--------- RECENT BLOG POSTS ---------
Future: Product Placement in Dreams

MetaAdverse, In-Game Advertising Agency

Ethnographic Research on Packaging Usage

Fox to Offer Tweakable TV Ads

Consumers Willing to Pay for Relevant Ads

Media Literacy and Game of Advertising

-------- PRODUCT PLACEMENTS OF THE WEEK ---------

Seems like soon, every ad on TV will be a product placement
As more and more people are downloading TV shows from the internet, or getting themselves a TiVo, TV ads are going the way of the dinosaur, and being skipped over. The new hotness: Product Placements. Possible ways of exploiting peer-to-peer networks, according to the study, include distributing classic commercials for free, trial versions of software or branded entertainment content with a consumer "call to action."
http://www.adage.com/news.cms?newsId=44827

 
Product Placement Comes to Broadway
Product placement and endorsement deals have long been staples in television shows, movies and radio programs and even, more recently, on video games. But they have been rare on Broadway. Now, advertisers, casting about for new ways to attract increasingly distracted consumers, have turned their attention to the theater world. And producers, always looking for extra cash to offset rising costs, are receptive.
http://web.mit.edu/cms/bcc/2005/04/product-placement-comes-to-broadway.html

--------- WATCHLIST ---------

Fan Club Seeks to Revive Coke's Surge Soda
Surge blasted into the cola wars in 1997 billed as a 'fully loaded citrus soda' to go up against PepsiCo Inc.'s popular Mountain Dew. Surge is now considered the beverage equivalent of an endangered species. Karkovack is working to save Surge. www.savesurge.org -- featuring 500 pages of Surge testimonials and photographs of old Surge paraphernalia. It is an attempt by fans to save this discontinued brand by Coca Cola.
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=509&ncid=509&e=41&u=/ap/20050419/ap_on_bi_ge/saving_surge

Coke Sues Over Carafe Package
Coca-Cola Co., maker of the Minute Maid brand of juices, filed suit January 26 against Florida's Natural, Lake Wales, FL, claiming that company's 59-oz carafe container infringes on the patented carafe for Minute Maid's Simply Orange brand
http://www.packworld.com/articles/Departments/19130.html

Kraft Sued Over Alleged Gevalia Spam
A small California Internet service provider has sued Kraft Foods Inc., alleging the firm is responsible for thousands of illegal spam messages.  Hypertouch.com founder Joe Wagner said his company has in the past 12 months received 8,500 copies of an e-mail pitching Kraft's high-end coffee subscription service, Gevalia.
http://msnbc.msn.com/id/7602542/

Kraft's Online Marketing Is About Quality, Not Quantity
Consumer packaged goods (CPG) behemoth Kraft Foods has embraced online marketing, but it doesn't measure success in impression volume, but in impression quality and the level of customer engagement achieved.
http://www.clickz.com/news/article.php/3499396

Panasonic bids farewell to the US cellphone market
They are going out rather quietly, but Panasonic has decided to stop selling cellphones in the US. Why? Because none of the carriers will play with them.
http://www.engadget.com/entry/1234000427040805/

Barbie Battle Turns Ugly
MGA, maker of the Bratz dolls, is going to court in its battle with Barbie manufacturer Mattel, claiming the 'My Scene' line of Barbies is a ripoff of its popular line. Call in G.I. Joe. A doll war is breaking out on the toy shelves, and it's not looking pretty.
http://news.agendainc.com/mt-agenda/content/archives/2005/04/barbie_battle_t.html

Trouble in Toyland
The established toy-makers, need to take a close look at their branded properties, many of which are well over 50 years old.
http://influx.bssp.com/index.php?id=352

McDonald's: I Am Not Really Lovin' It
The Sneeze has, after wondering why McDonald's is so presumptuous as to assume everyone really lovin' it, offered up a few, less presumptuous versions of the burger chain's trademark tagline.
http://www.adrants.com/2005/04/im-not-really-lovin-it.php

