News Cut Category Archive: Marketing and advertising

Even more Super Bowl ads

Posted at 2:51 PM on February 3, 2012 by Bob Collins (0 Comments)
Filed under: Marketing and advertising

Another round of Super Bowl commercials have been released before their debut on Sunday.

E*Trade's ad continues its streak of failing to invent a new word since Shankapotomous...

Century 21 will have you wondering -- again -- how Donald Trump ever made a buck in the first place.

Chevy trucks envisions a world where if you survive its near end, you still have to listen to Barry Manilow music:

Suzuki uses a familiar Super Bowl ad tool: dogs.

Indicative of the status and cult-like following Super Bowl ads have, Ad Week is going to live blog the commercials on Sunday "as we break down the commercials, pod by pod, animal by animal, monkey by monkey, crotch blow by crotch blow." That description sounds suspiciously like the Patriots defense.

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Super Bowl spoilers (continued)

Posted at 12:10 PM on February 2, 2012 by Bob Collins (3 Comments)
Filed under: Marketing and advertising

Let's continue spoiling the Super Bowl for people who watch it for the commercials.

More companies are releasing the "extended" versions of their Super Bowl ads. Today, it's Kia, because nothing says "buy a new car" like Motley Crew and women in bikinis.

GE goes all squishy with a tribute to people who build turbines in upstate New York.

Samsung makes fun of Apple fans...

How many of these will people actually remember? Here are last year's. You tell me:

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The incredible shrinking savings account rate

Posted at 11:54 AM on January 31, 2012 by Bob Collins (3 Comments)
Filed under: Marketing and advertising

A full page ad in today's New York Times makes us wonder today whether it's time for the advertising industry to figure out new ways to promote savings accounts in banks. "High yield" and .9% interest are not compatible, at least for a generation who grew from infancy to adulthood on a standard 5.5% regular passbook interest.

Last week, the Federal Reserve said it will keep interest rates low through 2014, meaning the average yield on a savings account -- 0.1% -- isn't likely to change.

For what it's worth, the New York Daily News has tips today on surviving in a low-interest world.

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More Super Bowl ads

Posted at 10:43 AM on January 30, 2012 by Bob Collins (2 Comments)
Filed under: Marketing and advertising

You just can't keep secrets in the ad business anymore.

More Super Bowl ads are being "unmasked," before they can generate any buzz next Sunday.

Last week a web site released the details of the "Ferris Bueller" ad for Honda. So Honda released it over the weekend, including an "extended version."

Ad Week's Ad Freak blog also reveals that Elton John and Regis Philbin will be teaming up for a Pepsi ad:

Elton John and Regis Philbin. John, 64, will appear with Amaro in the 60-second Pepsi spot, while Philbin, 80, will anchor a 30-second spot for PepsiMAX. The Pepsi :60 is described as "a rock-fantasy version of medieval times" with Amaro performing her own version of Aretha Franklin's "Respect." She sings "in front of a 'royal court of rock,' including Elton John's character, the King. The ad establishes Pepsi as the brand for people who are not afraid to take a chance, raise their voice and give it their all. It also highlights the fact that Pepsi has an irresistible taste worth challenging a king for. With epic Pepsi scale and a big dose of humor, the commercial ends with a twist and the tagline, "Where there's Pepsi, there's music." Pepsi fans who Shazam the spot during the game will see Amaro's accompanying music video. There's less info on the PepsiMAX ad. Presumably Philbin won't be singing. It will be interesting to see how Coca-Cola's bears, who'll be watching the game in real time, react to the Pepsi work. Active heckling, or stone-faced boredom? Behind-the-scenes footage from the Pepsi :60 is posted below.

Here are the details of the Coca Cola bears...

At this rate, we'll be denied the joy of surprise that comes with Betty White getting tackled in a football game or Roseanne Barr getting destroyed by a log.

By this time next week, the only thing we may have to talk about is the game.

Update 5pm Monday 1/30/12 - And another:

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Why wait for Super Bowl ads?

Posted at 12:40 PM on January 26, 2012 by Bob Collins (2 Comments)
Filed under: Marketing and advertising

For many people, the reason to watch the Super Bowl is not football, it's the commercials. Those days, however, are ending now that more companies are releasing their Super Bowl commercials in the weeks before the game.

Today, the Ad Freak blog looks at Audi's spot...

The spot, airing in the first ad break after halftime, features the new 2013 Audi S7 with the brand's signature LED headlight technology--which is the focus of the piece. It shows a vampire party in the woods being abruptly halted by the moronic blood sucker who leaves his headlights on after coming back from a pizza run--to the violent demise of those assembled. "In the spot, Audi LEDs--which at 5,500 Kelvin produce the closest recreation of daylight available--put an end to the vampire party, and perhaps, to the greater vampire trend in pop culture," Audi of America CMO Scott Keogh says in a statement. Talk about biting the neck that feeds you. The spot nicely uses "The Killing Moon" by Echo & The Bunnymen, and so recalls Donnie Darko, which used the same song in its awesome opening sequence. The spot was "unlocked" late Wednesday by Facebook users who solved Audi's social media contest called "Race the Light."

At least for this year, though, most of the Super Bowl ads will still be a surprise.

The irreverent animation firm NMA this week released this video showing how they're done...

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The legends of North Dakota

Posted at 2:15 PM on January 12, 2012 by Bob Collins (9 Comments)
Filed under: Marketing and advertising

The economy, as you may have heard, is great in North Dakota. It's a great time to be a stripper in the Oil Patch, for example. But you can't really make a tourism campaign out of that.

This week, North Dakota unveiled its 2012 tourism campaign, "Arrive a guest, leave a legend," although this particular ad suggests another slogan might also fit.

