Merlin Mann is an online icon, his site 43folders.com is well known for its useful tips on personal productivity, life hacks and all things related to getting more organized. But I found a more humorous side to the man when Kottke pointed to Mann's Flickr set that collects funny eBay ads from Google. "Looking for Handjob? Find exactly what you want today. www.eBay.com." Some of the other things offered were cigarette butts, human remains, coffins and fascists. Kottke also pointed to some other Adsense funnies with Amazon offering besides other things -- crack cocaine on Dictionary.com. Those ads are no longer there. But it seems like some of the funniest comics are the Adsense Bots.Adsense Funnies
Merlin Mann is an online icon, his site 43folders.com is well known for its useful tips on personal productivity, life hacks and all things related to getting more organized. But I found a more humorous side to the man when Kottke pointed to Mann's Flickr set that collects funny eBay ads from Google. "Looking for Handjob? Find exactly what you want today. www.eBay.com." Some of the other things offered were cigarette butts, human remains, coffins and fascists. Kottke also pointed to some other Adsense funnies with Amazon offering besides other things -- crack cocaine on Dictionary.com. Those ads are no longer there. But it seems like some of the funniest comics are the Adsense Bots.The Wet T-shirt Billboard
This is a cool idea, a billboard in Germany has close shot of a woman's bust, her dark nipples can be barely seen through a white t-shirt, the copy reads "Guys, pray for rain." Here is the cool part, when it does rain, the t-shirt/ billboard gets wet and thus exposes more of the woman's breasts. The ad is for Playboy. More details can be found in the comment section of this website where one of the people who created the ad explains how they did it. Very simply, two shots were taken -- one with the t-shirt dry and one wet -- and when it rained the billboard switched to the second shot. It appeared in 2000 and seems to have won some awards. No word yet if passerbies tried to spray the billboard with water to get a glimpse!
Best TV Ads Now Online
BestAdsOnTV.com has quicktime movies of all the best spots you would
normally see on TV. At first my interest in the site was revolved
purely on writing this blog post. But checking the site, I found some
incredible ads that I had not seen on TV. The database goes as far back
as 2000 so you could find some ads that have long been forgotten by
popular culture. Also, many international ads can be discovered here.
Anyone who has spent any time in advertising knows that "cool" ads do
not necessarily make effective ads, many do not even make it to TV, so
this little site, besides being a valuable resource to Ad agencies and
Filmmakers, can also allow the general public a look at what is being
kept hidden from them. The site also doles out an award which is a whopping year old!iPod Terrifies TV advertisers
The recently released video-enabled iPod and its sibling iTunes, which you can now download television shows from, is simply scaring television advertisers. As televsion stations such as ABC and Viacom try to deliver their programming outside of the television box, the advertisers feel left out. The programming available on iTunes has no commercials because Apple would not allow it but the feeling is that one day that policy will change as there is revenue to be had. But till then, atleast through Halloween, they continue to scare the advertisers. "It's a great concern to advertisers," said Jason Maltby, co-president
of national broadcast for media buyer Mindshare, part of WPP. "Why
spend a couple of hundred thousand dollars for an ad unit on Desperate Housewives? The value keeps eroding." But others believe that putting the shows on iTunes will only pick up more of an audience. Don't tell them that! It is fun to watch them squirm.Also: TV downloads may undercut ABC Stations
McCain's '08 Media Strategy
Most likely in 2008, it is going to be John McCain and Hilary Clinton running against each other for the seat at the White House. McCain, the Arizona Senator, has never been shy of the camera and has a very strong relationship with journalists unlike others in the Republican Party. This MarketWatch article talks about his Media Strategy if he were the President. Among other ideas, McCain plans to "hold press conferences every two weeks -- "a Kennedy model" -- hold town hall meetings and even cater more to the foreign media as a way to heal relations overseas." Wow, this is one advertising campaign where it is first directed at the media and then to the voters. And in the article, it is clear that he is succeeding in winning over the media, they are virtually drooling all over him.More on Pajamas Media
A couple of months ago, Tom filed a story on Pajamas Media, a network of bloggers that aggregate their resources to build advertising revenue. The name, Pajama Media, was a play on criticism that bloggers are "just a bunch of guys in their pajamas." The site offers content from several bloggers including some mainstream NY Times, CNBC, The Nation journalists. This interesting CNET article about the website hints that there is a certain lean to the right, as in conservative "values" which seems like a response to the Liberal Blog Advertising Network which is a site that allows advertisers to place ads on more than 70 liberal and progressive blogs. Roger L. Simon, one of the founders of Pajama Media, denies that this is the case. And a quick look at the website, there is not much political talk but just the usual blogger blabber. I guess we will just have to wait and see.Mac & Adsense Saga Continues
I have mentioned (1, 2) how Apple has pressured Google to restrict
using the word "Mac" in Adsense. According to this Europe-centric article,
it seems Apple may have eased up a little bit over some but not all of
its trademarks within Google's Adsense service. The words "Mac" and
"Macintosh" are once again up for grabs but not words such as Apple,
iPod, shuffle, Mac mini, iMac, iBook, PowerBook, Power
Mac, iTunes, and iTMS are all still rejected by European advertisers
seeking inclusion in AdWords. Apple is not fair game? It also seems
that if you configure Adsense to not include Easter Europe or
Switzerland, some of these trademarked words can be used. Not sure what
the case is for American Adsense customers.Bad Apple
A little while ago, I had mentioned that Google was disallowing the word "Mac" in AdSense. I had guessed it was Apple's fault. I was right but the scope of the their "influence" seems to be bigger than even I had imagined. This article states that Apple is cracking down on products and companies that use the word iPod in their names. According to an accessory maker, Apple prohibits use of "iPod" for any marketing purposes by other companies. In September, Apple filed for multiple trademarks on the term "iPodcast." Yikes, it would be nice if they could actually succeed in patenting the actual product instead of its name.
