Marketing and all things related

According to The Wall Street Journal (paid subscription required) The Center for Science in the Public Interest, the Center for a Commercial-Free Childhood and four parents are have notified Kellogg’s and Viacom they plan to file a lawsuit over food marketing aimed at children. The lawsuit accuses the companies of directly harming kids' health by marketing food of "poor nutritional quality" using characters such as Nickelodeon's SpongeBob SquarePants. At issue is whether the ads are deceptive to children under 8 years old who cannot distinguish between television content and advertising. Marketing Blurb will not comment on the merits of the case, but urges you instead to limit the television time of your children. Oh, and serve eggs for breakfast. SpongeBob declined our request for an interview.

You already know that consumers are tuning out television commercials—especially GenY viewers. Marketers are recovering, to a degree anyway, with product placements, subtle or overt inclusion of their products in show content. Some media industry critics call this sinister; some... Continue Reading

Ad Age magazine, has released the line-up for Super Bowl advertising 2006 (free registration required.) You can expect the usual 350 pound gorillas--Anheuser-Busch, Burger King, CareerBuilder, ESPN, FedEx, Ford, GM, Nationwide Insurance, Proctor and Gamble, Pepsi, and more. (You won’t... Continue Reading

Let’s say you’re the Creative Director for an advertising agency, and you want to market a Jeep Compass to Jenny, Daimler Chrysler’s archetype customer for this vehicle. Sitting in your office, you knock down a couple Mountain Dews and a... Continue Reading

It’s no secret that television viewers are watching fewer commercials these days. Digital video recorders allow viewers to skip commercials, and okay, here’s an even more serious truth. Most commercials are so horrible, even low-tech viewers turn down the volume or leave... Continue Reading

The only thing worse than watching television advertising is buying television advertising. And for local markets, most small businesses do not have the time or money to produce and air television commercials. But this missed opportunity might change with the... Continue Reading

You have to admire companies that create buzz for a commercial before it even airs! This happened with the Hardee’s burger commercial featuring a lathered Paris Hilton. Hardee’s received considerable publicity for the spot, both pro and con, but in... Continue Reading

The Wall Street Journal is running a front page story today that Allstate Insurance and other advertisers are bucking the rules for traditional ad buys on network television. The old-boy networks traditionally wine and dine advertisers, showcase their fall line-up... Continue Reading

Okay, folks. You already know that brand logos are critical to brand identity. And you know it never hurts to display your brand logo in venues likely to attract the attention of your target audience. So let’s assume for a... Continue Reading