communique

P2050 + NEW ERA ARTICLE IN ADVERTISING AGE

iPOD + iTUNES AD + MI SWING ES TROPICAL

Apple does it again. Steve Jobs never ceases to amaze us, this time with the Latin tinge flavor of Nickodemus & Quantic feat. Tempo. Pa'lante mi hermano!

ASICS LAUNCHES MADE IN JAPAN CAMPAIGN WITH A 4.92 FOOT SNEAKER...GENIUS!

To celebrate its quirky Japanese roots Asics presents its Fabre74 Onitsuka model in the style of ad-idolatry: with a 1.5-meter (4.92/ft) sculpture of an Onitsuka Tiger sneaker made of warring elements of Japanese culture. This is part of Onitsuka's Made of Japan effort, which seeks to challenge ideas about the Japanese pop-world with, uh ... a hodgepodge of its icons.
The sculpture is a collabo between StrawberryFrog, LA-based artist Gary Baseman, and Dutch photographer Marcel Christ, and it will appear in print, online and at venues in London, Paris, Berlin, Barcelona and Zurich.

Peep the  video, it's quite artistically and culturally interesante!

For the rest of this story visit: www.adrants.com

HOW WOULD MICROSOFT HAVE BRANDED THE IPOD?

I don't know if anyone has seen this viral video, but with the Macworld show starting on today in San Francisco we thought it would be a perfect opportunity to highlight for you the branding difference of these to consumer product giants. It distills perfectly the essence and difference in their design philosophies...enjoy!

Sound Advertising

SoundAds is a telephonic advertising campaign where people, in contrast to traditional advertising, have to pay to get full access to the ad.
Intriguing images made by Dutch photographers and illustrators include a 0900 number that the curious viewer can dial to get the audible dimension of the ad.

CERVEZA, SÍ O NO?

The Beer Industry's Embrace Of Hispanic
Market Prompts A Backlash From Activists

By Miriam Jordan, Wall Street Journal

Eighteen-year-old Sandra Villarda felt besieged by beer billboards on her drive down El Cajon Boulevard to San Diego City College. Every day, the ads greeted her, for Bud Light on one block, Miller Lite on the next. "Más Calor! Más Sabor! Más Fiestas!" one Miller Lite billboard read. "More Heat! More Flavor! More Parties!"

There are other sights along the route, too. "I see Latino kids sipping beer out of a Coke bottle," says Ms. Villarda, who recently joined the San Diego Youth Council, a group that promotes an antialcohol-abuse message. "There is a lot of pressure to drink in this community," she adds.

Facing stagnant beer sales, an aging population and the blossoming appeal of wine, the nation's biggest brewers are aggressively courting Hispanics, the fastest-growing and youngest population group in the U.S. The brewers' efforts, including a burst of advertising aimed at Spanish-speaking consumers, have rankled community health activists and rekindled the debate about when marketing crosses the line into the realm of unfairly targeting an ethnic group.

Last year, Anheuser-Busch Inc., the St. Louis brewer of Budweiser and Bud Light, created a new division dedicated to marketing to Hispanics and announced it would boost its 2006 ad spending in Hispanic media by two-thirds, to more than $60 million. SABMiller PLC's Miller Brewing Co. signed a $100 million, three-year ad package with Spanish-language broadcaster Univision Communications Inc.

Marlene Coulis, vice president for brand management at Anheuser-Busch, says, "We would disagree with anyone who suggests beer billboards increase abuse among Latino or other minority communities." She adds, "It would be poor business for us in today's world to ignore what is the fastest-growing segment of our population."

Advertisers find the Hispanic population enticing because its spending growth will far outstrip that of the general population for the foreseeable future, says Jeffrey Humphreys, who monitors Hispanic demographic and economic trends at the University of Georgia's Selig Center.

"If you want to be successful, you must have a marketing and sales effort among Hispanic consumers," says Paul Mendieta, director of Hispanic marketing at Coors Brewing Co.'s Molson Coors unit.

