Verizon Wireless has teamed with WeatherBug to deliver local weather forcasts to Verizon Wireless Mobile Web 2.0 customers. Verizon Wireless customers can now access live weather information and alerts from WeatherBug's network of 7,000 local neighborhood WeatherBug Tracking Stations. In addition, customers can choose the WeatherBug Tracking Station closest to them at any time - whether they stay close to home, travel or want to view weather from a station across the U.S. - to receive live local weather and alerts. Customers can also view WeatherBug's extensive collection of community photos, and subscribers with camera phones can capture photos of weather as it is happening and submit the images directly to the WeatherBug Photo Community.
When Grey Global Chairman-CEO Ed Meyer gets his $87 million golden parachute as part of the WPP acquisition, he could:
Following an October 3 NBC NASCAR telecast in which winner Dale Ernhardt Jr. said, in response to what the win meant to him, "It don't mean shit right now. Daddy won here 10 times," the network has bent over for a few party poopers who think the word shit somehow degrades human life and added a five second delay to all future NASCAR broadcasts.
Writing in iMedia Connection, Acceleration Media Director Julie Jeancolas offers four reasons planners should consider ad networks for their clients. From reach in high quality environments to strong return on the dollar to the targeting technology, Jeancolas claims ad networks should be part of every media plan.
To promote its call and text bundles, Virgin mobile will launch an ad in the UK that features Missy Elliot getting herself into a rather awkward but very innocent position.
Touch Me Please
Not to be left out of the sex sells game, gamemaker Nintendo is spicing up its advertising for the launch of its DS handheld device. With the tagline, "touching is good" cooed, in a television spot, by a sexy female voice, Nintendo plays on the early childhood memory of being told to keep one's hand to oneself. Which, of course, one never does.
"When you're a kid you're always told you can't touch anything," said Nintendo VP of Marketing Perrin Kaplan. "Touching is good. You're grown-up now, so read it how you want."
Print versions of the campaign, appearing in Maxim and Blender, include images of the typically well-endowed hottie accompanied by the headline, "How to Score!" The copy is laced with sexually-charged double entendres sure to grab the attention of sex-starved teenage boys.
In a promotion for its new Grand Cherokee, Jeep configured a shell of its new 2005 model and pulled it up the side of Two Penn Plaza last Thursday as 500,000 looked on.
"Scaling a New York building positions the new Jeep Grand Cherokee at its rightful place in the market - above everything else," said Jeep marketing vice-president Jeff Bell. "We wanted to make an impossible-to-miss statement incorporating the hallmarks of the Jeep brand and the capability of the 2005 Jeep Grand Cherokee."
Stunt marketing at its finest.
Today, Jaguar will launch the first of a series of five videos to promote its new X-type model. In the videos people go through their mundane daily rountine until they see the new Jaguar. They then slip into an anime cartoon world in which their lives become far more interesting.
This week's Ad Age TV Spots of the Week brings us a scare tactic spot from Partnership for a Drug-Free America in which a teenager who killed an old man keeps seeing his image, not-so-smart musicians trying to explain what CPR is for the American Red Cross, tailgating doofuses do their antics for Campbell's Chunky Chili, Whatabruger creates burger-envy, a guy hopes V8 will make him look hot for the neighborhood hottie, horror movie vingettes try to scare up interest for Mountain Dew Pitch Black, the unexplained fascination with Elvis is co-opted by AOL Broadband and Hasbro uses cartoon war figures to sell its board game HeroScape.
Footwear retailer Finish Line is jumping on the consumer customization trend by sponsoring the Sneaker Pimp Tour. The was started in 2003 by sneaker fanatics who enjoy customizing their shoes with artwork and celebrity signatures. Finish Line teamed with New York agency Heavy to put the sponsorship together. While unable to directly attribute to the Tour, Finish Line Q2 sales increased 15 percent.
Finish Line Creative Services Managing Director Sean Salter hopes the sponsorship continues to pay off saying, "Finish Line gets overlooked in the marketplace a lot. By reaching these influencers and showing them the wide variety of products available in the stores we have spread the word."
