Does the Mets' Citi Field need a new name?

Giving vivid expression to the term "grandstanding," a couple members of New York's City Council have taken time out from grappling with the city's own financial struggles to propose a slap at the struggling Citi banking corporation. With Citi now among the recipients of a federal bailout, the lawmakers have proposed revising the name of the New York Mets' new stadium from Citi Field (for whose naming rights Citi is paying $400 million over the next 20 years) to Citi/Taxpayer Field. Just the sort of legislative vision we need in these dark days, eh?

—Posted by Mark Dolliver

Published on December 1, 2008 | Permalink | Comments (1)
Filed under Citi, Dolliver, Finance, Sports

What has Donny Deutsch been up to lately?

It doesn't include any swimsuit pics, but an article about Donny Deutsch in the new issue of Success magazine is revealing in its own way. Among the tidbits: In his current role at Deutsch Inc., he "considers himself more of a 'spiritual leader' " than a "buttoned-up company chairman"; while doling out tough advice to would-be entrepreneurs who watch his CNBC show, The Big Idea, he "believes in being honest, not mean"; his "very specific rituals" include a daily breakfast of six egg whites with American cheese; and he's an "avid runner" who covers "four to five miles several days a week before meeting a standing 7:30 dinner reservation with friends at one of a dozen top Manhattan bistros." If you wish to emulate Deutsch, don't stay up too late reading about him: "He is usually in bed by 11:30 p.m."

—Posted by Mark Dolliver

Published on November 20, 2008 | Permalink | Comments (2)
Filed under Deutsch, Dolliver

Inter-utensil romance blooms at Kona Grill

AdFreak's top honors this week in the Kinkiest Restaurant Ad category go to the Kona Grill chain (and its Minneapolis-based agency, Gabriel deGrood Bendt) for this blackmailesque photo of fork and chopsticks in bed together. The idea is that Kona Grill is "a place where opposites attract," though it's not self-evidently obvious that forks and chopsticks are opposites (rather than, say, variations on the same theme). Another ad in the series pursues the illicit-affair theme with the headline, "Meat lover and sushi lover caught swapping plates." In still another, "Adventurous foursome shares each other's spicy tuna rolls." If nothing else, all this naughtiness makes it plain that Kona Grill is not what you'd call a "family restaurant."

—Posted by Mark Dolliver

Published on November 12, 2008 | Permalink | Comments (1)
Filed under Dolliver, Gabriel deGrood Bendt, Kona Grill, Restaurants

Animals just want a little whiff of you is all

Wonder what the carnivorous animals at the zoo are thinking of you when you're gawking at them? An ad for Salt Lake City's Hogle Zoo (via Richter7 of that city) has the answer. See the full ad here. It'd probably be best not to aggravate the situation by using bacon dental floss as part of your oral-hygiene regimen before heading off to the zoo.

—Posted by Mark Dolliver

Published on November 11, 2008 | Permalink | Comments (0)
Filed under Dolliver, Richter7, Zoos

Las Vegas enjoys lots of bipartisan support

Nevada may have flipped from red to blue in this presidential election, but Las Vegas remains decidedly non-partisan, as you can gather from this spot inviting Democrats and Republicans to shed their differences (to say nothing of their clothing) with a sybaritic jaunt to that city. R&R Partners of Las Vegas cooked up the post-election spot for the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority.

—Posted by Mark Dolliver

Published on November 7, 2008 | Permalink | Comments (1)
Filed under Dolliver, R&R Partners, Vegas

No wonder the bankers are getting irritable

Given the recent performance of banks, consumers wouldn't be in the mood for a commercial that depicts warm-and-friendly bankers. So, a new spot for Colorado-based FirstBank (via TDA Advertising & Design in Boulder) is probably smart to show us a FirstBanker who's a bit mean—but mean on his customers' behalf. Show up wearing the same shirt as a FirstBank customer, and he'll rip it right off you. Order the same elaborate coffee concoction, and he'll knock it to the floor. It's all a build-up to an onscreen super that explains what he's been up to: "We're here to protect your identity." And if your identity consists in part of wearing a dorky shirt and ordering a pretentious drink, so be it.

—Posted by Mark Dolliver

Published on November 4, 2008 | Permalink | Comments (2)
Filed under Dolliver, Finance, FirstBank, TDA

You'll feel better with a chainsaw in hand

The financial news these days is as scary as any chainsaw massacre, so Americans may be ready for a chainsaw ad that implicitly plays off the market turmoil. Ready or not, Stihl has given them one (placed in The Wall Street Journal, as well as in USA Today.) See the full ad here. When copy refers to the sturdy Stihl product as "a sharp investment," readers will grasp the unstated notion that this saw holds its value better than the average mutual fund has done lately. Boston-based Winsper created the ad.