------- OTHER NEWS -------

Watching TV Makes You Smarter
For decades, we've worked under the assumption that mass culture follows a path declining steadily toward lowest-common-denominator standards, presumably because the ''masses'' want dumb, simple pleasures and big media companies try to give the masses what they want. But as that ''24'' episode suggests, the exact opposite is happening: the culture is getting more cognitively demanding, not less.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/04/24/magazine/24TV.html?pagewanted=1&8hpib

China Unchains Ad Agencies
The industry has grown from virtually nothing in 1979, when the communist government lifted a ban on ads, to as much as $16 billion last year -- an increase of at least 20% over 2003, according to MindShare, a media buying company. By next year, China will be the third-largest ad market in the world, and the numbers are predicted to keep climbing as the nation gears up for the 2008 Beijing Olympics.
http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/bw/20050418/bs_bw/b3930088

Malibu and Beefeater bought as Pernod Ricard swoops on Allied Domecq
Alcoholic drinks brands including Beefeater, Malibu and Courvoisier are set to change hands after French drinks group Pernod Ricard and US drinks group Fortune Brands agreed to buy and split up UK rival Allied Domecq in a £7.4bn deal led by Pernod.
http://www.brandrepublic.com/sectors/marketing/article/471673/

Anti-Wal-Mart Group Rolls Out Nationwide Ad Campaign
Anti-Wal-Mart group Wal-Mart Watch took out a full page ad in Friday's New York Times bashing the sales giant for its treatment of workers. The ad claims that due to low wages and bad healthcare, Wal-Mart employees are forced to "resort to Medicaid, food stamps, and public housing" which they call the "Wal-Mart Tax" that adds up to $1.5 billion extra per year. People will always talk about seeing the suffering of others but they are much more likely to actually do something if they feel personally affected.
http://ad-rag.com/120338.php

Burger King Helps Feed Co-Workers Breakfast
In another amusing viral, Miami's Crispin Porter + Bogusky has created Need For Feed, a site that lets users try to feed their co-workers Burger King breakfast sandwiches with their mouse. It's not easy.
http://www.needforfeed.com/

KFC Brings Back 'Fried,' Colonel Gets Facelift
After years of being called KFC, owner Yum! Brands is finally changing the name back to Kentucky Friend Chicken.
http://www.adrants.com/2005/04/kfc-brings-back-fried-colonel-gets.php

Best Buy's Geek Squad Promotion Tied to 'Star Wars'
In an effort to help people who skipped work and school to watch the first 2 Star Wars prequels, Best Buy's Geek Squad came up with an automatic excuse generator.
http://www.geeksquad.com/absentee.asp

Pepsi Calls Upon Yoda
The Star Wars-ization of the world of marketing continues, this time with Pepsi and Yahoo hosting the "Call Upon Yoda" promotion. The tie-in asks site visitors to purchase various Pepsi products with specially-marked packaging and enter a code to the website to attempt to win $100,000 or other movie-themed prizes. Just for fun, you can also download an "intergalactic translator," which allows you to say anything in a variety of Star Wars-themed languages, play Yoda's Jedi Training games, or watch the further tied-in LEGO Star Wars video game trailer.
http://www.adjab.com/2005/04/19/pepsi-the-force-is-strong-with/

--------------- TECHNOLOGY ---------------

Sprint Sees Future in Ad-supported Mobile Services
Sprint announced many new opportunities emerging in mobile data services in the coming years, among them the chance to sell advertising on its mobile entertainment offerings. Data services and advanced applications such as payment by phone could eventually draw customers to a mobile operator and keep them from switching carriers.
http://www.infoworld.com/article/05/04/19/HNsprintads_1.html?source=rss&url=http://www.infoworld.com/article/05/04/19/HNsprintads_1.html

Visual Search Offers Opportunities for Brands
Mobot visual search solution which  relies on image recovery, pattern recognition, and image matching capability. The technology allows you to take a picture of a CD cover and immediately have access to ringtones and tickets related to that artist.
http://brandnoise.typepad.com/brand_noise/2005/04/visual_search_o.html
 

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MASTHEAD
Compiled by Ilya and Andre.
Edited and signed off by Ilya
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