Archive for May 19th, 2008

This is amazing.  Who doesn’t want to see this movie? Republicans?

Given the adoration heaped on ad networks over the last few years, the natural swing of the media pendulum has brought some naysaying stories to our attention. Yet just as quickly as they appeared, news extolling the strengths of ad networks has leapt back to the fore. Why? While some of the negative pundits and bloggers seem to have overlooked the underlying value of ad networks, the inherent benefits that standard banner ad networks deliver is even further amplified for the video format. Let’s start with what should be plainly obvious — networks bring scale. Lots and lots of scale. They bring ease and a single point of contact for purchasing large quantities of advertising inventory or audiences. They also enable buyers to slice and dice an audience into niche segments in ways that single sites simply can’t.

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Reliance has signed a string of development deals with the production shingles of a stellar array of top Hollywood talent: Nicolas Cage’s Saturn Prods., Jim Carrey’s JC 23 Entertainment, George Clooney’s Smokehouse Prods., Chris Columbus’ 1492 Pictures, Tom Hanks and Gary Goetzman’s Playtone Prods., Brad Pitt’s Plan B Entertainment and Jay Roach’s Everyman Pictures.

Deals are described as “production silos” under which Reliance Big Entertainment provides development coin to enable the talent to nurture or acquire movie projects before taking them to the studios with which they have first-look arrangements. In a second stage, deals allow Reliance to participate in up to 50% of a movie’s subsequent production funding and to secure rights in India.

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HOLLYWOOD - Although I did not see Indiana Jones & the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull at the swanky Cannes Film Festival, rubbing elbows with Harrison Ford, Steven Spielberg, George Lucas and assembled elite film critics from around the world, I was at the humble confines of the Paramount Theatre on the studio lot on Melrose in Hollywood at the Sunday 10:00 am press screening. I am happy to report that, despite early negative reactions from some disgruntled, unprofessional exhibition execs who anonymously posted scathing pans, it is a worthy successor to Raiders of the Lost Ark.

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Following a somewhat unusual upfront presentation week that saw fewer new shows than the norm–16 vs. 29 last year–buyers last week said they’re happy with what they saw for fall and confident the nets will have plenty of new stuff ready for midseason.

The marketplace now comes into focus with questions about how long will it take to cut ad deals. And that, buyers say, will depend on how greedy the network sales chiefs are.

Buyers generally praised CBS and Fox for having quality new shows ready for fall. They were less jazzed with ABC bringing back its entire Wednesday of first-year shows to relaunch again this fall. Some also were pleased The CW has two new shows that fit right into its audience wheelhouse. But they said if any of those networks demand hefty price increases, it will be a long upfront negotiation.

The depressed economy was repeatedly cited as the key reason advertisers will not overpay for advertising, especially when the networks are coming off a down ratings season.

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Some 30 years ago, Microsoft predicted a day when there would be a computer on every desk. Now Microsoft wants to introduce the next generation of computing, where the desk itself becomes a digital surface. “With Surface we now see a day when every desk can be a computer, and it’s not only your desk but maybe your kitchen countertop, the table in your breakfast nook, the mirror in your hallway or, at work, the conference room table,” says Mark Bolger, senior director of marketing, Microsoft Surface Computing.

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Bridezillas fans have something to tide them over until the upcoming season premiere: A viral application that lets users become brides.

The campaign, which begins today, “embodies the outrageous behavior that can sometimes come from stressed-out brides-to-be,” said Kenetta Bailey, WE tv (Women’s Entertainment) senior vice president of marketing.

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arrison Ford told a news conference at the Cannes Film Festival that he expected critics to turn Indiana Jones’s whip on him following this week’s release of Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. “It’s not unusual for something that is popular to be disdained by some people, and I fully expect it.” He called the film a “celebration of the movies” — and there are elements of almost every genre represented in it — from old-time afternoon serials, to Tarzan flicks, to sci-fi to Elvis musicals (it’s set in 1957, and we hear Elvis singing over an opening scene) — even, as Spielberg himself later conceded at a news conference, his as-yet-unproduced Tintin films. “Somehow I just feel inured from professional criticism.” Ford added. A good thing, too, since some of the initial criticism does indeed crackle like Indiana’s whip. Michael Phillips in the Chicago Tribune, calling the movie “disappointingly humorless,” says that it “is so nervous about falling into the quicksands of camp that it forgets to deliver a good time.” Rick Honeycutt in the Hollywood Reporter/Reuters says that the plot “gets swamped in a sea of stunts and special effects that are relentless as the scenes and character relationships are charmless.”

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The coffee brand? Perhaps you recall its advertising slogan: “Fill it to the rim — with Brim!” Those ads haven’t been shown in years, and Brim itself has been off retail shelves since the 1990s. Yet depending on how old you are, there’s a fair chance that there’s some echo of the Brim brand in your brain. That’s no surprise, given that from 1961 to around 1995, General Foods spent tens, if not hundreds, of millions of dollars to get it there. But General Foods disappeared into the conglomerate now known as Altria, which also acquired Kraft, maker of Maxwell House. With much smaller sales than that megabrand, Brim soon disappeared — except, perhaps, for a vague idea of Brim that lingered, and lingers even now, in the minds of millions of consumers.

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NEW YORK (AdAge.com) — Can U.S. TV networks run fewer ads in their TV shows but charge more for them? News Corp.’s Fox is about to find out.While presenting next fall’s prime-time lineup to advertisers yesterday, Fox executives unveiled a concept they dubbed “remote-free TV,” an obvious gambit to keep viewers from zapping past ads or clicking away from the network during commercial breaks. Fox will limit the advertising inventory available in two high-concept dramas, “Fringe” and “Dollhouse,” so the programs have “more entertainment for the consumer” and “more impact for your commercials,” Jon Nesvig, the network’s president-sales, said at the presentation.

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