Archive for October, 2007

Share This

Share This

We’re accustomed, by now, to unsubtle product placement on TV. We accept the intrusion of Nissans into every other frame of NBC’s “Heroes.” We don’t flinch when Fox’s “American Idol” set shares its color scheme with a Coke bottle. We accept that every statistic uttered during a sports broadcast is sponsored by some company or other.

So it says a lot about the unexpected reach of Taco Bell’s ”Steal a Base, Steal a Taco” promotion — and the fervor with which Fox Sports has embraced it — that so many people would find this one so dirty. So Orwellian. Whether it is or not.

If you’ve been watching baseball this week, the details of the giveaway are probably emblazoned in your brain, like multiplication tables or the Giant Glass theme song. But for the benefit of everyone else — and Taco Bell, of course — here goes: After the first stolen base of the series, the chain promised to give a free beef taco to anyone who asked. (The catch: You have to go from 2 to 5 p.m. on Tuesday.)

Jacoby Ellsbury did the deed in the fourth inning Thursday night. And not long afterward, Fox Sports played this conversation, recorded a day earlier from the Red Sox dugout, between Ellsbury and shortstop Royce Clayton…

Full Story

Share This

The weakened dollar and a plethora of quality global movies on offer at this year’s AFM is foremost on the minds of buyers and sellers from the five main territories in Europe — the U.K., Germany, France, Italy and Spain — as this year’s market gets under way today in Santa Monica.

For anyone traveling from Europe, the cost of going is dramatically reduced, attendees agree. But the question on everyone’s lips is, will savings generated by the weak dollar be passed along to buyers in deals struck here?

Nick Hill and Peter Naish, co-managing directors of U.K.-based and U.S.-owned Capitol Films, have assembled a big sales slate of projects with top names expected to command high prices.

Full Story

Share This

Advertisers have already snapped up almost all the commercial spots for next year’s Super Bowl, a buying pace that outstrips previous years.

Media buyers say the strong demand this year is a function of the growing threat of digital video recorders. The ad-skipping epidemic has caused marketers to place a bigger emphasis on big TV events that consumers tend to watch live rather than record. Read the rest of this entry »

Share This

Infinity’s former CFO, Stuart Stitt, has been appointed managing director of Fujitsu New Zealand, while current Fujitsu general manager, Jo Healey, will become general manager of Sales and Service Delivery.The top level reshuffle was announced after Fujitsu shareholders yesterday formally ratified the Fujitsu New Zealand and Infinity Solutions merger first publicised in September.

The company has denied Healey’s new position is a sideways move, saying that to the contrary she “will continue to be the public face for Fujitsu New Zealand building customer and partner relationships … in a company with a much broader customer base and more diverse sales opportunities.”
Read the rest of this entry »

Share This

NBC UNIVERSAL DIGITAL MEDIA HAS entered a sales deal with New York-based IGA Worldwide–a move that strengthens both companies’ abilities to offer in-game ad packages that also feature online, TV and wireless components.

NBCU’s Digital Media sales department will have access to IGA’s premium in-game ad inventory for core PC games, with the option to expand to other platforms like console and casual game titles in the future. Both companies’ sales teams will work together to craft multi-platform deals for IGA network clients.

According to Nick Johnson, vice president, NBC Universal Digital Media Advertising Sales, the deal comes amidst the media giant’s continued exploration of digital distribution opportunities, and they chose IGA because “we felt like they were the experts in the space.”

The deal was likely also bolstered by GE/NBC Universal’s Peacock Equity Fund’s participation in IGA’s $25 million Series B investment round, which closed in July.

Johnson noted that the addition of IGA’s in-game inventory complements NBCU’s TV 360 ad model–enabling them to amplify and extend a brand’s broadcast placement with ancillary Web, wireless, and now dynamic PC game ad spots. Read the rest of this entry »

Share This

Share This

NEW YORK (AdAge.com) — With the fall season in full gear, Ad Age TV Editor Brian Steinberg casts a critical eye on some of TV’s new and continuing series to help marketers determine which may prove to be the best showcases for their ads and products. Tonight CBS adds a new actor to its reliable, if formulaic, drama, “Criminal Minds.”

Photo Credit: Vivian Zink/ABC

“Criminal Minds”

Where/When you’ll see it: CBS, Wednesdays at 9 p.m. (Eastern time)

What you’ll see: Just like the criminals the FBI profilers in this series pursue, I have to confess: I’ve never watched an episode of “Criminal Minds” in my life. But the series star, Mandy Patinkin, announced he was leaving before the fall season began, and the show has finally gotten around to introducing a new lead, veteran thespian Joe Mantegna. Which makes it a good time to check things out.

Full Story

Share This

Don’t look now, but TV ads suddenly have found a whole new way to invade our space.

All of a sudden, not even the programs themselves are safe. I’m not talking about the ads interrupting the shows, which have been a staple of broadcast network TV for half a century. I’m not even talking about the increasingly annoying practice of product placement, in which characters on TV shows drive vehicles that conveniently pop up in ads during the next commercial break.

And I’m not even talking about those annoying network promos that pop up in the lower third of the screen while a show is in progress - the ones that interfere with the enjoyment of what watching one program in the hopes of enticing us to watch another one later.

Full Story

Share This