"The direction of Arrive a guest. Leave a Legend. offers the idea that once visitors cross the border into North Dakota, everything and anything is possible," the North Dakota Tourism press release says.

Anything.

(h/t: Stephanie Curtis)

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Crashed video in Saint Paul

Posted at 12:34 PM on January 10, 2012 by Bob Collins (6 Comments)
Filed under: Marketing and advertising

Saint Paul officials report that the ice has been made for the Crashed Ice "event" near the Cathedral this weekend.

It should be a great time as long as you don't plan on recording the event. My colleague, photographer Jeffrey Thompson, points out this clause in the event's guidelines:

Why is video not being allowed? Because while it's advertised as an event and a competition, the Saint Paul course is actually an elaborate set for a commercial for Red Bull, which is expert at using online media (There's also the issue of restricting videotaping on public land, but that's for another discussion).

Marketing is the name of the game for a drink that's all about energy -- high energy. Consider this video from Red Bull.

That's high-decibel, rock 'n roll, off-the-wall action, the kind that can come just by chugging down ... you know.

But it's unlikely what you'll see this weekend will be that non-stop furious and it's not good for the brand to have videos out there showing any long periods of inactivity between competitions, without the cymbals, the music, and the lights.

Take that away, and what is your brand left with on YouTube?

The recent jump by Minnesota's Levi LaVallee provides a clue.

You'd get this...

Instead of this...

It'll will be interesting to compare the video Red Bull will release next week, with the impression of those who attend this weekend. Yeah, I'll be one of them.

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Obama one step ahead in ad wars

Posted at 11:44 AM on January 10, 2012 by Bob Collins (3 Comments)
Filed under: Marketing and advertising

Last week I pointed out the front page ad of the Des Moines Register that made it appear an ad for Barack Obama was editorial content.

Check out today's Manchester Union Leader front page, in which the Obama re-election campaign has again purchased the bulk of the front-page real estate in a state where a Republican primary is being held.

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The marriage is off, the dress has been spray painted

Posted at 11:17 AM on January 3, 2012 by Bob Collins (17 Comments)
Filed under: Marketing and advertising

Fox 9 uncovered a fascinating story about an Edina bridal shop that closed, and destroyed its wedding dresses with spray paint, leaving wedding-gown experts aghast.

It would be fitting if wearing wedding dresses spray-painted with red X's suddenly came into style.

Priscilla of Boston Wedding Dresses Destroyed in Dumpster: MyFoxTWINCITIES.com

Priscilla of Boston became a prominent wedding gown retailer after it made the wedding dress of Grace Kelly. There are 18 other stores around the country that also closed. But, so far, the Twin Cities location appears to be the only one where it's confirmed the dresses were destroyed..

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Trio hopes squirrels will lead to Super Bowl

Posted at 1:41 PM on December 28, 2011 by Bob Collins (5 Comments)
Filed under: Marketing and advertising

Photo: Brittany Tarrolly (bikini model 1) Erik Sudheimer (Guitar Player) Tiffany Tarrolly (Bikini model 2) Mike Pinter (Bass Player) Michael Yaremchuk (Co-director)

Some pictures just scream, "what's the story here?". This one qualifies.

Eric Sturm of Saint Paul sent it along today. His wife, Tanya, took it during filming of a commercial that is one of 30 finalists to be played during the Super Bowl. A contest, sponsored by Chevrolet, will determine the winner based on viewer votes.

Sturm says the commercial, the work of Sturm, Michael Yaremchuk and Erik Sudheimer, is the only finalist from Minnesota, and he concedes that some of his competition clearly came from profession ad agencies. "I think it's like voting in a dictatorship, where everybody gets a vote, but the winner is determined by one or two people," he told me this afternoon.

The inspiration for the commercial, he says, was the grandfather of one of his partners who spent much of his time trapping squirrels and moving them off his property. "He'd bring them across the High Bridge and sometimes paint their tails red to see if they came back. Everybody seems to know someone obsessed by squirrels."

It took about eight hours to shoot the video last month and another eight hours to edit it.

Find the results here.

"One thing about living in the Twin Cities," Sturm says, "is how easy it was to find actors to come and work for nothing. We just put an ad on Craigslist and got about 30 responses, including women to wear bikinis outdoors in November."

How much did it cost? "Don't tell my wife," Sturm said. "It's about $260."

"I had to rent a squirrel suit"

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In advertising, Detroit sells

Posted at 1:15 PM on December 22, 2011 by Bob Collins (1 Comments)
Filed under: Marketing and advertising

Every year, the nation's big advertising agencies try to outdo each other with their electronic Christmas "cards" to clients and others. Most of them are usually -- how can we say this? -- exactly what you'd expect from people who spend the rest of the year making ads with singing toilet paper, talking fish, and people in bathtubs on the side of a mountain.

There's one exception, this year.

It's a fitting bookend for 2011, which started out with one of the most memorable ads of the year by also using Detroit as the backdrop.

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So many Internet deals, so little time

Posted at 1:30 PM on December 12, 2011 by Molly Bloom (3 Comments)
Filed under: Marketing and advertising

When Groupon launched in 2008, it was pretty much the only website offering deals based on the power of collective buying. Groupon has a patent pending for this model, but that hasn't stopped a slew of copycat websites from flooding the web (and my inbox).

They look the same, the deals sound the same and most have names that are made up of two words and no spaces. Why are there so many? First, let's take a tour of the crowded social buying field:

LivingSocial counts Amazon among its investors and they claim to be the fastest-growing company in the social-buying category. Today's deals for the Twin Cities include a 70% off a photo shoot, 50% off a manicure, and 50% off kids' acting classes.

DealChicken is brought to you by "your local Gannett newspaper or television station, which has been a long-time trusted member of your local community." In the case of the Twin Cities that would be KARE 11. Today's deal is 50% off Jakeeno's Pizza and Pasta.