SpreadFirefox Site Hacked Again
A couple of months ago, we had reported that SpreadFirefox.com was hacked. Well, it seems to have happened again, and this time the site will be remain shut down till the site is rebuilt from scratch. SpreadFirefox.com has been a very successful marketing site for the web browser Firefox which has quite rapidly gained on Internet Explorer. One of the biggest selling points for Firefox was the security features which were a sharp contrast to Internet Explorer's Swiss-cheese-like security. So you can imagine the embarassement for Firefox when it can barely keep its marketing site from being hacked.When Will The Movie Start?
Those annoying ads before the movie begins are now only getting longer and probably more annoying. According to this NY Daily News article, Screenvision - the movie advertising company is set to strike a deal with cable network E!, to spruce up its before-the-movie, "pre-show." Instead of just running big screen ads, Screenvision' is adding snappy entertainment features like E!'s gossipy "The Soup." Geez, I don't watch this on television, why would I want to watch this in the movies when I clearly paid for a commercial-free eperience. If you were wondering why the new approach -- advertisers are afraid to intrude the movie experience with ads so they are trying to entertain. Who thinks of this stuff? I guess I am adding another 10 minutes to my already late arrival to the movies. Maybe one day, I won't bother to show up at all.Jamster Stopped In Its Tracks
The High Court in England has thrown out an attempt by Jamster, a ringtone company, to stop UK's advertising watchdog (ASA) from "publishing a scathing adjudication relating to TV
advertising for its Crazy Frog, Sweetie the Chick and Nessie the Dragon
ringtones." The decision upheld 298 complaints about the ads that clearly targeted children, and for not being clear that Jamster was promoting a subscription service rather than a one-off payment. In its adjudication, the ASA has ordered that a post-9pm restriction
now be applied to all Jamster advertising in the future. The restriction is to prevent children running up large
phone bills as a result of the ads, a problem that had recieved the most complaints.Is The iPod An Old Transistor Radio?
The BBC reports on the similarities of the iPod and Regency TR-1 transistor radio which was made in 1954. The Regency was the first commercially sold transistor pocket radio. Like the iPod it was "small enough to hold in your hand, and powered by batteries, it came in a variety of delicious colours, including green, pearlescent blue, lavender, white and red." There is no red iPod but you get the idea. The TR-1 was marketed under the slogan "See it! Hear it! Get it!" Sounds very similar to some iPod marketing language. Now the discoverer of this connection does not believe that Apple stole any designs but the discovery does indicate that Apple likes the old school design. I wouldn't be so sure!(via BoingBoing.net)
Daily Show on Bumvertising
Earlier today, I had written about Bumvertising and now I just saw a Daily Show clip on the story which is absolutely hilarious. Bumvertising is an idea hatched by a Seattle entrepreneur who advertises his Poker website by paying the homeless people a couple of dollars to hold up a sign of the website. On the show they interview the guy who comes off like such a d**k. Cannot tell if he is acting or he really believes he is providing a service. He claims "they make their own hours," and "many choose to live the way they do." "The new Daily Show correspondent Dan Bakkedahl, who is encouraging to the youngster, had the funniest line "it would totally suck if the whole thing took a nose dive , you went broke and had to stand on the side of the road and hold a sign for a jerkoff."Ultimate Salesman: Steve Jobs
I have grown to respect Steve Jobs, especially since his commencement speech at Stanford. Till then he was just a guy that brought out the Mac goodies. But there have been many others who have clearly been sucked into the much publicized Steve Jobs distortion field. Jobs, CEO of Apple and Pixar, has enjoyed a passionate following unlike any other CEO. This article states that though Steve Jobs might not own Apple, he understands he is the public face of the company and understands the necessity of being seen as "the good guy".
For instance, when it was suggested recently that record labels might look to
increase their income by bumping up the price of iTunes downloads, he clearly stated that he was against it and accused the record labels of being greedy. This is a stark contrast with Bill Gates and Microsoft who carry the image of the bad guys. It would seem, at least for the time being, like the bad guys have won.Bumvertising
A young American entrepreneur, Ben Rogovy, trying to promote his poker
website solved his lack of an advertising budget by paying homeless
people to stand motionless beside the Seattle Highway exit ramps with
ads promoting his website. So instead of the little cardboard signs
that ask for your pennies, the homeless get paid holding the cardboard
ads. Some of the homeless rights campaigners are up in arms but the
homeless seem at home, asking only "do you have any tape?" as in tape
that is needed to strap the ad on them. Rogovy now has around 12 vagrants
"Bumvertising" his site. He pays
them "a bit of food and water, plus $1 to $5, according to each
beggar's relative value, based largely on traffic patterns".
Huh? Beggar's relative value as in how many hours was he sprawled on
the ground shit-faced, not working? What about minimum wage? Alright, all jokes aside, this is
ridiculous, the signs might say one thing but it reads another,
something like "if you play enough on the website, you will be like one
of these bums."
