ABC's 'Lost' Destined to be A Hit

While NBC's Apprentice has devolved into a hyped-up bitchfest akin to a highschool catfight, ABC's Lost is destined to become a hit. It's intruiging. It's suspenseful. It reveals enough to keep interest and it features 40 people whose back stories are sure to provide pleanty of fodder for storylines.We figure it will finish the season in the top ten easily.

Volkswagen Puts $1.4 Billion Media Business in Review

Seeking to "buy media smarter and cheaper," AdWeek reports Volkswagen is evaluating its global $1.4 billion media business. Of course, no sources are talking except to say that current agencies Havas Media Planning Group and Grey Global Group MediaCom have been invited to participate in the review.

William Shatner Plays Joke on Iowa Town For Reality Series

William Shatner, who was in Riverside, Iowa shooting scenes for what he said claimed to be part of a new sci-fi movie called Invasion Iowa, revealed to the town Tuesday night the whole thing was a hoax.

Shatner and a Glacier Point Productions crew had been in Riverside shooting a reality series, set to air on Spike TV, about small town playing host to a Hollywood shoot.

"Everything in front of and behind the cameras was faked," Shatner said. "The only thing that was real is the love we have for Riverside."

Just so the townfolk didn't revolt, turning the whole thing into a horror flick, Spike TV producers donated $100,000 to the town and the cast a crew passed the hat to collect an additional $12,000 for the Riverside Elementary School Book Fund. Do kids still read? We don't know when the series will air but we do know Shatner can be seen on ABC's The Practice spin off Boston Legal with James Spader Sundays at 10 PM.

New Campaigns From Sears, Liz Claiborne, Reebok

This week, Amy Coor's MediaPost Out to Launch column brings us new campaigns from Sears featuring ABC Extreme Makeover host Ty Pennington, Liz Claiborne featuring Sex and the City star Kim Catrall, Traditional Home magazine, Cottage Living, AccuWeather.com which partnered with AstraZeneca sponsoring WeatherHost, and Reebok Sweets.

Mavi Jeans Buys News Coverage on New York's FOX 5

Further confirming the lengths to which marketers will go to obtain awareness, and proving nothing in the news is unbiased anymore, an email leaked to Gawker reveals a New York FOX 5 fashion reporter's negotiation for payment from a fashion brand in return for favorably mentioning the brand in a segment to appear on Good Day New York next week. Sylist Susan Redstone told Mavi Jeans she'd feature the brand's jeans in a 3-4 minute segment in return for $750. We know there's "pay for play" stuff going on all the time but it would be nice to know that news is news and marketing is marketing, wouldn't it? Wait, we're marketers. Or course we wouldn't.

UPDATE: We contacted Mavi to get to the bottom of this and, while they admit being asked by Redstone, they assured us they did not, in fact, pay for any placement. Mavi's Michael Williams said, "We didn't or wouldn't pay for placement. We make a great product and don't need to pay for our placement."

PETA Airs 'Meet Your Meat' Ad With Alec Baldwin

PETA is airing a :30 version of it's Meet Your Meat video narrated by Alec Baldwin which contains footage of animals being treated horrifically for food production. Granted, any organization with a cause will find the most shocking imagery to make its case, this ad and the long version will make you think twice before eating animal products ever again. The ad will air on CBS affiliate WTVF in Nashville during the American Meat Institute Conference which begins today.

Adrants Billboards: New York Radio Personality Scott Muni Dead

• If you are involved in pay per click advertising, you might want to know a recent study by Clicklab found fraudulent clicks can account for 50 percent of ad fees. Not good.
• Y&R has debuted its new campaign for Toys R Us in which a boy's mouth is stuck in the open "wow" position apparently caused by Toys R Us toys.
• Long time New York radio personality Scott Muni died last night at the age of 74.
• Toyota has placed a gigantic ad on the side of the Luxor hotel and casino facing Mandalay Bay for the Toyota dealers convention.

Reebok Promotes NFL Equipment With Ficticious Reality Series

Reebok has launched an ad campaign called "Welcome to the Neighborhood" that mirrors the Big Brother reality series placing 11 NFL players in a house together. The campaign by Arnell Group and website (where you can view all the spots and out takes) by Zugara are promoting Reebok's Gridiron Classics and Team Apparel collections.

Beginning, September 26, the campaign will air during the 2005 NFL season on ABC, CBS, ESPN and the NFL Network. Print executions (ever wonder why we say "executions"? You have to wonder what people outside the industry think we are talking about.) will occur in Sport Illustrated and ESPN the Magazine.

Canadian Website Promotes Smoking Rights

In a very Un-PC move - but then again, America is the only country who has overdosed on political correctness - the Canadian Tobacco Manufacturer's Council has launched Mychoice.ca, a website promoting "fairness and civility" to the country's five million smokers. The site provides those who join the ability to rant about smoker's rights on message boards, take surveys, read up on the legal rights smokers can claim, contact politicians and access a map that shows where smoking bans are in place across the country. You go, smokers! I want my cancer stick!