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AutoTrader.com is running a $30,000 sweepstakes in a campaign to plug the upcoming release of “Speed Racer” from Warner Bros. Pictures and Village Roadshow Pictures.
Consumers who register for “The Ultimate ‘Speed Racer Giveaway” on the auto marketplace site now through May 30 will be eligible to win $30,000 toward the purchase of a vehicle on AutoTrader.com, CollectorCarTraderOnline.com or through one of its print publications, AutoTrader, Deals on Wheels, Old Car Trader or Specialty Car Marketplace.
“We try to be as innovative as we can on our product,” said Don Dixon, AutoTrader.com director of promotions and sponsorships. “‘Speed Racer’, the movie, is incredibly innovative, but it’s old idea as we are in terms of the advertising. So it was a good fit.”
This is the advent of change for the radio advertising buying experience. Within weeks, the radio industry will begin embracing a process of posting similar to that used by television and Internet advertising portals, which give advertisers assurance of audience levels and reconciles shortcomings when they occur. In fact, as previously reported, CBS Radio is currently on a three-city tour unveiling its posting plans.
Clear Channel Radio president John Hogan is being credited by RAB president Jeff Haley for his driving the idea, but Haley quickly adds that all the major groups such as Citadel, Cumulus, Greater Media, Entercom and CBS have immediately jumped on board to craft a process that will give the advertising community the security in knowing that radio is standing behind what it sells, Haley tells R&R in an exclusive interview on Tuesday (April 29) Full Story
After months of speculation, Time Warner announced plans to spin off its cable division during the company’s first-quarter earnings call on Wednesday. Time Warner head Jeff Bewkes has previously vowed to shake up the company, and recently promised investors that a decision was coming on the fate of Time Warner Cable.
Well, okay: maybe that’s hyperbole about the death of DVD. On the other hand, maybe it’s not. In what has to be seen as a major vote of confidence in online content delivery, almost all of the major studios (including Fox, Disney, Paramount, Warner Bros., Universal, Lionsgate, and what’s left of New Line) have signed with Apple to offer many of their movies on the iTunes Store’s download-to-own service — simultaneously with the release of the DVDs. This seems to show that they’re not squeamish about losing DVD sales — or at least not squeamish enough to turn down the attractive deal Apple no doubt offered.
LONDON — Europe’s leading paybox BSkyB registered a £118 million ($224.2 million) loss for the nine months to March 31 as the falling value of its stake in U.K. terrestrial web ITV exerted pressure on the bottom line.This compares with a profit of £388 million ($737.2 million) for the same period in 2006-07.
Sales increased by 10% to £3.7 billion ($6.4 billion) as the satcaster added a net 56,000 subscribers in the first quarter of 2008 bringing the total to 8.888 million and in sight of reaching 10 million subscribers by 2010.
CEO Jeremy Darroch was bullish despite the hit taken by the holding in ITV, whose stock price has more than halved since BSkyB bought the stake in November 2006.
The Lego Indiana Jones website is now live and features a little “treasure hunt” game where users search for riches and can then “purchase” wallpapers, avatars and coloring sheets. There’s also the standard stuff like a community forum and screenshots, along with the trailer for the game.
A downloadable demo should be available for PC on May 13 (also available on the movie DVDs) and we’re not finding any information on a console demo, but that doesn’t mean there won’t be one. Lego Indy begins beating up Nazis random cult members at retail June 3. Full Story
Recently we have questioned the effectiveness of metrics, but have we considered that it could be how we’re using the metric–not the metric itself–that is negatively impacting campaign performance?
Imagine this: You’re the head of a media-buying department for your online advertising company, ad network or agency. Let’s say you’re doing some media planning to promote a new electric Tiki-torch, and the goal of the online campaign is to generate awareness, traffic and sales to your Web site. Looking at your budget planning grid, you have the first half of May circled on your calendar as the time for the next big online ad buy, right in time for Memorial Day and the outdoor BBQ season–perfect timing for selling new Tiki-torches.
LONDON — HBO Central Europe has appointed its Prague-based executive director for the Czech Republic, Ondrej Zach, as vice president for programming and acquisitions across the 11 territories it covers.Zach, who has been in charge of HBO’s Czech and Slovak operations for the past two years, assumes responsibility for program planning, scheduling and acquisitions for all of HBO’s Central Europe channels, including HBO, HBO2, HBO Comedy, Cinemax, Cinemax 2, HBO Digital SVOD and HD services.
Skype, still eBay’s (although nobody knows why) voice over Internet Protocol service, announced recently that it had begun testing a version of its software for the 50 most popular mobile phones capable of running Java. The beta software runs on phones from Motorola, Nokia, Samsung and Sony Ericsson. Does this mean that free VoIP calling from your mobile phone is finally reality? Um, no, says Ars Technica, not quite.
The beta software provides basic Skype stuff, like chat, online friends lists and the ability to make and receive Skype calls. However, this does not mean that you download software and are suddenly free from the necessity of a cell phone minutes plan. For starters, users will only be able to receive calls from Skype users and through SkypeIn, the service that lets regular phones call Skype numbers); the ability to make calls to Skype users and through SkypeOut is only available in the following markets (no, the USA is not included): Brazil (Rio de Janeiro), Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Poland, Sweden and the UK.
