And the Oscar Goes to...
Watching the Academy Awards last night, you may have noticed something missing...from the Hyundai commercials.
Jeff Bridges, now an Academy Award winner, normally provides the voice behind the commercials; but Hyundai pulled him after he was nominated for the best actor award in Crazy Heart.
Stand-ins (or voice-ins) for Jeff Bridges, included Catherine Keener, Kim Basinger, David Duchovny, Richard Dreyfuss, Michael Madsen, Mandy Patinkin and Martin Sheen.
Hyundai walks away a winner too. The car company gets kudos for going along with the rules (the Academy limits any nominee from appearing in advertising during the awards), AND it now has a Oscar-winning spokesperson.
Beagle on a Mission
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Watch your heads as the Flying Ace glides down the parade route! That’s right, fans, in honor of the PEANUTS® 60th Anniversary, Snoopy™ returns to the Macy’s Parade making a record 34th appearance. Donning binoculars, an aviator’s cap, a pair of goggles and his signature red scarf, the Flying Ace is geared up for yet another face-off with the elusive Red Baron. The Flying Ace is the sixth helium-filled iteration of the canine Peanuts gang member, preceded by Millennium Snoopy, Snoopy & Woodstock, Skating Snoopy, Astronaut Snoopy and Aviator Snoopy.
Accompanying the pilot pooch from the ground will be his dog house, festooned as the air traffic control tower, and Woodstock as the air traffic control chief who guides the whooshing tail-wagger down the avenue. On the float, surveying the fantastic battle between the aviating hound and the evasive Red Baron, will be Charlie Brown, Lucy and Linus.
Fun Facts: United Feature Syndicate’s Snoopy the Flying Ace stands at 52 feet high, 25 feet wide and 49.5 feet long. He is filled with 15,000 cubic feet of helium. That’s a dog I wouldn’t want to be standing under on Thanksgiving Day. Just sayin'.
"Nattyisms"
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Coining new words and phrases as a branding strategy seems to be rising in popularity among today’s advertising campaigns. Natural Light, who primarily focuses on a target audience of drinkers aged 21 – 35, has created an entire advertising campaign focused on coined words and humor to give their brand a fresh new edge. During recent times, beer drinkers have been shifting towards cheaper beers. In accordance with this shift, Natural Light Beer, a division of Anheuser-Busch, has revealed its first television advertising campaign in Read more
Really Reality?
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Just flipping on your TV will open your eyes to the plethora of Reality TV Series on our stations these days... but just how real are these shows? According to a recent study, the average sized woman in the United States is approximately 160 pounds and wears size 14 clothing. Last time I checked, you don’t see these average women on TV. Nope, these “reality” TV series are cluttered with women who are all about a size 2…on a “fat” day. In an effort to put the ‘reality’ back into reality TV some television stations have taken a new approach to these reality series. Shows are now receiving names such as Dance Your Ass Off, More to Love, and The Biggest Loser. These television series aim to show the lives of real people, not size 0 or size 2 celebrities.
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Swim at your Own Risk
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Shark Week Returns
Summer vacation is drawing to a close, and the start of a new school year is just around the corner. Hopefully you have been able to take a nice, relaxing trip to the beach ... and survive. The time has come again for the annual terrifying, yet thrilling, Shark Week on the Discovery Channel. The 'fear returns' on August 2nd, 2009 with an action packed week filled with informative shark facts, attack stories, myths, shark tracking strategies, and much much more.
Conveniently enough, our family vacations usually fell around the first week in August, the general time for Shark Week to be aired on the Discovery Channel. Nothing says relaxation like curling up with a blanket and popcorn watching shark attack stories, only to fearfully head out on a boogie board the next morning. You know you have seen enough Shark Week when a plastic bottle floating atop the water sends you running out of the ocean shrieking with fear, convinced that the fin of a Great White Shark was lurking in your direction... Especially when Read more
Ode to the Blue Shirt
To some, Billy Mays was just a loud, blue-shirt-wearing pitch man used to sell products you didn’t know you really needed. To others, like every-day inventors, Billy helped dreams of success and fortune come true.
