Are You a Mother Lover?

No, not that kind of Mother Lover...

Have you noticed how the Mother's Day advertising has ramped up this week, since the holiday is coming up on Sunday? Have you also noticed the content of any of those ads?

"Hi, this is so-and-so from ABC Jewelers. When you're buying a present for your Mother from us, don't forget that your wife may be a mother, too, and she deserves something sparkly and new..."

OK, it's not a real ad, but it's almost word-for-word the same as one of the radio ads I heard yesterday morning. Wonder who they're trying to appeal to?

Oh, right...Men.

Between Valentine's Day and Mother's Day - two holidays when the men in our lives are expected to step up to the plate and present gifts of love and praise - I'd bet a majority of the advertising dollars are spent within about 7-10 days of the actual date of the holiday. (Don't ask me to provide any data on that, I have none, just personal experience)

Why? Because men shop at the last minute. I don't know about you, but my father hasn't ever bought a Christmas present before December 20th (and on the flipside, by December my mother is already preparing for my birthday in March), and my adult brother still requires reminder phone calls about upcoming holidays, birthdays, and celebrations. He heard from me just this past Saturday, and this is how our conversation went:

Me: Hey, don't forget Mother's Day is next Sunday, and Dad's birthday is the following Friday.

Bro: It is? (pause)

Me: Do you need me to buy cards now so that you can sign your name on them when you're home?

Bro: (Another pause) No, I think I can handle it.

Me: Are you sure?

Bro: (Another pause) No really, I can do it.

Me: OK, well consider this your official reminder so you'd better get on top of that, you don't have much time left...

Bro: Nah, I have a whole week!

Sigh.

Anyway, to all the Moms out there - thanks for everything you've done, and everything you'll continue to do. Love you.

AriZona Iced Tea - Caught in the Crossfire

AriZona iced tea is wishing they were in Utah right now. Or maybe Canada...

As Todd Wasserman of BrandFreak writes:

Iced-tea maker AriZona is experiencing some collateral damage in the immigration debate over a new law in the state of Arizona. Since the law passed, making it a crime for illegal immigrants to be in the state and requires police to check citizens for evidence of legal status, opponents have called for a boycott of the state. On Tuesday, a comic writer named Travis Nichols suggested—jokingly, we think—that consumers should also boycott AriZona iced tea because it's "the drink of fascists." For whatever reason, others took Nichols up on the idea, even though the brand, now owned by Ferolito, Vultaggio & Sons, is based in New York.

"For whatever reason, others took Nichols up on the idea..." I'll tell you why - it's because people are sheep (read: morons) and see only part of the story without looking into context. Sometimes I just want to shake them! Grumble, grumble...

Good thing the chairman and founder of the company addressed concerns immediately, noting AriZona's proud standing as an American company.



(Courtesy of BrandFreak)

2010 Census Advertising Recap

Did you get your 2010 Census form and answer the ten questions? Did it only take you ten minutes, as all the advertising promised?

We all saw the commercials ("We can't move forward until you mail it back...") and after looking into it a bit further there's some interesting information out there regarding all the paid advertising surrounding the 2010 Census.

Here are a few nuggets for you to chew on:

For three decades after the 1970 census, mailback rates fell sharply until the 2000 census. That was the first time the Congress authorized the Census to launch a paid advertising and public relations effort to help slow this rate of decline. We exceeded expectations in 2000, and we not only halted the decline but the American public increased their response rate. As a result the Census Bureau later in 2000 returned to the federal Treasury some $305 million in savings, partly because of this renewed civic engagement. The Congress and our oversight agencies generally applauded this effort in 2000, and encouraged us to do more for 2010 to help get a better count, improve accuracy, and hopefully again save the government some important funds.

We’re advertising again. The management equation on this is pretty simple. For every one percentage point we increase the mailback rate, we save about $85 million dollars of followup costs. This is a business proposition. We seek ways that get the message out, even if it is unusual for a Federal agency to do so. We spent about $85,000 on the Alaska trip to kick off the census, but garnered an audience from publicity (85 million) that would have cost 300 times as much in paid media (see earlier blog entries on the Noorvik trip). We will advertise on the 2010 Super Bowl, as we did in 2000. The Super Bowl is the top-rated and most highly anticipated television event in the U.S. An ad running once in the Super Bowl has the potential to reach 45% of adults over age 18. A thirty second spot on the top-rated regularly-scheduled show in America, American Idol costs $450,000 and is viewed by just about 9% or 10% of all households watching TV. The Super Bowl reaches 100 million viewers at a very efficient price compared to other shows.

To check out the rest of the blog post on the Census website, just click here!



(Courtesy of http://2010.census.gov/)

Sexiest Lamborghini Ad Ever

Yeah, I don't really need to say much else about this one. Check it out for yourself:



(In honor of my Lambo-loving brother, who I hope never looks as ridiculous as Frank Reynolds does in his Countach...)



(Courtesy of the Lamborghini Channel on Youtube)

The Facebook Juggernaut

I saw this months ago and forgot to post it, probably because I was busy playing Bejeweled Blitz...

The Facebook population is officially bigger than the population of the United States. And not only that, it's now passed Google as the most visited website in the U.S.

Holy crap.

We saw this coming so it's not much of a surprise, but still, the concept of a social networking website with more users than the U.S. has people is pretty staggering. All the information that's passed back and forth and "news" that is shared has obviously impacted the interwebs in a tremendous way.

Keep on rollin', FB...



