Co-produced by The Consumer Electronics Assocation and college marketing firm Mr. Youth and sponsored by NVIDIA, RCA, SIRIUS Satellite Radio, HP Lightscribe, Nintendo, Logitech, Gibson Guitars, Geek Squad, Sony, and Audiovox, the TechKnowOverload will visit 24 college campuses and two college festivals placing the latest gadgets in front of 60,000 technology-voracious college students. As part of the tour, students can enter to win a $10,000 "Ultimate Dorm Room" tech makeover
Having gone to trademark court to prove the word "TwattyGirl" is "not immoral or scandalous," let alone referential to a particular female body part, New York-based hedge fund executive Precious Marlowe (again, who names their kids like this?) has launched an apparel brand called TwattyGirl. According to the press release, the line is "designed for independent, sexy, bold, outspoken women from 18-45 and is inspired by the main character, TwattyGirl, in Marlowe's forthcoming novel – 'Bulletproof –Things Twattygirl Told You, But You Didn't Want to Hear.'" Of course, this whole thing is just a stunt to promote the book.
The line will include t-shirts with inspirational slogans or "twattyisms" along with lingerie, jewelry, baseball caps and greeting cards.
Extending its brand, the California Milk Processor Board has signed deals with apparel manufacturers MJC Corp. and Cutie Pie Baby to create lines of Got Milk? branded men's boxers and baby clothing respectively. The MJC line will be sold through Wal-mart and the Cutie Pie Baby line will be sold trough Babies' R Us, Buy Buy Baby Baby Depot and Federated stores. There are plans for a an MJC women's wear line which will be sold through Target.
While we're sure this has been done before though we're not sure how effective it was since a friend had to point it out to us, Datran Media sponsored the hotel room key cards at the Sheraton Hotel in Chicago during the ad:tech online marketing conference. Every attendee who was staying in the hotel was given a Datran-branded version of the hotel's room key card.
Whether it was the Pampered Chef conference attendees cackling like hens in the elevator or simply the innocuous nature of a hotel room key, our attention was not drawn to the card. Perhaps it was the design. Perhaps it was our weary, conference-addled brain. We just didn't notice the card. What we did notice, disturbingly, was our car keys missing from our briefcase upon arrival at Logan Airport in Boston and the hundred dollar cab ride we had to take home while knowing those Massport folks would be collecting $29 for each day we had to wait for our keys to be FedEx'd back to us from Chicago. Who said conferences where uneventful?
Low Tech Interactivity
Over 100 years ago, Henry Van Hovenbergh invented and patented the flip book. The first flip books consisted of simple drawings stacked in sequential stages of movement with a single staple binding. When the pages were flipped, they would create the optical illusion of motion. Flip books were then popularized in the early 1900's by the Cracker Jack Company who gave them away as free in-pack prizes. Other marketers soon followed suit, including manufacturers of breakfast cereals, bubble gum, cigarettes, automobiles and snack foods.
A company called Flippies has re-engineered (although it looks the same to us) the original concept a bit resulting in a perfect bound book that plays back, according to the company, crystal clear clips of full motion video with one thumb flip. Flippies has also created a process to easily convert video footage to flip book format. The company intends to promote its services to marketers who might be interested in off beat media through which to advertise.
