News Cut Category Archive: Marketing and advertising

As I posted earlier today, the Associated Press is running a series on the big bank bailout and so far has found that CEOs and execs of failing banks were rewarded with large bonuses last year and also that it's impossible for the average taxpayer to track what the banks are doing with their taxpayer.

Last week, Chrysler got a piece of the $17.5 bailout to the auto industry. A casual reading of today's Wall St. Journal reveals where at least $160,287.55 of it went.

On his blog, Mark Cuban writes:

Lets see, is there anything more idiotic than spending more than 100k dollars on a full page ad "thanks for letting me waste your money" ad? Does it make it worse that its a business publication where the readers might just recognize the stupidity of wasting money on ad dollars that doesn't even try to sell the product? How does it make the next unemployed Chrysler worker feel that their entire year's salary just went for a single, ridiculous ad?

Investigators are in Colorado today, trying to figure out what caused that Continental jet to skid and crash on takeoff over the weekend. Fortunately (I think we use the miraculously word too much), nobody was seriously hurt.

Whatever the reason for the incident, I'm pretty sure it wasn't this: Drag-racing jets.

As you probably have guessed, this is the slowest news week of the year. It's a three-day week. Stories that usually can't see the light of day, find a place on the news agenda this week. I can't wait to find out what they are.

Is this an idea that could catch on?

A teacher near San Diego is selling advertising on tests.

The ads pay for the cost of printing the tests. $10 for a quiz, $20 for a test, $30 for a final exam.

Let's think about this for a second. What other things can we sell advertising on to help generate some cash? How about the far left passing lane? Surely some Internet service provider would want to sponsor a 10-mile stretch here or there. How about the escalators in government buildings? Charles Schwab might buy the "up" side. I'm not sure how to market the "down" side.

After the 2004 election, I heard a lot of criticism from DFLers about these:

"The election is over," they'd say, suggesting that Republicans kept the bumper stickers on their cars to rub the Democrats' noses in it.

So this picture on MPR's Midday Web page today....

... leads to the obvious question: How long do Democrats intend to keep their bumper stickers on their cars?

The Web site MaverickLabel.com characterizes people and their bumper stickers:

The Gloating Winner - For them, politics is a contact sport and their candidate just brought home a Super Bowl trophy stuffed inside of the Stanley Cup.

The Bitter Loser - a close cousin to the Gloating Winner, except, you know, without the winning part.

The Terminally Lazy - Come November, when the leaves have started to fall, this person can't seem to find the energy to scrape the sticker off. Often, they couldn't find the energy to vote either.

The Angry Loser - Unlike the Bitter Loser, this one wants to distance themselves from their former-candidate.

The Neat Freak - As the name suggests, this person does not like having untidy things, like bumper stickers or even parking passes, on their car. However, because they are a good patriot and they needed to protect democracy, they did display a bumper sticker for at least Election Day

The Hipster - This person doesn't so much take their political stickers off, as covers them up. Now that the election season is over, it's time to add a new layer of stickers to the back of the old Jetta comprised entirely of bands with three word names or weird animal-adjective combinations.

As for lawn signs, that question is easier. State law requires them to be removed 10 days after the election, even if there's a recount underway.

A Minnesota businessman says he didn't mean to take advantage of the deaths of the family of Jennifer Hudson to push his product. But it obviously has turned out that way. He sent out a news release the other day asking if his product could've saved Hudson's family.

John Peters, of Browerville, Minn., population 734, said he got the idea while talking with some co-workers about the Hudson tragedy, according to the Chicago Tribune.

The end of the ad says the product is not intended for homes with children, which answers the odd question Peters asked in his news release. There was a 7-year-old in the home. So which is it?

(h/t: Tom Weber)

Does a state flag tell the world what a state is or what a state was?

In Oregon, the king newspaper -- the Oregonian -- is calling for a new state flag, according to the blog Visual Editors. From our listening post in Minnesota, it doesn't seem like a bad idea.

Editor Michael Milstein said:

The front carries the state seal, which looks crisp on stationery, but not on a flag. It's almost impossible to interpret from afar and tough to tell apart from Wisconsin's, Vermont's or a bunch of others that also have a state seal stamped on a blue background.

Like, ummmmm, you know...

The Great Seal of Minnesota features a bare-footed farmer plowing a field. The farmer's axe, gun and powder horn are on a stump. An Indian rides nearby. A nearby field borders a river and waterfall. Ladyslippers are also on the seal because they're the state flower, although the official state muffin (blueberry), mushroom (morel), fruit (Honeycrisp apple), butterly (Monarch) or bird (loon) get no love at all.

A citizen's commission came up with a new design in the '80s. The Pioneer Press also did what the Oregonian is now doing. Bill were filed in the Legislature as late as 2007 and the air seems to go out of the effort every time an alternative is unveiled.

