Sewing Machine Ad Sells Brother by Mistake

A woman places a classified ad to sell her Brother sewing machine but a typo results in an ad that reads, "Brother For Sale." Oops.

Stanley Tools Ad Campaign Shows Men Using Their Tools

Stanley Tools has launched a new ad campaign for it Blackhawk by Proto line of tools. Hot, hunky men will be shown working their tools hard with headlines such as "Wives leave. Trucks break down. These tools are forever" and "Some days a good wrench is the only friend a man's got." Crank that Jack, Dude. Or is it Jack that Crank?

Advertising Industry to Acknowledge Drawbacks of Television Medium

More than 1,000 advertising industry executives are expected to show up at the AAAA Media Conference in Orlando this week. Heated discussion is expected on the merits of television advertising when, in the face of successful, measurable online media programs, the viability of the medium will be called into question. There is too much focus on mass media as an advertising vehicle says Procter and Gamble's CMO Jim Stengel and with ad clutter, fickle audiences and drops in viewership, television executives have their work cut out for them if they want the medium to move successfully into the future.

Innocent Use of Product On Air Causes Complaints

It's not suprising in this heightened world of product placement that a consumer complained about seeing a Total Corn Flakes cereal box on a segment of the Total-sponsored CNN "American Morning" newscast. While Total Corn Flakes parent company General Mills has a sponsorship agreement with CNN that includes various forms of advertising, no product placement were planned. The viewer saw it as a crossing of the editorial/advertising wall. Both General Mills and CNN claims the placement was not planned and that a guest on the show brought the Total box as part of a cooking segment.

Now that product placement is rampant, it seems that even innocent on-air/in-movie product appearances will automatically be dubbed paid placements when, in fact, they may not be.

Comcast Makes Play For Disney

Comcast has made an unsolicited $66 Billion offer to aquire Disney. The aquisition would bring the large cable giant together with Disney's media properties including ABC, ESPN and a host of major market broadcast stations.

Marketer's Shift Budget to Web and See Success

Attendees at this week's iMedia Conference listened to large marketers explain how they have shifted more marketing dollars to online initiatives. DaimlerChrysler Director of Interactive Marketing Bonita Stewart said the car manufacturer increased its online spending by 30 percent this year and that integrated TV-to-web programs are showing great success. ING Direct Chief Marketing and CTO Dave Lewis reported direct marketing, including Internet, has yielded acquisition costs of $10 to $15 per account as compared to television's $150 to $200.

Rick Dees Leaves the Airwaves

Rick Dees told his audience yesterday morning he is leaving his morning show on Clear Channel station KIIS in Los Angeles. Details of his exit have not yet been released but on-air personality Matt Siegel of WXKS in Boston, another Clear Channel station, said he was "let go." In the past year, Dees' ratings have slipped from a share of 4.0 to a share of 2.9 according to Arbitron. American Idol host Ryan Seacrest is rumored to replace Dees. A press statement is expected today.

Pepsi's 100 Million Free Songs iTunes Promotion Goes Bad

So after promising to give consumers who purchase Pepsi with coded bottle caps free downloads, it turns out the ink under the bottle cap is not resistant to the mysterious ingredients in the soft drink. Consumers have complained that they cannot read the codes under the caps because they have become blurred.

Pepsi is offering to email you a code that can be read but not until consumers submit via this website their name, address, city, state, zip code, phone number, email address and date of birth. That's one hell of a way to build a database. Did Pepsi do this on purpose?

America Idol Stars Rumored to Perform in Next Year' Super Bowl Halftime Show

With MTV taking the hit for the halftime show debacle, it's rumored that the American Idol winners and contestants will serve as halftime entertainment during next year's Super Bowl. It makes sense as FOX is airing the game next year and unless Kelly Clarkson decides to bare her ass in a thong, it should be a safe, G rated show. Of course following that show, which will be compared to the conservative "Up With People" years, upstart UPN, the only network left the NFL can turn to, will do it's own thing the following year and have Maxim magazine produce a thong-a-thon. It will make Janet's boob look like a Disney character.

Janet Jacksons Boob to Spawn More Desperate Stunts

Those that work in the public relations field have taken notice of Janet's Super Bowl stunt calling it extremely successful and are now plotting how it can be topped. Topped? Stopped would be the recommended line of thinking from a smart PR person. Sure, it grabbed worldwide headlines but it's not going to guarantee her long term success. While everyone is either talking about it or disgusted by it, everyone is acknowleging that it was a tasteless stunt by an aging pop star who is still doing 80's dance moves. Let's move on and use PR not as a stunt but as a method to promote something that is actually worthy of promoting.