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In 2006, Pepsi’s Frito-Lay pushed the marketing envelope by challenging users to create an ad for the Super Bowl. The contest was successful beyond everyone’s expectations, resulting in over a thousand submissions, millions of views and a hilarious winning commercial that won “best ad of 2006″ honors. This occurred right around the time of Google’s acquisition of YouTube. Many thought that this was the peak of the user-generated content (UGC) boom, but in many ways it was the beginning. UGC has continued to enjoy substantial growth via YouTube, blogs and other outlets that allow ease of content creation and distribution.
Barack Obama had a formidable online presence during his quest for the White House, and he is once again turning to the Internet to communicate with the American public as president-elect. Within 24 hours of last week’s historic vote, his transition team rolled out change.gov, a Web site that promises to be “your source for the latest news, events and announcements so that you can follow the setting up of the Obama administration.”
Federal Communications Commission Chairman Kevin Martin is hinting he might stay on at the FCC when the new Obama administration takes over, at least through the Feb. 17 digital TV transition.
Mr. Martin, a Republican, likely would lose his chairmanship position shortly after President-elect Barack Obama is sworn in and either designates one of the commission’s Democrats as chairman or names a new chairman. Mr. Martin has been expected to depart, but he does have the alternative of staying on as an FCC commissioner.
In Kanye West’s video for his second single “Heartless” off his new album, there’s Campbell’s soup product placement. The video, which is animated, features paintings on the wall - a la Andy Warhol - of Campbell’s soup labels. In addition, there’s images of Jetsons characters on the walls. Not sure why either are in there, but they are nonetheless.
The First Avenger: Captain America - the tentative title for the feature film based on the popular Marvel Comic - has found its director. Joe Johnston, who helmed Hidalgo and the forthcoming The Wolfman, has been hired to direct the superhero film, which is slated for a May 2011 release.
While the director has been hired, Marvel has yet to announce who will play the latest famous man in tights. With the unorthodox casting of Robert Downey, Jr. as Iron Man and Edward Norton as The Incredible Hulk, it wouldn’t shock me if producers thought outside the box and signed up an actor one might not think of for the role - like perhaps Ewan McGregor or Ryan Gosling. You never know.
Knight Rider has already been given a full season by NBC, but with ratings dwindling and critic taking shots at it, the network must’ve gotten the hint. They have announced that the series will cut three cast members (Sydney Tamiia Poitier, Yancey Arias, and Bruce Davision) and will reboot the series again to tackle issues similar to those from the original 1980s series.
Time was, you wouldn’t want to let Elvis Costello anywhere near a TV show. A last-minute decision to play the anti-censorship harangue “Radio Radio” on Saturday Night Live in 1977 so infuriated Lorne Michaels that he was banned from the show for 12 years—and yet, Sundance Channel has gone ahead and given the recording legend his own show. Read the rest of this entry »
Beyonce is lobbying to play Wonder Woman in a feature film on the superheroine. McG, who is at the helm of Terminator: Salvation, is likely to direct the film. In recent years everyone from Sandra Bullock to Megan Fox have been linked to the role. It’ll be interesting to see who gets cast. My suggestion? Evangeline Lilly of Lost.
Get used to seeing Cleveland Brown. Fox has announced the spin-off of Family Guy has gotten a full season order. The show will center on the character and an ex-flame and her children. The series will run for 22 episodes and will feature the vocal talents Sanaa Lathan, Arianna Huffington, and Mike Henry as Cleveland.
Four years after delivering the speech called “The Audacity of Hope” that would launch him toward the White House, Barack Obama has become a case study in audacious marketing, an object lesson on why you should forget inherited notions of whom your audience can be.
