As much as New York Mayor Bloomberg wished to sweep Marc Ecko's graffiti party under the rug, a colorful judge, yesterday, armed with the full weight of the first amendment and a wrist-slapping attitude toward the cities efforts to ban the event, Judge Jed S. Rakoff ruled in favor of Ecko and required the city to reinstate a permit Ecko had requested for a block party at which mock subway cars will be painted graffiti-style. The event was to promote an Atari video game which would make the event commercial, thus allowing the city greater control over the event but Ecko, Friday, said the game would not be featured at the event making the event fully covered by the First Amendment.
Out legal linguist Bucky Turco sat in on the decision yesterday and tells us the judge "ridiculed the city and scolded them for first amendment violations and for acting outside of their provisional power and authority."
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At London's Heathrow Airport Virgin Atlantic terminal Bluetooth transmitters are sending text messages to nearby cell phone users asking them if they want to view a video ad on their cell phone for the new Range Rover Sport SUV. Billboard company Maiden Group and technology company Filter UK have teamed to place transmitters in the airport along with 30 UK train stations. Only cell phone users who have Bluetooth capable phones will receive the text message asking if they want to view the ad. The program seems to have worked. In a two week test, 13,000 out of 87,000 Bluetooth-enabled phone owners opted to view the ad. At 15 percent, that's a pretty good success rate. The Wall Street Journal has more.
Last year's cult horror fave, Saw will be followed by Saw II in October. This year's advertising, which features severed fingers, was released without approval of the Motion Picture Association of America which must approve all movie advertising. Saw II movie distributor Lion's Gate Film said, Friday, it would contact websites and request the offending trailer be removed as well as request exhibitors to return un-approved marketing materials. Unfortunately, there's no Undo button on the Internet. You can compare the original photo, easily found with a little help from Google, accompanying this story with the cleaned up version on the official movie website.
If Redskins owner Daniel Snyder has his way and takes over the Six Flags amusement park, he says the park's advertising and marketing need to be retooled and isn't sure he'd keep the famed dancing geriatric, Mr. Six on board in future ad campaigns. Doner Advertising Creative Director David Banta says Mr' Six scores well with moms and teens in consumer advertising awareness studies but Snyder thinks a more direct marketing type approach should be taken. Come on. Say it ain't so. We love the old guy.
Tipping the scale at four pounds, the September issue of Vogue contains 691 ad pages beating last years record of 651. While Vogue Publisher Thomas Florio is lovin' it, we have to wonder what it's like as an advertiser to have a one in 691 chance of your ad being seen. Can you say ego buy?
We received this last week and thought it was a joke (there was no tagline). Apparently, our viral radar was out of service. Turns out, it's an ad campaign in the UK for the Department of Transport bringing to light the fact traffic accidents are the biggest cause of accidental death for 12-16 year olds. The ad was created by Leo Burnett's Paul Hordan and Angus Macadam and shot by kids on cell phone cameras. After circulating last week online, it aired on television over the weekend. Dramatic stuff.
Tonight, HBO's Six Feet Under concluded its five year run ending its final season with a finale full of multiple closures wonderfully befitting the series. Series creator Alan Ball delivered an emotionally powerful finale to a season that began quite plainly and, for a time, seemed headed towards undramatic plainness. That all changed several weeks ago with the sudden death of one of the main characters in an episode which, on its own, would have made a fitting finale but Ball pressed on, raised the bar and, in a nod to life's inevitable finality, brought Six Feet Under to its death slowly, beautifully, hauntingly, painfully and eloquently. The series will be missed.
UPDATE: The intensely moving song which played during the final scene of the show is called "Breathe Me" by Sia and is available over at Stereogum.
While we seem to think we have seen this stunt before, it's still a very attention getting advertising tactic. To promote HBO's Sopranos, BBDO, we're told, placed life-like arms hanging out of a few cabs. New or old, we still think it's a great piece of advertising.
By now, everyone has heard of weblogs. If you haven't, welcome, you are reading one right now. If you think you've read this before, you have. In the interest of espousing the value of weblogs to our industry, we're republishing this little piece of opinionated advice. For various reasons, many people and companies can benefit from blogging. So can ad agencies. Ad agencies are hired for two main reasons. First, and not always most important, is creative. Second is thought leadership - does the agency in question have the smarts to create successful advertising for client companies. Both of these areas of expertise can be shared with the world of potential clients through a weblog.
Right now, agencies might be saying, "What do we need a weblog for? We already have a web site." Great. Take an honest look at it. Is it much more than a creative showcases (if that) and management bios? Aside from a few short paragraphs on your so-called "proprietary process" is there any value there for the reader? Are you offering anything that gives insight into the way your agency thinks and what your opinion is on the current state of advertising? If so, great. Most likely. though it is not.
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Following former wife Pamela Anderson, rocker Tommy Lee has agreed to appear, apparently naked, in an anti-fur PETA poster. In the ad, Lee is quoted as saying, "Be comfortable in your own skin and let animals keep theirs." The poster will be displayed, initially, in the New York City nightclub, Home.
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