Actress Jennifer Lopez, singer Beyonce Knowles and Real Madrid star David Beckham are in Europe together filming a new commercial for Pepsi. The commercial is described as "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon meets Kill Bill." Sporting a budget of one million dollars, the commercial, set in the Far East, will pit Lopez and Beyonce against Beckham in a martial arts extravaganza.
Beckham recently signed a $10 million five year deal with Pepsi.
Beyonce joined Pepsi as spokesmodel in 2002 following Britney Spears and Lopez recently signed a deal joining the Pepsi threesome.
Joining the now lengthy list of "adver" media, Advercan has introduced can top advertising offering the potential to deliver 260 billion impressions per year. Five years in development, the six-layer plastic Avercan label serves as both an advertising medium and a "Cleancap(TM)" designed to keep the can top clean from the bottling plant to the store shelf. The company says the protective seal can thwart the spread of dirt, germs and other contaminants. It also fills up landfills quickly too but Advercan isn't promoting that small detail.
"Advertisers are always looking for ways to reach consumers with unique new messaging," said Advercan founder Kenny Mac McClintock. "This label double-delivers: It promotes the advertiser, and creates cleaner can."
McClintock adds the can top provides means to bottlers to reduce costs.
Porsche Cars North America has placed its 34 million media account in review.
The account is currently with Omnicom's PHD and it is said four shops will be vying for the business. Presentations are expected in December.
Lying through his teeth, Porsche rep Martin Peters said, "We have no issue with PHD, this is simply a matter of good business practice.
Management rules require that we review from time to time."
David Burn of AdPulp calls attention to an outdoor campaign by tda advertising and design for their client Wahoo's Fish Tacos in which the agency cops to the truth while allowing their client to rise above.
As the New York AD:TECH show approaches, inboxes are beginning to fill with party invites as companies vie for conference attendee's attention. Online ad network, Bluelithium, reprising its San Fancisco party of last May, has sent out a fancy Flash invite for an event that will be held at New York's Show Nightlife from 10 PM to 4 AM, Tuesday, November 9. Also hitting inboxes is an invite for the Tribal Fusion party to be held Monday night, November 8 from 9 PM to 1 AM. Tribal Fusion promises an open bar all night. Bluelithium promises an hour of open bar from 10 PM to 11PM. Plan accordingly.
Tribal Fusion will also host the Grand Opening Reception in the Exhibit Hall on Monday from 5 PM to 6:30 PM. Following that, Overture will host The Overture Mixer from 6:45 PM to 8 PM. Without a moment to rest, the New York Interactive Advertising Club, 212, invites you to their event beginning at 8PM - location TBD. A full list of official AD:TECH social events is here.
It's very likely other parties will pop up at the last minute making party coverage a frantic undertaking but we are here to help you party virtually if you choose not to do so physically.
"Media buyers are realizing that they can take a huge chunk of their budget for one page, one month, and get a diluted audience--or they can get into six other books that deliver that guy they are trying to reach," said Razor Publisher and Editor in Chief Richard Botto.
Razor has seen growth rates of 130 percent bringing on new advertisers such as Ford and BMW while larger laddie books like Maxim which saw a 16 percent drop in newsstand sales through June and an 11 percent drop in ad pages through September.
Botto says there's a big misconception about the current generation of men and that is, while they still enjoy pictures of hot models, they enjoy reading just as much. Razor provides for that with intelligent editorial and investigative pieces such as its recent story on the White House transition from Clinton to Bush.
First launched in 2000, Kotex has updated it's "Red Dot" ad campaign that puts forth an honest discussion about feminine care products. Created by Ogilvy & Mather, the campaign will include TV, print, sky mural and a mall tour. Other campaigns featured in this week's MediaPost Out to Launch column by Amy Corr include Nintendo's "Touching is Good" campaign, a $30 million national broadcast campaign for Canon, a holiday-themed point of sale campaign for Jose Cuervo, a new "Frozen" campaign for Stolichnaya, yet another "encourage teens to vote" campaign from Rock the Vote and Mekanism, an interactive Times Square billboard for Unilever's Dove asks "Wrinkled?" or Wonderful?" aside the picture of 96 year old Irene Sinclair, a stem cell research campaign from the US Conference of Catholic Bishops and a radio campaign for Unisys.
Dan Gilmore shares a PR pitch he received from a company that offers to "manage and monitor digital influencers" and how companies can use the service to take action against those who don't speak kindly about a company. The key element that public relations professionals do not understand about blogging and all Citizen's Media is that conversation can not be manage - it can be joined. Any company that thinks they can "manage" the conversations taking place through weblogs and other conversation-enabled media is asking for a backlash so powerful, the company could be brought to its knees. In this country and in any free country, people are not told what to say, they are asked why they said it and asked to converse about it. If a public relations entity seeks to influence thought, it should enter the conversation - not attempt to ban the conversation. (Make sure you read the insanely short-sited comment from Flackboy Kevin)
GM is facing a $236 million loss and plans to lay off 12,000 employees in Germany. The Gap has announced a ten percent drop in European sales volume. Coca-Cola no longer symbolizes the American dream. Some pin these drops on the political situation. Others pin it on the falling European economy. What's certain is American brands are no longer viewed as favorably as they once were internationally. It may be time for some major, worldwide sucking up by both politicians and marketers.
The Viral Awards, an international showcase of Viral and Buzz marketing, has announced a new category –The Hall of Fame. The new category has been created by the judging panel who intends to bring light to the best viral and buzz marketing efforts. The new category will be open to advertising campaigns that have created a hype or buzz, be it intended or not.
Not to be outdone by traditional agencies need for self gratification, a new overall Award for The Best Viral Agency has been created in response to a number of self-esteem challenged ad agency types who have submitted entries.
For those in need of a "hug," the deadline for entries is 5th November 2004. The Viral Awards will be held in London on 13th January 2005 at The London College of Fashion.
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