JetBlue launches 'Gift Guide'

JetBlue Airways is launching a holiday gift guide spoof to persuade customers to fly with them instead of other airline companies.

The comical gift guide includes things that customers would need in they chose to fly with another carrier. This includes a "knee jockey," basically a bra for your knees, that holds up your knees during flights so they don't get beat up by the seat in front of you. This illustrates JetBlue's feature of having more legroom than competitors. Other unique 'gifts' can be found here.

The gift guide is, of course, "a joke," said John Amato, president of New York-based Show Media, the ad agency that worked alongside JetBlue to create and execute this idea.

This type of radical advertising is no stranger to JetBlue, a company familiar with wrapping busses in giant advertisements and passing out ads from New York town cars. Their campaign will no doubt be noted by all who are exposed. I think it's a fantastic idea and I'd love to see more ad companies taking after JetBlue's creativity.

Dockers wants you to want khakis

Dockers is starting a new campaign called, "wear the pants." The mission is to bring khakis back and market them as "versatile" and "masculine." Dockers, a unit of jeans company Levi Strauss, is aiming to put some life back into the market for their golden pant wear. The global marketing VP and the mind behind the campaign, Jennifer Sey, wants to bring men away from their jeans and back to khakis.

"The brand certainly hasn’t gone away," Sey says. "But the category’s been in significant decline. ... Men are replacing their khakis at about half the rate of their jeans . . . [With the new campaign, we are aiming to position it as] a well-loved and essential item rather than [how it’s perceived now], which is [a pants that’s sold] at a commodity price point, for the most part. We want him to fall in love with khakis again."

BrandWeek has more on the story here.

With new colors, styles, and slimmer, more modern fits, we'll see if the khaki movement progresses. It sounds like Dockers might might a concoction for success, but only the future will tell.

The Power of Blog

Whether your interests lie in fashion, politics, pop culture, sports, cars, or any other mainstream American interest like lion taming or mahrang fruit harvesting, you can find them all under one internet umbrella:

Blogs.

There are tons of them. And although in my opinion some can be utterly shallow and ridiculous, I'm glad that every single one of them is around. Because whether or not it is professional and educated writing, each blog attracts readers. And readers are one thing that we don't have enough of in this tech-slave age. Perhaps that magical bound item called the book will make a turn around.

Blogs like Perezhilton and TMZ present gossip over everything that's happening to the six-figure community inhabiting the golden state of California. I've always been confused as to why our society seems to idolize the actors and actresses who, by career description, are never seen behaving as their true identities on the big screen. So I personally don't feel the draw to the celeb gossip category. But that's just me.

Some of my personal favorite blogs are the food and cooking ones. Blogs like Chez Pim and Chocolate and Zucchini are great for finding recipes and deciding what to buy for the kitchen. Tips and ideas on these two are helpful for both the aspiring chef and the hungry apartment-dweller.

And maybe all this information you pick up on will spark the need for...well, another blog.

Just don't make it about Britney, please.

H1N1 vaccine pushed by government

The federal government Monday launched a new PSA to urge Americans to get vaccinated for H1N1. The PSA, called "Together We Can All Fight the Flu" has seven different 30-second commercials and three different radio spots to look out for. The message will also be displayed in online banner ads and outdoor ads.

Produced by Merkley and Partners, New York, the campaign is created as a joint effort between the Department of Health and Human Services and the Ad Council. The PSA is aimed at hard-to-reach populations that may underestimate the severity of contracting H1N1. AdAge has more on the story:

http://adage.com/article?article_id=140923

According to the Centers for Disease control, 22 million Americans have been infected with H1N1. Of that number, nearly 4,000 people have died because of the swine flu. The TV spots feature the highest priority groups for the vaccine, including pregnant women, children, and young adults.

The Department of Health and Human Services is hoping that these ads will connect with viewers and spread the message about the importance of getting vaccinated.

