It’s unclear whether or not this Bud Light Ability to Talk to Animals spot will make an appearance during the Super Bowl but if it does, there could be a lot of sausage talk at the office the next day.
Duncan Watts is causing a ruckus. Just as Madison Avenue gets its head around niche marketing on a macro scale, Watts says marketing to so-called Influentials doesn’t work. He says the whole idea is bunk and that he has the data to prove it.
Watts has performed a series of controversial, barn-burning experiments challenging the whole Influentials thesis. He has analyzed email patterns and found that highly connected people are not, in fact, crucial social hubs. He has written computer models of rumor spreading and found that your average slob is just as likely as a well-connected person to start a huge new trend. And last year, Watts demonstrated that even the breakout success of a hot new pop band might be nearly random. Any attempt to engineer success through Influentials, he argues, is almost certainly doomed to failure.
[via Fast Company]
Last week at Heathrow Airport we saw this thirst-inciting ad that read, “Fly with everything you buy from the departure lounge.”
NEW YORK (AdAge.com) — Sean Finnegan, who was tapped less than a year ago as CEO of Omnicom Media Group Digital, is leaving to assume the role of chief media officer at Vibrant Media.
LONDON – Strange has won the brief for a large slice of Leger Holidays’ online marketing spend for 2008.
To help increase its membership, someone presumably behind the lesbian site BestforLESBIANS (NSFW) has created several humorous images (some NSFW) made up of random racy shots coupled with a MySpace avatar who comments on the imagery.
LONDON – Gambling.com, a global portal for gaming enthusiasts, has re-launched, moving from a search site to a content-rich online community for gambling enthusiasts.
LONDON – Customer publisher Seven Squared is linking up with Harper Collins to embrace online video on its Waterstone’s website.
Flickr user brandongenera captured a few pictures of the Pepsi Monster which made its debut in Times Square yesterday to promote the brand’s music giveaway on Amazon MP3 which will offer 3.25 million DRM-free songs for download.
Feb. 7, 2008, ushers in the Year of the Rat, the first sign in the Asian Zodiac. While most in the Western world associate rats with filth and disease, according to Chinese culture they are traditional symbols of incoming wealth and prosperity. But other than the good fortune and wealth associated with the Year of the Rat, 2008 is considered to be a very lucky and special year in itself. How so?
The New York Times is running an interesting piece on MySpace, which receives more than 1.3 billion page views a day and has 110 million members.
For instance, I now know that Chris DeWolfe, the business face of the company, and co-founder Tom Anderson, 37, the product specialist, both recently signed new contracts reported to be worth $7.5 million a year.
But the thing that stands out for me is the realization that soc nets like MyFaceSpace ostensibly function as portals today.
“Some people still perceive MySpace like it was in early 2004, as a niche place for scenesters in New York and Los Angeles. That’s how it started, but it’s become very mainstream,†Mr. DeWolfe, 41, said. “It’s about consuming content and discovering pop culture.â€
As a result, the MySpace site resembles a portal like Yahoo or AOL as much as a social networking site. Peter F. Chernin, the president and chief operating officer of the News Corporation, called MySpace a “contemporary media platform†and said the site existed to “create content and connect people to one another.â€
Fox Interactive “clearly envisioned them as a portal,†said Alan Rambam, a senior vice president at the ad agency Fleishman Hillard.
LONDON – Sir Stuart Rose, the chief executive of Marks & Spencer, has hinted that he is considering ‘breaking with tradition’ and introducing branded products to its stores.
(TrendHunter.com) Famous actor Heath Ledger was found dead in an apartment somewhere in Manhattan last Tuesday. Police are considering it may have been a suicide attempt because the body was found naked and surrounded by pills.
“NYPD spokesman Paul Browne said Ledger had an appointment for a massage at the apartmen…
LONDON – Chris Lenton has been elected the new chairman of The Chartered Institute of Marketing (CIM), the international professional marketing body. His new role will be taken up immediately, holding the position for the next two years.
Oh ha, ha, ha. We get it. How could we not? Why don’t you just get a toilet plunger and shove your witty little double entendre down our throat to make sure we really, really understood the oh-so-witty joke you were trying to make
LONDON – Facebook has unveiled the first details of its UK commercial plans while the make-up of its UK senior executive team has also emerged.
Mamas & Papas, the global designer nursery brand from the UK, launched their new consumer catalogue for Spring Summer 2008 this week with a fresh new look and click and flick version online.
NEW YORK (AdAge.com) — As magazine publishers are being asked to prove that the advertising in their titles actually drives sales, little analysis has been given to whether the creative executions of those ads are working. Ads must not only target consumers, but also persuade them to move closer to a purchase decision.
It’s one thing for a marketer to claim, say, its product will mow your lawn better than any other lawn mower but it’s clearly another when a drug maker claims its product will cure certain ills and then cause a heart attack.
Britain’s Daily Mail is wondering if Tinky Winky from the Teletubbies was Posh Spice’s inspiration for her latest fashion ads. But as far as we can remember, Tinky Winky never tried to scuttle across floors in a Marc Jacobs bag. At least this ad has the decency not to show Posh’s face. In several of the other shots, she looks like the dead girl from The Ring.
—Posted by David Kiefaber
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.
