Apparently because Dan Rather's reporting is so explosive or it's what's needed to get anyone to care what's he's doing these days, BooneOakley chose to go with a hand grenade motif in a newspaper campaign to promote the news man's Dan Rather Reports show on Mark Cuban's HDNet. The ads will appear in the Wall Street Journal, USA Today, LA Times, New York Times and the Philadelphia Inquirer. Why can't aging anchors just ride off into the sunset with their final glory intact rather than dwindle away to also ran status on a technology platform the intended demo has likely never heard of nor will ever use?
- Research firm MarketingExperiments has acquired research firm and publisher MarketingSherpa. The two will continue to operate as separate entities while capitalizing on each other's assets.
- This morning Dennis Publishing's The Week magazine distributed 100,000 copies to New York City commuters. The promotional issue is part of Philips' "Sense and Simplicity" campaign and was ad-free except for a Philips branded cover wrap.
- Today through election day, when people in Brazos County call 1-800-FREE411 for a listing, they will hear a very brief ad for Justice of the Peace candidate Albert Navarro. It's the first time a political advertiser has used the free 411 service.
- Kooky vodka purveyor 42 BELOW was awarded Cocktail Spirit of the Year for the second year running at the 2006 Australian Liquor Industry Awards (ALIA) in Sydney last night.
- Slim-Fast has hooked up with ABC's Dancing with the Stars for a promotion that will bring the show's stars and dancers from seasons 1-3 to 38 cities for a tour which will allow people to see the show in action and meet the stars.
- Advertising Age's Ken Wheaton has collected all the political ads floating around the web and put them in one place or easy viewing and dissection.
- Ralston360's Laura Wegner, in a podcast, interviews former Linden Labs (Second Life) Chief Evangelist and current Millions of Us Founder Reuben Steiger.
- The emission of carbon as it relates the production of paper used for newspapers, magazines and all the other forms of collateral is now becoming a hot topic and publishers such as Time Inc., Hearst and others are examining the effect the production of their products have on the environment as well as means to reduce carbon dioxide emissions.
- Bishop's Finger gives women pleasure. Some not amused.
- Once things are in full swing with Draft/FCB and Wal-Mart, the already on-the-outs smiley face logo is likely to be retired for good.
- Paris Hilton's Carl's Jr. Bentley lather fest imagery is now being used to sell...dry cleaning services.
- DigiCast Media has launched a video training program for busimesses that aims to improve the quality of of all the crap on YouTube.
- Instant Karma Films has hooked up with Carbonfung.org to assess carbon emissions from producing commercials and to work towards reducing them.
- Dairy company Hood placed an ad thanking Beverly, MA residents for putting up with the company's unexpected visit to theri town in the form of a crash.
- Broadband jukebox company Ecast reports that during the first five-weeks of a Jeep Compass campaign, users have demonstrated an 8.3 percent click-through rate from the end of their paid song-selection sessions into Jeep's promotional "mini-site."
Coast Medical Care, a Canadian organization that helps the mentally ill with housing, employment and emotional support launched, with help from Grey, a campaign that centers around the invented word, psychosiphobia. The campaign consisted of local newspaper ads, radio, television and a street campaign. The street campaign involved painting the word psychosiphobia on the pavement at a Vancouver intersection that is the dividing line between a business district and a troubled neighborhood rife with homelessness, drugs and prostitution.
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Contextual ad buffoonery isn't limited to the online world as clearly illustrated by the placement of this ad, sent to us by FishNChimps, for online supermarket Sainsbury's on the page opposite a story in yesterday's edition of the UK's The Independent about the Amish killings. What's even more buffoonish about this particular instance of buffoonery is that the ad appeared on page three of a printed newspaper which, one would assume, gets seen by human editors before it goes to print. We're guessing there was a big, collective "oops" heard 'round The Independent offices once that issue hit the streets.
 Recent speculation that Wal-mart and other big box retailers may stop using free standing inserts in newspapers is predicted to cause a giant stampede to the newsstand as the public realizes it can actually read a newspaper without having to wade through an inch thick pile of irrelevant advertising just to catch up on the status of Paris Hilton's ass flap or whether Dick Cheney still exists. While newspapers are said to be in a state of shock over the impending doom, many fail to realize people might actually agree to pay for their product, thus increasing circulation thus increasing ad rates thus increasing revenue, if they could actually find the editorial buried beneath that orgy of advertising known as the FSI. OK so that's cracked logic but, on the other hand, if newspaper publishers finally realize the importance of deodorant that costs five cents less pales in comparison to the important news of who George Clooney will date this week to foil paparazzi, this recent news might not be so hard to swallow. OK, that's cracked logic too but...oh forget it.
Copyranter pokes fun at yesterday's New York Times Magazine Leadership on Diversity advertising section which served as a platform for companies to pontificate about their sensitivity to diversity and the actions they've taken to insure they are fair to all. Copyranter particularly liked the ad from the Department of Homeland Security which featured an image of a Muslim woman. While poking fun, Copyranter also points out a truism in our industry, writing, "Half of the ads lamely crammed the word Diversity right in the headline, as some very junior (and very white) copywriters just outta ad school spent about five pissed off minutes working on this lowly assignment before handing the first two lines that popped into their heads into their creative directors. Whew. That's outta the way. Onto the much more important men's body spray print ad."
Very white indeed which is why Adrants has partnered with Business Development Institute to host the Advertising Industry Diversity Job Fair and Leadership Conference to tackle the currently very hot topic of diversity and what agencies are doing to make sure they are fair in their hiring practices. Now, it's been said other industries offer much higher pay and much better future opportunity than advertising so what minority (or majority for that matter) in their right mind would choose advertising over, say a Wall Street job? Well, that's what the conference hopes to explore - is the industry all white because it is being exclusive or is it because that's the natural order of things in the old boy's network?
Like a scene out of Mallrats, four guys in this commercial for the Alltel Wireless My Circle plan plot a way to stop the "call ten friends for free no matter what plane they are on" feature because, after all, who could possibly have more than ten friends? Created by Campbell-Ewald, the spot is part of the wireless company's second campaign called "Sales Guys" which follows the initial "Icons" launch campaign. Beyond television, the campaign will include radio, print, event marketing, online advertising and webisodes. Be sure to check out the geeks on the Alltel website along with "Chad" who attempts to get in touch with competing wireless company CEO's to tell them about the My Circle plan.
Here's a witty ad campaign for a pizza joint called Toppers from Shine Advertising. With copy like, "Every pizza is made with tender loving care. The exact same way we treated your girlfriend last night." Not exactly family friendly Bertuccis but way more fun. See the work here.
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