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

Improving Starbucks for your home

Starbucks is making news again with another way they are planning to expand their brand to more consumers. The company has created a new website for people who are interested in trying Starbucks coffee at home, but don't have the knowledge about the different flavors and/or the time to figure it out while they are buying coffee at the grocery store. When consumers go on to the website, http://www.starbuckscoffeeathome.com/, they are presented with an easy quiz about their own favorite coffee tastes. Their answers will help to choose a flavor that they will most likely enjoy, and then the customer can go to the store and purchase it. And even if the customer isn't sure if they want to spend their money on the entire product yet, the Starbucks website will send them a free sample of that flavor for them to try. The VP of global consumer products for Starbucks put it this way: "We want to make people understand that if you tried one [blend] and you didn't like it, it wasn't the right blend for you. That doesn't mean the whole brand isn't right for you."

I believe this idea will definitely help Starbucks reach out to a completely different target of potential consumers. I think that a lot of people wouldn't mind trying Starbucks coffee at home, but since they don't really have someone giving them advice on what flavor to try while their in the grocery store, they aren't really sure which one they want to purchase. And assuming that Starbucks coffee is probably more expensive than a lot of the other in-store coffee brands, its likely that if customers don't know what the coffee will taste like they will probably just go for the cheaper brand. However, this website can allow them to get free samples and see that it is worth it to spend a little more for better taste.

http://adage.com/digital/article?article_id=126680

Do The Right Thing: Make Your Own Cell Phone Movies

From the article "Nokia Turns to Spike Lee to Help Mobilize a Revolution"

Nokia has teamed up with Director Spike Lee to incorporate cell phone users in the creation of a feature film. Nokia announced that its plans to ask people with Nokia mobile phones to send them snippets of video that represent the theme of birth. Critically acclaimed filmmaker Spike Lee has been recruited to cut the submissions, then use the best segments to develop a feature that is to debut at the Nokia Club in Los Angeles.

The move by Nokia is an innovative one that invites users to have an active role in the creation of a “Spike Lee Joint.” While most modern cell phones have the capability to record video clips, few of these have had the legs to go an further than the reaches of YouTube. The inclusion of Spike Lee was an intelligent move on the part of Nokia because he brings instant credibility to the project. Lee garners respect across film, art, and political-minded groups, as well as being responsible for a series of popular Nike ads in the nineties.

While the Spike Lee and Nokia effort may not have the makings to “mobilize a revolution,” the project is a gutsy move into the uncharted territory of cell phone filmmaking. Although it is questionable that too many people will be exposed to the final project, it is a rarity that the masses have the opportunity to collaborate with such a big-name artist. Nokia’s innovative use of media enhances their brand on multiple levels. Most obvious is the inclusion of Spike Lee. Having him connected with a cell phone feature film legitimizes the entire project, which will increase user participation. Also, the decision to reach out to Lee makes Nokia appear as an artistically conscious and hip brand. Finally, the concept of incorporating technology that typically goes unused, and is commonly disregarded, positions Nokia as a progressive brand. A project that can involve users, enhance the importance of its cell phone features, and associate a brand with a credible artist scores a trifecta with the use effective of media promotion.

http://adage.com/madisonandvine/article?article_id=126647

The Blogosphere

Considering the fact that we use blogging in this class (which I'm currently doing right now) an article in Adage drew my attention. Recently, the music industry has been experimenting with blogging in order to spread more user awareness and popularity within the business. Rcrd Lbl, an indie, ad supported music downloading site teamed up with online music magazines that use online blogging. This partnership combines users of each of the companies, and encourages many more users to blog, experiment, share, and discuss new music with each others. This doubles as a form of free advertising and awareness for new music and bands coming out, and has been fairly successful in popularizing new artists.

The blogging websites reach a much more specific music user, as opposed to myspace.com which anyone of any demographic can log on to listen to some new music. This new forum gives actual online music magazine subscribers access to information about new artists, and the chance to have their opinions heard as well. Universal is beginning to partner with Buzznet, one of the combined online music magazine/blogger websites, and is releasing it's artist's songs and videos on the site that will be presented in the form of a news feed. Users will be able to blog about the content of the news feed as well.

I feel that this is a great new way to create a bigger buzz about new artists in the music industry, because right now we all know how quickly it is going downhill. There are many things that need to be changed, and solutions that need to be implemented to fix the current problem, but there are no real, solid solutions in sight. It is good to see a different form of spreading music around because it starts to open door for a successful solution. Doug Morris, Universal chairman-CEO, had this to say about the new partnership; "We are always striving to push boundaries and expand the scope of our digital activities. And our partnership with Buzznet fits perfectly into that strategy. Tyler [Goldman, CEO of Buzznet] and his team have built a dynamic and legitimate social destination that provides fans and sponsors an all-encompassing musical experience." This new form of popularizing musical artists is no doubt good for the music industry, and it is very interesting to see if this will really take off as a way to successfully integrate and involve users and musicians into the industry to increase popularity, and ultimately better the music industry.

Article URL : http://adage.com/mediaworks/article?article_id=126499

Hearst Partners to Distribute Magazine Content via Facebook

Hearst Partners to Distribute Magazine Content via Facebook, IM
Tuesday, April 15, 2008



By Joanna Pettas

Hearst Digital Media has partnered with Spleak Media Network, a hybrid publishing platform that distributes a combination of user generated and professionally-generated content across a variety of networks including Facebook, MySpace, MSN Messenger and AIM, as well as through text messaging.

Hearst, the first mainstream media publisher to partner with Spleak, will provide original content from its Teen magazine, CosmoGirl, Seventeen and eSpin brands to be infused across CelebSpleak, a celebrity-focused network with more than 100,000 active daily users. The branded content will link back to Hearst Web sites and will be available via Web widgets, social networks like Facebook, instant message conversations and text alerts.

“Teens are in a lot of places online,” says Chris Johnson, vice president of digital media for Hearst. Johnson expects Hearst’s partnership with Spleak to bring in “a bit of traffic and a lot of learning” about what their audiences want and how they want to get it.

According to Spleak CEO Morrie Eisenberg, publishers do not pay to be included in the Spleak network. Spleak will eventually leverage its platform into interactive, immersive advertisements through viral quizzes and scavenger hunts where sponsor brands can get involved.

