The Law in Times Square

The FBI has partnered with Clear Channel Outdoor, an outdoor media vendor, to launch an electronic billboard in Times Square to publicize their Most Wanted. This billboard is one of 1,500 billboards in 40 states. Since 2007, the FBI has used billboards to catch criminals and solve ~30 criminals as a result of these publicity efforts.

Since OOH / traditional media is on the decline, donating Billboard space makes sense... but what I don't understand is why they gave up such valuable real estate. Times Square placements go for a a pretty hefty sum, and the intended audience is generally tourists. Is it worth it to give this highly valuable placement to an ephemeral audience, who will barely be in the city long enough to catch / spot these criminals? Or would it be more efficient to donate a spot in a more residential neighborhood?

Google Billboards

Google is going to start selling billboard ad space in its street views portion of Google Maps.

I'm curious... since Google typically specializes in animated internet ads, will the ads on the billboards be static to imitate real life? Or animated, as a continuation of the physical to digital transition/balance? [via PC World]

Social Suicide

The Web 2.0 Suicide Machine essentially deletes any Social Media presence you may have. Not only does it sign you out of and change the password to social networks, it also deletes, one by one, all of your connections, claiming to "improve your relationships" and "get rid of stalkers."

"My internet life is dying, my real life is starting."

College Kids and Happiness

A lot of times, advertisers will try to execute guerrilla ad campaigns that don't necessarily align with the brand messaging. Coke, however, recently pulled off a truly integrated and relevant stunt.

Keeping with the theme of Coke's "The Happiness Factory" spot, agency Definition 6 installed a special vending machine on a college campus, basically acting as a "Happiness Factory" in and of itself.


Skip to 1:02, at which point the Coke executives grin widely and declare this a "success." [Via]

Multitasking

As previously noted, traditional media is trying to come up with innovative ways to slow and prevent its impending demise. This particular example is a nontraditional ad placement scanned from USA Today (via copyranter). Aflac's duck is silhouetted in the Stocks page , with a call to action on the bottom. The featured microsite features quasi-deceptive questions about health insurance, proving that "you don't know quack."

It's certainly a genius idea, though I'm not sure if too many people still check stock quotes in the paper. This also strikes me because it comes right after Aflac put its account in review, and is looking for a new agency. Why make such a bold move and fire your agency when you have such big nontraditional on the horizon?

Saving the Paper

Over 350 magazines closed their doors in 2009.

In true Darwinistic form, as our generation spends increasing amounts of time in front of screens, traditional media has either had to evolve or whither away. A few answers have included enabling mobile websites, social media, and "apps."

Recognizing the danger, Hearst Media, the media giant which owns Cosmo, Esquire, and Popular Mechanics, has fused digital with traditional to create its own self-serving version of Amazon's Kindle, called the Skiff E-Reader. In short, it's a Kindle for your Newspapers and Magazines. Now how will it compete with the upcoming Apple Tablet, and everyone else's digital answer to the dying traditional problem?

Brands Take On the Hollywood Walk of Fame

The Hollywood Walk of Fame, which is filled with starred tiles honoring celebrities for their show biz contribution, is opening the floor to sponsorship. Brands such as L'Oreal and Absolut Vodka have already purchased the iconic starred tiles for $1 Mil, with copy that reads "Friends of the Walk of Fame."

I find it odd that this museum, sponsored by the Chamber of Commerce, a Government Agency, is accepting money from outside advertisers. Although this is a genius, innovative media placement idea, it seems to be a slipper slope. If the Government can accept advertising from brands here, does this take away or effect their ability to make policy? What would stop them to opening other doors to sponsorship of other agencies?

Physical Manifestation of Digital Media

Lately, I've noticed that major digital media personalities and brands have started to migrate to traditional media. CollegeHumor went from digital content to two tv shows (1&2), Yelp distributes stickers to relevant businesses, etc. Therefore, it's no surprise that Google, in an attempt to (1) take over the world, and (2) gain more audience (to gain more advertisers), has leaked its digital personality into traditional media, with an integrated, cross-platform twist:

Google's Favorite Places is a hybrid of traditional (stickers) and digital (mobile + QR codes), which brings a whole new aspect to the game (and reminds me of this shirt). Expect to see more migrations and hybrids from advertisers thirsty for audience and innovation.

Competitive Media Placement

Apple and Microsoft ("PC") have been at each others' throats for a while. Whenever I hear about their tiffs, though, it's usually through trade pubs, and never through first-hand experience.

This morning, though, after browsing PCMag, I came across this homepage takeover, and realized the extent to which this war raged on.


Kind of ironic for PCMag to accept this buy. I've heard of different sites accepting ads from supposedly credible sources that turned out to be malware, but I'm pretty sure this was done on purpose.

Is losing credibility and selling out worth it?

When I Grow Up

This circulated my community a few years ago. It's interesting to watch it now because I have a much, much better idea of how the industry works than when I first saw it. I understand and appreciate it a lot more, now.