Sony picks Anomaly over Fallon

Anomaly will be taking over Sony Europe's $80 million advertising account. This was announced by Ben Moore, Sony Europe's VP of communications, earlier this year. Sony Europe will move on from their partnership with Fallen in their creative department. The famous "Balls" spot for Sony Bravia was created by Fallon, but Sony has now decided to change direction with Anomaly.

"We have enjoyed a highly successful relationship with Fallon during the last six years. ... During that period, however, the marketing landscape has changed ... now is an appropriate time to take stock and review our agency partnerships," Moore said.

AdAge has more on the story:

http://adage.com/globalnews/article?article_id=140954

Anomaly has remained in the shadows until now, but Sony handpicked the little-known agency to leap into mainstream creative work. As for Fallon, this is a huge blow to their business.

The future is looking up for Anomaly and Sony Europe. As they start their journey together, keep your eyes peeled for new creative material coming from their direction.

'Twitter' most popular word of 2009

A study confirms that the most popular as well as the most used word over the past 11 months is "twitter." This study, performed by Texas-based group, The Global Language Monitor, tracks linguistic trends. They then count the number of times these words appear on the internet and in other media.

http://www.asylum.com/2009/11/30/twitter-most-used-word-2009-then-obama-H1N1-stimulus/

Following twitter, the next words in the popularity progression are "Obama," "H1N1," "stimulus," and "vampire." The most popular name, unsurprisingly, is "Barack Obama." He is closely followed by "Michael Jackson."

This is a great feat for the quickly-developed twitter network. So, in respect to the brevity of twitter posts, I'll end this celebratory post here.

Branded iPhone apps a work in progress

In a world that revolves around technology being at your fingertips, advertisers are finding that using iPhone apps to promote brands is more difficult and less effective that originally thought. This was confirmed by a study for AdAge by Porter Novelli and partner Crimson Hexigon which examined several branded apps and the resulting online chatter.

http://adage.com/digital/article?article_id=140867

The study looked at apps released for Dunkin' Donuts, Pizza Hut, Whole Foods, and Barnes & Noble. The apps range in complexity and utility, but created little impact among them. Crimson Hexigon believes that a large part of this ineffectiveness is due to the growing ocean of available iPhone apps. The clutter within the world of apps makes it more unlikely for consumers to even come across these interactive promotions.

Parting the sea of apps is no easy task. There are roughly 255 branded apps on the market today. This, to advertisers' dismay, is insignificant compared to the 100,000 total apps on the market today. In addition, consumers are likely to assume branded apps aren't relevant to them and dismiss them completely.

More refining will undoubtedly be done in perfecting the art of the branded app.

Fallon replaces BBDO for Chrysler

Chrysler has hired Publicis Groupe's Fallon to take on the creative work for the Chrysler brand . The automotive company's contract with BBDO comes to a close next month, and Fallon has high hopes in their leap back into the car market. Fallon previously worked with BMW and is widely known for their popular BMW Films branded-entertainment. Since the departure of their account with BMW in 2005, Fallon has fought for more work within the automotive industry.

More exciting news from Chrysler and their fresh creative department comes from Dallas, where the Richards Group has been awarded responsibilities for Dodge's Ram brand. Also, in Southfield, Mich., GlobalHue has been put in charge of the Jeep brand. AdAge covers the story:

http://adage.com/agencynews/article?article_id=140885

A promising future seems to be in store for Chrysler's design work. I'll be keeping my eyes open for some new and interesting ads coming from this shift in talent.

Tiger Woods' privacy

Tiger Woods was involved in a single-vehicle crash in his Cadillac Escalade early Friday near his Florida home. Sustaining only minor injuries, Woods will have a quick recovery.

The end, right?