“In the rapidly changing content distribution industry, it’s important to reach audiences whenever and wherever they are interested in engaging with our content,” says Hearst Digital GM/VP Chuck Cordray.

Starbucks coupons?

Starbucks has recently begun more mass-marketing tactics that are unfamiliar to the brand. The traditional advertising of Starbucks has been for a very laid-back, cool place to stop between work and home. Starbucks was sold via work of mouth and “experimental marketing.” Starbucks has never been the type of company to use extensive marketing campaigns or coupons because, as former Starbucks marketing executive put it, “they haven’t had to.”

Starbucks is estimated to have nearly doubled its marketing spending this year to $100 million. The copy not only released its first major “broadcast-advertising blitz” during the holidays, but this past week Starbucks began an “aggressive coupon program unlike anything in its history.” The coupon campaign included distributing coupons good for free tall coffee every Wednesday through May 28th. The coupons are being distributed in USA Today, The Washington Post, and several other markets, as well as throughout New York City last week.

Starbucks is currently increasing its marketing to combat a year in which its “stock price fell by half and same-store sales flattened.” The current coupon promotion and accompanying full-page ads in newspapers are targeted at men who would rather drink brewed coffee than higher priced coffee drinks.

While some, such as McDonald’s, believe that coupon promotions increase awareness and brand loyalty, others notice the negative effects of couponing, such as a decreased brand pricing power and status.

This new coupon promotion and form of marketing could be very beneficial to Starbucks. The new strategy could be very successful in bringing in the new target of coffee drinking males; however it could also result in the more high-end coffee drinkers seeing Starbucks as more of a McDonald’s quality coffee instead of the gourmet drinks that they prefer. This could backfire on Starbucks and result in consumers becoming less willing to pay the high prices for the same coffee beverage that is available elsewhere.

http://adage.com/article?article_id=126536

Online Comes In-Store

With the current preference for online rather than in-store shopping, retailers are searching for a way to bring the online convenience to the stores they run. The newest idea being tested in chains like Wal-Mart and P&G is the “Olay System,” which can be seen online. The purpose of this is to provide suggestions for product purchases that work best for the consumer using the system. Small kiosks like this could be a great way to bring more online shoppers back into traditional stores. By offering inventory lists as well as suggested products for possible purchase and providing in-store locations of products, the online shopping convenience will make its way into the retail chain locations. With the multitude of brands and products within the brands currently in the market, new consumers are flooded with hard-to-make choices of what to buy and what to avoid. The Olay system uses a quick survey for the consumer to narrow down and best choose the products they should purchase. If this technology is translated to all product categories, it could have great potential to bring consumers back out of their homes to shop. Many criticize the idea saying the idea of using the internet in the store may not be appealing to consumers, but numbers have proven otherwise. What began as a vehicle for advertisers has become a beneficial system to bring profit into retail stores that utilize it. I like the idea of bringing convenience into stores to match the online shopping options, but it almost seems to be delaying the inevitable switch to almost full online consumption. Despite this, if the kiosks have actually been used in the stores and have raised profit in those stores, then they are worth pursuing. I’ll be interested to see these on my next trip to Wal-Mart and I will be even more interested in whether or not someone actually uses it. One problem I could see with these is a problem I see in stores like Wal-Mart quite often. That is, customers don’t seem to take care of in-store models or game systems or anything for that matter. Trying to find a working x-box controller in any of the Wal-Mart stores in my home area was without avail. Furthermore, Wal-Mart is far from responsible when it comes to replacing or repairing damaged floor models. The point of this is that how long will it take before these machines get broken or damaged and therefore rendered useless? Probably not very long at all, in my opinion. Either way, it is an interesting new way to get people shopping again, and it will be interesting to see how long the idea lasts.


http://adage.com/digital/article?article_id=126543

Pens Go Mobile

http://adage.com/digital/article?article_id=126527


As many of you know, the Pittsburgh Penguins, of the National Hockey League, were a pretty bad team for quite some time. So bad, in fact, that team's lack of popularity and ticket sales almost drove them from their home town. This Advertising Age article shows how they turned to mobile messaging and a new fan base in order to fill the seats.

"Faced with persistently unsold tickets and a bevy of would-be attendees priced out of the action at area colleges, the Pittsburgh Penguins in 2006 started sending news of available, severely discounted seats to college kids on the mornings of home games. The messages noted how many tickets were unsold, letting students know if they needed to camp out all day to get one of a few available, or if tickets were ample enough that they'd be available at the booth just before the puck was dropped. "

"Jeremy Zimmer, the team's director of new media, said the promotion helped fill otherwise empty seats and strengthened the Penguins' bond with students it hopes will grow up to become season-ticket holders. "We want to engage them while they're young, and get them excited about the team early," he said. "This was a great way to do that.""

This new marketing scheme, indeed, did a great job engaging the college-aged market and helped fill the arena's empty seats. With the help of new and creative media uses, back-to back trips to the playoffs, and two of the brightest young stars hockey has to offer, the Penguins have sold out all of their games for almost two straight seasons and have successfully raised enough funding to build a new arena and remain in Pittsburgh. Not to mention, they have a new and ravenous fan base that has the entire city buzzing about hockey for the first time since the 1990s, when Mario Lemieux led the team to two Stanley Cup Championships.

However, this string of consecutive sellouts has left most of the college-aged fan base, that the Penguins had just worked so hard to attract, unable to afford tickets. "So the team tapped mobile agency Vibes Media to run a series of contests and giveaways via cellphone. In one, it promised to give away a puck autographed by Mr. [Sidney] Crosby on the young star's 21st birthday. Messages went out to 2,000 subscribers, and 1,800 replied for a shot at the signed puck within the first hour. "That response shows that we're tapping a fan base that's just rabid," said Michael Cahan, Vibes' director-sports and media."

"The Penguins also offered a mobile program aimed at its general fan base, sending team news alerts, including game recaps and each game's three stars (a nightly hockey honor awarded after most TV broadcasts end) to 20,000 fans this year, compared with 8,000 a year ago. The team has yet to tap the channel as a major new source of sponsorship revenue just yet, but that may be coming. Pizza Hut has sponsored some of the alerts and has also delivered free pizzas to fans camping out for a shot at text-promoted tickets. "

I think that this partnership between the Pittsburgh Penguins and Vibes Media is one that worked out very well for both parties. From the team's standpoint, it helped save a struggling franchise and reunite it with a generation of hockey fans who had lost their passion for the game. Consequently, Vibes Media now has an impressive client and an even more endearing story to tell that will be sure to win them some new business in the future. As for right now, the city is happy, the agency is happy, the fans are happy and the team is happy. In order to put the finishing touches on this joyful partnership, the only thing left to do is to have the Penguins win the Stanley Cup!

