Print Paid Product Placements Pervasive

The total value of product placements in magazines is on pace to grow 17.5 percent in 2005 to $160.9 million, and product placements in newspapers is projected to rise 16.9 percent to $65.0 million, MediaPost reports. A new report from PQ Media estimates that media other than TV and film account for 18.1 percent, or $384.9 million, of all product placements. Just yesterday, radio got a wakeup call with Sony BMG’s ‘payola’ settlement.

Industry watchdogs view the rapid rise of print product placements with alarm. On the other hand, advertisers and agency executives have said that the practice is pervasive.

F1 Revs Up Tobacco Ban

A new European Union ban on tobacco advertising in any form - print, radio and event sponsorship - for Formula One Racing becomes effective July 31st, TSN reports. As well, legislation in England could see British-based F1 teams charged if tobacco sponsorship or images of cigarette sponsors are broadcast back into the country from any race - including those outside of Europe.

51% of TV Ads Include URL

The use of URLs as a direct response method in TV commercials has overtaken the use of toll-free phone numbers, according to a report commissioned by 800response, a provider of 800 numbers. Including a URL in TV commercials has jumped from just 19 percent in 1998 to 51 percent in 2005. Meanwhile, the use of toll-free telephone numbers has risen to 28 percent, up from 25 percent in 1998.

Ask Jeeves Readies Paid Search Bidding

Ask Jeeves is entring into paid search bidding with the launch of a new product interface on August 1, Adrants reports. The service will compete with Google and Yahoo’s keyword bidding products leaving MSN the last to enter this arena.

SnoreStop Seeks New Head

SnoreStop, the California anti-snoring remedy maker that paid Andrew Fischer $37,375 by way of eBay to advertise on his forehead with a temporary tattoo, is looking for another head, Media Life reports. So far, there isn’t much interest. One problem - Fischer approached SnoreStop. This time, SnoreStop is looking for takers.

Media Store: Pre-Discounted Ad Space in Shopping Cart Format

Media buying discount club MediaBuys.com is replacing its “Single Buys” program, which allowed members to achieve discounts via buying sessions and often took up to 30 days to complete, with a new, web-based Media Store, which can process orders within 24 hours. The new Media Store will offer pre-discounted ad space to media buyers in a shopping cart environment, allowing them to procure space quickly.

“Ad space is a commodity and can change daily depending on market conditions, regulatory environments and scheduling,” says MediaBuys media planner Ewan Fisher. “But we often get special package deals that are not always made available to the average advertiser due to the size of our membership buying power.”

MSN Online Media Goes to Universal McCann

Ending a six-year relationship, MSN will move its online media-buying chores from Avenue A/Razorfish, consolidating all of its media buying with Universal McCann, reports AdWeek (via MarketingVox). McCann-Erickson is MSN’s creative agency of record. Avenue A/Razorfish expects the move to be completed by the end of the quarter.

aQuantive said its Atlas Solutions will remain MSN’s third-party ad server, and it would continue to provide web development, creative and analytics from Avenue A/Razorfish. aQuantive also said MSN accounted for less than one percent of its 1H05 revenue.

Unilever Launches ‘Sprays of Her Life’ Webisodes

Unilever brand’s new spray-bottle version of I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter is busting out of traditional TV advertising with a humorous campaign, totally lacking in TV spots. Rather, four episodes, er, webisodes, appear on a dedicated site, in the hopes that computer users share the ads through email, the New York Times reports.

“Classical advertising is not as effective and efficient as it has been in the past,” said Javier Martin, who manages the brand at Unilever, “so we’re looking for more innovative ways to reach our consumers.”

TV Guide Cuts Circ., Revamps

TV Guide is slashing its guaranteed circulation by about two-thirds and relaunching as a large format magazine with fewer TV listings and more lifestyle and entertainment articles, the Associated Press reports (via Yahoo News). The magazine currently guarantees 9 million readers to advertisers, but the new guarantee will be set at just 3.2 million.

Umbria to Upgrade Blog Buzz Report Tool

Market intelligence firm Umbria is expected to announce an upgrade of its Buzz Report blog-monitoring tool this week, intended to simplify reporting and increase efficiency, reports ClickZ (via MarketingVox). Buzz Report allows monitoring of conversations on blogs, message boards and chat rooms to track opinions and perceptions around brands, products and competitors.

“We’ve boiled it down to the highest-impact reports, and added an easy to read one- or two-page summary of the major issues impacting the brand or topic of interest,” said Dave Howlett, VP of product management at Umbria, which monitors more than 11 million blogs, message boards and chat rooms.