The above billboard is the latest controversial ad from PETA. At this point if you’re surprised that PETA has produced a mildly offensive advertisement to try to generate buzz you aren’t paying attention. The animal rights group is obviously preaching to the converted here but is the PR generated with the smug attitude worth more than the members they are losing? Perhaps the group is too cocky to care.
Jim Spanfeller, the outgoing CEO of Forbes.com, has written a treatise against the current state of online advertising pricing. His central claim is that remnant advertising doesn’t really exist and online media buyers have pulled one over on publishers.
He compares the online media business to the airline industry:
“The fact that we’re relying on methods developed by an industry that has to date not made any money in the aggregate is scary to say the least.”
It’s a thought provoking read and definitely worth your time.
This website built for Travel Oregon is very functional in addition to looking great. The site has maps and descriptions for 200+ bicycle routes in Orgeon and overlays bike shops, emergency rooms, photo ops, hotels and restaurants. The entire website is (appropriately) map-centric and the custom map implementation is surprisingly good. People get this wrong so often it’s super refreshing to see it done right.
Watch this five-and-a-half-minute ad for Johnnie Walker in which Robert Carlyle, in one shot, narrates the history of the famous distillery. The video is remarkably captivating in spite of its length.
“The Man Who Walked Around The World” by BBH London, directed by Jamie Rafn
Publicis has announced that it will buy Microsoft-owned digital advertising agency Razorfish from Microsoft for $530 million. The purchase price will be paid via 6.5 million shares worth around $230 million and cash.
Microsoft acquired the company in 2007 as part of its purchase of aQuantive.
Over the past few weeks an image has been showing up in all corners of the internet supposedly demonstrating that soda-champ Coca Cola has kept remarkably consistent in its branding over the years while the challenger, Pepsi, has flailed about trying to stay current, retooling their logo any time the design winds change.
The image creates a dramatic effect and its interesting that non-marketing geeks would find it interesting enough to pass it around the way they have. That doesn’t mean it’s accurate however. In fact, the only way to make the story interesting enough was to completely fabricate it. The always on-the-mark site Brand New has a revised version of the graphic along with a comprehensive history lesson on the Coke logo. Both the original graphic and the Brand New graphic are reproduced below.
Microsoft and Yahoo have come to an agreement on a plan to attack industry leader Google. Microsoft’s new Bing search engine will now power Yahoo’s search and Yahoo’s sales team will manage both companies’ premium inventory.