LETS GO PENS!!!

The Iron Man Approach

Summer is just around the corner and that means it’s blockbuster movie season. The movie industry has been suffering with getting people to go to theatres, yet DVD sales are higher than ever. This changes how the industry makes its media planning decisions. This summer the “Iron Man” will release and it is expected to do well at the box office. “Doing well at the box office” has developed a new meaning over the years. Lately, movies do exceptionally well in their opening weekend and that’s it. So, a new strategy has developed. Pre-movie hype and opening weekend have become extremely important. The movie “Iron Man” has already started building hype, and they’ve done it in a clever way to reach all different types of people. According to an Ad Age article, “Iron Man” has assembled seven different partners with specific demographic appeal. In the past, product placement seemed to be a growing trend, but now it is said that such media plans like “Iron Man’s” will change the game. It has partnered with the following: “Audi, to appeal to the well-heeled and those who aspire to be; Burger King, to reach kids and families; and 7-Eleven Stores, to reach 18- to 34-year-old men, its core audience. Retailers with broad family appeal such as Foot Locker (1,400 locations will feature special in-store TV content) and newcomer LG are also on board” (AdAge).

Burger King will feature a 30 second T.V spot with Iron Man incorporated. Also Burger King will have toys in their kid’s meals and a temporary website featuring Iron Man that will hype up the movie’s release. This benefits both Burger King and Paramount because BK gets Iron Man enthusiasts attention resulting in a potential purchase, and Paramount gets word out about their movie. Not to mention, it gets the younger audience excited to see “Iron Man”. The reason behind partnering with 7-Eleven is because it is the best place to reach its core audience, males 18-34. Research indicated that out of 7-Eleven’s 200 million monthly customers, 43% are 18-34 and love entertainment. 7-Eleven will feature special “Iron Man” cups and even have special sugar cookies featuring the movie. The idea of partnering up with Audi is very different that Burger King and 7-Eleven. The new Audi R8 will actually be featured in the film even though it has been sold out for the next two years! This is simply to enhance Audi’s image and to hopefully get “Iron Man” fans to buy one of Audi’s similar cars, the TT. “Iron Man” has to reach women somehow, right? The film’s star Gwyneth Paltrow will endorse the Estee Lauder brand in hopes of fans wanting to mirror her look in the movie.

“Iron Man” is trying to reach people from all demographics. I have a feeling the film is a sure blockbuster hit. With such a great sounding media plan, they might actually have great box-office numbers past opening weekend. The movie business is struggling with getting people to theatres, and I think this new angle is a good start in trying to turn it around. It is clear it put a lot of research into its plan, but only time will tell if it is effective.

http://adage.com/madisonandvine/article?article_id=126490

Men are not idiots

The advertising industry is portraying males as irresponsible farthers and lazy, foolish husbands. Bob Jeffery, the chairman of JWT said that his agency would be committed to developing a smart, positive portrayal image of the modern man. Anti-male ads are being strongly criticized and are drawing increasing scrutiny.

The people that are defending the anti-male ads have two arguments. One is that males are more "privileged" so that it is OK to portray them this way. The second is that men don't really care about how they are being portrayed. The article tried to disprove these arguments by saying that men are not privileged. The majority of learning-disabled students are male, and that girls are more likely to get better grades than boys. A statistic from the National Center for Education Statistics showed that women earned 60% of all bachelor's degrees and 60% of all master's degrees.

As for the argument that said that men don't care about how they are portrayed in the media, a study conducted by Leo Burnett Worldwide found that four out of five men believed that media portrayals of men were inaccurate. There are men that are totally against this false perception of males that advertising agencies are creating.

"Twenty-eight percent of American kids... are growing up in fatherless homes." How fathers are being portrayed matters. For those children that grew up without fathers, they have a higher rate of teen drug abuse, crime, pregnancy, and school dropouts. Because media plays such a big role in the society we live in today, the ads influence young people's perceptions of fathers.
AT&T's father-daughter "Monkey" ad and Ford's father-son "We Know" ad were father-positive and were highly successful. Male bashing should be eliminated and instead advertisers should use respectful humor. It's crazy too think how much of an influence the media has on how we, the audience, perceive each other.

http://adage.com/cmostrategy/article?article_id=126292

Lost Producers "Peeved" at Nielson Ratings; Jimmy Kimmel Fights Back

In a "3 Minute Ad Age Lineup" Carlton Cuse, the creator of Lost is seen speaking out against the Nielson Ratings System.

http://adage.com/brightcove/lineup.php?lineup=1266084202

Cuse says that the Nielson ratings show Lost losing steam on television but in reality there are 3 million people screening Lost online, countless iTunes downloads of the show, 2.5-3 million people using Digital Video Recorders to view Lost and many people buying the Lost DVDs.

Are Nielson ratings flawed in this age of technology? Even when media planners use Nielson ratings to decide what spots to buy nationally and locally, how do you factor in DVRs and the ability to fast-forward through commercials? New technology is making it harder and harder these days to predict the results your media plan will hold- as if it was predictable in the first place!

Jimmy Kimmels a giver, though, and wants to do something to help advertisers and make his show more profitable. Yahoo! News reports that Jimmy Kimmel's late night show is going to "revive" live TV commercials in May. He is following in the footsteps of Jay Leno, who advertised Garmin navigation systems live on the air. Yahoo! reports that ad buyers are interested and intrigued by the plan. David Barrington, the executive VP and managing director of video investments at Havas' MPG feels that this idea will be beneficial for advertisers as long as the brand fits the feel of the show.

I think this is a great way to overcome some of the concerns that technology have put upon media buyers and advertisers. Bringing back some of the "old school" Johnny Carson methods of advertising may just be the thing we need to get television back into one of the top advertising mediums.

