The right smells, the right music, manipulating inventory levels, displaying certain colors: aided by tons of research on consumer psychology, stores now employ all sorts of wily techniques to wine and dine you before getting you in the backseat. (And yes, we meant for that sentence to go there.)
advertising
Package Redesign Gone Wild
By 8.10.07
The NYT has an article today about the terrifying rate of package redesign, a phenomenon the industry blames on, what else—the internet. Oh, and Tivo.
Time Warner Charges You $0.23 For The Coupons Included In Your Bill
By 8.9.07
Time Warner charged Nick $0.23 for the Home Shopping Network coupon included in his monthly bill. The “Adhsn fee” listed on his bill was an oversight, according to a Time Warner representative, who defended the omnipresent charge as something that is usually “just bundled somewhere else.” Nick writes:
Study Shows Fast Food Zombies Are Made At An Early Age
By 8.6.07
A new study is reporting that very young children are highly susceptible to the daily onslaught of branded fast food advertising: “most 3- and 5-year-olds who taste-tested a variety of foods said they preferred the ones in the McDonald’s wrapper — even though the foods were exactly the same.”
Ads In Video Games: Annoying Intrusion, Or Welcome Dose Of Reality?
By 8.3.07
Advertisers are expected to quintuple the amount spent placing ads in video games over the next five years. Beyond mere brand placement, consoles with an internet connection are capable of displaying dynamic billboards that can advertise The Simpsons Movie today, and The Simpsons Movie Sequel: The Return Of Spider Pig, in two years. From the LA Times:
The player’s ability to don, kick, toss or use products is part of the appeal. In “Super Monkey Ball,” players try to get their monkey characters to collect Dole-branded bananas. And in “Tony Hawk’s Project 8,” players use Nokia phones.
After the jump, tell us whether you greet ads in video games with skepticism and disdain, or appreciate them as a dose of reality in an otherwise virtual world.
The 12 Types Of Commercials
By 7.25.07
Like con artists, TV ads love to come up against a naive mark who thinks he’s above their eerie powers of manipulation. But don’t worry–Slate is here to ruin your innocence, and make you all the tougher for it. Their slideshow, “There are 12 Kinds of Ads in the World,” draws back the curtains of modern advertising to reveal a classic piece of insider knowledge from one of the industry’s most famous ad men, Donald Gunn, one-time creative director for the renowned Leo Burnett ad agency.
Coming Soon To Podcasts, More Advertising!
By 7.24.07
The advertising industry has developed new and innovative ways to generate cash from podcasts. At this early stage, the ideas are nothing more than substance-free buzzwords; there is a promised “multifront initiative” that features “improvements in technology.” We don’t know what that means to the average podcast listener, but wow, doesn’t it sound exciting? The few concrete ideas that have emerged are unimaginative and dated. From the New York Times:
Ms. Bratton, who is an online advertising industry veteran, said she believes she has found at least one good format for running advertisements within podcasts. In addition to placing a sponsor’s advertisements at both ends of a show, she also inserts an advertisement in the middle.
Cereal Makers Target Kids, Evade Junk Food Advertising Ban
By 7.22.07
Crafty cereal makers may weasel out of their promise to stop advertising junk food to audiences under 12 by fudging serving size information. Eleven cereal makers last week set the threshold for products advertised to children at 12 grams of sugar per serving. According to the New York Times’ original coverage, many cereal makers are already “trying to reformulate the foods to meet nutritional guidelines.” Why reformulate when you can change the labels?
Actually, We Don't Have Any Advertisers Much In The Way Of Advertisers
By 7.19.07
An ad has never been bought on The Consumerist. Those banner ads you see flickering all around? They’re run across the entire Gawker network. Nobody, to date, however, has bought any Consumerist-specific ads as such. If someone wanted to, we’re sure the Gawker ad team would welcome them with open arms.
Should We Unilaterally Ban Junk Food Advertising Targetting Children?
By 7.18.07
The New York Times reports that eleven huge food companies, in the face of regulatory intervention, lawsuits, and a forthcoming government study on childhood obesity, agreed to voluntarily withdraw junk food advertising from children’s TV shows targeted at an under-12 audience.
Coca-Cola Is The "Best Brand," Microsoft Beats Apple
By 7.17.07
Coca-Cola has come out on top of the “Best Brands” Harris Poll for the first time ever. Sony, the leader for the past 7 years slipped to number 2.
By 7.16.07
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With last month’s acute droppoff in American consumer spending, “Geiz ist geil” could be posed to become the next hot German import. [NYT]
Great Moments In Commercial History: The Mattress Ranch
By 7.11.07
Mattress Ranch has been having a huge commercial push lately, they seem to have taken over the airwaves.
Great Moments In Commercial History: Vern Fonk Insurance
By 6.27.07
This guy scares us, who would buy insurance from someone who pronounces Christmas “Christ Mas?”
By 6.27.07
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Copywriters for law firm advertising understand that animal metaphors are a good way to quickly encapsulate client/vendor relationships.
Attention Nextel Customers: You Are Now Using Plain Old Sprint
By 6.27.07
Sprint’s new ad campaign has dropped the “Nextel” name and will be focusing on a new slogan “Sprint Ahead.”
