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

Friday, April 28, 2006
[ :: adgruntie :: Norton Sucks For Ad Sites ]

+ Because of Norton's "ad" blocking, Ad-rag.com has switched over to their other domain Commercial Archive for purposes of getting around the crappiness of being blocked and having to deal with users who can't see the site because this handy-and-undandy software blocks the url because it contains the letters "a" and "d" next to each other of the "ad-" and because it contains less than five letters after "ad". (Also blocks ad(dot) and ad(slash)-so any site ad.blah.com or ad/something would be blocked.)(ta to Dabitch for the clarification)

Dabitch gives all the dirt right here. What's really insane about the whole thing is that if you are big enough and have enough cash, you can buy your way to the white list and still serve up ads to those who pay good money to not be bothered by advertising.

So if you've been trying to check out ad-related sites and are running Norton or some other similar thing, this is why.

[ :: adgruntie :: The Right One 2006 ]

+Another bloody fantastic piece for AIDS awareness from TBWA Paris and Wilfrid Brimo.

See it here. Check it out.

Last year's can be seen here at AdLand.

[ :: adgruntie :: FordTV ]

+ Next week, Ford starts a new ad campaign with a new tagline. They are dropping "Built for the Road Ahead" advertising campaign in favor of "Bold Moves," sources say. Ads featuring "American Idol" winner Kelly Clarkson are scheduled to break next week during American Idol.

"It's more than just a tag line," a source says. "It fits with Red, White and Bold." That's the phrase Ford Americas chief Mark Fields is using to drive the automaker's North American turnaround efforts.

Also, Ford is hoping to get its own TV show. That's right. They want to produce a TV competition pairing contestants with its designers to produce a "dream car," according to the Detroit News.

The TV pitch was unveiled to U.S. car dealers during a meeting in Dearborn to introduce the automaker's latest advertising campaign called "Bold Moves," the newspaper said.

Ford officials said the TV show will be shopped around in the hope of landing on a major TV network.

Oy.

The "Bold Move" ad campaign will kick off during Tuesday's night's episode of Fox TV's "American Idol." The ad will feature "American Idol" winner Kelly Clarkson singing a new song called "Go."

[ :: media :: Is Nielsen Killing TV? ]

+ Donna Speciale isn't keeping it quiet that she's not happy with Nielsen.

I'm pissed at Nielsen - personally," Donna Speciale, president-U.S. broadcast and programming at MediaVest, said Thursday during one of a series of panel discussions on the 2006-07 ufpront advertising marketplace, hosted Thursday by Media magazine.

"They basically put the onus on all the research departments of all the agencies and the suppliers," Speciale fumed, after being asked what her agency's policy was for dealing with the disparate ratings data during its negotiations with the networks, and TV syndicators.

"I feel like Nielsen has created chaos in this industry once again," she said, adding that the TV ratings supplier "should have held back this information and, on their own, done some due diligence" before releasing it as a marketplace currency.

You know, it's sort of interesting, how many people do you know who are or even know of someone who's a Nielsen family? Just a random thought but, I've lived on multiple (heh two) coasts and I've never known a soul who was a part of the Nielsen "family". How do you get to be one? Who are these people that giving high ratings to some pretty crappy shows? I'm just curious. It's probably that I did learn all this back in uni, but I'm sure some other useless information is now getting tapped by the synapse...like Andrew McCarthey was in Weekend At Bernies....very unuseful info. ;)

[ :: adgruntie :: Ad agency takes blogger to court ]

+ The Boston Globe reports that blogger Lance Dutson, who writes at Maine Web Report is being sued by New York advertising agency Warren Kremer Paino Advertising for libel, defamation and copyright infringement. The more I read about this it seems overall there seems to be enough spin on both sides that I'm quite dizzy.

If the facts are valid in Dutson's recap here , that's just not cool. For the other side, there's a letter Dutson posted a letter from the president of the ad agency here.

[ :: adgruntie :: No Shit Sherlock! ]

+ Revenue Science and the Ponemon Institute have released a study that found 63 percent of consumers prefer advertising based on their interests.

The study also found that 55 percent surveyed stated that online ads of interest to them "improves" or "greatly improves" their overall online experience.

