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.
There are a lot of unhappy lines in this recession, but this wasn't one of them. The people that snaked around Denny's restaurant in Avenel, N.J., may have been cold and wet, but no one was complaining as they stood in the snow, waiting for the restaurant chain to disprove the old myth that there's no such thing as a free lunch (or in this case, breakfast).
It's a telling sign of the times that one of the most popular commercials in last Sunday's Super Bowl was from an online pawn shop.
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.
The financially battered TV announcer pitches a company that buys jewelry and other gold objects
A sign above Interstate 5 outside of Seattle, Washington, flashes, "Voting for Obama? We Need CHANGE in Olympia too. Vote Dino Rossi for Governor!"
Presidential hopeful Barack Obama turned up the heat on rival John McCain Wednesday, when it was announced that a 30-minute long campaign ad will go out on prime time television in the United States.
Pundits may have spent the year declaring the passing of the 527 era, but the view from primary states this month is beginning to make the reports of that death look just a bit premature.
Republican nominee Sen. John McCain, appearing Friday on ABC's "The View," was aggressively pressed on Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin's qualifications to be vice president as well as his new campaign ads that several independent fact-check groups have called misleading.
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.
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.
There are a lot of unhappy lines in this recession, but this wasn't one of them. The people that snaked around Denny's restaurant in Avenel, N.J., may have been cold and wet, but no one was complaining as they stood in the snow, waiting for the restaurant chain to disprove the old myth that there's no such thing as a free lunch (or in this case, breakfast).
It's a telling sign of the times that one of the most popular commercials in last Sunday's Super Bowl was from an online pawn shop.
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.
The financially battered TV announcer pitches a company that buys jewelry and other gold objects
A sign above Interstate 5 outside of Seattle, Washington, flashes, "Voting for Obama? We Need CHANGE in Olympia too. Vote Dino Rossi for Governor!"
Presidential hopeful Barack Obama turned up the heat on rival John McCain Wednesday, when it was announced that a 30-minute long campaign ad will go out on prime time television in the United States.
Pundits may have spent the year declaring the passing of the 527 era, but the view from primary states this month is beginning to make the reports of that death look just a bit premature.
Republican nominee Sen. John McCain, appearing Friday on ABC's "The View," was aggressively pressed on Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin's qualifications to be vice president as well as his new campaign ads that several independent fact-check groups have called misleading.
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.
Merck & Co. has agreed to pay $58 million as part of a multistate settlement of allegations that its ads for the once-popular painkiller Vioxx deceptively played down the health risks
Hillary Clinton emerged from Tuesday's contest in Pennsylvania with a big symbolic victory and a net gain of about a dozen pledged delegates. But those spoils could vanish on May 6 in North Carolina, a delegate-rich contest with a plethora of natural advantages for Barack Obama.
What key constituency group are the presidential candidates fighting over? Soccer moms? NASCAR dads? Perhaps, but if television ad spending habits are any indication, the keys to the White House may be held by Pat Sajak and Vanna White.
Democratic presidential candidates Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton have spent more than $21 million on television advertising in the past two weeks, outspending the remaining Republican presidential contenders by more than 3-to-1.
See the pop star's commercial for Pepsi and Amazon from Sunday night
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.
With just days to make last-minute pitches to voters in two dozen states, the presidential candidates are pouring millions into television advertising before Super Tuesday.
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.
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.
Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney and Sen. John McCain are marking "firsts" in their bids for the Republican presidential nomination.
Five days after setting off a political firestorm with an ad in The New York Times attacking the top U.S. commander in Iraq, MoveOn.org has set its sights on President Bush.
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.
The big TV networks will all unveil their new shows for the fall in New York City next week. But does anyone still care?
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...
Remember when commercials used to actually try and sell you something?
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?
A suicide prevention group is calling on General Motors to pull an ad which shows an assembly line robot throwing itself off a bridge after making a mistake, but the automaker is sticking with the spot.
Boring. Poorly executed. Unmemorable.
Indianapolis? Chicago? Who cares? For many, the battle between Anheuser-Busch, FedEx and CareerBuilder for funniest commercial is what matters on Super Bowl Sunday.
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.
Is a Super Bowl commercial worth it?
Drugmakers would have to pay $6.25 million in new fees next year to help fund a U.S. Food and Drug Administration review of television commercials for their products, the agency said on Thursday.
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...
In a world where pets are treated to designer duds, gourmet meals, luxury hotel rooms, and high-end cab services, people's devotion to animals has unleashed a giant opportunity for PetMed Express.
