Booty Shotz! Promotes Booty Snacks

Booty Shotz!, a website that may or may not be associated with the snack food company Robert's American Gourmet, features picture of people, celebrities included, displaying their love for the product. Booty lovers can submit their pictures to various categories and have them rated. Via MetaFilter.

New Technologies to Effect Current Advertising Models

A panel at yesterday's MediaPost Forecast 2005 discussed how emerging technologies could affect current mass media models, particularly television. Mediasmith's Dave Smith put forth the notion to the panel that "Emerging technologies will completely break down the last vestiges of mass media and mass marketing." While panel;ists agreed technology such as addressable advertising a TiVo are having a drastic effect on business models, the panelists, at the same time, agreed changing currently entrenched models won't happen overnight.

Audi Launches Personalized Viral For New A3

Audi has launched a very ominous looking viral video to promote its new A3 Sportback. The video, which is customized to the viewer, is filled with imagery you might see in a medical thriller, futuristic horror flick or a combination of the two. It eludes to the car being specifically engineered for the individual and ends with links to the website and a page to request further info in the form of physical mail. The work was done by 20:20 in London. Good stuff.

Adrants Billboards: Burnett Brings Martha Stewart to TV

• Former Zentropy Partners Executive Gillian Guiterrez has headed over to BIG Interactive as vp, director of account services. She'll oversee the FOX, Suzuki and Kellogg accounts, among others.
• Gruner & Jahr Publishing has announced its intent to sell the teen title YM and has hired AdMedia Partners to do the deal.
• Paramount is searching for a new agency to handle its media and has met with three companies - Initiative, Mediaedge:cia and MediaVest - over the past few weeks.
• Panelists at MediaPost's Forecast 2005 wonder if the ad business is dead.
• As if we need another television show fawning over a celebrity, Mark Burnett will now develop a series based on Martha Stewart. Burnett has definitely jumped the shark.
• Seems Advertising Week, for all its good intentions, will lose $300,000.
• Clear Channel Outdoor blows off Houston billboard zoning law by bending the rule.

Marketers Can No Longer Ignore Weblogs

Intelliseek CMO Pete Blackshaw says marketers can no longer ignore weblogs as powerful influencers and commenters on their brands. Every claim made by a marketer will be shredded to pieces by what is now becoming "citizens media." If a marketer makes a claim, they had better well be able to back it up one hundred percent. Blackshaw puts this succinctly asking, "Can a wireless provider spending millions to tout customer service escape scrutiny when bloggers can readily provide links to thousands of disgruntled consumers providing evidence to the contrary? Can a pharma company afford to gloss over the fine print in advertisement when bloggers elect to super-size the untold message? Can an auto manufacturer pushing a "safety" message on TV risk having consumers type their brand into Google and have it punch back a loaded shelf space of contradictory messages by consumers?" No, no and no are the answers to those questions. Marketing has forever become a conversation - a dialog between marketer and consumer. With weblogs, it's been proven consumers are ready to have that dialog. It's not so clear whether marketers are ready to join that conversation.

George Clooney Featured in Fiat Commercial

Admitting the potential for over exposure but questioning the need for the extra cash, we note George Clooney in a new commercial for Italian Fit. For years, Japan has been the place American celebrities go to start in cheesy looking Japanese commercial a la Bill Murray's Lost in Translation. You can see them all in action at Japander.

In this commercial, Clooney, who is on vacation in Germany, jogs by a new Fiat Idea, sees an open passenger door and gets in to check out the interiort. Just when he's beginning to get real comfy, the owner of the car returns, quickly locks the doors and speeds off with the trapped Hollywood star. The ad closes with the tag, "George not included." The ad is currently airing in Italy and will begin airing in Germany in a month or two.

Clooney's appearance in this commercial is another example of American stars lending their fame to audiences abroad without diluting their popularity here in the States. Thanks to Adrants reader Oliver Bentz for the tip and translation.

Lipton China Promotes...Something...With Blood And Violence

If we knew Japanese Chinese, we could tell you more about this Japanese Chinese Lipton video and online game that involves a lot of blood and violence. Perhaps it's tongue and cheek. Perhaps it's just plain violent. We don't know. The sound effects are cool though.

FCUK Says Goodbye to Logo With Insightful Commercial

A while back, we reported fashion label French Connection was retiring its FCUK brand acronym and had launched an ad campaign to do so. One of the components of the campaign is a television spot which is a brilliant, tongue-in-cheek, self-referencial, insightful play on advertising's obsession with persuasion and sexual imagery. The ad, filled with typical television commercial imagery and poking fun at the things advertisers do to sell product, never once mentions the brand name. Asking, "Haven't you had enough of being told what to do, where to go, what to wear?" and "Don't you just hate being influenced, especially by the great big, offensive logos at the end?'" the ad close with the simple, superimposed phrase, "so do we."

There's a problem with this approach though. At some point, French Connection will launch another brand to replace its FCUK acronym and the company will be back where it started - influencing people with great big, offensive logos. Thanks to Adrants reader Russell Buckley for the tip.

Weblogs, Inc. In Search of Advertising Blogger

Weblogs, Inc. Founder Jason Calcanis is in search of an advertising blogger.

That's right. There's soon to be more competition in the ad blog space as Calcanis plans to add to his growing empire of niche focused weblogs. On his blog, he compliments Adrants and says he's looking for someone who's "witty, clever, sardonic, sarcastic, cynical, funny, etc." He's even placed a Craig's List ad which is also complimentary to Adrants (that's no capital R, folks) which reads, in part, "If you're interested in the gig please send me three blog posts in a style similar to blogs like AdRants.com, Gawker.com or Engadget.com." Compliments in the face of pending competition. We love it.

Alas, we are not applying for the job. Things are going quite well here in the posh, suburban offices of Adrants but we do look forward to the inevitable link-swap fest that will surely accompany the addition of another blog in the ad space. So, if you're in the ad game and dying to express your opinion blog-style, get in touch with Jason and who knows, we could be battling it out for ad scoops in the near future.

Ad Industry to Drive $150 billion into New York City Economy

The advertising industry will help drive $151 billion into the New York City metropolitan area economy this year, a new study found. The total economic activity generated by advertising - which includes direct spending, supplier spending and inter-industry activity - is estimated to account for a projected 18.9 percent of the region's $800 billion economic activity and an estimated 679,151 jobs, or 16.2 percent of the area's workforce of 4.19 million. The study estimates that total advertising spending by businesses in New York City for 2004 is estimated to come in at $12 billion, and the total revenue impact of this spending on the NYC region will be a projected $151.4 billion. The total projected impact includes the $12 billion, the direct impact on area sales of $68 billion, the impact on supplier economic activity of $33 billion and the impact on inter-industry economic activity of $38.4 billion.