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Smart Strategies Drive Law & Order "Criminal Intent" (and Law & Order) to R
2007-12-04 16:10:00
Here's the result of Dick Wolf's perseverance and the value of great writing, direction and acting. And a very smart and unconventional programming strategy to move "Criminal Intent" to cable this fall (where it's done great for cable with 2-3 million viewers/episode). A local syndication juggernaut (great ratings) has also helped build momentum. Big news. I'm a huge Law & Order fan (especially "Criminal Intent"). Very positive news for the franchise and its fans (and boy have you tuned into my last posting on the program, thanks...please leave comments). This news gives both programs a chance to survive and fight again (more Vincent D'Onofrio, I hope). A lot more promotional spots on NBC for the shows. Of course, "Criminal Intent" will be reruns from the fall USA Network season. But new Law & Order shows.From James Hibbert at TV Week:"The 18th season of "Law & Order" will return with a two-hour premiere Wednesday, Jan. 2 at 9 p.m. Then, on Jan. 9, "Law & Order: Criminal Inten...
More About: Drive , Smart , Strategies

Trojan Condoms TV Spot "Evolve" Music?
2007-12-04 15:51:00
See the entry immediately below and take a look at the spot if you haven't seen it. There've been lots of questions about who wrote the music. For those of you not patient enough to scour your search engine here you go. iV music group created it. Steve Keller their CEO and Creative Director took an instrumental originally composed by Rivers Rutherford, built on its foundation, and wrote new lyrics. Keller is the singer...gossip says he did a scratch track (rough version) and the client liked it and went with what you've just heard. Fabulous stuff.
More About: Music , Trojan , Spot , Condoms , Evolve

Trojan Condoms TV Spot "Evolve" Now on Google Universal Search.
2007-12-04 05:16:00
Google's evolving Universal Search function which combines news, YouTube videos, books, images and more is becoming more and more helpful to me. I love getting videos when I just expect the typical written results. When I was Googling Trojan Condoms the other night for factoids for the Photoshop Contest featuring a Trojan Condom product placement, I ran into this fabulous spot which I should have seen but never did. What a way to break through the clutter. And what a great example of the importance of the music in a TV spot (see more above).
More About: Google , Spot

Law & Order Criminal Intent Programming Strategy of New USA Shows and Local
2007-12-02 04:53:00
This is another example of just how the world of network domination is crumbling. Soon...shows will move directly to the internet and skip cable. I love Law & Order Criminal Intent so I'm overjoyed that Dick Wolf and NBC moved the show to USA Network with all new episodes every Thursday night at 10 PM (at least as long as the new shows last before the writer's strike takes its toll). Ironically, in an amazing reversal, reruns may appear on NBC at some point down the road. More impressive, because the show runs on cable now, NBC Universal decided to sell the show into local station by station syndication for old episodes. The result has been a ratings bonanza, recently attracting 2 million viewers/week in syndication...with enormous strength in the women 18-52 audience (thanks to Vincent D'Onofrio, love the way he cocks his head and looks distant, and Chris Noth).
More About: Programming , Strategy , Local

Photoshop Contest: Product Placements for Trojan Condoms in the Film Knocke
2007-11-30 05:44:00
Thursday night is Photoshop Contest night. We're looking at product placements. This is a terrific sendup of how overblown logomania can become. All to overcome Tivo. And even if you don't like the placements...you've got to love that Katherine Heigl. Gnite.
More About: Film , Product , Trojan

The New Facebook Faces Advertising Problems (Monitoring Behavior) and an In
2007-11-28 05:15:00
OK...over Thanksgiving I had some long talks with some "classic" Facebook users--students from the same small group of highly selective schools where Facebook began in February 2, 2004. First at Harvard, then at the Ivies, then at the highly selective liberal arts colleges like Williams, Middlebury and the prestige universities like Duke and Stanford. Facebook then extended membership to anyone with a .edu mailbox and then, ultimately to anyone over 13. Yes, that means anyone from middle school kids to their fathers and mothers.And, according to my college friends...that's just not cool. Nor are websites like the one above from cool dudes like John Edwards.This broad democracy of membership is what bothers the college kids...they miss the good old days of 2004 when they were an elite band of college students or recent graduates. They don't want old people who are trying to be cool joining. So look out for problems when the membership blurs out through overexpansion.Next, there's...
More About: Advertising , Behavior , Faces , Problems

