount of calories. Miller Brewing Co. is prepping an aggressive regional rollout of a 64-calorie, female-targeted version of MGD in a move it hopes will revive one of the most moribund franchises in domestic beer.
No artificial colorants added
The total lack of artificial colorants in our products doesn’t just make you fel good. It makes you feel absolutely fantastic.
Advertising Agency: .start, Munich, Germany
Creative Directors: Marco Mehrwald, Thomas Pakull
Art Director: Roland Raith
Junior Art: Nina Zinnhobler
Copywriter: Bernd Nagenrauft
Illustrator: Christoph Hoppenbrock
Published: November 2007
We have it your way
Pickle in? Pickle out? Only you decide how you want your burger.
Advertising Agency: .start, Munich, Germany
Creative Directors: Marco Mehrwald, Thomas Pakull
Art Director: Roland Raith
Junior Art: Nina Zinnhobler
Copywriter: Bernd Nagenrauft
Illustrator: Christoph Hoppenbrock
Published: November 2007
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