Despite the ousting of three key people - two producers and a “sidekick” - and rumors that the show is in grave trouble, ratings for The Tony Danza Show are on the rise, and it’s getting better timeslots in several markets, Media Life reports.
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When The Wall Street Journal introduces compact European and Asian editions later this year, it will also unveil a slew of new ad formats, including larger standard ad sizes and front-page advertisements, Media Week reports.
The Chicago Tribune launched a radio campaign this week focusing on topical stories that generate high reader interest, reports Editor & Publisher. The spots - comprising the next phase of the Tribune’s “What’s in it for you?” marketing campaign - will air on more than a dozen radio stations.
To keep the ads relevant to current news, members of the Tribune marketing team attend daily editorial meetings.
Uncertainty abounds when it comes to revenue forecasts for radio at the mid-year mark, Billboard Radio Monitor reports.
US Direct mail spending grew 8.5 percent in the first quarter of 2005, according to Universal McCann’s Robert Coen, and is forecast to rise 8.5 percent this year to $56.6 billion, DM News reports.
Restrictions on telemarketing calls and extra prospecting mailings preceding 2006’s rate increases will propell the growth.
For Coen’s predictions on ad spending, see Coen: Adspend Revised Downward.
VH1’s multi-platform strategy continues with VSPOT, a new online broadband entertainment network, reports Brandweek. The site will launch with a premier of The Surreal Life 5, three days before the show kicks off on television.
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As the US army confronts recruiting shortfalls and an extended war on terrorism, it faces the need to increase its ad budget, and has approved up to $250 million in spending for the next six months. This is a sharp increase from a previous budget of $200 million a year, according to AdAge.
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BBDO West is using real bug displays in bus shelters to promote the San Francisco Zoo, Adweek reports. Part of the Zoo’s “Join Zoomanity” campaign, the displays replicate traditional mounted-insect displays found in museums. Thirty or so insects are represented in the display. Another shelter houses a larger-than-life-size replica of a child’s ant farm.
A study conducted by ABC and Omnicom during the American Music Awards in November found a 34 percent lift in brand awareness among those exposed to both traditional advertising and branded entertainment during the ABC special, MediaPost reports.
The study followed the reactions of some 600 viewers ages 18-49 during the show. The Viewers most likely to say they planned to go out and buy showcased products were exposed to both traditional advertising and integration.
Chrysler Group has undertaken its most elaborate web advertising effort to date after having increased its online ad budget this year by 20 percent over last, writes AdAge. The automaker is testing out its online muscle to reintroduce the 2006 Dodge Charger muscle car. The campaign will use a desktop toolbar to point users to Charger ads all over the web, not just at one site. Julie Roehm, Chrysler director of marketing communications, called the “Unleash Your Freak” online push its “most aggressive online campaign to date.”
DoubleClick yesterday announced Dart Enterprise 6.0, a new version of its licensed software for online ad management. The upgrades bring greater scalability and flexibility to clients for managing and reporting on online ad campaigns and newer environments, such as iTV, according to the announcement.
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ClickZ offers up a table of the world’s internet-using populations by country, relying on several sources, including the CIA’s World Factbook, Nielsen, and the Computer Industry Almanac, which reports that the worldwide internet population will reach 1.07 billion in 2005, up from 934 million last year; the number is expected to reach 1.35 billion in two years.
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Some 2.76 million web hostnames were added in June, the second-highest monthly increase and the largest since May 2003, according to U.K.-based web measurement firm Netcraft, reports InternetWeek. Since the first of the year 10.7 million domain names have been registered. “Barring a dramatic slowdown, 2005 should easily exceed the record growth of 16 million hostnames in 2000,” Netcraft said in a statement. Among the drivers of the boom - the blog boom, speculation in domain names, and strong online advertising sales.
Full page ads pertaining to AMD’s lawsuit against Intel are being run by the lesser-known microchip maker in the New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, The San Jose Mercury News, and in two lawmaker publications, The Hill and Roll Call, The New York Times reports.
Earlier in the week, Gartner analyst Martin Reynolds stated that the AMD lawsuit was as much media campaign as legal complaint, in part because of the ad campaign and in part because the suit is “surprisingly readable” in itself.
According to the Times, AMD spokesman David Kroll, who worked on the campaign, said the main goal was simply to place AMD in the public consciousness.
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The new Turner thriller Wanted, launching on TNT July 31, will include product integration from Dodge - the exclusive automotive sponsor of the show - and Bud Light.
Two of Dodge’s vehicles, the Charger and the Dakota, will appear as part of the storyline in the series, reports Mediaweek.
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Theater Advertising Solutions has signed a multi-year agreement with Regal Entertainment Group to be the exclusive provider of advertising on the concessions tray (called MovieTRAY) used in movie theaters Adrants reports. MovieTRAY is, according to the company, a way to carry brand signage, advertising messages and promotional premiums to consumers in the 18 to 49 demographic and the elusive Generation Y and Generation M.
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Fueled with cash from a booming economy and further prompted by a “Go Global” campaign led by the government, Chinese appliance maker Qindao Haier has made an offer on US Maytag Corp., and it’s not alone in its thirst for acquisition of global brands, AdAge reports.
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