Will March Madness be Lloyd’s ‘Lucy’ moment?

Yahoo!’s content king, Lloyd Braun, was supposed to bring a little Hollywood glitz to the Internet company’s entertainment push. Yet despite promising an I Love Lucy hit for the Web, so far he’s produced some so-so efforts, like Kevin Sites’ reporting from war zones and a travelogue by Richard Bangs. (The future of content apparently involves sending me to strange lands.) Now, Braun is saying he’s seen the light: The Web isn’t made for a mass hit. Instead, he’s jumping on the user-generated content train. But the real “Lucy” moment for Web video might come next week, when CBS streams the opening-round games of the NCAA men’s basketball tournament. AOL attracted 5 million viewers to its airing of Live 8 concerts on a July weekend. We’re wagering more office-bound workers will want to steal some hoops games on company time. CBS certainly thinks so, and is even helpfully providing a “boss button” that pops up a spreadsheet should you get the wrong kind of cubicle drop by.

—Posted by Brian Morrissey

Published on March 10, 2006 | Permalink | Comments (2)
Filed under Morrissey

Should advertisers be paying their animals?

Did you ever get the nagging feeling that Spuds McKenzie was grossly, almost criminally underpaid? Or that Jonah the E*Trade chimp got the shaft? The animal kingdom gives a lot to advertising, and gets little in return. In the most recent Super Bowl alone, we had the CareerBuilder chimps, the Clydesdales, a streaking sheep, a grizzly bear—it was a damned zoo. And what thanks do these creatures get? A few nuts. Some wet food, maybe. A kick in the furry backside on their way out to pasture. One man wants to change all this. According to a report in The Economist (subscription only, but you can get a day pass), a Canadian filmmaker named Gregory Colbert, who is known for his work with animals, is setting up something called the Animal Copyright Foundation. Some sort of “Animal Copyright” button would appear on the ads of participating companies, which would donate “1 percent of a media buy, including print, broadcast and Internet, [for ads] that use animals.” Almost all the proceeds would go to conservation projects. It sounds like a cool idea. Why shouldn’t animals benefit in some way from their talent? And it would mean big money for good causes. Most advertisers will probably dismiss it out of hand, but we’re on board, with one caveat: the Geico gecko gets nothing, because he’s a cockney yob.

—Posted by Tim Nudd

Published on March 10, 2006 | Permalink | Comments (6)

Together, Madison Avenue can do better than the Dems’ rehashed slogan

The Democrats need a slogan. But instead of turning to the very folks who can help—like the ad copywriters who have crafted catchy jingles for years—the Dems have so far adopted an awkward line that’s a variation on one used in Sen. John Kerry’s 2004 presidential campaign. “Together, America can do better” is no “Morning in America,” the line which helped Ronald Reagan. This mediocre, ungrammatical phrase didn’t work for Kerry, but that hasn’t stopped the Dems. They have been busy testing it out on focus groups and audiences. The line comes from a speech made by Virginia Gov. Timothy M. Kaine in response to President Bush’s State of the Union address. To solve the syntax problem, the Dems have been thinking about dropping the “together” from the phrase. So we’ve heard Senate minority leader Harry Reid trying out “America can do better” in speeches and interviews lately. America is at war, oil prices are sky high, the Republicans are linked to corrupt lobbyists, and the Dems are dickering over syntax. It will be hard for Americans to support the Democratic party if it can offer no viable alternative. AdFreak thinks Madison Avenue should sponsor a slogan contest to help out the Dems. Any takers out there?

—Posted by Wendy Melillo

Published on March 10, 2006 | Permalink | Comments (18)

Ashes to ashes, dust to ‘Six Feet Under’ DVD

This being the Lenten season (climaxing with Easter Sunday on April 16), we can think of few better ways to contemplate that we are dust—and to dust we shall return—than curling up with HBO's Six Feet Under. This series about the funeral-business-owning Fisher family contained the usual soap-operatic travails, but having death as a running undercurrent of every episode made reflection a necessary part of the viewing experience. And Lent being a period of spiritual reflection, well, this show is one temptation in which some people may want to indulge. The complete fifth season (12 episodes) becomes available on March 28.

