In this lengthy Wired article, Frank Rose examines how the proliferation of programming choices and time shifting devices such as TiVo are dramatically altering the way advertisers will communicate with consumers.
The 30 second spot is still being clung to by dinosauric ad agencies as the only major means of communications. Fortunately, some smart marketers and agencies are realizing the nature of marketer/consumer communications is changing with the power shifting more to the consumer. Consumers will be the ones who control what they watch and when they watch it. Marketers are reacting with product placement and TiVo Showcase advertising which sends ads to a TiVo box for later viewing and consumer information request.
There are simply too many media outlets and there's too much ad clutter for the existing model to survive much longer and for brands to be able to thrive. Consumers are simply tuning out and opting out of marketing communications. With technology giving time shifting and programming control to the consumer, current media brands such and ABC, NBC and FOX will become irrelevant. What will become very important are individual networks; channels created and programmed soley and individually by the consumers to suit their specific viewing needs. TiVo's role in this shift could become very important providing advertisers access to the personalized channels.
Correcting an idiotic move, AOL Time Warner will remove AOL from its name becoming again, Time Warner. America Online has been a drain both financially and from a brand perspective for the publishing giant and removing the Taint of AOL, if only in name, should help.
The board is expected to approve the name change at its meeting tomorrow in New York City. Richard Parsons, chairman and CEO, has been a proponent of dropping the AOL namesake and upon approval will move quickly to implement it. The company logo will change as will its stock ticker reverting to the old Time Warner symbol, TWX.
 Volvo XC90 SUV
Following its online launch for the R Series, Volvo launched a 14-week integrated digital marketing campaign for its XC90 sport utility vehicle, which includes Internet, mobile phone and iTV ads. The company hopes to entice consumers to opt-in electronically for further information about the vehicle.
Centering on college football, the campaign tightly integrates offline and online media using wireless phones, Palm hand helds, enhanced TV such as Wink, email and offline media including newpaper and television.
Always a leader in online advertising, Volvo's CRM and E-Business Manager Phil Bienert says, "We're beyond looking at these new platforms as a novelty. Every element of this campaign has to contribute to the business. We're trying not to leave any touch-point untouched."
Video blogging has gone main stream and now you can use it to create and broadcast your own web TV show. UK Blogging service Tonguewag has teamed up with UK viral site TTR2 to bring you a talent contest like no other to launch the worlds first video blogging service! All you need is a webcam or a/v source and you're ready to go.
The Tonguewag video blogging service is perfect for bloggers who want an easy way to add streaming video to their sites and it's also perfect for budding TV stars who need an easy way to showcase their talents! The service is free and is the worlds first commercial video blogging service. For more information go here or for a list of features go here.
If you're intrested in who controls the fashion industry, check out this interview with Vogue Editor Anna Wintour. She is the Queen.
Wal-Mart won't give Playboy access to its customers having banned the magazine from stores so Playboy is calling for access to Wal-Mart employees inviting women to pose in its upcoming Women of Wal-Mart issue.
 Television Worth Watching I've never really watched The WB's Everwood before but I happened to watch the season premier and I have to say Everwood is good TV. It's not flashy. It's not cool. It's just good clean family fun. If that endorsement sounds strange coming from a site that is usually trashing media and writing about beer babes in bikinis or Britney's latest strip fest, realize that it can be tiring and quite boring ranting negatively about media all the time. Some positivity is needed sometimes to clense the soul.
The premiere tied up an apparent loose end from last season. In last season's emotional cliffhanger, Dr. Brown (Treat Williams) performed radical brain surgery on Colin Hart (Mike Erwin) in an effort to save his life. In the season premiere, it was reveled that Colin did die. The small town of Everwood has ostracized Dr. Brown but the town doesn't know the whole story. Hart asked Brown not to resuscitate if things went badly which they did. Brown maintained doctor patient privacy but Hart's girlfriend found a copy of the letter Hart wrote to the doctor on Hart's computer.
There were plenty of emotional TV moments but the episode did not end with everyone walking off happily into the sunset as many poorly written television series do. Everwood writers acknowledge the fact that when a person dies, it has lasting effects that don't go away when the credits roll. This series falls into the "best TV you aren't watching" category but desrves a chance to grow. Give it a watch. Don't expect hot babes in bikinis though. This is much more real than that.
 Want Me? Click Here For A Date With the tagline, "Survival of the Prettiest," Vanity Date recently launched providing hot singles with what they really want in a date: an equally hot single. According to the site's About page, Vanity Date is "the world's most judgemental, shallow dating website. At Vanity Date we have a vision of creating the largest database of the world's most good looking, rich and superficial people."
Now that's truth in advertising. The About page goes on to say members don't have to be supermodels but they do have to rate at least 7 and make over $200,000 per year. The site wants intelligent people and will, in fact, kick a member off if they are found to have an IQ below 100. If you've got it all and don't want to mess with the "sub-standard" rest of us, this site is definitely for you.
 Let Me Out Courtesy of TTR2 here's an old Budweiser ad that shows aliens what humans are really like.
Click image to view ad.
 Just One Drink One of the more interesting approaches to beer advertising comes from a U.K. based brewer whose ad ends with the tagline, "Don't Drink It!"
View here.
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