Ad revenue

Whoops!

Today in class I made a bold claim that newspapers as a whole lost 800 million in ad revenue last year. I WAS WRONG! U.S. newspapers, including all your favorite "papers of record" lost 7.5 billion in ad sales last year alone!


And the Chicago Sun Times parent company just went bankrupt.

Doritos Guru

I was at the store today and found this bag of Doritos. Some of you may have seen this before, but it's the first time I have. It's a contest to come up with a name and an advertisement (TV) for a new flavour of Doritos, with the winner receiving $25,000 + 1% of future sales.

This would have been fun to do but the contest is almost over and the finalists have already been chosen. It's a good way to get the target involved with the product, but I know I haven't heard of it so I'm wondering how many others have. I haven't seen any ads promoting the contest.

You can check out the contest and the submissions at doritosguru.ca

Video Games Aren't King... but they are royalty.

According to a recent study by Nielsen, video games are approaching usage levels that rival network TV. The study found that 64 billion minutes were spent gaming in December 2008; only 4 TV networks had more time spent than that, but NBC is in danger of falling behind video games soon.

Back in the fall Dave had posted about XBOX Live running Obama ads in one of their racing games. Up to this point in time most "advertising" in video games has been self-promotion by the gaming company for its own titles. With numbers like this to support video games, how long will it be until video games become filled with advertising messages, both obvious (billboards in the environments and subversive (such as increased product placements)?

Twitter, sigh

I don't fully understand Twitter and yet I have this strange feeling of hate and discomfort towards it... perhaps that is why I find this funny?

"Twouble with Twitter" sous-titré
by LePostfr

You Twitter-ers... still funny to you too?

Please don't add to the voices in my head!

First of all, I'm kidding. Second - I can't believe it. This is actually an old article (Dec 10, 07) I stumbled across while researching a painting for Petty's VD (that's Visual Dialogue) class. (It's from: http://openthefuture.com/2007/12/monday_topsight_december_10_20.html) It is short so I have included it in its entirety:

"• Oh, No: In their never-ending quest to make ordinary citizens rise up and destroy capitalism, the advertising community has discovered a new place to put hard-to-ignore ads: in your skull.

New Yorker Alison Wilson was walking down Prince Street in SoHo last week when she heard a woman's voice right in her ear asking, "Who's there? Who's there?" She looked around to find no one in her immediate surroundings. Then the voice said, "It's not your imagination." [...]

The billboard uses technology manufactured by Holosonic that transmits an "audio spotlight" from a rooftop speaker so that the sound is contained within your cranium.

Go ahead and scream. A local hero (or "vandal") stole the speaker out of the billboard shortly after it went up; the speaker has since been replaced (no word on whether they've added more security... hint hint). The Holosonic rep suggested that it might take time for people to become accustomed to this new technology. I suspect it will take less time for the system to become subject to some harsh regulation.

Please."


I think I may have heard about this before but being reminded renewed my terror. I am at a loss for words. I know I'm in advertising but if I ever have to advertise this way, I quit! If this is going to become the wave of the future I am going to find me a nice big cave and never come out. No, you can't join me.

More Bars!!

This isn't a new commercial and the angle definitely isn't new. At&T has been using "More bars in more places" since they bought Cingular Wireless. I've seen this commercial countless number of times but I never noticed how thoroughly the "more bars" imagery was used in it until last night. Every cut in the spot has a set of bars in it (and multiple sets in some) except for one; that's 11 sets of bars by my count. That's some serious USP-ing right there!

Cannes Lions 2008 Ads

I went to the Cannes Lions Ads on Thursday night at the WAG and to be honest I was kind of disappointed. There were no real ads that stood out as great ads to me. The majority of the ad winners were from the U.S. and the grand prix winners were all commercials for the Halo 3 game for X Box 360. Maybe it's because I don't know what Halo 3 but I wasn't really impressed by them. Canada also had all of the bronze winners, which was only 5, but again nothing that really impressed me.



The commercial I seem to remember the most was a silver winner from Brazil for Child Poverty awareness. I found the ad on youtube but it's in Spanish. The ad shows the same boy sitting on the same street corner. In one frame he's dirty and wearing torn clothes. In the other he's clean and wearing a nice white shirt. The boy who's dressed nicely is slowly surrounded by a crowd of people trying to help him. The line at the end reads something like "why are some children our problem but not others?"

