ATT&T makes “fight ad” against Verizon
November 19, 2009
This is almost funny, almost because the root of the problem is the fact that AT&T lost an a lawsuit against “there’s a map for that” ad by Verizon. This is an interesting thing, because honestly the major complaint against AT&T is the lack of 3G coverage. (I don’t have it here for example, my AT&T network runs like a dial up modem)
So we find this advertising less than truthful, how about this AT&T .. instead of spending money on 30 second spots, how about putting up a few more towers that we can use 3G .. or how about covering areas you actually claim you cover.
Ad Agency BBDO Executives have cash to buy McMansion
November 19, 2009
Timothy Smith and Brigette Whisnant bought a four-bedroom, 3.5-bath home at 621 Park Ave. in River Forest for $677,500 from John and Katrina Vainisi on Oct. 28. — according to this article.. The McMansion is in a NICE neighbourhood. Meanwhile nearly 500 of their fellow employees at BBDO Detroit received walking papers last week and last month their clients were mailing out RFP’s like no tomorrow.
The article has a picture of the house and a google maps satellite view of the house.
Whisnant is a senior vice president and director of film and digital production at Energy BBDO, a full-service advertising agency. She previously served as a senior producer at Fallon and worked with Cliff Freeman & Partners.
Looks like someone isn’t worried about losing her job like the rest of us.
Read the whole Senate Healthcare bill – all 2,074 PAGES
November 19, 2009
All 2074 pages, in PDF format. This monster document weighs in at 2,074 pages. It’s sheer size is overwhelming and the major complaints regarding it is that individuals trying to view it on a mobile device are seeing their phones and pda’s crash.
Plus it reads like it came from Washington… oh wait..
This is pretty horrific stuff, I don’t know why they just didn’t say “people can buy into medicare” or something akin to that for a fixed rate… instead they make this massive bill.
Regardless, feel free to read the document, larger than the book of war and peace.
Google : Yahoo is a competitor to WPP
November 18, 2009
In a very interesting statement, it appears that Google is saying that Yahoo is a competitor to WPP group plc, but not themselves. A recent check on the stock price of WPP group plc (NASDAQ: WPPGY) showed the following as a list of “Related companies”
So the question is, why is everyone else calling Google an advertising agency. From the linked article “To understand these moves is to realise that Google is an advertising agency;”
But Google themselves and the Advertising agency holding companies?
We believe that if a company looks like a duck, quacks like a duck.. it is a duck. In this case Google provides copywriting services for adwords (IE: creative) they serve those ads via their own content network. They allow for media purchases though adwords though their properties and other peoples properties via adsense, and they provide a way to measure clients ROI via Google Analytics.
That’s not an advertising agency? You have to think about it, just because it’s not a 30 second spot (which they can provide via Youtube in 1080p ) doesn’t mean it’s not an Advertising agency because it’s different than what you are accustomed to.
Then the other question is why does Google say that Yahoo is a competitor to WPP group plc, but not themselves?
Doesn’t this raise any other questions? For example, We’ve been saying for years that JWT should stop using “largest Advertising in the USA” because they are not the largest, that is Google.
So what is your thoughts, most importantly we find it fitting that they called second rate Yahoo! as the competitor. Tells you what Google is thinking.
Dear Microsoft – I want a refund
November 17, 2009
Dear Microsoft,
I have bought a brand new spanking HP Notebook computer. It’s wonderful. In fact I am taking a screen shot of myself using it now.
Notice something? I am not using Windows 7, it came with the computer. When I got this machine, on boot I put in an Ubuntu CD. The machine never booted in Windows. So why did I pay for it?
It’s an honest question and I want an honest answer. If I never wanted to buy the product, I never wanted to use the product, why do I have to pay for the product?
The home premium version goes for $200, I’m guessing the OEM’s get a better deal, so let’s say they pay half that… and the craplets that normally come with HP machines might drive the cost down slightly lower… I’m guessing that from the $200 retail price, I should at least get a $50 break.
So Microsoft, you have somewhere between $50 – $200 that you stole. I want that money back.
Just tell me where the refund process is on your site and I will happily fill it out, but clearly I can’t find such a “upgrade from Windows 7 to Linux Refund page” so just tell me what document I need to fill out and I will expect your check in 30 days… right?
Ad Agency Publicis : You’re gonna have to pay for Hulu
November 17, 2009
Evidently Maurice Levy feels that there is not enough advertising dollars out there to support any real growth online. So he came to the stunning solution that people will actually have to pay for services rendered. Novel idea. Wonder where he got that… it’s only the general concept of economic activity for the past 10,000 years.
“Free content devalues everything in the food chain. It is disintermediating everything, including ad agencies and advertising revenues,” he said.
Really, and people want to spend money to see a guy falling off a donkey on Youtube shot by a cell phone camera?
What Maurice doesn’t understand however is that people don’t like to shell out money, the services online has to be compelling enough to make people feel the need to shell out their hard earned money during the great recession. Good luck with that. Mostly because there is an expectation that if I pay money for a service, I don’t want any of his services included.
Think about it, would you pay money for something if it was filled with advertising? I had no problem shelling out money for Modern Warfare 2, because I am not expecting to be see some unwanted advertising. So yes Maurice, I will pay for some online services, just as long as your services are not there. Also if you guys want to take a pot shot at me for stating this, feel free to attack me all you want.. my Xbox Live account username is “AdAgency”.