Yahoo! News article about Jimmy Kimmel can be found here: http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20080415/tv_nm/kimmel_dc;_ylt=AjQCrLJkUR9dUiWO3_WJENJxFb8C

AMCs you

While the internet definitely has its disadvantages it certainly offers media planners some things that traditional media has a hard time keeping up with. It may be hard be to grasp exactly who is looking at what and for what reasons, but it can offer direct access to many niche markets. By choosing specific media options planners can hit their targets pretty effectively. This is where some of our normal forms of media such as network TV and radio fall short. It becomes very hard to tell exactly who is tuning in and what kind of people are actually paying attention to the shows.

AMC has now decided to launch a new kind of rating system for their network which seeks to use behavior based measures to determine who their viewers are. Teamed with Nielsen, they have begun to use the Audience Identity Measure or AIM which will help advertisers match brands to the psychographic categories of their viewers.

The main focus of the project at the moment is to link automotive, financial and theatrical advertisers to their targets. AMC has linked over 150 of their movies to certain attributes such as buying preceptors and demographic criteria to create a broader database of marketing capabilities. They began using this system last year with the release of their first two new TV series “Mad Men” and “Breaking Bad”. Each show was aired after specific movies that AMC determined would attract and then keep the shows targeted market.

The senior analyst described the process like a big game of Plinko from the price is right. They have many different categories all on the same block and their aim to drop as many chips into the appropriate spots as possible. Over all AMC hopes to shed to the problems that TV advertising has and adopt some of the specific benefits that the internet offers. While it may be the first of its kind, we will very likely be seeing more of it in the near future.

AOL's Teaming up with Verizon

There is a almost "battle" in the online advertising world. Online companies such as AOL and MSN are all battling it out to obtain more portions of the advertising spots in the market. The number one competitor and threat to these companies these days is the is the monopolistic forming engine Google. Lets be honest, Google runs the market these days it seems like and these other companies do not want to be left in the dust.
And in an attempt to create less competition AOL and Verizon have teamed up. They have signed a deal to let Platform A (in business with AOL) help manage Verizon's online advertising. The agreement with mostly cover mobile phone and internet ads. This is all occurring even though the two companies are in the middle of a lawsuit due to false advertising on Time Warner's behalf (who are business with AOL). On a lighter note, Time Warner is hoping to team up also with Yahoo. This would have AOL and Yahoo (also two main online services) working together, instead of Yahoo with Microsoft; which the option the company is deciding on. It looks as though the internet advertising is going to be ran by only a few companies if they keep buying each other out. Do you think that they should team up or try to run their ad campaigns on their own, and keep it in company?

I feel as though these online companies are smart to work together and try to improve and create new ads. I think this will appeal to a broader target for certain companies and things and could work in their favor. I just feel as though it could maybe lead to a monopolistic market, just with a bunch of names and brands represented.

Can't escape the advetising!!

Advertising is everywhere you go! You can never escape it. Billboards, radio commercials, television commercials, in show/movie ads (such as an actor drinking Pepsi), magazines, newspapers, and the list goes on. There is so much ad clutter that most people don't even notice them anymore. Some of these forms of advertising have been around for a very long time. People are always looking for new and ingenious ways to reach the consumer.
These days, you can hardly find a person that does not own a cell phone. Most of them currently give you access to the internet. These smartphones are giving you access to advertisement on the websites as well; therefore the phone also serves as a secondary vehicles, until now. Some companies are already using cell phone as a direct advertising vehicle. "Companies are using text messages to notify customers of special deals and banner ads to sponsor items, such as ring tone downloads," noted Julie Ask, research director at Jupiter Research.
The demographic that is expected to respond most readily to this new advertising is teenager, youth and college age students. This is because this is the time when entertainment is very important. They love updates on current movies, music, etc. A "Companies are using text messages to notify customers of special deals and banner ads to sponsor items, such as ring tone downloads," noted Julie Ask, research director at Jupiter Research. Products such as the music and movies need to be head about immediately once they are released. Wireless advertising allows the companies to do this.
This new form of advertising has not been widely accepted with consumers. This could be for many reasons. They may not want to be able to be reached via cell phone, which is normal, considering most people cannot leave home without their cell phones and would like be left alone.

I feel as though advertising has taken a turn for the dramatic. This is evident is it's current use of the shock factor in most tv spots, magazines and other mediums as well. Taking advertising to your mobile device is just asking too much.

Modern Doesn't Mean Better

http://adage.com/article?article_id=126366

With modern technology, everything seems to be getting bigger and better. However, according to the mentioned article, innovative advertising techniques might not be the way to go. Studies show that newer ideas, such as in-store audio and TV and floor/ceiling ads, fare worse when it comes to influencing consumers than more traditional methods of coupons and on-pack advertising. Considering I am a firm believer in such promotions, I am not surprised to hear these findings. I find that coupons and buy-one-get-ones have a strong pull on consumers... like myself. The new in-store media is clever but I feel as if it is unnecessary to use such tools for people make a packaged good purchase. The article used the example of ads for Sunsilk shampoo in the ice cream aisle of a super market. Focus groups concluded that the ice cream aisle would be an appropriate place to reach Sunsilk's consumers but Neilsen's report showed that even though these consumer's eat ice cream, they are not likely to venture down the ice cream aisle. I could see a more mainstream method of free samples being a more effective way to reach Sunsilk's target.

Ford asks employees and dealers for help

Ford is asking it's employees, retirees, and dealers to help spread the word of their new ad campaign. This campaign dares consumer to test drive a Ford vehicle. The name given to it is "Drive One." The VP of Marketing and Communications says this campaign isn't about how fancy the ads are but it's about talking to the consumer and them spreading the word to their friends. Last year, Ford spent $1.76 billion in advertising but that didn't increase sales. After some research by Ford, they found that after people test drive their cars then their interest to buy increases.

Ford's former campaign was the head-to-head approach by having consumer test drive 3 cars. They drove a Ford Fusion, Toyota Camry, and Honda Accord. The Fusion was chosen over the other 2, which were the top sellers in their category. But Ford has chosen to take a new approach and drop this campaign. They didn't give a reason for ending this campaign.

I feel Ford is making a good move. I agree that a consumer will feel much more comfortable about buying a new/used car after once test driving it. To be honest, I don't know anyone who wouldn't test drive a car before buying it. The campaign is similar to the one they are dropping buy having the consumer still test drive a car. But with this new campaign, they are focusing more on the consumer and not so much on the advertising part. They want the consumers to really do their advertising for them by telling their friends what a great experience they had with Ford. The former campaign did give the consumer more variety then just driving a Ford. But I feel this would have been very time consuming and most people are so fast paced that this would have been a problem. Most people wouldn't want to be at a dealership for hours on end test driving cars. Ford is making a good move by switching to a new campaign. I hope they have a lot of success with it.