I don't think this was the best ad of the evening it just seems to be the ad that I seem to actually remember.

Anyways, if you get the chance, head down to the art gallery and check out the ads. Even if I don't think they were great this year doesn't mean there isn't one or two ads that are worth seeing.

And finally, I like how this ad really pumps up the corner space.

Since I'm on this cool outdoor kick, here's another one for Denver Water. I think it has pretty good impact, being that we've come to expect a full bench, or a full glass of water.

I thought this was a pretty awesome example of new media.

New Media

Welcome to cloud computing. A world so vast and infinite in its possibilities that I can barely contain my excitement to buy one of these:



What you see above does not have a cd or dvd drive. The RAM is laughable and the hard drive within is not even a hard drive at all; it's flash. This computer does 2 things on its own, and does them well. This computer:

- Surfs the internet
-And plays music

All within the cozy confines of Windows XP. This computer costs $400, but it is possible to get one for cheaper.

It's backwards, it's small, it's cheap, it's the future. It won't be long before this computer can do everything my $2000 can do.

In comes CLOUD computing, otherwise known as the full flex of the muscle we call the internet. The cloud is the internet. The internet is the cloud.

You see, it wont be long before everything we do will be outsourced to the internet. The computer above, on it's own, cannot handle photoshop or any other system heavy operation, but it can run the internet. Now, if you use Photoshop online within a self contained web-application, this computer then has officially outsourced the job of processing the software to a bunch of servers in, say, Japan, or Monaco. I don't know. You'll never have to install heavy software again (unless you're a graphic designer, of course).

Think of watching a movie in a theatre. The Movie has already been filmed, processed, and put on a reel to project on the screen for us. Behind the theatre, there is no set where the actors act out every scene verbatim every single night. No, no, no, that would be ridiculous, and a lot of work!

Wasn't long ago I paid $400 dollars for a graphic card so I could run the game Deus Ex on my small PC. But what if we outsourced that job to a server farm that solely ran Deus Ex continually, streaming it to any piece of technology with a screen, with you only relaying the vector points to control the game over the internet.

Here are some web apps that are pioneering the new wave of cloud computing:

http://www.pixlr.com/
http://docs.google.com/
http://www.zoho.com/
http://www.me.com/
http://www.acrobat.com/
http://www.jooce.com/
http://www.evernote.com/
http://www.blist.com/
http://www.photoshop.com/express
http://g.ho.st/

And windows is working on an operating system that is based solely in the Cloud. What does that mean? It means you can access your computer from any and everywhere. Cause it's on the internet.

You'll never need a jump drive again!

So what does this have to do with advertising? YOU TELL ME!

Satire or Seriousness?

I've been meaning to post this ad on the blog for awhile but I just hadn't gotten a picture of the bus bench. I'm not sure if Fabutan is trying to be cheeky or if they truly are serious. Either way the ad is easily remembered and jumps out at you.

RECALDENT

What do you do when you want to increase the healthful nature of the gum you're selling? Invent a new fangled technology that the other guys don't have: Recaldent. That's right, Trident Extra Care is the gum that uses Recaldent to strengthen tooth enamel - does anyone else offer the same promise? This is a genius move to counteract long-lasting gum rivals such as Stride (which has made strides of their own in the market of late - ha!). Having trouble branding your product? Develop a technology the competition will never have.

It takes more than BULL SH-

So what is up here? What is the angle Pfizer is taking? Something smells in the pharmaceutical world. You all know my thoughts on these companies... but what makes them want to go this route?



I don't buy this for a moment.

Tiger's back!

Was watching some golf on the weekend, and I saw this one minute spot. Love it!

A friend emailed this to me. I think it's a great example of how a TV spot can be converted easily to radio:

A woman's world

First, it's kind of sad to admit this but I saw this Friday night when I was sitting home watching TLC's Say Yes to the Dress (I realize my choice in TV shows is questionable that's not the issue). While watching the show this 2 minute commercial came on and to be completely honest I was kind of offended.

