MediaPost Publications - TNT Uses Tolls In TV Marketing Ploy - 08/29/2008

TNT is turning to one of the more persuasive promotional techniques to drive tune-in for a new series: a freebie. The network will cover the toll charge for drivers in four metro areas this weekend in support of the premiere of drama "Raising the Bar."

For two-hour periods in the afternoon, drivers in Chicago, Philadelphia, and Atlanta--all top-10 DMAs--and Orlando will be able to go through without having to forage for cash. The promotion runs today in Atlanta and on Monday in the other markets in advance of that night's 10 p.m. Labor Day show debut.

The booths across the toll plazas will be covered in signage. In Atlanta, drivers will sail right through. In the three other markets, they will stop and be handed a card reading, "Your free toll was courtesy of TNT and 'Raising the Bar.' 'Raising the Bar' premieres tonight on TNT."

MediaPost Publications - TNT Uses Tolls In TV Marketing Ploy - 08/29/2008

I can't begin to tell you how many times I personally have been waved off any and all promotional ideas leveraging toll booths. "We can't do it." "The authorities won't let us." "It's too complicated!"

Excuses, excuses, excuses. No more.

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Levi's Invites Consumers To 'Unbutton' Artists - 08/19/2008

Levi's puts the focus on the 501 brand in its latest "Live Unbuttoned" digital campaign. The ads and microsites, featuring up-and-coming artists, offer a glimpse of the real person behind the celebrity, speaking to the hidden creativity in everyone.

EVB San Francisco built the campaign on the idea that everyone has an artistic side--they just need to "unbutton" it. The video and still ads directed by Pier Nicola D'Amico began rolling out last week featuring emerging artists including the British hip-hop singer Estelle, along with Nikka Costa and Wale. The concept, developed with support from music agency Cornerstone, gives consumers a glimpse into the style of several profiled artists.

MediaPost Publications - Levi's Invites Consumers To 'Unbutton' Artists - 08/19/2008

The standard argument I hear all the time is that only certain brands in certain verticals can produce this kind of work. The recently launched Converse Chuck Taylor campaign is strikingly similar to this one -- feature a bunch of up-and-coming artists (many of whom are known entities) and feature them via print and microsites. Got it. It's great for fashion, but how does Scrubbing Bubbles do one of these? Should some brands just step aside and continue to use more traditional advertising?

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Yahoo's BrowserPlus is a Game Changer. Finally! - Silicon Alley Insider

BrowserPlus is a browser plug-in unlike any other. As most of you know, a Browser plug-in allows you to add functionality to your browser that it is not built-in. For example, the most popular Browser plug-in is Adobe's Flash Player.The reason BrowserPlus is significant is because it is really the plug-in to end all plug-ins. The idea is that once you have BrowserPlus installed, you can install different feature modules as needed seamlessly and without restarting your browser. Right now, installing plugins, while not exactly painful, is enough of a speedbump that, outside the Flash Player, getting people to install them is fairly hard.

Yahoo's BrowserPlus is a Game Changer. Finally! - Silicon Alley Insider

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Nielsen Says Mobile Ads Growing, Consumers Respond - New York Times

About 23 percent of U.S. mobile phone users have seen advertising on their cell phones in the last 30 days and about half of them responded to the ads, according to a report from The Nielsen Co released on Tuesday.The number of phone users who recalled seeing mobile ads rose by 38 percent to 58 million in the fourth quarter compared with 42 million in the second quarter, Nielsen's fourth-quarter survey of 22,000 active mobile data users.

Nielsen Says Mobile Ads Growing, Consumers Respond - New York Times

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MediaPost Publications - Nielsen Funds Most Ambitious Ethnographic Study Ever, Will Benchmark How People Actually Use Media - 02/25/2008

I have been describing the need for a new media anthropology for the past year or so. Advertisers and agencies need to feel confident about exactly how people are using media. There is a great deal of complexity in all of this; and agency people are infamously allergic to complexity. We're going to have to get over that. Prediction: Agencies will embrace complexity and drive value for clients by absorbing media complexity and translating it into effective integrated marketing communications. (Or go home!)

IN WHAT IS LIKELY THE most ambitious ethnographic study ever observing how people actually consume media, Nielsen Media Research is funding a highly regarded academic research group with $3.5 million to follow hundreds of people around to see how they use both traditional and emerging video platforms inside and outside their homes.

MediaPost Publications - Nielsen Funds Most Ambitious Ethnographic Study Ever, Will Benchmark How People Actually Use Media - 02/25/2008

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