Ever Wonder How Infomercial Products Get Started?

Here is a great article about the products you see on those thirty-minute informercials. Who doesn't need a 50 gallon drum of Oxi Clean?

Publicity Stunt or Sampling Opportunity?

McDonalds will give away free McSkillet burritos this Friday and Saturday with the purchase of a medium or large drink. The fast food chain pulled this same stunt a few months ago with free coffee Mondays in order to allow the public to sample their new brew.

So you be the judge. Is this just a silly publicity stunt that's aimed for free press; which by the way they are receiving. Or is it a real opportunity for the public to taste their tasty McSkillet burritos? I say, it's both. By advertising this promotion, McDonalds is going to generate a buzz around the product, get you in the store for two days, and in turn watch the press publish articles next week about how many burritos they sold. For the next two weeks you will hear buzz around the McSkillet burrito.

I applaud McDonalds for this publicity stunt and believe more fast food companies should follow suit.

See the full article here at Adage.com

Study Claims Traditional TV Ads Less Effective

A new study by the Association of National Advertisers and Forrester Research is claiming that traditional television advertising has become less effective over the past two years. The results of the study will be presented tomorrow, February 28th at ANA's TV & Everything Video Forum in New York.

This is the same thing we've been hearing for the past two years now. Television is dying. The thirty-second commercial is done. Nobody watches television anymore.

This just isn't true. While I'm not naive enough to believe that television has lost some luster over the past years, I will not admit that television is dead. It is still the one medium where we can always rely on our news and information. The internet is of course taking over that space but stop and think to yourself, "what is the first thing I do every night when I get home?" You turn the television on. "What is the first thing I do every morning when I'm getting ready for work?" You turn the television on.

The media landscape is changing. The way we consume our media is changing daily. So don't be fooled by these reports that television is dead. Television is very much alive and will be for another 100 years. We just need to continue to find innovative ways to present this media.

Click here to read the full article at Mediaweek.com

Pacifico Chooses To Spend Ad Money Online

If you want to see Pacifico's fancy marketing then you will need to visit their web site. Pacifico is choosing to spend all of their marketing money online at http://www.mexicoviapacifico.com/. The web site features videos about living the beach life as well as drinking their beer. The site features everything from thirty-second videos to three minute spots.

CBS Reports Q4 Income and Revenue Decline

Television and Radio were both down in Q4 2007 for CBS Corporation but CEO Leslie Moonves is not quick to blame the writers strike. Although it hurt their prime lineup as a whole it helped them to save money on the costs of producing new programs. A new angle on the writers strike that I have yet to hear.

The article is here at NYTimes.com

Only 32 Million Tune In To See The Oscars

ABC may have generated an average of $1.8 million per :30 spot on Sunday evening, but unfortunately it was the lowest rated Oscars in the last 30 years. Which means they may be owing their clients a small amount of Under Delivery Weight. Jon Stewart did a marginal job of hosting but don't blame him, it was mainly due to a "weak" year on the big screen.

The rest of the article can be found here at Adage.com

Bar Television in Canada Begins To Attract Advertisers

I've been discussing out-of-home video networks for almost a year now and I'm still amazed at the amount of people who don't understand the industry. It is new media for television advertisers. All those clients who complain that their commercials are being skipped on television have the opportunity to reach their customers at the point of sale. Finally some large clients are putting their Canadian ad dollars to use in OOH Networks.

The Bar Channel is the brain child of Blast Media. Running on a closed circuit network the Bar Channel runs content mixed with advertisements as well as a ticker bar which displays time, and other news updates. This content can be strategically placed in geographical locations or can be broadcast to all networks at the same time. This also allows for advertisers to pick and choose the bars they want based on share gain and or demographics. Imagine if television advertisers were able to pick and choose the exact homes they wanted to be in?

Although cable advertising can zone specific regions, there are still over 250 channels or more to choose from. With the Bar Channel, there is one channel, all the time, at the point of sale.

"We've seen share gains in the bars where we've used it," said Terry Rudiak, who manages national sales for Molson-Coors in Canada. "So we're pretty excited about where this can go."

This is the kind of feedback that these out of home digital networks needs to continue to hear in order to be successful. Hopefully investors around the world will begin to listen and take note.

Click here to read the article at AdAge.com

Oscars Generates Ad Buzz

According to commercial value the Oscar's are the second largest television event each year, second only to the Super Bowl. With the recent writers strike, the event was close to being cancelled. Which meant that ABC would have needed to refund the $1.8 million per :30 spot they sold back in November. That's a lot of cash to come off the books in first quarter. Thankfully the strike is over and as they say in Hollywood, "The Show Must Go On."

The Oscar's are like the Female's version of the Super Bowl. While most of the audience that tunes into the Super Bowl is a male demographic, two-thirds the Oscar's audience is female. The reason this is so important, females make most of the buying decisions, so your typical household brands and auto dealers will be heavy hitters on Sunday evening.

Click here to read the article published by the LA Times.

E*Trade Super Bowl Commercial

"UpFront" Now Becomes Spotlight Event for NBC

Just a few weeks ago NBC was discussing cancelling UpFront. Now it seems the event will be larger than ever before. You can't blame their negative thinking in early January; the writers strike was going strong and Prime Time was on it's way to becoming Reality Time.

Now it seems though NBC is optimistic about their outlook. They made it through the strike with minimal damage. Programs such as Deal or No Deal, American Gladiators, and Biggest Loser helped to stay steady while other networks saw significant decreases in their ratings. NBC should feel like they are ahead when September rolls around. Programs that never had the chance to get off the ground such as Life, Bionic Woman, and Journeyman are still waiting to produce more episodes. Viewers began to fall in love with Chuck and we never got tired of The Office or My Name is Earl. So with new episodes waiting to be produced of those programs, plus the combined success of American Gladiators, and now another reality hit in the waiting, My Dad is Better Than Your Dad, the Peacock network should have quite the story to tell at UpFront.

So buy your plane ticket and do your best to sneak into the party in May because this years UpFront is going to be something to remember. I predict that 2008-2009 is the season that NBC turns it around and gets back to the top.

Click here to read the article at AdAge.com.

Networks Seeking Ways To Integrate Advertising

We've been hearing for years that the :30 commercial is dead, or at least slowly dying. And while many people have troubles picking a side on this debate, the argument is one that is gaining momentum. So the answer, slowly eliminate the :30, integrate some :05's, and increase the total number of sponsorships seen during the 30 Minutes worth of programming.

Click here to read the article posted by the LA Times.

Media Jobs Disappearing Each Year

If you want to work in the media world then you had better find your niche, and find it quickly. According to a study the Ad Age Data Center, 1 in 4 media jobs has disappeared since 2000.

More positions are available today in consulting due to new digital opportunities and emerging media. However jobs are disappearing due to these same reasons.

More jobs are being consolidated and large advertising agencies are finding ways to adapt to cut overhead. Although this can be seen as a negative, it's obvious that the consolidation and cut in jobs is due to a positive change in media.

Check out the full article here at Advertising Age.com.