—Posted by Mark Dolliver

Published on October 23, 2008 | Permalink | Comments (1)
Filed under Dolliver, Stihl

A few beers will impair anyone's judgment

Along with promoting real brands, advertising has brought to life any number of fictitious brands over the years. This ad for the Paris Las Vegas casino, by that city's R&R Partners, adds some nice ones to the roster—especially the Napoleon Stout and the Marie Antoinette Ale. (See the full ad here.) But when's the last time a man walked into a bar anywhere other than France and found two French beers on tap? Other readers will be scandalized by the notion that Napoleon would betray the ideals of the French Revolution by dallying with Marie Antoinette, of all aristos. But this does lend support to the "Everything's sexier in Paris Las Vegas" theme line.

—Posted by Mark Dolliver

Published on October 22, 2008 | Permalink | Comments (0)
Filed under Casinos, Dolliver, R&R Partners, Vegas

A new NHL season, and the gloves are off

One city picking a fight with another city? You'd have to say that this nicely captures the spirit of pro hockey. The Detroit Red Wings won the National Hockey League championship, and the Stanley Cup that goes with it, last season, so the Dallas Stars get in Detroit's collective face with this ad, via agency Door Number 3 of Austin, Texas. Considering that what's now the Stars franchise relocated from Minneapolis in the early 1990s, one could scarcely blame Minnesotans if they upbraided Dallas with an ad saying, "You've got something of ours." True, Minnesota has since acquired a fresh NHL franchise. But the new team has such a cheesy name that some folks in the Twin Cities (for instance, those who frequent this memorial Web site) must yearn for the days when they had the North Stars instead.

—Posted by Mark Dolliver

Published on October 15, 2008 | Permalink | Comments (1)
Filed under Dolliver, Door Number 3, NHL, Sports

Ocean Spray's cranberries take to the road

As slogans go, "Bogs Across America" isn't one that trips off the tongue. But when you see a cranberry bog set up in New York City's Rockefeller Center, part of Ocean Spray's Bogs Across America promotional campaign, it's quite a sight. As an item on Ocean Spray's Web site says, "Good thing Fashion Week's not in October because when we bring our 'Big Apple Bog' to Rockefeller Center, hip-high waders will be all the rage." And indeed, the temporary bog does have several Ocean Spray folks wading around in it, hip-high boots and all. The bog is in New York through Thursday and in L.A. on Oct. 15-17. For you bog aficionados out there, it's a spectacle not to be missed.

—Posted by Mark Dolliver

Published on October 7, 2008 | Permalink | Comments (2)
Filed under Dolliver, Food and Drink, Non-traditional, Ocean Spray

Tea marketer seeking to bottle up its rivals

You know "green marketing" is getting more sophisticated when it includes a subtle attempt to hamstring a brand's competitors. That's one aspect of Salada Tea's new "Unbottle Your Tea" campaign (created by Salada's marketing agency, the Pinckney Hugo Group of Syracuse, N.Y.), which emphasizes the many virtues of drinking fresh-brewed rather than bottled tea. Along with telling you about the superior health benefits and lower cost of fresh-brewed tea, the Web site includes a petition consumers can sign that urges Congress to enact the Bottle Recycling Climate Protection Act. That bit of environmentalist legislation would mandate a five-cent deposit on all beverage containers, including those for tea and water. Needless to say, this would be a blow to Salada's bottled-tea rivals. Nothing like saving the planet and sinking your competitors in one fell swoop.

—Posted by Mark Dolliver

Published on October 1, 2008 | Permalink | Comments (0)
Filed under Dolliver, Environment, Food and Drink

Twin Cities urged to be nice to Republicans

While all political eyes are now on the Democrats in Denver, the Twin Cities are getting ready for the Republican conclave next week in St. Paul. And Minneapolis agency Campbell Mithun is getting into the act with a campaign developed with Hungry Man Productions, and launched via the UnConvention Web site, that urges the locals in this traditionally Democratic state (or, more precisely, Democratic-Farmer-Labor state) to be gracious hosts. Republican delegates who check out the Web site's video and the posters may wonder how sincere the welcome is. But after the treatment their party is getting in Denver, anything short of open hostility may seem like a warm embrace.

—Posted by Mark Dolliver

Published on August 27, 2008 | Permalink | Comments (5)
Filed under Campaign '08, Campbell Mithun, Dolliver, Political ads, Print

Stadium naming rights get more affordable

We're accustomed to baseball teams selling the naming rights to their stadiums. But the minor-league St. Paul Saints, of the American Association, have given the practice a new wrinkle by selling the rights for a single week. Thus has Midway Stadium (pictured above) become Skinny Water Park this week to promote the brand of bottled water. For one game, Saints players will wear special uniforms bearing the number 0, to emphasize that Skinny Water has zero calories. It’s not surprising that the team would engage in oddball promotions (it has also given away bobblefoot dolls), as its principal owner, Mike Veeck, is the son of Bill Veeck, who was famous for all sorts of hijinks in his years as owner of various big-league teams. Do a Google search for “exploding scoreboard” or “Eddie Gaedel” and you’ll get a taste of this.