Maybe it's just me, but I think this does nothing but make women look shallow and superficial. Is the only thing that women worry about their hair, or how they look, or meeting a guy? I realize this is likely a take on Sex and the City, where you have 4 women living these glamorous lives that revolve around fashion, sex, and relationships, but part of the reason why Sex and the City was so popular is because most women wanted to be just like Carrie, Charlotte, Samantha, and Miranda.

In this video, why would any women want to be like one of these four characters - nothing but a middle aged woman who is unhappy with the way she looks. I could understand if these videos were funny than maybe they would be more effective but they really aren't, they more pathetic than anything.

What's even worse is that this is the premier of what looks like to be several of these videos on the website http://awomansworld.com/. While the premier was over 2 minutes, the next couple videos are only 50 seconds each, however that doesn't make them any better. In the next three videos, which are currently on the website, these 4 characters are worrying about what they look like in a bathing suit, they are get excited about losing weight when you're sick, and they are thinking about all the waxing and tanning they feel they need to do before they're able to wear that bathing suit. Again, in my opinion, each one of these videos makes women look worse.

I haven't mentioned what this videos are for. They are videos for Baked! LAYS, FLAT EARTH, and SMART FOOD snacks. Other than the premier, the products don't appear in the videos at all. There is information about them on the website but other than that, that's all you see of them. Personally, I don't think these videos do anything to promote these products in a positive light. If anything, choosing healthy foods should make you feel good about yourself, whereas all these videos do is highlight the negative things women seems to worry about.

Scary...

This ad is creepy, but really effective. I think that it does a really good job of evoking a sense of panic/fear, which is something that should be present in any parent when their child is around water.

I can guarantee a lot of people think it's disgusting; I know my mom would absolutely hate it because it's hard to look at for a lot of parents. But that is the purpose. For a parent, all it takes is a glance and this image will probably come to mind every time their children are swimming, forcing them to pay attention.

Release the Goo!

Not only are these a bit disturbing... especially the second one... but I think these candies are enjoying their suicide a little too much. Yeah... suicide and slight sexual innuendo make for very interesting adverts.

Graffiti Advertising

Every day I notice some new graffiti has gone up on my apartment building and it is starting to get really annoying. These gangs are constantly trying to one up each other and keep making their names bigger and BIGGER. They've even gotten so brave as to spraypaint their mark on the side of someone's white van. It makes my apartment block look trashy, and now I'm beginning to fear going outside at night because there are so many gangs roaming around. I don't really know what I can do about the situation besides move. I've thought about writing my own message...something to the effect "Write here if you are an idiot" with an arrow pointing down at the name.

While I detest the people who have nothing better to do than write on my apartment, I am intrigued by this form of advertising. How could you use graffiti advertising effectively?

The following is an article I found off the Marketing Minefield website.
http://www.marketingminefield.co.uk/unusual-ideas/graffiti-advertising.html

What is graffiti advertising?
Graffiti advertising is usually dismissed as an illegal form of guerrilla marketing. However, this need not be the case. Legal graffiti advertising is unique, eye-catching, and can be an excellent way of enabling your outdoor advertising campaign to connect with your audience.
Graffiti advertising is images and artwork placed on leased wall or billboard space.

How does it work?
Legal graffiti advertising works through leasing wall space and integrating the company logo and brand message or image into images from the graffiti artist. Although the wall space is leased in a similar way to billboard advertising, the differences are substantial:
Skilled graffiti artists create the ads
The ads are spray-painted onto the advertising space
Graffiti advertising venues often evolve into venues for events

Who’s it best for?
Two product categories that frequently use graffiti marketing are consumer products and entertainment, in particular those targeted at a youthful market.

Typically graffiti marketing will also be used when there is some kind of connection between the product being promoted and graffiti culture in general. This form of advertising can then be used to bring the two together, and can be especially effective when local graffiti artists are invited to create the advertisements.

Graffiti advertising is often considered to be extremely cheap but this isn’t actually the case. Legal graffiti advertising involves leasing advertising space which can cost thousands of pounds, as well as creating awareness amongst graffiti artists and organising any complementary events.
As for accountability, this is vital for any form of advertising these days and graffiti advertising is no different. As Adam Salacuse, CEO of Alt Terrain, says:

"You can use street traffic. However, you also want to measure the engagement factor. How many saw the mural being created. How long they were hanging out. If done right, there is also a word of mouth factor."

