If you watched the Super Bowl Sunday night, you saw at least two unprecedented events: The New Orleans Saints won their first championship, and Google ran an ad for its search engine on television.
The ads for this year's Super Bowl ran the gamut from popular TV shows to celebrity cameos to motherly love -- but the oddest and most omnipresent theme was men without pants.
The midterm elections are nine months away, but it's not too early to begin handicapping them -- from a dollars and cents vantage point, that is.
If you haven't bought a spot for your Super Bowl ad, then you're too late.
Craigslist's managers have complied with the wishes of most of the state attorneys general who demanded they rid the site of prostitution ads.
Even when Billy Mays is relaxing, the bearded TV pitchman can't keep from selling. "Hi, Billy Mays here for Kaboom!" he bellows, holding up an imaginary bottle of bathroom cleaner as a group of middle-aged women giggle on a sofa.
British TV channels could advertise abortion services for the first time under new advertising rules proposed Thursday by an ad industry group.
Despite record prices, a grinding recession and the absence of two big advertisers this year, NBC says it's having no problem filling spots for Super Bowl XLIII.
Money-losing airlines are trying to find creative ways to raise cash. That includes slapping an ad on just about any part of the plane that doesn't move - including the air-sickness bag.
Barack Obama's decision to forgo public financing for his presidential campaign provides him with the tools needed to implement a "Shock and Awe" television ad strategy designed to paralyze John McCain's campaign, an expert on political TV advertising said in an interview with CNN.
If you watched the Super Bowl Sunday night, you saw at least two unprecedented events: The New Orleans Saints won their first championship, and Google ran an ad for its search engine on television.
The ads for this year's Super Bowl ran the gamut from popular TV shows to celebrity cameos to motherly love -- but the oddest and most omnipresent theme was men without pants.
The midterm elections are nine months away, but it's not too early to begin handicapping them -- from a dollars and cents vantage point, that is.
If you haven't bought a spot for your Super Bowl ad, then you're too late.
Craigslist's managers have complied with the wishes of most of the state attorneys general who demanded they rid the site of prostitution ads.
Even when Billy Mays is relaxing, the bearded TV pitchman can't keep from selling. "Hi, Billy Mays here for Kaboom!" he bellows, holding up an imaginary bottle of bathroom cleaner as a group of middle-aged women giggle on a sofa.
British TV channels could advertise abortion services for the first time under new advertising rules proposed Thursday by an ad industry group.
Despite record prices, a grinding recession and the absence of two big advertisers this year, NBC says it's having no problem filling spots for Super Bowl XLIII.
Money-losing airlines are trying to find creative ways to raise cash. That includes slapping an ad on just about any part of the plane that doesn't move - including the air-sickness bag.
Barack Obama's decision to forgo public financing for his presidential campaign provides him with the tools needed to implement a "Shock and Awe" television ad strategy designed to paralyze John McCain's campaign, an expert on political TV advertising said in an interview with CNN.
Craigslist is the online classifieds behemoth in the U.S., but there's some other savvy companies circling these listings
Dear FSB: I'm looking at marketing my Internet business, and at least three ad agencies called to say they'd provide services to attract customers to my new online e-store and Web site. They're asking me to pay between $2,000 and $3,000 to have a first conversation. Is this normal operating procedure for an ad agency? Also, would love suggestions on how to get traffic to my e-store. And do I need a business license for my online store?
Kevin Reilly Jr. chuckled when I described my ineptitude while recently trying to transfer photos onto a digital picture frame, which is supposed to display hundreds of rotating images. Let's just say that getting the digital frame to work is easier said than done, and I mentioned this to Reilly because he is attempting something similar on a vastly grander scale.
The New York Giants' victory over the New England Patriots Sunday night was one of the biggest upsets in Super Bowl history, but the advertising effort during the big game was not quite as inspiring.
One week from Sunday, the titans of American advertising will take to the field and go head-to-head in an epic battle of marketing muscle to determine who will be the king of commercials.
Ralph Fiol met the future of Internet search marketing at the bottom of the sea. Fiol lives in Miami and loves to scuba-dive. But a few years back he had a problem. "There was no smart way to quickly find wrecks I wanted to dive, get information about them, and take that information with me no matter where," says Fiol, 40.
