Out of all the interesting things Laurel Wentz could have said about Dr. Pepper's new Hispanic ad campaign, "Inconfundible" ("Unmistakable"), this is the odd bit that stood out: Hispanics drink more fruit-flavored beverages than general market. Umm...- What do Coca-cola, iPod, McDonald's, and Red Bull have in common? They were all "first"—first on the market, that is. But it turns out being first doesn't matter, and marketing folks don't want to talk about it.
- Remember the Honda flying diesel engine ad we loved so much ("hate something, change something")? It won at the ANDYs, but Bob Garfield of AdAge thinks it'll bomb at Cannes because, "Novelty doesn’t sell anything."
- Girls in bikinis planting sun umbrellas in the sand: sexy, or just good marketing? How about both? AdAge explores the summer ad industry.
AdAge in 60 seconds: Honda's back, Hispanics like fruit
AdAge in 60 seconds: GM discount, Strattera no-go
Oooh, ad competition! GM, Ford, and Chrysler are duking it out this month over GM's "employee discount" campaign, which is driving (ha ha) customers out of the competitor's doors and into GM's.- The FDA is writin' em up this year. It's latest scolding goes to Eli Lilly, maker of the drug Strattera, for advertising the pill as a solution for ADD and ADHD, when really it's just for the latter. Lilly has to pull the ad, called "Videogame," ASAP.
- Ad agency Crispin Porter & Bogusky grabbed all three Kelly awards, for a grand total of one hundred thousand dollars. Mr. Bogusky says he'll "probably just keep" the money.
- AdAge quotes the FTC as saying the food industry's attempted self-regulation "is a 30-year experiment that has utterly failed" because, well, children are still fat. Them's fightin' words, FTC!
More Ads We Love: Norelco "Quintippio", Geico "Speed Racer"
Two more Ads We Love! (Somebody did a lot of TV watching yesterday evening.) You know how each year around Father's Day a zillion new shavers come on the market, featuring all the latest razor gadgetry? Three blades, four blades, silcone coated blades. Agh, it's too complicated! Whatever happened to the barber shop, the warm foam, and the straight blade? (Not that I'd know, I'm just going off of common nostalgia.) Well, Norelco has a funny new spoof spot on all those razor ads: The Quintippio Mega Shave, "fifteen extra large blades!" Of course, then it turns into a real ad for Norelco's Cool Skin shaver, but just ignore that and bask in the satire that is Quintippio.Continue reading More Ads We Love: Norelco "Quintippio", Geico "Speed Racer"
Ads We Love: Cattlemen's Barbeque Sauce
Saw this one last night while I was watching The Inside on FOX: A man is stopped in his truck as a herd of cows stampedes through the field in front of him. He glances over at the bag of groceries sitting in the passenger seat, at the bottle of Cattlemen's Barbeque Sauce propped on top. This is the part where I went, Oh No—They Wouldn't, Would They? Yup, they would. The man gets a funny little glint in his eye, and then slams on the gas. The commercial cuts off right as we're shown he's aiming straight for a few cows with his Ford F-150 (or whatever other big-ass truck that was). Totally tasteless, but you've got to admit, it is funny.
Apple and Sundance Channel in cahoots
First, you buy your music. Then, you download a few of Al Franken's rants. The new iTunes, due out in July, will be Podcast enabled, and the Sundance Channel has hopped on the Apple boat to secure a place for it's unique content. No doubt this will be a big boost for Franken's show, and a great way to promote other Sundance Channel goings-on. This is all part of Apple's scheme to make the iPod and iTunes more "radio-like," possibly to combat companies like Sirius and XM Radio. AdAge says "media entity," we say "world takeover." Go Apple!Finally, a little love for video games
You own an XBOX, PSP, and myriad other gaming devices. You snatch up the games before the ad on television is even over. You're almost a fanatic, because in order to really be a fanatic, you'd need to be the web-master of GamePressure's Video Game Ad Archive. Joystiq reported on this treasure trove yesterday, and we're mightily impressed: 2,480 video game ads, from past, present, and future. Joy! [thanks, Karina]
Previously on TV Squad: Ahhhhh! Enzyte!
More male enhancement. Sigh. But at least this time someone else did the ranting for me. Adam Finley at TV Squad introduces to his ire over those horrid Enzyte ads, in which a man ("Bob") wears a pasted-on smile and his wife bobbles her boobies all over the place. No, I'm not caring if "bobbles" isn't a word—I'm past the point of caring. Anyway, boobies, fine, but the weird, serial-killer smile isn't winning any points, and frankly, Finley wishes Bob Dole would come back.Poll: What ads do you love?
