Sponsored by Cingular and ABC, YouTube is launching Underground. YouTube’s Underground Competition involved the top 4 unsigned bands to be picked and discovered and win tons of free prizes. The video explains alot.
The WSJ is reporting that US Social Networking web site Facebook is in serious talks to sell itself to Yahoo, for an amount that may be as high as $1 billion. According to the WSJ, this is a return to the acquisition talks which Facebook has held over the past year with Yahoo - as well as Microsoft and Viacom.
If this deal goes through (and strange it should follow this week’s news of Yahoo’s online advertising woes and subsequent stock price drop), then most likely it will top News Corp’s acquisition of MySpace last year for $580M. This will be more proof that social networking sites are the home to larger advertising opportunities. Just a note; Last month Viacom was rumored to be acquiring up and coming (over 25 million members) United Kingdom site Bebo.
Some interesting tid-bits arise out of the WSJ article which paint a very vivd picture of Mark Zuckerberg and some interesting quotes.
During one series of talks with Microsoft, Facebook executives told their Microsoft peers they couldn’t do an 8 a.m. conference call because the company’s 22-year-old founder and chief executive, Harvard dropout Mark Zuckerberg, wouldn’t be awake, says a person familiar with the talks. Microsoft executives were incredulous.
Circuit City’s customer call center hotline will be moving to cut costs. The new location will not having running water on their busiest day, Sunday. In addition, the privacy of their 3 foot desks will be removed with the removal of cubicle dividers.
Everybody loses when these changes go up. The heartless bastards calling Circuit City’s toll free hot-line only to complain about a surcharge on their credit card will care little about the person on the other side of the phone. If this sort of thing becomes common, as it once was when I worked as a telemarketer, everyone truly loses. The person on the other line will eventually evolve “Rashanhasanmobili” the immigrant from who-knows-where with a thick accent who cannot properly answer your questions and consistently read only from his preapred frequently asked questions response sheet. All this while a slave lord drums heavily over their shoulder. Do you think this abused employee will be willing to cut you some slack on your problems? The Consumerist
These very weak looking Turkish clothing advertisements feature fully clothed models acting our sexual positions to catch some of Abercrombie & Fitch or American Apparel’s raunchyness appeal.
For advertisers out there looking to cash in on the tired “sex sells” ideology, please remember that sex sells only when it’s believable. The models in the ads look like they aren’t even trying!
A new Nielsen Media Research Report shows that television’s popularity is increasing despite new alternative entrances to the market including the Apple iPod, cell phones, and streaming video. The suprising finding of this study was that teenage girls (12-17) showed the largest increase in per day viewing at 6% more than 2004-2005. Increases amongst the teenage girls were particularily high during the early morning hours of 6:00am - 9:00am and peaked at 11:30pm - 2:00am. Goes to show you that our culture is changing and many people’s days are getting longer than ever for our youth.
Business Week brought up a good point by probing the question “What’s really new about this Fall’s television lineup?” Struggling networks need to ask themselves not what they are doing wrong but what they should be researching. I’m sure if I was a programming executive for NBC, I would be looking at this latest report from Nielsen.
Teens are up at the wee hours of 11:30pm - 2:00am watching shows like Family Guy, Futurama, and the Adult Swim lineup on the Cartoon Network which air shows between these hours. Young girls also show keen interest in shows like Grey’s Anatomy, an adult soap opera with teen appeal (aka, dreamy guys). My network advice? Add more satirical animated shows in the early morning or late at night around your local news spots to boost ratings for this increasing market while seeking out new sponsors for young girls looking for smart animated shows or teen-like soap shows. Laguna Beach anyone?
MySpace is heading to China! Rupert Murdoch’s wife, Wendy Deng, partial owner of MySpace and News Corp., recently met with exectives to develop a Chinese version of the social networking portal. Deng is visiting China in an attempt to develop a plan to penetrate the Chinese social networking market. Murdoch and company plan on giving half of the company to local partners in China in hopes of avoiding problems that Yahoo and Google have faced when entering the Chinese market. In addition, to avoid any obstacles, Murdoch will be adjusting the MySpace Chinese portal to better adapt to the country’s culture and users.
In hopes of reaching the pockets of elusive college students arriving to college with loan money overflowing their pockets, advertisers have began sponsoring free-of-charge movies on campus. With “more than $200 billion in spending power” many advertisers are excited about getting their messages on movie college campus movie screens. Like movie previews, advertisers will plaster their promotions prior to the movie’s screening and all “pre-event publicity” at the theatre.
The focus and added value of screening a movie that’s been out for month is that Alloy will focus on screening major motion pictures PRIOR to their public release. “It provides a free venue for college students to hang out and experience a brand new film and fits the idea of a product launch. New film, new characters, new product,†says senior vice president Samantha Skey. Read more about the markets, numbers, demographics, and how it works at Media Life Magazine.