I’m fine with advertising on Hulu because it’s free… I’m not fine with advertising while playing Modern Warfare 2 because I paid for it. Understand the concept yet Maurice?
“Advertising cannot cover the cost of everything in the new digital media world. Other sources of generating revenues will have to be created, such as having consumers pay for some content. It cannot all be free or paid for with advertising,” Levy told me in a weekend interview at the Monaco Media Forum, co-sponsored by Publicis. Seeking Alpha is reporting
Ad Agencies discovers 1080p on Youtube
November 16, 2009
This is almost comical, evidently the advertising agencies are fighting now over who can run a pre-roll ad in 1080p on Youtube. We have had several reports of agencies now wishing to display their ads in 1080p pre-roll… before the video begins of a guy falling off a donkey.
What these ad agency folks are not getting, is the fact that people should be wanting to see their video, not using their client money to force it on others.
It’s like they completely forgot Youtube isn’t TV.. the average video lasts about 3 minutes. Now they want to put a 30 second spot in front of the 3 minute video.
Doesn’t anyone see the problem with this? The average video doesn’t run long enough on Youtube to justify a big spot like that. Another problem is more problematic.
Shouldn’t these ad agencies be making that 3 minute video in the first place? Like why are they using client media spend dollars for something that they should be doing themselves?
People won’t remember the ad, they’ll remember the video they were trying to reach in the first place? The point being that when advertising agencies are forced to rely on client spends rather than innovation and creative… at that exact moment the agency lost their way.
This isn’t TV, this isn’t print ads.. this is online. Anyone in the world with an internet connection can reach the url you are trying to promote… there are a million sites and methods of getting a website popular without media spends, yet these agencies consistently throw their clients money around like Washington DC does with your tax money.
Heineken looking for a new ad agency
November 16, 2009
Scottish & Newcastle UK, owned by Heineken, is looking for a new advertising agency to launch its Strongbow Gold cider in international markets.
We were told that the company is looking for a strong digital presence with a bias towards social media and “good google rankings” IE: SEO.
We were told that a handful of agencies are being solicited for an RFP. We were also told that “Social Media” will include viral videos and the goal is to get them “embedded on as many relevant blogs as possible”
Pretty interesting stuff.
Thousands of Banned XBox consoles show up on Ebay
November 12, 2009
Today Microsoft has banned roughly 1 million Xbox consoles from the Microsoft Live network, and many of those banned consoles are showing up on Ebay, with unsuspecting bidders not being aware that the console they are buying or bidding on has been banned.
Some people have complained to Microsoft that their banned console wasn’t their doing as they just purchased it on Ebay a few days ago… Microsoft has refused to activate their XBox… in other words, they bought a brick. This is turning out to be a public relations disaster that not even the best PR / Ad Agency can handle.
Many of these X-Boxes found on Ebay have ZERO disclaimers that they are banned, in fact we were able to reach one of the sellers and asked them if they knew they were selling a brick. The response “It wasn’t banned when I sent it” ..
Hot stuff… the sellers are saying they didn’t know as the ban took place today, and the buyers don’t know because it’s not labelled as a banned product on the Microsoft Live Network on the E-bay profile.
So what about these thousands of banned Xbox units being shipped though Ebay? This problem isn’t going away, a million Xbox owners just got the shaft this morning, and it’s a safe bet to say that tens of thousands of them (if not more) are going to show up on Ebay within days.
This is bad, and the interesting thing is that the one going to catch the slack for this isn’t Microsoft, it’s Ebay… When the first reports of this hit our desk, one of the e-mails to us stated “Why doesn’t Ebay have some sort of check option there that asks the people to list if it’s banned or not” — good point.
Adage : Digital ad agencies are ready to lead
November 12, 2009
Adage is now stating that Digital Agencies are ready to lead. But they have yet to define digital advertising.
This is becoming more and more of a problem, as many firms are calling themselves digital, but yet all they do is throw clients money into Google Adwords.
This is not exactly digital, it’s an online media buy.. but it’s not digital. If you do digital you’re left promoting what you can using SEO, blogging, twitter, facebook, youtube, Google News, Digg, and whatever you can muster together to get your client’s site popular without forking over a credit card.
Hence why since I made that post no one was able to define it, I’ll do it for you guys.
Digital Advertising = Armed with a domain name, FTP and no budget
Media Buy = anything that requires a budget
Don’t like the terms, then please elaborate on it. Perhaps I am old school and believe that a site should rank well and become popular on it’s own merit. Perhaps I am in the minority when I say SEO can brand a site.. even though the evidence points to me being correct.
The point I am trying to make is simple, media spends are not digital. They are just what they are called, media spends. Unless someone can argue the contrary to me the fact is that digital advertising doesn’t include media spends. The second you start spending to buy media, the second that aspect of the advertising campaign happens you are venturing from digital to media buy.
This is a huge distinction. It takes far more talent to get something promoted with no budget than to get it promoted with one. If you’re reading this news article now, remember how you got here. Was it Twitter? Was it Digg? Was it facebook? Was it a Google Search? Was it Google News? Was it a hyperlink from another site?
Notice none of these required a media spend. Yet you’re reading this now. This is the definition of digital.
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