From Lewis Lazare: In-bar product sampling, usually done with the help of a cadre of buxom babes, has been one way brewers try to spark renewed interest in certain beer brands. But Moosehead lager, and its ad agency Tom Dick & Harry Advertising, wanted to go a different route in the guerrilla marketing war to separate itself from competitors. So bar patrons in five markets initially are being introduced to a wacky …
Iowa Writer’s Workshop Grad Deconstructs McDonald’s TV
It's been a long while since I clicked by Cup of Chicha, a site I used to frequent. I certainly did not expect to find advertising criticism. But I did. Here it is: With “The Pinky,” my name for McDonalds’ latest TV ad campaign, advertising’s fascination with the hipster lifestyle comes to its final vulgar climax. Co-opting youth culture’s propensity for sign language (e.g., the finger-figurations for signing peace, …
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Support The Arts—Buy Modo & Modo
According to The Telegraph, the Italian maker of a small black notebook once used by Vincent Van Gogh, Henri Matisse and Ernest Hemingway has put his company up for sale. Mario Beruzzi's company Modo & Modo sold 4.5m Moleskine notebooks across the world last year, half of them in the United States. The notebooks, which have a pocket for mementos and an elastic band to hold them closed, were made by a French company …
You WILL Watch The Ads
From the AP: In this era of easy ad skipping with TiVo-like video recorders, could television viewers one day be forced to watch commercials with a system that prevents channel switching? Yes, according to Royal Philips Electronics. A patent application with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office says researchers of the Netherland-based consumer electronics company have created a technology that could let broadcasters …
7Up’s A Natural
From USA TODAY: Soft-drink brand 7Up this week announced that its original 7Up is now "100% natural" — following a reformulation to eliminate an artificial preservative. "Everything that remains in the can is from a natural source," says Kelli Freeman, marketing vice president. The label does not apply to the diet and other varieties. TV ads beginning May 8 will show 7Up cans as fruits or vegetables, being picked or …
Lipstick On The Pig
A Mercedes ad in the first issue of the Page Six magazine. The New York Times reports that advertisers at The Post receive better editorial coverage from the newspaper. This is far from groundbreaking news. I'm more interested in looking at how one page in a newspaper carefully brands itself, then starts putting out a magazine edition as a brand extension. Despite the scandal surrounding Page Six, The Post is forging …
Lazare Writes Copy For Brahms And Beethoven
When you read Lewis Lazare each morning as I do, you begin to see patterns emerge. And they're not exclusive to the man's take on the ad business. He tends to weave in quite a few stories about high culture, mainly of the theatre variety. Today he turns his attention to the symphony. Ravinia Festival President and CEO Welz Kauffman began his career in the classical music business as a copywriter in the Los Angeles …
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Rap About Meat And Win!
Internet Not A Fad
The Internet has become an increasingly important source of information for people at major moments and milestones in their lives, according to a study released today by the Pew Internet and American Life project. Here’s a snippet. We found that over the three-year period, internet use grew by: • 54% in the number of adults who said the internet played a major role as they helped another person cope with a major …
Caption It #17
Image care of Flickr user, harinipobox. …