GearBuzz is part of Competitor -- a company that puts on endurance sports events. Appropriately, this deal site specializes in gear for the triathletes and marathon runners among us.

Crowd Cut is based in Minneapolis and has a space in its name. At this point the site only offers deals in the Twin Cities and Atlanta. Here's this morning's deal:

And then there's Dealster, KGB Deals, HomeRun, CrowdSavings, Twongo, and EverSave. Or you could just go to yipit that aggregates the deals offered by 782 deal services.

But why are all of these sites rushing to get on the social buying bandwagon? Groupon grew incredibly fast and it looked like there was plenty of money to be made.

But things are looking a little more uncertain for the company. Groupon went public in November but it's stock price fell steeply over the first three weeks and was seen as something of a dud. LivingSocial felt the repercussions and will not pursue its own public offering anytime soon -- but then news of this delay caused Groupon shares to continue to climb back up.

But Groupon is under investigation in the UK for breaking advertising regulations. On top of that, Groupon has been sued recently by employees and merchants.

So while all these deal sites figure out how to make money and merchants try to figure out how to take part without going out of business, there are lots of deals out there for you, the consumer.

Looking for an ice house? Google Offers has a heckuva deal:

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How to advertise bad beer

Posted at 2:27 PM on December 9, 2011 by Bob Collins (7 Comments)
Filed under: Marketing and advertising

Comedian Will Ferrell may have hit on the biggest publicity stunt in the history of publicity.

Ferrell is traveling around the Midwest, making commercials for a beer nobody likes. He wasn't hired by the company. He's making them for free and posting them on YouTube. It's the best advertising Old Milwaukee, made by Pabst, could have imagined.

Yesterday, it appeared limited to Davenport, Iowa, where he filmed several commercials:

Then overnight, commercials popped up from Terre Haute...

It's impossible to figure out -- yet -- who the joke's on?

"Will approached Old Milwaukee because he's a big fan of the beer and thought it would be fun to make the commercials, and we couldn't be more excited that he did," Crowley said in a statement provided to the Indianapolis Tribune-Star.

That's a good one.

AdWeek thinks it might smell the plot...

First, an MSNBC report from 2010 indicated that Ferrell's Funny or Die site was planning to produce sketches incorporating Pabst products--as part of an effort by the brewer's new owners, the Metropoulos brothers, to revitalize a host of neglected labels. Nothing has yet appeared on Funny or Die, but these three spots could easily be seen as branded entertainment. Also curious is Old Milwaukee's recent refresh of its website and Facebook presence, which puts other grainy Old Milwaukee beer ads front and center--classic spots from the brand's history, including the Swedish Bikini Team (hailed on the Facebook page as "The Best Beer Commercial Ever"). Are the Ferrell spots supposed to hark back ironically to the brand's commercial heyday?

When it comes to marketing genius, it doesn't get any better than this.

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Fish House Friday

Posted at 5:47 PM on November 25, 2011 by Bob Collins (5 Comments)
Filed under: Marketing and advertising

Macy's Schmacy's. Black Friday. Crack Friday. In these parts, the after-holiday tradition is the Aitkin Fish House Parade, held every Friday after Thanksgiving. This year, of course, was no different.

The event, theoretically, marks the beginning of the ice-fishing season, though there's very little ice on Mille Lacs Lake and environs.

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When advertising offends

Posted at 12:00 PM on November 17, 2011 by Bob Collins (0 Comments)
Filed under: Marketing and advertising

The Vatican today said it will take legal action to block publication of a digitally altered image that shows the pope kissing an imam. It's the advertising work of Benetton, the clothing company which has made a pretty good living by pushing the advertising envelope.

"We must express the firmest protest for this absolutely unacceptable use of the image of the Holy Father, manipulated and exploited in a publicity campaign with commercial ends," Vatican spokesman Federico Lombardi said in a statement.

Benetton's "United Colors of Benetton" as campaign was shocking in its time...

This latest campaign has a certain familiarity to it... minus the whole "kissing thing," of course.

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Food marketing for the subconscious

Posted at 8:00 AM on October 20, 2011 by Eric Ringham (0 Comments)
Filed under: Marketing and advertising

There's this grocery store I love. I go there practically every day, some days more than once. I love the wide aisles, the civilized atmosphere, the deli section that caters so comprehensively to people who are no good in the kitchen.

But lately I think the store is trying to drive me crazy. Into every shopping trip, it's injecting little asides. Aphorisms. Injunctions. I'm beginning to think I'm hearing voices.

Hey ... over here!

This is part of some kind of marketing strategy. On the placards that advertise on-sale items - and I love the on-sale items - slogans have begun to appear.

Game on.

C'mon, grab one more.

The messages are unobtrusive, almost subliminal. They are printed in a font that imitates a human hand, and their punctuation is informal at best. Sometimes they appear all in lower case, as if grabbed from the middle of a sentence.

check this out

They are not talking to me. I understand they are not talking to me. But sometimes, just every once in a while, they seem to contain a hidden meaning that only I will catch. Like the Satanic Bobblehead on that episode of "The Twilight Zone," the sale signs seem to know my fears and anxieties.

To name one: At this stage in my life I don't need to be developing a taste for half & half. I've drunk my coffee black and tough for decades. There's no reason to start adding cream to my cart now. But last evening I went to get some. I felt like celebrating. And lo, the half & half was on sale:

Oh, really?

The sign was mocking me, just as the Satan Bobblehead mocked William Shatner.

Shake it off, I thought. Just get some dinner and head for home. Near the checkout, salsa was on sale. I moved closer to read the message on the sign.

The icing on the cake!

What could that possibly mean? How could salsa be icing on a cake?

I bought my groceries and headed home. But like the Satan Bobblehead, the signs are luring me back. I want to go see if the cake icing is on sale.

