Archive for August 14th, 2008

By ITVX Staff

According to AdWeek, ESPN.com is partnering up with Orbitz to launch a new travel site for sports fans. The site, which will be called ESPN Sports Passport powered by Orbitz, will let fans upload pics and post links to specific games and blog about them. I can’t wait to blog about Duaner Sanchez.

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NBC Universal displayed its first attempt to measure consumption of the Olympics across diverse media platforms today, suggesting that views of the Beijing Games via mobile devices and the web were gaining serious traction.

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That flood of demand for high-definition digital titles may be a little farther off than some studios and content providers had hoped.

Movie-download service Vudu said this week that it will let customers renew high-definition movie titles for $1.99. The company, which offers standard-definition renewals for 99 cents, charges $3.99 to $5.99 for first-time rentals of HD titles.

“In this age of $4-a-gallon gas and ‘staycations,’ we felt that Vudu customers deserved a break,” said Patrick Cosson, the company’s vice president of marketing. Of Vudu’s 6,500 titles, about 200 are available in HD.

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NEW YORK German fashion company Hugo Boss has awarded its estimated $60 million global media account to Havas’ MPG after a review, the agency has confirmed.

The business will be managed out of MPG in Germany, while the agency’s New York office will oversee the U.S. portion of the assignment.  Boss spent approximately $22 million in measured media in the U.S. in 2007, according to Nielsen Monitor-Plus.

Contenders included the primary incumbent, Omnicom’s PHD, as well as WPP’s Mediaedge:cia and Publicis Groupe’s Zenith Optimedia.

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By iTVX Staff

After sitting out about a month from a severe hand injury as a result of a DUI car crash, Shia LeBeouf is returning to the Transformers 2 set. It’ll be interesting to see if the actor’s injury will be written into the film. It’ll also be interesting to see how many products are featured in the sequel to the 2006 blockbuster. That film featured over 20 different brands in it including Nokia and Panasonic.

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Mountain Dew is looking for new ways to extend its reach among thirsty young men, and this week will begin rolling out its latest experiment: Six limited-edition bottles, designed by emerging artists.

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Terra Networks has launched a rebranding campaign aimed at attracting new online users and cementing its U.S. Web portal as the digital destination for Hispanics.

Ads begin rolling out this week in Dallas, Los Angeles, Miami and New York via radio, out-of-home media and the Web. TV spots are in the works. Alma DDB, Miami, is responsible for creative duties and WPP’s MindShare, Miami, handles buying chores.

This marks the first significant marketing push in some time for the company, and comes as Terra and its U.S. Hispanic-targeted Web portal approach their 10th year online in 2009. It also coincides with the redesign and relaunch of Terra.com, which debuted last Friday along with the site’s extended bilingual coverage of the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

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A major advertising agency is giving ABC and Fox a major vote of confidence going into the fall season.

In its just-released fall prime-time preview, Carat says the two networks will finish in a tie for first place among adults 18-49. Among total viewers, the agency gives the nod to CBS.

Should Carat’s forecast come true, it would be a major coup for Fox, which has ended recent fourth quarters in fourth place, only to surge ahead later in the season on the wings of “American Idol.”

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By Jon Chattman, iTVX Staff

In yet another reason why the product placement industry is growing rapidly, online sources say Fox plans to release its 24 movie (it takes place between the show’s sixth and seventh seasons) on DVD just two days after it airs. How does product placement come into play here? Consider this: Most people will DVR the show anyway to skip the commercials in the first place - add the incentive of a DVD version of the movie sans commercials altogether, and it only makes the need for product placement much more prevalent - at least from advertisers point of view. On a related note, 24 often employs productive product placements - notably in the past, Apple hardware.

What are your thoughts?

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Members of the marketing team at Bank of Montreal have been smiling smugly lately over a couple of “product placement” coups they didn’t have to pay for. First, they spotted one of their Chicago subsidiary Harris Bankcorp Inc.’s branches in the new blockbuster Batman movie, The Dark Knight. Then, last week the bank discovered that Toronto Football Club’s Maurice Edu has been named one of three cover athletes and spokespersons for EA Sports’ FIFA Soccer 09, which is billed as the most popular soccer video game in the world. In the photos, Mr. Edu is sporting a BMO-branded jersey.

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