Oh, good God, not another daily email newsletter about marketing and advertising. Yes, BrandWeek has joined the fray of daily ad news pushers, upping its frequency from weekly to daily. We're not sure the industry is ready for yet another Inbox-clogging newsletter. Nothing against BrandWeek but they just might be unlucky recipient of the great "I'm mad as hell and I'm not going to take this anymore" industry-wide email unsubscribe movement of 2006.
There's just way too much duplicate news out there. We know. We subscribe to every advertising-related newsletter there is drinking in each and every publisher's take on the day's news. We don't do it because we like killer frequency in our daily news consumption strategy. We do it for you, loyal readers, so you don't have to suffer the indignity of having to read 13 versions of the same story from 13 different sources 13 different times each day. There's only so much news any given industry can genetrate and there's only so many different twists to the same story that can be applied.
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It happens to the best us us. We come up with a great idea. Get all high and mighty about how we're not going to be like everyone else. We promise not to sink into the gutter and use all the tired, old tricks to attract attention. We vow to be virtuous and laud ideals and intellectualism over insipidness. Then it happens. No one watches us. No one's heard of us. Our primary competitor towers over us and we are lost in a sea of television stupidity. Do we continue to stay the course? Do we try to beat them? No, sadly, we throw in the towel and join them.
After playing second fiddle to Lifetime for so long, Oxygen just can't stand it any longer and is pulling out the trump card of last resort: sex. Rather than rise above the misty-eyed success of Lifetime with higher brow offerings, Oxygen network has joined the titillation crowd with offering like "Talk Sex With Sue Johnson" and its new series, "Campus Ladies," a show that will somehow make the scenario of middle-aged, suburban women going back to college and frolicing with undergrad hotties funny.
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As we move closer to advertising's Hall of Fame, Super Bowl XL, the list of advertisers planning to participate in the advertising extravaganza is beginning to build. According to a CNN article, CareerBuilder will be back this year although we don't know if the chimps will be. Gillette will make an appearance of two to promote its new mega-bladed Fusion razor. Anheuser-Busch, Pepsi and GM will have several spots in the game. GoDaddy is, reportedly, working with ABC to reach an agreement on just how racy the internet host can be.
Furthering the notion the cell phone will, ultimate become the single digital uber-device possible even supplanting the iPod, Motorola has announced iRadio, a 435 channel digital radio service delivered to cell phones via an Internet connected computer for $7 per month. It is said the phones will also be capable of transferring content via Bluetooth to home and car sound systems. One does wonder, though, whether XM and Sirius, which deliver content to devices via satellite and don't rely on a computer connected to the Internet, won't find their way into cell phones as well making for a less cumbersome content delivery process.
Reactions to market research studies are always far more fascinating than the results themselves as most studies simply confirm the obvious. So, out comes a study from the University of Connecticut's Center for Health Communications and Health Marketing that claimed alcohol advertising increased alcohol consumption. Hooray. Advertising works. Next. But wait, not so fast. Advertising, when it comes to alcohol and the AAAA - that fine ad agency cheerleading organization - doesn't really work.
Referring to the study, AAAA Executive VP told Ad Age, "We've seen over the last several decades that as alcohol advertising spending increased, underage drinking substantially decreased." To be fair, he's referring to underage drinking and not all drinking but it is a bit humorous when it comes to alcohol, fast food and "less noble" advertising in that, without fail, when these issues come up, advertising only works when it's promoting something "good." Otherwise, it can't possibly have anything to do with promoting something "bad."
