Madonna's done her fair share of lip syncing for sure but she must have truly broken an actual vocal chord when she heard Blender Magazine decided to feature famed lip-syncer Ashlee Simpson instead of her on magazine's December cover. Apparently, Madonna was supposed to appear on the cover but the publisher dropped her in favor of Simpson. Blender won't comment but we're pretty sure the magazine is simply adhering to the "young trumps old" publishing maxim.
Madonna's handler downplayed the situation saying, "She's too busy healing from her horse-riding accident. I was talking to several publications, including Blender. Trust me, you'll see plenty of Madonna in the weeks to come." As for Simpson, we bet she's jumping for joy. She needs all the positive exposure she can get after that SNL incident.
Elle McPherson is the next in a long line of celebrities to appear in mink company Blackglama's ad campaign, "What Becomes a Legend Most?" MacPherson, 42, was big in the '90's, made several movies and had a recurring role on Friends. McPherson follows Judy Garland, Marlene Dietrich, Elizabeth Taylor, Audrey Hepburn, Rita Hayworth, Diana Ross, Carol Burnett, Lucille Ball, Ray Charles, Barbra Streisand, Cher, Linda Evangelista, Gisele Bundchen, Cindy Crawford and others, all of whom appeared in the mink company's ad campaigns. Did we just wake up on another planet or something? We thought Hollywood celebrities, being all liberal and such would, for sure, be against promoting mink. Oh wait, Hollywood is its own weird, screwed up planet. The campaign will kick off this fall.
An ad, unveiled Wednesday night, promoting the upcoming NHL season which opens with a Chinese philosopher's quote, a bare-chested player and a woman in a bra and robe has been called offensive by Chairwoman of the National Council of Women's Organizations Martha Burk, the woman who led an unsuccessful attempt three years ago to get the Augusta National golf club to admit women. Responding to NHL spokeswoman Bernadette Mansur's assessment the spot simply portrays the woman as the man's spiritual trainer, Burk said, "That's a major stretch. The woman is a sexual ornament, in my view. It's appealing to adult men while trying to masquerade as something for kids."
The ad, which is hardly gratuitous and carries the tagline, "My NHL," was directed by MTV Video Music Awards winner Sam Bayer. Conductor, a California-based ad agency, produced the spots, which were filmed in British Columbia. The campaign, which break Monday, September 26, is set to air on NBC, Outdoor Life Network, and Canada's TSN. The ad can be viewed on the homepage of NHL.com.
IKEA's on a roll these day. We just featured a design project by IKEA in which 28 designers created strange but apparently useful home goods. Now, from Swedish agency Forsman & Bodenfors and Flash producer Kokokaka, IKEA has launched a very beautiful website which features many different homescapes caught lushly mid-motion which are navigated through by pressing the mouse and sliding left or right. The homescapes rotate 180 degrees then change to a different homescape and with each change comes a change in accompanying music. Very nicely done.
Engaging in a bit of experiential marketing, job-search engine CareerBuilder.com is launching a college event marketing campaign, a mobile marketing tour that kicks off October 1. The tour will be split up into three regions (West Coast, Central, and East Coast), with two vans carrying a total of four ambassadors in each region. Currently, twenty-three campuses are on the agenda with more to follow. Hooking up with each school's career center, CareerBuilder.com will hold informal job-search seminars showing students how to search for jobs on the Internet, how to write an effective resume, and how to use the Web to send a resume. Also at each stop are mini seminars on how students can market themselves to employers; games; chances to win a cruise, plasma screen TVs, and MP3 players; and premium giveaways. San Francisco's Swivel Media organized the program.
Hearst Entertainment and Atchity Entertainment International have teamed to produce a reality show, currently called Money Makeover Show, in which "unusual, extreme, entertaining, and heartfelt" financial experiences will be featured.Presumably, the "contestant" with the most interesting financial situation will win and be given a financial makeover. The show is in development with no set air date or network buyer and is scouting for people with interesting financial stories.
Left-wing grassroots organizer Tom Kertes has launched Bill For First Lady 2008 which is being promoted by a viral of a Bill Clinton look-a-like dressed in pink and modeling, disgustingly, a thong. The site explains the effort thusly, "It's serious fun. It's a serious strategy. All laughs aside, Bill-for-First-Lady.com is about serious politics. It's about taking back the White House in 2008. But serious politics doesn't need to be boring politics. (We'll leave that up to the Republicans.) The Republican attack machine is already going after Hillary. That's because they know that she's the most popular and electable Democrat." Seriously, wouldn't that be hilarious if Bill actually did become First Man?
The site's got all sorts of logoed promotional items such as trucker hats, caps, mugs, t-shirts, buttons, bumper stickers and even thongs.
At a promotional event tomorrow, Saturday September 24, graffiti artists Serve One FBA and Chino B.Y.I. will do custom airbrushing on Converse sneakers free for anyone who purchases a pair between 2 and 4 PM at the Underground Station store in Brooklyn, New York.
This viral video which pits an old lady against a pompous jerk with no patience promotes an ethereal website for IKEA which challenges you to imagine odd combinations which, together, form useful home goods. Well sort of. We still don't know why anyone would need bamboo sticks to clean a house.
The site explains, "IKEA asked 28 designers to explore and experiment. To test new materials, techniques and new ways of working. But most of all, to have fun. They responded with a cavalcade of ingenious and madly innovative ideas for every home bold enough to be unconventional and the results can be seen throughout this website."
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PBS's Robert Cringley recounts the story of a friend who experimented with Google AdWords and found paying four times more per word to promote essentially that same service (original site was duplicated under a different domain as a test) actually lowered daily click-throughs from 15,000 to 1,200. It's an odd occurrence and one which Cringley's friend simply explains away by likening Google to a Las Vegas casino where, no matter what, the house always wins. Though Cringley posits that, all thing being equal with his friends endeavor, Google must have done something on it's end to make the ad buy more profitable for itself. We'll let the SEO experts sort this one out.
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