Fashion Ads: Love the Creative Strategy

Look at this ad. Don't you just love the ethereal simplicity and duality that this ad conveys? The powerful imagery conveys the realization to women everywhere that perfume alone can transform them into either the angelic or the femme fatale.

Blah. Such fluff. Great ad though.

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by Steve Hall    Jan-21-03    

Continental, Delta, and Northwest Ignore Government on Joint Marketing

All in the name of survival.

AdAge: THREE AIRLINES DEFY GOVERNMENT ON MARKETING PACT
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Pepsi Will Run Four Superbowl Spots

Pepsi confirmed that they will air four spots during this Sunday's Superbowl game.

BrandWeek: Pepsi Confirms Super Bowl Lineup
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Girl Magazines Just as Sex-Laden as Boy Magazines

The writer of this article describes how women's magazines are now just as raunchy and sex filled as men's magazine such as Maxim. Filled with sex trick articles and the like. It's really no surprise. My reasoning as to why magazines are so sex-filled is really quite simple. We live in a society, open as it is in many respects, that shuns most anything that has to do with sex.

Parents don't talk to their kids about it. Movies don't show it...and if they do, it is usually the quick cut to the morning after. TV sitcoms address it like it is something dirty. It's taboo to openly talk about sex in America. But sex is sex. It will always be here and there is nothing anyone can do about it. Not talking about it doesn't make it go away. In fact, it just makes it all the more alluring to read about. Hence, the sex filled magazine covers we see on the news stand every day.

Tallahassee Democrat: Women's magazines now as raunchy as those for men
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Rate Superbowl Ads With Your Sprint PCS Phone

Sorry if that headline sounds like a headline to a Sprint ad. But it's true. This year you can use your Sprint PCS web-enabled phone to rate Superbowl spots. It could be cool if enough people do it.

Technology Marketing: Adbowl Rates Super Bowl Ads
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No 11th Season for Friends but Spinoff for LeBlanc

With the 10th season of Friends the last, Matt LeBlanc is now talking openly about a spin off for his Joey Tribbiani character.

CNN: CNN.com - LeBlanc to star in 'Friends' spinoff? - Jan. 21, 2003
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Blogger Fixes My Site

After some difficulty this morning because of a stupid mistake I made and was not able to fix myself, Blogger came to the rescue. And it was none other than Evan Williams himself (Creator of Blogger), who solved my problem. Many thank, Ev. And sorry for my earlier outburst:-)
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Superbowl Ads: Successes and Failures

MSNBC takes a look at some one time greats (Apple) and failures over the years in Superbowl advertising.

MSNBC: One-hit wonders, fabulous failures
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A Close Look at Coke's 'Real' Campaign

Al Ries takes a look at the re-birth of Coke's 'Real' campaign and wonders why Coke ever strayed from being the "real thing". I wonder too. After all, if you are the real thing and you have branded that into the minds of every human being, why would you ever want to say anything else? Well, probobly because the creative team is bored.

That's the problem with advertising. Those of us who create it get sick of it years before our target audience does. Campaigns change far too quickly these days and usually for all the wrong reasons.

Ad Age: COCA COLA GETS IT RIGHT WITH 'REAL'

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Sadly, Reality TV Beats Drama

By now, you know I am not a fan of reality television. But I will also say, as a marketer, the category is fast becoming a ratings winner for advertisers.

Reuters: Reality Bites Drama in Ratings
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Jessica Simpson Returns to 'That '70's Show'

Curvaceous hottie (well, she is) returns to 'That 70's Show' as Kelso's fantasy girl. Jelousy ensues among Kelso's former girlfriend and her new boyfriend.

No surprise. Jessica would cause a stir where ever she went.

Zap2it: Zap2it | TV: NEWS: NEWS DAILY

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MSN Interactive Best Practices Site Live

My MarketingFix partner, Rick Bruner, has announced that Microsoft's Interactive Marketing Best Practices site is live. It contains a motherlode of real life case studies that you can search through based on your objective and strategy. I'm still going through it and it looks great. There is also a tour that will visit city near you soon. Here is a schedule of cities. It's free so sign up today.
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Good News About Superbowl Advertising

On January 26th more than half of all Americans (54%) will watch the Super Bowl. A survey of 500 Americans conducted by InsightExpress revealed that two out of every five who will watch, tune in for the commercials. For those who will tune in to the Super Bowl, commercials are as much a part of the experience as the game itself. Super Bowl commercials that use humor are rated the highest among respondents as most memorable (61%), followed by those that are visually appealing/have special effects (43%). Favorite commercials from last year include the Budweiser Clydesdales bowing to New York (25%) and Blockbuster's dancing guinea pig (24%).

Additionally, the survey revealed that three out of five respondents pay closer attention to Super Bowl ads than they do to everyday ads, and 20% pay more attention to the commercials than they do to the actual game. The survey also found that 29% have tried a product as a result of seeing it advertised during the Super Bowl, while only 18% say that their opinion of a company was enhanced through a Super Bowl ad.

[via Center for Media Research]

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