—Posted by Kathleen Sampey

Published on March 10, 2006 | Permalink | Comments (1)

‘Cars’ campaign features ads within ads

The ever-vigilant Movie Marketing Madness introduces us to the Web site for Cars, the latest film from Pixar. It’s set up like a showroom. One of the more enjoyable aspects of the campaign is its use of mock ads, like this one, to promote the cars themselves. This is the only “print ad” so far, but more are on the way. The trailer gets in on the act, too—the first half sounds like a car ad. While we’re on the subject, check out Chris Thilk’s impressive MMM series on “Movie Marketing and Consumer Control.” Here are the links for part 1, part 2 and part 3. There’s plenty here for movie studios to chew on. UPDATE: Chris has combined the three-part series into one handy document here.

—Posted by Tim Nudd

Published on March 10, 2006 | Permalink | Comments (1)

Keep the Red Bull away from the players!

Now that Red Bull has bought the MetroStars of Major League Soccer, we should expect to see big tubs of the energy drink on the sidelines at Giants Stadium, replacing the Gatorade, right? Wrong. As you can see from Red Bull’s FAQ, Red Bull “has not been formulated to deliver re-hydration.” Chances are, if the Red Bulls were to ingest lots of their namesake brand during games, they’d be a bunch of lethargic, pruny half-men by the final whistle (actually, they often look like lethargic, pruny half-men by the final whistle anyway, but in this case they might need medical attention, too). We hear Red Bull goes quite well with vodka, though. So maybe it’s a good thing Clint Mathis no longer plays for the team. That would just be too much of a temptation.

—Posted by Tim Nudd

Published on March 10, 2006 | Permalink | Comments (3)

Jack Black’s ‘Nacho Libre’ confessionals

If Jack Black is starring in your movie, follow him around on the set for a couple of days with a handheld camera, and you’re guaranteed all the DVD extras you could want. Paramount, though, isn’t waiting for the DVD—it’s using a bunch of so-called Jack Black “confessionals,” recorded during the filming of Nacho Libre, as part of the buildup ad campaign for the movie. Beginning March 15 (this coming Wednesday), Paramount will roll out a total of 20 videos on iTunes—two each day for 10 days—that show Black cavorting, misbehaving and wisecracking on set. They’re even teasing the teasers via this Real Player trailer. Hopefully Tenacious D will play a few songs on one of these videos, who knows. Moviegoers of a certain stripe have high hopes for Nacho Libre. Check out the full trailer here. The comedy is written by Mike White and directed by Jared Hess, who made Napoleon Dynamite. According to the official site, Black stars as Ignacio (friends call him “Nacho”), a Mexican priest who moonlights as a lucha libre wrestler to raise money for his orphanage. Link via Cinematical.

—Posted by Tim Nudd

Published on March 10, 2006 | Permalink | Comments (2)

Naomi Watts runs Oscar night Lexus plug off the road

Okay, so this Oscar post is a bit late, mostly due to the fact that I just couldn’t bear putting myself through the torture of watching Hollywood’s most beautiful get stroked during E!’s red carpet broadcast. However, I did catch this forced, bumbled plug by King Kong star Naomi Watts for the new Lexus hybrid SUV, thanks to Salon’s TV blog, Video Dog. (Get a day pass to Salon by watching a brief ad.)  An unnamed German car gets similar lip service in this European ad, which spurs Video Dog to ask the question: Why are European commercials funnier than most American sitcoms? Watch only the first 15-seconds and you'll understand why this scene wouldn't cut the mustard with the American Family Association.

—Posted by Deanna Zammit

Published on March 9, 2006 | Permalink | Comments (3)

BSkyB does ‘Simpsons’ intro with live actors

ClickZ News Blog has unearthed a fantastic viral that recreates, with live actors, the introductory montage from The Simpsons. Apparently, U.K. satellite TV company BSkyB created this video to promote its Simpsons reruns. What a great idea. About a trillion times better than those awful “Don’t miss your comedy stop” Simpsons ads in the New York subways. Reuters has some more info about the viral here.

—Posted by Tim Nudd

Published on March 9, 2006 | Permalink | Comments (3)

Red Bull New York mind games begin

Red Bull New York, the newly purchased and renamed Major League Soccer club, has wasted no time in getting its new Web site up. The new Red Bulls logo is everywhere, and there are already images of Red Bull season-ticket brochures. There’s also a reader poll, but it’s not the one shown here. This is a reworked version. The actual version has only the top three options as answers. You’re either “Pretty excited,” “Very excited” or you “Can’t wait” for the new season—good to see they’re ignoring reality from the very first day.

