November 27, 2009
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I just knew something was off while I was reading a New York Post story about an Irish bar in Manhattan serving up drunken turkey for Thanksgiving. The story starts off believable enough: "The owner of a Midtown pub is serving Wild Turkey with a twist -- for Thanksgiving, he's soaking his holiday birds with booze." But then we get to the malarkey.
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[Editor's note: To the geniuses who came up with Aol., lower-cased and with a period at the end? Our copy desk has a suggestion of where you can stick that period ... uhm, right next to Yahoo's exclamation point.]
"Get up! Stand up! Stand up! For your fries!" That's what I'm hearing when I read this story about the Bob Marley estate reaching a deal with Hilco Consumer Capital. The deal would first focus on consumer electronics and health care, "which will likely feature skin-care products and herbal supplements. Also in the works, according to Hilco, are deals for a Marley-branded calming beverage, a video game similar to Guitar Hero featuring Marley's songs, and a chain of restaurants celebrating the music superstar."
A calming beverage, you say? Hmmmm. They're going to brand bong water before they brand bongs? Oh, wait, I've got another one. "Oh, please, won't you help me smoke, these bongs of freedom ... Redemption bongs, bongs of freedom."
What do you think would be some funny Bob Marley-licensed products? Or, if you'd like a bigger challenge, what do you think would be some TASTEFUL licensing deals for the Marley brand?
Today's social-media lesson comes courtesy of college football's Bowl Championship Series: If you know your product is universally loathed, Twitter is not the place for you. (Editor's note: This is a blog post, one involving social media and college football, so the first person who whines about "biased" coverage will be running suicide drills in south Florida.)
Building on previously branded programming efforts for clients like Wyborowa Wodka and Dell, Vice's VBS.tv has teamed up with Palladium Boots to show viewers there's apparently more to L.A. than meets the eye.
So Method soap wants us all to support something called the Household Products Labeling Acts, which would require makers of household cleaners to list the ingredients in their products -- "so you can decide what to use in your home and around your family." The assumption, of course, is that this is a winning proposition for environmentally gentle Method. Sounds like a good idea either way. But whatever. An even better idea is the video released as part of the effort. Not only is this funny, but is there a Bill O'Reilly joke in this thing?
As if the U.S. Postal Service's rate hikes weren't bad enough. Now traditional delivery is getting in the way of technological innovation meant to bring print into the 24th (and a half) century.
But it's OK. The labels peel right off. And the symbol appears again inside if your label is particularly stubborn. The five minutes it takes to download the A/R software and the traumatic memories of CueCat, on the other hand .. .
Dos Equis' "Most Interesting Man in the World" is a sword-fighting, ass-kicking international man of mystery. So what can one expect when the beer brand sponsors a "Most Interesting Show in the World" inspired by their enigmatic spokesman? A human slinky, blindfolded knife-throwing, and a live scorpion going down someone's pants, just to name a few examples.
A little Captain Morgan was a lot too much for the National Football league.
Over the years, broadcast networks have depicted such things as a doctor having his limb severed by a helicopter rotor (in good old "E.R."), or, more recently, a teenaged boy walking in on his divorced mom offering oral favors to a guy she picked up at a bar (ABC's "Cougar Town"). Neither did much to raise an eyebrow.
This Advertising Age and JWT white paper explores what multiple generations of American women want when it comes to family, work and life in the 21st century, decades after the women's liberation movement.
Too-Cool Apple Now Finding Itself on the Receiving End of Competitor Ridicule
Advertising Age Honors the Top Brands of the Year -- and the Brains Behind Them
Marketing Side Was 'Out of Control' He Says
The carmaker won handily in our reader poll, besting Walmart, McDonald's, Lego and Amazon
The Video Story of Dallas' Marcus Graham Project
2010 America explains what you need to know about the biggest consumer market-research project of the decade: the 2010 U.S. census. Demographics expert Peter Francese, author of this highly readable Ad Age white paper, analyzes what the census will reveal about the changing face of consumers.
Sponsored by ESPN. Join the world's leading media strategists for a celebration of creative thinking, innovation and a look at how the best are preparing for 2010. More
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