GoDaddy.com will run a spot during this year’s Super Bowl, Adweek reports. “This showdown went down to the wire. We were about out of time and had produced our 14th and final attempt. I’m ecstatic about being in the Super Bowl again,” said Bob Parsons, founder and president of GoDaddy.com, in a statement. GoDaddy went through multiple revisions of its ad and had negotiated with network censors before it finally won approval.
Advertisers are reaching out to younger Hispanics in the United States with ads and commercials featuring Spanglish, a mix of Spanish and English, The Washington Times reports.
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A Business Marketing Association e-mail survey of more than 200 corporate marketers found that brand budgets have increased an average of 12 percent over the past two years, B-to-B reports. Seventy percent of marketers believe brand compliance is important or very important to their organization, and 73 percent of companies have a business unit responsible for implementing brand campaigns.
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On February 10th, South Florida’s Ocean Drive magazine will kick off its 13th anniversary by bringing the Vegas variety act Beacher’s Madhouse to Miami for the first time ever. Ocean Drive magazine has teamed up with sponsors like Grey Goose Vodka, Just Me by Paris Hilton, and Las Vegas’ PURE nightclub.
eBay’s comparison-shopping site, Shopping.com, will be displaying behaviorally targeted ads, powered by Revenue Science, later this month, reports MediaPost (via MarketingVox). Based on visitors’ search activity on the site and the pages they visit, Revenue Science will determine what they are interested in purchasing and will serve ads for such products - including during subsequent visits. Behavioral ads will also be served on Shopping.com’s Epinions and Dealtime. Behavioral targeting firms work primarily with editorial-content publishers rather than e-commerce companies; however, the approach is not unheard of. Revenue Science rival Tacoda has Buy.com and LiveDeal as clients, for example.
The New York Sun has launched an aggressive new tactic in order to boost its free distribution in the City’s elite neighborhoods, but many of the freebies are unwanted, reports the New York Post. The paper abandoned its strategy of developing a paid subscriber base in January, and has adopted a plan to distribute 105,000 copies a day, the majority of which are free. The paper can still be bought at newsstands.
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CBS’s John Roberts, once mentioned as possible successor to Dan Rather but passed over for the network’s anchor chair, has jumped ship to CNN, the New York Daily News reports. CBS News has been courting Katie Couric for the anchor spot, but Couric has refused to discuss the situation until her contract with NBC expires in May.
Since Howard Stern debuted on Sirius Satellite Radio, pirated versions of his show have been available on various file-sharing networks just hours after his show airs, the Los Angeles Times reports. Sirius has sent cease-and-desist letters to sites that are streaming audio broadcasts of the show, and threatening to sue.
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The New York Times has launched a series of 11 podcasts, including a weekday one featuring content from the paper’s front-page stories, Mediaweek reports. The free podcasts are available via the iTunes Music Store, Yahoo Podcasts, My Yahoo and the New York Times. The New York Times Front Page podcast, unveiled on Jan. 26, has already entered iTunes’ top 100 ranking, reaching the No. 5 position.
The Media Team, which specializes in media planning, placement and execution, is merging with the John F. Sauer, a broadcast placement agency. The companies said the merger will create Denver’s largest media-only advertising company, with client billings of more than $30 million. The combined company will be called The Media Team.
The first issue of PLAY: The New York Times Sports Magazine, to be published on Super Bowl Sunday, has drawn strong response from advertisers, accounting for a total 50 advertising pages, The New York Times Company has announced. PLAY will be distributed in The Sunday New York Times and will be available at nytimes.com - a total reach of 15.5 million readers each month in print and online, according to Nielsen/NetRatings.
After a consolidation review, independent Horizon Media has won Harrah’s media buying duties, Adweek writes. The casino and resorts operator spent $85 million on advertising in the first 11 months of 2005, up from $65 million for 2004, according to Nielsen Monitor-Plus, and sources say spending will rise again this year, bringing adspend up to $150 million. Interpublic Group’s Initiative and WPP Group’s Mediaedge:cia, along with incumbents Tracy Locke in Dallas, RDM in Chicago, and R&R in Las Vegas, were also contenders for the account.
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Anheuser-Busch is turning the old model of advertising upside down, bypassing traditional media buys and launching its own direct-to-consumer network online, Mediapost reports. The network will be announced sometime during the fourth quarter of the Super Bowl on Feb. 5. Viewers will have the ability to download programming, advertising, and branded entertainment directly to their computers, iPods, and other digital devices.
TV Land last night premiered a three-part special that will discuss blacks and their place in culture to coincide with Black History Month, Media Life writes. The show, titled That’s What I’m Talking About, consists of three one-hour episodes hosted and moderated by comedian Wayne Brady, with big-name guests such as Harry Belafonte, Spike Lee, Wanda Sykes, and Rev. Al Sharpton. In the first episode, topics included black cinema and TV, among other areas of popular culture.
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H&R Block has placed its $100 million advertising account into review, according to Adweek. Incumbent Campbell Mithun has been asked to pitch, along with Interpublic sibling Mullen. Other shops currently working on the brand - Cruz-Kravetz which handles Hispanic advertising and Due North which is the Canadian agency - will not be affected by the review, which is being handled by Consultant Select Resources International.
The marketer says it is pleased with Campbell Mithun, but wants to explore new approaches and innovative thinking as the tax category is changing dramatically.
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The trucking industry has begun a letter writing campaign to Coke, calling its new Full Throttle ad reckless and demanding that it be changed or dropped, AdAge writes. The ad, created by the Mother agency of New York, included a blaring air horn, a rearview mirror filled with a Peterbilt grill, and a larger truck tailgating a smaller truck and forcing it off the road - all offensive elements, according to Mike Russell, vp public affairs for the American Trucking Association.
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