Turkey for Christmas Gone Mad...Not Turducken But Turgooponducheasnishuaich
2007-11-22 19:06:00
Ok...Christmas is a little less than a week away and I've been doing tons of research since my Thanksgiving post on Turducken (pictured above from a website with an alternate spelling). I know it's silly but there's a lot of written background online and on the blogs. It never fails to amaze me.I've found the ultimate Turk ey line extension (as we call it in marketing). All the bell and whistles you could want. From Wikipedia. "Some enthusiasts come up with the turduckencorpheail. This is a standard turducken, (Turkey stuffed with duck, hen, and cornmeal) which is then stuffed with a cornish game hen, which is then stuffed with a pheasant, and finally stuffed with a quail. Still others have pushed the envelope even further with the turgooponducheasanishuail, which includes both a goose and capon, in addition to the component birds of the turduckencorpheail. In recent years, another version called the turgooponducheasnishuaichuffguihagaga has been growing in popularity. It has al...
More About: Words , Nish

Happy Thanksgiving; Are You Eating Turducken Today?
2007-11-22 17:34:00
Just in time for Thanksgiving (or maybe a tad late...just saw the ad) arrives the Turducken, found as an Adwords match on my GMail this Thanksgiving morning. From the site at fmfoods.comProduct Detailed DescriptionTURDUCKEN = turkey-duck-chickenThis is an amazing meal. We take a whole turkey and de-bone it leaving only the legs and wings. The turkey is stuffed with boneless duck breast and boneless chicken, completely seasoned inside and out and stuffed with our signature dressing. The Turducken weighs 12 lbs. and you can feast on everything! What a deal! (Sic!)The Cornbread Turducken is stuffed with Cornbread Dressing and Pork & Rice Dressing. Feeds up to 15 people. Net Weight: 12 lbs. $49.95What great advertising enabled by Internet AdWords...making it possible for Turducken to reach me. As an ad guy I'd suggest getting the word "turd" the heck out of there. Turd is just never a great association with food. But...depending on how my meal at 4 PM goes, if it's boring I'm orderi...
More About: Today , Happy , Eating , Hank

Photoshop Contest: The Abduction of Psyche: High Art Meets the Cartoon.
2007-11-16 06:13:00
OK...it's late Thursday night and another weekly tribute to the power of Photoshop computer software...this time presented as before/after. Of course why not replace Cupid with your favorite cartoon character. More fun than rail thin fashion models and more engaging than the Dove women. Enjoy. Gnite.The original "The Abduction of Psyche" by Adolphe Bourguereau.
More About: Cartoon , Contest , High

Video of The Prototype Google Phone (or gphone): With an Intro by Sergey Br
2007-11-15 05:20:00
Buried in all the gphone Android development platform announcements is this video which presents a very clear idea of what a basic and more advanced gphone will look like before it's enhanced by developers. At this point very iphone like except it will be OPEN and FAST...huge benefits and, at least now, no emphasis on music.Also, a smart move on Google 's part to run a competition with $10 million of rewards for the best developer's products. Nothing like a good old contest to grease the wheels of progress. And the stickier the gphone is, the better it is when it becomes a fully functional adphone with information like you see in the Google Maps reference below. Shades of the original IBM PC, no?
More About: Video , Phone , Google Phone , Prototype

Google Now at the Gas Station Pump: Why?
2007-11-10 04:31:00
On Wednesday Google , continuing their General Sherman-like march to the sea, announced a partnership with a US gasoline pump manufacturer. That's right...a gasoline pump manufacturer. Believe it. Starting in December Google Maps will be available at 3,500 local gas stations (if they're cool enough) via an internet-connected small screen. You'll be able to scroll through several categories like hotels, restaurants, hospitals and landmarks. Select a destination and print out the directions. No AdWords here. But, in this application, coupons will be available. Now let's connect the dots...which very few reporters have. Take a look at the Google Map in the previous post below featuring the GooglePages listing of a restaurant near me. That, too, I'm betting, will be available at the pump. So...yet another application for the LBR mapping project. And, for you advertising folks out there, make sure to take notice that Google is now introducing COUPONS into their advertising arsenal......
More About: Station , Pump , The G

