Graffiti 360

In a world controlled by industry and the machine, this blog observes and critiques the world's true graffiti problem, which is advertising and marketing. From time to time, I'll also talk about art and interactive media. Or whatever else I feel like.

Tuesday, October 30, 2007

P. Diddy Taking Over Ciroc Vodka Branding

AdAge.com reported last Wednesday P.Diddy, Puff Daddy, Sean "Puffy" Combs, whatever you want to call him, is now going to have a new titled... Brand Manager for Ciroc vodka. P. Dizzle will take on all brand-management decisions for Diageo's Ciroc, including marketing, advertising, public relations, product placement and events. The Bad Boy Entertainment CEO told AdAge, "I'll be taking the lead on all the things traditionally a CMO or a brand manager would do, just doing them my way. Marketing in a way that is truly unique." (barf)

It appears the ego driven star is convinced his Bad Boy group has incredible marketing and branding powers that could be described as something similar to Midas' touch. Agreed, pop stars, especially ones like the Puffster, are great tools to mix with consumer goods. He's been able to rise to the top and keep a somewhat clean, marketable profile.

I don't drink Ciroc, but I'm curious to see how their image changes in the coming months. Diddy told reporters Wednesday, "When the ball drops, if you're not drinking Ciroc vodka, you're not drinking New Year's Eve the right way." His goal is to change Ciroc's image to reflect more luxury. But my prediction is that it will soon be the choice of Valley girls and boys everywhere.

Can't wait for new tracks from Puff to feature Ciroc lyrics. "Cran and Ciroc on the rocks, with you on top, baby. uh uh uh. whuh? whuh? bad boys, whuh? whuh?

Labels: , , , , , , ,

Add to Technorati Favorites

Thursday, October 25, 2007

Microsoft Buys 1.6% of Facebook... for $240 Million

The Seattle Times reported that Microsoft just made a deal with Facebook to become the exclusive, global provider of banner advertising sales until 2011. Microsoft purchased a 1.6% share of the company for $240 million, which makes Facebook worth $15 billion. Seattle Times also notes that even though it's a $15 billion dollar dot-com, it has yet to turn a profit. The deal appears to be another step in Microsoft's recent takeover of online advertising, which includes their recent acquisition of AQuantive (Ave.A-Razorfish). Well, let the games begin cause who did Microsoft beat out for the share? Good ol' Google.

I guess since Google got beat, they'll probably just make their own networking site that will rule them all! Since MySpace is held by Murdoch, and now Facebook is teaming up with Microsoft, the only place Google can really go is on their own. I know there are a lot of other social-networking sites, but they suck, which is why I can't name any of them here. But, I think this might work to Google's advantage, cause MySpace is on it's way out, so Facebook will be top-dog, but it's already getting crowded over there, so... Google can sweep up on people jumping the Facebook ship. We'll see I guess.

I also have to note that Microsoft has it's own social-networking site called Windows Live Spaces, which is about 1/6th the size of Facebook. I guess they don't have much faith in their own site, or they're too lazy to make it better. Here's the approximated breakdown of size by users:

Win Live - 6 million
Facebook - 30 million
MySpace - 60 million

Labels: , , , , , ,

Add to Technorati Favorites

Wednesday, October 24, 2007

Sexist Print Ads

Had to post this up. My personal favorite is the Chase & Sanborn ad(bottom right), followed closely by the Mitchum print. Check em out

I'm dissapointed that the Tom Ford ads didn't make it into this group. I mean, if you use a picture of a bottle of cologne wedged into a girl's vag or squeezed between her big boobs with her mouth open, I think it could be considered sexist. Just my opinion though.

Labels: , , , , ,

Add to Technorati Favorites

Monday, October 22, 2007

The Ghostbusters Are Venturing into Anti-Terrorism?


Check out the CIA's new Anti-Terrorism logo! Isn't it awesomely similar to the Ghostbusters logo below? Coincidence? Perhaps, but do you think it's coincidence that the new logo is called the "Terrorist Busters" Logo? I think not! Holy Mother of God. I guess the CIA is spending so much money on the war against terror that they don't have the budget for design work, so they're outsourcing to employee children. Good job Government! Don't believe me? Here's the link to the CIA's website. Oh MY GOD! It all makes sense. Guantanamo Bay is their very own containment grid! I guess this logo fits them pretty well then. Except the fact that the Ghostbusters were way cooler, and smarter. If there was a fight between the Ghostbusters and the Terrorist Busters, I would have to put money on the Ghostbusters. They have proton packs. You can't beat proton packs.

Labels: , , ,

Add to Technorati Favorites

Monday, October 15, 2007

Are Blogs Credible Sources?

I was reading a Seattle Times article today about mounting complaints against Apple. In the article, the author quotes a popular blogger. I immediately thought of all the writing rules and guidelines I was taught in my Comm classes, and I was pretty sure blogs were not considered credible sources. However, I thought, maybe they're gaining credibility... oh, wait, it's an article in the Seattle Times, so no.

Newspapers are losing readers, and credibility. They can't afford the research and coverage that's needed to publish good, credible content, so I guess they are starting to use incredible sources such as blogs. The quote the author used in the article I read wasn't necessarily a key quote or anything, but did appear to provide some of the base for the article, and it appeared early in the article (high in the umbrella style). I got this from New York Times editor, Bill Keller, who said:

"We've only got two things that distinguish us from blogs. One is we have reporting staffs who actually go out and see stuff and are trained professionals. And we have standards which are enforced by editors — you double-check things, make sure it's right — and all that costs money. If you aren't giving people the basics — good reliable news, smart analysis and in-depth investigations — then all they're going to see is the same stuff they can get on cable TV."


