Quick little ditty

So, sean showed me this cool little website. It's basically a little test in flash that show's whether you can "visualize music. "

http://jakemandell.com/amvi/

Take it! then tell me what you got. it's interesting.

GTA IV

The very popular video game series Grand Theft Auto released its newest version of the game last night at midnight, "Grand Theft Auto IV". This game is expected to be one of the highest, if not THE highest grossing entertainment sales releases of all time. This is including music, movies, and all video games just for starters. The Blockbuster Spiderman 3 reportedly holds the first weekend record at $380 million, and Grand Theft Auto IV is expected to hit $400 million. Lines formed outside of electronics and gaming stores around the world as people waited to get their chance to be some of the first to own GTA IV the minute it was released.

The Grand Theft Auto series has been welcomed by customers with open arms in the past, beging one of the highest grossing video games series of all time, but this comes with consequence as well. The gameplay is so appealing, simply because it gives users the chance to pretty much go anywhere, and do anything within a populated area, most of which includes violence, crime, and many other socially and morally unacceptable things. Critics and activist groups have been giving each game from the GTA series criticism for years about the negative aspects it has on children. It's been used in psychology studies, on news reports, and in public protest demonstrations, and who is to say whether this free publicity is hurting or helping the game's sales.

To be perfectly honest it is a pretty awesome game nonetheless. This was the one game growing up that your parents didn't want you to play, but when you got the chance to you could never stop. I can understand the argument that it may cause violent tendencies in some kids, but it is just a video game and people that look way to far past that can start to get a little out of hand. That may be part of the media strategy of the gamemakers though. They knew they had something that was SO out there, and SO racy that they knew it would be talked about for a long, long time. This is a way of free advertising and publicity that they probably realized as they decided the certain elements to put into the game. It's almost as if they chose an entirely free medium to advertise on, without ever having to purchase single GRP. This could probably be looked at as extremely smart, or going above and beyond social acceptability. Whatever the case Grand Theft Auto IV sales are going to be through the roof, there is no doubt about that, and I'm sure a whole other bout of controversy and publicity will come out of this game release, just like the others.

Wrigley and Mars Merger

Wrigley, owner of Big Red, Juicy Fruit, and other big names announced they will be taking part in a $23 billion merger with Mars, owner of Snickers and M&Ms among others. This is one of the biggest mergers since AOL-Time Warner. Wrigley has been profiting well in the past year with sales up 17%. They were first approached by Mars on the 11th of this month, and they have been talking back and forth since. After Mars purchases each of Wrigley's shares for $80/share, the companies expect to make combined earnings of $27 billion annually.

Wrigley plans on taking over Mars' non-chocolate brand names, such as Skittles and Starburst in order to "enhance sales and marketing opportunities."

Other major confectionery companies, like Hershey, are going to have to make big moves in order to compete with such a powerful merger. Mr. Wrigley anticipates more consolidation among the other major companies in the future as well. (i.e. Hershey, Schwepps, etc.)


http://adage.com/article?article_id=126699

Product Placement in Presidential Speech?

Yesterday, at Barack Obama's speech, there were three attractive guys wearing very broadly recognizable Abercrombie & Fitch t-shirts. They were basically the only people standing behind Obama that the camera was able to capture. Naturally, a lot of buzz began criticizing Abercrombie for using product placement at a presidential rally. Tom Lennox, vice president of corporate productions at A&F said that they had nothing to do with the men in the shirts. Apparently A&F has no idea who the men (one of them holding a sign in support of Obama that is not the official sign of support, but rather a pink marker drawn sign in inappropriate font) even are.

Lennox also reports that he doesn't mind the product placement, and it's nice to get a little free advertising; however, there are many speculations being made that it is the Obama campaign behind the three shirt-wearers to gain back the gay vote that has recently been lost by the hopeful Democratic candidate. Bloggers are going crazy over what this means for the Obama campaign as well as what it means for Abercrombie & Fitch, due to the fact that the three shirts were so out loud that much of Obama's speech topics were lost having taken the back burner to the logos.

Here's the link:
http://adage.com/campaigntrail/post?article_id=126613

Thinking Wider Than the Agency

On this week, I found some different issue than the regular issues in advertising-trade publication. An agency should be aware of any Government policies or services that relate to its activities. In particular it should consult other Government agencies that also may contract with the same NGOs, or whose activities are important to the effectiveness of the NGO’s services. This is important in terms of achieving objectives, minimizing, compliance costs, and avoiding the risk of either unplanned gaps in services or the Government paying twice for the same service. As part of the process of selecting a provider, agencies should require an NGO to disclose whether or not it has applications to or is receiving funding from other Government agencies for the same or a similar purpose. Verifying the information provided should be part of the normal contract management and monitoring activities Agencies should consider in advance how they will deal with any “double funding” and build this into their contracts such as, halting or altering any further payments for the service in question, or requiring the NGO to repay any funding received for that service. It may also be important to know about relationships between local Government and NGOs.

Government agencies may wish to jointly explore the scope for having consistent documentation, or relying on vetting or accreditation of an NGO by another Government agency, taking into account any requirements specific to a particular purchaser. This may be useful, in particular, where the Government agencies are dealing with the same or similar non-Government organizations.Government agencies should consider the options to deal with situations where multiple Government agencies contract with one NGO for a set of related services. These can be formal arrangements such as integrated contracts, “joined-up” and pooled funding arrangements or informal arrangements such as networks and alliances. Such arrangements can be costly to all of the parties involved.

In my thought, agencies should consider, prior to participating in these types of arrangements, if the arrangement, it will produce benefits that outweigh the costs for all of the parties involved. It Also, they should provide clear accountability for services or actions, have an agreed and understood rationale that justifies the inclusion of all participants. They should demonstrate that the outcomes for people (clients) and communities can be improved by joint action.