And if so, whether it has a message for me.

I'm fighting it.

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Why JC Penney needed Target's marketing boss

Posted at 3:13 PM on October 3, 2011 by Bob Collins (2 Comments)
Filed under: Marketing and advertising

Target Corporation lost its marketing boss to rival JC Penney today. Judging by the latest marketing gaffe by Penney, he best get there soon.

Michael Francis was marketing chief for the last 10 years, and, according to the Dow Jones News Service, "joins Penney at a time the retailer, like others, needs sharp marketing skills for the holiday season."

The announcement comes after this ad finished its run for his new company:

That ad comes a few weeks after JC Penney tried to market a sweatshirt that said "I'm too pretty to do homework so my brother has to do it for me."

The AdFreak blog says JC Penney has issued the non-apology apology:

Now, there's this dirty-old-man ad, clearly aimed at guys who remember the iconic stoner flick and might have replayed that Cates scene in their heads a million times. That was almost 30 years ago. Using the pubescent Cates now is not only weird and random, it's just plain pervy. What, wasn't Gisele available? (Responding to one complaint on Facebook, JCPenney wrote: "We apologize that our advertising offended you. That certainly was not our intention. We have confirmed with our Marketing team that this particular ad campaign is scheduled to conclude at the end of [September] with no plans to re-air. Additionally, we have forwarded your comments to our Marketing team for consideration as they develop future advertising campaigns.")

During Francis' time at Target, according to Ad Age, "he has overseen some of Target's best known ad campaigns such as Design for All and Hello Goodbuy, as well as the marketing of designer partnerships with Michael Graves, Liberty of London and, most recently, Missoni."

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The singing barista's bad day

Posted at 12:14 PM on September 21, 2011 by Bob Collins (1 Comments)
Filed under: Marketing and advertising

First things first. If you click this video, there are obscenities in it. Don't click it if that sort of thing is likely to shock you.

Second, if you talk to many people who work at Starbucks or Caribou -- according to some of my caffeinated field research -- you'll get the same sort of story that the Starbuck's Rant Song documents.

He's now been fired from Starbucks.

Christopher Cristwell, the unhappy barista, seems a little bit surprised by that fact.

"This song is not 100 percent autobiographical," Cristwell told The Working Stiff. "The funny part is that I truly consider myself a people person, and I'm really passionate about coffee."

The video has been around since July before Starbucks noticed. The company won't confirm his firing, only that it met with him to "discuss his motivation."

The martyred barista is taking the high road. "I made the video for my fellow baristas," he said. "I can live with the consequences."

And then he made another video...

Your move, Starbucks

(Related: The people who worked at Border's weren't all that thrilled with you, either.)

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Tiptoeing through 9/11 marketing

Posted at 1:52 PM on September 9, 2011 by Bob Collins (10 Comments)
Filed under: Marketing and advertising

Colleague Eric Ringham has turned in another 9/11-themed ad. This one appeared in this morning's Star Tribune. Curiously, the three area 9/11-themed promotions have involved either booze or food. There's been very little advertising locally that acknowledges 9/11 without trying to bring in a few more customers in the process.

"We've been saying to people, there's probably no right way to do this," said J. Walker Smith, executive chairman at the Futures Company consultancy, which is to release this month a report on public attitudes toward 9/11. He was quoted in a recent article in the New York Times on how advertisers are just now dipping a toe in the 9/11 advertising water. "If I were a marketer, I would let the moment pass," Mr. Smith said. "Anything you do could be seen as self-serving or disrespectful."

The worst 9/11-themed ad ever was this one in 2009 from the World Wildlife Fund-Brazil.

But what about an ad like this? It aired only once:

But there's also this: A New York winery selling 9/11 wine for $19.11.

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The business of 9/11

Posted at 10:31 AM on September 7, 2011 by Bob Collins (1 Comments)
Filed under: Marketing and advertising

It's a fine line some businesses are walking between a respectful honoring of the deaths of hundreds of New York emergency responders on 9/11 and taking advantage of a national tragedy to increase business.

This e-mail from Axel's Bonfire raised two eyebrows this morning (click image for the larger version). It's offering $20 to emergency responders on Sunday only -- September 11th, if you haven't heard. You don't get the cash, though. You get it on an Axel's rewards card which you can later show for the discount when you patronize the place at some future time.

But the deal is not valid at two of Axel's locations.

Still the company is giving 5% of its take to local firefighter organizations that day

If you see other businesses that are featuring 9/11 promotions, please send the ads my way.

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Too pretty for homework?

Posted at 11:04 AM on August 31, 2011 by Bob Collins (0 Comments)
Filed under: Marketing and advertising

Someone at JC Penney felt the heat today after this sweatshirt appeared on its online catalog...

The Twitterverse and some bloggers took it and ran with it...

And late this morning, it disappeared...

All in a good day's work on Twitter and the blogs.

How could the ad folks have been so dumb? Easy.

(h/t: Bill Childs)

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That old-time billboard religion

Posted at 12:48 PM on August 30, 2011 by Bob Collins (3 Comments)
Filed under: Marketing and advertising

NewsCut's obsession with billboard controversies is satiated today with word of a billboard brouhaha in West Mansfield, Ohio where a church put this billboard up.

Now that you know a church put it up, it makes perfect sense, right? But if you didn't know that, you might think an atheist organization put it up. And that's the controversy.

"Some Christians were asking us to take it down. But it's the kind of sign designed to make you think," Frank Moore, pastor of McElroy Road Church of Christ, told the Mansfield News Journal.

"We earnestly thank the McElroy Road Church of Christ for advertising our thoughts," an official with the Mid Ohio Atheists said.

