MediaPost's Mag Rack points to a couple new magazine launches. First, is a new magazine from American Media called Sly which will feature Sylvester Stallone on the cover and focus on health and fitness for older men. Then there's a new shopping magazine coming, also from American Media, called StarShop and will merge two current American love's - shopping and celebrities. The magazine will basically stalk celecrities as they shop and report back findings to readers.
Great. Another all-Britney, all the time media outlet.
The Greater Fort Lauderdale Convention & Visitors Bureau has launched a new ad campaign to insure travelers the city is still standing after the state was battered with hurricanes. The campaign will consist initially of radio spots in Boston, Chicago, New York, Philadelphia and Washington and email to travel planners consumers and travel trade. Following that, a $4 million national (plus London) campaign is planned for 2005 incorporating print ads showing hot men and women with their nipple ring and belly button respectively standing in for the O in the Bureau's sunny.org web address.
Mazda and Conde Nast have partnered to create an on and offline contest whereby contestants can submit photos representative if their "interpretation" of Mazda's "Zoom-Zoom" slogan. Granted, we gleefully enjoy making fun of brands who turn to consumers to do their advertising (OK, so Mazda isn't exactly looking for a campaign) but we think these efforts, similar to Mercedes asking owners to send in photos of their cars, are worthy of drawing the consumer closer to the brand. After all, this contest's specific focus is to ask consumers how they'd visually represent the brand with an image.
To promote the contest, a 12 page insert will appear in Conde Nast titles such as Wired, GQ, Details and others pointing readers to a microsite where photos can be submitted. "The Conde Nast Media Group is thrilled to be working with Mazda for the first time on an integrated marketing program of this size and scope," gushed Conde Nast Media Group President Richard Beckman. "This is a great example of our ability to create innovative programs that connect consumers with a company's brand philosophy."
What he really wanted to say was, "Conde Nast is thrilled to milk Mazda for all it's got. We sold them this 12 page insert when, really, the job could have been done with one page but, you know, we needed the revenue."
Survivor's Jenna Morasca and Ethan Zohn have "gone Hatch" in a new anti-fur PETA ad that was unveiled, as part of Advertising Week, at New York City's Museum of Sex on September 22. Ethan and Jenna appear as Adam and Eve, wearing nothing but well-placed fig leaves and holding a red apple.
"I wouldnt wear real fur not even for a million dollars, says Jenna.
"Fur-wearers look just plain silly, walking around in coats that belong in a natural-history museum." And we suppose that's why the ad found it's way into the museum.
MarketingVOX reports on a bet Business 2.0 Editor Josh Quittner made with publisher Lisa Bentley which called for him to shave his head if the magazine reached 100 ad pages in an issue published in 2004. Well, 107 pages were reached and Quittner is now bald. Bentley is most likely laughing her head off at the moment.
If you're sick of hearing from PETA about how cruel food producers are to animals, there's a cheeky new commercial from New Zealand's 42 BELOW vodka which promises the company has never harpooned whales, bludgeoned baby seals with bats, hunted Pandas, cut horns off rhinos, shot elephants with grenades or eaten brains out of a monkey. So, for balance, drink lots of 42 BELOW vodka when you cut into that juicy filet that came from a bull who was hung by one leg and gutted while still alive.
While NBC's Apprentice has devolved into a hyped-up bitchfest akin to a highschool catfight, ABC's Lost is destined to become a hit. It's intruiging. It's suspenseful. It reveals enough to keep interest and it features 40 people whose back stories are sure to provide pleanty of fodder for storylines.We figure it will finish the season in the top ten easily.
Seeking to "buy media smarter and cheaper," AdWeek reports Volkswagen is evaluating its global $1.4 billion media business. Of course, no sources are talking except to say that current agencies Havas Media Planning Group and Grey Global Group MediaCom have been invited to participate in the review.