When Google spent $1.65 billion for 19-month-old online video phenomenon YouTube, it was portrayed as a sign of the triumph of online video. And in important ways it is. But the voluminous coverage missed something central. Google's interest in the video-sharing site, ironically, also has a lot to do with its belief in the staying power of conventional broadcast television and cable.
The Disruptor: NextMedium
Ever watch a lousy TV commercial and think that you could do a better job than the marketing agency who was probably paid a big fat fee?
Just because you're a small fry doesn't mean you can't compete with the big fish.
No. 1 apparel seller Gap Inc. on Tuesday announced that all of its namesakes U.S. stores are getting a substantial makeover this July and the retailer will also relaunch its TV ads in a bid to win back customers and revitalize its sagging sales.
EIGHT TO ONE. THAT WAS THE abysmal ratio of customer complaints to kudos at Staples stores in 2001. The company's slogan--"Yeah, we've got that"--had become laughable. Customers griped that items w...
Media giants CBS and Time Warner are hoping that one plus one will add up to five.
Investors, entrepreneurs and people across the tech industry are partying like its 1999, but this time the music isn't likely to stop.
The commercials that aired during Super Bowl XL Sunday night, like the game itself, probably won't go down in history as being all that memorable.
NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) - Tens of millions of Americans will watch the Super Bowl this Sunday. For many it's more important to see how the Burger King fares than how Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger does against the Seattle Seahawks.
Two and a half million dollars isn't pocket change...even for some of the nation's largest companies.
Truckers want Coca-Cola to slam the brakes on a planned Super Bowl ad for its Full Throttle energy drink.
For many, the suspense leading up to Super Bowl XL in Detroit on Feb. 5 has nothing to do with which teams will make it to the big game but which big corporations will be advertising during it.
NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) - Pigskin fans rejoice! The National Football League playoffs begin this weekend and Super Bowl XL is only a little more than a month away.
Coca Cola, threatened with becoming second in market value to archrival PepsiCo for the first time, will debut an aggressive marketing push next year that begins with a new global slogan -- "Welcome to the Coke side of life" -- to replace its current "Real" tagline.
Democratic senators from six red states returned home over the weekend for the Thanksgiving recess to confront television ads connecting critics of Judge Samuel Alito's nomination to the Supreme Court with left-wing special interests. A simultaneous message intended ultimately to reach 10 million Americans made this same point.
Imagine an evening at home a few years from now. You and your family have staked out your usual spots in front of the TV. Make that TVs. Upstairs your teenager, who has a report due on the history ...
Drugmakers have cut television ad spending by 10 percent in the first quarter from a year ago, the sharpest decline in two years, a newspaper said Tuesday.
Will Batman Begins or War of the Worlds be the summer's biggest blockbuster? Who cares. The thing to watch will be the Web commercials touting the pictures--banners and trailers that promise to sho...
A quarter century of television advertising growth is expected to peak in 2006 when broadcast networks begin losing market share to the Internet and other emerging forms of advertising, according to a report released Monday.
Advertisers take note. Turns out, women this year preferred Super Bowl grunge over Oscar chic.
With a little help from a friend, Super Bowl advertisers reclaimed the water cooler Sunday night.
To many watching the New England Patriots-Philadelphia Eagles matchup this weekend, the game's outcome will take a back seat to the Super Bowl's advertisements.
A Super Bowl commercial costs more than ever, but here's one way advertisers can get the most bang for their buck: Produce a tasteless ad that television executives reject, make it publicly available, and let the free publicity flow.
Here's some encouraging news for anyone who thinks that the Super Bowl will be humdrum after last year's debauchery.
Louisiana's 3rd District, which lacked an incumbent for the first time in 24 years, had six candidates vying to fill the vacancy.
In a darkened conference room, shades drawn, a group of executives from the venerable New York advertising agency Foote Cone & Belding are watching a TV spot for Bermuda tourism. With its cheesy mu...
Sen. John Kerry talks health care today in Florida as early voting begins there. Kerry will deliver what aides call an "indictment" of President Bush, who heads to the state later today, and offer a proposal to deal with the flu vaccine shortage. (No word if Kerry will be bleary-eyed after the Red Sox win at 1:23 a.m. ET.)
Republicans and Democrats are paying increased attention to young voters this election season, as President Bush and Sen. Kerry continue to be virtually tied in many polls.
BBDO, one of the most respected ad agencies on Madison Avenue, has had a rude awakening. The agency is famed for its hip commercials like the Pepsi Twist spot, in which aging rocker Ozzy Osbourne w...