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Childhood bullying not M&M's fault, panel rules

Posted at 12:25 PM on August 8, 2011 by Bob Collins (5 Comments)
Filed under: Marketing and advertising

Does the red M&M in this ad encourage kids to be bullies?

Australia's Advertising Standards Bureau took two months to investigate viewer complaints before ruling the answer is "no," Ad Age reports.

One of the complaints filed said:

"M&M's is the most influential product on the market and needs to ensure the message that children receives is positive and assisting in their growth and development," the complainant said.

"When marketing a product the message should be about development of our children not showing them that the red M&M can dominate the rest of the group. Children will see this as a normal way of life as the M&Ms portray to them those they mix with at school."

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The four stages of political scandal

Posted at 2:34 PM on June 14, 2011 by Bob Collins (1 Comments)
Filed under: Marketing and advertising

There are several stages to any political scandal:

1. Allegation
2. Denial
3. Confession
4. St. Paul Saints marketing gimmick

Today the Saints announced that the first 1,501 fans 18 and over in attendance a week from Saturday will receive a commemorative pair of "Tweeting Wiener Boxer Shorts." It apparently is National Hot Dog Day, so the boxers will bear "an image on the front of a blue bird taking a photo of a Wiener with his phone."

Nice.

A few years ago, the Saints offered a "bobblefoot," after Sen. Larry Craig was caught in a Minneapolis St. Paul International Airport bathroom stall, tapping his foot to an undercover cop, earning him a lewd conduct charge and a chance to be a minor league baseball marketing legend.

And, of course, scandals don't have to be political for the Saints to capitalize.

There was the Minnesota Vikings "loveboat" scandal of 2005, for example.

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Things that didn't happen

Posted at 12:50 PM on June 13, 2011 by Bob Collins (3 Comments)
Filed under: Marketing and advertising

Almost 15 million people are officially unemployed in the U.S., but the person in charge of placing the day-after-big-sporting-event ads for Macy's still has a job.

The Miami Heat won the NBA championship last night, according to Macy's, which placed this ad in the Florida papers today.

Oh, this isn't the first time it's happened. In 2009, the department store congratulated the Phillies on their back-to-back championships...

For the record, Dallas won the NBA championship last night, and the Yankees won the World Series in 2009. And Truman has a better chance of winning the presidency next year than the Timberwolves have of beating the Heat.

So what happens to the souvenir hats and T-shirts for team's that don't win championships? They get sent to other countries.

(h/t: Steve Mullis)

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Doggelganger and the pooch who looks like you.

Posted at 5:01 PM on June 9, 2011 by Bob Collins (3 Comments)
Filed under: Marketing and advertising

You'll thank me later for this, even though you may spend so much time on this Web site you'll lose your job. We're talking matching you up with your canine soul mate in an entertaining way.

To boost its Pedigree (dog food) Adoption Drive, an ad agency in New Zealand has unveiled "Doggelganger," which -- operating under the presumption that people and their dogs tend to look alike -- matches you with the dog of your dreams.

First, go here, and upload either a video or a picture of you.

Here, let me show you. I take this old picture of me, upload it, and line it up accordingly...

... push the button and watch the system match my nose, eyes, ears and general good looks with the database of mutt features...

... until we get the big payoff: what dog looking for a home, looks most like me?

It's a lab-German Shepherd mix that currently is sitting in the SPCA in Whangarei, New Zealand. The Web site also reveals the dog's name is Kala, and it provides a form to fill out to let the SPCA know you might be interested in her. I think you'd agree: That is one sexy dog.

The Current's Mary Lucia suggested I try her...

Mary does not look like her dog, in my opinion...

... but let's see what might match the New Zealand version of Mary Lucia. Do your thing, Doggelganger!

and, voila! Bailey the staffordshire bull terrier, presently residing in Auckland.

The idea is similar to one an agency for a shelter in New York came up with some time ago.

It's brilliant marketing.

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Divorce of the day: Facebook, Burson-Martseller PR firm

Posted at 7:53 AM on May 13, 2011 by Jon Gordon (0 Comments)
Filed under: Marketing and advertising, Media, Tech

Facebook and public relations firm Burson-Marsteller are parting ways after reporter Dan Lyons (the artist formerly known as "Fake Steve Jobs") exposed Facebook's smear campaign against Google.

For the past few days, a mystery has been unfolding in Silicon Valley. Somebody, it seems, hired Burson-Marsteller, a top public-relations firm, to pitch anti-Google stories to newspapers, urging them to investigate claims that Google was invading people's privacy. Burson even offered to help an influential blogger write a Google-bashing op-ed, which it promised it could place in outlets like The Washington Post, Politico, and The Huffington Post.

Turns out it was our favorite social networking company, Facebook, that hired the PR firm to do its dirty work. Burson-Marsteller fessed up about its arrangement with Facebook, and threw Zuck's company to the wolves. Hence the divorce.

So which company takes the hardest hit, Facebook or Burson-Marsteller? The PR company lost a big, powerful client, and looks quite sleazy. But it's hard to work up outrage, mostly because shady behavior seems to be, at least occasionally, part of the fabric of PR (not that journalists are always morally pristine). It's worth noting too that Burson-Marsteller has had a few unsavory clients in the past.

But our opinion of Facebook should probably drop a notch or two. The campaign makes Facebook look just a little scared and weak, and capable of questionable corporate behavior. But the company will probably get through this mess just fine, according to MG Siegler on TechCrunch:

Like it or not, Facebook is too integrated into the fabric of the web now for everyone to just walk away. As has been proven time and time again, people will get really angry with them for some misstep, and then totally forget about it a week later.

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Death of a pitchman

Posted at 11:47 AM on April 29, 2011 by Bob Collins (1 Comments)
Filed under: Marketing and advertising

Lynn Hauldren has died. You probably don't know the name, but people all over the planet, apparently, would stop him on the street and sing the Empire Carpet jingle to him. He wrote the jingle. He was also the pitchman for the company.

