Tonight will mark the first time ABSOLUT has used television to advertise its products. The spirits company will use the medium to help launch its new, premium vodka called Level. Commercials will appear on VH-1, FX, E!, FOX SPORTS NET, Court TV, Golf Channel and Tennis Channel and Spike. The campaign, at 10 million dollars, will also include print, PR, event marketing, on-site promotion and a new (and very cool) website. TBWA\Chiat\Day New York created the campaign.
View the television commercial here.
Get Dumb
Handbag.com, a female focused, lifestyle website, has launched 'Get Lippy,' a website targeting young women 18-25 and billed as a place for women who want to "look good, feel good but not necessarily be good". Oh how cutting edge. The site contains the usual suspects; tips on being gorgeous, styles of the star, celebu-gawking, relationship tips and hot gossip. All the things a young woman needs to get ahead in a culture where "pop" knowledge is more important than real knowledge.
A recent episode of the WB's 'Everwood' will be made available for one week to AOL Broadband subscribers. Both the WB and AOL are under the same parent company, Time-Warner, and the move is an effort to expose the show to a broader audience.
Admitting to having been caught up in the hype with earlier predictions, IDC Senior Analyst Greg Ireland has revised their DVR adoption figure to 30 percent by 2008. Even with cable companies offering DVR within set top boxes contributing to the rise, Ireland does not think it's an ad killer saying, "...as much as DVRs are hyped as killers of commercials, the most re-watched segments of big events like the Super Bowl or the Oscars are the ads. [DVRs] obviously have the potential to disrupt how viewers watch commercials, but I don't think they're going to end TV advertising." One wonders, though, whether your run-of-the-mill ad in an average rated television program will ever see the light of day.
It Doesn't Have to be Like This
The People's Voice, a non-political Israeli-Palestinian initiative, which promotes peace in the Middle East has launched, as part of an ad campaign, a viral video that demonstrates peace is possible and calls for both Palestinians and Israelis to join the cause for peace.
Last year, the group put out a video called Make Love Not War (video to follow) which, again, called for peace in the Middle East and illustrated the power of love over war in a sexually humorous manner.
The new video commercial, which takes a more serious tone, takes place in what seems like a war zone. An Israeli soldier aims to shoot a young Palestinian boy throwing stones, but it turns out to be a friendly game of skeet shooting. It does give the shivers until it resolves itself peacefully. The voiceover says, "Looks fantastic, almost a dream. Yet if we can only believe this dream shall come true."
The video asks both Israelis and Palestinians to believe in the dream, that Peace is possible, and to sign up at their website for the People's Voice Peace Initiative. So far, 172,000 Israelis and 135,000 Palestinians have joined.
If any of you creative types out there are working on a campaign for any kind of air freshener, here's a little video clip that just might make for a humorous commercial - or at least give you some creative inspiration.
Sometimes the client just won't go for some of the more radical creative executions that fly around the creative conference room. Here's one that just didn't sell.
Following a survey that found three quarters of women want to see more realistic looking models in beauty ads, Dove has launched an ad campaign in England for its Dove Firming moisturizer featuring, well, real-sized women.
Viacom Chairman and Chief Executive has apparently realized gays are a market segment to be tapped and will launch a gay themed cable channel - two years after the idea was initially brought to his attention. Outlet is the potential name for the network which begs the question - why does everything gay always have to do with some orifice or another? Oh wait, orifices are important to gays. Gays like orifices. Yea, that's it.
The Online Publishers Association conducted a study along with comScore Networks which examined the Internet habits of 18-34 year olds and made a stunning discovery - young people have embraced the web as an integral part of their lives. Thirty-eight percent of all time spent on the Web is done so by this age group. Activities such as viewing and sharing video and downloading music index much higher than the general Internet population.
While the study does state the obvious, it's findings such as these that need to make their way to the desks of many an Internet-shy corporate executive as yet another proof point about the viability of the medium.