—Posted by Tim Nudd

Published on March 9, 2006 | Permalink | Comments (0)

Good news for Guinness, bad news for Philip Morris

It’s a good day and a bad day for purveyors of American vice. First, a nutritional study has backed centenarian Irene Goguen’s advice to “Drink beer. I did, and I’m still living.” According to the study, adult men can drink about two 12-ounce beers a day, twice the amount of sugary sodas, without any deleterious effects. (The study, funded by Lipton tea, not surprisingly recommended a higher daily allowance of caffeine as well.) On the other hand, the Washington Post reports that cigarette sales in the U.S. have fallen to a 55-year low. Anti-smoking advocates credit the fall, in part, to the deglamourization of cigarettes. Bogie and Bacall may have made smoking look cool, though I can't say the same for Fred and Wilma Flintstone. Of course, as far as I’m concerned, this week's news is good all around.

—Posted by Deanna Zammit

Published on March 9, 2006 | Permalink | Comments (0)

NYC is dealt lemons in Snapple deal, fails to make lemonade

So, apparently Snapple’s run as the official drink of New York City is not going so well. Under a deal struck two years ago, NYC agreed to let Snapple sell drinks in city-owned buildings in exchange for cash and tourism promotion. But the program has fallen way short of sales targets (like, $93 million short). In my experience, Snapple has never done all that well with marketing in NYC. I remember back in September 2002, the company managed to get the Empire State Building lit up all in yellow—the first time it had veered from red, white and blue since Sept. 11, 2001, and the first time it had honored a company in lights in seven years (in 1995, it was red, green and yellow for Microsoft’s Windows 95 launch). Anyway, I went to the observation deck to ask tourists what they thought, for Adweek’s Shoptalk column. People were none too impressed. “It’s wrong. This country’s too commercial already,” said one. Added another: “If I ask for iced tea and they’ve only got Snapple, I tell them I’ll have water.” But the best response came from a security guard. Asked why the lights were yellow, she said, “We’ve been telling people it’s Banana Day. It’s just yellow tonight. We don’t know why.”

—Posted by Tim Nudd

Published on March 9, 2006 | Permalink | Comments (0)

So where the @#%&*$! hell are you?

Adland reports this morning that the U.K. has banned the word bloody from Australia’s “Where the bloody hell are you?” tourism ads. The ads will continue to air, but without the offending word. That reaction seems a bit bloody rash. Australia’s tourism minister has the best quote, though: “How anyone can take offence at a beautiful girl in a bikini on a sunny beach inviting them to visit Down Under is a mystery to me.” We can think of a few people.

—Posted by Tim Nudd

Published on March 9, 2006 | Permalink | Comments (0)

South Africa’s lonely finger gets happy

A mystery of sorts has been cleared up in South Africa. For three months, people have been directed to a Web site called Lonely Finger, where a finger with a sad face has recounted, in a sort of depressing scrapbook, its desolate life without any friends. The site has been a big hit, inspiring all sorts of heartfelt condolences, including scores of poems and illustrations e-mailed in by young people. This week it’s been revealed that it’s an ad campaign for a national radio station called 5fm. A new TV spot has been released, in which the finger cheers up—not with a heavy dose of Zoloft but by reconnecting with his four buddies in a disco hall. The tagline is: “Life’s better with 5.” The campaign was done by Net#work BBDO and digital agency Gloo.

—Posted by Tim Nudd

Published on March 9, 2006 | Permalink | Comments (0)

Jimmy Fallon vs. Angela Lansbury in ‘Times’ real-estate smackdown

A few weeks ago, The New York Times ran a piece in the Real Estate section about Jimmy Fallon selling a pair of apartments in Gramercy and Angela Lansbury buying one at the Windsor Park. No points for guessing which of the two banners below is now serving as a promo ad for the section—an ad that seems to be running on every other online Times page right now. Yes, it’s the Funny Man’s. There really isn’t much work for aging actresses, even when they’re not looking for it.