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The end of the world will be billboarded

Posted at 2:30 PM on March 7, 2011 by Bob Collins (12 Comments)
Filed under: Marketing and advertising, Religion

I'm going to have to start a new News Cut category -- billboards. People in the Twin Cities, especially, are adept at spotting the more interesting ones.

Take today, for example. This was spotted by occasional News Cut contributor Eric Ringham, who spied it on Central Avenue NE in Minneapolis.

This is the work of Harold Camping, who says the second coming will take place on May 21, 2011 and that God will destroy this world on October 21, 2011. He must have people who believe it; he's got 29,000 "likes" on Facebook, which also will be destroyed if you're looking for the silver lining here.

His Web site contains plenty of Bible passages, but none that says that May 21 is the day. Camping, 88, says he has a mathematical formula that proves his assertion. But he doesn't provide it.

But the Website, ReligiousTolerance.org, says this is at least the second time Camping has pinned down our demise:

Harold Camping, president of Family Radio predicted on his radio programs that the end of the world would happen sometime between 1994-SEP-5 and SEP-27. He said that he did not know the precise day because Matthew 24:36 of the Christian Scriptures says that "no man knows the day nor the hour." He interpreted a reference in John 21:1-14 to the disciples being 200 cubits from the shore in the Sea of Galilee as meaning that there would be 2,000 years between the birth and the second coming of Jesus. He estimates that Jesus was born on 0007-OCT-4 BCE. 5

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A ticket-buying bill of rights.

Posted at 3:30 PM on February 24, 2011 by Bob Collins (3 Comments)
Filed under: Marketing and advertising

Complaints over ticket refund policies has spawned a bill at the Capitol which could make it easier for consumers to get all of their money back if an event is postponed.

A group of lawmakers -- partisan at that -- has filed a bill with some sweeping reforms of the way tickets to events are sold.

Included in the measure is a requirement that anyone who buys a ticket that turns out to be counterfeit, gets the ticket price and fees back, though it's not clear from whom. Restrictions on reselling tickets would be illegal, and teams and promoters could not sell electronic-only tickets if it's intended to make it difficult for the ticket-buyer to resell the tickets.

Refund policies would also require teams and concert promoters to refund all the money they made upon selling the tickets, not just the purchase price. This would include convenience fees, printing fees, and handling charges.

Advertising for an event would also have to include all of the various charges that are included.

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Ad war between Twins and TWolves escalates

Posted at 2:21 PM on February 16, 2011 by Bob Collins (14 Comments)
Filed under: Marketing and advertising, Sports

Remember last season when the Minnesota Timberwolves put up a sign on Target Center for Sanford Health which was clearly aimed at the Target Field audience?

Purists said the ad, which was put up just before the start of last fall's playoffs, would dominate the view from the third-base-side seats and ruin the ambiance of the House That Joe Mauer Built. A Twins executive called the size of the ad "shocking."

Today,the Twins released this photograph of a new scoreboard (with ads, no doubt), the Twins are building in right field. Perhaps it's mere coincidence the scoreboard will block the Timberwolves' ad.

Your move, Wolves.

Update 4:33 p.m. - The Twins have sent along this field-seat view

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A return to issues?

Posted at 1:54 PM on October 27, 2010 by Bob Collins (1 Comments)
Filed under: Marketing and advertising, Politics

What would happen if the actors, actresses, models, and marketing people who make the political advertising we've been subjected to, refused to participate in anything that wasn't a real issue?

This site -- it's really AARP -- creates the fantasy.

(h/t: Jason Barnett)

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Chevron's, media's bad day

Posted at 12:41 PM on October 18, 2010 by Bob Collins (5 Comments)
Filed under: Marketing and advertising

The oil company Chevron probably isn't going to win any awards for public relations campaigns. Today it unveiled its "we agree" campaign, to try to convince people that it's not just any oil company...

And it took opponents -- believed to be the famed Yes Men -- to crank out fake press releases and set up a fake Web site to mock it:

Here's an example of the confusion being caused today. Is this press release real or fake?

Answer below the fold.

Among those sites getting fooled by the site was Southern California Public Radio, MPR's sister operation in the region.

Some journalists are having an even worse day than Chevron.

Continue reading "Chevron's, media's bad day"

Do lawn signs make a difference?

Posted at 11:34 AM on October 18, 2010 by Bob Collins (14 Comments)
Filed under: Marketing and advertising, Politics

A photo, sent to me by my colleague Jon Gordon, inspires me into deep political thought. It's a clever sign, but do lawn signs make a difference for candidates?

Scroll down, then close your eyes and tell me the name of the candidate.

Sometimes, a lawn sign can lead to more questions than answers. Like this one, sent to Jon by Thomas Freeman.

Why is a guy named Johnsoin using plaid as a background? It's probably an attempt to tap into the Paul Bunyan sensibility in Bemidji.

Two years ago the Walker Art Center allowed people to make their own lawn signs (via Flickr)...

... and proved that people are more creative than politicians.

My guess is lawn signs work better for low-on-the-ticket races. In my district, we have 24 people running for judge. In a completely unscientific survey on News Cut last week, an overwhelming majority of people said they rarely seem to know who they're voting for when it comes to voting for judges. So perhaps the "I've heard of him/her" voter can be influenced by a sign.

Continue reading "Do lawn signs make a difference?"

Moss gets in controversies even when it's not his fault

Posted at 12:38 PM on October 5, 2010 by Bob Collins (1 Comments)
Filed under: Marketing and advertising, Politics

Things we never thought we'd see: Randy Moss appearing in an ad for a Senate candidate.

Things we were sure we'd see: The NFL getting upset about it if he did.

