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Move over, Angelina Jolie. There’s a new Lara Croft in town, and she’s a 23-year-old gymnast from South London, Tomb Raider publisher Eidos announced this week.Ever since actress Rhona Mitra first took on the role of Tomb Raider heroine Lara Croft in 1997, Eidos has sought real-life counterparts for its acrobatic archaeologist heroine, and they’ve helped propel the video game series to worldwide sales topping 32 million. Up until now the British publisher’s picks have tended to be models or, like Jolie, movie stars, but Alison Carroll might just be the first Croft to have the physical abilities to do her famously acrobatic opposite number justice.
As noted in Adweek today, TV Guide, in an unprecedented move, will boast 21 advertising pages for ABC in its upcoming issue. As J. Scott Crystal, president of TV Guide, tells AdWeek, “This collaboration with ABC is another example of our willingness to ‘disrupt’ the norm in terms of advertising placement and execution with the goal of being both memorable and more engaging to our readers.”
In a joint statement, Marla Provencia and Michael Benson, evps of ABC Entertainment were quoted in the AdWeek piece, saying, “We are very pleased with the TV Guide partnership and are excited that ABC is the first to execute a program of this magnitude. What better way to launch our new brand campaign and to showcase ABC’s programming than with the biggest television entertainment magazine in the country?”
If the deal is productive to all parties, it could lead to similar deals. Could you imagine a Dreamworks edition of Entertainment Weekly, highlighting only their films and various endeavors? It’s not as far off as you think. The story here proves it.
The new James Bond film, Quantum of Solace, will feature the Ford Ca - a vehicle that will never see the light of day in the United States. According to MediaPost’s Marketing Daily, Ford’s small car will be driven by Bond girl Olga Kurylenko. For more, click here.
Did anyone catch Psych last week? The show namedropped Facebook in a unique way. TVSquad.com tells of how the character Shawn referenced the social networking sit, noting his father was upset because he didn’t have as many friends on Facebook as he did. On a personal note, I think I have more friends on Facebook than my dad does, but it doesn’t matter. I’m just happy I lured him on there.
The failed ABC sitcom clearly didn’t kill the Geico Cavemen gimmick. Madison+Vine is reporting ESPN has partnered up with Geico to include the Cavemen characters on their SportsCenter program. The Cavemen will be featured in fantasy football ads and will appear in vignettes on the show. Don’t look for any joint ventures with Carpoolers.
Marvel Entertainment Inc and Leomil NV announced that they have entered into an exclusive, multi-year licensing agreement that grants the leading international footwear company the exclusive category rights for Marvel branded shoes in Europe including Russia.
Marketers should speak to acculturated Hispanic consumers in English and Spanish in Web-based social media in order to more closely match such consumers’ off-line experiences.
That is one of the conclusions Boston-based social media company Communispace reached in a study of how Hispanic consumers participate in Web-based forums.
The WB network went the way of the dodo back in 2006, but it’s still alive and kicking apparently. Warner Bros. has announced TheWB.com will officially launch (it had been in beta) and will feature a slew of videos-on-demand including the WB’s Gilmore Girls to Buffy. It’ll also run shows like The O.C. and Friends. The site will be ad-supported. It also is yet another way for Internet couch potatoes to watch their old favorite shows and for a network to keep its brand alive. It’s also a way for old product placements to be revived. Think about it for a second. Not all placements are as memorable as say a Seinfeld Junior Mint placement. Thanks to these various online methods, products featured on reruns will be magnified once again. Does that make sense? If so, comment below and share your thoughts with us.
Spending on online ads overtook advertising on mainstream TV in Britain last year, growing 40 percent to 2.8 billion pounds ($5.3 billion) and accounting for 19 percent of all advertising, UK regulator Ofcom said.In its annual report on Britain’s 51 billion-pound communications industry, the watchdog found that Britons spent four times as much time on computers, or 24 minutes a day, and twice as much time on mobile phones in 2007 as in 2002.
Average household spending on communications fell slightly, however, as bundled services and broadband bargains drove down prices, while more consumers shopped around and switched providers to get better deals, Ofcom said on Thursday.
“We are spending more and more time with our communications devices but spending less on them,” Ofcom’s strategy and market development partner Peter Phillips said in the report, which covers TV, Internet, mobile and fixed-line telephony and radio.
Spoiler alert! TiVo saves the day in Tropic Thunder. This week’s number one movie features the DVR service brand several times by Matthew McConaughey, who cameos as Ben Stiller’s character’s agent in the film. In the film, the character tells Stiller’s that TiVo is part of his movie deal. In a later scene, Stiller is seen watching Star Trek on his iPod and TiVo resurfaces toward the end right in time to spare the lives of the “heroes.” McConaughey isn’t only promoting TiVo in the film by the way - he’s actually seen playing Wii in one of the film’s opening sequences.
