First there was the Raging Cow and now there's Cows for Silk. To promote Silk, a soy milk product, the company has decided to use cows in its ad campaign and to create a site/blog where cows named Frank, Connie and Amanda can babble on endlessly about why it's better to drink soy than to have their own tits (yes, that is the term farmers openly use to describe that particular piece of cow anatomy) squeezed for milk. We pity the poor marketing people/copywriters who have to write cow hottie stuff like this:
"Drinking Silk was my first step to the "wow Amanda is so fine" comments. I eat healthy because I can. I get herbal swamp mud and fragrant sea cucumber body wraps at the spa because I can. And I drink Silk because I can. I know that this is the only Amanda I get - you better believe I flaunt it."
The last presidential election was all about weblogs. Who had them. Who wrote about the election. Which ones uncovered the scandals. This time, it's going to be all about YouTube. An organization called YouPrez is urging anyone to upload a presidential speech to YouTube and tag it "youprez." Of, course it's just a big joke right now but it's entirely conceivable that a presidential candidate would have just as much reach through YouTube as they might through television or any other medium. If a candidate is after an audience that is largely unreachable through traditional media, YouTube certainly offers a viable alternative.
Here's a humorous mash up of the over bearing product placement on The Apprentice and the recent crash commercial from VW.
Adding to its already unique collection of promotions for Entourage, HBO is promoting season three and the season two DVD by airing season two over the New York Sports Club's television network. An additional 150 gyms and 135 bars will be reached via Zoom Network with billboards and posters.
In what BBDO Canada calls inventive, the agency has created a campaign for Pepsi's Pepsi Access Canada, a site that provides people with "access to ultra exclusive music, downloads, concerts, merchandise and events." To promote the site, BBDO Canada seeded will seed (although BBDO, as of June 8, says the client has not yet given approval) peer to peer sites like Acquisition and Kazaa with MP3s that appear to be unreleased tracks from major artists but when the user downloads the song, this (removed from YouTube at the request of BBDO Canada) is what they hear. Basically, BBDO and Pepsi are tricking people into believing they are downloading new music when, in fact, they are downloading an ad promoting Pepsi and its association with really cutting edge groups like...oh...INXS which almost may have been cutting edge about 20 years ago.
Anyway, less "inventive" are several (1, 2, 3, 4) ads BBDO created to promote the site which humorously follow the actions of a couple guys as they try to obtain access to popular Canadian groups such as Kardinal Offishal, Swollen Members, and Dashboard Confessional.
UPDATE: The MP3 file that was to have been seeded has been removed from YouTube at the request of BBDO Canada who claims (or had to based on the choices YouTube provides when a cancellation request is made) they were used without permission even though they were sent to us by someone from BBDO Canada to be featured here on Adrants. Twisted. Consequently, because of this and other companies who have sent in content and then had other entities with the company or partner companies make complaints, our YouTube account has been closed. With bandwidth constraints in mind, we'll host what we can here or we will rely on the marketer/agency to host things themselves. The frustrating thing here is everyone wants there work seen by everyone - and we want to show it - until those nasty usage fees and other issues come into play.
UPDATE II: We've been told the file that will be seeded has not yet been approved by Pepsi and that is why BBDO Canada asked YouTube to remove the file and has asked us to clarify that here.
While everyone's probably already seen these, Adrants being all about advertising, we'd be remiss if we didn't mention them here for posterity. Anyone who has a brain knows Jessica Alba is hosting this year's MTV Movie Awards. She's also appeared in three commercial to promote the show. They're intentionally cheesy, she has all her clothes on, Nicole Richie makes a cameo and you can watch them here, here and here.
Given that there's not usually a whole lot of eye candy at the gas station as, say, there is on the sidewalks of New York during a hot summer day, the launch of Gas Station TV, currently testing in Dallas, sounds like a really great idea. After all, for the 3-5 minutes it takes to pump your tank full of gas, there's not a whole lot to do other than watch the numbers roll on the pump or marvel at just how far over the belt line the stomach of the guy in the car next to you hangs as he waddles back from the convenient mart with yet another bag of twinkies and a 64 once bottle of sugar and chemicals.
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