I think blogs can be credible sources of information, but it depends on the author. Saying that though, I still don't think a newspaper should use blogs as sources. It's just bad journalism techniques in my opinion. In the article I read, the blog's author is given, but it doesn't give me any insight into his profession, his credibility. It just notes that he's the author of the popular technology blog Daring Fireball. Why would I trust anyone who is just an author of a tech blog? The author of the article should have listed some credentials for this guy, that's all I'm sayin'.

Labels: , , ,

Add to Technorati Favorites

Thursday, October 11, 2007

MSNBC.com to Offer User Generated News

MSNBC.com has acquired Newsvine, which is a user generated news site. Newsvine will remain unchanged according to the Seattle Times, but MSNBC.com will probably incorporate features from Newsvine in an effort to add interactivity to its own site.

Newsvine selects submissions to be posted based on "...what's popular, what's important and what people are looking to read," says Mike Davidson, Newsvine co-founder and CEO.

Visitors will be able to view user generated stories and stories from mainstream sources such as AP, New York Times and ESPN. MSNBC.com Publisher and President Charlie Tillinghast noted that user generated content will be appropriately marked as such.

I think it's great that there will be an outlet online through a major source for the common people. It will be interesting to see what kind of stories will get published and if MSNBC.com will show it's usual liberal bias through user generated content. I would think user generated content will either be super bias, or super irrelevant to life - like this recent Newsvine headline.

One of the problems I saw with this site was that Newsvine publishes multiple versions of the same stories. they need to have a better content manager. A good example of an appropriate content manager would be Digg's site, which searches it's own content before you're able to submit new content. It will let you know if anything similar has been posted.

Labels: , , ,

Add to Technorati Favorites

Monday, October 8, 2007

Is It Still An Ogilvy World?

A lot has changed since the ruling days of David Ogilvy. While reading How To Advertise, I began to question some of Ogilvy's findings. Are his general advertising principles still valid in the new generations of the 21st century? It's been almost 9 years since his death, and some still live religiously by his words. My naive opinion is that Ogilvy never thought about the change in times, the change in generational culture, and the evolution of the target audience.

I believe the current generation is overwhelmed with advertising - the market is cluttered. In a presentation to London associates, Ogilvy said: "...I now know that aesthetics have nothing to do with advertising. The most important job of an ad is to centre all the attention on the merchandise and none on the technique of presenting it." How can you cut through the clutter with the same look, just different copy? I don't think this still holds up. This definitely should be buried with Ogilvy's old door-to-door techniques. Perhaps my thoughts are a little biased just because I like aesthetics, but I do enjoy good copy. I just can't see how a door-to-door technique can still work in this generation. You're making the product or service do all the work as far as catching the eye. You need a strong headline to really draw a consumer into the copy for the sale. However, a nicely designed ad, I think, can substitute for a weak headline and do the same job. Design and strong headline = sale. Maybe he was just trying to make a point about the importance of copy and technique.

But what about the ever changing, evolution of consumers? I've talked about the instant gratification needs of the current generation and how that affects media messages, and also the direction of the industry and its use of the World Wide Web. I think a lot of advertising in the current age relies too heavily on the Web to do the selling for it. Advertising messages are becoming as simple as "Go to www...," but the Web is not being used as efficiently as it could be. For many ads, the call to action is visit the Web site, and the advertising stops there. What about when you get to the Web Site? Will the merchandise sell itself? Ogilvy also said in his presentation, "...act as if you met the individual buyer face to face." I don't think you would knock on someone's door, get their attention, and then just not say anything else. How can you complete the sale online without saying anything once you get them there? Maybe online sales could increase with more messages on the page.

I have so many questions going through my head about how to improve the relationship between advertising and the internet, and how/if Ogilvy's principles fit into the mix, but this post is becoming a jumble of thoughts. It seems that Ogilvy's driving principles might still have a place in the present and future, and maybe as the relationship between messages and the Web improve, it will be more evident.

Labels: , ,

Add to Technorati Favorites

Thursday, October 4, 2007

Chatty Cathy Geico Commercial

Loved this new spot from Geico that samples the old Chatty Cathy doll commercials from the 60's. I say I loved this spot because, well, I hate that stupid gecko. The cavemen are alright, but I just can't stand that gecko. I will say that the Geico gecko is probably one of the most identifiable characters on TV today and a huge success as far as marketing goes. I just can't stand him. I'm glad they're being creative again. If they keep doing Chatty Cathy spots though, I'll get really concerned. They're kinda creepy, but funny as hell. Check out the new commercial below and the old Chatty Cathy commercial.


You can check out a few of the "TRS - The Real Scoop" campaign below which was launched in September of this year -
Cabbage Patch Kid
Fred Flinstone
Beverly Hillbillies

Labels: , , , , ,

Add to Technorati Favorites

Tuesday, October 2, 2007

Placing a Facebook ad...sucks

I went to buy some Facebook Ad Flyers yesterday and was enraged by the time I made my purchase. How hard could it be to make a little flyer, post and pay for it? Holy shnikies I was about ready to make my Mac into an expensive piece of kindling! The process appears simple, and it is, if you're a simple writer. I don't know how many times I had to re-write my body copy so that the stupid program would accept it. Someone needs to edit their code to accept simple grammatical substitutions. Either that, or give me a larger character limit! Facebook wouldn't allow me to use quotation marks, hyphens and backslashes. I was trying to write in so my audience would understand and I could stay under the character count, but Facebook wanted to be a dick about it. They're lucky it's cheap advertising, or I would've gone to MySpace... okay, called my bluff, but seriously. When I can't put the name of a movie in quotes or italics, then WTF? Douche Mongers over there... Click the thumbnail for a view of what it wouldn't let me write.

Labels: , , ,

Add to Technorati Favorites