- Apparently, Lord Maurice Saatchi is an idiot. Yup, he is.
- Adland has re-designed and we like it a lot.
- Part name-change announcement, part just-fun-to-do, the Chicago office of Zig has created a silent auction to remind their old Hadrian's Wall email list of their new name. They're auctioning off various Hadrian's Wall paraphernalia on eBay.
- Landor Associates has unveiled the new identity and rebranding work it did for The Museum of Television & Radio which is now dubbed The Paley Center for Media. Hmm, even posthumously, media types have an ego the size of a museum complex.
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Boston area marketer Kevin Glennon, in response to an article he wrote about Ford's marketing which received hundreds of responses but none from Ford, has launched Helping Hank, an effort to convince Ford to make an actual Bold Move: hire him as its Chief Marketing Officer. More than a ploy for employment - which Kevin doesn't need having launched his own successful business years ago - Kevin has written a letter to Bill Ford calling his attention to the article he wrote in which he urges Ford to think differently and offers up such suggestions as partnering with Lowe's and/or Home Depot to provide a Zipcar-like rental service.
Whether it's crazy or brilliant, you can decide for yourselves as Kevin has set up a full blown online campaign and weblog to support and continue his efforts towards improving Ford's marketing efforts. If we didn't know Kevin, we'd figure this was some sort of elaborate stunt blog marketing efforts so favored by some ill informed brands a few years ago but it's not. It's an honest effort by a smart guy who thinks he can improve a companies marketing. Only you and Bill Ford can decide if the effort is worthy.
As a follow up to their Livin' Large in Aveo, Chevy is doing the "this car's so awesome you could live in it" thing again. Chevy is sending Eric Schackne and Filup Molina on a cross-country quest for so-called stardom. The two will travel from Gainesville, Florida to Hollywood, California continue to to see if they can make it big in movie land. Along the way they'll document the people they meet, the experiences they have and the "performances" they deliver in comedy clubs and with improv troupes in cities along their route. Eesh. That oughtta be good. If you aren't lucky enough to be one of their stops on their week-long road trip, the whole thing's being chronicled with videos and a blog.
No one really wants to live in a car but a road trip is a right of passage and we're liking Chevy a lot for helping these two dudes fulfill this important life chapter. We think more automakers should get in on the game too. After all, there ain't much money in the pockets immediately after college.
In what could be labeled either a twist-the-story rant or an insightful examination of the double standard brands may or may not apply when they associate themselves - or choose not to - with nudity. Drunken Stepfather's Jesus Martinez is miffed marketers won't advertise on his site because he occasionally features nude images but they will advertise on Jane's Get It Together blog where, recently, fully nude images of woman's breasts have been proudly displayed alongside national advertisers such as Thermasilk, Oakley and Dove.
Should the morality police be called for this serious transgression of double standards or should we all relax because, in this case, context is everything. Drunken Stepfather, an endlessly amusing site focusing on celebrity news, features somewhat racy imagery and occasional nudity. Jane's Get it Together blog features reader-submitted nude pictures highlighting breasts as part of the magazine's Guide to Breast Health. Again, context. Breasts as arousing sex object versus breasts as body part in need of care just like any other body part.
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- In an odd sort of 180, bloggers and podcasters now have their own print magazine called Blogger & Podcaster. Scoble Graces the cover.
- We had a contest a week or so ago and awarded tickets to five Adrants readers for the Future of Online Advertising conference. If you didn't win here, youo can check out the contest over at Beyond Madison Avenue.
- Maybe this will finally answer the question asked but not answered by some network interviewer years ago about what exactly Avenue A/Razorfish does.
- Who knew? Certainly no one expected it after the merger but AOL's ad sales are up 40 percent and have helped Time Warner look pretty for for Q1.
- Well that's no fun. JWT Chicago has cut 30 people after losing some Kraft Foods business.
- Imus is planning to sue CBS over firing. Please. Can this just go away!
- Clear Channel is selling 362 stations for $820 million as part of a plan to go private.