Mullen Fashions 90 Mass. Tourism Spots

This article was published on April 7 in Ad Week.

Mullen's 90 spots for Massachusetts highlight 90 different aspects of the Bay State.
This article is taking the "Massachusetts. It's all here" positioning to heart, Mullen has fashioned 90 spots for the state's tourism program, each touting a specific destination, activity or attraction.Mullen's 90 spots for Massachusetts highlight 90 different aspects of the Bay State.

The unorthodox push is designed to illustrate that there's so much to do in the Bay State, a new ad is required every day just to catalog the possibilities. All of the commercials will be hosted online at Massvacation.com/90spots, though each gets just one day to air on TV. The first spot, which focuses on the Mayflower II in Plymouth, Mass., breaks today.The media buy includes Boston, New York, Hartford, Conn., Albany, N.Y., and Providence, R.I., with a new spot breaking daily.

"We have the problem every tourism destination wants; there's too much to do here to capture it all in one ad," said Betsy Wall, executive director of the Massachusetts Office of Travel & Tourism. "There are many reasons why visitors choose to visit Massachusetts, and it is important that our campaign emphasizes the breadth of offerings available. Filming 90 spots was a labor of love." Mullen produced all of the ads in-house. Total media spending for the effort is $4.5 million, with print, radio, direct and promotional efforts also in the mix. Interpublic Group-owned Mullen is based in Wenham, Mass.

I was suprised about that they've provided highlighting 90 different spots for adveriting state tourism. New spot breaking daily is an incredible work since it comes from brainstorming with creative thinking. In my thought, it should have a good effort thought this campaign because the number of things and aspects that people can get advantage of during their travling must be the most important for them to decide where they choose to spend their money for tourism. The one advertisement that is required every day just to catalog the possibilities should be a shout that can get audience's attention. Variety and worth of the traveling the state could be shown and attractive to their target. I've been doing on project to advertise traveling Wyoming in another my major course, which is Intro Creative. I've been tought that how it is important to show what is unique and different values and things that people can take advantage on traveling the state in advertisement.Finding out and focusing on each facts of touting a specific destination, activity or attraction in the state is a great idea and workable campaign.

Silk Soymilk Lets Customers Do the Selling

Launched in 1996 by WhiteWave Foods, Silk Soymilk has enjoyed continued success in their category market. So fat they've racked up about 70% of their market and are now aiming to inspire the rest to switch to soy.

Silk's new ad campaign consists of real women giving real testimonials about how Silk helped them enjoy a healthier lifestyle. TV spots have run under the slogan "Take a sip forward." The real women are just telling their stories of their experience with Silk and encouraging other to "give it a shot". The company is even taking measures to create a mini site for women to tell their stories. President Berlin Cameron thinks that this will be useful in getting the message out that Silk is an easy step towards a healthier lifestyle for people who don't realize what good they will be doing their hearts and minds. The main goal is complete household penetration.

Last year, Silk had a "green cap" campaign in order to get customers to log on and enter in numbers underneath the caps. Using spokesmodel Alicia Silverstone, customers were promised that the company would invest in wind-energy efficient manufacturing based on the number of code submissions.


http://www.adweek.com/aw/content_display/news/agency/e3i5b5519cf6eeded16661a26d0f4aee3d7

Web-focused effort bolsters 'Fly free 'til you're 23' promo

In an effort to move beyond their competitors in the field of customer loyalty, AirTran Airways has begun a new campaign that caters to college students. Under the slogan "Fly free til you're 23", AirTran has been strategically placing ads on websites such as collegehumor.com and ESPN.com in order to use the 18-22 age range to build customer loyalty to the AirTran brand. Spots have also been viewed in some movie theaters in cities like New York, Boston, Philadelphia and Atlanta (large markets for the brand). According to Adweek.com,"The campaign will incorporate NBC on Campus, a partnership between NBC and the Memphis, Tenn.-based University Network, a digital out-of-home company that narrowcasts programming to 283 screens on 181 campuses."

Using the tagline "Everyone will want to be college age", ad spots feature foul-mouthed elderly people trying to look like college students by using fake IDs, playing videogames and doing their best to get a student discount. The campaign seeks to encourage college students to register on www.airtranu.com for their A+ Rewards Frequent Flyer program for a chance to win two round trips per calendar quarter, until the winner turns 23. The cost of these flights is about $69-$99 depending on the type of flight. The promotion ends June 9.

Travel analyst Henry Harteveldt believes this is a very smart move for AirTran because by appealing to students and persuading them to register with the airline, the company is able to build loyalty with an age range who haven't really developed any type of brand loyalty yet.

AirTran's venture into digital advertising has been paying off and helping to increase their online ticket sales by 70% and revenue to $2.2 million in 2006. By using viral marketing, there is a decrease in ad dollars the company has to spend and also gives AirTran an added edge over its competitors who mainly appeal to business travelers.



http://www.adweek.com/aw/content_display/creative/news/e3id751287ff1c2313ed26d9f1e64f380ae

Kellogg's Andy Jung, Head of Media Advertising Services, Out

After 11 successful years with the Kellogg's company, senior director Andy Jung's job has been eliminated and divided up among other company's VPs. The company claims that this move was a "strategic decision" and had nothing to do with Jung himself.

Why this creative decision occurred is still somewhat of a mystery, as Andy Jung was unable to comment on the issue. Some of Jung's accolades include: helping to "hype up" Special K and promote the Special K challenge website to new levels, responsible for the arrival of Raisin Bran Crunch cereal, involved in shifting Kellogg's agencies from commission- to fee-based work, and also served as a board member of the Association of National Advertisers' TV Advertising Committee. These and other accomplishments made Andy Jung a valuable team member and asset to his company.

While reading this article I felt a sense that there was something "fishy" going on that Kellogg's was just trying to graze over in the article. Why would such an influential man who devoted over a decade of his career in promoting the "morning cereals" be ousted from his job? The way the article was worded made it seem like there was an unforgivable incident that occurred that would push Kellogg's to remove him from his duties and then divvy them up to other members. Even their spokeswoman Kris Charles says that she and the company "We want to thank him very much for his 11 years of contribution and service to the company." And that this had nothing to do with his performance. It still sounds suspicious to me. Please read the article and tell me your thoughts on the matter.