"This study shows that not only do consumers prefer relevant advertising, but also that advertisers should consider behavioral targeting methods for providing consumers with more relevant ads as long as privacy and anonymity are assured," says Dr. Larry Ponemon, founder and chairman of Ponemon Institute. "The tables are indeed turning and the advertising community would be well served to pay attention."

Geez, you think?

People only click on what interests them. Duh!
Thursday, April 27, 2006
[ :: adgruntie :: Smile simile ]

+ A good creative idea is like a female orgasm. Elusive to some, easy for others, while only a few lucky bastards get multiples in a row.
- Caff
Monday, April 24, 2006
[ :: adgruntie :: Diamonds are a Smironoff's best friend? ]

+ A new £2m national promotional campaign for Diageo Great Britain's Smirnoff Red No 21 vodka will offer consumers the chance to win one of 10 diamonds worth £10,000 each.The national campaign, which launches on May 1, includes TV, press, PR and point of sale, with a major online and viral component created by Agency Republic.

James Pennefather, brand director for Smirnoff at Diageo Great Britian, said: "As well as providing a great link with the purity of Smirnoff vodka, the chance to win a £10,000 diamond should prove an extremely motivating incentive to prompt purchase of Smirnoff amongst target female consumers."

At least for the time that the promotion is running. ;)

[ :: adgruntie :: Neurons and Choosing between goods ]

+ Researchers at Harvard Medical School report in the April 23 issue of Nature that they have identified neurons that encode the values that subjects assign to different items. The activity of these neurons might facilitate the process of decision-making that occurs when someone chooses between different goods.

In his experiment, Padoa-Schioppa had macaque monkeys choose between two types of juice offered in different amounts. In some trials, the monkey chose between one drop of grape juice (which monkeys prefer) and one drop of apple juice. In other trials, the monkey chose between one drop of grape juice and two drops of apple juice, etc. Behaviorally, Padoa-Schioppa observed a trade-off between juice type and juice quantity. The monkey might choose grape juice when one or two drops of apple juice were available. However, the monkey might be indifferent between the two juices when offered one drop of grape juice versus three drops of apple juice, and might always choose the apple juice if four or more drops were available. This indicates that the value the monkey assigns to one drop of grape juice is roughly equal to the value the monkey assigns to three drops of apple juice.

On the basis of such choice pattern, Padoa-Schioppa could correlate the activity of neurons in the OFC directly with the value assigned to the two juices. For example, the activity of one particular neuron could be low when the monkey chose one drop of grape juice or when it chose three drops of apple juice (low value). The activity of the same neuron might be medium-high when the monkey chose two drops of grape juice or when it chose six drops of apple juice (medium-high value). And the activity of the same neuron might be high when the monkey chose three drops of grape juice or when it chose 10 drops of apple juice (high value). This means that the activity of such OFC neurons encodes the value chosen by the monkey independently of the physical characteristics of the juice--its taste, quantity, etc.

Padoa-Schioppa also found that other neurons in the OFC encode the value of only one of the two juices offered to the monkey. Some neurons encoded the value of the grape juice, while other neurons encoded the value of the apple juice. "The monkey's choice may be based on the activity of these neurons," says Padoa-Schioppa.

An important aspect of the results is that neurons in the OFC encode the economic value of offered and chosen goods independently of the particular way the goods are offered to the monkey, and independently of the specific action the animal uses to signal its choice. For example, OFC neurons encoding the value of apples and oranges would do so regardless of whether the apple is offered on the right and the orange on the left, or vice versa.

(Via future pundit)
Sunday, April 23, 2006
[ :: copy :: Ginsters Radio ]

+ Ginsters "Real Honest Food" has some great radio advertising by BBH, London. I particularly love the "Cow" radio ad. Listen to it and others here.

[ :: copy :: Quebec provides emotions ]


+ While trying to find the ads for Tourisme Montréal's new campaign, featuring an ad with the headline "The More you Kiss, the Frencher it Gets" by Diesel Marketing, I came across this header at the top of the Bonjour Quebec page. I'm not exactly sure what "Providing emotions since 1534" really means. Does it mean anything? Is it a poor translation from the French? One thing is for sure, it's a real head-scratcher.
Friday, April 21, 2006
[ :: adgruntie :: Link Dumping ]

+ friends of bright- viral site for Orbit White. They get really pushy if you stay on a page and do nothing (specifically the send to a friend page).

Haggar teams up with CP+B.

