Ralph Lauren has turned an advertising blunder into a PR crisis. The designer sent a cease-and-desist to two blogs, Boing Boing and Photoshop Disasters, regarding the insane advertisement above.
Of course the blogosphere has latched on to the debacle increasing the embarassment.
The ad above was apparently created expressly to fool judging panels. Agencies creating potentially harmful ads about clients to get accolades from peers is a best counter-productive and at worst self-destructive.
Here’s what BBDO Chile, the responsible party, had to say about it:
This creative design did not involve and was never approved by Sony Computer Entertainment or Sony. This ‘mock campaign’ was developed by BBDO Chile staff and was submitted to various creative competitions/festivals without prior notification or approval from SCE/Sony, and it is not representative of the views or advertising policies of SCE/Sony. BBDO Chile apologizes for using this creative concept without authorization or prior approval, and for its misrepresentation of the PlayStation brand.
Warner Music Group, one of the few remaining major labels, has apparently struck a deal with YouTube that will bring back music videos from popular artists like Green Day and U2 that were removed in December.
In an article on TechCrunch Shelby Bonnie, the CEO of Whiskey Media and co-founder of CNET, lays out an argument that publishers and buyers reliance on CPMs is stifling creativity. The language gets pretty inflammatory at times but isn’t entirely unconvincing.
“OK, Advertising Week just ended… does anyone else feel like the online advertising industry is the orchestra, playing on while the Titanic is sinking?
We have a problem, folks. And I, for one, think we should start to fix it by killing off the CPM, once and for all.”
Twitter recently had another round of funding that turned the revenue-free lunch-pic sharing service into a billion dollar company.
According to TechCrunch the $50 million round was lead by Insight Venture Partners, an early investor in Photobucket.
Google has unveiled its DoubleClick Ad Exchange, a long anticipated effort to bring its display advertising offer up to speed with its industry-leading search advertising platform. The platform is meant to compete against Right Media, which Yahoo acquired in 2005.
DoubleClick Ad Exchange allows ad networks and media buyers to bid in real-time on advertising inventory, a feature Yahoo’s Right Media lacks. Its unclear now how exactly the exchange affect ad networks which are at once its competition and constituent.
MDC Partners, the same holding company that owns Crispin Porter & Bogusky, has invested in social media agency Attention. On the company’s blog, founder Curtis Hougland said they chose to partner with MDC over other potential investors because the company “gets it.”
As vague and cliche as that sounds, there’s some truth in the statement. In Hougland’s words,
“we are at an inflection point in social media, the shift from early adopter to early majority, a horizontal skill set requiring more and more vertical market expertise”
True that, Curt. More and more entrepreneurs will be starting these types companies and investors will be hungry to snap them up. It won’t be that long until kids who grew up with social media their entire lives are helming social media marketing agencies.
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.
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.
Is Kid Rock saving our economy? GM isn’t the only “badass” from Michigan getting bailed out.
Agency Layoffs