My vote is on a possible affair with General Mills. ;-)


http://adage.com/article?article_id=126351

Food Ads and Children Networks

Who can forget the sugary-cereals in the morning and the extra salty snacks for lunch?
These were a part of mostly everyones childhood, usually because we would see the ads on TV and later recall it while in the grocery store. Yet, there is an increased awareness that has emerged within the last 10 years that is the focus on healthy diets. Due to this not only are adults becoming the target for healthy or organic food ads but also children.

According to an article in AdAge.com company's such as Kellogg, McDonalds, and General Mills have been obligated, by the government, to abandon an estimated $1 billion dollars towards kids marketing. PBS Kids Sprout, a 24 hour network promoting healthy lifestyles that has refused to air any type of unhealthy snack ads, has become on the most-watched video on demand networks on TV. The network includes hit shows such as "Barney and Friends," "Bob the Builder," and "Sesame Street." The network is heavily involved with automotive, insurance and movie studios. Huggies/Pull-Ups and Mott's applesauce are the two premier sponsors.

Sprout's success could be related to the commitment it has maintained with healthy-lifestyle information and tone. By doing so it can greatly appeal to the concerned parent. Yet, the usage of hit shows cannot be discarded since these grasp the young viewers attention. But I do believe it is the idea of not having "hurtful" ads, which increases the success of this network. I don't believe that the absence of these ads will truly make a difference in the majority of the parents decisions when it relates to the actual purchase time, for example giving your child the Mcdonalds happy meal he or she has been craving.

MAKING RADIO SEXIER

According to Mediaweek, radio has been having some pretty hard times in that past few years. Station revenue decreased by 2.3% last year, and is projected to fall by 3.1% in 2008 mainly due to the economy. 

Radio is expected to improve in 2009, and by 2010, the BIA Financial Network is predicting a .9% growth. According to Mark Fratrik, vp of BIAFN, "While it has been a rough several years for radio the efforts it is making to engage its listeners online and through the digital airwaves will hopefully come to fruition in the next few years ".

Since stations have been trying to make their broadcasts more listener-interactive, it is not surprising that Clear Channel has decided to partner with iTunes.

On April 7th, CC announced that it will become the first radio chain to feature iTunes tagging across 345 channels broadcasting in HD. Evidently, the feature allows listeners to press a button on their HD radio to tag a song, store the info on their iPod, then purchase and download songs via Apple iTunes when synced to a computer.

According to vp of distribution and development at CC, ". . . iTunes tagging is mostly about the radio experience for the listener. The biggest effect of the marriage of HD radio and Apple is that it makes digital radio sexier. 

With the radio marketplace currently down, and not projected to go up til 2010, do you think this is a good move for CC? Do you think this partnership will be effective?

Applebee's Doing Better Than Most Actors

If you're like me, then you undoubtedly love Applebee's for one reason and one reason only. Not the entrees or fancy desserts or ambiance, but for the Spinach Artichoke Dip. Is that not the best? I mean, honestly, it should already be on the table when you arrive, sitting next to the A1 Sauce, just to save time because we all know you're going to order it --- everyone orders it.

But I digress.

It appears that Applebee's is not just your primary source of Spinach Artichoke Dip anymore; it is also a television star. That's right, Applebee's is doing better than Joey Tribbiani. Thanks to Starcom MediaVest Group, a media planning agency, the popular restaurant chain has earned a recurring role on NBC's drama "Friday Night Lights."

According to the March 3, 2008 article featured on Advertising Age's Web site, Applebee's makes an appearance on the show on an "almost" weekly-basis, playing the role of the site where heart-to-heart chats between the football coach and his wife occur. The restaurant even shows off its range by also playing the meeting spot for many of the team's boosters. And the decision to link Applebee's with the book-turned-movie-turned-television show has been nothing but positive, according to the article.

"While many product and brand placements come off as contrived, the ubiquity of chain restaurants in small towns actually serves to make the NBC show feel more authentic, not less," the article said.

"Writers and directors don't often like brands to have an ongoing relationship with a show," said Laura Caraccioli-Davis, exec VP, Starcom Entertainment. "It's added a sense of realism to the show."

Product placements are nothing new. In fact, sometimes, they can even go a little overboard. But this particular relationship, between a real-life restaurant that proclaims itself as a neighborhood establishment and television show that often takes place in a neighborhood restaurant, is a perfect union. Furthermore, it shows the direction that some brands could be heading --- rather than resorting to expensive, overbearing commercials during primetime. I feel that you could see many brands taking this jump in the near future, trying to find a new and different way to reach consumers.

Agencies is going to change their role

Traditional ad agencies are going to change their role in the advertising world according to Publicis Groupe CEO Maurice Levy and Dentsu Chairman-CEO Tateo Mataki. Mr. Mataki said Dentsu is increasingly looking to become entrepreneurial in ways that allow both it and advertising clients to capitalize on brands and then share profits from developing new revenue streams instead of just relying on fees from doing traditional advertising.

There still remains a big role for agencies in the market, just a different one.

The new model of the agency will work like an eco-system. Everything has to fit and contribute 'rationally': the understanding and knowledge of the consumer, how he/she interacts with society, the understanding of the product, the brand, the competition, the 'marketing-mix,' media and non-media channels, and above all the idea. The agency will increasingly look at creative that doesn't just talk to a consumer, but enables interaction between consumers and marketers.
We can tell that the agencies are trying to make their business more systematic and rational. Not only by building good relationship with their partners but also building a relationship with their target consumers. In today’s new knowledge-based world, the Ad market is no longer as you do something, sell them and make money of that. It is more critical on target reaching and market strategy. To have these relationships with partners and consumers, the agencies may guarantee their long term and stable cooperation profits.

African American Owned Media..."The Catch 22"

I recently read a few articles on Adage about "The Catch 22 of Buying Black Media." I thought this post would be appropriate being that we just finished a lecture about reaching secondary markets. According to Adage, African American owned media has always been scarce and is becoming even more meager. Advertisers are not adequately reaching this market, and not investing as much money into black-owned media as they should. It is believed that reaching the African American market through black-owned media is hard because the "companies are small and very decentralized." In these articles it was suggested that if black owned media were more advance and successfully transitioned from print to online and had longevity in broadcasting then it could provide more reach for advertisers. " According to Chief Content Officer-Interactive Smokey Fontaine. If we can reach more African-Americans than our competitors at the other big media companies online, we can then offer more reach to advertisers."