Apple unveiled a new set of ads today in its long-running battle with Microsoft. At one time, we referred to this battle as Apple vs. the PC, or -- more accurately -- Apple vs. the IBM PC. Now it's a battle between hardware (Apple) and software (Microsoft).

Let's recap how this ad war has gone. Apple used the John Hodgman character to make PC a bad word. Microsoft responded with an ad campaign last month that makes PC not only a "good" word, but a symbol of diversity. Today's ad is Apple poking Microsoft for poking at Apple for poking at Microsoft.

It's a much more fun war to watch than Republicans vs. Democrats.

Bored by the same-old-same-old political signs? Then you have to give some credit to Rep. Sonda Erickson, whose billboard was captured on the little screen by MPR's Tom Weber yesterday.

Just for the heck of it, I looked at a satellite image of Erickson's neighborhood. I'm thinking there might be some environmental reasons for not drilling there.

If you see a really creative approach to political advertising, send it to me.

Related: Justin Heideman at the Walker Art Center sent along a reminder of the Walker's project for people to make their own yard signs.

What's the difference between newspaper Web sites and the dead-trees version? The New York Times would never allow this on their dead trees version.

It's a pretty funny bit, though, as most of the John Hodgman-Justin Long Mac ads are.

And the ads must be working because Microsoft has announced today that the Jerry Seinfeld - Bill Gates ads are being dropped in favor of a new campaign, featuring a John Hodgman look-alike.

I wonder what would happen if they turned the whole account over to the people who do political ads? Take a stab at it, post your version on Gather.com and I'll dig out a swell News Cut prize.

If you didn't know any better -- and, of course, I didn't -- you might have thought the state of Minnesota had gotten itself into the sports bookmaking business.

An ad in the Star Tribune this morning (left) announced the Minnesota State Lottery's Fantasy Football Print-N-Play game.

Here's how I saw it: You watch this Sunday's game and (using the example in the picture as an example), hope that the Miami quarterback scores one or more touchdowns, that New England's running back scores one or more touchdowns, Oakland's kicker hits a bunch of field goals and the Eagles' starting tackle sacks the opposition quarterback. Then you add up all the points that go with each event and hope it adds up to more points than your opponent's team (in this case, the number of points registered by Dallas' quarterback, Denver's runningback, Houston's wide receiver, and the Colts' tight end).

That game, actually, would be a lot of fun. It also would be illegal.

Here's how it really works: According to Lottery Director Clint Harris, the results are predetermined and the scoring is not connecting to any real NFL game. The lottery player just goes down both sides of the ticket and fills in the number of points for the results already indicated. In the example, I end up with 16 points. So does the opposition. I lose. Some fun, eh?

Harris told me there actually is one state where the lottery is allowed to make book on sports in the manner I described earlier. Montana, one of three states that was grandfathered when state lotteries were legalized, allows fantasy football wagering in its lottery.

According to its Web site...

Play slip wagers will be allowed until 30 minutes prior to the first scheduled game of the week (either Thursday, Saturday or Sunday depending on the week's schedule). From 30 minutes before the first scheduled game until 30 minutes before the start of the last scheduled game of the week, only quick pick wagering will be allowed. The last scheduled game of the week is Monday night, except for the last week of the regular season when the last game is scheduled for Sunday. Quick pick wagers will be randomly selected players from the eligible player roster finalized prior to the start of the season.

There is hope for the bald.

Reuters reports that New Zealand's national airline is planning on advertising a service to speed-up check-ins by tattooing the ad on bald heads. Each baldy will get $666 for two weeks worth of work.

There are days when Sun Country Airlines seems like the Saint Paul Saints to Northwest's Minnesota Twins. Trying harder and putting up a different vibe. A news release from the company suggests this is one of those days.

Sun Country is promoting its Minnesota Music Campaign, which features Minnesota artists on its in-flight entertainment. So tomorrow, it's holding what it bills as the first "concert in the sky."

Lorie Line will open the concert with a performance at the Humphrey Terminal, and Dan Wilson of Semisonic, Tim Mahoney, and George Faber will perform onboard the flight. Upon landing, an additional Minnesota band will be performing in the Humphrey Terminal. The Airline will host the 'Concert in the Sky' on a specially-scheduled Sun Country flight. Following the concert, there will be an after-party at Fletcher's Wharf at the Humphrey Terminal featuring the Maeflies.

But where will the flight be going? "The flight will tour around Minnesota for a total of approximately 2 hours - take off and landing will be at MSP only," Heidi Bausch, the airline's marketing coordinator said in a follow-up e-mail. Presumably, the flight will be packed with media.

For the record, I flew up to Madeline Island yesterday and my wife sang to me at points along the way -- not well, but she sang. I'm pretty sure that constituted a "concert in the sky." She was born in Vermont, however, so that may negate the historical aspect we were hoping for.
.

