Archive for August, 2008

By iTVX Staff

Cracked.com’s Jeff Steinbrunner took on the product placement industry with his story today on the top ten shameless product placements of all time. The number one selection was Mac and Me, a film released shortly after E.T., that was essentially the same movie only, well, bad. The movie gets thrown under the bus by the writer for its blatant McDonald’s product placement, and it’s honestly hard not to agree. The movie incorporates the fast food joint with Coca-Cola heavily - there’s even a song and dance inside the restaurant and an appearance - we kid you not - by Ronald McDonald.  For the entire Cracked.com story today, click here.

Fox-owned cabler FX has acquired the Canuck crime drama “The Border” from Fireworks International, the television arm of U.K. distrib ContentFilm.Produced by Toronto-based White Pine Pictures in association with Canadian pubcaster the CBC, the 26-part skein will premiere on FX in the U.K. next spring, alongside such U.S. imports as “Dexter,” “The Wire” and “24.”

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By iTVX Staff

The creators of the scripted web series‘ Lonelygirl15 are back with another branded project - only this time don’t expect for viewers to think the series is actually real diary entries. The “LG15″ production company Eqal, which is headed by Greg Goodfried and Miles Beckett, have announced “The Resistance” is coming soon.

The show is actually a spinoff of Lonelygirl15. It will feature some cast members of Lonelygirl15 although not Lonelygirl hereself, who as everyone who watched the previous series knows, met an untimely ending. Read the rest of this entry »

By iTVX Staff

Cracked.com’s Jeff Steinbrunner took on the product placement industry with his story today on the top ten shameless product placements of all time. Continuing our take on the story, here’s #4-2.

At #4 is I, Robot, which has been blasted for its blatant brands it seems every since it came out. The film is singled out for its Audi placement which boasts - according to the story - over four minutes of screentime. Another talking point is Will Smith’s Converse All-Stars which are on full display. Nike takes the blame there in that it had just purchased Converse, so the writer points out that filmmakers with that company sold out. There’s very little I recall of the film, but I do remember the Converse scene which isn’t necessarily a bad thing. What was your take on this movie?  #3 below the fold. Read the rest of this entry »

By iTVX Staff

Today’s MediaPost Marketing Daily has an interesting story on Heineken linking up with Heavy.com in an attempt to draw more male interest.  Heineken and its “Premium Light” brand are sponsoring a new edition of “Hit List” - a countdown of numerous top tens - now branded with Heineken skin.

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Asuka Kosaka joined Facebook this year to connect with her English-speaking friends. But when the 29-year-old wants to share her thoughts and photos with 70 friends and family members in Japan, she heads straight for another site: Mixi.

Mixi (2121.T) may not have the global reach of social networking giants Facebook and MySpace, but in Japan it’s king. The Tokyo company had 15 million users as of June, a 40% gain from 10.7 million a year earlier. No other social networking site even comes close, analysts say. Facebook and News Corp.’s (NWS) MySpace disclose only worldwide numbers. “Most of my friends don’t know that Facebook and MySpace have Japanese-language sites,” says Kosaka.

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NBC Universal CEO Jeff Zucker continued the company’s buoyancy regarding the Olympics this week, reaffirming in an interview that the Games will yield a notable profit. NBCU so far has announced ad sales worth $1.25 billion.

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Models have the runway, actresses the red carpet and — when it comes to showing off their latest styles — tennis players have center court.  One emerging trend is to incorporate a cocktail-attire look into their performance clothes, especially if they’re playing under the lights at night. And, says tennis star Maria Sharapova, there’s no better place to pull out the stops than the U.S. Open.

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By iTVX Staff

Cracked.com’s Jeff Steinbrunner took on the product placement industry with his story today on the top ten shameless product placements of all time. Continuing our take on the story, here’s the writer’s #7-5. Read the rest of this entry »

TV advertising is poised to change dramatically over the next decade, embracing the kind of targeting and user control already common on the Web, according to a new report by Forrester Research.  Forrester lays out a decade-long evolution that will ultimately result in most programming delivered on-demand with targeted ad messages based on location and behavior, along with community functions. Read the rest of this entry »