—Posted by Tim Nudd

Published on March 9, 2006 | Permalink | Comments (0)

Goodbye MetroStars, hello Red Bulls

It looks like Red Bull has bought the MetroStars, the New York/New Jersey franchise of Major League Soccer, and plans to rename the team the New York Red Bulls. (I know it’s a soccer story, but bear with me.) The sale will likely bring a big cash infusion and some sort of renewed commitment to winning (which would be a welcome change from the team’s so-far 11-year commitment to absolutely sucking). Still, hard-core fans are despondent. “Metro Death to Be Announced Thursday,” reads the top headline on MetroFanatic.com. Mostly it has to do with the name change. The New York Red Bulls? It’s asinine. Plus, it shows no respect for what little history and tradition the team has. Red Bull has bought some sports franchises in Europe, too, and apparently enacted similar sweeping rebrandings there. I’m not a hard-core Metros fans (although, true story, Freddy Adu did politely ask that I be escorted out of an Audi event one time, after I disparaged D.C. United), but to me this is a questionable strategy. The hard-core fans are all this team has right now. I have to believe the company really just doesn’t care that much about them. It figures they’ll come around, or else it’ll start from scratch. Anyway, some people think this renaming also sets an unfortunate precedent. As Steve Lepore writes on SportsFan Magazine’s Web site, “Do we really want to live in a world where tonight’s big game is the New York Pepsis vs. the Boston Cokes?” Long live the Metros.

—Posted by Tim Nudd

Published on March 9, 2006 | Permalink | Comments (9)

Don’t listen to PlayStation’s ads if you’re standing on a subway platform

Now here’s why media placement is so darn important. It seems more people than usual are being hit by subway trains in Manchester, England. Nobody is pinpointing the exact cause, but the city’s Metrolink agency isn’t taking any chances and is covering up ads for Sony’s PlayStation on subway platforms because the copy reads: “Take a running jump here.” A 60-year-old woman was recently injured by a tram at the Picadilly Gardens station, but we suspect she doesn’t even know what a PlayStation is. (And it’s unclear if she could take a running jump even if she wanted to.) The ad was placed by 32-year-old French company JC Decaux, one of the largest outdoor ad companies in the world, in case you were wondering. UPDATE: See more ads from this campaign over at Ad Hunt.

—Posted by Kathleen Sampey

Published on March 8, 2006 | Permalink | Comments (1)

Come up with your very own Silly Walk

Adland points to the Silly Walks Generator, a viral site created for Monty Python’s Personal Best, a new DVD released by A&E Home Video. You simply choose a character and a background and create a variety of strange and/or anatomically impossible walking positions—and then let the comedy ensue. We played around with this for a few minutes, but couldn’t create a walk nearly as complex or fun as any of the demos.

—Posted by Tim Nudd

Published on March 8, 2006 | Permalink | Comments (1)

The charmed life of MJZ’s Craig Gillespie

Ameriquest’s ads were among the high points of both the 2005 and 2006 Super Bowls. A lot of the credit there goes to MJZ director Craig Gillespie. Adweek chats with Gillespie in this week’s On the Spot interview. Among other things, he discusses the value of a good editor, how working on his first feature film (Mr. Woodcock, which just wrapped post-production) compared with doing ads, and how his years spent as a creative director inform his directing work. He’s also asked for his vote on the best agency out there right now. “I always have a soft spot for Fallon,” he says. “I really enjoy working with them. Over the years, I’ve done a lot of stuff with them, Citibank and Holiday Inn. They just have a really good work attitude. They’re always trying to improve throughout the whole process with constantly thinking about how to make the spots better and taking chances. Doesn’t seem to be any egos.”

—Posted by Tim Nudd

Photo: Fredrik Bond

Published on March 8, 2006 | Permalink | Comments (0)

Should we just start taxing workaholics?

As marketers know all too well, there’s a long history of taxing certain vices in the hope of reducing consumers’ indulgence in them. Thus do we have special taxes on alcoholic beverages and tobacco, to take two obvious examples. And it wouldn’t be wildly surprising if do-gooders succeed in having “sin taxes” slapped on such public menaces as fast food and soft drinks. A less predictable proposal comes from economics/public-policy professor Joel Slemrod of the University of Michigan and colleague Daniel Hamermesh of the University of Texas. The vice they’d like to see squelched by taxation: workaholism. The rationale, explains a bulletin from the University of Michigan, is that workaholism is “linked to a variety of health problems, including exhaustion, stress and high blood pressure, and can take an emotional and mental toll on a worker’s family.” As if that weren’t enough, workaholism is such an “addictive behavior” that people of retirement age often find themselves unable to go “cold turkey” and quit their jobs. The  professors helpfully suggest that an “appropriate corrective policy for workaholics—who tend to make more money—might involve a more progressive income tax burden.” Their research indicates that workaholics “acquire their addiction early in their careers,” which suggests we should view summer jobs and internships as akin to entry-level drugs. We can only pray that workaholism isn’t a major affliction for those of you who spend your time scrolling through AdFreak postings.

