Circuit City Launches Pre-Movie Campaign

To promote its CDs, DVDs and videogames, Circuit City, in a deal with Regal Entertainment, today, launched a pre-movie campaign with an ad featuring Santa Claus dancing to the tune "Just What I Needed" by the Cars. The ad will appear within Regal Entertainment's pre-show program as well as on the Jumbotron in Time's Square.

Accompanying the spot will be box office flyers, signage and soft drink lid mini DVD's.

Publicist Says Kidman Chanel Spot Not An Ad

Displaying all the pomousity of a Hollywood agent, a publicist for Baz Luhrmann says the $12 million spot Luhrmann directed for Chanel featuring Nicole Kidman is not an ad but a film. Excuse us, but anything that sells a product most assuredly falls into the ad/spot/commercial category. The publicists continues with this nonsense calling the ad "a creative first. The film to revolutionize advertising." Oh, it's surely an extravaganza but trying to pass it off as something other than an ad just insults consumers.

Advertising Industry to Support 21 Million Jobs

The advertising industry is projected to drive $5.2 trillion into the U.S. economy next year, a major new economic study has found. The total economic activity generated by advertising -- which includes direct spending, supplier spending and inter-industry activity - will account for a projected 20.5 percent of the United States' economic activity.

Advertising will also generate an estimated 21 million jobs, or 15.2 percent of the national workforce of 139 million. The findings, released today, come from a new study entitled the "Comprehensive Economic Impact of Advertising Expenditures." It was conducted by Michael J. Raimondi of Global Insight, under the direction of Nobel Laureate in Economics Dr. Lawrence R. Klein for The Advertising Coalition. The Coalition is comprised of nine national media and advertising trade associations. Total advertising spending by businesses in the U.S. for 2005 is estimated to reach approximately $278 billion, according to the study. These expenditures are projected to create a total revenue impact of $5.2 trillion. The total estimated impact includes the spending on advertising, the direct impact on sales of $2.3 trillion, the impact on supplier economic activity of $1.2 trillion and the impact on inter-industry economic activity of $1.4 trillion.

Ford 'American Dreams' Sponsorship Brilliant

Sunday night, NBC presented American Dreams with no commercial interruption except for a long form Ford commercial at the end of the episode. In the episode, JJ Pryor, who had been wounded in Vietnam, returned home to his family after having been listed MIA. It was a heart wrenching episode and one that would assuredly have been ruined by traditional, interruptive pod advertising.

Ford, the only sponsor of the episode, created a brilliant and emotional long form commercial which ran at the end of the episode. In the commercial, which mirrored the plot of the episode, a son is seen coming home from Iraq to his family. Ford cars played a role in the commercial, as well as in the episode, but in a way that was natural and not forced. Sure, there were the usual beauty shots of the cars but they blended unobtrusively with the ad's plot. Never, before has there been a more brilliant, emotionally powerful and seamlessly relevant program sponsorship. Kudos to Ford and NBC for this extraordinary effort.

View the spot here. Skeptics should understand this spot will not have the emotional resonance it did when attached to the American Dreams episode in which it ran.

Paul McCartney Featured Performer at Super Bowl 2005

Sweeping last year's boob-fest under the carpet, the National Football League has chosen Paul McCartney as the featured halftime performer for Super Bowl 2005. NFL spokesman Brain McCarthy promised no wardrobe malfunctions this year. Three-timer Up With People apparently unavailable, choosing a former Beatle appears to be the NFL's best bet against Super Bowl mischief. McCartney last appeared during the pre-game show in 2002.