After recognizing about this fact, I found one from An NGO Advertising Campaign. There is currently a massive advertising campaign across Tanzania. Everywhere you look the billboards are depicting happy Tanzanians with the accompanying texts:
“NGO's: The voice of the voiceless”
“NGO's: Caring for your community”
And my favourite: “NGOs are creative and innovative"
Being a rather cynical man when it comes to NGOs, I cannot stop my curiosity when the aid community launches such a massive information campaign. I was thinking in depth about What is the purpose of the campaign, who funds it, and who are the target.

A closer look at the posters reveals the text “Celebrate/Shangalia”. A quick search on the internet further reveals that the campaign is launched by USAID Tanzania’s largest democracy and governance program, Tanzania Advocacy Partnership Programme (TAPP). So this is in other words a donor funded campaign and not an attempt by the NGOs themselves to further their cause. In the words of TAPP: “The Shangalia/Celebrate NGOs campaign promotes the positive work and messages of Tanzanian NGOs, and was also developed after conducting focus groups to discern the public’s opinion about NGOs”. So there we have the purpose. The donor community is worried about the receiving public’s opinions about NGOs and feels that a good old-fashioned information campaign should solve the problem.

This matter is really starting to stink in my opinion. Instead of looking into the causes of the bad reputation of NGOs among the public, the donor community assumes that it is a problem of perception. No inquiries into the output of NGOs and no long-term assessments of the effects created by NGOs. The reason for this is perhaps easy enough to figure out anyway.Shangalia means to “receive with joy and enthusiasm”. Humanitarian and civil society organizations are non-profit, and their purpose is to make life better for people. If you need to launch a massive advertising campaign to get this message across to the receiving public, you are doing something seriously wrong. But damned are those who question the good heart of the humanitarians.

Profero's profound insights

Profero, an independent and privately owned digital shop in the U.K., is expanding into North America this month with a New York outpost. Some of the agency's clients include Colgate-Palmolive, Johnson & Johnson and Western Union. Wayne Arnold, CEO of the agency's North American operations, said he's confident digital spending is going to remain strong in the coming months, because web campaigns are more responsive than other types of media.

This agency believes that media and creative must be under the same roof to create effective marketing. Therefore, it's no surprise that some of Profero's best work blurs the line between media and creative. Last year the agency won the gold cyber Lion at Cannes for a teaser campaign it did for Mini, an Alice in Wonderland inspired campaign called "Follow the White Rabbit." With a white Mini as their guide, web surfers were taken to websites they might not normally visit through a virtual porthole.

Another example would be Profero's campaign for Johnson's Baby Lotion. The ad features an interactive game of peekaboo with a baby that demonstrates how mothers can tell if they are bonding with their children. It drives users to the J&J site to get more information.

"Consumer behavior is changing demonstratively," Mr. Arnold said. "All clients share a common theme, which is: How the hell do we get the message to these consumers when they are spending less time listening to us?"

I think that Profero's insight into what drives consumers is up to speed with consumers these days. We want immediate gratification and innovative interaction. Interaction is important when considering a product, especially a new or different product. With a focus on brand's websites, consumers are likely to feel a deeper connection with the product and with the brand. Mr. Arnold, Profero's CEO, said, "How the hell do we get the message to these consumers when they are spending less time listening to us?" Profero has figured out a way to get that message out and that is web interaction. Consumers may not be "listening" but they are exposed to the product on the websites. They can get the information they need and realtionship buliding with the brand that consumer's want. I think that U.K. based digital company will continue to do well in the U.S.

For the Full Article: http://adage.com/agencynews/article?article_id=126532

Why Gatorade Is Losing Its Zip

According to Advertising Age, the “hydration category” king, Gatorade, has been losing share to new coming rivals. The three billion dollar plus brand as become a bit winded lately. Two decades ago, Gatorade owned 93 percent of the market, however, last year Gatorade dropped more than 10 share points. Now Gatorade only controls 82 percent of the market share. While the sport drinks category gained a value of 2.5 percent last year, Gatorade volume just went up 1 percent. With more than 200 new sport drinks, there is no doubt Gatorade is struggling with volume gain. Many believe that Gatorade is stumbling because of the new “thirst quencher” line they set out to market. However, others believe that Gatorade’s messages have not been consistent through out the years. The historically strong message that was built around the sports drink does not differentiate Gatorade from the crowded category anymore. Instead it is becoming un-noticed and vague. What do you think?



I’m a little surprised because Gatorade is a household name and I know consumer purchase Gatorade because of brand loyalty. However, at the same time I knew this was going to happen sooner or later because of the upcoming competition. Being in a crowded category (because of the new comers) is partly responsible for the competitive losses of Gatorade. Before the competition, Gatorade was the only sport drink that people could identify with. I use to play sports and the only fitness drink that I consumed was Gatorade. I was unaware of other fitness drinks in the market. Another cause could be that consumers are just now finding out that Gatorade really isn’t that healthy for them. When you think about it, Gatorade includes a bunch of chemicals and high fructose syrup. But now that there are other alternatives than Gatorade to choose from why not switch over to its competitors if they offer a better and healthy alternative (in most cases)? I believe that Gatorade took it a little too far when they decided to introduce its thirst quencher series (Fierce, Frost, X-Factor, Xtremo, A.M. and Tiger). I personally think that creating all six new beverages were a waste of Gatorade’s time because no one is paying attention to them. I also feel that Gatorade advertising messages are too generic, its time for them to become more creative and reposition themselves over their competition. When I view Gatorade commercials, I don’t see its products benefits and attributes that much and I definitely do not see what sets them apart from others in the hydration category.



http://adage.com/article?article_id=126538