Caffeinated posts from a copywriter/adgrunt. I write about advertising, design, astronomy, cooking, and pretty much anything else that strikes my fancy, including random bits of reference info for work purposes. You may also know me as 'that other gal' who helps run Adland. | make contact | RSS Feed | ATOM

Thursday, October 27, 2005
[ :: adgruntie :: Duhhh ]

+ First off...my lack of posts of late has to do with the fact that I'm helping out over at Adland a bit more than usual and it's eating up a lot of time...which means, dear readers, that I haven't been getting a chance to post here. If you find no new posts...pop over to AdLand to get your fix.

OK, so I came across this most pointless article today. Media Life Magazine interviewed some woman from MediaAnalyzer Software and Research who conducted a survey to see if sex does sell. Could they have wasted any more of their money? First their "research group" was only 400 people...that all that large of a pool to get accurate results. Secondly, their findings were already known (63 percent of men said sexual ads have high stopping power, while 58 percent of women said there is too much sex in TV advertising) and have been tested in much more accurate manners before.

What I find the most amusing about the article is that all the more interesting questions the reporter asks, they didn't bother to ask those questions or do any research on. (Also funny is the fact that they write an article that uses the word sex throughout it, but they are too chicken to put it into the headline!)
Wednesday, October 19, 2005
[ :: adgruntie :: No more please ]

+ Ok, first there were all those stupid people auctioning off their body parts to be tattooed with a company's logo (and mostly an attempt to create press for some company.) Now there's the spread of these stupid stupid pixel ad pages. Why? What's the point of them? Who the hell visits the sites? Unless it's something someone comes across by accident I cannot see the value for any advertisier to buy space on them.

Be smart, take that money and use it for keywords or ads on better targeted sites. If you are buying space on these horrid sites you are wasting your money. But hey, if you like wasting your money, go right ahead...

Plus you know the idea has jumped the shark when eBay starts doing it. ;)

[ :: adgruntie :: Ads at MFA ]

+ Tomorrow at the MFA in Boston, they will have a showing of British Advertising Films of 2004. Tickets are 9 bucks...not too bad. Film is 85minutes and starts at 6:15pm.
Tuesday, October 18, 2005
[ :: superbowl XL :: And so it begins ]

+ Last week, Adage.com wrote about the NFL assembling a half-hour show consisting solely of Super Bowl XL TV spots for its video-on-demand platform. Similar to what the NFL channel aired later in the week, this will be available to view just hours later. But it's not just as easy as allowing the NFL to reair the spots.

An agency executive, who did not wish to be named, explained that there are additional costs for airing commercials as programming that would need to be paid for by someone.

“We get plenty of visibility. Any company that wants to run the commercials would have to pick up the talent costs. There are also commercial music rights and publisher’s rights.”

Also:

Super Bowl spots are priced at $2.5 million per 30-second spot this year. According to media buyers, ABC has around 10 spots left to sell. The Super Bowl usually contains around 64 spots. ABC declined to comment on its Super Bowl sales at this stage, though Anheuser-Busch and Pepsi-Cola Co. are traditionally the biggest spenders. Sprint has already said it has agreed to sponsor the halftime show.

Apparently H&R Block won't be back this year either.
The NYTimes reports that there's XL fever...and we'll be seeing lots of connections to this.

That thought also guided one big marketer partner of the league, the Campbell Soup Company, which advertises its Chunky brand of soups and chili with N.F.L. themes.

In considering ways "to get people who eat 25 cans a year or more to try more varieties," said Ted Riedel, senior brand manager at Campbell in Camden, N.J., the company found that there are XL - er, 40 - flavors of Chunky soups.

That makes Super Bowl XL "the ideal backdrop" for the brand's 2005-6 marketing campaign, Mr. Riedel said, which includes a sweepstakes with a Super Bowl theme, cans with special labels and print ads carrying the headline "XL varieties for XL appetites." The Chunky agency is Young & Rubicam in New York, part of the Young & Rubicam Brands unit of the WPP Group.

Another marketer partner, Visa USA, is using Super Bowl XL as the focus of promotions that include giving away trips to the game, to be played at Ford Field in Detroit; a national mobile-marketing tour, called the Visa End Zone Dance, which began last month in Boston and Los Angeles and is to end at the game; and the introduction of Visa gift cards bearing team logos and photographs of players like Tom Brady of the New England Patriots.

The Super Bowl has "become a part of our culture," said Susanne Lyons, chief marketing officer for Visa USA, and "people like anniversaries," so the combination of the two should prove particularly potent.

The ability of the Super Bowl, and professional football, to cut through the promotional clutter led the Coors Brewing Company division of Molson Coors to renew an agreement for Coors Light to be the official beer sponsor of the N.F.L. through 2010.

"I grew up in New York, and I remember Joe Willie Namath and the Jets beating the Baltimore Colts in Super Bowl III," said Jim Sabia, vice president for marketing of the Coors Light brand at Coors Brewing in Golden, Colo. "There's a nice emotional attachment to 40 years of Super Bowls."

Four months away and the hubbub begins!

[ :: adgruntie :: Pepsi seeks rock n roll image ]

+ Last week, the word was that Pepsi had picked up Christina Aguilera as their spokesperson. The ad will only appear outside the US. The reason it was so newsy is apparently that she had claimed to be a die-hard Coca Cola fan. Money changes things huh? ;)

And now, rumors are flying stating that Charlotte Church and ‘Oasis’ frontman Liam Gallagher are reportedly in talks to team up for a new campaign. If the deal is done, ads will show Gallagher teaching Church how to trash a hotel room and smash instruments while enjoying a selection of alcoholic drinks mixed with the cola beverage.

"We’ve always got safe, family friendly stars to endorse Pepsi in the past, like Britney Spears, Beyonce Knowles, Cindy Crawford, and Blue. But Pepsi is becoming more and more popular as a cocktail mixer at parties, so we want a wilder, more controversial image to go with that, and Liam and Charlotte are ideal,” femalefirst quoted a PepsiCo source as saying to Daily Star.
“They both love their booze and between them they cover the gender demographics we’re trying to target. Charlotte is young, sexy and fun-loving, while Liam is an older, cool rock star,” the source added.

hahaha. You know, I'm not sure if that's real or not, but it's pretty darn funny either way.
Sunday, October 16, 2005
[ :: adgruntie :: Boss' Day ]

+ Ok, I've looked at the calendar and today is Boss' Day. Could someone please explain to me why Boss' Day would be on a Sunday? Seems rather inane to me.
Friday, October 07, 2005
[ :: adgruntie :: Creativity vs. Cost Cutting ]

+ Procurement needs to change its cost-cutting mindset in order to face the challenges of modern business, M&C Saatchi UK group chairman Moray MacLennan has warned the profession.

Speaking at the CIPS marketing and purchasing conference in London, he told delegates: “I realise there are pressures to pursue cost-cutting. But I think it will result in the communications, advertising industry and marketing becoming a numbers game. Creativity squeezed out, talent dried-up and inventiveness gone.”

He urged purchasers to look at the bigger picture, where creativity was needed more than ever to differentiate companies in an increasingly competitive market.

[ :: adgruntie:: Golden Drum ]

+Apologies to those 10 regular readers of COJ. I've been occupied with some offline life stuff and haven't had much time to update recently.

But to make up for it, here's some fun stuff for Friday.
The Golden Drum awards site has their shortlist finalists up for viewing. Check out some of the creative!