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? (viaAdAge)
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 Word on the blogosphere was that this put her in an unfortunate position, possibly costing her some money in withdrawn celebrity endorsements.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.
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]
40 million people have been Rick Rolled? I know I have been at least 5 times... Crazy that something which started only about 1.5 years ago in a 4chan chat room has affected so many people.
Here is another example of CultureJammers trying to make a statement about how advertising is cluttering the environment:
The ironic part? There's a shameless self-promotion piece at the end of the video, urging viewers to check out their site. Can't get away from us - advertising is vital.
I am very passionate and love involving myself in the community. I'm driven by my love of advertising, and social issues. I am the current President of my ad group, a Sunday School Teacher and volunteer with individuals with intellectual disabilities.
I enjoy being productive, having guests, and laughing. My big goal in life is to reconcile the differences I have with big business and social justice by changing it from the inside.
