AdJab points out MasterCard is getting on the branded mini-movie bus and will be debuting a two minute drama entitled Late:MasterCard Mini Drama which will follow a man, as the press release describes, "Late opens with a professional 20-something male driving along a busy street with a pile of cash on his passenger seat. The story unfolds when he has a leading phone conversation with someone who is anticipating the cash drop-off and provides specific instructions on how that cash is to be provided. Through a series of suspenseful scenes that feature the nervous driver stopping to make a briefcase purchase using his MasterCard and an intense briefcase exchange amongst a crowd of people, the viewer is caught up in the events unfolding within this dramatic adventure." Well, at least they hope it's dramatic. We'll have to let you know after it debuts tonight on TNT at 8PM.
If you really want to know how product placement discussions go at FOX or at any other television network, check out this possibly crappy but maybe not so much video featuring a bottle of Johnson's Baby Sampoo, a bottle of Coke, the scrubbing bubbles guy, an M&M and Jesus as they bicker and bitch about the finer points of product placement. It's in the Huffington Post contest and was created by copywriter Jeff Greenspan and improvised with writers and performers from David Letterman, Conan O'Briend, VH1's Best Week Ever and Daily Show. While we think it's OK, new ad babe Ariel tells us it's lame.
- We're suckers for these hip hoppy Reebok sites. There sems to be a new one every month. Which isn't bad. It keeps us busy and it must keep Zugara busy too.
- Pretty sure we've seen this stunt before but it's always fun to witness someone hand their life over to the whims of the Internet.
- One dude doesn't like DDB placing Excedrin aspirin samples on his coffee cup in the AM. We don't mind since the only reason we go buy coffee is to jump start us out of our drunken stupor long enough to bitch about advertising before we return to our drunken stupor.
- If you like weird old vintage ads, there's a collection of them here for you.
Hoping to infuse the industry's less than stellar creativity while adding to the wackiness of it all, Ihaveanidea commissioned an actual witch to come up with a "creativity potion" the will "enhance the creative abilities of advertising professionals around the world." OK, then. Anyone feel the need for a swig?
The tobacco industry was dealt a big blow yesterday in a 1,742 page document by a federal court judge who said tobacco companies have engaged in racketeering and has banned the sale of light and ultralight cigarettes as reported in Advertising Age. Among the edicts in the judgement"
-the use of the terms "low tar," "light," "ultra light," "mild" and "natural" are banned;
-for two years, big tobacco is required to buy full-page corrective advertising monthly in the Sunday editions of more than two dozen major newspapers with the schedule alternated so the ads appear at least weekly;
-major tobacco makers are ordered to run 15-second corrective TV spots once a week during prime time for a year;
-packaging and in-store signs must carry new corrective advertising.
If we ran a tobacco company today, we'd be pretty close to saying, "Fuck it. This sucks. Let's go sell paper clips. That sounds like less of a hassle."
Perhaps thinking he'd suddenly stepped out of a time machine when he saw this Ryanair ad in today's Daily Telegraph, FishNChimps notes this ad's twisted ue of terrorism to promote air flight.
