Left-wing grassroots organizer Tom Kertes has launched Bill For First Lady 2008 which is being promoted by a viral of a Bill Clinton look-a-like dressed in pink and modeling, disgustingly, a thong. The site explains the effort thusly, "It's serious fun. It's a serious strategy. All laughs aside, Bill-for-First-Lady.com is about serious politics. It's about taking back the White House in 2008. But serious politics doesn't need to be boring politics. (We'll leave that up to the Republicans.) The Republican attack machine is already going after Hillary. That's because they know that she's the most popular and electable Democrat." Seriously, wouldn't that be hilarious if Bill actually did become First Man?
The site's got all sorts of logoed promotional items such as trucker hats, caps, mugs, t-shirts, buttons, bumper stickers and even thongs.
At a promotional event tomorrow, Saturday September 24, graffiti artists Serve One FBA and Chino B.Y.I. will do custom airbrushing on Converse sneakers free for anyone who purchases a pair between 2 and 4 PM at the Underground Station store in Brooklyn, New York.
This viral video which pits an old lady against a pompous jerk with no patience promotes an ethereal website for IKEA which challenges you to imagine odd combinations which, together, form useful home goods. Well sort of. We still don't know why anyone would need bamboo sticks to clean a house.
The site explains, "IKEA asked 28 designers to explore and experiment. To test new materials, techniques and new ways of working. But most of all, to have fun. They responded with a cavalcade of ingenious and madly innovative ideas for every home bold enough to be unconventional and the results can be seen throughout this website."
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PBS's Robert Cringley recounts the story of a friend who experimented with Google AdWords and found paying four times more per word to promote essentially that same service (original site was duplicated under a different domain as a test) actually lowered daily click-throughs from 15,000 to 1,200. It's an odd occurrence and one which Cringley's friend simply explains away by likening Google to a Las Vegas casino where, no matter what, the house always wins. Though Cringley posits that, all thing being equal with his friends endeavor, Google must have done something on it's end to make the ad buy more profitable for itself. We'll let the SEO experts sort this one out.
An early believer in blogging and podcasting, GM, a while back, created Fastlane, a blog written by GM Vice Chairman Bob Lutz and other GM top executives. Today, Lutz has produce his first podcast in which he talks about "the realities of today's market for full-size sport utility vehicles with host Bill O'Neill, GM executive director of communications." It's encouraging to see executives at this level in large companies engaging in these two new, but very powerful media.
Enabling the consumer-created advertising trend is a company called AdCandy which has positioned itself an exchange for people who think they have great ad ideas and marketers who think consumer-created ads are worthy of buying. We're not quite sure this is going to take off. Afterall, can you imagine anyone in our ego-centric advertising world allowing something to pass for an ad that doesn't have their name all over it so they can tout it during new business pitches and pre-award run ups? Oh wait...this is a good thing! People creating ads for products out of true love rather than ego-maniacle, head-swelling glory.
Following Kate Moss's trouble with the white stuff and her losing marketing deals with H&M, Burberry and Chanel, it looks like actress Sienna Miller is talking to Burberry's to become the company's spokes model. In other news, Burberry photographer Mario Testino is throwing a hissy fit and may quit because he, apparently, wanted to work with Moss.
Hotel Chatter tells us Marriott Hotels has unveiled mSpot, a combined live billboard/musical concert billboard, in New York's Times Square. The board promotes what the hotel chain calls its "hip new room design" and will feature appearances by musical acts Ciara, Marc Broussard, Antigone Rising and Collective Soul along with a wedding held behind a glassed in section of the board. The "board" will be in place for four days.
Picture Marketing, Inc. has created a technology that turns personal photos into an ad medium. Called Picture Marketing In-a-Box, the offering is a combined hardware and online service that enables marketers and event organizers to take pictures of people at sponsored events, trade shows, and retail locations. The online service then combines those photos together with survey information supplied by each person, to build a mini-advertising campaign around each individual's photo.
According to Picture Marketing, the service has many potential applications. For example, automakers at car shows can take pictures of event attendees posed with the latest car models on display, and later mail ads featuring the individual's photo, which, one hopes, the person will show to their friends and family. Sort of a marketer-enabled, word of mouth tactic. Brand advertisers can also use dozens of the service's specialized cameras at stadium events, in order to capture thousands of leads in a single day - assuming people visit the companies marketer-branded survey website after seeing their mug. One has to wonder about the potential misuses that could come from accidental, un-approved pictures.
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With all the recent examination of circulation's underbelly, one wonders whether circulation rules and loopholes are becoming more rampant that tax law. Time Inc. has been subpoenaed to turn over information about its sponsored sales programs under which the publisher can sell subscriptions to sponsors for as little as one cent an issue. Those paid subscriptions, which end up distributed in public spaces, are noted by Time as paid subscriptions which help up the publisher's rate base. Time has decided to re-qualify these as "qualified" on its ABC Publisher Statements which will move about five percent of the publisher's circulation out of the paid category.
Rick Bruner has pointed us to this very cool commercial for the recently unveiled and soon to be released Nintendo Revolution game controller which, as the name indicates, intends to revolutionize the game control. The Revolution has done away with wires and now looks like a television remote. It transmits the player's every hand motion, wirelessly to a receiver which is connected to the TV. The ad does a great job demonstrating the units use and the freedom it gives to gamers.
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