Advertising, ad campaigns, ad agencies, and the people that make it happen

Jonah Bloom writing in today’s AdAge makes several good points about the upcoming year in advertising and media. This one on sports media really rang a bell with me… “Give a little respect to soccer (Hey Jonah… That’s what we call football in 95% of the world… ‘Cos it's a game 11 men and 2 substitutes play with their feet. Unlike American football played by a couple of hundred guys covered in armor who can go through an entire career without ever touching the ball!) In this World Cup year. Not only does the tournament take insular nation-gazers the world over and unite them in support of states like Togo and Trinidad, (Hey Jonah… Togo and Trinidad are countries. Texas is a state!) but Team U.S.A. is all set to disprove the pundits by emerging from the toughest qualifying group and covering itself in glory. (Hey Jonah… Wanna put some money on that?) Of course it’ll have to cover itself, because no one here will give a damn.”  He’s right there. The world’s most popular, and exciting sport gets scant coverage in the US. I guess they are too interested in watching week two hundred and fifty eight of the NBA playoffs… Yawn!

Unlike the "World Series' or the "Super Bowl" the World Cup is open to every country in the world!

Hey, there’s good news and bad news on the pharmaceutical advertising front. Drug company Merck has a new plan for advertising – they will shift ads for new drugs from broadcast television onto online communities and cable networks. Because, they claim, this is a better way to market pharmaceuticals to new customers. So, rather than placing ads on various television channels, Merck will begin placing targeted ads on specific websites and other online communities. The company feels that by better targeting ads towards these communities they will have a better ROI than simply scattering ads across TV channels. "The new model has to change, because as a consumer we're sitting in front of our TV, and we're switching all the time," Peter Loescher, Merck's new second in command, said. Well Peter, let me put it this way. When I get annoying drug ads in the middle of a TV program, I either fast forward them, or go to the bathroom. And guess what? When I’m sat at my computer, basically, I do the same thing. Not because I want to avoid the ads. After all, it’s what I do for a living. No, I do it ‘cos virtually every single  pharmaceutical ad I’ve ever seen insults my intelligence.

Interesting to read in the Washington Post on Sunday that Television viewers in crucial Midwest states got more political information in the weeks leading up to the midterm elections from campaign advertisements than from news coverage. In the seven markets studied, newscasts aired almost 4 1/2 minutes of paid political ads during a 30-minute broadcast, while only offering 1 minute 43 seconds of election news coverage. The study was done by the Midwest News Index, a project of the University of Wisconsin's NewsLab. It studied major markets in Illinois, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio and Wisconsin. Apparently most news coverage focused on political strategy, with far less examining policy differences among candidates and more than 10 percent of news stories were about or featured political ads. It’s kinda like “The Medium is the message.” Yet in this case, I guess “The Media is the message, which is all about the Media!” If you know what I mean!!!

Because I'm just as corrupt as the next guy!