Tsk tsk General Mills! You should know better!

Quebec watchdog bites General Mills over Lucky Charms ad campaign

An advertising campaign for Lucky Charms cereal has proven unlucky for General Mills in Quebec.

The Canadian branch of the Minnesota-based cereal giant has pleaded guilty to violating provisions of the provincial consumer law with an ad targeting children under 13 years of age.

Various games on an internet site were found to contain advertising messages aimed at children.

Quebec's consumer protection agency said Wednesday that General Mills pleaded guilty on Feb. 6 and will have to pay a $2,000 fine.

The agency said the guilty plea sends an important message about respecting laws covering advertising aimed at children.

Lucky Charms has always used cartoon characters in its ads, including a cheerful leprechaun.
© The Canadian Press, 2009
http://www.cbc.ca/consumer/story/2009/02/25/mtl-lucky-charms-cp-0225.html

* The best part about this whole situation is that Alex and I heard a radio announcer go off on the subject for at least an hour about how this is a ridiculous waste of government resources and that there's no way advertising kids cereal to kids is or should be illegal! Ha! That's funny. Do your research my friend. Anyway - comments Alex? You probably remember parts of this better than I do (as I was the driver!)

Molson Canadian Ad

Although I could not find this ad online so I could post it here (please do if you can find it) I still wanted to mention it because I feel, that in the world today, your ad is not completely successful until it has been written about on somebody's facebook wall. Here is the post that my friend Marni made on her brother's wall:

"Hey! Have you seen the new Molson Canadian commercial that ends with "they're not dents, they're goals"? haha it made me think of you!"

Another positive of this ad is it's use of nostalgia to make people remember it. As a child I think every garage door in my neighbourhood had dents - er, goals - on them!

Not only do I hate Bud Light's beer, but I also hate their advertising. The series of Budd Light ads are so wickedly lame they should not be given access to media play. Hey I have a great premise: we get this chochy, Super Dave look-alike to show up at meathead jock parties and make radio-voice comments about stupid crap. Yeah, gold.

Top 10 Media & Marketing Books of All Time...

...according to voting by readers of Ad Age. Anybody checked any of these books out aside from Whipple?

1."POSITIONING: THE BATTLE FOR YOUR MIND"
Al Ries and Jack Trout

2."OGILVY ON ADVERTISING"
David Ogilvy

3."THE 22 IMMUTABLE LAWS OF BRANDING"
Al Ries and Laura Ries

4."E"
Matt Beaumont

5. "HEY, WHIPPLE. SQUEEZE THIS: A GUIDE TO CREATING GREAT ADVERTISING"
Luke Sullivan

6."WHERE THE SUCKERS MOON: THE LIFE AND DEATH OF AN ADVERTISING CAMPAIGN"
Randall Rothenberg

7."GOOD TO GREAT: WHY SOME COMPANIES MAKE THE LEAP AND OTHERS DON'T"
Jim Collins

8."THE BOOK OF GOSSAGE"
Howard Luck Gossage, Jeff Goodby and Bruce Bendinger

9."INFLUENCE: THE PSYCHOLOGY OF PERSUASION"
Robert B. Cialdini

10."BLINK: THE POWER OF THINKING WITHOUT THINKING"
Malcom Gladwell

Cool Outdoor Placements

I found the forward a buddy sent me a while back about cool outdoor placements. Here are some selections.

Linux

I found these mock-ads on the YouTubes. I had heard of Linux before this, but I have no idea what makes it so special. I find these to be very annoying and discourages me from ever wanting to run Linux software or even finding out more about it.



It's like watching a young kid trying too hard to get attention.

This 3M Bus Shelter Panel for Security Glass is such a clever placement. I love when advertisers can work with what's there and use it to a products best advantage.

Celebrity Apprentice

If anyone hasn't heard, Celebrity Apprentice kicked off in a 2-hour show last night. Like Trump or hate him, the team projects they work on seem very similar to Cre Comm. Last night they were given the task to bake & brand cupcakes to be sold for their charitable causes. Overall they raised 100,000. Check it out next week 9/8c on NBC when "The men and women remain divided as each team must create and costume an original comic book character to promote an online shoe retailer."

http://www.nbc.com/the-celebrity-apprentice/