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Posts Tagged ‘Advertising’

Things We Love

Wednesday, January 21st, 2009

Debbie loves Stumble Upon – It’s yet another social media site that enables you to stumble upon web sites that match your interests. Fill in your profile, upload Stumble into your toolbar, and voila! You can stumble around the Internet from site to site and discover sites you may have never come upon otherwise. Like the site featuring photos of a baby kangaroo or an article on identifying key phrases for your web site SEO that I can actually understand!

Holly loves Jon and Kate Plus 8 – The cute and unusually large family includes a set of twins and sextuplets that never fail to put on a show. As parents of these rambunctious toddlers, Jon and Kate have learned to maximize their marketability in order to score cool stuff for their family. The show features the Gosselin kids sporting Crocs sandals, staying at enormous ski lodges and reading the Tale of Despereaux, all free of charge. By allowing sponsored items to appear in their home and on their show, marketers are getting the attention of millions of viewers and the Gosselins are getting way more than the average family of 10!

Kelly loves Clark Sorenson’s vintage flower urinals – For those obsessed with flowers, gardening and bathroom fixtures, for just $6,000 to $10,000, now you can have all three in a fantastic and realistic porcelain wall urinal. Imagine your guests delight-and surprise-upon entering your bathroom! While I wouldn’t have one in my own house, I personally think they are far too pretty to actually use!

Kirsty loves CNN.com Live with Facebook for the Inauguration – This historical event was made even more historical with the use of social media to connect Americans, from coast to coast. This event really showcased TV networks and newspapers’ ability to build interactive platforms to engage their audience.

Shawn loves Al Roker scoring the very first Presidential interview – Watching the Inauguration events unfold was a great way to spend my mini snow day. I laughed, I cheered and even cried a few times. But my favorite moment by far was weatherman Al Roker’s tongue in cheek “interview” with our new President.

Susan loves Doritos’ Crash The Super Bowl contest – The cheddar-cheese-chip-maker seems to have struck gold with fan-made commercials. For the third Super Bowl in a row, Doritos will run a commercial concepted, created and produced by fans. And from the few I’ve watched online, the entries this year appear to be agency-worthy. I cannot wait to see which spot wins the coveted spot in the big game!

Tags: Advertising, inauguration, Marketing, Politics, Social media, Super Bowl
Posted in Talk | Comments

A TV spot you want to cuddle up to

Tuesday, January 20th, 2009

It’s always nice to see when a company connects with the audience on a personal level. Though this should be the goal of every marketing initiative, often times, the advertising is off the mark. But Iams’ Home For The Holidays spots, which show eager new-pet owners who struggle to make an instant connection, are right on target.

Both spots remind us all of a time when we were desperate to play with a new pet that wanted nothing more than to get the lay of the land – alone. And the message “The real reward in adopting a pet, is when the pet adopts you” just makes you feel all warm and fuzzy inside. Bravo Iams!

Find more videos like this on AdGabber

Tags: Advertising, Iams, Media and Politics, Pets
Posted in Public Relations | Comments

The yellowest year ever

Friday, January 16th, 2009

In a world where television shows come and go faster than you can tweet about them, it is impressive that The Simpson’s has graced the airwaves for 20 years. So to commemorate this momentous achievement, Fox (the home of the perpetually-young family) will kick off a year-long birthday celebration dubbed “Best. 20 Years. Ever.”

The marketing strategy kicks off with the “Unleash Your Yellow” poster design contest. Fans are encouraged to create a poster that celebrates the last two decades of lovable (if sometimes irritating) characters. The grand prize winner will earn a trip to the Season 21 premiere party in LA along with tickets to ride on the Simpson’s themed roller coaster in Universal Studios Hollywood. As an added bonus, the winning poster may be used in the marketing initiative during the year.

Tags: Advertising, Simpsons
Posted in Talk | Comments

Why Being PC is BS and How It’s Stunting Our Growth

Friday, January 16th, 2009

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I just read a great article by Bart Cleveland in Advertising Age that discusses how sensitive and easily offended we’ve all become. What a shame. Political correctness has run amok in our society and threatens to kill our sense of humor. Can’t any of us laugh at ourselves anymore? So many great creative ideas in PR and advertising get tossed aside because they may offend or are not inclusive enough. If we were truly open minded and inclusive, we wouldn’t be so scared to poke fun. Lighten up people. Being PC, self-righteous and sanctimonious is so . . . last year.

