.
If you can't get enough of Ryan Seacrest, don't worry because soon his mug will grace a fourth, yes, fourth television show. This time it will be tentatively titled American Top 40 Awards, a TV version of his radio show. It's planned to air on FOX in 2005 with Seacrest as host and executive producer along with Tony Eaton and Dave Broome. Seacrest can also be seen on American Idol, On-Air with Ryan Seacrest and was seen last year on the Radio Music Awards.
Of course, if you're sick of the dude, you're out of luck
Today, we found a nifty t-shirt in our corporate mailbox. Who, really, can have too many t-shirts? We were pleased but wondered who had sent this wonderful gift. We looked more closely. This particular t-shirt had a little saying on it that resonated quite nicely with our mindset here at Adrants. It said, "I'm being exploited by an ad agency." Upon reading that, there was no argument from the rampant cynicism that oozes from the walls of Adrants central.
A letter was enclosed with the t-shirt which read, in part, "After it was printed (the t-shirt), we quickly realized that this shirt didn't merely convey the whining of a spoiled creative class drunk on carb-free champagne paid for by ripping off old Motown tunes. No, this was bigger than that. We found that we had hit a universal truth, a moment of cultural clarity. Aren't we all being exploited by advertising agencies? We think so. And we're not saying it's a bad thing - it's actually better than being exploited by cult leaders or record executives or something - just that it's a true thing."
It's not news that ad agencies play their part in the exploitation of consumers. What's news is that an agency is saying it. In this case, URBANadvertising of New York. Their tagline? "Honest."
Citing Wired's transformation from geeky computer magazine to "a slick, smart and playful cultural journal," Chicago Tribune's Tempo awarded its top spot on its "Top 50 Magazines" list. Rounding out the top ten were Real Simple, The Economist, Cook's Illustrated, Esquire, The New Yorker, American Demographics, Men's Health, Jane and Consumer Reports.
While jaded viewers have called it lame, the country seems to be smitten with rich bitch hotties Paris Hilton and Nicole Ritchie and they continue their fish out of water adventures in "The Simple Life 2: Road Trip." This time it's in a mobile home terrorizing only one town at a time as opposed to last time when they terrorized one family and one town for an entire month.
"The Simple Life 2: Road Trip" premiere won its time slot with 8.11 million viewers and the second episode brought in 9.84 millions viewers. Go figure.
Move over Hello Kitty, there's a new Japanese pop culture must-have and its name is Tare Panda, a flatish looking panda bear which is fast becoming the want of the tween/teen set. Created in 1995, Tare Panda is one of the most famous cartoon characters in Japan, has no feet and is also known as "Pa-pa Panda" or "Lazy Panda." Since it has no feet, it moves around by rolling - at a speed of 2.7 meters per second to be exact. Tare Panda is also lazy unless near it favorite fruit, Swama, which then causes the little guy to actually exude some energy.
To fight the plethora of competing brands and market fragmentation, publishers are striking licensing deals to insure their brands remain top of mind with consumers. Prevention has a line of vitamins. Maxim has put out a hair color product and may brand nightclubs and frozen food. This Old House sells branded paints. And Vibe will brand sheets, towels and greeting cards. Where are the Razor branded razors?
It's well known that advertising has seeped into every pore of life and it has become largely inescapeable. While there is already some forms of advertising that touch the pristine experience of skiing, Sno Ads wants to plaster big advertiser's logos all over the the snow at ski resorts and on the sides of mountains.
Hiding behind the environmentally safe aspects of its methods, "Sno Ads" masks the ugliness of its business proposition. There are some places in this world, where advertising does not belong and a mountainside or ski slope is one of them.
MasterCard is launching a new television spot as part of its long running "Priceless" ad campaign. This time, the spot will target small businesses explaining how MasterCard can assist business owners realizing their dreams. It still won't be as good as this spot in which MasterCard helps a guy ask his girlfriend to realize his.