The articles also addressed the fact that to effectively reach the African American market advertisers should invest more money in credible outlets. Support for black-owned media can create a solid foundation, increase market share and increase overall effectiveness in reach of this secondary market." Eric Blankfein, senior VP-channel insights director at Horizon Media, New York, said advertisers should not just look at traffic figures, noting that there are opportunities to gain more credibility with the audience by buying in outlets owned by African-Americans."

Lately there has been some progression. According to Adage, in 2001 Black Press established a national network and news portal called BlackPressUSA.com. Major players such as Sprint, Coca-Cola, and Microsoft have purchased ads on this site. This medium is not a phenomenon but with the help of major advertisers it can be the start of supporting the cause.

Do you think that black owned media in this industry is a a Catch 22 when considering its competition? Do you think that support for black owned media will increase reach and effectiveness of this market?

MySpace Gets Into Ad-Supported Music

Last week the article MySpace Gets Into Ad-Supported Music came out stating that current bands have begun to use MySpace as a vehicle to let people preview and listen to their music. Although many of us know this already they are taking to to a different level. Since the MySpace music people get to put on their profiles is free from Sony BMG Music Entertainment, Universal Music Group and Warner Music Group on board they have decided to make their money elsewhere by advertising on MySpace. The way that the artists are going to make their revenue is by giving the viewer a cut of video advertisements that were cut for ad related, video and music streams.

MySpace just keeps getting more popular by the day and people are learning new ways to use this vehicle to reach millions of people. MySpace CEO Chris DeWolfe said, "Our goal is to empower the artists ... to further diversify their models through MySpace music," during a conference call and ended with "a promotional vehicle to a commercial vehicle" to say that MySpace is indeed enabling people to be able to buy music, ringtones, merchandise and concert tickets all on MySpace. Facebook even has been noted saying it was intending to compete with this new type of online media.

I think this is a great idea for MySpace. Since you do not have to pay to have a MySpace, very many people have it to keep in touch with friends family and even people they meet on the web. People can download music free on MySpace currently and there are so many ways of getting this music through illegal websites which hurts the artists. Many artists have used MySpace as a web page for people to visit and check out music, release dates, concerts, etc. but it just is easier to use a MySpace page instead of a regular web page because of the many people on MySpace everyday and those who are interested in new music are searching for these kinds of sites. By adding advertisements and using this as an ad medium, this can only help companies. Just like I said, it is an easy way to reach lots of people all over the country, this is a very intelligent step for MySpace.

Microsoft creates new original media.

http://www.adweek.com/aw/content_display/news/media/e3idfbec96da92fee90a81aee653dcbe8c5

According to Adweek.com, Microsoft will be creating its own online media content across multiple platforms. Included in this is the Xbox 360 game console and the internet. To me this looks like another attempt for Microsoft to increase its advertising income by selling ad space during this original content. The thing that makes me unsure is how effective online shows are when it comes to reaching a large target. To me, reaching a specific target, it would be more than ideal because ad space in an Xbox 360 commercial will no doubt give a huge reach into a desirable target. I think it is prone to failure because I don't think a significant amount of people use the internet to watch shows. It would be very hard to get parents to sit down at a computer to watch a show and reach more of the market. I think it might be a wiser move for Microsoft to sponsor original content on regular television programming and more cable channels. It might be better to do something that more people have access to. We are all familiar to msnbc and its stance on news/the economy. If Microsoft did the same thing and it was more focused on comedy and drama television shows it would appeal to a greater amount of potential advertisers. While I can see how Microsoft is trying to predict a growing trend in online viewership, I think it is too soon to be effective. Maybe they are jumping in earlier because they didn't think the internet was going to be anything and were late to the game years ago.

Dairy Queen Tries Something Different

This article was published Adweek on April 3 , 2008. It is about the issue that Diary Queen tries something different for their advertising, accordong to Grey's push takes aim at McDonald's territory. Dairy Queen, the ice cream and fast-food restaurant chain, this week launched a campaign from Grey, New York, that differs markedly in tone from the shop's previous work for the brand. The campaign with seven TV commercials, 15 radio spots, the microsites blizzardfanclub.com and deeqs.com (which were made by space150, Minneapolis) as well as packaging seeks to position Dairy Queen as a family-friendly destination, territory that McDonald's has long occupied.

In the 30-second "Parent Day," several kids are in awe when a parent explains that he is a Dairy Queen franchisee and is making everyone a Blizzard, an ice cream treat. Listening to the resulting hullabaloo are what would otherwise be amazing professionals in the eyes of children: lion tamer, astronaut and man hovering in a jet pack. The lion tamer turns to his lion and says, "Tough act to follow." "Dairy Queens are not perceived as large, faceless corporations. Many customers say, 'At my DQ this happens,'" said Michael Keller, chief brand officer, Dairy Queen, Minneapolis. "By having the franchisee at the center of spot, for a lot people it's easier to relate to the hero in the community than someone who is an astronaut or spy." Grey has handled the account since 1997. The previous campaign saw adults in humorous situations forced to defend their sweet treats from being eaten by greedy strangers. "There is no doubt that McDonald's owns childhood, if you will," said Ari Halper, svp, cd, Grey. "But the knock on McDonald's is that it's a big, corporate brand that is McDonald's-sizing the U.S. We don't get hit by that."

First of all, in my thought it is very creative strategy for the marketing plan. The campaign uses a fresh and something different tone and strategy that catch people's attention effectively. It would fit on their goal of packaging that seeks to position Dairy Queen as a family-friendly destination, territory that McDonald's has long occupied. Grey has handled the account since 1997. The previous campaign saw adults in humorous situations forced to defend their sweet treats from being eaten by greedy strangers. However, this campaing with new creative strategy would bring a good effort and give people wider eyes for creating advertisements which have been developed in industry of nowadyas.

Yahoo! Shine lacks true shine

This past week Yahoo! launched Shine, a new website targeted at women ages 25-54. The website aims to provide information relevant to women, and will combine many different elements from Yahoo’s flagship portal, including the food, health, fashion and astrology sections. The site will also feature content from publishers as diverse as Time magazine and Conde Nast.