Google's New Yellow Pages Project: "GooglePages"?
2007-11-06 23:34:00
The screen above, taken from Google Maps, is one place where the Google Phone (I think of it as the Google AdPhone) is going to be monetized big time. This page is the result of a very new Google Labs program in test where Google has "local business reps" (of any and all demominations) gathering detailed business information from storeowners (hours, methods of payment, cute postage stamp pictures of the retailer or restaurant, etc.). Why test putting citizen armies out there? Well just think of this as a much more focused and more extensive Yellow Pages available, most directly, from a Google Phone (or even an Apple iphone indirectly connected). And... there's far more information than was displayed in the Apple iPhone map tv spot about finding and calling the San Francisco seafood restaurant. Then think about all the AdWords (or AdWord-like-objects you could sell to these retailers to support their listings). Just imagine going into the store with a Google Phone and showing your ...
More About: Sense , Project

Google Is An Advertising Company: Now Think (Ad) Phone
2007-11-06 05:18:00
Much, much truth in the quote below from Forbes. Despite all the detailed speculation about the Google phone, just keep in mind they're using hardware to protect and extend their ADVERTISING SALES DELIVERY SYSTEM. They see it, quite rightly, moving to a mobile market where they can be an even bigger player. Think GooglePages rather than Yellow Pages (more in coming days) and a ton of social networking AdSense advertising bound much more closely to the medium."The phone promises to fuse open-source software with Google's applications on a high-end handset. Rubin's team is building custom mobile-phone software atop the free Linux operating system that will bind the phone tightly to Google's online applications and advertising services, sources say. Software from another Google acquisition, Skia, will put a slick user interface on the package. Finally, Google will build all that software into a smart phone built by Taiwanese handset specialist HTC, according to a source familiar wi...
More About: Phone , Advertising , Company

Photoshop Contest: "Guess Who's Coming to Thanksgiving Dinner?" Norman Rock
2007-11-02 03:00:00
It's Thursday night and time for the weekly Photoshop contest entry. Thanksgiving is three weeks from today! Early this year. So in anticipation of the joy of family reunions, that annual feeling of being overstuffed, wretched excess...and the anticipation of the midnight sales starting in a few hours...take a look. This is the true meaning of a Rock well Thanksgiving through the lens of " Guess Who's Coming to Dinner ." The Tracy/Hepburn/Poitier film was released 40 years ago on the 12th of December 1967. Gnite.
More About: Contest

In-Program Ads on NBC's Law & Order SVU Tonight
2007-10-31 04:03:00
Just saw a first, at least for me...and it was surprising. A brief animated banner ad for the movie "American Gangster " including text/with a simple B&W graphic like the one above moved across the bottom of the screen. It appeared smack dab in the middle of two sections of programming and was interruptive as hell. Impossible to skip that ad.Now the networks/channels have been running promotions for their own programming for some time. And YouTube now carries its AdWords at the bottom of videos, but this is major step in prime time network advertising.Let me think about it overnight, and I'll add some more impressions in the AM. Gnite.Here's the view from broad dayllight. They're annoying as hell...but they did get my attention and since the buzz for the movie is good it did help remind me when, specifically, American Gangster was opening.
More About: Tonight , Program , Order

Why The Digitized "The Last Supper" by Van Gogh Advertising is Sacrilege
2007-10-30 03:29:00
First take a look at the post below and at the digitized painting site (blow up the mysterious knife holding hand indicated above). http://www.haltadefinizione.com/en/ Then consider this:1. Only 300,000 people can view the painting in Milan to protect it from further decay.2. On the internet millions can now view the painting in much greater detail than in person while soothing music plays. It's a true multimedia experience. And...a brand new way to view art.3. The internet version of "The Last Supper " is interactive...it's fun to enlarge specific areas of the painting (such Christ's head) or pan from side to side.4. The success of this should result in more large scale digitized paintings on the net ("The Mona Lisa", Monet's various "Water Lilies," Seurat's grand canvas "Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte" and so on....).5. So how do you use this in advertising?6. Well..not the way it's currently done in the remarkably unholy "The Last Supper"7. Google AdWords...
More About: Sense , Advertising , Van Gogh

The Last Supper by Leonardo DaVinci on the Internet Viewable At 16 Billion
2007-10-28 18:22:00
Learn much more from the offical site here. Check it out.http://www.haltadefinizione.com/en/An other amazing internet achievement. WIth the massive digitization of books from the major worldwide libraries (Oxford, Harvard, etc) surprised Google missed this. Think they'll be on the trail soon? What can you find in this picture nobody has seen before.More later.
More About: Internet , The Internet , Last Supper , Supper , Leonardo

