Advertisers Wake Up, Shift Money to Internet

A survey of the Association of National Advertisers released yesterday reveals many advertisers will level fund television budgets next year and shift more money to the Internet, branded entertainment and direct marketing.

Unilever's Pot Noodles Get Web Ring Treatment

Ad agency glueLondon has created a collection of web sites that resemble the many cheesy web ring type sites on the web that take you on a circular journey from one bad site to another. The set of sites incorporates deliberately tacky design, dead links, DIY photo galleries and silly animations. Visitors and commune with other Pot Noodle fanatics, slurp noodles off a geisha (that was fun) , take lessons in Pot Noodle smuggling from Seedy Sanchez, or,if it all becomes a noodle overdose, you can learn how to free yourself from your all-consuming Pot Noodle obsession with a visit to Eldoon Hall, a noodle de-tox center where counselors humorously attempt to talk you down while getting sucked in themselves.

Hugh MacLeod Says Hire Steve Hall

The great cartoonist and copywriter Hugh MacLeod, whose ads you can see to the right of this site, sent me one of the nicest gifts a person looking for his next gig could possibly ask for: my own personal "hire me" ad. You will note the headline is very direct since there's no need to beat around the bush in situations like this. And, of course, it's done with the wit and humor only Hugh can create.

I'm eternally grateful to Hugh for creating this without my even asking. And while this might sound like "link begging," if you like this approach to job searching, by all means, feel free to blog on about it. Links back this site or resume.rantworks.com are always appreciated.

Conde Nast to Launch Shelter Shopping Magazine

Shopping is all the rage in the magazine world these days. With "Lucky" for women and "Cargo" and "Vitals" for men, now it seems the home needs its own shopping title. That's the plan over at Conde Nast which has announced its intent to launch a shelter shopping magazine in 2005 that will target those in their 30's.

Not to be left out, American Media has plans for a shelter book and Hearst will launch a female focused shopping magazine called ""Shop Etc." in August. With all this launch activity, one might actually believe all the talk about the economy returning to health. More likely, it's just another lame lemming-like maneuver by publishers who just can't stand to let other publishers have all the fun.

The Texas Graphic Drunk Driving Ad

The Texas Department of Transportation runs an ad campaign that features a girl who was hit by a drunk driver and burned over 60 percent of her body. The ad graphically shoes the results of her accident as, perhaps, a scare tactic to teens who might think twice before getting behind the wheel drunk.

The trouble though is getting past the nearly insurmountable teenage attitude of indestructabilty - that sense that a teen is all-powerful, all-knowing and in control of every portion of his life. That, of course, is a very false self assessment but try telling that to a teenager.

Television's New World Order

Sponsored by the Association of National Advertisers, several of the nation's biggest advertisers will gather today to discuss the future of television advertising and measurement. Issues discussed will be audience measurement, the upfront, video on demand, addressable advertising, a shift from program measurement to advertising measurement, digital video recorders and interactive TV.

The as yet un-named group hopes to develop a platform and set of guidelines for the new television world order before the old one crumbles.

UPDATE: Jeff Jarvis exapands upon this and offers up the scenario of people networks as opposed to content networks. Whether achieved through addressable advertising or through an online system such as Tacoda, it's about aiming advertising to an interest group rather than to a content category.

Australian National Rugby League Uses 'Australian Rats' in Ad Campaign

In America, we have rats and other sorts of pests that are undesirable. In Australia, apparently toads fall into the pest category and are illegal to be brought in from the wild. This is exactly what the NRL's ad agency, MJW Hakuhodo, did for new a television commercial. In the commercial, Brisbane Broncos captain Gorden Tallis is seen releasing cane toads in Sydney's Aussie Stadium.

What's really interesting is that an Australian National Parks & Wildlife spokesperson said, "bringing cane toads into NSW is not only illegal, it has a potentially devastating effect on thousands of native animals and pet dogs,"

Just how big are these frogs?

UPDATE: Upon further reading, I guess they are toxic.

Magical Carwash Produces New Mazda3 and New Spouse

London's DMC has launched a new international online viral and buzz marketing campaign for Mazda- their fifth for the brand - featuring a web-exclusive film created by Attaboy TV, to support brand marketing activity for the new Mazda3.

The clip features a sad looking couple in a beat up old car driving into a carwash. They select the 'megawash' option and are quite suprised at the results - their car is transformed into a shiny new Mazda3. Of course, this gives them an idea about another upgrade they'd like to make � to each other. In a shocking display of political correctness rarely seen on British soil, two version of the spot have been created to serve both sexes equally.

Viewers can link through the clip's end frame to a Mazda web page where they can download the alternative version, take a virtual tour through the car, check out technical specifications and order brochures, as well as request a test drive.

The campaign was launched simultaneously in Australia and the UK today. It's being seeded by DMC's online influencer network, as well as being featured on lifestyle, automotive and sport web sites. The online film-tracking system will also provide real-time accountability of the ad's views and hotlinks as it's passed around, in order to help quantify the impact the campaign has on brand awareness.

Soccer Moms Become Internet Moms

In a survey by C&R Research for Disney Online, 84 percent of mothers said the Internet would be the hardest medium to give up. The study finds moms use the Internet 13.2 hours per week, double that of television at 7.6 hours. Eighty six percent place it ahead of TV and newspapers as an information resource, 63 percent us it to seek entertainment and 43 percent use it to engage in avtivity with their kids.

Internet Radio Grows, Gives Howard Stern Another Weapon in FCC Fight

While the FCC is hammering Howard Stern, satellite radio and Internet radio are jumping for joy. No matter what side of the issue you are on, radio programming choices continue to explode. Following Arbitron's decision to change the way it measures Internet radio, a new study from RRadio Network entitled Radio Online, It's All About the Audience, finds 42.6 percent of online radio listeners have an annual household income of $50,000 and 60.4 percent a college degree. Those are numbers advertisers like.

Forty three percent of listeners do so five to seven days per week and half listen to the same station all day. Almost half (47 percent) listen for three hours at a time and 32 percent listen at work. Another key finding in the study is good news for marketers - 78 percent admit Internet radio needs advertising to survive.