Sarah Jessica Parker, who wore designer clothes on HBO's "Sex and the City" for six seasons, has agreed to represent the Gap in a marketing campaign that will debut in August.
It's hard to see how any news story could displace coverage of the ongoing probe into the Iraqi prisoner abuse, given the searing images released yesterday of American Nicholas Berg just before his beheading and the new pictures the Senate will see today of prisoner abuse.
On a Wednesday morning in late January, as subfreezing gusts blasted the length of Madison Avenue, the temperature was 70 degrees and rising at the red-hot epicenter of the ad universe. Inside the ...
Check out the links below to hot political stories around the country this morning.
Negative ads pour onto TV screens and radio airwaves in 18 battleground states this weekend. But the debate over who picked the fight, John Kerry or President Bush, spreads from coast to coast.
President Bush's re-election campaign Thursday defended its new campaign ads that sharply question the economic and national security positions of Sen. John Kerry of Massachusetts, the presumptive Democratic nominee.
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Check out the links below to hot political stories around the country this morning.
Let's suppose John Edwards wins South Carolina today, as polls suggest he well might. Does the native-son-of-a-mill-worker draw any sort of bounce from this? More importantly, what does he do for an encore?
Ah yes, the day after the Super Bowl. When we all return to work to pay or collect on our wagers and put in an extra half-hour at the gym to work off the plate of nachos that somehow disappeared on Sunday.
Many viewers of this weekend's Super Bowl will tune in for the commercials as much as the game itself.
Advertisers are writing checks for $2.25 million for each 30-second spot on this year's Super Bowl. That's a bargain.
Howard Dean was supposed to be bouncing high by now.
Many viewers of this weekend's Super Bowl will tune in for the commercials as much as the game itself. Now they can join fans of the game and place bets on those ads.
British DJ Rob Overseer is used to being heard, not seen.
Just last week, I wrote about the new advertising cold war that's expected now that Yahoo has dumped Google as its search partner. But even as I wrote that, I was having doubts about the future of online advertising.
Although advertising rates for a 30-second Super Bowl spot on CBS hit a record $2.3 million, companies don't see the price as the main obstacle to appearing on marketing's biggest stage.
Let's consider a few fun stats. First, broadband has reached nearly 39 percent of all Internet-connected households and is expected to be in 79 percent in five years. Next, research firm In-Stat/MD...
Last year, during the height of dot-com fever, 17 Internet companies shelled out $2.2 million apiece for 30-second spots during the Super Bowl. The idea: Since these memorable ads do wonders for ol...
You've got to admit it: Online brokers make some pretty tasty TV ads. There's the guy in the tow truck who owns the island (Discover). And the young stud in the Speedo who gives that old biddy the ...
Face it, Madison Avenue: Nobody watches TV commercials anymore. Nowadays a station break is merely a Pavlovian signal to hit the surf button. But what if advertisers could superimpose commercial me...
To get a taste for the crazy ways marketers must compete for today's finicky consumer, stroll through the beer section of your local retailer. You'll see Icehouse, a successful new upscale beer fro...
IF YOU WANT to get Stacey Clark's adrenaline flowing as fast and furiously as the Pepsi that apparently pumps through his veins, mention the cola wars in the United States. Thirty years ago, Coca-C...
LET'S SEE NOW. TCI + Bell Atlantic + QVC Network + Paramount + Viacom + AT&T + Time Warner + US West. Hmmmmmm . . . confused? Marketers can hardly keep up with the headlines, much less comprehend h...
FOR AN APOCALYPTIC view of the future of the ad business, listen to Steven J. Heyer, Booz-Allen & Hamilton's expert consultant on marketing: ''Advertising agencies are in a very tenuous position. I...
SELLING to customers in the Nineties is like running a hurdle race. In the Eighties, Americans wanted quality, paid up for it, and -- lucky for marketers -- even flaunted it. Now consumer-products ...
SOMEDAY SOON, an ad agency may come to you with a simple, startling pitch. ''Give us your whole marketing budget,'' they'll say. ''Not just your advertising money, but everything you spend -- on di...
ONCE A VAST WASTELAND for viewers, advertisers, and investors, European television is turning into a go-go business. Guided by free-market policies, governments from Norway to Spain are selling the...
THE FINISH is in sight and the major candidates are pulling out all the stops: the hoopla of America's great long-distance telephone election is reaching its climax. Advertising, an estimated $500 ...
SOPHISTICATED marketers like Coca-Cola, McDonald's, and Procter & Gamble increasingly are aiming their TV ads at specific groups of consumers, from yuppies to senior citizens to blacks. Getting the...
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