Lindsey Rumored To Enter "Don't Die Lindsey" Treatment Program
2007-10-26 22:53:00
The ad below ran three weeks ago for a New Jersey addiction treatment center which offers the Prometa Protocols for alcohol, cocaine and methampetamine. What a strange ad story this is.Today, Star Magazine "moles claimed that Lindsay is under the care of Matthew Torrington, M.D., medical director of the PROMETA Center, an outpatient clinic in Santa Monica specializing in treating alcohol, cocaine and metamphetamine (crystal meth) addictions that is at the forefront of a major controversy within the medical community."?In my clinical experience, I have found the treatment to be very, very effective and an incredible aid to people who are suffering,? Dr. Torrington tells the weekly tab, ?but the lack of accepted clinical testing, say some critics, raises many troubling questions about the PROMETA program.??At this time, there is no peer-reviewed research that has been done on the treatment,? David Kan, M.D., a substance-abuse expert at the VA Medical Center in San Francisco, spills to...
More About: Treatment , Program , Enter , Gram

Photoshop Contest "The Inner David ": Making Art Safe for Children
2007-10-25 05:57:00
So expurgated...so modern. Ah g'nite.
More About: Contest , Children , Photoshop , David , Safe

Photoshop Contest "Fig Art": Making Art Safe For The Children
2007-10-25 05:49:00
I just love these as little baubles to amuse ourselves with at the end of the day. Enjoy. See what a terrific piece of software and an internet contest can do.
More About: Contest , Children , Photoshop , Safe , Photosho

Why Did Google Recently Purchase Three Social Software Companies: Dodgeball
2007-10-23 03:12:00
My previous post reviewed Google 's recent acquisitions of three social software companies and briefly profiled each one. Read it below. Here, as promised, is a more detailed discussion of the rationale for purchasing these companies.Dodgeball, Jaiku, and Zingku are all, in one way or another cellphone-IM communications. It's a market that's still quite open in the US.To understand the potential market size you need to look at Europe. Texting in the UK (the market we're most familiar with) is the basis of all cell communications for 18-26 year olds in the university market. Part of this is that prepaid minutes are much more popular over there than in the US and that you can send 20 texts in the U.K. for the price of a minute's conversation.Young Europeans text everything, complex plans, where to meet, news, even long conversations. On average probably 10-20 texts per day. And unlike here in the US, they're always on Instant Messenger.So if text becomes less expensive in Ameri...
More About: Software , Social , Companies , Purchase

Google Acquires Dodgeball, Jaiku and Zingku.
2007-10-19 05:37:00
What's all this about now as Google continues their rampage through new acquisitions to build their dominance of new markets. Here are three small, related companies Google recently acquired and promises to collaborate with by providing engineering muscle.Dodgeball allows cell phone users to know when their registered friends (and friends friends) are in the area via cellphone and online service.Jaiku is a Finland-based pseudo-blog where people post AIM-away like message updates. Posts can be made online or via cell.Zingku bills itself as a "supercharged mobile text and picture messaging service to easily send images, posts, flyers and polls."These are very cool companies--all designed, in different ways, to further Google's expansion of its cellphone and IM communications both here in the US and in Europe. Much, much more on these companies, especially Dodgeball, and where Google appears to be going on coming up here in The New Advertising in the next few days.

Targeted Video Ads on Google: A Better Approach from Blinkx?
2007-10-15 05:08:00
Blinkx is a small British video search company.The company released a tool Wednesday that lets online publishers place targeted text ads in any video embedded on a Web site based on the actual content of the video. That's a lot different (and may be a lot better?) than the Google approach you'll find above. Google figures out what ads to pair with a video based strictly on the video's title and any keywords attached to the clip. Blinkx software "listens to" and "watches" the video, then inserts text overlay ads based on the spoken words and to some extent, the images in the clip. That technology depends on algorithms developed by a longstanding Google competitor, search engine Autonomy.Here's an example of how Blinkx's contextual advertising might work: Imagine a teenager doing a podcast about a new digital camera. Blinkx software might create a text ad for the camera at the bottom of the video player, even if the clip isn't labeled with the digital camera brand.Blinkx Chief...
More About: Video , Sense , Blinkx

AdSense With YouTube Working Example
2007-10-10 22:09:00
It finally works...see it above. Notice the tie-ins to other stories on the page. I'd be a lot happier, though, if the player could be smaller.
More About: Youtube , Sense , Adsense , Working , Xamp