—Posted by Mark Dolliver

Published on March 8, 2006 | Permalink | Comments (2)

Let Pepperidge Farm help you with that pesky eating disorder

Unfortunate placement for this Pepperidge Farm ad. Thanks to Ben for sending this one in.

—Posted by Tim Nudd

Published on March 8, 2006 | Permalink | Comments (1)

Is George Lucas right about film’s future?

When George Lucas predicts something in the American cinema, people ought to take notice, which is why his Coppola-eque declaration that movies in future will be filled with $15 million pictures (as, one supposes, the star system breaks down into interchangable boy-toys and sexpots, and the movie format slides inexorably toward Lucas’s favorite obsession, digital video) is so grim. We’ll ask the obligatory advertising correlary: Would studios bother to advertise $15 million movies? Could it sustain the entire entertainment/ publicity/ corporate-logrolling/ event-movie complex represented by King Kong, Access Hollywood, Extra and Entertainment Tonight? And what would become of movie culture, which as recently as the ’70s was keyed to discussions of a film’s merits and meaning, and which in the ’80s gave way to the MBA view of the world—i.e., how much money a movie cost and made? As long as a movie ticket costs the same, surely that’s the least interesting discussion about movies one could have.

—Posted by Gregory Solman

Published on March 8, 2006 | Permalink | Comments (2)

Maybe ‘Live free or die’ isn’t so completely wonderful after all

Just recently we wrote about New Hampshire’s enduring motto, “Live free or die,” and how even the most mild threat to its existence (like not including it on highway-welcome signs) provokes outrage in the state. But now the Concord Monitor comes right out and asks: “Is ‘Live free or die’ ripe for retirement?” Predictably, the writer unearths a few craggy old dudes who claim they’ll do something rash if the line is ditched. One says: “I’ve lived here for 68 years. If they change it, I’ll move to Vermont.” Another, whose name is actually George Craggy, adds: “Yes, we live free or die. It’s part of our persona. That’s what we all believe in.” Actually, despite the line’s obvious brand equity, not everyone does believe in it. “There’s nothing free in New Hampshire. We all pay taxes,” points out one 38-year-old native. Then there’s the issue Tom Messner hinted at in the comments section of a recent post about Idaho license plates. Yes, apparently the “Live free or die” plates are still made by state prisoners. This hypocrisy irks more than a few people. Says one New Hampshire resident: “All my friends from out of state say, ‘Oh, ‘Live free or die’ is so great.’ But then I tell them it’s the prisoners who make [the license plates]. It takes them a minute, but then they say, ‘Ohhhhh.’”

—Posted by Tim Nudd

Published on March 8, 2006 | Permalink | Comments (1)

Drink beer, and live to be 100

Red wine gets most of the good press when it comes to health benefits. But maybe it’s beer’s turn. Asked by her local Massachusetts paper for advice on how to live to 100, Irene Alice Goguen, who reached the milestone on Monday, said simply, “Drink beer. I did. I’m still living.” It didn’t hurt that she and her husband owned a restaurant, and so had plenty of brew on hand. “It was nice. We had a good business. We sold beer,” she said. It’s true that red wine has special powers—namely, a molecule called resveratrol, which is believed by some researchers to switch on some sort of “longevity gene.” But drinking a moderate amount of any alcohol regularly—no matter the form—is generally considered healthy. Of course, some stories in the media may overstate the case. Just wait until the frat boys see the headline, “Guzzling Beer Helps Rats Stay Cancer-Free.”

—Posted by Tim Nudd

Published on March 8, 2006 | Permalink | Comments (0)

Wouldn’t it be so great also if a bunch of monkeys flew out of my butt?

Found this timely photo of a Citibank ad on Flickr. It asks, “Wouldn't it be great if you could pay for things with a kiss?” Yes, yes it would. Check out ongoing coverage of the Citibank ATM-card crisis over at Consumerist.

—Posted by Tim Nudd

Published on March 7, 2006 | Permalink | Comments (2)