Interep Expected to File For Bankruptcy

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A tipster tells us Interep, facing repayment of $100 million in bonds, is expected to file for bankruptcy within a month. The move causes one question the viability of radio's current business model and how long it can last before it has to die or completely transform itself into something new and different.

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by Steve Hall    Mar-18-08    
Topic: Radio



PI Rock Radio Station Lacks Requisite Rock Savvy

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AdFreak drew our attention to this ad for Philippine rock radio station NU107, which betrays pretty negligible knowledge of rock music. And logic.

The text reads, "The 80's: When looking like a ladyboy got you all the ladies." Imagery: what looks like a Kiss band member ... with boobs. (An homage to Marilyn Manson?)

More creative -- and a small dissertation on Kiss, Poison, rock-dandy dress codes and lack of actual boobage among male '80s rock band members -- at AdFreak.

It's really too bad everybody can't be Chuck Klosterman.

by Angela Natividad    Mar-17-08    
Topic: Bad, Poster, Radio, Strange



Goodby, Silverstein Fobs Scented Candle Account Off to UGC

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For the Mercury Radio Awards, Goodby, Silverstein + Partners (SF) put together MakeRadio.org, where you (yes, YOU!) can put together a radio ad for Riccardi Scented Candles. The best producer wins a Mini-Mercury Award.

The website includes a creative brief and a mute girl who makes encouraging gestures. You can add music, voice overs, sound effects and whatnot to your own :30 audio spot. If so inclined, listen and rate all two of the existing entries.

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by Angela Natividad    Mar-10-08    
Topic: Events, Online, Promotions, Radio, Strange



Campaign Aims to Give Radio Some Limelight

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Even though radio gets little to no editorial coverage here on Adrants or anywhere else for that matter unless you read FMQB, we like the medium. We like it a lot. It's got music. It's got talk. It's got news. And it's all free. For a media buyer, it's got frequency, fairly decent demographic targetability and the ability to craft wonderful promotional events.

But, as everyone obsesses over the internet and all the MyFaceSpaceBookSecondTwitterLifePownceWordBloggerPressMovableBookmarkType insanity that's been nicely wrapped with a pretty bow and a card labeled "Web 2.0," radio has all but disappeared from the forefront of, well, everything. The National Association of Broadcasters and the Radio Advertising Bureau hope to change that with a new Radio 2020 campaign. The campaign will highlight radio's success stories and its involvement in culture and society. The campaign's Radio 2020 blog aims to bring an ongoing dialog about the medium to a higher level of consciousness (did we just write that blather?).

Though the antennae in our car has been broken for over a year depriving us of radio's offerings, we still dig the medium and wish it a long, happy life.

by Steve Hall    Jan-23-08    
Topic: Campaigns, Radio, Weblogs



RCRD LBL Means Free MP3s -- Sponsored by You, Of Course

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We just found out about an online music label called RCRD LBL, which lets users download MP3 tracks from new and seasoned artists for free.

This is a decent contender to what's already out there for the following three reasons:

- It's legitimately sponsored, and sponsors don't mess with the tracks
- It's not all ad-heavy and slow like OHHLA.com
- It's gritty and cool without feeling seedy as hell like AllofMP3.com before it got pwned by The Man

On iTunes, just below the album art and above the artist name, you get a little line of text that says, "Get free music at RCRDLBL.com." That's something we can live with.

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by Angela Natividad    Nov-15-07    
Topic: Good, Online, Radio, Sponsorship



Canadian Club Says 'Damn Right Your Dad Drank It!'

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Unlike Oldsmobile which tried to distance itself from its aging audience with the "It's Not Your Father's Oldsmobile" campaign, Beam Global Spirits is embracing the older generation for its Canadian Club whiskey by exclaiming, "Damn Right YOur Dad Drank It." Created by Energy BBDO, the campaign will launch in November with radio, out-of-home, POS and print. Ads will appear in Rolling Stone, Sports Illustrated and Sporting News, with additional placements in Playboy, Men's Journal, Esquire, Outside and Men's Fitness in December and into 2008.

Hauling out imagery 60's and 70's imagery from actual Beam Global employees and positioning Dad as a once cool manly man, ads state "Your Mom Wasn't Your Dad's First," "Your Dad Was Not a Metrosexual" and "Your Dad Never Got a Pedicure."

Are we seeing a full-on return to the glory days of the hard liquor cocktail when beer was for factory workers and wine was for sissies? Can we now go back to the three martini lunch, pinch asses in the afternoon and have three more martinis at night while watching Mad Men? We might not get any work done but it sure sounds like fun.



Anthony's Pizza Tells Colorado Residents to 'Eat Me'

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Continuing its quest to bring New York-style vulgarities to the peaceful, mountainous region of Colorado, New York-style Anthony's Pizza & Pasta says "Eat Me" to residents from atop billboards, alongside buses, from within newspapers and on radio. When it comes to pizza, or any food for that matter, there really isn't a simpler, more direct method of conveying the primary marketing message. Cultivator Advertising & Design created the campaign.

by Steve Hall    Oct-18-07    
Topic: Good, Newspaper, Outdoor, Radio



Snow Plows the New 'Just When You Thought...' Ad Medium

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OMG. Just when we thought we'd written this line for the last time, we're gonna write it again: "Just when you thought every last inch of space had been covered with advertising, yet another appears." Most recently, it was the front of washing machines in laundromats. Now, it's the front of plows to promote Audi Canada's Quattro event which aims to get people into dealerships this week to try ot the vehicle.

Accompanied by radio, print and online, five snow plows were outfitted with signage and painted plows which read, "Winter is Coming" along with the dates of the event. As we've said every time before, it's only a matter of time before someone offers to paint our house for free as long as they can paint a giant logo on the front of the house. Lowe Roche created the campaign.

by Steve Hall    Oct-17-07    
Topic: Events, Good, Guerilla, Online, Outdoor, Radio



Timberland Recycles Commercial to Promote Eco-Friendly Boots

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Arnold has repurposed its wall of rain spot which ran last year in Europe last year into an Americanized, full-on, politically correct, environmentally friendly campaign about Timberland's use of organic materials in its boots and how it's jumping on the carbon offset bandwagon. Carbon dioxide emissions associated with the campaign will be offset by Timberland's purchase of wind power from Western Massachusetts' Jiminy Peak Mountain Resort wind project. We're told the move will be equivalent to not driving 109,000 miles or planting approximately 44 acres of trees.

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by Steve Hall    Oct-15-07    
Topic: Campaigns, Commercials, Good, Online, Outdoor, Radio, Television



Youth Anti-Smoking Campaign Gets Fashionable

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WongDoody, which recently brought us the clever Horizon Air campaign, has extended its No Stank You youth anti-smoking campaign for the Washington State Department of Health with a social media and fashion styled campaign.

The program is described thusly, "To earn a free No Stank You shirt, teens visit No Stank You and participate in the "Do 3, Get T" incentive program. Points are awarded for adding a No Stank You banner to a personal Web site, submitting an original tee design, referring a friend to the No Stank You site and more. Each activity is worth one point. Three points earns a free tee."

Supporting the effort are TV and radio. View one of the six spots here. Gross. Weird. Good.

by Steve Hall    Oct- 2-07    
Topic: Cause, Good, Online, Radio, Television