one of our Canadian readers sent us this magazine insert for Virgin mobile which asks readers to cut out a strip of paper from the insert and pee on in like a pregnancy test. As if anyone would actually do this is of no matter to Virgin Mobile. On the back of the insert, Virgin Mobile assumes the test was taken and asks, "Did you test positive for the Catch?" The "Catch," apparently, refers to competing cell phone provider's practice of tying discounts and promotions to loopholes or catches. The back of the insert lists symptoms of the "Catch" as "monthly billing discomfort, "unsightly hidden fees," irregular growth in rates" and "paralyzing contractual obligations." Of course, the offer close with Virgin Mobile's catch-free cell phone plan. We'll give it notice for being different. Larger images are here and here.
Leading the next great corporate marketing trend, desktop weather company WeatherBug has launched a weblog.
The goal of the weblog, it seems, is to address customer concerns and to offer insight into the weather gathering and weather reporting process. Since weather is high on everyone's daily news troll, a blog about the process might make sense.
Yesterday, we pointed to a video for Vegas Red Casino which showed a guy going to the doctor's office for his oversized right arm due to playing too many slots. Today, the second video, created by Keta Keta, illustrates playing the odds at Vegas Red Casino is much safer than playing the odds with a fan
Following the exit of General Mills Account Director Mike Burns and the 16 others who followed, Saatchi Worldwide has begun to rebuild naming Pete Johnson senior VP and creative director. In an unlikely scenario, General Mills is encouraging the group that left to at least speak with Saatchi about returning.
Obviously, there's deep secrets afoot here. Seventeen people don't up and leave without good reason. Not that anyone will do so, but we'd sure appreciate hearing little truth from anyone of those 17 former Saatchi staffers or others who have real facts surrounding the event.
If you are so inclined, we're happy to grant anonimity. Find us here.
In a move that might actually make rich media acceptable, CMP Media's TechWeb Network, yesterday, announced the launch of a new ad unit - the Dogear Peelback. The Dogear Peelback is an animated graphic that resembles a folded over page corner, or dogear. The ad unit, which sits quietly in the corner of the page until activated by mouseover, can be customized to include the client's logo or other creative. When a user 'mouses' over the dogear, the entire page peels back to reveal the advertiser's landing page behind the TechWeb Network news page. The effect gives advertisers a about half of the page real estate. View the demo here.
Once opened, the unit has the obligatory "Close" button on the outer most flap of the unit. Clicking "Close" or simply mousing off that area of the page, closed the unit. Making the unit more dynamic might call for the addition of an "Open" button which would continue to peel back that page until it opens entirely to the advertisers page. Currently, it seems, clicking on the uncovered page is the only method of navigating to the advertiser's page. Minor picks aside, the ad unit makes great use of rich media while maintaining sensibility to flashy, rich media crazy overload like those ads that crawl across the page while you fight to fund their "close" button. So far, it seems, this unit has great promise.
In a move likely to be sold as beneficial to commuters but, in reality, made to increase transit revenue, the Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority will pipe programming and advertising into each of its 230 rail cars. The cars will be outfitted with 15 inch flat screen monitors offering local news from ABC affiliate WSB and an FM transmitter providing top 40, jazz and R&B.
The system, provided by The Rail Network, is the first of its kind and is destined to cause both praise and consternation. The Rail Network CEO David Lane says Atlanta stands to take in $20 million in advertising revenue over the next decade and is in talks with all other major metro transit systems to spread the system across the country.
Lane expects Washington, D.C. and Vancouver, Canada to sign on soon.
42 BELOW Vodka took an appropriate approach to street marketing during the recent East Coast snow storm. From the 42nd parallel in New Zealand, to 42nd street in New York, 42 BELOW was out in the blizzard of Manhattan clearing snow from their favorite bars. Ten inches of fresh powder did not deter the 42 BELOW snow patrol team Monday night as they cleared a path from the curb to the door of Butter, Table 50, Hiro, Quo, 203 Spring, Caviar and Banana's, Snitch and Bungalow 8.
Writing on ClickZ, Pamela Parker explains a campaign Frito-Lat launched to promote its new Doritos Black Pepper Jack flavor. The campaign began with teaser billboards containing the message "inNw" which then expanded to TV, text messaging and a website peppered with hip-speak unveiling the tagline, "If not now when?"
The campaign was targeted to 16-24 year olds and was created by BBDO, Tribal DDB Dallas and Hip Cricket.
When visiting the doctor's office, the waiting room is often filled with oddball characters which creates the need to play internal guessing games as to their ailment. This fellow, with a bulked up right arm, is mocked for engaging in a certain repetitive activity usually reserved for private spaces. As it turns out, he's simply a slot machine junky and it's an ad for Vegas Red Casino.
Here's a very weird Japanese commercial for a very weird Japanese chocolate product. If we knew Japanese French, maybe it would be more fun but watching these two girls hold each other's heads and place sticks of candy in their mouths is oddly transfixing. See some other weird ones here. The more you watch them, the more you'll like them.
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