YouTube to add advertising-A closely guarded secret at video-upload site YouTube is the company's plan to sell advertisements. The strategy is even cloaked in a code name.

Creating our own clutter?
Thursday, April 20, 2006
[ :: adgruntie :: Can the web pay off? ]

+ There's still a long way to go with web advertising.

Of course, a direct-mail campaign would cost quite a bit more than keyword advertising. But the Internet was supposed to far outshine, not merely equal, traditional marketing approaches, thanks to its unique ability to target consumers based on their specific, immediate interests exposed during Web activity. That revolutionary relationship with potential customers, alone, was expected to make the Web the most lucrative marketing medium yet. Now, however, even Internet marketing partisans concede that new ways to deliver online messages and accurately identify potential customers—many of which are in development or just beginning to emerge—are desperately needed before advertisers can realize an acceptable payoff.

"We're just in the first inning of Web advertising," says Matt Moog, president and CEO of Q Interactive, a Chicago-based online ad agency that specializes in generating leads through discount coupons and promotions. "Web advertising has a long way to go before it reaches its potential and provides the sort of returns advertisers want. We have to get response rates well over 10 percent before Web marketers can claim that we're doing a good enough job."

[ :: adgruntie :: Can the web pay off? ]

+ There's still a long way to go with web advertising.

Of course, a direct-mail campaign would cost quite a bit more than keyword advertising. But the Internet was supposed to far outshine, not merely equal, traditional marketing approaches, thanks to its unique ability to target consumers based on their specific, immediate interests exposed during Web activity. That revolutionary relationship with potential customers, alone, was expected to make the Web the most lucrative marketing medium yet. Now, however, even Internet marketing partisans concede that new ways to deliver online messages and accurately identify potential customers—many of which are in development or just beginning to emerge—are desperately needed before advertisers can realize an acceptable payoff.

"We're just in the first inning of Web advertising," says Matt Moog, president and CEO of Q Interactive, a Chicago-based online ad agency that specializes in generating leads through discount coupons and promotions. "Web advertising has a long way to go before it reaches its potential and provides the sort of returns advertisers want. We have to get response rates well over 10 percent before Web marketers can claim that we're doing a good enough job."

[ :: adgruntie :: 7UP goes au natural ]


+ 7UP now 100% natural.

The evolution of 7UP to a 100 percent natural lemon-lime carbonated soft drink is a timely move for the brand's 77th birthday. To celebrate this milestone, the launch of 7UP, now 100% natural, will be supported by television, radio, print and online advertising, significant sampling outreach and retail partnerships, among other activities.

Somewhat interesting in light of the benzene in soda and other beverages, a big issue recently in the news.

[ :: adgruntie :: Puke-a-tronic ]

+ Motorola and Pepsi sign Carey.

Grammy-winning pop singer Mariah Carey has entered into a partnership with Pepsi and Motorola for a summer promotion in which she will produce original ring tones for cell phones, PepsiCo said today.

More than 100 ring tones will be made available for download through the "Pepsi Cool Tones & Motorola Phones" promo this summer. Twenty of them will be from Carey. The Purchase, N.Y.-based Pepsi said the promotion marks the first time top musicians have written specifically for the ring tone format in a promotion.

Omnicom Group's BBDO, which handles creative advertising for Pepsi, Aquafina, Sierra Mist and Mountain Dew, is producing a TV spot detailing the "tones and phones" promotion, set to break in May.

Please please please don't have her sing in the commercials for this. And if so, dear BBDO creatives, please be sure to monitor the volume when piecing the spot together. Ear-splitting screaches do not amuse us.
Tuesday, April 18, 2006
[ :: designy :: A man for all seasons ]

+ Jim Bolek over at Design Observer interviews the International Symbol for Man. Here's a taste:

Q: You are quite versatile. What other attributes do you bring to your work?

A: Thank you, I appreciate that. I’ve always been active. It’s been a challenge, trying to balance this head on little round feet. But, through perseverance, I did lots of outdoor activities. Originally, they wanted to use me as just some sort of icon, you know — here, identify the men’s room. I said that I’m much more than that. I told them that, despite our initial meeting, not much good comes from hanging out at men’s rooms. I mean, look at George Michael. So they had me do some other activities like “crosswalk." Later on, I did some work with the National Park Service and then I really got to shine — “bike riding,” “archery,” “swimming." It’s very hard to be expressive when your face has no features. Sometimes people don’t even know if I’m facing them or looking the other way.