Weird Al is using his MySpace page to promote his upcoming album “Straight Outta Lynwood” arriving in stores September 26th. Weird Al also uses his page to promote products like hats, t-shirts, jerseys, and dvd’s to name a few.
With 60,000 friends, Weird Al is defenitely able to promote his album well through MySpace and link his products to his official site with e-commerce shopping carts.
In the past, I’ve used “Badder Adder” programs with Myspace to automatically comment on all my friends walls to promote my own products and services in the past. I think it’s become almost common for corporate MySpacer’s and Hollywood folks to do this type of promotion. The only downside, besides a good form of advertising, is that most of it seems like spam.
Al Gore’s pet project Current TV was finally launched with their own public video-portal on Yahoo Video. Google must be very jealous as Gore sits on Google’s board of directors. Gore also develops content for Google Current a hour or so long show based on Google searches.
The new Current TV portal on Yahoo! allows users to submit their videos in hopes of getting some cash. “You might get paid, win prizes, and be featured on Yahoo! and Current TV.” I always hate empty promises but I am sure many hopeful producers out there looking to make it big see this as a great opportunity to be recognized by the big shots.
But how much will the Current TV portal pay you? “If your video is featured on the Yahoo! Current Network, you’ll get $100. If it gets picked to air on Current TV, you’ll get an additional $500!” Gee, I could pay off my cell phone bill for this month!
Forget the mid-term election issues, debates, and over-priced campaigns of Hillary Clinton and Rick Santorum.
Yahoo! in partnership with USA Today created this new “Vote For Your Favorite Icon” voting booth for your favorite corporate product character! The site also allows you to vote for your favorite slogan. The contest was started in 2004 and you can check out previous winners on the site. Vote for your favorite now!
In this new IRN BRU 32 hilarious advertisement for a the great tasting high caffeine drink watch the blue cuckoo’s hands before he says “cuckoo.”
Pope Benedict XVI recently addressed an academic audience at the University of regensburg on September 12th, 2006. The speech generated an enourmous amount of attention when the Pope referred to Islam and the Islam religious violence.
What many of us did not catch is that Pope Benedict XVI discussed the Book of Genesis and “in the begining was the logos…and the logos is God.”
Modifying the first verse of the Book of Genesis, John began the prologue of his Gospel with the words: In the beginning was the logos. This is the very word used by the emperor: God acts with logos. Logos means both reason and word– a reason which is creative and capable of self-communication, precisely as reason. John thus spoke the final word on the biblical concept of God, and in this word all the often toilsome and tortuous threads of biblical faith find their culmination and synthesis. In the beginning was the logos, and the logos is God, says the Evangelist.
As consumers we receive over 3,000 advertising messages everyday of our lives. According to a new report from Universal McCann, we might be seeing ads anywhere we go. Their report shows that the next advertising medium will be online navigational maps. Whether you’re looking for the nearest fast food joint or hotel, your going to be bombarded online with suggestions from sponsors. The report, TrendMarket, has dubbed the new advertising medium “Mapvertising.”
I think this form of “mapvertising” will become effective as the internet and online marketing grows. Traditionally, local services such as restaurants and hotels would promote their services through brochure maps. Travelers are becoming increasily tech-savvy and utilize mapping systems and internet map web sites to find their target or suggested destination points. Universal believes that a paid icon ad listing on maps are going to become a popular extension to online search. “On some map sites, these sponsored listings appear as little balloons which, when clicked, provide detailed information about the location, services, and often a method of contact of the advertiser.”
Purell, the 99.9% germ killing hand sanitizer, came up with this innovative guerilla marketing campaign where they placed bright yellow stickers on the covers of all the magazines in a JWT Toronto doctor’s waiting room. Some of the ads say “CAUTION: How many patients have coughed on this since Winter 1989. Gently sneezed on since October 2002. Exposing patients to mroe than germs since October 1995.”
The Washyourhands campaign by Purell is a clever way to market the idea that Purell should be a commodity and go ‘hand-in-hand’ with Purell’s idea that hand washing isn’t enough. I’m pretty sure some doctors weren’t too pleased!
By the way, it’s National Hand Washing Week!
Actor and fashion designer has gone bum back naked for the latest anti-fur print advertisement for animal rights group PETA. The ad was photographed by Bryan Adams. Peta members have become well known for disrupting fashion shows featuring fur garments by tossing red paint (blood at times) on models and screaming “fur kills.” Designer Frost is a dedicated anti-fur clothing maker and he believes “animal cruelty is always out of fashion.”
Pamela Anderson (dont quote me if I’m wrong) was the first naked woman to be shown in an anti-fur ad for PETA. See the “Give Fur The Cold Shoulder” with Pamela Anderson.
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