The Wife Beater

When my friend told me this weekend that I just bought a sixpack of wifebeaters, a big questionmark displayed above my head. Later he explained that “wife beater” is sleng for the belgium beer brand, Stella Artois. Lovely brand image.

From the urban dictionary:
“Pass me another wife beater, man.”
“Coming down the pub for a couple of wife beaters, mate?”

P.S.: “Wife beater” is also the kind of sleeveless shirt Edward Norton is wearing on this picture (I was trying to find Ike Turner wearing it – without luck, though).

Believe…

Here is something that popped into my head while reading “The Holy Blood and The Holy Grail” by Michael Baigent and Richard Leigh. At first I thought I would extend the letter “I” into a cross (something like that), but that would miss the purpose of religion, I guess. Not to mention the fact that my name would probaby vanish from my grandmothers will.

Viral for Ray Ban?!

As I saw the above video on YouTube about a week ago, it didn’t cross my mind that it could be a viral ad. However, browsing through ad:goodnes today, I came across a post claiming that the video is Ray Ban’s attempt to make the brand popular again. The video, which was so far seen 1.5 mio times and evoked numerous responses, uses the classic Ray Ban model in a rather smooth and subconscious way and if this truly is a viral ad made by Ray Ban, then I must say that I ‘m impressed. I mean, the production is a bit more advanced than the one of an average YouTube video, but still – if you are not into viral marketing, you won’t notice the difference.

The only thing that troubles me is the fact that the video appeared in the YouTube’s “recommended” section, which is said to be limited to only non-commercial videos (still, they never revealed how they pick the among them). And the possibility of picking the Ray Ban viral among countless new videos is mildly put, minor. Hm…

Yahoo the first to launch behavioural targeting

Behavioural targeting, the practice of delivering ads to individuals based on their previous surfing behavior, is one of the most talked-about topics in on-line advertising and, according to Marketing Vox, Yahoo! is going to be the first major Internet services company to introduce it. Yahoo! is set to launch such approach, despite the “invading-the-privacy” controversy surrounding it (such concerns are, according to some, blown out of proportion) and is expecting a considerable rise in their revenue.

Privacy invading or not, behavioural targeting is without a doubt a powerfull tool and I am really interested how this turns out. It could be the next big thing in online advertising. Also, as the guy in the soc-mkt newsletter pointed out, It would be interesting to see its effects in the context of social marketing. I bet quite some companies wouldn’t be to keen on that (imagine booking an appoinment at a tanning shop followed by a skin cancer pervention ad poping up).

Mental note to myself: Stop using grandma’s computer for porn.

Anal sex goes pop

Wiiii! Another retro piece! I ‘ve been looking for this one since I first saw it on “World’s Funniest Commercials” (or whatever that show is called) and today I finally found it – here. This is actually one of the very commercials that got me interested in advertising!! (umm…not really, I ‘ve just always wanted to write something like that)

Anyways, quite a hillarious one. I am starting to wonder if strong humour in an advert really can overshadow the brand…

P.S.: Just been told that the ad was banned. Why did it never cross my mind that the word f**k doesn’t do any good for the advertising authorities?

Brotherhood, unity and hyper-commercialism

Despite the fact that its effectiveness remains unclear, product placement is getting more and more attention from the marketers from all over the world. Still, the approach, that some consider as hyper commercialism, is not something new – it has been around for decades.

In spite of the latter, I must say that I was pretty thrilled when I came across the above record cover. The record of legendary Slovenian singer, Stanka Kovačič, was released in 1968 and is probably one of the earliest remaining examples of product placement in Slovenia.

The obvious placement of the chewing gum brand on the cover is rather bold and shameless (the guy holding the gum package is Slovenian poet and one of the key figures of the golden era of Slovenian pop song, Gregor Strniša), especially considering the fact that it happened 23 years before Slovenia was (officially) introduced to market economy.

Calling it “hyper commercialism” back than would probably put you in jail.

P.S.: Here is another hilarious product placement of the same chewing gum brand from the same period and here you can see how David Lynch feels about product placement.

Getty Images in Camden Town

I was standing at the bus stop in Camden Town today, minding my own business, when all of a sudden my eyes sensed a familiar sign. A McDonalds logo? A CCTV simbol? A “Do not feed the beavers” sign maybe even? No, it was Getty Images! Imagine the excitement when my eyes gazed upon the buliding of one of the biggest stock photography providers, a rich advertiser’s friend-in-need and occasional young creative’s royalty-free buddy. What an immense coincidence!

Ehmmm…to be honest, I spotted Getty Images HQ few months ago, while I was nervously waiting for a bus to catch Antony and the Johnsons gig, but today I had to go to Camden Town as I had to…I had to…emm…Ok, ok…I went there just to take a picture of a droll security guy in front a glass door as I needed an excuse to get away from the mind-numbing PR articles…happy now??!