from USA Today: Chevrolet will introduce an entertainment-system option on its Uplander minivan this spring that has hard-drive memory capable of storing 40 movies, 10,000 song tracks or basic video games. It will be offered in General Motors' other minivans by the year's end. Storing music and movies on the hard drive cuts clutter. "As the mother of two kids, you have CDs and DVDs floating around the vehicle. It's …
What’s Shrek Got To Do With It?
from Ad Age: Charging that the food industry's goal is to get children to eat unhealthy foods, Sen. Tom Harkin of Iowa also mocked the industry's attempt at self-regulating its advertising messages aimed at children. Standing in a Capitol Hill hearing room behind a long table crammed with food and toy products featuring characters such as Shrek, Spider-Man and even Barbie clad in a McDonald's uniform, Mr. Harkin …
Pack Up The Suitcases
from Business Week: Venerable luggage maker Samsonite Corp. has sold its 100-acre campus in Denver to a California developer for $14.16 million, creating questions about its future in the city. Founded in Denver as Shwayder Trunk Manufacturing Co. in 1910, Samsonite will continue to lease two buildings on the campus for a couple of years. It was not immediately clear Thursday whether the company would stay in Denver …
From The Ground On Down
Red Ink is running an interesting piece on Nike's Reuse-A-Shoe program. Reuse-A-Shoe is a key component of Nike's long-term commitment to waste elimination by helping to close the loop on the life cycle of literally millions of pairs of old, worn-out or otherwise unusable athletic shoe material. Nike Grind Rubber, from outsoles and manufacturing byproduct, goes into baseball and soccer fields, as well as golf …
Beyond The RSS Embrace
from Wired: Yahoo is preparing to introduce a new service that blends several of its website's popular features with two of the internet's fastest-growing activities -- blogging and social networking. Yahoo is testing the hybrid service, called Yahoo 360, with a small group of employees. The service is designed to enable Yahoo's 165 million users to pull content from the website's discussion groups, online photo …
One Love
from New York Times: The Pepsi-Cola Company, long famous for elaborate, expensive spots stuffed with celebrities, music and special effects, is forgoing them for the multimillion-dollar Pepsi One campaign, now getting under way. The TV commercials that helped introduce Pepsi One, which ran from 1998 to 2001 during high-profile programs like the Super Bowl and featured stars like Cuba Gooding Jr. and Kim Cattrall, are …
Shoulda Coulda Woulda
from Adweek: BBDO is moving its campaign for the Peace Corps to outdoor media, marking the first time the volunteer service organization has used that outlet, the shop said. The Atlanta agency's ad will be placed on billboards and transit shelters in 27 markets, including Washington, D.C., Philadelphia, San Francisco, Detroit and Atlanta. The Peace Corps relies on donated space for its advertising. …
Oh, Grow Up
from Manchester Online: Adverts featuring a giant blob of Marmite spread left children "terrified" and having nightmares, it emerged today. The TV commercials centre around a large brown "amorphous" object described as reminiscent of the monster from the 1950s science fiction film The Blob. Six viewers lodged complaints with the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) about the commercials. They said the adverts had …