- If you need to bitch about products or brands, the newly launched Test Freaks gives you the place to do so.
- After losing the account seven years ago, Kentucky-based Doe Anderson, a won it back Wednesday.
Described as a site for "cultural creatives" who "share common attitudes and value life-long learning, self-actualization, authenticity, idealism, activism, a global perspective, ecology, the importance of women, altruism and spirituality," the just-launched Personal Life Media promises to give people a place to find content about relationships, dating, marriage, intimacy, life purpose, wealth creation, healthy aging and longevity among others.
Created by well-connected ad:tech Chair Emeritus Susan Bratton and Rhapsody creator Tim Bratton, the site will offer fifteen weekly audio shows which can be heard online, subscribed to via RSS or accessed through iTunes. The focus will cover personal as well as business issues. Citing the fact most podcast content today is "either tech-oriented, comedy, sports or other content focused on 18-34 year olds, re-purposed mainstream media content or poorly produced amateur junk," Personal Life Media CEO Bratton says she hopes to fill a void with personal-focused information on green living, money, motivation and a healthy collection of information to improve one's sex life.
Also a part of the site are topical blogs written by the show hosts as well as other contributors. Personal Life media will support itself with ad revenue and offer a revenue share model to its hosts and bloggers which it plans to expand by soliciting topical ideas from anyone who has a great one.
Seemingly unassociated with any official Playboy promotion, Pool Boys at the Mansion is a site created by three guys Sam Rush and two other guys referred to as Denman and The Swede. The sole purpose of the site is to get the attention of Playboy and get hired as pool boys at the Mansion. Prior to setting up the site, they contacted Playboy through normal channels and were told, "pool boy positions at the Mansion, however, are likely to go only to trusted referrals."
Undeterred, the three launched Pool Boys at the Mansion. A quick Whois search confirms (well, as much as Whois can which isn't saying much) no official association with Playboy. Let's hope this is, in fact, the case, and not another sad attempt by a corporate entity to get jiggy with the bloggy thing. Good luck, guys.
Is it just us or has this PayPerPost thing gone to far? PayPerPost is the company that pays bloggers to write positive posts about a brand. Now the company has launched an affiliate program that promises to pay other bloggers recruit other bloggers and pay them to link to the posts written by the original PayPerPost bloggers. Let's see if we can get this straight. PayPerPost is going to pay bloggers to link to other blogger's content, for which the sole reason of its existence was cash changing hands. Is anyone else having a WTF moment about this right now? Have these PayPerPost people lost all sense of reality? There are so many things wrong with this on so many levels.
Hmm. Must be time for the next season of Entourage on HBO. Hmm. Paging Ari Gold? Hmm. Yup. It's time. Looks like we've got a cute little bloggy blog and YouTube video action here promoting the February 24th return of the series. We love how we get these tips from gmail addresses as if the sender is stupid enough to think we won't know this is an HBO-created promotion.
UPDATE: OK, OK. We give. The denials are coming in from left and right. This dude is freakishly on his own in his attempts to get Ari's attention.
Public Relations professionals work hard to get their client's message out to the media. They send press releases. They make personal contact. They send gifts. They take you to lunch. They bribe...uh...no. The good ones don't go that far. So after a PR professional spends a day pitching their client's new ad campaign to the media and only one publication picks it up, a nudist resort blog, it is both depressing and very humorous. Why would a nudist-focused blog pick up an ad launch story? Simple. Because the ads feature nude models.
Yesterday, Bluefly launched a new ad campaign touting Bluefly's ability to eradicate that feeling of nakedness when not fashionably dressed. Or something like that. Thankfully, these nude models are far more attractive than your average nudist colony resident but that would be insensitive and uncaring to say so we're not going to.
Anyway, Bluefly President and CEO Melissa Payner tells us, "This campaign is not about nudity - it's about feeling naked, which is very different. These days more than ever, what you wear is inextricably linked to who you are. Without the 'right' clothes we experience an identity crisis. So our tagline 'That's Why I Bluefly' is the perfect antidote for this condition." OK. See the second ad here.
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