Archive for May 8th, 2008

MTV Networks announced a partnership with Marketing Evolution, a custom market research and consulting firm.

The deal will be a part of MTV Networks’ pitch about advertising effectiveness at its upfront presentation tonight in New York.

Through the partnership, MTVN will be the first media company to offer clients a suite of measurements based on Marketing Evolution’s premium data analysis and marketing effectiveness metrics in order to give them a better idea of what kind of return they’re getting on their spending with MTV’s networks.

The metrics are called “Effectiveness Targeting.”

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LOS ANGELES (AdAge.com) — That most disposable artifact of pop culture, the summer movie, has finally met its match: the summer-only brand.  On June 20, Warner Bros. Pictures’ feature-film version of the 1960s spy-spoof TV series “Get Smart” will pop into theaters preceded by a multimillion-dollar promotional push from PepsiCo’s limited-edition Sierra Mist Undercover Orange soda.

But unlike many of the other brands officially aligned with the Steve Carell comedy (among them Subway sandwiches, Swiss Army products, Vespa scooters, QVC and Anheuser-Busch), Pepsi’s latest incarnation of Sierra Mist isn’t aiming for longevity, just brevity and levity.

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NEW YORK Coolspotters, a new Web site that presents products celebrities are using, launched Wednesday in beta with Pepsi signed on as the exclusive launch sponsor.

The site, CoolSpotters.com, has pages for products, celebrities, brands, TV shows and movies and connects them to actors, athletes, business icons, musicians and politicians.

For example, Jessica Alba’s page features links to pictures of the actress wearing Timberland shoes or using a Sidekick 3. Pepsi’s page has links to YouTube clips of Pepsi commercials featuring celebrities and candid photos of Lindsay Lohan and Alba with the soft drink.

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NEW YORK Web video might get more DVR owners to see commercials, although viewers say they don’t pay much attention to those ads.

A new study conducted by Google’s DoubleClick Performics division confirmed that DVR owners watch more television but fewer commercials. However, the survey also found that many DVR owners are watching TV programs online — but aren’t paying much attention to ads in that venue, either.

DVR owners for the most part said they ignore commercials on TV and the Web. About 35 percent said they pay attention occasionally (or more often) when watching ads on TV. That number falls to 9 percent for spots viewed online. In fact, 38 percent said they pay less attention to the online ads.
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Interactive video outdoor ads are gaining more traction in some of the country’s most-frequented travel terminals, with Clear Channel Outdoor, CBS Outdoor and JC Decaux partnering with the out-of-home ad technology’s biggest players.
This week, Clear Channel Outdoor announced a multiyear agreement with gesture-based ad company Reactrix to power interactive ads in all of its airport locations. Using Reactrix Stepscape technology, the ads are featured on the airport’s floor and allow travelers to play around with the creative.
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When Midway announced that DC characters were splicing worlds with Mortal Kombat for a T-rated fighting game, we prepared our eulogy for the fatality, a staple of the MK universe that seemed to run against the DC philosophy. Not so fast, says MK series creator Ed Boon, who hints that the violent sendoffs will still be there, albeit in a tamer fashion.

Paramount released a slew of G.I. Joe advanced photos today. Here’s Destro. Can’t wait until they release some with his metalic face!

A year ago, the Toyota Prius was the 13th most shopped model on third- party web sites such as Edmunds.com and Autotrader.com. In April, as gas prices jumped from the $2.70 range to the $3.25 range, the hybrid became the 4th most shopped, according to a new report by Compete.com, Boston.

Sales of the Prius were up nearly 23% through April, per Autodata, Woodcliff Lake, N.J. Also through April, hybrid market share increased to 3.2% from 2.6% of all cars sold in 2007, per Power Information Network.

The growing popularity of the Prius, which sold 181,221 units last year, is part of American consumers’ move from trucks to cars, which last month outsold trucks 53% to 47%, per Autodata. Those figures were the opposite for April of last year.

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Production Advisors, a New York based branded entertainment company, is set
to open an office in Chicago this June. This will be the third office for the company, which also has an outpost in Los Angeles.

Production Advisors, with nine employees in New York, is headed up by Llyod
Simon, the first director of business and legal affairs for MTV. The Chicago office will start out with two to three staffers with expectations that it will grow to six.

Production Advisors has been responsible for putting Sting into Jaguar spots, bringing Rhianna, Ne-Yo and Julie Roberts together for Clinque’s Happy and, most recently, placing the Boss Martian “Hey Hey Yeah Yeah” in E Trade’s Super Bowl spots.

The company points to Chicago artists such as The Changes and The Fiery Furnaces as band to watch.
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Carol Goll, who oversaw brand marketing at Mercedes-Benz USA for 13 years, has been named head of global branded entertainment at ICM, where she has appointed Andrew Francis as an agent.

Goll will oversee a department of six agents. She will be charged with leveraging worldwide brands and ICM’s assets across the film, TV, live entertainment and publishing industries. The division has recently orchestrated branded deals for Beyonce, Ellen DeGeneres, Chris Brown, Kate Walsh, Sharon Stone, Samuel L. Jackson, Beau Garrett and Kathy Bates, working with companies including American Express and Virgin Media.

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