It hasn’t been even a week since its launch, but blogs and online message boards are already buzzing with critical comments about the website. It is being called a very “cynical and poorly executed” attempt to appeal to modern women. Unlike its other content specific websites, Yahoo Shine does not go deep into exploring women’s issues and simply skims the surface. As one woman on a blog commented, “there’s way too much glamour and very little about real people”. It also seems to cater to the stereotypical corporate view of what women want, providing almost patronizing tips on homemaking, astrology, etc. and calling women “chief household officers”. Response on the web shows that it only seems to be turning the target audience away rather than attracting them.

Shine also seems like a late-entrant into a category already crowded by Glam, iVillage, and other lifestyle magazine websites that provide similar content, thus, failing to attract marketers.

In my opinion, it is not too late for Yahoo to reformat the website and put some real substance in there.

The Reality of Product Placement

A recent AdAge article highlighted a study that was conducted to measure the impact and effectiveness of product placement in TV shows. The study, which was conducted by researchers from Ehrenberg-Bass Institute for Marketing Science, took a look at over 1,000 brand placements on U.S. prime-time TV across 11 broadcast and cable networks over 85 hours. Any placement was considered, regardless of whether or not in was paid for. The study discovered that placements in reality shows lasted about the same amount of time as those in other TV show genres (70% of visual exposures were less than five seconds long). The study also found that 57% of placements in reality shows were “fully exposed,” while 94% of placements in comedies were “fully exposed.” Comedies also exceeded reality shows in the number of placements in which the product was seen visually and discussed verbally by three times.

Although many current advertisers believe reality TV is the best genre for TV product placement, this article points to some interesting data. The article suggests that although it is important for a product to get some face time during a show, and reality shows are an easy way to achieve this, it is also important that the face time is accompanied by positive product interaction. Is reality the best TV genre for product placement? After reviewing the details of the study, I’m not sure that it is. Although reality TV offers some benefits that other genres do not, the placement times and exposure amounts do not seem to be reliable or consistent. Other genres, such as comedy, offer greater amounts of exposure which is an important element in considering the amount of brand clutter that is apparent in TV shows. The greater the amount of product exposure, the more likely the product is to stand out among other brands placed in the same shows. It is possible that marketers should begin to expand to other TV genres beyond reality shows for the placement of products.

http://adage.com/digital/article?article_id=126152

Intel to launch ITopia

Intel plans on launching ITopia, part of their company’s web site that allows IT professionals to talk with actual engineers. These one on one conversations are part of the companies plan to embrace a “listening marketing model”. Its campaign to promote this idea will be themed “IT Utopia” and include ads on tech websites to target engineers. What makes this campaign so different is that they have decided to not set an actual timetable for the campaign. Augustine Fou, svp of digital strategy at IPG's MRM Worldwide, said that “it wouldn’t make sense to do it in eight weeks. You can’t achieve a trust relationship in eight weeks.”

Other companies besides Intel have already created such ideas. Starbucks for example began a website called MyStarbucksIdea.com. They receive customer feedback on how to better improve their products and services. Dell has also created IdeaStorm, where it can receive feedback.

Intel has experimented with this idea in the past, offering live chats with engineers with the launch of Centrino Pro. This was proven to be very helpful because IT professionals were able to talk to actual engineers and ask technical questions that not all customer service representatives could answer. This new feature of their website that offers a constant chat/feedback will help Intel gain insight on product development and marketing language.
I think this is a great idea for Intel. With such a technologically advanced company, receiving feedback from actual engineers seems like a much better idea than receiving feedback from any PR or marketing representative.

Where's The Beef

Everybody knows "Beef it's what's for dinner." the popular slogan introduced by the National Cattleman's Beef Association in the 90s. What you might not know is that in January of 2008 the association launched an aggressive new ad campaign to capitalize on the success of it's historic advertising and reintegrate various new aspects of beef into the American lifestyle through new advertising. How exactly did they decide to do this? The answer lies in two innovative new outlooks for beef, the first being beef's positioning as a protein rich healthy diet accessory, and the second aspect focusing on the consumer's "passion," or love for beef in general. All this is just fine and dandy. The campaign reintegrated 15 million dollars to reinforce new spots predominately in "radio, billboard, and magazines." While radio was indicated as the top media vehicle for reaching consumers, ads were placed in magazines such as Fitness, Cooking Light, People, and Parents.
All fine and dandy until February 18, 2008 when the U.S. Department of Agriculture recalled 143 million pounds of beef due to a surfacing video on youtube (yet a different media vehicle), of the Westland/Hallmark Meat Co. maltreating sick cattle used in beef circulation for upto two years ago - sending the USDA, animal rights activists, and beef lovers alike into a skepticism surrounding the industry's safety standards as a whole. Particularly ironic is the fact that the NCBA put spots in Parents Magazine a month earlier only to be rudely met with the realization that much of the mishandled beef (though most likely not harmful) found it's way into school cafeterias. Though to some degree the recall was largely a safety issue regarding the mistreatment of relatively untainted cattle, the post-effects penetrate into not only advertising for the NCBA's beef campaign, but also impact the sales and advertising of the likes of Jack-In-The-Box and IN-N-Out restaurants... both of whom terminated contracts with Westland/Hallmark Meat Co. in light of the 2008 media hype surrounding the issue. Jack-In-The-Box's profits fell 2.2% is coming months. Could this have anything to do with the recall?
The answer in terms of media planning for a crisis such as the above may be not so much how to undo the past as what can be done as a means of going forward. The NCBA, Jack-In-The-Box, and In-N-Out restaurants have all launched or included public relations campaigns/ techniques to immediately save the value of their advertising (that which they didn't pull - I can't get a number or stat on how much advertising was cut for the next month/following months), and reassure consumer's of the safety of products and beef in general. An interesting insight into how quickly and alarmingly media objectives can change, and how fast a campaign's goals can be interrupted by an unforeseen, uncontrollable crisis. Everyone seemed to dodge a bullet on this one in one way or another. The question then, may not be "Where's the beef?" but "Where has the beef been?" and "How has it been handled?" Post comments on whether or not you've seen the beef advertising show up or decline in any magazines as of late now going into two months after the media coverage of the youtube video.

-Tristan Vaughan

http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/nation/bal-te.beef03mar03,0,2727187.story
http://www.beefitswhatsfordinner.com/askexpert/pressrelease.asp
http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/story?id=4305151