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Last Call For Heineken TV Ads

The Dutch brewer will announce today that it is calling time on next year’s £6.5 million television advertising budget in Britain and switching the money into sport sponsorship and point-of-sale promotions.

The move will be seen as a new blow to the £3.5 billion television advertising market as the cost- effectiveness of traditional advertising breaks on commercial television channels is questioned increasingly.

Rob Marijnen, managing director of Heineken UK, said that a number of factors had prompted it to put its money elsewhere, including the rising cost of buying airtime and the advent of Sky Plus, which enables viewers to skip ads.

“The enormously cluttered environment in TV ads makes it difficult to make standout ads,” he said. “It’s also very expensive and it’s questionable as to its effectiveness.”

Mr Marijnen said that growing “media fragmentation” meant it was proving increasingly difficult to reach its core target market of 18 to 26 year olds in an effective way through television.

He added: “I’m not saying it’s farewell to TV for ever. We will look at it again, but for the time being we need to look at other avenues, in particular by creating more visibility for the brand at the point of purchase.  (Times Online)

Cut It Out

Very cool and unique idea for Nano advertising in Japan: huge posters are lined up in the platform walls of trendy Shibuya station (take a look at some other pics to see the scale).  The posters have 1:1 Nano cutouts which can be peeled off.  On the back of the cutouts you'll find a url and a code to download Nano wallpaper for mobile phones.

(via wired)

Misc. Links

Newsweek: New Ad Age

Fortune: Breakaway Brands

Rise of the Webisodes (via adland)

McChronicles chronicled on Churh of the Customer

Hustle Is On

Larry Flynt is expanding his empire to include restaurants.

Have to admire the honest, straightforward thinking on this:

"The Hustler Hunnies will bring them in, but the food the cleanliness and the service will bring them back."

Wonder if they'll be serving Coca-Cola at the establishment?

(via Larry Flynt's ad parodies page)

Low Down on Download

More food for thought on the Apple/ABC deal from Slate magazine

Although it's impossible to stamp out piracy, Apple has shown that consumers will pay for music if it's available. All Hollywood has to do is make it an easy, fun, satisfying experience. Many networks have started to experiment with putting their shows online. Before  to sell episodes of Lost and Desperate Housewives, MTV (which is owned by Viacom) had already put 8,000 music videos on the Web. MTV Overdrive also includes highlights from Total Request Live and online-only outtakes and commentary for shows like Laguna Beach. The channel's recent  likely means it will add more content in the months to come. And it's all free, paid for by advertisers like Toyota and Procter & Gamble. (The appeal is stifled somewhat, though, since unlike with real television you can't channel-surf away from the ads.)

VW 120

Excellent site for the VW Passat.

120 really good 15 second mini-commercials (instead of one crappy :30 one). 

(link via room116)

McWifi

Nintendo has signed an agreement with WiFi provider Wayport to install high-speed Internet access in public locations. The goal is to extend WiFi service to Nintendo DS users. The video game maker figured it could reach a good percentage of its target audience at nearly 6,000 McDonald's restaurants across the United States.

Through its agreement with Wayport, Nintendo will offer complimentary access to Nintendo WiFi Connection, the video game giant's new wireless gaming service that goes online November 14. (technewsworld)

Brand Meltdown

Fascinating look at the collapse of commodity trading firm Refco, demonstrating the fragility of a brand built on trust in the digital marketplace. 

Companies may boast excellent credit ratings from agencies like Standard & Poor's. But ultimately, creditworthiness is in the eye of the beholder. It's something that people say you have, based on personal experience, reputation, and marketplace behavior. (Slate)

Bad Buzz

More bad buzz for buzz marketers: Commercial Alert has asked for an investigation.

“Buzz marketing also is known as ‘guerrilla,’ or ‘stealth’ marketing.  The terms are significant because they suggest the subterfuge that corporations are working on the buying public.  They often are not promoting products and services openly, the way conventional advertising does.  Rather they are enlisting people to promote products under the guise of doing something else….The Federal Trade Commission should require any and all persons who are paid to engage in such practices to disclose their relationship to the corporation whose products they are pitching, including their compensation.  Failure to provide such disclosure should be considered ‘unfair or deceptive acts and practices in or affecting commerce’ within the meaning of the Federal Trade Commission Act.”

Yo, Rocky

As if more evidence were needed that Hollywood is very nearly creatively bankrupt, we get news that Rocky VI is in the works.  Rocky comes out of retirement, at the age of 56.