[ :: sidetracks :: Threadless ]

+ Threadless is an ongoing tee shirt design competition. Designs are put into the running to be scored for 7 days. After those 7 days high scoring designs are chosen to be printed and sold from the"SHOP" section. Neat.

[ :: adgruntie :: Enough with pink ]

+ Pink is the new black? No. Hell no. I may be of the girlie gender, but I find it offensive to be sold only pink options in many cases. Pink Red Sox hats? Please. You look like someone poured pepto all over your head. God forbid a girl might wear navy or red. Baby girls are even more a victim of this horrible must-wear-pink bullshit. The baby won't turn into a boy if you let it wear blue, green, red, purple or any other color...honestly...it won't. Why do we still have this color shoved down our throats?

It's a big pet peeve of mine, and I know I'm not alone. Marketers, please stop the pink madness!

[ :: adgruntie :: ADC golds ]

+ Unimpressed with some of the winners for the ADC awards. Apparently, and Sony's "Balls" was the most awarded television spot with one gold (TV over 30 seconds) and two silvers (cinematography, TV over 30 seconds. Whatever. It's cool and all but I dunno...seems more of a silver to me than gold. Adidas' "Hello Tomorrow" got gold in the advertising category. (*yawn*) That ad was so overhyped. The print execution of Ground Zero's "Do you see music? (Exercise Your Music Muscle)" print execution for Virgin Digital got a well deserved gold, even though that particular idea was eerily similar to the print done for Stella Artois earlier that year. Personally I prefered the TV/viral spot they did back in March. Radio spots from DDB/Chicago's ongoing Bud Light "Real Men of Genius" campaign and DeVito/Verdi's National Thoroughbred Racing Association campaign for the spots "Grandma," "Video" and "Backyard BBQ" won golds. And Dentsu's Ground got a gold for goo.com work in the hybrid category.

[ :: adgruntie :: VW Safe Happens ]

+ VW Jetta's new spots are really unsettling. Last night I caught two, almost in a row (can't remember if that was the same channel or if they were on different ones via flipping around). They fall into a category of 1)shocking people and playing off their fears and 2) pissing people off who have been in an experience like that that they might not want to remember (or have had family members, friends, blah blah in similar scenario).

Either way I suppose you could call them impactful (golly, that's such a horrid pun, huh?) as they make you stop in your tracks. It's the first work for the line by CP+B.

Only downside? I couldn't remember if the ads were for the Jetta or Passat.

If you're a superadgrunt, check out the spots here at AdLand's Commercial Archive: Movie and Like.

On a semi-related note, VW is bringing back the Rabbit to the US. Check out the sweet logo on the main page of the VW site.

[ :: adgruntie :: Don't let your brand icon grow up to be a shill ]

+ Funny article on the creepy newish Sun Maid Raisin spots.

But now, for the first time in her very long life, the beauty on the box has been granted a Pilates body, an aerobics instructor's voice, and a 30-second television spot to launch her new career as a company spokescharacter.

[...snip...]
"There are a lot of pitfalls," Lanahan says. "You could take a huge misstep and completely sully the perception people have of the character."

Perception? Of a drawing on a box?

"When a character comes to life, they have to have a story behind them, provide some entertainment; otherwise they just become a shill, and that's a terrible thing to do to a character, to make them into nothing but a shill."

Somebody please call the Energizer Bunny's lawyer.

Sunday, April 16, 2006
[ :: adgruntie :: Firefox Flicks Up ]

+ The Firefox competition I mentioned earlier is now closed to entries but, be sure to check out the flicks folks have created and vote for your faves.
So far the top rated submission is Wheee! by Jeff Gill.


[ :: adgruntie :: Bausch & Lomb Debacle ]

+ Bausch & Lomb are in a bit of a pickle. There is much questioning of their reaction time to the a rare fungal eye infection that seemed to appear with higher frequency among wearers of soft contact lenses who use Bausch's ReNu With MoistureLoc solution. Last Monday the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said it was investigating 109 reports.

Clusters of Fusarium keratitis, the eye infection, began surfacing in Asia as far back as November. So why, they ask, did Bausch wait so long to tackle the issue in the United States?

"They had plenty of warning," said George Sard, chairman of Sard Verbinnen, a crisis management firm. "They kept taking this series of temporizing measures and half-steps, and they've probably exacerbated concerns about the integrity of their brands."

