recipe for a popular song

have it played on a Grey's Anatomy episode

Free Ring Tones - No Joke!

My cousin gave me the website of Mobile 17, a place where you can pick songs from your computer and they will send you the song as a sound message to your phone. You can then save the sound and set it as a ringtone!

It's really cool and totally free. If you really want to pay, you can subscribe so when you are actually downloading the tone to send it to your phone you don't have to wait as long. The first song I downloaded took about 585 minutes to send to my phone, which sounds like a long time but you can just set it up and then leave it to work and then when you come back you have a new phone message!

Good great grand.

I sound like a salesperson for this website. Weird.

WOM Marketing...

Out of Home

So I went to the Advertising Women of New York (AWNY) Career Conference last weekend before I went home for Thanksgiving and actually saw a lot of cool stuff and learned a bunch. One of the things I really enjoyed was a presentation by Jennifer Greufe from WOW, and Alexis Luskin from Digitas about Non-Traditional and Out-of-Home Media. They explained what constitutes these types of media and also showed us really great examples of this stuff being put to work. One example of what I thought was a great idea was a transit ad on bus stops that were wrapped in bubble wrap. The copy read "If you think fun always requires money, think bubble-wrap." This was executed on 950 transit media locations, and they were actually able to measure people's response by counting the bubbles popped. This is a great idea because it's something that no one is expecting and it hits them at a time when they are just sitting around waiting for the bus to come, therefore it's likely to engage their interest.

Another great campaign they talked to us about was Nicorette's "No Smoking Day" where people dressed up as giant cigarettes were attacked and brought down by "craving control crews" on various streets so any passerby could watch the scene unfold. This is a great idea, causing a scene especially when dressed like an enormous cigarette is bound to get people to notice. And they did. The campaign increased calls to the helpline by 48% over the previous year.

These are just two examples of the many that these two women spoke about. One things for sure, with people trying to break through the clutter more and more these days, Out-Of-Home and Non-Traditional advertising are just begging to be used.

Update

My mom would like to clarify that she did notice the placement in Casino Royale, she just "didn't care."

Casino Royale: Starring Sony

So yesterday I went to the movies with my mom, dad, brother, aunt and grandma - happy holidays! It's how we bond. Speaking of Bond, we opted to see Casino Royale, the intensely long new James Bond flick.

It was pretty good except for the length, the fact that I wanted to be watching the Sabres game, and I kept missing my friend's calls about going out later (biggest party night of the year?)...

Anyway, Sony had a lot of products carefully placed in the movie. I knew this because my cousin kept leaning over and specifying what Sony product was being showcased. He thought the placement was a little "ridiculous," but obviously it worked. He saw it, didn't he?

My brother also noticed the immense amounts of Sony stuff in the movie, but my parents, aunt and grandma did not mention that they picked up on the placements. Is product placement reaching younger generations more effectively than others?

Someone should do a study.

Happy Thanksgiving

PS - I just realized the movie is by Sony Pictures. Everything makes sense now...

Sony Royale

a real life 30 year old virgin!

Use her for promotion purposes! Do it quickly, while she's still a virgin!

I found a post on Fallon Planning Blog that talked about Jane Magazine's efforts to get Sarah, an almost 30 year old VIRGIN a nice guy to deflower herself with.

They have a whole blog on their website devoted to Sarah and trying to get her to lose it before she's 30. Doesn't seem like it would be too hard to find someone... There are a lot of entries of men who sent in pictures and bios about how they are the right man for the job. Every week, there are picks by: Sarah's dad, Jane's Editor, and Sarah's Friends as to what man is right for the job. Is it just me or is it kind of weird that her dad is picking random men on the Internet to screw his 29 year old daughter?

But guess what? Sarah recently turned 30. And her goal, unfortunately, was not acheived. All I can say is: I don't really understand this whole thing at all.

Does Jane having a virgin blog make you want to read it?

Only time will tell...

Check out Sarah's blog for more...

