Archive for July 17th, 2008

Converse staged a homepage takeover on YouTube.com yesterday as part of a multi-faceted fast break campaign that covers virtually all media.

The campaign is built around Converse’s collaboration with musical artists Pharrel Williams, Santogold and Julian Casablancas to produce the “My Drive Thru” music track.

The debut of the resulting music video of that tune generated 750,000 video streams on MySpace and YouTube in the four days following its release on July 9, when it also premiered on MTV.

Broadcast and cable TV ads in 30- and 60-second versions also started running yesterday across the MTV Networks. Those ads were produce and animated by Psyop in collaboration with Converse advertising partner Anomaly and music promotions partner Cornerstone.

“This is without a doubt, the biggest campaign we’ve put out as a brand,” said Converse spokesman Jonathan Finn. “We wanted to do something in the music world.
Part of our mission in the world is to foster creativity.”

The campaign targets music fans. The timing coincides with the prime summer selling season for athletic footwear.

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Chevrolet, State Farm, JCPenney, Target, McDonald’s and Wrigley’s Orbit Gum are the major brand sponsors of Univision’s 5th annual Premios Juventud youth awards show, which will air live from Miami Beach tonight (July 17) at 7 p.m. E.T.

In addition to on-air commercials, the advertisers will have other integrations in the show. Chevy vehicles will line the Green Carpet as celebrities arrive, along with Chevy signage. Chevy will also air 10 commercials during the telecast.

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Via its new FeedPowered Analytics Dashboard, Pheedo can now measure news feed (RSS) user behavior for advertisers distributing content through social media properties, Web sites of many top publishers and high-ranking blogs.

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Internet radio upstart Pandora has streamed 3.3 million songs to iPhone users since the launch of its new mobile application, making it the third most popular such application for the red hot device—the newest version of which Apple released on July 11.

Pandora’s success on the new iPhone, which sold a stunning one million units this past weekend, could thrust Internet radio to new heights, as the until now still-under-the-radar medium appears ideally suited for mobile usage. Pandora, which boasts of a proprietary technology designed to help users discover new music that matches their specific personal tastes, says it’s been setting listening records since its iPhone app went live.

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In Disney Pixar’s new movie, “Wall-E,” the female heroine is a shiny all-white robot with no seams or overt buttons showing. Remind you of anything? Actually, it brings to mind most of the Apple product line.

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The brief description of Christian Slater’s new NBC show makes us realize that any show can get the green light these days as long as it has the right product placement. It’s a pretty simple formula, actually. Take one famous actor (Christian Slater), add a car (2010 Camaro SS) and one crazy plot twist involving a government agency (he leads a double life) and you’ve got profit. That’s also the plot to Knight Rider, basically. Surely, we can come up with a better auto product placement plot.

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Showtime has inked a deal with virtual world technology company The Electric Sheep Company to create a standalone Web-based virtual world for drama series “The L Word.”

The L Word virtual world, which begins testing next month and formally launches with the debut of the series’ new season in early 2009, will be the first to use Electric Sheep’s new WebFlock, a Flash-based solution that eliminates the lengthy downloads and other technological barriers that have prevented some virtual worlds from attracting the mass market.

Rob Hayes, vp and general manager for Showtime Digital Media, noted “Word” did have a successful promotion last year in Second Life, but added he expects to this program to attract a much larger audience.

In addition to screenings of “Word” episodes, Hayes foresees a whirlwind of virtual activity surrounding the series. “We’ll also have celebrity guests as well as speed dating events and birthday party kits,” he said. “Some of these will be centered on the show and some of them will be around the lifestyles, but the goal is to find ways to extend the brand.”

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This week Nike pushes forth with what it is calling the largest campaign in the brand’s history. Based around the Olympics in Beijing, Nike will debut a new global spot called “Courage,” continue to promote the Nike Hyperdunk shoe and launch the “Human Race” event.

The new TV spot breaks first in Asia and Latin America. It will air in the U.S. on Aug. 8. The ad celebrates the 20th anniversary of the “Just do it” campaign by showing a collage of inspirational sports imagery. Michael Jordan kissing his National Basketball Association championship trophy and Lance Armstrong defeating cancer are among the 30-plus different athletes from 17 different countries that appear. The Killers’ “All These Things That I’ve Done” serves as the soundtrack.

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ABC will start a major image on-air promotional campaign for its fall shows, featuring its big programming stars and other talent.

The creative will break on the network’s air in mid-August, a few weeks before the season begins, with a 60-second and a 30-second promotional spot. The network will not disclose the theme as yet–but said the stars from ABC Daytime shows, as well as its news personalities, will be included in the campaign.

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iVillage has entered a strategic partnership with BlogHer, which will give the NBC unit access to BlogHer’s network of some 2200 women’s blogs, along with promotional opportunities across its female audience.

The deal includes a $5 million series B investment, financed by Peacock Equity, the joint venture between NBC Universal and GE Commercial Finance’s Media, Communications and Entertainment business, and returning investor Venrock, a venture capital firm.

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