- In the never ending pantheon of "what will they think of next," graphic Armor and Condomania are releasing a line of condoms, Kiss Kondoms, which will prominently feature Gene Simmons' tongue. We don't know about you but we sure don't want another guy's tongue on our dick.
- Elephant Filmworks recently produced an eight episode teen-centric web series called "The Lines" for Allstate Insurance. The first season of "The Lines" will promote safe driving habits to teens and young adults.
- Remember when everyone thought it was so cool you could order pizza online. Never caught on did it? Well, that hasn't stopped Domino's Pizza which, through eBay Advertising, is touting the fact online orders can now be paid for using PayPal.
- Three Olives Vodka decided to animate for their latest campaign. California-based Hanger One Vodka decided to go country.
- Definitely not as hot as Melissa Molinaro in Old Navy's first music video outing but Tyne Stecklein, a dancer chosen for what would have been Michael Jackson's final tour, isn't so bad, herself.
- And why not? A family has launched a website to get its move from Texas to New York sponsored.
- Hashable has put together a report that will tell you everything you wanted to know about how people used its Twitter-based connection app at SXSW.
In a recent study commissioned by ad agency MGH, 72 percent of smartphone users indicated that they would be likely to recall an ad with a QR code. The agency conducted the study to determine the usage of QR codes - a technology that uses barcode-like images containing information which can be scanned an read by using an application on a smartphone.
Top usage of those who said they've used a QR code was to secure a coupon, deal or discount (53 percent). Other uses of a QR code included:
- Secure a coupon, deal or discount (53%)
- Access additional information (52 percent);
- Enter a sweepstakes (33 percent);
- Sign up to receive more information (26 percent);
- Access video (24 percent).
Full results of the study are available here.
Global talent and licensing entity GreenLight released its Ad Gauge study which found a 500 percent increase in celebrity endorsement commercials during last night Academy Awards broadcast. About one quarter (24%) of this year's ads took the celebrity endorsement approach.
But if you're scratching your head wondering why that figure is so high and why you can't recall seeing many celebrities in the ads, Greenlight VP David Reeder informs, "Brands and Hollywood are back in bed after the recession, but they are going about it in noticeably simpler and more understated ways. With so many stars featured during the show itself, brands decided not to try to compete and focused on more subtle integrations like voiceovers and existing footage of celebs rather than bombastic endorsements."
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- American singer-songwriter Gwen Stefani is the new face of L'Oreal Paris and can be seen in a new ad campaign for L'Oreal Infallible Le Rouge.
- A global look at Social Media Week.
- Ad network RadiumOne has released the R1 Like Button, a tool that can be added to banners served on their network which will allows banners to be Liked.
- If you haven't seen it already, all 61 Super Bowl ads in 2.5 minutes.
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And here we go with yet another study concerning the performance of this year's Super Bowl ads. This time it comes from Zeta Interactive. The study scans more than 100 million blogs and online sites and factors in both volume and tone of posts each commercial receives. The study found overall buzz surrounding this year's Super Bowl commercials was significantly more positive than that of last year. Here's a look at differences between last year and this year:
- Leading into last night's game, expectations around the commercials were relatively low, as the tone around Super Bowl ads was 72% positive.
- However, in the 12 hours since the game started, tone around Super Bowl commercials has risen by 11% to 83% positive overall. This is a 14% improvement from last year, when overall buzz around the commercials was just 69% positive.
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People over 65 are adopting Facebook faster than any other age group. That's the message in this video from the AARP. Additional statistics include the fact 6.5 million of those 65+ joined in May 2010 alone. Less surprising is the fact the fastest growing age group on Twitter is 35-49 year olds. Add to this the fastest growing group on Match.com is over 50.
Overall, 47 percent of 50-64 year olds are using social media; an 88 percent growth from 2009. The takeaway? It's the same takeaway no one in this youth-obsessed advertising business has ever listened to. There's a lot of "old people" out there and they have a lot of money to spend. The trouble is, there's a mentality in the advertising business that it's just "not cool" to create advertising for "old people" because, at least according to those in the business, "old people" aren't cool.
In addition to the fact "cool" is largely irrelevant, this line of thinking is ridiculous and illogical but as long as the hallways of ad agencies are primarily staffed with those aged 25-34, it's quite likely nothing is ever going to change.
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In its second annual Super Bowl survey, San Francisco advertising agency Venables Bell & Partners found America's love for Super Bowl advertising is alive and well, especially among 18-34 year olds.
The study claims young adults look forward to watching the ads more than spending time with their friends and family, the half-time show and the national anthem, in that order. Of the 64 percent of young adults that would opt to watch the game with commercials versus commercial-free, 25 percent of that group would pay a $.99 subscription fee to watch the ads during the game.
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The December SMART Report is out and it takes a look at the top mobile advertising verticals and what advertisers are doing to increase the likelihood consumers will respond to their calls to action. Here are some of the top-line finding.
- Telecommunications was the top vertical for mobile advertising. This was primarily driven by carriers and device manufacturers that doubled down their mobile buys doing the holiday season. Windows Phone 7 devices in particular relied heavily on mobile advertising.
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- If you're into androgynous men with shaved chests and waif-thin models, you might like the new Versace Spring 2011 ad campaign.
- Susan Sarandon puts on the milk mustache for the Got Milk ad campaign.
- The Paley Center for Media will present the twenty-eighth annual PaleyFest from March 4 to 17, 2011 at the Saban Theatre in Beverly Hills.
- Selling cars 101: Illustrate how strong their bumpers are. With a crane.
- Oh and here's that The Ladders spot. Ridiculous. Funny.
- Mashable reports, "Strata, a Chicago-based customized media management agency, polled 100 agency clients this month and found that TV is still the dominant medium - 44% of respondents said they are most focused on television above other media. That's a 24% jump over the previous quarter. Digital was second with 21.1% while radio netted 15.6%, a 75% jump from the third quarter."
- The Career Builder chimpanzees will be back for this year's Super Bowl in a commercial slated to air during the third quarter of the game. Someone call PETA.
In the Things We Already Knew But Will Never Change department, another study has concluded that - shocker! - celebrity endorsements don't help sell product and are a waste of money. Alloy Media + Marketing said this back in 2006 and AdWeek concluded the same in a poll conducted just last Fall.
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