Billy started his career as a travelling salesman crossing the country pitching household items like the Ultimate Chopper at tradeshows and fairs. In 1999, he got his big break selling OrangeGlo on the Home Shopping Network. What followed included dramatic success with products like OxyClean, Mighty Putty and the Awesome Auger.
The TV show, “Pitchmen” humanized him and showed Billy as not only a sales person, but a savvy marketer and loving family man. What becomes glaringly apparent while watching the show is that it’s Billy’s personal brand that inventors are drawn to to realize their dreams. While building brands like OxyClean, he was creating his own brand standing for trust, quality and value.
It’s a success story built one commercial at a time…“As Seen on TV.”
Adios Analog
The time has finally come. On Friday, June 12th, 2009 we witnessed history in the making. On this day, a federal law required all television broadcast stations to officially make the switch from the analog format to the digital format. The conversion is taking place for a number of reasons. Some of these motives include; the fact that digital is a more efficient transmission technology, opportunity for improved pictures and sound quality, increased options in programming, and the freeing up of many frequencies to be used in more efficient ways.
The FCC (Federal Communications Commission) and the Government are working hand-in-hand to ensure that everyone is aware of the conversion, and knows how to handle it. Numerous information sites have been created in order to ease the transition for all consumers.
The originial date for the analog to digital conversion was set for February 17 or 18, 2009. However, the House of Representatives voted and President Obama signed the bill to postpone to switch on the basis that millions of consumers were unprepared. Prepared or not, the switch took place on Friday and we saying Adios to Analog!
To read more information about the switch and other news from the Federal Communications Commission, please visit their website! http://www.fcc.gov/
Contributed by Carrie Friedrich
Hilarious Movie Promotion
I was watching the Discovery channel last night and saw a commercial that still has me cracking up. The commercial was for an upcoming episode of Man vs. Wild with host Bear Grylls but featuring the comedian Will Ferrell as a special guest. The whole stunt is to promote Will Ferrell’s new movie “Land of the Lost” which is about surviving an alternate universe with aliens and dinosaurs. However, the strategy of promoting the movie by having Will Ferrell survive the wild in this universe is creative and hilarious! It’s also effective as I will definitely be tuning in tonight at 10pm to watch. Click here to watch the commercial.
Contributed by Evelyn Chapin
Why SyFy?
By now you must have heard of the Sci Fi channel’s decision to re-brand. As of July 7th, 2009 the Sci Fi Channel will be named the SyFy Channel. In addition, the slogan “Imagine Greater” will be added to the new name and logo (shown above). Rebranding is most obviously done when companies merge or if a brand develops negative connotations. So why is the Sci Fi Channel rebranding? From what I can tell there are four reasons for the name change.
Infomercial Brands: KABOOM!
I’m a sucker for an onomatopoeia –and KABOOM! packs quite a punch. This high powered bathroom cleaner (and ancillary products such as Bowl Blaster) uses aggressive naming to let consumers know this product is ready to show your bathroom who’s boss. The only thing that will get your tub, toilet and tile cleaner than KABOOM! is a vat of sulfuric acid and a wrecking ball.
And while I appreciate that some people may not want such explosive imagery around their toilet bowl, you have to admit, the name KABOOM! paints quite a picture when it comes to total soap scum and mildew obliteration. Plus, how much fun does Billy Mays appear to be having each time he says the products name? I want to buy the product simply so that I can yell KABOOM! with every pull of the plastic nozzle trigger.
So whether you appreciate the name, or it just makes you laugh, it’s certainly memorable. I’m glad to see that Church & Dwight is willing to use a name that can stand out from the sea of ho-hum descriptive cleaner brands on the shelves today.
Contributed by: Maghan Cook