He did.

It is.

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Over the line in Utah

Posted at 12:44 PM on September 14, 2010 by Bob Collins (1 Comments)
Filed under: Marketing and advertising

Charges of racism are flying after an ad for the Utah State Fair was pulled from TV. The person who made the commercial -- Jared Hess, who created 2004's "Napoleon Dynamite" -- says fair officials are reacting to having an African American in the commercial, and notes that radio ads that say the same thing are still airing.

Fair officials say the ads are too suggestive.

One official said the ad didn't "incentivize" him to go to the fair. Apparently this commercial -- from a few years ago and also produced by Hess -- did.

So, here's an early challenge to the Minnesota State Fair. Produce an ad that says "I love your ham, baby!" Please?

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Toilet paper wars

Posted at 10:38 AM on August 13, 2010 by Bob Collins (1 Comments)
Filed under: Marketing and advertising

Are you tired of the endless babble over ads in the gubernatorial campaign? Fine, let's focus on some important commercial advertising.

The National Advertising Division of the Council of Better Business Bureaus has issued a landmark ruling in the case of a claim by the maker of Charmin' bathroom tissue that fewer pieces are left behind on your behind.

As the Radio Business Report tells it:

In support of the claim that Charmin Ultra Strong "leaves fewer pieces behind" than Cottonelle Ultra, the advertiser relied upon rub testing, during which dry tissue was rubbed across black felt, and consumer-use testing. NAD determined that the advertiser provided a reasonable basis for the claims Charmin Ultra Strong left "fewer pieces behind" than Cottonelle Ultra.

But it turned out, the BBB said, that the advertising for the toilet paper was wrong because its cartoon bear didn't have any pieces on its little bare bear butt.

Although a voiceover states that Charmin Ultra Strong leaves "fewer" pieces behind, NAD determined that the language is directly contradicted by the visuals, which depict no pieces left behind. NAD recommended that the advertiser avoid in future advertising depictions or language that convey the message that Charmin Ultra Strong leaves no pieces behind

Apparently, the same group has not yet researched the claim that a single sheet of toilet paper can drain a lake:

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Does this ad cross the line?

Posted at 12:07 PM on April 7, 2010 by Bob Collins (11 Comments)
Filed under: Marketing and advertising

Is this City Pages ad for a Twin Cities jewelry store offensive? It's got the marketing community buzzing today.

The company also denying any responsibility, according to a statement posted on its Facebook page.

Thank you to everyone who commented on our recent City Pages Ad. We take your comments very seriously and are taking action because of them. This ad ran without prior viewing or approval by RF Moeller management and was created and published at City Pages by their writer and our spokesman, TD Mischke. Mr. Mischke would like to personally field any questions or concerns. His email address is tdmischke@yahoo.com. If you email him directly, he will give you his phone number if you would like to speak with him about this advertisement.Thank you again - James Moeller

We haven't had a good ad controversy since the infamous Target snow angel ad:

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Suggestive selling

Posted at 10:17 AM on February 13, 2010 by Bob Collins (0 Comments)
Filed under: Marketing and advertising

Sexual innuendo has taken hold in Northfield, according to a humorous post by Locally Grown Northfield's Griff Wigley. Inspiration came from a sign outside of a dry cleaner that says "drop your pants here."

The post has possibilities for adding your own faux slogans.

(Photo courtesy of Griff Wigley)

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Baseball's postseason scam

Posted at 9:14 AM on October 17, 2009 by Bob Collins (5 Comments)
Filed under: Marketing and advertising, Sports

If you've ever ordered Major League Baseball tickets online, perhaps you've encountered the nickel-and-diming of the baseball fan. You can print your tickets on your computer, using your ink and your paper and pay the team -- the Twins, for example -- an extra fee for the privilege of doing so.

Want the real ticket? There's a scam for that, too.

The Twins and Major League Baseball, a lot of revenue in the early rounds goes to the league) made out like bandits -- because they were -- in confiscating money from fans for a postseason game that never was played.

Here's the details from my colleague, Linda Fantin.

The night the Twins beat the Tigers to advance in the playoffs, we went online and bought 4 tickets to Games 3 and 4 at $30 each. The Twins also charged us $6 a ticket in "handling" fees and $4 in "shipping" fees, even though we picked the tickets up at will call. But when the Twins failed to advance, the team only refunded the $120 for the tickets but kept the handling and shipping fees. When I called to complain, the Twins ticket office clerk defended the policy and declined to refund the fees.

Here's the rub: To get tickets to Game 3 you HAD to buy tickets to Game 4. Well, the Twins drew more than 54,000 to Game 3, so that means they scammed at least $324,000 from fans, not including the bogus shipping charges. For that kind of money, you'd think we could get a decent middle reliever.

Unfortunately, $324,000 will only buy you the kind of middle reliever the Twins already have.

Perhaps if the Twins called these charges the "upgrade from Nick Punto" tax, fans would be a little less upset.

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Action figures then and now

Posted at 2:52 PM on September 25, 2009 by Bob Collins (4 Comments)
Filed under: Marketing and advertising, Politics

Today's first look at the Michele Bachmann action figure...

... has me wistful for the time when the idea of action figures in politics was fresh and new:

It was also a time when the action figure even looked something like the person it was supposed to portray. Rep. Bachmann's action figure looks more like Gladys Knight.

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The worst billboards

Posted at 10:38 AM on September 25, 2009 by Bob Collins (5 Comments)
Filed under: Marketing and advertising

The St. Paul Issues Forum says District Councils will soon be asked which billboards in the city should be removed. "All of them" probably isn't going to be an answer that will get you anywhere.

The Scenic St. Paul blog provides a citywide tour of the possibilities.

Clear Channel alone has almost 400 billboards in the city.

So which ones would you consider the worst of them?