The even bigger irony about it is that all over the company's web page you see the words "eye health". If they care that much about eye health, why the delay?

Here's a bit from the press release they sent out Friday:

"For more than 150 years, Bausch & Lomb's mission has been to enhance your vision,” says Zarrella in his letter. "We find ourselves in a position where the safety of one of our products, ReNu with MoistureLoc manufactured at our United States plant, is in question. We've done a series of exhaustive tests on the product, and a thorough inspection of the plant, and nothing has yet been found to show that ReNu with MoistureLoc contributed to these infections in any way. However, in the cases of infections reviewed to date, the majority of patients reported using ReNu with MoistureLoc manufactured at our U.S. factory."

Uh, is it just me or then does that seem to imply that, yes, there is something going on at the plant they are liable for? And if so, why aren't they taking more action? Eye health isn't something you fuck around with.

So far The Food and Drug Administration hasn't asked Bausch & Lomb to remove the lens cleaner from the market.

On Friday, Bausch & Lomb ran ads urging that consumers use other contact lens cleaners they make, such as ReNu MultiPlus. How nice of them. You'd think that with a scare as serious as this - where a product could be the cause of something as nasty as BLINDNESS people just might not heed that advice and rather opt for another brand that hasn't had this kind of issue.

The company's lame attempt to fix the problem includes the ability to get a coupon for a free bottle of MultiPlus and a refund, which is only good one per person, or two per household. So what the fuck do you do if, say, you have three bottles or a case of this crap that could potentially be hazardous to your vision? Tough shit says Bausch. Even though cases have been reported in other countries for months, they still feel that one refund is a-OK. That is crap. If you have more than one bottle and the lot numbers, why the hell shouldn't you be able to get a refund for all the bottles you have bought?

The fact that they took out an ad to notify the public in USA Today is fine, but what about all those folks who don't read USA Today? What about the people who happened to miss their "appology" letter in a regional paper? I suppose this is an example of why it's good to stay up on the news.
Thursday, April 13, 2006
[ :: adgruntie :: Fashion ads sex minus sex ]

+ Sex and fashion advertising going in two different directions according to this article. One being as obscene as possible and the other focusing more on the clothing itself or using coy suggestive images. Frankly, I've never really got fashion ads. I mean, I do, but very rarely do they grab my attention as a shopper. Show me something I'd like to buy, not some artsy fartsy thing that no one in their right mind would ever wear out in public. Unless they were a rockstar or model or other celeb.
Monday, April 10, 2006
[ :: adgruntie :: Samurai Kittens ]

+ I posted about this on AdLand but it's so cute and gory I have to post it here. Samurai Kittens, a viral for IFC's animated Samurai 7, a take off of the famous "The Seven Samurai" film. Created by Cog1. Great attention to deals. Fun stuff.
Thursday, April 06, 2006
[ :: adgruntie :: Not good to yell at a client ]

+ We've all been there before. Frustration mounting to the point where you feel like you're going to burst. Even if it feels good to yell, you shouldn't do it.
Tuesday, April 04, 2006
[ :: adgruntie :: Lee and Alex chat again. ]

+ AdCritic's Face2Face part tres is up. I can't comment on it as the computer I'm using today is deaf without a sound card or somefing. boo. This week's topics are: "motivation behind the cultural artist, the pride in a pet project and what it means to be different".

You know what would have been funny? Is if they had hired Mike Myers to come on the set and do some of his "Coffee Talk" sketch. Am I the only one that thinks of that when I see these? Possibly.

[ :: adgruntie :: They say it's your birthday... ]

+ There aren't many web sites that can say they've been around for 10 years. But the mother of all adblogs can. Yes that's right, AdLand has turned ten. Sweet!

Happy 10th Birtday AdLand!!

And the icing on the cake? The almighty Dabitch has created The Memory Quiz in honor of this momentous occasion. Those who get all 10 questions right get a month of free superadgruntship! Dandy!
Saturday, April 01, 2006
[ :: sidetracks :: Run by posting ]

+ I must stay focused. This weekend taxes *must* get completed. Whee!

Here's something that might be of interest...since I have promised myself no blogging or anything fun until the dirty work gets done.

This site is keeping track of April Fool's gags from around the net.

And now back to the fun! ;)