brick by brick

A division of advertising agency Ogilvy & Mathers Worldwide, OgilvyOne Worldwide, has conceived an interesting concept to bring advertising back to its roots. OgilvyOne has created the "Search for the World's Greatest Salesperson", a that honors the company's namesake David Ogilvy, by having contestants resort to their most basic sales skills in order to sell a basic product - a standard red brick.
David Ogilvy made a name for himself selling kitchen stoves door to door in Scotland in the 1930s, he relied on salesmanship and connecting with a customer, and lived by the motto, " No sale, no commission. No commission, no eat."
OgilvyOne is conducting the contest to counteract the modern reliance on technology and art used in advertising, and focusing on replacing it with a repetoire between product and customer.
Contestants from 12 countries will submmit a 2 - 3 minute ad on OgilvyOne's YouTube channel advertising the standard red brick - chosen because of it's universality. Winners will earn a 3 month fellowship at OgilvyOne, along with an opportunity to speak to some of the world's most influential ad-execs at the 2010 Cannes Advertising Festival.

Musicians Wanted

As a companion to this past week's South by Southwest (SXSW) music festival in Austin, YouTube has launched a program called Musicians Wanted to aid undiscovered musicians. The program, which at the moment is only working with US bands, is accepting applications from bands to have their (original) music become accesible to a larger audience. Through the YouTube channel, the bands will be allowed to collect revenue from advertisements the play on the screen as viewers are watching their clips.
YouTube is certainly one of the fastest and easiest ways to get a message out there, and it has already launched the careers of several other artists like Ok Go and Justin Beiber. The venture will surely be successful for both YouTube and the artists involved.

Conan Sells Out

Conan O'Brien, already a well known star in his own right, has become even more of a public figure in the past few months due to the drama between he and Jay Leno's late night talk shows. O'Brien, however, is using the massive following the conflict has garnered, paired it with twitter, and turned it in to a nearly sold out nation wide stand up tour.
The comedian and his team prepped their tweet days in advance, alerting his 600,000 followers that he would be "in their town" and directing them to his website for tickets.
The use of twitter and other popular websites have made celebrities accessible, and results like O'Brien's comedy tour are indicative of how they affect the audiences,a nd resulting ticket sales.

internet access as a human right

A recent poll by the BBC shows that 4/5 people view internet access as a human right. Over 25000 adults were polled. Several countries have already ruled that the internet is fundamental, and hte UN is pushing for universal internet access. The argument is that the internet is part of humanity's right to communicate. The study also stated that a large about of users believed the internet also needed to be regulated, with government involvement.
I do believe that the internet has become an inalienable right. It allows for the widespread transference of ideas and information, and has become a new level of connection and communication. I don't think, however, that any form of government should have the ability to restrict the information it's users can access. Internet users should be able to police what they view, and should take their own measures in protecting themselves against viruses, fraud, etc.
I found the article interesting, because after I read it I realized that I hadn't ever considered the internet as anything other than a right.

Nissan and NBC strike a deal

Nissan and NBC have reached an agreement to feature Nissan advertisements and plugs in NBC's new and well reviewed program Parenthood, which debuts tonight at 10. The show will feature 4 custom ads for Nissan during its premier, and the Nissan Altima will be shown in the pilot episode and several subsequent episodes. The premier will otherwise have limited commercial interruption.
This kind of all access marketing is a good move on Nissan's part. Embedding the product within a television spot that has a huge amount of buz and advertising going for it already will lead to massive exposure for Nissan. Also, doing the alternative style commercials involving the cast of the show and integrating the plot of the show will be a refreshing change from the average ad, and may be less obnoxious or intrusive into the program.
I was planning on watching already, and this alternative marketing strategy will make it interesting to follow.

Music for a cause

On March 12 hundreds of bands and thousands of fans will descend on tiny Elkton Florida for a 3 day music festival to raise funds for the Harvest of Hope Foundation. The second annual HOH Fest, will feature over 150 bands, art, camping, and support from local businesses. The festival was premiered last year at the St. Johns Fairgrounds for the sole purpose of supporting and raising awareness for the Harvest of Hope Foundation, which raises money to aid the families of migrant farmworkers, by providing educational and medical funding.

Obviously these guys aren't the first to use music to bring attention to a cause. The new "We are the world" song, the celebrity and community support for Haiti, and the relatively recent Live 8 concerts exemplify how musicians can use their access to their fanbase to convey a message. Thousands of people were exposed to the HoH foundation last year alone because of the bands, and millions of dollars were brought in to the community because of the supports of the musical community. I think it's great when people/musicians who have access to a large audience use it for a larger cause, and their fans definately took notice of the foundation. I think continuing the festival will keep drawing in support for Harvest of Hope as a charity.

Up to the fans?

Experimental indie music darlings Portugal. The Man recently announced the imminent release of their sixth studio album American Ghetto , and also announced a shocking and possibly risky decision to leave it's promotion solely in the hands of the fans. Lead singer John Gourley blogs on the band's website, "we will not be soliciting reviews, airplay, or any support from the industry...it is up to you to tweet about #americanghetto or to share or to send friends to buy."
This move is reflective of the radically changing music industry, in particular the choice of some more popular bands and artists like Radiohead, who initially released their last album as a digital download where listeners could set their own price. With the advent of digital music and popular programs like iTunes, artists are having the get creative in order to maintain interest in their albums, and make any type of profit off of their music, often relying on loyal fans.

