Stock photo house Corbis and uber-comic company Marvel Enterprises, Inc.
today announced an agreement to make Marvels world-renowned Super Heroes available for use through Corbis. The deal grants Corbis with the rights to license Marvels digital content for editorial and commercial use on a global basis. Shortly, the world of advertising will be saved.
Under the new multi-year license agreement, Corbis will gain rights to the thousands of images featuring Marvels library of more than 5,000 characters -- including such ever-popular figures as Spider-Man, the Incredible Hulk, the Fantastic Four, The X-Men, Elektra, and Captain America and makes them available for use in print and broadcast media. The arrangement provides creatives with simple access to Marvel character art and the rights clearance services necessary to use them in editorial and commercial advertising projects.
Marvel content will be available for licensing at Corbis beginning January 19, 2005. Marvel content at Corbis is available for preview here.
Please, don't everyone jump at once. We love the Super Heroes but, like the Matrix/Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon-based cam span pivot trick, we'll tire of Hulk "crushing the competition" very quickly.
Just five years out of the decade, the nineties are already making a comeback. Next week, Nerveana, a 90s-themed nightclub will make its debut. The club will have a "Basic Instint" room, a VIP booth inside a white bronco and will serve Monica cocktails. With the premiers of VH1's I Love the 90's, Part Deux, 90s CDs and other 90s-themed club sprouting up, the decade is roaring back. We think it's insane but marketers won't. Expect tributes to the 90s popping up in ad campaign very soon.
Upon hearing it's agency, Interpublic Group's McCann Erikson Worldwide, was going to pitch the $300 million Intel account, AMD, treated like a cast off wall flower, said screw you to McCann and put its account up for review. Joining Interpublic for the Intel chase will be WPP's Berlin Cameron/Red Cell along with Y & R. Incumbent Euro RSCG Worldwide is out.
Wireless entertainment publisher Wicked Wireless announced Wednesday it has partnered with adult entertainment star Jenna Jameson to create an adult wireless entertainment offering. New York-based Wicked Wireless said the Modeltel Mobile Storefront, featuring R-rated wallpaper, "moantones" and other content, will first launch for Telefonica subscribers in Central and South America before being offered in the U.S. on a limited basis in late 2005. Jameson explains the offering, saying, "W'll provide [moantones] in the universal language of sexy sighs recognized around the world but with our own personal touch. The technology is way beyond most of us, but the bottom line is that you'll able to hear the other Jenna's Web Girls moan and me when your phone starts to ring.
We'll also provide audio content in Spanish plus photos and text features."
We're quite sure this service will be quickly and secretly downloaded to friend's phones becoming the biggest phone-related practical joke since calling a bar and asking the bartender to page "Mike Hunt."
Intelliseek, parent company to BlogPulse, will monitor weblog commentary on Super Bowl ads for its clients. The market research company has also set up a panel of bloggers specifically to offer comment of the ads during the game. Many weblogs, including this one, have offered creative commentary but it has, mostly, come from advertising industry professionals. Those of us in the industry approach commentary differently than those outside the industry. And, in reality, it's the commentary from outside the industry which is more important to the advertiser. Intelliseek's approach may well have some very beneficial value to advertisers interested in the blogospere's conversational commentary though do not have the ability to do it themselves.
While it's known the producers of The Apprentice get sadistic pleasure out of editing contestants into idiots, it was still embarrassing to see a fellow industry professional get chopped up and fed to the nation as another twisted, reality show moron. In last night's season premier, Boston-based POPstick Chairman and CEO Danny Kastner was the buffoon of the episode, painted into a caricature not unlike a circus clown. Of course Kastner didn't help matters by dressing in distracting, oh-so-cool ad-wear, leading his team in a feel-good kumbaya campfire-like moral building exercise and, worse, failing miserably at his assigned task.
In the episode, the two teams, college grads versus highschool grads, had to develop a new burger for Burger King and sell as many as they could. The highschool team, with a much better sense of the fast food environment, of course, won. The college grads, Kastner's team, lost.
