New York Times advertising critic, Stuart Elliot, today explores the staying power and charm of ensemble casts in advertising. Last month, BBDO New York introduced a campaign for Sierra Mist lemon-lime soda, sold by the Pepsi-Cola North America division of PepsiCo, that is centered on an ensemble cast called "The Mist-Takes." There are five comedians, featured in a dozen television commercials as well as on posters …
My Pocket Protector Can Beat Up Your Pocket Protector
I love discovering new blogs of substance. Especially when they have charming names like We Make Money Not Art. Here's an interesting piece lifted from R …
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Putting A Happy Face On Brand America
Saying that U.S. public diplomacy must do a better job, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has announced President Bush …
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A Big Phat Hard-Drive On Wheels
from USA Today: Chevrolet will introduce an entertainment-system option on its Uplander minivan this spring that has hard-drive memory capable of storing 40 movies, 10,000 song tracks or basic video games. It will be offered in General Motors' other minivans by the year's end. Storing music and movies on the hard drive cuts clutter. "As the mother of two kids, you have CDs and DVDs floating around the vehicle. It's …
What’s Shrek Got To Do With It?
from Ad Age: Charging that the food industry's goal is to get children to eat unhealthy foods, Sen. Tom Harkin of Iowa also mocked the industry's attempt at self-regulating its advertising messages aimed at children. Standing in a Capitol Hill hearing room behind a long table crammed with food and toy products featuring characters such as Shrek, Spider-Man and even Barbie clad in a McDonald's uniform, Mr. Harkin …
Pack Up The Suitcases
from Business Week: Venerable luggage maker Samsonite Corp. has sold its 100-acre campus in Denver to a California developer for $14.16 million, creating questions about its future in the city. Founded in Denver as Shwayder Trunk Manufacturing Co. in 1910, Samsonite will continue to lease two buildings on the campus for a couple of years. It was not immediately clear Thursday whether the company would stay in Denver …
From The Ground On Down
Red Ink is running an interesting piece on Nike's Reuse-A-Shoe program. Reuse-A-Shoe is a key component of Nike's long-term commitment to waste elimination by helping to close the loop on the life cycle of literally millions of pairs of old, worn-out or otherwise unusable athletic shoe material. Nike Grind Rubber, from outsoles and manufacturing byproduct, goes into baseball and soccer fields, as well as golf …
Beyond The RSS Embrace
from Wired: Yahoo is preparing to introduce a new service that blends several of its website's popular features with two of the internet's fastest-growing activities -- blogging and social networking. Yahoo is testing the hybrid service, called Yahoo 360, with a small group of employees. The service is designed to enable Yahoo's 165 million users to pull content from the website's discussion groups, online photo …