Not exactly. The media is digging for an explanation and the police are investigating the incident with no real reason for believing a crime took place. Not helping his case, Tiger released only a vague news brief saying little about the accident. The report also noted that he will not appear at any more tournaments during 2009, but will return to competition in 2010. More can be found at CNN:

http://edition.cnn.com/2009/US/11/30/tiger.woods/index.html

Tiger is also refusing to speak to police or the media about the incident. As a major athlete and image for international brands, many are demanding answers. Woods, however, says "this is a private matter, and I want to keep it that way...the only person responsible for the accident is me."

There's no question that Tiger's PR people could have handled the situation in a more open and honest way. While Woods has the right to privacy, he is a famous figure who would benefit from being open with the public and sharing his mistakes. If it truly was just a car accident, his openness and cooperation would lead to the strengthening of his reputation rather than the potential harm this incident may cause.

Congratulations Macy's!

Macy's ran an advertisement in the Philadelphia Inquirer Monday congratulating the Phillies on winning the 2009 World Series. The ad exclaims, "Congratulations Phillies! Back-to-Back Champs."

The Phillies, however, have done no such thing. At least not yet.

The erroneous ad (pictured above) covers a good portion of an entire page and may cause anger among superstitious Phillies fans who see the ad as a curse. CBS news presents the story here:

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2009/11/02/sportsline/main5500110.shtml

The most embarrassing part is that the "congratulations" ad was run not in some middle-of-nowhere, baseball-illiterate town, but in the hometown of the Phillies. The Inquirer quickly issued an apology after noticing the hefty mistake. To no surprise, widespread mention and ridicule of the error managed to travel throughout cyberspace before the Philadelphia paper sorted things out. It remains a mystery how such an advertisement was able to breach the gatekeepers of the Inquirer and reach the public.

In review, we can conclude that one thing is certain: either Macy's has begun an ingenious campaign for a new product that can predict with certainty the outcome of sporting events, or the accuracy of the media is only steepening in its decline.

Ignoring my fun side, I'll go with the latter.

USA Yesterday?

The Wall Street Journal has pushed aside USA Today to become the biggest newspaper in the United States, according to the Audit Bureau of Circulation last week. The results show that USA Today recorded a paid circulation of 1.88 million in a six-month period this year ending in September. The Wall Street Journal had a paid circulation of 2.02 million copies in the same period of time. More information can be found at Ad Age.

http://adage.com/mediaworks/article?article_id=139641

USA Today's circulation has decreased from 2.33 million since the financial downfall began last year. In response, some of the decrease can be traced to vacant hotel rooms that would have otherwise been greeted by copies of USA Today in the mornings. It is interesting that the WSJ, widely considered to be the most conservative of the national papers, has become largest during the reign of a liberal president. The growth in circulation during these rough times for the press is a commendable feat, and one that will hopefully contribute to the balance between liberal and conservative powers reporting today's news.

ARF aims to fix quality problems in online research

Eight corporations including Unilever, Coca-Cola Co., General Motors, Kraft Foods, General Mills, Bayer, Capital One and Microsoft will test the newly developed process that aims to ensure the reliability and accuracy of online research. Developed by the Advertising Research Foundation (ARF), the process is represented by a half billion dollars in research spending by the businesses hopeful of its success. Jack Neff with Ad Age reports the story:

http://adage.com/article?article_id=139310

The goals of the new process include making online research panels reliable, creating consistency in research population samples from project to project, and protecting against fake and duplicated research. The foundation of the process is that it relies on a checklist system for project parameters. This would replace the older and arguably ineffective system which only states minimum guidelines. For 30 days, the eight research buyers will use ARF's process to choose a supplier for a project. They will report details and their critiques early in the year 2010.

Walmart Blog? Really?

A revolutionary and sophisticated new blog has hit cyberspace!

