212 Emarketing Club Launch Party a Success

212NYC and new online marketing networking club just had its kick off party and from the looks of these pictures, it was a raging success.

Friends' 'Best Comedy Ever' Ad Miffs Frasier's Grammer

NBC has pulled a promo ad for the "Friends" series finale claiming the sitcom to be the best comedy ever after receiving complaints, including one from "Frasier's" Kelsey Grammer.

Commenting on the finale, Grammer said, "It will be more of a, I guess, social phenomenon for "Friends" to leave than it will for "Frasier," so we will accept that. We've always been creatively, I'd like to think, setting a very high bar. And we can go out saying that we continued that to the end."

He also added, "I don't blame them for saying that. Although, we all know it's not true." You go, Kelsey.

Thankfully, No Bennifer Ads Will Ever Be Made

You could just see it happening. Ben and Jen signing some big contract with some big advertiser like Nike or Pepsi or Best Buy and appearing together in some horribly cutesy ad campaign slobbering all over each other while hawking a product. Thankfully, that's a lot less likely to happen as "Us Weekly" is reporting that Bennnifer is officially over.

"Us Weekly" reports that the couple officially split on January 20 after Affleck returned from the Sundance Film Festival.

Pepsi Targets Teens With Music Download Ad Campaign

In a sort of FU to the Recording Industry Association of America, Pepsi has recruited RIAA-targeted file-sharers for an upcoming campaign. The 2o or so teens who have been accused of illegal downloading, will appear in a Pepsi-Cola ad that kicks off a two-month offer of up to 100 million free - and legal - downloads from Apple's iTunes. The ad, which will air during the February 1 broadcast of the Super Bowl and be seen by an estimated 88 million viewers, is a jab at the download political hot button. Pepsi hopes this move will help teens identify with Pepsi as a company who "gets it" and to bring teens, who've shown more affinity for bottled water, energy drinks and the Internet, back to Pepsi products.

Gawker Media Launches Wonkette, Politics to Become Fun

Oh Behave, Mr. President

Washington D.C. is in for a rude awakening. It is about to be attacked by a new weblog called Wonkette. It is published by uber-blog publisher Nick Denton who also publishes Gawker, Gizmodo and Fleshbot. The weblog, which is defined as "an online roundup of gossip from Washington, DC and the US political arena" is sure to cause a stir among politicos. With Gawker-style snark, Wonkette will leave no political scandal safe from mockery, no Dean-like scream safe from derision, and no Bush daughter dalliance safe from parody.

Tremor Uses Army of Kids to Market Products

Dude, Are You Selling Me Something?

Procter and Gamble, the supposedly staid, old school marketer, has, since 2001, been using a 280,000 strong army of kids to stealth market products using good 'ol word of mouth marketing. The group, called Tremor, enlists kids ages 13-19 via the web, offers them a chance to win a free product such as a DVD player and asks them to complete an application to become part of the group. Once in the group, they are sent coupons and sample products and delicately asked to share them with their friends.

Tremor also does work for non-P & G clients such as Shamrock Farms, which tapped Tremor to promote new chocolate malt flavored drink. Shamrock test marketed the product in Tucson and Phoenix. Tucson received the usual marketing efforts but Phoenix was given 2,100 Tremor members who received product info, coupons and stickers. Following a 23 week test, Phoenix achieved 18 percent higher sales and 21 percent coupon redemption. Sandy K. Kelly, marketing chief at Shamrock says those are the best results the dairy has ever seen.

Raining on the parade is George Silverman, author of The Secrets of Word-of-Mouth Marketing and an Orangeburg, N.Y. consultant, who advises caution: "It's like playing with fire: It can be a positive force when harnessed for the good, but fires are very destructive when they are out of control. If word-of-mouth goes against you, you're sunk."

Rolling Stone Publisher Trashes Maxim, Goes to Work For Maxim, Resigns

Maxim publisher Robert Gregory, who, while publishing Rolling Stone, took advantage of a Fortune Magazine article which highlighted Dennis Publishing's (publisher of Maxim) slumping fortunes and turned it into a memo which he distributed to the Rolling Stone sales force. The memo said, "Stuff dropped 24 percent on the newsstand this year, Blender dropped a staggering 26 percent and Maxim dropped 7 percent on top of their alarming 10 percent drop in PIB ad pages."

The memo was found by Media Ink. Gregory had nothing to say regarding the memo, hanging up when a New York Post reporter called and asked about the memo and how he could go to work for a magazine that, just weeks ago, he was trashing. Gregory hung up on the Post and later issued a press statement, "I am so deeply ashamed and humiliated that I guess I will have to resign from Dennis Publishing in disgrace." Oops.

Howard Stern to Host Prime Time ABC Interview Special

ABC could have itself a much needed ratings winner following a deal they have made with Howard Stern to host a prime time interview special this spring. The show is reported to be a one time special but others could follow if the first one is a success.

"You can bet Howard will shake up the format of the TV interview," a Stern associate said last night. "Don't be surprised that after his show gets huge ratings, Barbara Walters is suddenly asking her guests about their penis size."

Survivor All-Star Finalists Revealed

Andy Dehnart of Reality Blurred sums up the story about how "Survivor" host Jeff Probst predicts the Internet will ruin "Survivor" because someone "in the know" will be too tempted to keep the secret. And how someone by the name of Bill Marson has done just that claiming to know who the final four and final two contestants are on "Survivor All-Stars." Read on if you want to spoil the surprise.

Trump Gets Ass Kicked by 'American Idol'

After two very highly rated weeks, "The Apprentice" went up against "American Idol" and lost big time. "Idol" was watched by 29 million viewers while "The Apprentice" dropped from its previous 20 million down to just 12 million viewers. It's time for NBC to move the show again. Anywhere except against "American Idol."

UPDATE: And NBC has done the smart thing. "The Apprentice" has moved back to Thursdays.