Let's try an experiment. Like most people these days, you've probably spent too much time in front of your computer today. So, quick -- name three brands you saw in online display ads within the past 24 hours.
Republican presidential hopeful Mitt Romney has spent $10.2 million on television advertising this year -- a record amount at this point in a presidential campaign -- according to new data provided to CNN.
A wide-open presidential race and a willingness by candidates, interest groups, unions and corporations to buy TV time will lead to historic spending for political and issue-advocacy advertising in the 2008 election cycle, an analysis shows.
AOL stepped up its transformation from Internet access provider into an ad-driven business Monday as it announced plans to move its corporate headquarters and consolidate its advertising operations.
Yahoo's top sales executive is leaving the company in the latest reorganization by President Susan Decker that merges sales into a broader division that seeks new partnership deals such as ones it has struck with eBay, Comcast and newspaper publishers.
Video advertising is coming to YouTube, but it won't be the type common at sites elsewhere.
Microsoft Corp. said Monday it formed a new business group to work with advertisers and publishers and gain a foothold in an online advertising market expected to grow to $80 billion by 2010.
The captains of the television industry may want to switch off their sets for a minute (actually, 37 seconds) to assess the potential of interactive Web drama. This week, a new series called "KateModern" launched on Bebo, the global social networking site with a pioneering, young audience.
Time Warner Inc.'s AOL unit said Tuesday it has agreed to buy Tacoda, an online advertising company that uses behavioral targeting techniques to track Web user habits.
Lawmakers in Congress plan to hold hearings to air concerns about Google Inc.'s proposed acquisition of Web advertising supplier DoubleClick Inc.
Google Inc. said it is expanding its Print Ads program to allow online advertisers nationwide to place print advertisements in 225 newspapers, serving half of U.S. newspaper readers.
Cadillac tried a novel approach last year to get young male car buyers excited about its tricked-out V-Series Collection luxury vehicles. Rather than make its pitch through magazines, TV commercials, or online display ads, the automaker took its campaign to the Xbox 360.
Yahoo has introduced a new tool to help marketers create custom ads on the fly.
Roger Federer is probably the most dominant athlete active today, yet there are two places he hasn't been able to win -- the French Open and Madison Avenue.
Media stocks, unlike the broader market, have not had a great start to 2007.
There typically aren't a lot of political advertisements in odd years since there aren't any Congressional races and no presidential election. But this odd year is shaping up to be a bit odder than the most.
Yahoo Inc. said Sunday the Internet media company was merging the two main parts of its U.S. advertising business under one sales executive, David Karnstedt, and that veteran advertising sales executive Wenda Harris-Millard has left the company.
Yahoo!, the No. 2 search firm that has struggled in its battle with Google, said Monday that Terry Semel was out as chief executive officer, to be succeeded by Yahoo co-founder Jerry Yang.
Cable television shows, unless they are the series finale of "The Sopranos," often don't generate the types of ratings that come anything close to what even the least-watched programs on the free broadcast networks get. But cable TV is actually among the hotter segments of the media business these days.
Advertisements are everywhere: websites, television and videogames, not to mention coffee coasters, airplane seatback covers, and even umbrellas.
Microsoft announced Friday it is buying online ad agency aQuantive in a $6 billion cash deal, paying top dollar to buy into the suddenly hot sector.
If you ran one of the biggest companies in the world and you had a chance to change your name and reinvent your brand, you'd probably go with something that had a little personality. Something a ta...
It's hardly Harvard, or even the University of Phoenix. But Walt Disney is getting into the education business.
Much has been made about how the explosion in demand for online advertising has lifted the fortunes of companies like Google, Yahoo! and Barry Diller's IAC as well as perceived takeover targets like interactive ad agencies aQuantive and 24/7 Real Media.
The squeaky wheel gets the grease or just good customer service?
The big TV networks will all unveil their new shows for the fall in New York City next week. But does anyone still care?
