PLUS Model Magazine Self-promotion Ads

Posted by on Jan 16, 2012 in Advertising, Blog | No Comments

As a guy I have to admit I kind of like the female form. But I also have to admit when I see what passes for “attractive” on the cover of Vogue I often think to myself, “would somebody please buy that lady a meal!” So it is nice to see PLUS Model Magazine will these self-promotion ads. Good for them.

So This Happened In Japan

Posted by on Jan 12, 2012 in Advertising, Blog | No Comments

Oh to have been a fly on the wall when the marketing team came up with their “great idea” for their “Fuckin’ Sale.”

Twitter’s Self-Serve Ad Platform Launches

Posted by on Dec 2, 2011 in Advertising, Blog, Social Media | No Comments

We all knew this was coming, cause it was a long time in coming, but today it is here (at at for a limited number of firms):

Twitter’s long-awaited self-serve ad platform was quietly introduced in November with a “handful” of advertisers, according to the company.

The program, which Twitter announced in April 2010, is available to anyone with a credit card who wants to take advantage of Promoted Products. However, the option isn’t yet open to the public.

[....]

Twitter has indeed been taking its time with the initiative. A year ago, the company rolled out a turn-key advertising solution that lets marketers express their interest in advertising. However, such potential advertisers were not able to actually buy ads until last month. The timing of the self-serve ad platform was not a surprise. Twitter CEO Dick Costolo has stated that the company planned to introduce such a program before year’s end.

At this point it is important to note that eMarketer estimates that Twitter generated $45 million from ad sales in 2010 and will earn around $139.5 million this year. So clearly with a few hundred million users there is a ton of upside here for Twitter if they can figure out a ad business model that just remotely works.

Is Google Going After TV Ads?

Posted by on Nov 4, 2011 in Advertising, Blog | No Comments

Now this is interesting. Multiple reports are surfacing indicating Google is thinking about leveraging their Internet advertising success to the television. Via Mashable:

Google, enormously successful in online advertising, might be casting an envious eye toward the $150 billion-per-year pay television market. Such a venture has the potential to turn today’s business of television advertising and distribution upside down.

The company’s already announced plans to build a fiber-optic high-speed Internet service in Kansas City, Mo. and Kansas City, Kan., and according to The Wall Street Journal [subscription required], now Google might be thinking about ways to expand that into pay video and telephone services.

That would put Google in direct competition with cable companies and phone companies that have expanded into what’s called the “triple play” of communications: cable television, telephone and high-speed Internet.

In other related search engine news it seems nobody is running to buy Yahoo!.

Retro VW Microbus Ad

Posted by on Oct 28, 2011 in Advertising, Blog | No Comments

The copy for this ad reads:

Can your wife bake her own bread? Can she get a kid’s leg stitched and not phone you at the office until it’s all over? Find something to talk about when the TV set goes on the blink? Does she worry about the Bomb? Make your neighbors’ children wish that she were their mother? Will she say “Yes” to a camping trip after 50 straight weeks of cooking? Let your daughter keep a pet snake in the back yard? Invite 13 people to dinner even though she only has service for 12? Name a cat “Rover”? Live another year without furniture and take a trip to Europe instead? Let you give up your job with a smile? And mean it? Congratulations.

Wow, how things have changed. In a good way I might add.

What Steve Jobs Taught Us About Advertising

Posted by on Oct 10, 2011 in Advertising, Blog | No Comments

The Ad Contrarian has a wonderful post up, outlining what Steve Jobs taught us all about the art of Advertising. Jobs did a lot of things well. Pixar. Apple. His keynote addresses. Often overlooked is the simple fact he was the best adman of his generation.

I pompously call myself The Ad Contrarian, but Steve Jobs was a true ad contrarian.

He knew what his company stood for and didn’t care what you thought. He assiduously avoided every false turn in the “marketing fad of the month” playbook. Reportedly, the only research he ever did was to ask himself whether he liked something or not.

In his own way, he taught us everything we need to know about advertising. The only problem is, most of us are too blind or too stupid to learn. The thing about magicians is, you see it with your own eyes and you still don’t know they did it.

There is much more, and well worth a read. Thanks Steve.

Never Aired Steve Jobs Commercial

Posted by on Oct 7, 2011 in Advertising, Blog, Video | No Comments

Steve Jobs narrated the first Think different commercial “Here’s to the Crazy Ones.” It never aired. Richard Dreyfuss was eventually brought on-board and did the voiceover for the spot. Kind of has renewed significance now I’d say.