Acknowledging the lowly state of the lonely, unread book collecting dust on the shelves of Barnes and Noble and Borders as kids instead spend hours playing video games, obsessing over MySpace, chatting on AIM and blogging on Xanga, Random Hose Children's Books has teamed with The Book Standard and announced the Teen Book Video Awards. It's a contest in which college students create virally-intentioned :30 videos, similar to movie trailers, which will help Random House promote books through various web outlets and over Sprint's MSpot.
Random House has selected three books for the contest including The Book Thief by Markus Zusak, A Great and Terrible Beauty by Libba Bray and How I Live Now by Meg Rosoff. Oddly, they're all bestsellers. One might think Random House would want to promote books that, well, haven't sold so well yet. Hey, we just write about this stuff.
B.L. Ochman reports Jane Magazine has launched a social media-like campaign that includes a blog, a video, a forum, voting and more, all to, well, find 29 year old Sarah DiMuro a date so she can lose her virginity before she turns 30. Yes, this is how we promote magazine readership in the age of social media. But, as in with the cool kids as this is, Ochman points out they forgot the MySPace page, the eBay auction and Second Life.
New York's Times Square has always been a haven for the racy, the clothing-challenge, the buff body. There's been National Underwear Day. There's been stripping models . There's been models prancing about in a psuedo-living room billboard. There's been gold digging Bridezillas cake diving in wedding dresses. There's been crotch grabbing. There's been gigantic versions of porn star Jenna Hameson. There's even been humping bunnies.
After all of that, it's kind of refreshing to see a fully-clothed, middle-aged woman who isn't 120 pounds promoting something as well as offering advice to tourists. Yes, Snapple Lady, Wendy, is in town to man (woman?) a booth called the Big Apple Visitor Center helping people learn about the city's best things and best places as well as, of course, the best stuff, Snapple. Hmm...a Times Square promotion that doesn't include semi-naked hotties? Rad, dude. Rad.
Burger chain Krystal has launched its World Hamburger Eating Championship contest the prelims of which will be viewable via webcasts from the Krystal Suare Off site. The finals will be televised on ESPN on October 28 with the grand prize winner receiving $30,000. Hungry? Like to eat? This is your thing.
Tango magazine in concert with Yahoo Personals has created a contest called Big Moment which seeks moving stories from its readers in four stages of love: looking, married, taken and engaged. Four winners were chosen based on an essay and will be featured in four upcoming issues of the magazine as well as on the publication's website.
The Big Moment story of first winner Cheryl Walenta, a single 26-year old woman and Lutheran minister living in Chicago, is chronicled in the September-October issue. Walenta was facing a new chapter in her life after she ended a comfortable but not compelling relationship and was making a move to Houston to pursue a summer internship. Tango will track the adventures of Walenta via a bi-weekly dating blog on Tango's website.
As the PR rep who sent us this info suggested, "cue the Manilow music..."
Using an online video creation widget they developed which will allow agencies to easily create online video contests, Invoke has launched an online video contest of their own. Called Wind Blows, the contest offers $10,000 to the person who creates the best video for Western Wind Energy, a proponent of wind power. They've put up an admittedly cheesy initial video as an example but we all know you creative types out there can do better. Want $10,000? Check out this contest. And be nice to us for telling you about it and stick our logo in your video somewhere.
- The New England Patriots are launching a branded line of hotdogs, Bratwurst and sausages supported by an ad campaign this September.
- Scott G weighs in on the whole Agency.com debacle.
- The EA Sports Madden NFL game is getting some love over at Maddenoliday. Hmm. And we didn't even know John Madden was still alive.
- From the Brawny Guy to the Mentos Kids to The King, YesButNoButYes has collected a list of the top ten creepiest icons in advertising history.
- Mad Musings is celebrating the August Moon-sized appearance of Mars with a MasterCard Priceless riff.
If you don't mind the sound of guys grunting and groaning then by all means leave your sound turned on. If, on the other hand, you don't want your co-workers to think you've got an orgy going on in your cube, we advise you to turn your sound off before viewing this promotional clip for the Quebec Aids Organization in association with the Montreal Outgames. Sex isn't the only sport that gets people...uh...vocalizing their urgency.
The only true ketchup, Heinz, is, again, extending its talking label campaign. This time, in celebration of the company's 130th anniversary, by offering people the chance to create their own custom printed labels by visiting MyHeinz. At the site, people can choose from three bottle types, select or custom-create a message, pay for it and have it shipped to their home. We're guessing there'll be some pretty stiff editorial policing to keep the kooks from messing up the offering with dreck.
For all the head bangers out there, hard rock magazine Revolver is running a promotion alongside the Unholy Alliance Tour which is headlined by Slayer and includes Lamb of God, Children of Bodom, Mastodon and Thine Eyes Bleed. Not exactly the sort of music the local church would be interested in but, then again, there's only so much organ music one can take. The magazine has created a Guide to the tour and anyone spotted at the concerts with the Guide and wearing a Lamb of God T-shirt will get the chance to go backstage, meet the band and listen to the band's new album, Sacrament.
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