AdAge picks the Pepsi "Sumo" spot as one of it's best ads of the week. Other top contenders are Gatorade's Canadian spot for it's new drink, X-Factor, featuring a busted-up hockey player, and Calvin Klein's phallocentric "Eternity" spot. But what, fair AdJab readers, do you think deserves to be the best ad of the week? Tell us what commerical you've seen and simply love.
AdAge in 60 seconds
Wal-Mart's yellow bouncing smiley face? You don't buy it, but neither do a lot of other consumers. Turns out it's a even split on whether or not the company is the most or least trustworthy.- Procter & Gamble wades the waters in Cannes with 200 entries for products ranging from Luvs to Tampax. Kind of like betting on every number on the roulette table, isn't it?
- Again with the P&G: they're pulling the ads for Secret Sparkle Body Spray after it was pointed out that the spray carried the warning "Keep out of reach of children," and yet was marketed to girls as young as 12. Oops.
- How do you sell biscuits to dogs and their owners? Tell a true story about a one-armed priest.
- Forbes.com makes big bucks, bigger even, than it's print edition does. How's that possible? Well, it's free.
Previously on Cinematical: Indiana Jones title sucks
Indiana Jones and the Opal of the Mer-man Prince? Oh. My. God. Whoever thought of this title obviously doesn't realize the power of a decently titled film. But! Guess what! It was just a joke. And a pretty good one at that—the fake title spun enough heads to get the public talking about exactly what a horrible title it was, and by the time George Lucas stepped forward to explain what a great sense of humour Harrison Ford has, the internet press had jumped all over it. Now we're just waiting to hear what the real title is, and wringing our hands as to whether or not the actual film has anything to do with a mer-man.Ads we hate: Kia Sportage
"Start having a...great life." Stop singing that...damn song. If you've seen this ad, you know what I mean. Folks pass the keys to a Kia Sportage around, stranding themselves in the woods, at stoplights, parking lots, and cafes. I did a little research (okay, I just entered the song lyrics into Google) and came up with this. The song, called "Great Life," was written by a band/musician called Goat, and, get this! written to lift him out of depression. CityCynic seems to think it's catchy and uplifting, but uh, have you heard this song? (1) any song written after your mother commits suicide is bound to not have an "uplifting" quality, and (2) it's just bad. Rant over.Tweens again? Thanks Mary-Kate and Ashley.
I shudder to use the word again, but it's news, so I must. Okay, quiz time: What's got a comic book, a web site, trading cards, posters, stickers, ringtones, wallpaper, games, books, toys and backpacks, and is aimed at the tween demographic? If you guessed the Mary-Kate and Ashley brand, you're wrong. They've been spun off into a boy-tween brand called Riot Media by Robert Thorne, head of the M-K/A empire. And just in case you think their market coverage is a little thin, well, don't worry: they're also creating a video game and a television show, featuring a "back story about an evil circus and a heroic chimp named Riot." Wheee! Branding!On parole no more: Martha Stewart's Living
Just because you go to jail, doesn't me you have to suffer. Prime example? Martha Stewart. Her Living magazine has continued to make a comeback, and advertisers are no longer shying away in fear of that jailbird stigma. Ad pages in her magazine are up 40 percent: good news for Martha, more annoying for readers. And just to prove the comeback, Martha & Co. are contemplating a price hike, and a circulation increase. Whoopee for ad revenue!ESPN wants to be in your living room
Michael Sciannamea over at TV Squad reports that football-shaped TV sets are not a thing of idle fantasy. Apparently, ESPN is all set to go on it's own line of television sets, but all we can do is envision a sporty version of the Disney mouse-ears TV for children. In addition to the sculpted HD sets (I don't know if they'll be HD, but if you're ESPN, marketing anything low-end seems like a mistake to me) ESPN might offer special content specifically for purchasers. If this is the new wave of premium content, exactly how many TV sets will we end up with?Reality TV make ads the main course
"Stealth advertising?" I think not. But that's how Gary Ruskin (exec. director of Commercial Alert) described the integrated advertising on reality TV to the Arizona Republic. We think it's less stealth and more in-your-face: the American Idol kids zipping around in a Ford Focus, The Apprentice boys duking it out on a Playstation. Anyway, AZ Republic thinks that with DVR (is that all we talk about anymore?) usurping the standard television ad, reality television will take the helm. Hmm, maybe that's why reality TV continues to proliferate, even though we hate it.
