A recently launched site, called Uncle Yaris goes and goes appears, based on the preponderance of Google search results for the term and the likeness of the site's color to Toyota's brand colors, to be a promotion for the Toyota Yaris which is scheduled to go on sale in early Spring 2006. The site, like many of these non-transparent promotions is kooky, odd and attempts to somehow be hip. Anyway, that's all the time we have to spend on promotions that waste our time by not telling us what is being promoted. Sort of counterproductive, don't you think? Of course, there's always a chance our assessment of this is completely wrong.
Canada's Global Television is promoting the show Prison Break by hiring women to walk around outside football games wearing prison break T-shirts and flat-scree TV's atop their heads. As Jodster praises the promotion writing, "All I could think of was the potential for women to rid themselves of the manly instinct to stare at breasts." Well done, indeed.
After seeing the new Lexus hybrid car, Paul McCartney decided he would lend support to the campaign by allowing Lexus to use his new single, "Fine Line," in the commercial. "When it was put to me that they wanted to sponsor the tour and when I actually saw the car and saw what it was all about, I said 'Yeah, sure, that's something I can definitely get behind.' It beats beer commercials." The single comes from McCartney's recently released album, "Chaos and Creation in the Backyard."
Lexus is sponsoring McCartney's 11-week U.S. concert tour along with Fidelity Investments. McCartney will appear in the investment company's upcoming ad campaign.
NewPage Corporation, today unveiled the winners of its TheTrueYou makeover contest in which contestants were given wardrobe makeovers. Out of 1,000 entrants, three were chosen: Erik Mace, Chicago; Frances Yllana, Dallas; and Jenn Richey, New York City. Each were given a complete wardrobe makeover: from regular hip guy to rock star, from fresh faced girl to forties femme fatale, and from cutie to 1950s kitschy. See the other before and afters here.
In her daily RocketBoom Vlog, the very attractive Amanda Congon, takes a look at some of our favorite advertising oddities such as the Honda Cog commercial, the Cog's spoof, the Homespun HP Photo commercial and Fidel Castro talking about beer. Very weird. Very strange. Very cool.
In an OMMA keynote, CBS Digital Media President Larry Kramer said the webcast of "Everybody Loves Raymond" was an experiment to determine how many people watch the show online and what traffic is driven back to the Viacom site. The webcast carried no ads but in the future, Kramer said shows could carry ads which advertisers would pay additionally for and an option to view ad-free shows for a fee might be offered as well.
As promised, David Ogilvy made an appearance at AdBumb's OMMA party last night telling the audience "successful advertising in the future is about entertainment and value" and then breaking into a John Travolta-ish Stayin' Alive jig which party goers immediately began to copy.
It's official. Countdown sites are now a trend. This time, it's Jaguar who is insisting we watch their clock, maddeningly anticipating the launch of...well...something. The site is called Where Did Gorgeous Go, which, we're sure, in two days, 12 hours, forty-three minutes, Jaguar will tell us it hasn't gone anywhere. It's right here before our very eyes in the form of a new car model...and some travel specials. Oh, and of course there's hot babes involved too.
Called Great Pointed Archer, this is-this-a-joke-or-not site aims to come to the aid of the lowly rat claiming they are a species, like humans, who are just trying to get through life as pleasantly as possible. The site contains rat facts, an "Archer Dash" game, humorous PSAs, a store with rat goodies called GPA - which strikingly resembles the GAP and a petition calling for the replacement of the term "rat" with "Great Pointed Archer."
Responding to an email inquiry, the effort was explained thusly, "Our basic goal is to help improve the image of the NYC rat. Every animal out there has a group that stands behind it. But for some reason nobody wants to take up the rat cause." Ok then. Moving along...
Ever the witty marketer, Carlton Draught, following the debut of its brilliant Big Ad, has launched another inward-looking commercial. This one pokes fun at brewers' fixation with their brewing ingredients, brewing methods and, in the case of Budweiser, its reliance on the Clydesdales.
UPDATE: In Comments, "Bill Gates" dishes on us for occasionally crapping on Ad Age by pointing out we are in error and that this ad was out well before the Big Ad. Remorsefully, we will crap all over our staff for this inexcusable transgression and force them all to bow to the feet of the Ad Age Gods.
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