It's also funny because I used to desperately want to be in Account Services (1:53), but now I want to be a Media Director (:24) ... which, please note, is the only position without anything miserable attached to it. Thank goodness.

Fav part (1:07): "When I grow up, I want to be a Copywriter ... and lie awake at night writing the great American novel that will never get published."

Fly By Advertising

A company at a German trade show attached tiny banner advertisements to flies and set them loose on unsuspecting visitors, in a bizarre yet effective marketing stunt.

"One marketing creative's stroke of genius is another person's animal cruelty."

The banners, measuring only centimeters across, seemed weigh the flies down. This forced them to rest more often, which is a stroke of genius on the part of the marketing creatives: the flies end up at about eye level, and whenever a fly is forced to land and recover, the banner is clearly visible. What's more, the zig-zagging of the fly naturally attracts the attention because of its rapid movement. (via Kottke)

Having Fun at nFusion

My question for nFusion is as follows:



How do I get in on this??
Also, please note at 1:43, Longhorn and TAGger Celina Bonugli makes an appearance!

All Digital, All the Time

Southern Comfort has announced that in order to reach its target market of 21-29 year olds, they will be spending all of their budget online.

The ads began airing on Hulu, which allows viewers to choose their method of advertising -- pre-roll, mid-roll and post-roll. Spots are also running on Break.com, CBS.com, Comedy.com, Fox.com, FX.com, MyDamnChannel.com, NBC.com, Playboy.com, TheFader.com and Pitchfork.tv, as well as at Southern Comfort's Facebook fan page. (via AdWeek)



I have a feeling this campaign is directed mostly towards men... (I've never heard of MyDamnChannel, TheFader or Pitchfork...?) I'm also impressed Hulu has given the consumer the choice of how to take their advertisement.

Overall, this shift really excited me because as a Digital Media hopeful, media plans like this mean I will have a job for a very long time. Thank goodness!

UT Speed Networking

Professor Gene Kincaid of The University of Texas, along with his Digital Media Class, is coordinating an Advertising/PR networking event as a fun initiative to connect the Department's alumni and students.


All are welcome to come Thursday, November 12, 6-8p at the Pickle Research Campus - 3925 West Braker Lane in Austin, TX. For more information and to rsvp, please visit the Facebook Page.

Fruits of My Labor ... Sorda

While interning at Mindshare New York this past summer, I worked on several accounts including Lufthansa and Wisk. Even though I left in August, I still feel very much connected to my team when I see the plans we worked on come to fruition and hit the blogosphere.

I'd like to say I had a direct hand in these two campaigns:

Lufthansa-My Sky Status:


Wisk-Scrub Your Facebook Photos:

Both of these are ingenious uses of social media and relevant brand integration, and have gathered a lot of press coverage in the blogosphere. Way to go Mindshare (and specifically, my team on floor 2).

Feed Me!

One of digital media's biggest keypoints is the aggregation and distribution of content. Until recently, in order to get information online, users had to go to specific websites and browse around for new information.

Even though I've only been utilizing this feature for about 4 months, I am a huge advocate of RSS feeds. Basically, it saves you time, energy and patience by bringing web updates to you.



*At 3:20, the narrator says, "It's addictive, so be careful."

I'll say... My Google Reader subscribes to 68 different feeds... (and that's after narrowing it down).

Happy Birthday, DigiMed!

Today, October 27, is the 15th anniversary of the industry's first digital media / display campaign.

This ad for AT&T:

appeared on this site (Hotwired.com):

...And supposedly got a 78% Click Through Rate. That's incredible, considering nowadays we're lucky if we get a 1% Click Through Rate. We've come a long way since 1994... but in which direction? (via AdAge)

The Danger of Celebrity Endorsements

Recently, Serena Williams got in trouble for an outburst during the US Open, in which she threatened a judge. Word on the blogosphere was that this put her in an unfortunate position, possibly costing her some money in withdrawn celebrity endorsements.

While sports-related products may be weary, Tampax saw her anger as an opportunity:


Looks like she fared better than Michael Phelps, who recently got picked up again after being dropped for the whole pot-smoking fiasco. Apparently, as far as public image goes, being angry is better than being lazy.

Will You Marry Me?

People are always trying to find interesting ways to propose. Although mostly clever and succesfsul, this has lead to a lot of public marriage announcements that have gone horribly, horribly wrong.

In the following cases, these clever guys used advertising, through media both old and new, to publicly pop the quesiton:

Chicagoan Eric Anderson proposed to girlfriend with bus-stop ad [via AdFreak]

Fred Ehrhart used online banner ads to propose to his girlfriend, and asks tweeters to tweet-encourage her to #sayyesd [via AdFreak]

PayPal Expansion

This is the world our children will live in:



Can you imagine saying "In my day, we used to carry around dollars and coins?" Or how intense credit fraud would have to be to keep up?

Exciting/scary.