It's called "People of Walmart," and you guessed it - it allows people to converse about individuals who shop at Walmart. The blog allows people to joyously upload, rate, and even comment on photos on the blog's pages. Ad Age exposes the riveting story:

http://adage.com/digitalnext/article?article_id=138886

Walmart has kept quiet so far, and Ad Age seems to think any act on their behalf will have a negative effect on their reputation. Walmart may issue a statement on the matter, but it's likely that they'll be just fine sitting on the sideline for this one. The bloggers that are making comments about how a certain shopper's mauve satchel doesn't go with her leopard-print vest probably won't have too much of an impact on whether or not mom buys the frozen pizza and the $5 movies from Walmart. In fact, the blog may even encourage people to trek to their local roll-back habitat and perhaps make a purchase or two in an effort to catch a customer in a laughable outfit.

This will certainly blow over without blemishing the corporation's reputation.

Sigg Bottles

The customer doesn't seem to come first for one brand of "eco-friendly" beverage bottles. Sigg is the maker of trendy metal bottles that were designed to take the place of earth-harming plastic bottles. However, after some fancy (deceptive) messages from CEO Steve Wasik, we find that the metal bottles produced all the way until August 2008 contained the dangerous plastic compound BPA. Ad Age uncovers the mystery:

http://adage.com/article?article_id=138712

A lack of transparency within the company seems to be doing just as much damage as the tainted bottles the company has produced. Customers and loyal Sigg buyers may feel like they aren't valued as much by the company when the leadership at Sigg is unwilling to openly display their activities and efforts to get to the bottom of this issue. The company needs to open up and show their customers exactly what they're up to if they want to see any chance of bottling up and disposing of their troubles.

A religious tone to professional writing

Many professional writers take on politics, science, and other concrete topics. Today, my regards go to a man that attempts the abstract. A man by the name of Donald Miller. His book is called Blue Like Jazz.

Miller writes spiritual books that probe our consciousness for something beyond our understanding. A subtitle on the cover of his book states nonreligious thoughts on Christian spirituality. This book simply contains his thoughts. But they manage to portray a different perspective to Christianity in society today.

Blue Like Jazz is a refreshing look into the faith life of a writer who has the same struggles and problems in life as anyone else. But he's found a way to move past those struggles. He lives a Christian life, today.

In a nation considered "Christian" by the media, I find it difficult to believe that the majority of Americans would be considered practicing Christians by the leaders of the Church. Reading the Bible has become less and less of a practice because frankly, it's quite difficult to understand.

But that's where professional writers like Donald Miller come into the picture. He takes his religious studies and his knowledge of the Bible - - and passes that on to the reader. He puts the stuff that was preached and discussed over two thousand years ago into words we can understand today. Without writers like Miller, some Christians would be lost in their faith, and in their lives.

So for those Christians who can pick up a Bible and understand every word and every meaning, this isn't for you.

But for the rest of us...

Toyota's iQ

Yuri Kageyama, Associated Press writer, reveals the iQ, a new car from Toyota:

http://detroitnews.com/article/20090408/AUTO01/904080401/1148/auto01/l

The iQ is Toyota's brand new design to break into the super-compact, affordable, green car segment which is primarily held by Daimler AG's Smart coupe.

At a tiny 9.8 feet long, the iQ is smaller than Toyota's already-cramped Yaris. The toaster-sized iQ was designed to cater to younger, urban drivers that need to get around in heavily congested places. Safety, styling, and smooth handling were top priorities by the design team in Japan. Toyota engineers are quite confident in the new vehicle; they even claim that while driving the iQ, formerly dull tasks such as doing a U-turn become exciting.

In a period of dollar-hoarding and record job losses, Toyota's release of a small, fuel efficient car displays intelligence that seems to escape many execs in Detroit. A claimed 54 mpg should relieve some stress for people nervously stepping into the new car market. And the go-kart-sized coupe achieves this efficiency without the use of diesel or hybrid technology. Executives at Toyota hope that the iQ will help boost sales to help the corporation through the hard times on Wall Street.

The car is already on sale in Europe and Japan for a price of around $14,000. Toyota executives haven't decided whether or not the car will be sold in the states. But if it does, which I hope, it'll no doubt be sporting Scion badges and an attractive sticker price.

Sounds like an intelligent move to me.