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MuchMusic Relaunches as Fuse and Spites MTV in the Process

This Monday, MuchMusic, the cable music channel, will relaunch itself as Fuse. It's advertising slogan, "Where's the M in emptee-vee?" takes a direct swipe at competitor, MTV.

Fuse has also purchased a Times Square billboard just outside Viacom's (MTV parent) as well as telephone kiosks and 2 million coffee cups to be distributed around town.

MTV is not thrilled about the campaign but, oddly, parent company Viacom will make money off the Fuse campaign since Viacom owns the billboard and the kiosks that carry the competitors message.

Just like this sites tagline says, "...the Oddities of Advertising"
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by Steve Hall    May-15-03    




Unique Blog Promotion

Susannah Breslin, blog buddy, and amazon babe behind The Reverse Cowgirl Blog has launched a fundraising campaign for her yet to be published book called, "You're A Bad Man, Aren't You?" The book will contain a dozen or so short stories focusing the same subject matter of her site. Sex. In her own words:

"In this tome, everyday folks and wayward travelers find themselves inhabiting a world in which sex reigns supreme. A woman falls in love with a man who is in love with a mannequin. A boyfriend confuses his current girlfriend with his childhood pet dog. A girl dates a guy in possession of one too many sex dolls. And, there's more. It's not porn. It's not erotica. It does have a lot of weird sex in it, though."

So she's looking to raise money and offering several intruiging sponsorship level including "The Literary Sugar Daddy", "The Scoundrel of Smut", and "The Decadent Dabbler."

So, do your blog worthy best. Visit her site. Decide if you want to support this publishing effort and make a blogger happy.
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by Steve Hall    May-15-03    




What Do You Do When Your Movie Star's Butt Isn't Big Enough For The Ad?

What would the advertising world be like if what we saw in ads was the absolute true? First, it wouldn't be any fun. Second...well that's a topic for a different post. So when you have a movie to promote and your star ain't got booty, what do you do? You give her booty and that's the movie poster people want to see. Here's how she really looks:

and here's the poster that will be the ad:

Note the added curvature.

Movie Site: From Justin to Kelly. Thanks to Reverse Cowgirl for this.
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by Steve Hall    May-15-03    




Jennifer Lopez to Exec Produce Pogramming for Telemundo

Jennifer Lopez will be behind several new dramas and variety shows for the Spanish speaking Telemundo network.

"I see this opportunity as a way to connect to the Spanish-speaking audience in a different and more profound way than has been done in the past," Lopez said in a statement. "I want to tell the stories of Latinos who grow up here and live the American Dream." [via NY Post]
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by Steve Hall    May-15-03    




Jennifer Anniston Complains Redbook Gave Her a Big Head

Along the lines of the Kate Winslet/GQ photomanipulation mini-scandal, Jennifer Anniston is freaking out about having a big head. Isn't her head big, anyway?

"Look at the picture -- the head is a lot larger than the body," say her publicist, Steven Huvane.

Anniston claims her current photo on the cover of Redbook magazine was compiled from several file photos, was heavily doctored, and was not authorized by her. She is considering legal action and says she will no longer pose for the magazine. That could be a big problem since Anniston is currently the biggest cover draw driving up the newstand sales of any magazine she appears on. I don't know why. She really isn't that particulary beautiful.

That aside, the magazine claims the photo is legit and was taken during her tour for her 2002 film, "The Good Girl". The magazine also claims, "the only things that were altered in the cover photo were the color of her shirt and the length of her hair, very slightly, in order to reflect her current length."