But some in the Hispanic community are shrinking from the beer industry's embrace because of another demographic reality: Nearly half of all Hispanics in the U.S. are under the age of 21. Activists are raising public-health concerns about the beer ad blitz on the grounds that it targets a population that skews young and is disproportionately likely to abuse alcohol. A 2004 survey of eighth-grade students found that Hispanic youth are much more likely to drink alcohol and get drunk, and to engage in binge drinking, than their white or black peers.

FOR THE REST OF THIS STORY VISIT:
http://online.wsj.com

There are other sights along the route, too. "I see Latino kids sipping beer out of a Coke bottle," says Ms. Villarda, who recently joined the San Diego Youth Council, a group that promotes an antialcohol-abuse message. "There is a lot of pressure to drink in this community," she adds.

Facing stagnant beer sales, an aging population and the blossoming appeal of wine, the nation's biggest brewers are aggressively courting Hispanics, the fastest-growing and youngest population group in the U.S. The brewers' efforts, including a burst of advertising aimed at Spanish-speaking consumers, have rankled community health activists and rekindled the debate about when marketing crosses the line into the realm of unfairly targeting an ethnic group.

Last year, Anheuser-Busch Inc., the St. Louis brewer of Budweiser and Bud Light, created a new division dedicated to marketing to Hispanics and announced it would boost its 2006 ad spending in Hispanic media by two-thirds, to more than $60 million. SABMiller PLC's Miller Brewing Co. signed a $100 million, three-year ad package with Spanish-language broadcaster Univision Communications Inc.

Marlene Coulis, vice president for brand management at Anheuser-Busch, says, "We would disagree with anyone who suggests beer billboards increase abuse among Latino or other minority communities." She adds, "It would be poor business for us in today's world to ignore what is the fastest-growing segment of our population."

Advertisers find the Hispanic population enticing because its spending growth will far outstrip that of the general population for the foreseeable future, says Jeffrey Humphreys, who monitors Hispanic demographic and economic trends at the University of Georgia's Selig Center.

"If you want to be successful, you must have a marketing and sales effort among Hispanic consumers," says Paul Mendieta, director of Hispanic marketing at Coors Brewing Co.'s Molson Coors unit.

But some in the Hispanic community are shrinking from the beer industry's embrace because of another demographic reality: Nearly half of all Hispanics in the U.S. are under the age of 21. Activists are raising public-health concerns about the beer ad blitz on the grounds that it targets a population that skews young and is disproportionately likely to abuse alcohol. A 2004 survey of eighth-grade students found that Hispanic youth are much more likely to drink alcohol and get drunk, and to engage in binge drinking, than their white or black peers.

FOR THE REST OF THIS STORY VISIT:
http://online.wsj.com

BMW PULLS OUT OF BRANDED ENTERTAINMENT

Company That Pioneered Field Now Cuts It Off
By Jean Halliday and Marc Graser, AD AGE

BMW of North America, which played a major role in pioneering the new era of branded entertainment, has suddenly ended its use of that marketing technique. Since the summer of 2001 when its first round of BMW Films became an Internet sensation, no discussion about branded entertainment took place without a mention of the company. The German automaker has long dominated the space in the automotive category, creating the benchmark for product placement. Its vehicles have appeared in the James Bond movies and its online short-film The Hire also spawned its own comic book collection. But as other marketers aggressively look to try to replicate the company’s success with entertainment, BMW has suddenly nearly abandoned the genre.

Abandoned the genre
The company switched entertainment agencies this year, moving from Davie-Brown Entertainment after six years, to Rogers & Cowan, both in Los Angeles. Its Hire series has run its course, ending with the recent comic book spinoff that had little marketing support behind it. In Hollywood, the company is absent, opting not to sponsor high-profile events around town. It doesn’t loan out its vehicles to celebrities or influencers. And when it comes to product placement, the company is only interested in the most basic arrangements -- wanting to spend little, if anything, on additional media to support the project. The primary reason for BMW’s new backseat approach: Branded entertainment is just getting too expensive. According to executives close to the client and experts in Hollywood, BMW doesn’t have the marketing dollars to ink entertainment deals at a time when integration fees and marketing requests from film or TV partners are escalating.

FOR THE REST OF THIS STORY VISIT:
http://adage.com/news.cms?newsId=46231

Hip Hop Honors Preview On VH1

Apple's Nano Flick

Another Hot :30 From RBK