Every time you turn around, it seems, there's another story about how easy it is to "play" the media.

Here's one circulating today: The return of Schlitz beer. MSNBC, featuring an AP story, bit on the obvious press release-fertilized story this week.

Schlitz' owner, Pabst Brewing Co., is recreating the old formula, using notes and interviews with old brew masters to concoct the pilsner again. The maker of another nostalgic favorite, Pabst Blue Ribbon, it hopes baby boomers will reach for the drink of their youth, otherwise known as "The Beer That Made Milwaukee Famous." They also want to create a following among younger drinkers who want to know what grandma and grandpa drank.

Swell story. Bad beer.

It's also stale as the ad industry newsletter Advertising Age points out. The Schlitz folks tried the same thing in 2006.

It didn't work.

As the NBA draft nears, there is an overwhelming sense of doom among fans of the Minnesota Timberwolves. Judging draft talent is not the team's forte, as Patrick Reusse artfully pointed out yesterday.

Update 6:45 p.m. Minnesota's on the clock. Prayer beads getting a workout.

6:46 p.m. - Presuming the choice will be O.J. Mayo. I fear gleeful anchors announcing, "it was the Mayo Clinic at Target Center tonight," thinking it was the best lede ever written. MinnPost's David Brauer says if they take him and then don't trade him, we'll wake up to "Timberwolves hold the Mayo." It's a no-win situation here.

6:48 p.m. - Timberwolves select O.J. Mayo. Experts say he's the most NBA-ready player. He better be. "I'm going to bring some leadership, and determination," he tells ESPN. Plans to play point guard. Move over Randy Foye.

Update Friday 7:04 a.m. - Ugh. The Timberwolves did it again. They've traded Mayo to Memphis along with Marko Jaric and Antoine Walker and received Kevin Love (whom they considered drafting) in return. It appears to be another trade to get rid of high-priced players.)

With any luck at all, the team's new logo and uniforms won't be the highlight Timberwolves story of the day, but you never know.

The Minneapolis Business Journal analyzes the fashion:

The team's primary logo received a relatively modest facelift, including a splash of white on the wolf's face and sleeker trees. The word Timberwolves also gets a different font and converts from blue to white.

The Wolves first introduced that logo for the 1996-97 season.

The Timberwolves also unveiled a completely redesigned secondary logo that celebrates the team's 20th anniversary. The new logo features a wolf howling at the moon. The moon, however, is depicted as a basketball, paying homage to the team's original logo that featured a wolf's head in front of a ball.

"The secondary logo really throws us back to the logo we used initially and celebrates the history of the Timberwolves in this market," (TWolves marketing boss Chris ) Wright said.

The team is still selling merchandise with the old logo on its Web site. It's gear that screams Ndudi Ebi

(H/T: doodledee)

There have been a fair number of spectacular photographs and videos of late that have been found to be fake, and some of those who huddled in the News Cut cubicle cried "foul" when they watched this one 8 or 9 times today. (Chris Dall of the Bleacher Bums called it first.)

The video is -- as they say -- sweeping the Internet today.

Alas, it's fake. It's an ad for Gatorade.

But there is no mention of it anywhere. How does Gatorade benefit from the ad? Watch again.

Says shootonline.com

Some people learn by seeing, some people learn by listening. Which one are you? The prescription drug companies are betting you're the former.

The way the companies portray the warnings of side effects in their ads has been under scrutiny over the last few months. An editorial this week on AMEDNews.com -- a physicians' resource -- says:

AMA President-elect Nancy H. Nielsen, MD, PhD, recently described direct-to-consumer prescription drug advertising as akin to looking at the world through rose-colored glasses. It's an apt observation. Now-ubiquitous television drug spots leave a stronger impression of medications' benefits than their risks.

Now, how would they do that? By appealing to your vision more than your hearing. This week, I've kept track of the images on the TV screen and compared it to the audio from the speakers.

"If you have any sudden decrease or loss of vision or hearing, stop taking Levitra."

This was one of the only drug ads I saw during the week that didn't appear to mask the side effects warnings. Instead, it had a doctor explaining them. "When taking Plavix alone, or with other medicines such as aspirin, the risk of bleeding may increase."

"Sleep aids may cause severe allergic reaction such as swelling of your tongue or throat or shortness of breath." (Ambien)

"Evista increases the risk of blood clots and should not be used by women who have or have had blood clots in the legs, lungs, or eyes. Evista may increase the risk of dying from stroke."

"Don't drink alcohol in excess with Cialis. Side effects may include headache, upset stomach, delayed backache (?), or muscle ache."

And, of course, the ever popular...

"Seek immediate medical help if you experience an erection lasting more than four hours."

These two, apparently, are looking for the nearest clinic.