Seattle Times reporter Nick Perry looks at an academic response to our always-on media culture. It's tough tuning out in today's world. Just ask a dozen communications students at Seattle University who attempted a 96-hour media-deprivation experiment: No listening to iPods or car radios. No checking e-mail. No chatting on cell phones. No surfing Web sites such as MySpace or Facebook. No watching "Desperate …
Just Do It A Little Cheaper
BusinessWeek reports on Nike's new Tailwind brand, an attempt to go "downmarket" (read: cheap shoes for cheap people.) Produced by the wholly owned Nike subsidiary, Exeter Brand Group, Tailwind, as the new brand is called, is a fashion-conscious line of footwear, officially launching in three Payless stores in Manhattan and Brooklyn on Tuesday. Initially, the line will be available in 400 stores in select markets, …
Gap Takes $40 Mil Hit
According to The Wall Street Journal, Gap, of San Francisco, opened 19 Forth & Towne stores over the past 18 months in a bid to tap the baby-boomer market, long considered underserved by women's clothing stores that tended to focus on teens and young adults. But the move failed, and now Gap is closing the chain to refocus on its core brands. Gap has also recently launched Piperlime, a shoe Web site that sells other …
Fake Tits, Fake Rolex, Fake Friends…
Unhappy with the quality of your virtual friends on MySpace? No problem. You can fix it by subscribing to FakeYourSpace.com. According to The New York Times, FakeYourSpace will enhance your page with photographs and comments from hired “friends” — mainly attractive models — for 99 cents a month each. Founder of the service Brant Walker, 26, of San Diego runs the site from his home. He said the idea came to him when …
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The Greening Of Brandlandia
Financial Times reports that companies are increasingly looking to make green claims in the face of heightened consumer scrutiny. The heads of AMV BBDO, JWT, Ogilvy, RKCR/Y&R and Saatchi & Saatchi have told the FT they believe green advertising will grow in the next 12 months. The agencies say environmental branding has risen up boards' agendas, and point to the spate of recent rival green announcements in the …
Hyundai Down Under–Loved, Hated, And Banned
My post the other day about The Richards Group losing the Hyundai account and their mediocre work made me wonder if other agencies around the world are doing anything cool for Hyundai. Well, I uncovered this New Zealand ad for my Santa Fe: Apparently, it won a Fair Go ad award--sort of a People's Choice kinda thing. (Actually, it won as a "Best" winner and a "Worst" finalist.) And it's now been banned in Australia. …
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The Apple iPhone Oscars Ad
In case you missed it: …
Selling To Your MySpace “Friends”
The New York Times ponders the question: is having a lot of friends on MySpace better than having a record deal? Tila Tequila, who has 1.7 million "friends" on the News Corp.-owned site is about to find out. Her new single “I Love U,” produced by the rapper Lil Jon, will be released on iTunes tomorrow. Ms. Tequila, a onetime model for Playboy.com rejected offers from record companies and is hoping that her MySpace …