In a backlash from the mudwrestling jiggle-fest, Molson has a different approach: The Molson Man. A hunk for the ladies with an advertising twist. Sell the hunk to the ladies in Cosmo and sell the fact that the ladies are being sold to in men's magazines with this interesting copy:
"Hundreds of thousands of women. Pre-programmed for your convenience. As you read this, women across America are reading something very different: an advertisement scientifically formulated to enhance their perception of men who drink Molson."
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New York Times Digital and CBS MarketWatch have launched half page advertising units on their pages allowing a much larger and more eye catching creative pallet.
"One of the major items we hear from folks is that creative ad folks couldn't do enough with the current sizes," said NYTD VP of Sales Jason Krebs. "We felt that was a valid point the agencies were making. We created something not just bigger but better."
Time will tell if this move to larger ad units, representing the traditional offline 50/50 ad to edit ratio, will succeed. [via MediaPost]
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MTV: Music Television and Virgin Mobile USA today announced the launch of *MTV ("Star-MTV"), a new wireless brand from MTV available exclusively to Virgin Mobile customers in the U.S., its territories and possessions, and Puerto Rico. MTV provides Virgin Mobile users with mobile "sneak peek" updates on their favorite programs and MTV.com games, breaking stories from MTV News, video voting, audio postcards from music and TV celebrities to send to friends, Wake-Up Calls, Rescue Rings and more.
In connection with the launch of *MTV, MTV will premiere "Video Clash," a new interactive series that mercilessly pits one video against another - from "Eminem vs. Christina," "The Strokes vs. Sum 41" to "Missy Elliott vs. Kelly Osbourne." Viewers vote for the videos they want to see in real-time through *MTV in their VirginXtras phone menu or by text messaging MTV from their Virgin Mobile phones. Viewers also can log on to MTV.com to vote. "Video Clash" delivers instant gratification when voting results are displayed in real-time on-air and the winning video is immediately played on MTV. "Video Clash" viewers are also able to suggest their own fantasy 'video battles' and submit personal messages that may be used on air through MTV.com. [via MediaPost]
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"That woman whose heritage is Mexican, but is U.S. born and living in Los Angeles, has much more in common with the U.S.-born woman of Puerto Rican heritage in New York, than she does with a woman born in Mexico," says Latini Magazine publisher David Kahn.
Get that? His statement reflects the fact that the increasing number of U.S. born Hispanics has become so large that they identify more with U.S. Hispanic culture then the culture of their heritage.
Latina Magazine has grown to a circulation of 300,000 and is on target to hit 350,000 next year. [via MediaPost]
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Fox won another week in adults 18-49 on the strength of American Idol yet CBS still leads for the season.
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In case you really needed to see what they look like outside of a TV spot...
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"Today the first network for men has a name, and it's Spike TV," said Albie Hecht, president of TNN. "Spike TV captures the attributes and essence of what we want the first network for men to be. It's unapologetically male; it's active; it's smart and contemporary with a personality that's aggressive and irreverent. This is a first major step in our journey to super-serving men in a way no one has done before."
We've gone from The Nashville Network to The National Network to...Spike TV! Beer Boobs and Babes. Oh, and maybe some intelligent stuff too. The change takes place June 16.
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An advertising skeptic, David Kirkpatrick of Fortune, writes about his newfound love for targeted web advertising. He isn't talking about those flashy ads that interupt your web browsing or that cruise across your screen. He's talking about Google Ad Words. They work and they are making Google a pile of money.
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iwantmedia interviews Maer Roshan, editor of the recently launched news/pop/style/politics magazine.
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