Los Angeles Times looks at the record industry's foray into consumer generated media (and what it can do for their star generated media). Last year, Epic Records held a contest offering fans a chance to help create a video for Colombian pop diva Shakira. The contest yielded some 500 submissions of fans lip-syncing and booty-shaking in extremis that were spliced together by a professional editor to create a single …
Kevin Roberts Just Wants To Connect
Kevin Roberts, CEO Worldwide of Saatchi & Saatchi and author of Lovemarks, quietly entered the bloatosphere last month with a Blogger site called KR Connect. Earlier this week he regaled us with tales of visiting actual record stores. Yes, this hep cat is old school. Whilst the music business goes through incredible turmoil, I’ve recently visited two of my favorite independent music outlets, Real Groovy in Auckland …
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Air Leaking From Vonage Tires
According to Wired, a federal judge today will decide whether to give Vonage an extra 120 days to appeal his ruling that the internet phone provider be barred from operating after a jury decided it had infringed on several Verizon patents. The ban would prevent Vonage from using technology to connect its online customers to the internet and would effectively put the company out of business. The Washington Post says …
Selling Chocolate Bunnies
Suzanne Powers, Executive Director, Strategy and Business Development, TBWA\Chiat\Day, New York was quoted by USA Today for a story on Easter-time brand promotions. Trend watcher Suzanne Powers says marketers are trying to associate brands with feel-good family time and occasions. "These times are few and far between, and marketers are trying to insert their brands," says Powers, executive director, strategy and new …
All Green All The Time
According to The New York Times, Discovery Communications, the cable channel operator, plans to start a 24-hour channel focused on eco-friendly living, as part of a push into the rising environmental movement. The company, based in Silver Spring, Md., will next year rebrand its Discovery Home Channel with a name that has not been selected but will reflect its position as the centerpiece of an initiative called …
Just Like Sugar, Kind Of
The Wall Street Journal (paid sub. req.) looks at a truth in advertising dispute between marketers that is anything but sweet. A battle between makers of artificial sweeteners stands to turn bitter next week, as a trial begins over what a judge has termed a veritable "sugargate." The fight pits Merisant Co., the maker of Equal and NutraSweet, against health-care giant Johnson & Johnson, which sells market-leader …
DIY Photog Puts Fashion In Focus
"Color on Madison Avenue" by Scott Schuman New York Post is running a feature on Scott Schuman, the man behind the lens at The Sartorialist. For the past year-and-a-half, Schuman has been snapping photos of stylish folk and posting them with pithy commentary at thesartorialist.blogspot.com, which recently hit a million monthly page views. While fashion blogs are popping up like cockroaches in a tenement these days, …
Vermont’s Fuse Lit
On March 28th, we published a post called Look A New Fiefdom about Omnicom's foray into sports and entertainment marketing. I podered how Fuse Marketing of Burlington, VT--a top 20 sports marketing agency according to Sports Business Journal--would take the news, given Omnicom's new name for the unit is Fuse Sports & Entertainment Group. Here's the answer: they're preparing for a fierce battle. Bill Carter, a partner …