While minor-league baseball has enjoyed a renaissance of sorts in recent years, farm-club hockey has sunk into the doldrums. The West Coast Hockey League, a group of seven minor-league teams struggling to contain workers' comp costs and put enough teams on ice to maintain a competitive environment, ceased operation in 2002 and was forced to merge into the East Coast Hockey League (ECHL).
For an ad agency that once accidentally set Michael Jackson's hair on fire while shooting a TV commercial, this was pretty low-key stuff.
The squeaky wheel gets the grease, or just good customer service?
Microsoft, the world's largest software company, is reportedly in preliminary talks to buy online search company Yahoo!. And if the two companies do decide to merge, they could create an Internet advertising powerhouse that would rival industry leader Google, analysts said.
Warren Buffett famously remarked that when brilliant management tackles an industry with terrible economics, it's usually the reputation of the industry that remains intact. His insight helps expla...
Ahhh spring. With apologies to Lord Alfred Tennyson, it's a time when many a TV executive's fancy lightly turns to thoughts of advertising dollars.
Time Warner AOL Internet division will announce Tuesday production deals for five new Web programs as it tries to shore up its entertainment offerings and draw more advertising dollars.
Search engine leader Google is buying privately held DoubleClick, a top digital marketing services firm, for $3.1 billion in cash, the companies said Friday afternoon.
Dear FSB: We make a product called the GolfCap (golfcapads.com), which allows clients to buy advertising on tee boxes in golf courses and driving ranges. How can we best evaluate its appeal to potential clients? --Brad M. Monson Vice President, Operations Curb Appeal Outdoor Advertising Corp. Calgary, Alberta
Companies including Procter & Gamble, Staples, GM and Sprint are pulling advertisements from Don Imus' show due to the shock jock's on-air racial slur about the Rutgers University women's basketball team.
What does it take to get someone to buy a car? A personalized letter promising a $1,000 discount can go a long way. That's what I discovered years ago in Canada when I worked on a direct mail campaign for Ford, promoting Lincoln's Town Car, Continental and Mark VIII. We told recipients that all they had to do was visit a dealership, negotiate their best price and then produce the letter to save another $1,000. Sales took off.
Is there really such thing as bad publicity? Time Warner and its Cartoon Network unit are about to find out.
You don't often meet startup CEOs who introduce their new company's focus with the self-effacing phrase "It's an area that isn't very sexy." Instead they tell you, whether it's true or not, that th...
Wayne's World, it's not. The Web TV series Diggnation draws hundreds of thousands of viewers. It has Fortune 500 corporate sponsors, and its two young stars are among the brightest in the tech firm...
On the Internet today, everybody knows you're a dog. In fact, legions of Internet companies also know your breed, your gender, your age, the neighborhood you live in, that you like pickup trucks, a...
SOCIAL MEDIA
A former marketing executive for Wal-Mart Stores Inc. said the retailer's actions against her are a "smear campaign."
Remember when commercials used to actually try and sell you something?
When News Corp. bought Intermix Media, the parent of social networking site MySpace, in 2005 for $580 million, some wondered if Rupert Murdoch had lost his mind.
1. Cell-Phone Giants Start Courting Coders
When Virgin America announced last year that it had landed $178 million in investment funding to launch U.S. passenger service - the most ever for a new domestic airline - ad agencies up and down M...
It has already revolutionized the music business with its iPod device and iTunes music store. Now will Apple help kill the television's industry historic reliance on the 30-second TV commercial to help pay the bills?
The top two executives of Internet media firm Yahoo! told investors Tuesday that the company hopes to gain market share against industry leader Google as its new search tool is leading to more relevant and higher quality search results for advertisers.
It's March. And you know what that means. For many Americans the world will stop and the only thing that will matter to them is what their brackets look like in their college basketball office pools.
The Global Fund's "Red" anti-AIDS campaign vigorously disputed reports Monday that its marketing budget grossly exceeds charitable donations the fund has received.
Mobile advertising and online video advertising are going to be two big areas of growth for Google in the next few years, Google chairman and chief executive officer Eric Schmidt told investors at an tech industry conference Monday.
Coca-Cola's new animated fantasy ad, "Happiness Factory," first caught the eye of millions of Americans when it aired on American Idol in January and again during the Super Bowl.
