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Kentucky Fried Women

Read into this what you will, or just read this.
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by Steve Hall    Apr-30-03    




CBS and Fox Looking Good in Ratings

Fox continues to perform well winning the 18-49 demo last week and CBS won the week in households. Here's the top ten for the week:

  1. CSI (CBS), 16.2/24, 17.2 million households.

  2. ER (NBC), 13.8/22, 14.7 million households.

  3. Friends (NBC), 13.7/23, 14.6 million households.

  4. Friends April 24 Special Repeat (NBC), 13.3/21, 14.2 million households.

  5. CBS Sunday Movie "A Painted House" (CBS), 12.3/19, 13.09 million households.

  6. Law & Order (NBC), 12.2/20, 12.9 million households.

  7. American Idol - Tuesday (Fox), 12.1/19, 12.8 million households.

  8. American Idol - Wednesday (Fox), 11.7/18, 12.4 million households.

  9. Will & Grace (NBC), 11.7/18, 12.5 million households.

  10. Will & Grace Clip Show (NBC), 11.1/16, 11.85 million households.

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by Steve Hall    Apr-30-03    




Background Check Your Advertising Models Before You Hire Them

New Bedford, MA has just launched an ad campaign promoting it's town as a tourism destination. One of the ads features, Larry Hayes, a sanitation worker under the headline "Pride". Wonderful to be proud of your community and to be a loyal employee. But, what if that loyal employee was found to be a convicted child molester as is the case here with Hayes?

As soon as the ad appeared in this past Sunday's local Standard-Times, his criminal record surfaced. He apparently confessed to molesting a 14 year old boy in 1994. Read more at The Smoking Gun.

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by Steve Hall    Apr-29-03    




Apple's New iMusic Ad Campaign

Click Picture to View
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by Steve Hall    Apr-29-03    




Using Magazines to Truly Target

I just had a meeting with MNI (Media Networks Inc.), a company that functions as an ad sales rep firm for magazines. Big deal. There's hundreds of them. The twist with MNI, though is their ability to microtarget on a local basis using national magazines. How do they do this? They basically sell ads that are then pre-printed, shipped off to the national magazine's printers, who then insert these ads based on subscriber zip codes. Almost every market in the country can be bought this way. This allows very small local advertisers to been seen in a national magazine. An advertiser can choose from several of their "networks" such as News which includes Newsweek, Time, U.S. News, and Sports Illustrated; or MenStyle which includes GQ, Esquire, Golf, etc. There are also Luxury, Executive, and Family networks.

All very helpful if you have a local advertiser looking for local media that doesn't look local.

Targeting by geography and by demographics (based on magazine subject matter) is great. But take that a step further. What if MNI where to offer the ability to target truly by demographics? In other words, use the demographic information collected by the magazines in their networks and insert ads based on those demographics. The trouble is, magazines don't collect demographic information on the granular level needed for this to work. Sure, they do readership studies but that data is then used, in aggregate, to paint a picture of the entire reader base. What is needed is specific demographic information tied to a specific reader.

Business to business magazines using the controlled circulation method, however, do this much better. In return for receiving say, Information Week (a computer industry magazine), for free, subscribers must fill out a lengthy qualification form detailing their title, company revenue, buying habits, planned expenditures, product usage, etc. Consumer magazines are not there yet nor are the readers I think. There are privacy issues. People do not like to give up all sorts of information about themselves. And even if they do, it is not always accurate.

If the perception of reduced ad clutter and the promise of ads relevant to only an individual's needs were actually possible then, perhaps, this MNI demographic vision might have a chance. Unfortunately, I don't think we are there yet both from the consumer side giving up the info and on the publication side having the ability to get that granular with the production process.

Time will tell.
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by Steve Hall    Apr-29-03    




Arbitron's Radio People Meter Shows Discrep With Evening Dayparts

Arbitron's People Meter trial in Philadelphia has shown people listen to two times as many radio stations than reported in paper diaries.
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by Steve Hall    Apr-29-03    




Maybe Women Drivers Are Smarter Than Men

Women Better Drivers than Men? After viewing this spot, it just might be so. Here, via Viralmeister, is a new spot for the Mazda 2 minivan. And mini is the key word here here in this U.K commercial. Right click and download to view the spot.

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by Steve Hall    Apr-28-03    




Exam Room Advertising

Did you think there was any place left that was advertising free? Well, there is, but not for long. It's the doctor's exam room and you may soon see ads plastered all over the your tongue depressor, bandage, and that paper that covers the exam table.

Supply Marketing Inc., a small upstart, is apparently going to make this happen.

"While XYZ's brand is on the paper, there's no competition," said Robert L. Robinson Jr., CEO of Supply Marketing. "We know it's going to be seen - there's nothing else to look at" in an examining room.

Wonderful. So now instead of being worried about where the doctor is going to probe us, we can stress out about all kinds of ad messages screaming at us.

Imagine a Trim Spa ad screaming, "Look at that fat body of yours, you slob! Get Trim Spa and loose that flab!"
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by Steve Hall    Apr-28-03    




Steamy Miller Beer Spot

Miller continues it's male fantasy spots. This time, a writer envisions a steamroom full of women. Along with this, from Ad Age's TV Spots of the Week, we have another Jenny Craig spot espousing the miracle of weight loss but, as usual, the weight loss portrayed in it's advertising is "not typical". Here's to truth in advertising. Also this week are spots from McDonald's promoting their new premium salad, Bogart dancing for Coke, and that spectacular Honda spot.
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by Steve Hall    Apr-28-03    




Reality TV 24/7

That's right. For all you reality TV addicts, your fix has arrived . Reality Central is a new cable channel launching in early 2004. All reality all the time.

Upon hearing this announcement, a reality addict, hospitalized for the affliction, was overheard saying, "Get me out of here, I'm too hot to be idolized as a bachelorette only to be married by America and have to survive the fear of some Joe millionaire, who doesn't know jack, make a band."

To which, the doctor replied, "Whatever happened to the real world?"
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by Steve Hall    Apr-28-03    




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