Kastner's job was to put together a marketing program to get people into the restaurant. As part of his plan, he came up with a freak sidewalk show, replete with his horrible guitar playing and some kind of carnival-like ring toss. Oddly, the stunt seemed to get people into the restaurant but the so-called college smarties were clueless behind the cash registers making for a cluster fuck of customer service.
In the boardroom, Kastner was slammed by Caroline who simply couldn't believe what he had done in the name of promotion. While he wasn't fired (his team leader was), Kastner degraded the perception of the advertising profession which, today, is already in tough shape. We know we're sometimes a bunch of weirdos with our own incomprehensible language and odd characteristics but Kaster's performance on the show exposed our worst side.
We feel for POPstick employees this morning.
GM has launched a unique national outdoor campaign that reveals a new, one word billboard each day. On January 31, when all 17 boards are revealed, a sentence will be formed. The campaign includes a website called findthemessage which reveals each day's word and places it in proper order, provides message boards for people across the nation, prior to January 31, to work together towards solving the puzzle and allows visitors to enter a sweepstakes to win 100 daily prizes along with one grand prize consisting of a choice between eight new 2005 GM cars. So far, 6 of the 17 words have been revealed. The 17th word appears to simply be a period leaving 10 more words to be revealed.
However, all the words are readily available in the source code of the findthemessage website. One programming-literate literate sole on the message boards claims the sentence is, "This is the last time you will ever have to feel alone on our nation's highways.," pointing to the possibility GM will offer OnStar in all of its vehicles and to the source code of the website's Flash file (text of file here) easily visible to those who have the technological know-how. Oops.
Either the site's creators embedded the answer on purpose to throw people off or GM spent a ton of money only to have the fun taken out of the campaign. Just as we're assured of hearing "You're Fired" on tonight's The Apprentice debut, we're certain to hear the same words screamed by an angered GM marketing executive very soon.
UPDATE: MarketingVOX suggests that GM act quickly and, working with the already revealed words, change the sentence to one reflecting the true outcome of this campaign: "This campaign costs big bucks; you will surely have higher car payments on this nation's car lots."
Along with the Adrants Network, another new social network for those in the ad industry has seen rapid growth. Adholes, launched at the beginning of November by Marc Lefton, a freelance advertising creative, and Mary Crosse, a project manager at Euro RSCG Worldwide, now has 1,000 members.
Much like social networking sites Myspace or Friendster, AdHoles, like the Adrants Network, is a niche advertising industry targeted social networking website that allows advertising professionals to keep track of their current contacts and meet new ones from independent and major agencies. Additionally, users can post blogs on industry topics, which spur comments from members of the site, forming a very collaborative and information rich environment.
Currently, the Adrants Network has 1,265 members.
From sex appeal to rock stars to skiing, colleges have ditched standard course catalog and brochure recruitment tactics and, instead, turned to racier, less collegial methods.
Doane College in Nebraska found itself apologizing after it sent out a post card mailing to 13,500 California high school students that featured the image of a male student surrounded by women with copy that encouraged students to play the field.
University of Nebraska, facing enrollment declines, allowed Motley Crue's Tommy Lee to film his "Tommy Lee Goes to College" reality show on campus. Of course, complaints arose surrounding his jail term for kicking his former wife, Pam Anderson.
Saint Vincent College in Latrobe, PA took a less racy but equally alternative approach to recruitment by inviting applicants to an all expenses paid weekend ski getaway. Small college Centre College in Danville, KY sends highschool seniors personalized birthday cards and makes birthday phone calls.
Whether or not it's an inside job, Volkwagen is planning legal action against the creators of the Suicide Bomber Volkswagen Polo viral ad that has been making rounds this week. While it's not clear in the New York Post article, the likely recipients of Volkswagen's legal weight will be creative shop Lee and Dan who have admitted to creating the ad. Planned or unplanned, VW is getting some precious, free publicity this week.
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