Furthering the notion the cell phone will, ultimate become the single digital uber-device possible even supplanting the iPod, Motorola has announced iRadio, a 435 channel digital radio service delivered to cell phones via an Internet connected computer for $7 per month. It is said the phones will also be capable of transferring content via Bluetooth to home and car sound systems. One does wonder, though, whether XM and Sirius, which deliver content to devices via satellite and don't rely on a computer connected to the Internet, won't find their way into cell phones as well making for a less cumbersome content delivery process.
Because we never write about radio, know firsthand what cancer is like and, generally, like the straight forward approach this :30 takes, we'd like to draw your attention to a spot created by Scott G for the American Cancer Society. Sometimes, simple is the best approach.
Jeffrey Hedquist, President and Creative Director of Hedquist Productions, Inc. in Fairfield, IA, who runs the Sow's Ear Award for the worst radio commercials is challenging industry copywriters to turn the worst radio commercials in North America, winners of the Sow's Ear Award, into effective radio commercials.
Rather than simply point of the problem, Hedquist, a CLIO, Andy, One Show, Effie winner, plans to solve the problem, "Now that the worst radio commercials have been chosen by popular vote, let's show how these Sows' Ears can be turned into Silk Purses." Further explaining the contest and turning the whole thing into a self-promotional bonanza for his company, Hedquist said, "If your rewrite is chosen as the best, we'll cast, direct, record and produce your creation for free. You'll win a free 1/4-hour consulting teleseminar with me. We'll give you a Free Jeffrey Hedquist radio commercial voice-over for the client of your choice. We'll publicize your work, give you credit in live seminars, in our newsletter and on our web site. That's more than $2,000 in value."
If you're up for the challenge, re-writes are due by January 15, 2006. Get the details at Sows Ears Awards.
On November 21, Borders Perrin Norrander will unveil a new advertising campaign for the Oregon State Lottery, promoting the new holiday scratch-it ticket, Fruitcake Cash. Yes, Fruitcake cash. The campaign will consist of television, radio and online. The spots spoof those cheesy, late night music compilation infomercials by highlighting mockeries like "The Spirit of Fruitcake Volume Four," "The Holidays Ain't Nuttin' Without My Fruitcake," and the 80s ballad, "What's That Fruitcake Doin' Under My Tree." Before the hokiness gets too much to take, the announcer interrupts the infomercial suggesting, "for a fruitcake gift they'll really love, give fruitcake cash."
We're told the fruitcake parody songs, composed and produced by Asche & Spencer, were so well received by the client, BPN created a complete CD including full-length versions of the songs featured in the commercials. So there you have it. The first of what will, surely, be a long line of spoofy, holiday-themed ad campaigns.
In an interesting twist, Infinity's "Who's Replacing Howard Stern" campaign, currently gracing every sliver of ad space on Ad Age, may, according to 925M, do more to hurt Infinity than help. The campaign highlights Stern replacements Adam Corolla, David Lee Roth and Penn Jillette, who have received with less than stellar reviews as replacements for the irreplaceable Stern. As 925M indicates, all this campaign may do is say "Hey, we know Stern left. We know the replacements suck. We're trying this kooky FreeFM thing. Just skip it all and go listen to Stern on Sirius."
Mountain Dew has introduced a new energy drink, MDX, and will launch a BBDO created ad campaign called Be Nocturnal, consisting of two spots, "All Night Long" and "Sunglasses At Night," October 22 during the World Series to introduce the drink. Print and radio will accompany the television. Check it all out here.
FMBQ is reporting Infinity Broadcasting may be readying the launch of a network of "Free FM" talk radio stations. Infinity has registered several variations of the freefm.com domain. FMBQ posits the rumored Howard Stern replacements David Lee Roth, Adam Carrola and Mancow may become reality. Of course, when asked by FMBQ to confirm speculation, Infinity spokesperson Karen Mateo said, "We decline to comment on rumor and speculation." That said, look for the new Free FM format to appear on your dial soon just as that Jack format did a while back.
In a manner appropriately befitting Howard Stern and his crew, the silence on his soon to be occupied Sirius was broken with, you guessed it, farting. At 6:30 yesterday morning, Junior the Farter farted, kicking off a day-long fart-fest in what will surely be history's most revered broadcast launch. Stern wasn't on hand for the event and Infinity barred him from airing the event on his terrestrial broadcast. As of next year, all the fighting Stern has had with the broadcast establishment will be moot as he moves to Sirius. Oddly, there was a charm to the censorship that forced the team to invent hilariously creative means for discussing raunchy topics with substitute topics. Somehow openly saying fuck, shit, piss, tits just isn't going to feel the same.
We'd never viewed this before and we kind of like it. ESPN is set to launch its second season of "Off-Mikes," audio drawn from banter between ESPN Radio’s morning drivetime personalities, Mike Golic and Mike Greenberg and accompanied with animation from design studio ANIMAX
The first 10 episodes of "Off-Mikes" premiered last May on ESPN.com. Expanded "Director's Cuts" versions of the original episodes launched on the site at the end of the summer. The shorts were also available as mobisodes from ESPN Wireless via Verizon's V-CAST.
Each program runs about a minute in length and uses actual dialog from exchanges between Golic and Greenberg as heard on the "Mike & Mike in the Morning" show, which airs on the national sports radio networks. ESPN producers select bits from tapes of the broadcasts, then the ANIMAX creative team chooses a segment for production in Flash. The animation is then synched back to the edited audio tracks of the original radio broadcast. A very interesting repurposing on content.
Bob Cefail and Laura Betterly, Chairman and CEO of In Touch Media Group have fired radio station 1340 WTAN in Clearwater, the station that hosts their business The Profit Doctors radio show because, apparently, the station had disabled the 1-800 call in number, an integral part the the show. In the meantime, the show, thanks to the rise of podcasting, will continue to be aired from their website, a move that, about a year ago, would have been inconceivable. Sure, no one's ever heard of Cefail and Betterly but that's irrelevant. What's very relevant is the rise of another medium that could potentially give radio a bit of competition.
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