Website Allows Visitors to Hide Ads

Entertainment magazine, Giant, has introduced a feature that allows visitors to show or hide leaderboard banners on their website. The ads are served every time a page is viewed but can then be hidden. While some advertisers may not like this, a notion to consider would be the effect the physical act of clicking to hide or show the banner has on banner metrics.

The Three Ages of Advertising Slavery Illustrated

Illustrating the life cycle of the average advertising professional, Hugh MacCleod of "cartoons drawn on the back of business cards" fame, has created a new cartoon, called "The Three Ages of Slavery," that clearly, but perhaps depressingly, depicts what the average person working in advertising can expect as he progresses through his career. There's no 50's or 60's cause, you know, after 49, all those ad people seem to disappear into other endeavors courtesy of ageism.

Celebrities Flock to Drug Ads

From Rob Lowe to Danny Glover to Kelsey Grammar to Lorraine Bracco to Julie Andrews to Cheryl Ladd, all the stars have jumped on the celebrity drug advertising train. Pulling in from $200K to $1 million, Hollywood stars have been schilling for drug companies since Jon Lunden promoted Claritan in 1988. Most of the ads these celebrities appear in, to skirt ugly disclaimers, don't mention the drug but simply point out possible symptoms and direct viewers to the drug maker's website. TNS Media reports these ads are on the rise, doubling to 4.6 percent of all TV drug ads placed from January through April 2005.

New York Refuses to Stop Olympic Bid Marketing

PlasticMoonRain reports the gigantic Olympic Clock in New York City's Union Square has begun counting down again as if New York City Olympic officials refuse to believe London was awarded the 2012 Olympics. Wishful thinking is one thing. Begging is another. Someone, please, rip this thing down! Of course, Circuit City is, for sure, loving the added attention.

'Billy The Finger' Promotes Virgin Mobile

Puppet Vision Blog points to another chapter in Virgin Mobile's Canadian "The Catch" campaign. This one, called "Billy the Finger," consists of a site with several videos in which finger act out various scenarios involving a shady cell phone salesman who attempts to convince Billy to sign up for one of those "bad" cell phone plans. The execution provides the viewer with the option to make decisions for Billy and view the various outcomes which include a trip to prison, a threesome, a hot cheerleader, circus acts, unintentional rear entry and finger burning.

The site is being promoted with fake "Wanted" posters in Toronto which don't mention Virgin Mobile but simply point to the Billy the Finger website which, as all viral-intended creations do, has a send to a friend feature which is labeled, cutely, "Finger A Friend." It's well done and amusing enough to create interest in checking out the various chapters of the story.

HBO Launches Latin American Campaign

HBO has launched a new campaign in Latin America with the tagline "Si no fuera por HBO, no escaparíamos de la rutina (If it weren't for HBO, we would not escape from routine). The campaign, which consists of five (three of which can be viewed here, here and here) spots, shows a series of individuals having a bad day (a visit from auditors, a difficult legal case, a traffic ticket) but when they think of HBO, they realize life isn't so bad and there's always a way to get out of the routine.

The background music for the campaign is the David Bowie song "Heroes" which gets all aspirational. The spots are beautifully shot and, while HBO is certainly not going to solve all life's problems, the campaign does a nice job making a connection between powerful things that happen on the screen and powerful things that can happen in life.

The campaign was created by which worked with Trebejos Films. Future efforts along this vein are planned for the remainder of 2005 and into 2006.