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Fly me

Posted at 9:13 AM on May 17, 2009 by Bob Collins (1 Comments)
Filed under: Marketing and advertising

In the old days, airlines once stressed the sex appeal of its employees to try to get you to fly their airlines.

They don't do that anymore.

From the Department of Juxtaposition: The life of a regional airline pilot.

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Mom tested, General Mills approved

Posted at 3:09 PM on April 29, 2009 by Than Tibbetts (3 Comments)
Filed under: Marketing and advertising

Adweek says Golden Valley-based General Mills has rounded up an impressive network of more than 900 bloggers — with 4 out of 5 of them being mothers — to, well, blog about the company's products.

The MyBlogSpark network (©2009 General Mills, by the way) says its members will get coupons, product samples and other incentives.

General Mills plans to use the network to promote its wide portfolio of products in the food and beverage, beauty, home, electronics, health and automotive categories.

So, what's the catch?

General Mills can be confident the program will fill blogs with positive reviews. One of the requirements for participation reads: "If you feel you cannot write a positive post regarding the product or service, please contact the MyBlogSpark team before posting any content."

Alrighty, then...

To be fair, the responsible PR folks say that does not constitute a requirement to write good things, just that they notify the company for feedback purposes.

Say what you want about the thin grey line between blogging and journalism, but having to contact the company before writing anything negative constitutes a chilling effect in my book.

Granted, bloggers are free to purchase and review the products on their own dime and General Mills is free to help manage its message as it sees fit, but this is certainly something to ponder as huge corporations work to extend their influence.

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Ely announces bid for 2016 Olympics

Posted at 8:58 AM on April 1, 2009 by Than Tibbetts (7 Comments)
Filed under: Marketing and advertising

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Should music reflect the national mood or entertain us?

Posted at 8:11 AM on February 3, 2009 by Bob Collins (8 Comments)
Filed under: Marketing and advertising

I'm not much of a music guy, but I like Bruce Springsteen. "He's kind of sold out," my wife -- the former '70s disc jockey -- said to me the other day as I hoped the Cardinals and Steelers would use more running plays... the better to speed the clock along to Springsteen's half-time show. Sell-out or not, I liked the show better than the first half of football.

Slate magazine, however, reminds me that I'm alone, so very alone. In "Bruce Springsteen misreads the national mood," Stephen Metcalf paints an interesting proposition -- that entertainment --at least in the person of Springsteen -- isn't mean to distract us from the ills of the day, it's meant to reflect them.

The national mood is sober bordering on a galloping panic. Lively as he was, I wouldn't say the Boss did much to either banish or capture it.

The Springsteen persona was originally intended as a stand-in for a blue-collar working class living in an insular white ethnic neighborhood and working a job on more or less permanent offer from an industrial economy. He was the poet of their decline, but he's moved away from that specific community of origin as his persona has evolved into a bit of general-purpose kitsch Americana. Not coincidentally, Springsteen has flogged more and more a highly abstract idea of "community," one centered around Bruce Springsteen. "It's not just my creation at this point," he recently told the New York Times, referring to the Springsteen iconography's debt to its fans. "I wanted it to be our creation. Once you set that in motion, it's a large community of people gathered around a core set of values."

What?

It's just a show, isn't it? What is the role of entertainment when the national mood is depressed?

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The auto bailout

Posted at 1:17 PM on December 22, 2008 by Bob Collins (5 Comments)
Filed under: 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?

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The slow news week

Posted at 7:56 AM on December 22, 2008 by Bob Collins (1 Comments)
Filed under: Marketing and advertising

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.

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The limits of advertising

Posted at 2:55 PM on December 14, 2008 by Bob Collins (9 Comments)
Filed under: Marketing and advertising

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.

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Post-election etiquette

Posted at 9:18 AM on November 6, 2008 by Bob Collins (16 Comments)
Filed under: Marketing and advertising, Politics

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.

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Making hay with murder

Posted at 11:16 AM on October 29, 2008 by Bob Collins (2 Comments)
Filed under: Marketing and advertising

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)

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State flags

Posted at 12:26 PM on October 24, 2008 by Bob Collins (9 Comments)
Filed under: Marketing and advertising

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.

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Ad wars: Apple edition

Posted at 9:21 AM on October 20, 2008 by Bob Collins (0 Comments)
Filed under: Marketing and advertising

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.

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Sign of the day

Posted at 8:56 AM on October 15, 2008 by Bob Collins (7 Comments)
Filed under: Marketing and advertising

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.

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What doesn't Microsoft get?

Posted at 11:20 AM on September 18, 2008 by Bob Collins (2 Comments)
Filed under: Marketing and advertising

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.

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Minnesota is not making book

Posted at 11:18 AM on September 17, 2008 by Bob Collins (1 Comments)
Filed under: Marketing and advertising

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.

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Bald is bountiful

Posted at 4:06 PM on September 9, 2008 by Bob Collins (2 Comments)
Filed under: Marketing and advertising

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.

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Sun Country's concert in the sky

Posted at 12:10 PM on August 11, 2008 by Bob Collins (3 Comments)
Filed under: Marketing and advertising

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.
.

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Stale beer

Posted at 12:18 PM on August 5, 2008 by Bob Collins (0 Comments)
Filed under: Marketing and advertising

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.

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'Celebrating' the Timberwolves?

Posted at 4:21 PM on June 26, 2008 by Bob Collins (8 Comments)
Filed under: Marketing and advertising, Sports

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)

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The story behind 'the catch.'

Posted at 4:04 PM on June 23, 2008 by Bob Collins (1 Comments)
Filed under: Marketing and advertising

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

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The power of positive images

Posted at 9:49 AM on June 6, 2008 by Bob Collins (3 Comments)
Filed under: Marketing and advertising

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.

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