USA TODAY is running a piece about brands trying to recreate the success of MySpace. Coca-Cola appears to be the most successful imitator to date. More than 8 million people average five hours per month on the site, where they can write about their favorite bands, mix and share music, chat and upload short videos. They can post under "vegos" — pseudonyms, short for "virtual egos" — and rack up points to buy Coke …
Me Oh My
The 1980s were known as the Me Decade thanks to Wall Street greed going mainstream. According to this New York Times piece, the tens might become known as the My Decade, if Madison Avenue has anything to say about it. My, my, my. Madison Avenue has become obsessed with using the word "my" — along with "your" and "our" — in advertising slogans, as well as in the names of brands, products and even a new television …
Safe Happens. And Apparently, Safe Works
USA Today reports that the new VW Jetta ads depicting car crashes are generating interest at the dealers: Volkswagen says that since the ads touting Jetta's crash safety began on April 10, requests for brochures are up 37% at call centers and 56% on the Web compared with the first 15 days of March, and Internet requests for dealer price quotes are up 58%. Here's a couple of questions for all you ROI gurus: Was VW …
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To The Consumer Content Is Content (Homemade Or Otherwise)
News.com covered a wide-ranging discussion on tech trends at the Milken Institute's Ninth Annual Global Conference, held this week in Los Angeles. While consumers' desire for home-grown content and social networking has grown with the rise of sites like MySpace.com and YouTube.com, so has their demand for branded content. "What's both exciting and frightening is the pent-up demand for video products," News Corp. …
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How Big Will The Online Ad Biz Get?
MarketingVOX reports on some exciting speculation from this week's Ad:Tech San Francisco. In his keynote address, Sequoia Capital Partner Mark Kvamme predicted that internet advertising would be a $35 billion market in 2008, nearly double the $18 billion predicted by the Internet Advertising Bureau, writes ClickZ's Rebecca Lieb. At the heart of his prediction is his belief that advertisers will see the value in …
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The Incredible Rise Of Marketing Services
Once upon a time in Adlandia, a marquis player like FCB would have swallowed up a direct marketing shop like a whale dining on plankton. Today's New York Times tells a different tale. One where agency holding giant, Interpublic, seeks a union of equals between FCB and Draft. Yet, when you look at what Howard Draft, the shop's founder, said in a memo to his staff he clearly hints that Draft is the hotter …
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BBC Wants Its MTV
International Herald Tribune reports on yet another old guard media institution seeking to take part in the rise of social media. The British Broadcasting Corp., the world's oldest public-service broadcaster, has said it will overhaul its Web site to include more user-generated content. It also aims to be the "premier destination" for unsigned music groups. "We need to rethink the way we conceive, commission, …
Corn Farmers Rejoice (Eco-Activists Not Bummed)
GM is promoting E85--a new ethanol blend that is 85% corn-based--and their own vehicles that run on it. GM says 1.5 million Flex Fuel GM vehicles can run on E85 today, and they plan to release 400,000 more E85-friendly vehicles this year. …
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