—Posted by Mark Dolliver

Published on August 6, 2008 | Permalink | Comments (0)
Filed under Dolliver

Tibet ad seeks shining moment at Games

We're accustomed to Olympics-themed ads that urge the athletes on to victory. It's a sign of how unusual things are this year that a full-page ad ran this week in The New York Times urging at least one athlete to “speak up for Tibet.” Placed by a group called Students for a Free Tibet and its allies in the International Tibet Support Network, the ad directed athletes/readers to a Web site, which in turn suggested ways they could display solidarity with Tibet while at the Games. Among the proposed methods: shaving one’s head (in tribute to “the thousands of Tibetan monks and nuns who have been killed or jailed leading nonviolent protests in their homeland”), raising the Tibetan flag or dedicating a medal to Tibet. If nothing else, the possibility of such actions will add suspense to the often-tedious medal ceremonies.

—Posted by Mark Dolliver

Published on July 30, 2008 | Permalink | Comments (1)
Filed under Dolliver

My bumper could sure use a massage, too

If a fugitive Bosnian Serb leader wanted for war crimes can elude arrest by turning himself into a bearded, pony-tailed practitioner of alternative medicine, then the world is certainly ready for less-drastic New Agey phenomena—like the sight of a car achieving “peace of drive” by relaxing with cucumber slices over its headlights. The same State Farm campaign (via BooneOakley of Charlotte, N.C.) included an installation of a full-sized car in an oversized bubble bath on a Hollywood sidewalk. And to think that insurance companies used to content themselves with handing out calendars.

—Posted by Mark Dolliver

Published on July 23, 2008 | Permalink | Comments (1)
Filed under Dolliver

Salt Lake shop takes pants off for summer

On the home page of its Web site, Salt Lake City-based ad agency Richter7 includes a clickable heading that asks, “Are we the right fit?” Apparently this isn’t referring to whether the staffers’ pants fit, because they aren’t wearing any these days. A press release from the agency says Richter7 “has mandated a ‘No Long Pants’ policy from July 15 to Aug. 15, 2008, in an effort to keep cool and combat the effects of global warming.” The release says this rule applies “even in professional meetings with clients.” Staffers who violate the rule will be fined a quarter. Those who don’t own a pair of shorts have no excuse, as the agency “will buy each employee a pair of shorts of their choice.”

—Posted by Mark Dolliver

Published on July 16, 2008 | Permalink | Comments (2)
Filed under Dolliver

Carl Weathers offers his deepest thoughts

With the nation's financial system teetering on the verge of collapse, this might not be the most propitious time for any segment of it to run a marketing campaign that’s out-and-out weird. Still, consumers will enjoy an online effort for the Credit Unions of Washington that features the random philosophizings of actor Carl Weathers (best known as Apollo Creed from the Rocky movies). Pedaling around on a bicycle that’s got a flower garden attached to its front, Weathers offers the locals oddball observations on this and that, as when he compliments one young woman on her new shoes by remarking that “in 1903, a woman named Marie Curie put on a new pair of shoes and won the Nobel Prize in physics.” Ah, so that’s how it happened! Big Bang Electrical of Seattle developed the campaign.

—Posted by Mark Dolliver

Published on July 9, 2008 | Permalink | Comments (0)
Filed under Dolliver

Gold'n Plump takes shots at Golden Arches

Consumers who relish any disparagement (implicit or otherwise) of Ronald McDonald will enjoy this new billboard for the Gold’n Plump chicken brand. Something tells me that Gabriel deGrood Bendt of Minneapolis, which created the campaign, won’t be getting any part of the McDonald’s account in this century. Along with other executions in the series, this one makes the point that Gold’n Plump’s chickens are raised by independent farmers in Minnesota and Wisconsin, and not somehow extruded from some hideous factory farm.

—Posted by Mark Dolliver

Published on June 25, 2008 | Permalink | Comments (2)
Filed under Dolliver

Don't glow like Coco, says skin-cancer ad

You may associate her more with the "little black dress." But it turns out that Coco Chanel also invented the suntan. So we’re told, anyhow, in a stylish ad for the Skin Cancer Foundation, created pro bono by Partners + Jeary of New York. As its text explains, Chanel fell asleep during “a long boat ride with some English Duke” and woke up tanned, inspiring generations of women and men since to get their own tans. Given the risk this entails of getting skin cancer (to say nothing of wrinkles), the ad declares that “tanning’s fifteen minutes of fame are over” (Chanel and Warhol in one ad!) and urges readers to “Go with your own glow.” Depending on how much you glow (in the dark, for instance), I suppose that might indicate health problems of its own. But the slogan has a catchy ring to it.