I don't think this will hurt P.TM just because they have a loyal fanbase, and frankly never had much of a chance to be on the cover of Rolling Stone to begin with. Sometimes I think more popular artists overlook the power of their fanbase and word of mouth marketing. Recently the fact that music is sold more in a single format rather than as a whole album makes their product less substantial for their audience and less lucrative for the artist. Hopefully musicians and labels will take a step in getting more creative with using modern technologies like twitter and facebook to reach their audience, and will become more resourceful with their marketing strategies.

Music Television?

MTV has updated it's logo in order to showcase it's recently popular reality TV shows.This is the first change to the logo is almost 30 years. The move,which dropped the "music television" subline and slightly changed the dimensions to the iconic logo is seemingly minor but more symbolic than anything. Over the next few weeks MTV will roll out new images of the logo imposed over pictures of it's stars, rather than involving the musicians of the past.
Over the past decade or so MTV has garnered criticism for the large decrease in actual music it plays and also for the radical and sometimes risky reality and scripted television shows it broadcasts. The recent attention to shows like "Jersey Shore" and "Teen Mom" have drawn a huge increase in viewership, but has cost some revenue from sponsors. The channel has had issues with brand recognition in recent years, and the move to change the logo brings hope that it will become a simple reference point for viewers.
I honestly don't think this will work very well. MTV as a name is synonymous with music, but has quickly been losing steam over the last 5-10 years and is no longer musically relevant. In my opinion if they're going to focus on a completely different subject matter and put a priority to reality shows they should completely recreate their image and the logo.

Pepsi Refresh

Pepsi recently announced a surprising move to forgo advertising in the Superbowl, and instead use the funds to initiate it's "Pepsi Refresh" campaign. The campaign will focus on promoting social change, and will thus promote the Pepsi brand through that change rather than through traditional advertisements. Advertisements will go in to promoting the move however, and Pepsi's goal is to reach high school and college age women, and women from the ages of 18-54. The project will use several multimedia outlets like Hulu, Yahoo, and Facebook, along with the traditional TV and print; and will use the alternative marketing to feature the recently popular pro-social marketing movement, which aims to put a positive action behind the traditional marketing campaign. A similar, but smaller, campaign has also been announced by Pepsi's rival, Coca-Cola.
I really like this idea, and think it has a relatively good chance of working out for them. The fact that viewers/users have the opportunity to submit and then vote on the causes will probably create a greater effect for the company and cause a greater response.

Ticketmaster and Live Nation Merge

Live Nation and Ticketmaster finally finalized their merger earlier this week. The newly formed Live Nation Entertainment will be closely monitored by the Department of Justice, which will require Ticketmaster to liscence out it's ticketing software, sell off it's Paciolan Inc ticketing unit, and is restricted from retaliating against competing ticketing services.
The merger, which was initally announced in June, has sparked huge debate and uproar from consumers and performers alike. Opposition from legislators and competitors has come in even louder, with concerns that the unification of two companies that already have such a profound monopoly would completely obliterate any rivals.

This will probably be a good move for the two companies, but I can't see this being a positive change for the artists or consumers. The monopoly they already have on the ticketing market is ridiculous, the performers, venues, and buyers lose out through massive fees and the lack of competition. I have a love but mostly hate relationship with ticketmaster; while it is easily accessible, the "service fees" are outrageous. I recently paid a total of $56.50 in service fees alone for a total of 3 tickets which couldn't be found at any other location. That comes out to almost $20 in service fees for each ticket, which were originally only $20 apiece. I try and avoid the corporation and it's crass service fees by using websites such as MusicToday, Ticketweb, FrontGate, and direct links through the venues; but more often than not Live Nation and it's subsidaries are the only options. The union of the two companies has the potential the create an almost oligarchic system with the option to further suppress the distribution of entertainment tickets and further damage the already suffering entertainment industry.

NY Times to charge web readers ?

It has been reported that in the coming weeks the New York Times will announce their plans to charge their online viewers for access. The rumored course of action is said to be similar to The Times previous venture with cashing in on online readers, in the fact that it will charge a metered annual or monthly rate for exclusive access to columns and other "premium content"; the earlier attempt failed in late 2007 after a steep decline in online readership. Also reputed is the likely pairing of The Times with Apple's newest media device, due to be revealed on the 27th of this month.
With the way print media has declined over the past decade or so, this sadly seems to be the only logical course of action. While the Times previous attempt did fail massively, I believe this one will have a greater success, due in part to the fact that other major news outlets are also charging online readers. The partnership with Apple would be a great benefit to the Times as well, as the use of multi-media devices like the iTouch are already hugely popular, and the use of eBook devices such as the Kindle and Nook are swiftly on the rise; Apple's addition to the eBook technology will surely bring it further popularity. While I do still prefer print media, it seems that this is the direction news outlets and readers are moving in, and the Times is smart to act now.

Multilingual Census Campaign

The NY Times piece is about the new Census campaign encouraging Americans to participate in 28 languages. The campaign will be using all forms of media, including YouTube, Twitter, and the standard newspaper and television routes. The new campaign is being produced in 11 more languages than the 2000 census, and includes catch phrases such as "It's in your hands" in Kurdish, Cantonese, and other new languages.

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