Snickers Song - the Original

I love Snickers for lots of reasons. It tastes SO GOOD, and it has hilarious marketing lately... Have you seen the commercial with the guy wearing the wig made out of Snickers? Genius.

Anyways, they continue to amaze me with a contest that unfortunately is now in its final stages - I can't believe I missed the beginning! So the Snickers Satisfaction
Singoff asked people to write their own song about Snickers, perform it, and post it on youtube. There are three finalists now, you should check 'em out.

Adding to the allure of this contest? Nick Lachey picks the winner. I'm willing to put money on the fact that the person he picks as the winner will not look or sound like Jessica Simpson.

Putting Nick Lachey aside for a second, I'd like to salute Snickers for this singoff. Great use of the new obsession of consumer generated content, and the original Snickers song commercial (see above) is glorious.

Who do I want to win the contest? The superhero guy.

Catch ya later!

Adicolor - Cool concept...

As I was working on my marketing homework last week, I saw that Adidas' website had an intriguing little link about something called Adicolor. So I clicked it, hoping that whatever it was would be more interesting than explaining what I thought the exact length, width, and breadth of Adidas' products was... and I got more than I bargained for.

This is such a cool concept, originally rolled out by the company in 1983, when they sold all-white footwear that came with waterproof, fast-drying markers so people could design their own Adidas kicks! Now the solid white sneakers come with acryllic paints and the website gives helpful hints on how to paint your shoe to the fullest.

This is such a great idea! I don't know why I'm so taken with it, maybe it's the great website, maybe it's the funny weird music playing ON the great website, or maybe it's just the fact that it allowed me to escape from marketing madness (if only for a few hours...)

Anyways, I'd like to take this moment to say: Well played, Adidas. Adicolor is sweeeet!

ALERT ! ALERT!

Brit filed for divorce from K Fed! OH MY GOODNESS

This means two things:

We will never again see gems like this again :(

and

Back to the Future time travel really IS possible.

Yes it is, Kevin...

Oh well, the relationship was good while it lasted. And they were able to procreate. Twice. So I guess they did what they needed to do. Just gotta keep on truckin'.

Do penguins get the flu?

The upcoming movie "Happy Feet" uses the voices of stars like Elijah Wood, Robin Williams and Nicole Kidman, but that's not all it features. The movie is also doing promotional tie-ins with a pharmaceutical company - Roche.

This is the first time the entertainment business and drug business have merged (well, officially and legally) to create endorsements.

A website features creatures from Happy Feet as well as information on the flu, how people get it and how to avoid it... The site also gives people things to do to fight the flu - Roche's medicine is at the top of the list...

This is a very interesting idea...I'm not sure how well these ideas tie into each other besides the fact that when it's cold outside people get the flu. And penguins live in the cold...

But penguins don't buy flu medicine.

Anyways, The NY Times has more on the topic, so off you go...

Beautifully Done Real Beauty

Really cool viral video going around... word has it that this video has been more effective for Dove than their Superbowl advertisments last year. The main difference between the two in my mind? One's free for them to run! It's excellent.

Check out this article in AdAge that talks about how successful this one little video has been in spreading the Real Beauty message.

So far it's gotten 1.7 million views on YouTube and has been featured on television shows like Ellen and Entertainment Tonight.

Nice PR.

One thing's for sure, it beats the latest Secret Commercials...

Do the (RED) thing

The Gap has recently started working as a partner with Product Red, Bono's initiative to raise awareness and funding for the global fund. The profits made from the Gap Product Red will be going to help women and children affected by HIV/AIDS in Africa.

The campaign is being promoted by many celebrities wearing Gap apparel for sale including Steven Speilberg, Penelope Cruz, Chris Rock, and Dakota Fanning. There are several pieces for both men and women, as well as accessories that people can buy and a portion of the profits will benefit the Product Red fund.

The campaign is well done and they've used the celebrity endorsements well by taking provocative photographs with the celebrities toting Product Red gear. The copy of the campaign is also innovative and brings you into the issue.

Check it out at The Gap's website.