—Posted by Mark Dolliver

Published on June 12, 2008 | Permalink | Comments (0)
Filed under Dolliver

Let's get ready to fight prostate cancer!

When a famous ring announcer appears in a commercial promoting the fight against prostate cancer, the phrase “no hitting below the belt” will pop into some viewers’ minds. But the presence in the campaign of Michael Buffer (of “Let’s get ready to rumble” fame) will help draw attention to Sneakers@Work Day, slated this year for Sept. 19 as an occasion for promoting awareness and fund-raising to combat the disease. New York-based Needleman Drossman & Partners created the spot.

—Posted by Mark Dolliver

Published on June 5, 2008 | Permalink | Comments (0)
Filed under Dolliver

A few of Barack Obama's favorite things

If Barack Obama wins the election this fall, some consumer brands can bask in the glory of being presidential favorites. A piece this week in The New York Times offered a list of Obama’s “likes and dislikes.” Though no brand names appeared on the dislikes list (just generic items like mayonnaise and asparagus), the likes roster included Planters Trail Mix: Nuts, Seeds & Raisins, Dentyne Ice, Nicorette, MET-Rx chocolate roasted peanut protein bars, and “handmade milk chocolates from Fran’s Chocolates in Seattle.” A larger article, to which the likes-and-dislikes list was a brief sidebar, mentioned Black Forest Berry Honest Tea as another Obama favorite. On the whole, the faves list skews a bit more upscale than seems ideal for a candidate who’s trying to strengthen his appeal to blue-collar voters, so Obama may wish to keep some of these preferences under wraps until after Election Day.

—Posted by Mark Dolliver

Published on May 29, 2008 | Permalink | Comments (11)
Filed under Dolliver

Ignoring the Olympics' inconvenient truth

Are Olympics sponsors still feeling uneasy about linking themselves to China in the aftermath of unrest in Tibet and nearby regions? New advertising from Visa indicates as much. A commercial (viewable on a Visa microsite) sounds curiously defensive as it says, “We don’t always agree. But for a few shining weeks, we set it all aside. ... We forget all the things that make us different, and remember all the things that make us the same.” At any rate, Visa and other sponsors must hope people do some forgetting. To look at the very handsome spot (via TBWA\Chiat\Day), you might think the Games are being held in L.A. or London or some other uncontroversial venue. (The word “China” goes unspoken.) When the spot identifies Visa as a “proud sponsor of the Olympic Games and the only card accepted there,” a viewer might wonder where “there” is.

—Posted by Mark Dolliver

Published on May 21, 2008 | Permalink | Comments (0)
Filed under Dolliver

Give your sketchy brand a shot in the arm

Need a bad-boy sports celeb as an endorser for an edgy brand? You might consult the Baseball All-Scandal Team roster, which Sports Illustrated has assembled from its SI Vault of vintage material. Some team members, like Ty Cobb, would be unavailable for live appearances. But plenty of others are around, including Jose Canseco, Roger Clemens, Wade Boggs, Pete Rose, Dwight Gooden and the freshly indicted Barry Bonds.

—Posted by Mark Dolliver

Published on May 15, 2008 | Permalink | Comments (1)
Filed under Dolliver

Sitcom moms: which would you choose?

If she's good enough for the Beaver, she's good enough for us. In a pre-Mother's Day poll by Harris Interactive, June Cleaver (of Leave It to Beaver fame) topped the voting when adults were asked to pick the sitcom mother they’d most like to have had as their own mom when growing up (or failing to grow up, as the case may be). Claire Huxtable, of The Cosby Show, was the runner-up. Filling out the top five: Carol Brady of The Brady Bunch, Marion Cunningham of Happy Days and Donna Stone of The Donna Reed Show. Mrs. Cleaver was the favorite of male respondents, while Mrs. Huxtable was tops with women. In a partisan split (you knew there had to be one), Democrats favored Mrs. Huxtable, Republicans Mrs. Brady and independents Mrs. Cleaver.

—Posted by Mark Dolliver

Published on May 7, 2008 | Permalink | Comments (5)
Filed under Dolliver

Protecting the 'Lesbian' brand at all costs

What do you do when your brand name is taken over by another entity? Go to court, naturally. And, according to a wire-service story, that’s just what three residents of the Greek island of Lesbos have done. Noting that the inhabitants of Lesbos have long been referred to as Lesbians, the suit demands that the Homosexual and Lesbian Community of Greece remove “Lesbian” from its title. Blame it all on the ancient poetess Sappho (shown here), a native of Lesbos whose writings (notes the story) “contain passionate references to love for other women.”

—Posted by Mark Dolliver

Published on May 1, 2008 | Permalink | Comments (1)
Filed under Dolliver