Anniston doesn't buy that explanation and goes further claiming some of the body parts in the photo are not even her own. This issue is on newstands now. Check it out for yourself. [via MediaLife]

SHAMELESS PLUG: If you have an interest in this kind of stuff and in advertising in general, subscribe to this sites email newsletter. It's basically the days posts delivered via email. Click here to subscribe. END SHAMLESS PLUG.
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by Steve Hall    May-15-03    




How The Networks Measured Up Last Week

Here's the top ten shows from last week as ranked by Nielsen:

  1. CSI (CBS), 15.9/24, 16.9 million.

  2. ER (NBC), 14.5/23, 15.4 million.

  3. American Idol - Tuesday (Fox), 13.2/21, 14 million.

  4. American Idol - Wednesday (Fox), 13.1/21, 13.9 million.

  5. Everybody Loves Raymond (CBS), 13/19, 13.8 million.

  6. Friends (NBC), 12.8/21, 13.6 million.

  7. Friends Special Repeat (NBC), 12.5/20, 13.3 million.

  8. Survivor: Amazon Finale (CBS), 11.8/19, 12.6 million.

  9. Law & Order (NBC), 11.6/19, 12.3 million.

  10. Survivor: Amazon (CBS), 11.4/19, 12.1 million.

Some more anlysis here from MediaPost.
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by Steve Hall    May-15-03    




Business Week Gets Fashion Concious

"Editorially, we're obviously not about fashion," he says. "But there's 970,000 people [the magazine's North American rate base] who get this magazine every week. They get up for work every day, put on nice clothes and go to the office. They have purchasing power and a purchasing need - and we now have a vehicle through which fashion advertisers can reach them."

That's Business Week publisher Jeff Dodge's rationale for partnering with Chic Simple magazine to create a fashion supplement for Business Week. Hey, it's compelling enough for me. The section will be called "Dress Smart Business" and will debut in the September 15 issue of the North American edtion.
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by Steve Hall    May-15-03    




Jane Magazine Links Promotions to Purchases

Jane Magazine has an interesting sponsorship package that requires readers to actually buy advertisers products. In a promotion called, "Jane Makes You Famous", participants enter the purchased product's UPC into a section on the publication's web site and are entered into a contest. The winner gets $1,000 and a page in the magazine to write an article of their own.

Since the launch of the promotion, ad pages have gone up 29% and ad revenue has increased 52%.

Jane will continue with the success of it's UPC based promotions with a campaign in the Fall called, "Fly With Jane", that will give away airline trips and another called, "Jane Live From Where You Live", giving entrants the chance to win a concert in their backyard or at a local bar.

Could the offline industry be heading in the direction of online accountability? That would be a good thing.
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by Steve Hall    May-14-03    




Britney Spears and Skechers Settle Marketing Disagreement

A while back, I ripped on Britney for getting into this mess with Skechers (among other things). Spears sued Skechers saying they used her name but not her designs for a line of roller skates. Skechers countered saying Spears didn't deliver by delaying and failing to approve the line. Now, it seems the two sides have come to a settlement.


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by Steve Hall    May-14-03    




It Seems Cinema Advertising is OK With Movie Patrons

A new study out by Arbitron entitled, "The Arbitron Cinema Study", found U.S. audiences claim pre-movie advertising is more interesting than TV and more acceptable than Internet advertising. Also, 86% recall seeing ads prior to a movie.

"Worldwide, nearly a billion dollars is spent in cinema advertising, little of it in the U.S.," Pierre Bouvard, president, New Ventures, Arbitron Inc., said in a statement. "Our research indicates cinema audiences are open to advertising, and represent a large and highly attractive target audience for advertisers. The U.S. cinema advertising market is poised for growth." Yea, and I just can't wait to wait even LONGER for a movie to start!

Additional survey findings:

  • Cinema delivers advertising frequency, reaching an attentive core audience that is highly educated, active and is much more likely to have a household income of above $75,000.
  • Moviegoers are 85% more likely to pay $35,000 or more for a vehicle and 70% more likely to lease or buy a luxury vehicle.
  • Frequent moviegoers are 50% more likely to spend $150 or more on their cellular phone bill and 41% more likely to be in the market for a cell phone.
  • Among frequent moviegoers, DVDs are 73% more likely to be purchased, video games 52% and digital cameras 44%.

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by Steve Hall    May-14-03    




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