It's getting crowded on the Web 2.0 frontier, but there are still some startups that truly stand out. Business 2.0 Magazine identifies the ones most likely to strike gold in 2007.
If someone asked you to name the hottest areas in media and advertising today, odds are the billboard industry would not be at the tip of your tongue.
Nothing happens in business until somebody sells something. And most of the time, that requires a lot of advertising.
Who's advertising on mobile phones? Mobile phone companies. And mobile game makers. And purveyors of ringtones and other applications for cell phones.
The death of sassy spokeswoman Anna Nicole Smith coupled with growing doubts about TrimSpa's controversial weight-loss products may prove too much for the closely held company, marketing experts said Thursday.
Confectionery giant Masterfoods, which makes Milky Way and Snickers candy bars as well as M&M's chocolates, says it will stop marketing its core products to children under the age of 12 by the end of this year. (See correction.)
Boring. Poorly executed. Unmemorable.
People are certainly talking about "Aqua Teen Hunger Force" after a publicity stunt that went spectacularly wrong, but marketing experts say paralyzing a city and landing two guys in court isn't the best way to build a brand.
Indianapolis? Chicago? Who cares? For many, the battle between Anheuser-Busch, FedEx and CareerBuilder for funniest commercial is what matters on Super Bowl Sunday.
Two men pleaded not guilty Thursday to charges they created panic by placing electronic light boards that caused a bomb scare Wednesday in Boston.
The following statement is from Shirley Powell of TBS Corporate Communications:
Authorities have arrested two men in connection with electronic light boards depicting a middle-finger-waving moon man that triggered repeated bomb scares around Boston on Wednesday and prompted the closure of bridges and a stretch of the Charles River.
More than 90 million people are expected to tune in this Sunday to watch the Indianapolis Colts and Chicago Bears do battle on the gridiron in Super Bowl XLI.
Hunt for Hoffa?! See which companies had trouble coming up with the right message.
You won't see any Peyton Manning commercials on the Super Bowl Feb. 4 when he leads his Indianapolis Colts to the big game for the first time. That may come as a surprise considering how many ads he's appeared in this season.
Is a Super Bowl commercial worth it?
Yahoo! pleased investors, even though its sales and profit guidance for 2007 was a bit disappointing. And if Yahoo was able to get Wall Street excited, just imagine what the reaction may be when Google reports its fourth-quarter results on January 31.
A handful of e-tailers who've found that their business through Google isn't as profitable as it once was are now rushing to park their ad money elsewhere.
Kevin Federline's 15-minutes of fame may be set to flame out after the National Restaurant Association objected to his appearance in one of this year's Super Bowl XLI ads.
The future of the media and advertising is here and its name is "You."
The president and chief operating officer of News Corp., the parent company of top social networking site MySpace as well as traditional media properties such as the Fox television network and movie studio, told investors that News Corp. plans to invest more heavily in MySpace this year but will be careful to not make changes that could alienate the site's users.
The marketers of four weight-control pills have agreed to pay a total of at least $25 million to settle allegations of deceptive advertising, the Federal Trade Commission announced Thursday
The Federal Trade Commission said Thursday it fined marketers of such popular over-the-counter diet drugs as Xenadrine EFX and TrimSpa millions of dollars for using false advertising practices.
One of the world's largest traditional advertising agencies is scooping up a top interactive marketing firm. And Wall Street is wondering if more Madison Ave-Silicon Valley mergers are in the offing.
Wal-Mart's done it again. The world's largest retailer successfully raked up fresh controversy this week with its abrupt decision to fire its new ad agency, DraftFCB, just a month after awarding it a $580 million contract.
We asked 50 of the brightest minds in business how they do what they do - and how you can cash in on their advice in the year ahead.
It's been a rough five months for Brian Tierney, CEO of the private company that bought the Philadelphia Inquirer in June. His employees are up in arms. Ad revenues are evaporating fast. And if tha...
"What use could this company make of an electrical toy?"
It's been business as usual when it comes to political advertising this year: the nastier the better.
Turn on your TV this week and you may see a striking commercial: An animated baby doll sits in a white room looking at a small black box. It coos with delight. It laughs with an adult's demented ca...
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