(Courtesy Facebook and Digits)

Andy Bernard and Cornell - A Match Made in The Office

HA! Oh, Andy....

As an Office fan, I'll just say it's about time Cornell jumped on the Nard-Dog bandwagon! Read the AdFreak blog post about it here.

(Courtesy of AdFreak)

Fake front page brings paper Disney dollars, debate

By Alan Duke, CNN
March 5, 2010 6:47 p.m. EST

Los Angeles, California (CNN) -- At first glance of Friday's Los Angeles Times, you might think the Mad Hatter has taken over the newspaper.

Johnny Depp's colorful character in Disney's new film "Alice in Wonderland" dominates a faked front page, which includes the paper's traditional flag and two stories that appeared in the paper last month.

Los Angeles Times spokesman John Conroy said the "cover-wrap" was an "unusual opportunity to stretch the usual boundaries and design an innovative ad designed to create buzz."

Roy Peter Clark, a senior journalism scholar at the Poynter Institute, said tough economic times and lower ads sales have forced newspapers to tear down the ethics wall that separated a paper's front page from advertisers.

"The wall became in recent years a fence, but the Los Angeles Times has created a swinging gate," Clark said.

"What offends my traditional sensibilities is the notion that you would be willing to deceive the reader into thinking that this was the actual front page," Clark said.

Although Conroy said readers would not be confused by the fake front, several journalists in CNN's Los Angeles bureau did not immediately realize that the real front page was inside.

A Times reader who works for a movie marketing company in Hollywood said he felt deceived by the ad. He asked not to be identified because his company, which was not involved in the Disney campaign, deals with the newspaper.

"We propose these kinds of ads all the time but have never gotten them approved," he said. "I don't always agree with what we do."

He estimated that the ad would cost "well over $100,000."

Conroy would not disclose the price, but he said, "Our front page section is our most valued real estate. The ad was priced accordingly."

The use of real newspaper stories, published previously in the newspaper, to make the ad appear to be a real front page is another issue, Clark said.

"I'm particularly nervous about them running fake stories that are really real stories," he said. "That seems like a misappropriation of the journalism in the newspaper."

An online search revealed that the article on the left column -- headlined "To take reins on health proposal" -- was a slightly altered version of a story written by Tribune Co. Washington reporter Noam Levey. It was published February 18.

The second article, appearing on the right column of the Disney ad, was headlined "Major Afghan Figure Caught." The original story was published February 19, with the bylines of Times foreign correspondent Laura King and Moscow bureau chief Alex Rodriguez.

"If I had written one of those stories, I would be pissed," Clark said.

CNN has received no response from e-mails and calls to the three journalists.

Although they may not be pleased with their work being used in a movie ad -- without the byline -- they have jobs while many of their co-workers have been laid off.

The Tribune Publishing Co., the paper's parent, has ordered several rounds of staff cuts at its newspapers and bureau in recent years. Some have left in protest of changes in editorial practices aimed at boosting revenue, Clark said.

"There's been one editor after another that's walked out the door because they didn't want to cave in to pressure from the top to do the wrong thing," Clark said.

What he might have objected to five years ago, he could now accept it helps papers survive, Clark said. But not if it confuses editorial content with ads, he said.

"Every time I see a big ad in my local newspaper I send up a little cheer," he said.

When HBO paid the newspaper for a wrap-around ad last summer, for the vampire series "True Blood," it was not mixed with the flag or editorial content.

The Los Angeles Times drew criticism in April when it sold NBC the right column of its front page, where a lead story is normally placed. The network used the space to advertise the debut of its "Southland" series.

(Courtesy CNN.com)

Noooo, Don't Take My Colbert from Hulu!

Aw man, why do I have to get this crap news on my birthday? Click the title to go to the article...

Hulu Loses Viacom, 'Stewart' and 'Colbert'
Fast-Growing Video Site Fails to Reach Extension With Parent of Popular Comedy Central Shows

I can't stay up til 11pm to watch the shows when they're actually on (insert old lady joke here), so I usually watch them in the morning on Hulu before I head into work. What will I do now? Nothing goes with coffee like Colbert....



(Courtesy of AdAge)

Targeting "Life Stages" vs. Demographics in Advertising

It's becoming harder and harder to segment the population for targeted advertising based on traditional demographics such as age, gender, and location. There are just too many variables in the world nowadays that it makes sense to look more toward behaviors and stages in life as more appropriate indicators of possible buying decisions.

According to a recent study conducted by the USC Entertainment Technology Center, Hallmark Channel, and E-Poll Market Research, people are more affected by their 'life stage' than other factors:

The wealth of information captured in the survey reveals that individuals in different life stages can have very similar demographic profiles but different attitudes and media usage. For example, the 18 – 49 demographic group familiar to TV and advertising executives is made up of people in seven different stages, with College Students, New Nesters and Married No Kids comprising nearly equal proportions. Three of the life stages have a median age of 37 or 38. Yet when examining behavior, the life stages are distinct and exhibit clear differences.

Ch-ch-check it out here....

(Courtesy of AdWeek and E-Poll)

Yahoo! Wants to Take Over the Interwebs...

Well, maybe not really, but it sounds like they're trying.

What they have done is inked a new deal with Twitter that will allow Yahoo! users to see real-time tweets on all Yahoo! properties, and in turn allow Twitter users to tweet through their Yahoo! accounts.

This comes shortly after Yahoo! partnered with Microsoft last year to use the bing technology for internet searches.

Sounds like a well-planned interweb coup if you ask me....

(Read the full article here)



(Courtesy of CNN.com)