Tags: Advertising, creativity, PC
Posted in Talk | Comments

Bathroom Humor

Thursday, January 15th, 2009

Here are some hilarious ads that were posted in bathroom stalls. The ads illustrate the very different ways that men and women respond to the question: What goes through your mind when someone says “Let’s go for a drink”

Tags: Advertising, beer advertising, humor
Posted in Talk | Comments

Automotive industry cutting more than payroll

Wednesday, January 14th, 2009

As if you didn’t already know, the U.S. automotive industry is having financial troubles. In addition to laying off thousands of employees, closing manufacturing plants and reducing output, companies are being forced to limit their usually outrageous advertising efforts. For General Motors, after the worst year in nearly half a century, this means forgoing this year’s Super Bowl (gasp!). In years past, GM has been a heavy roller during the Super Bowl, putting their purchasing power to work as a game sponsor and a buyer of 30- and 60- second spots. This year, GM as well as its Cadillac brand passed on buying spots during the big game partly because of the $3 million dollar price tag.

Automotive enthusiasts don’t fret because the Super Bowl did manage to recruit Audi and Hyundai to purchase 30-second spots for the second year in a row. Prior to 2008, both companies hadn’t appeared during the game for nearly 20 years, but as some of the big dogs struggle to survive, these two companies are faring better than most. Even though Hyundai struggled like most in 2008, sales are up 20 percent already in 2009 compared to this time last year. Audi is also holding its own as the company continued a 13-year growth streak worldwide with sales dropping only slightly in the U.S.

With big players like GM out of the mix, it will be interesting to see what the underdogs do when the spotlight is on them.

Tags: Advertising, Marketing in a Recession, Super Bowl
Posted in Marketing | Comments

Go Daddy Scores PR for Superbowl Promo

Wednesday, January 14th, 2009

Go Daddy landed some great PR today on Fox News. The CEO was on to promote Go Daddy’s latest Superbowl hijinx. Go Daddy has created two Superbowl spots - each racy of course. They want you to go online to vote for which of the spots you’d like to see during the big game. Go to www.godaddy.com to vote. Good PR move Go Daddy. The spot featured here is the one that was censored when Go Daddy first came on the scene.

Tags: Advertising, Go Daddy, Superbowl
Posted in Public Relations | Comments

NBC takes advantage of captive audience

Monday, January 12th, 2009

Many shows were cut short or shelved for the remainder of the spring season due to the writers’ strike of fall 2007. More than a year later, some networks are still struggling to regain viewers who lost interest in the weeknight fare or who simply gave up on shows altogether.

NBC is using its position as Super Bowl host this year to reintroduce viewers to former favorites. With five minutes of promotional air-time, expect to see spots for The Office – airing an hour-long special after the game – along with Chuck and Heroes – which will air the following night. And though the peacock network won’t be coughing up the $3 million per :30 spot that the rest of the advertisers will, it plans to deliver Super Bowl caliber content. And the TV lovers at Talk cannot wait to see what NBC has in store for our favorite characters.

Tags: Advertising, NBC, Superbowl
Posted in Talk | Comments

Test Your Superbowl Commercial Knowledge

Thursday, January 8th, 2009

Once again we are weeks away from Super Bowl Sunday. In honor of the 2nd Annual Talkies, I have been sharpening my skills by taking a few online Super Bowl commercial trivia tests. Lets just say I did not pass with flying colors. Thankfully, I have a few weeks of hardcore training so I will be ready for the big day. Take a few of the tests yourself to see how well you’ve been paying attention. Test #1 Test #2 Test #3

Tags: Advertising, Commercials, Events, Super Bowl, Talkies, Trivia
Posted in Public Relations | Comments

Is Nothing Sacred Anymore?

Monday, January 5th, 2009

First it was the ads staring at me from the bathroom stalls. Then the back of ski lifts. 2008 brought sticky post-its slapped over the masthead of my morning paper. Now the New York Times is selling ad space on its front page. Wall Street Journal and USA Today have already succumbed too. Washington Post is holding out. Oh, the humanity!

Tags: Advertising, media
Posted in Talk | Comments