Anit-Smoking Campaign Uses Replacement Smokers

Acknowledging the need for tobacco companies to attract "replacement smokers," this American Legacy Foundation campaign from Havas' Arnold and MDC Partners' Crispin Porter + Bogusky features manequins with orange stickers that say "replacement" and a girl who says, "My dad died from emphysema from smoking six years ago. I haven't met his replacement yet."

'Friends' May Air Again as November 2004 Reunion Special

TV Guide says a "Friends" rep is denying a big payout to the stars to shoot a reunion special to air in November 2004 which, of course, means it's true.

A Friends rep is denying a report that NBC has agreed to pay Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox, Lisa Kudrow, Matt LeBlanc, Matthew Perry and David Schwimmer $2 million apiece to shoot a 90-minute reunion special to air in November 2004. The rumored get-together was supposedly going to be taped right after production wrapped later this month on the hitcom's final episode and show the gang getting together for Thanksgiving dinner

Trump's 'Apprentice' to Remain on Thursdays'

The success of the premiere airing of NBC's Donald Trump reality series, "The Apprentice" last Thursday combined with the void of programming on Thursday, has led to NBC's decision to keep the show on Thursdays instead of running it Wednesday where it was slated to live out its run. The show averaged 18.5 million viewers according to Nielsen.

Fefe Dobson Gleans Success From Viral and Online Marketing

Singer-songwritwer Fefe Dobson went from obscurity to a top ten artist on MTV's TRL in less than two months with the help of some smart online and viral marketing. 360 Youth helped the singer get in front of teens and college students with in-school promotions, database marketing, catalog marketing, a contest and email marketing.

Miller Considers Branded TV Show For Miller High Life

Miller Brewing Co., along with its agency, Wieden & Kennedy and agency's production house, Radical Media, are considering the adaption of it High Life ad campaign to use as a TV show, possibly called, "The High Life." Wieden will create and write the show and it may go into production in February.

The currently running ad campaign, which has resonated successfully with the target group, has helped stem a downward curve in sales that has gone on for 20 years. Whether this success of the campaign can be translated into a successful television show is anyone's guess but Miller and Wieden are to be lauded for their efforts in experimenting with new forms of advertising.

'Human Billboard' Planned in Support of Martha Stewart

SaveMartha.com will be out in force to support queen Martha outside her trial on January 20. The group had planned to buy a billboard in Times Square with the headline, "If the Stock Sale Was Legit, You Must Acquit, " but the price was too steep. The group will, instead, create a "human billboard" by holding signs, wearing aprons and waving kitchen utensils.

Big Media Still Don't Get It

Diane Mermigas in her Mermigas in Media column gives a massive run down on the Citigroup Smith Barney annual media conference and notes that many media giants still are resistant to the changing media landscape.

However, too many media companies and executives are content with simply acknowledging or dismissing the threat and challenge of video-on-demand, personal video recorders, intellectual property piracy, commercial ad skipping and anything else that smacks of a new competitive landscape that further fragments and even alienates viewers and advertisers.

Ill Spent Money on Bad Advertising Slogans

In his Ad Age column this week, Al Ries wonders why Tyson foods spent $40 million on an ad campaign with the tagline, "It's what your family deserves." He claims it, and most other ad taglines, simply do not speak the language that people speak. It's analogous to quotes you see in articles that are clearly lifted directly from press releases. Real humans are not the source for those quotes. A public relations press release writer is responsible for stuffing those in-human pontifications in said quoted human's mouth. Most ad slogans are meaningless and connote nothing about the brand. Of course, if you spend a lot of money like Coke and Nike, you can say whatever you want because those brands just buy their way into your brand psyche.

Brands Get Free Play in Billboard Top 20

On her Whatsnextonline blog, B.L. Ochman points to Lucian James' Agenda American Brandstand, a service that tracks the number of brand mentions in the Billboard Hot 100. Top mentioned brands in 2003 include Mercedes, Cadillac, Prada, Nike, Cristal, Hennessy, K-Mart and Timberland.