June 17, 2008

Sordid, guilty pleasures of Sky Mall

Sheer genius. I want that Bigfoot thingie. I really do. Oooh. And that giant crossoword. And all the hose holders. I'm a sucker for those.

Posted by John on June 17, 2008 at 02:43 PM | Permalink | Comments (4) | TrackBack (0)
Categories: Advertising , Entertainment , Product placement

February 11, 2008

Will Ferrell smells like a turtle cage.

Semipro

Will Ferrell + Old Spice + Semi-Pro Co-brand + user participation = pretty fuckin' awesome. Check it. You really gotta hand it Old Spice and WK. This is one helluva brand renovation that's underway. Irrelevant and cheesy to irreverent and, gulp, potentially cool. One can almost drop Old Spice in the shopping cart without shame.

Posted by John on February 11, 2008 at 10:46 PM | Permalink | Comments (3) | TrackBack (0)
Categories: Advertising , Branding , Marketing to Men , Movies , Pop Culture , Product placement

October 14, 2007

WWLJD?

I place this in the "homage" category. Am I wrong? What would Leeroy Jenkins do? Either way, it's interesting that this is ad does double duty for two brands. Do you suppose the T-Shirts with, "I am the law giver!" are already printed? Come to think of it, this Toyota campaign must be created by nerds after my own heart. So far, they've worked in Nessie, meteors from space, a mechanized monster and now WOW.
 

Posted by John on October 14, 2007 at 09:56 PM | Permalink | Comments (11) | TrackBack (1)
Categories: Advertising , Brands , Games , Marketing to Men , Opinion , Pop Culture , Product placement

October 01, 2007

Product placement 25 years later.

Et

Last week, Netflix delivered E.T. to our door. The kids had never seen it, and it'd been years since I sat down to watch. I'd even forgotten it was in our queue. When Elliott starts dropping the Reese's Pieces, my oldest asked for some clarification. "Well, he's using the Reese's Pieces to show E.T. how to get to his house," I answered. Nothing much more was said at the time. The next day, however, my wife came home with a big box of the peanut butter treats. Seems the boys simply had to try some. Half an hour later, the colorful shells were being used to lead me all over the house to discover various caches of toys. Subsequently, the candy was officially declared as "our favorite."

25 years later and the M&M's brand is still paying for not listening to Steven Spielberg.

Posted by John on October 01, 2007 at 04:20 PM | Permalink | Comments (10) | TrackBack (0)
Categories: Brands , Entertainment , Film , Food and Drink , Marketing Trends , Movies , Pop Culture , Product placement

May 15, 2007

Behind-the-scenes with Bruce Campbell.

Here's a "behind-the-scenes" look at Bruce's latest endeavor for Old Spice. I think the original effort was better than the spot that goes with the above. The approach in the new spot itself isn't as refreshingly unexpected. Still, here we are talking about Old Spice again. And this behind-the-scenes thing is certainly a nice way to stretch the campaign. So, I remain a fan. And, truth be told, it's pretty much impossible not to enjoy watching Bruce Campbell sing a Duran Duran song isn't it?

Posted by John on May 15, 2007 at 10:02 AM | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBack (0)
Categories: Advertising , Brave New Marketing , Marketing to Men , Pop Culture , Product placement

November 29, 2006

Fake but real product placement.

Studio60

On this week's episode of Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip, NBC cross-promoted Deal or No Deal by having the real Howie Mandel host the fictional show (within the show) and then turning his fictional monologue on the fictional show into a fictional skit that was, in reality, a real promotion for Mandel's real show. Fake but real cross-promotion seamlessly integrated into the flow of the real episode (and, I thought, it was entertaining enough not to be glaring).

Last week, the staff (of the fake show) discussed a new set that would be made up of the kinds of billboards that one spys on the real Sunset Strip. They (the characters) decided they'd sell those fake billboards (on the fictional show's fictional set) to fictional sponsors to save the fictional show's (and the fictional network's) budget. So, now I'm wondering if we'll see that new set on a future episode of the real show featuring fictional sponsors for the fictional show that are, in actuality, real sponsors for the real show. In other words, real product placement within the fake show for the benefit real show and real network which has, of late, talked about its own real budget-cutting measures.

Sheesh, it's getting hard to keep track.

Updated for additional content.

Posted by John on November 29, 2006 at 01:09 PM | Permalink | Comments (9) | TrackBack (0)
Categories: Brave New Marketing , Entertainment , Pop Culture , Product placement , Television

October 15, 2006

Football player talks smack on Madden.

Albright_sucks NFL players can be brands in and of themselves. As such, they have every right to protect those brands.  Ethan Albright, long snapper for the Washington Redskins, was the worst rated player in the new Madden '07 game. It's a distinction no one really wants.

Hence the need for this decidedly non-work safe diatribe that takes a powerful stand for the Albright brand.

So, okay, it's clear Mr. Albright didn't really write the screed.  But it's much more fun just to pretend that he did.

You go, Ethan.

Posted by John on October 15, 2006 at 07:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBack (0)
Categories: Entertainment , Pop Culture , Product placement , Sports

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