In an article on BadAds.org, Eric and Linda bring to our attention that movie advertisers risk driving customers away with too much pre-movie advertising.
The companies that sell the advertising and the theaters themselves are doing quite well revenue-wise with this form of advertising. National Cinema Network, which places ads on a third of movie screens in the U.S., increased its prefilm commercial sales by 48 percent in 2002. During the summer, when ticket sales reach their peak, movie theater owners can earn as much as $4 million over five weeks.
With the increase in the amount and pre-movie advertising and the ridiculous number of previews that are forced upon viewers prior to the start of the movie, it won't be long before viewers begin to complain. when I go to the movies, I just plan to arrive 20-25 minutes after the start time and I am still there in time to see the beginning of the movie. How long before more people are doing this?
While I dislike the proliferation of advertising in the movie theater, it is a very captive audience and one that can't be ignored as a marketer. At some point, there will need to be limits on the number of commercials shown prior to the movie.
If this concerns you, check out Didn't I Already Pay for This Movie? It's a web site dedicated to this issue.
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Al Michaels has signed a new contract with ABC Sports. He doesn't say how long the contract will last but did express a desire to stay with ABC as long as the network carries Monday Night Football.
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"Advertising is a heinous industry in many ways, and the people who work in it have a poor reputation," he explains. "I hate advertising that talks down to you, or shouts loudly. And a lot of laziness has crept in � the number of so-called copywriters who can't write drives me mad."
That's how Eighty Twenty founder and chairman, Loz Simpson sees it. His agency's position calls for them to deal only with ethical clients, to never create advertising that offends, and to donate one fifth of their time and profits to good causes.
"I firmly believe that the world is ready for more ethical behavior," co-founder, Max Burt explains. "Social responsibility is fast moving up the corporate agenda. Why shouldn't this extend to advertising and agencies, too?"
He's right.
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According to the ever watchful Smoking Gun, Benjamin Cross, the 22 year old actor who played the Dell Dude in the computer manufacturer's ad campaign, was arrested for marijuana possession last night. [via Gawker]
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Ad Age's Rance Crain thinks that Tivo will amount to no more than a minor irritant for TV executives and that the :30 spot will continue to thrive as the major creative unit for TV.
I'm not so sure he is right. Certainly, a wholesale, overnight change is not going to happen. Everything takes time. But, once the Tivo technology become resident in cable set top boxes it will just become another ubiquitous device that people will have to "manage" how they view TV. It will simply become habit to view TV on your own terms and on your own schedule.
Ads will certainly be skipped but new "embedded" ad technology will arise. The ad business will never die. But, if we don't think about what the future will bring now, believe me, some one else will and they will replace the ad agency as we currently know it.
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This week's Ad Age creative round up begins with a spot promoting a novel by BBDO's Jimmy Siegel that uses the typical sex sells imagery and accompanying rise to crescendo soundtrack to imitate the result of what usually happens when a man and a woman get to gether like this. [Video clip courtesy of Ad Age]
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For all you fans of Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Eliza Dushku, it looks like your dream has come true.
There are talks in the works for a 'Buffy the Vampire slayer' spin off which would be centered around the Faith character. Faith is the loner slayer that first made an appearance on the show in the third season. Her character went over to the dark side and helped the series bring in one of its most watched episodes of all time: the Sunnydale High graduation day episode.
Dushku has made a name for herself playing hot babes in films such as 'Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back', 'Bring It On', and 'Soul Survivors'.
Sarah Michelle Gellar is expected to leave the series at the end of this season but has made no official announcement yet either way. The producers of the show would like to see it continue and hope that a deal can be made between all parties.
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Mike Darnell is the man that brings us such high quality programming such as 'When Animals Attack' and 'Who Want to Marry a Multi-Millionaire?'. But he has also brought us the more successful 'American Idol' and 'Joe Millionaire'
Darnell is Fox's head dude in charge of reality programming. When confronted with those who question the morality of his creations he says, "My reaction is, Why not ask about the social responsibility of 'Seinfeld'? What was socially responsible about that? Nothing!"
And in further defense, "My responsibility is to entertain, to get you away from your problems for a few hours," he says. "It's just about having fun. Is a mediocre sitcom or drama somehow better than a great reality show?"
"I'm enormously proud of what I've put on," he says. "The bigger the ratings, the more proud I am of the show. That's not meant to be cynical. That's just the goal."
"I like to make noise," he says, smiling, his feet propped up on a table in his small, cluttered office. "I like making anything that will get a number. I just want to create big TV. I want it to get noticed and talked about. The thing that gets my excitement level up most, bar a few things, is when the buzz gets going. That's all TV is about. I want people to think, 'Oh, I have to go home and watch that!' "
His next project is a show called 'Married by America', which will debut in March and have couples matched for marriage by viewer's votes.
Read more about Darnell here.
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Agentsmith, a Baltimore based company, has come up with a technology solution to give sellers instantaneous pricing history for use when negotiating with a buyer. The product connects to existing back-end systems to moniter and extract the historical costs for a spot on a particular show, how fast it sold, and the audience delivery figures.
"The challenge was, [media companies] were looking for ways to improve their bottom line. They wanted to be more quantitative . . . and were looking for ways to simplify [pricing] for sales reps," said Michael B. Cooper, Agentsmith's chief executive. "The question for the owner is, 'Is that the right price? Could we have done better?' It's a judgment call by the sales manager. You're leaving it up to humans who use their gut feel."
Look out buyers. Your negotions just might become more intricate.
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