Advertising Industry Archive

In a decision on a product advertised on billboards inside Second Life, the Electronic Retailing Self-Regulation Program found that PhotoBlocker Spray does not, unsurprisingly, make your real-life car invisible to police radar and traffic cameras. Second Life is the online virtual world where unemployed people have fake sex and then get real-life divorces. ERSP said the advertiser, Innovative...

More...

UPDATE: BNET reader jenniferot4u (see comments) noticed these even-worse Obama trinkets: “Obama In The House” - Beer Can Cooler Koozie The Barack Obama Tapestry Throw Rug Marketers are dispatching a tidal wave of Barack Obama-related commemorative garbage. The foremost offender is VictoryPlate.com, “commemorating the day the world changed — forever!”...

More...

The recession in the Indian advertising business will be led by Bollywood studios who are poised to cut their marketing budgets by 10-15 percent. Bartle Bogle Hegarty and McCann both opened shops in India in the last few days, so you’d be forgiven for thinking that things are going great over there. Not so: Television marketing for films makes up for approximately 60% of the [Bollywood...

More...

Four agencies are waiting to hear the results of Home Depot’s creative ad agency review: The Richards Group in Dallas (independent and the incumbent), Omnicom’s GSD&M Idea City in Austin, Texas; Interpublic’s Hill, Holliday, Connors, Cosmopulos in Boston; and WPP Group’s JWT in New York. After making its creative decision, Home Depot will next turn to look at its...

More...

Yet another weapon has emerged to threaten big agency networks: DoMedia.com, an online marketplace for local alternative media buys. DoMedia.com allows media buyers to search for street teams, skywriters, stunt performers, lightbox backpack wearers, and other weird media providers by city, at a single site. Pictured: Segway riders carrying Yahoo! ads, an offering of Street Blimps in Garden...

More...

Automakers slashed their Hispanic advertising budgets in the last quarter, demonstrating that execs at Latino-targeting shops were much more optimistic than they should have been earlier this quarter. In October, Hispanic shops were claiming they would be insulated from cuts because their media is so much cheaper and because Hispanics buy basics at higher rates than the general population....

More...

WPP chief Martin Sorrell has once again brought his inner economics professor out of the closet for a 1,000-word treatise in the London Times on the recession and the potential for recovery. In summary, he is bullish on a quick recovery but thinks Brazil, Russia, India and China will be kicking the West’s ass for a long time to come. He is also wistful for the days of Ronald Reagan,...

More...

BBDO/Proximity Malaysia won more ad awards at Malaysia’s 30th Kancil Award Festival on Friday than any other agency. BBDO ECD Ronald Ng was the chairman of the prize jury. Already, some have asked whether the two events were related. Marketing magazine’s blog, “A+M Bootleg,” noted: After the event Bootleg asked the tough question of jury head, BBDO’s Ronald Ng...

More...

Research agency Millward Brown has attacked a Harvard Medical School survey which concluded direct-to-consumer prescription drug advertising does not work. Back in September, Harvard published a study that compared U.S. drug commercials for Nasonex, Enbrel and Zelnorm, seen by English and French-speaking Canadian audiences. The results indicated that sales were not affected by the campaign....

More...