Signing up for AdSense with YouTube
2007-10-10 05:26:00
It's not hard...but it's also not working on this site as I write this. There is a message on the Google instruction pages saying videos will be live later today 10/9/09. Hopefully, you'll see an actual working example when you check this out.Here's what you need to do:1. Agree to the fundamental terms of the program, including very ambiguous financials for the site owner2. Sign into your AdSense account3. Add the last four digits of your phone number and your zip code4. Sign into or open a YouTube account5. Press a button that links them6. Choose a player size from small, medium and large sizes and player highlight colors7. Select whether you want Google to choose the videos based on an analysis of your site's content, specify keywords, choose from a list of categories or specify ads from a list of about 40 small to medium sized advertisers (Ford Models!)8 Press a button which automatically generates an HTML code and then add it to your website's HTML code (NOW...at the momen...
More About: Youtube , Adsense , With You , Signing

YouTube Videos on AdSense
2007-10-10 03:46:00
This is the start of something huge. Google takes a giant step toward offering television advertising. So...straight from Google's release:Posted by Christine Lee, Google Product Marketing Manager, Google AdSense Site 10/9/09Nowadays, website publishers realize that getting people to visit your website is only half of the equation. Growing your audience is important, but keeping your audience engaged and staying on your site longer is just as important, if not more so. This is why we're excited to let you know about video units on Google AdSense. Video units enable AdSense publishers to display videos from several YouTube content partners. The video units are ad-supported, and the ads are relevant to both the video and the site content, as well as unobtrusive. AdSense publishers and YouTube content partners will receive a share of the ad revenue, so video units enable both groups to earn incremental revenue.We're excited about video units because we see this as the first step in ...
More About: Videos , Youtube , Adsense

Arcade Fire at Randall's Island Review
2007-10-07 19:27:00
Great, great show last night at Randall's Island . Check back. I'm going to expand this review during the course of the day.Key impressions:1. Amazing performance from Arcade Fire . Very easy to forget that they've only released two full-length CDs.2. The performance was delivered with enormous conviction, enthusiasm and energy.3. Arcade Fire is earnest to the extreme... if they weren't so good you might make fun of this....but not here. 4. It says pay attention this is important. 5. The instrumentation (French horns, clarinets, violins, bells, accordions, combined with traditional rock and roll instrumentation creates a unique sound. They sound different. That's old news. But their sound is even more unique live.6. Savvy and sophisticated light show. 7. They need to mix Win Butler's voice up above the band. Very hard to understand the lyrics. And the lyrics are crucial.8. Best new song: "Intervention." Butler delivered with remarkable insistence.9. Best old song "Rebellion (Li...
More About: Review

New Arcade Fire Video: Neon Bible
2007-10-06 20:28:00
Debuts on their site today today to coincide with New York City appearance at Randall's Island tonight. I'll be there...more on that later.Watch the first 30 secs then start again and roll over & constantly click. It's great.http://www.beonlineb.com/click_arou nd.html
More About: Video , Arcade , Bible , Neon Bible , Arcade Fire

"Which Commandment Does Looking at Porn Break" in The New York Review of B
2007-10-04 23:52:00
This ad from Jugular, an ad agency in New York , broke today. It's for a book called Naked Ambition--a photographic study of the porn industry by celebrity photographer Michael Grecco. Certainly will attract the attention of those rumpled profs and the publishers at Cambridge University Press. Not your typical NYRB ad.
More About: Review , Break , New-York

What Should You Pay for Radiohead's "In Rainbows": $10 or $5?
2007-10-03 17:16:00
If you want Radiohead's new direct download CD (see 10/1 entry below) you'll have to pick your price. What should it be?Radiohead is letting fans determine the price they'll pay for their new album "In Rainbo ws ." But...maybe devotees are paying too much. According to a poll by UK music magazine NME, the average fan says they'll pay $10 for the 10 song download. No surprise, this is the existing pricing model already developed by itunes.Here's what making the average CD costs, according to the Almighty Institute of Music Retail (real name). At retail, the average price is usually $12-$16. To manufacture, distribute and sell in a bricks and mortar store costs about $6.40 per CD. Online distribution eliminates almost all these costs. That's why itunes is so tremendously profitable.Radiohead has eliminated even more costs by dropping their label (EMI) so there's no need to share costs or profits. They may be able to distribute an album for as little as $3.40 (The Wall Street Jou...
More About: Adio