Submitted by Sheldon Rampton on
"In any great brand, the leverageable asset is the emotional underpinning of the brand," says Charlotte Beers, who heads the U.S. government's efforts to improve America's image in the world. According to Washington Post staff writer Peter Carlson, Beers specializes in "branding" -- "a quasi-alchemical process that promises to identify a particular company's product with desirable attributes." According to U.S.
Submitted by Laura Miller on
Advertising Age asked a top Middle East ad man about the difficulties of selling the US to the Arabic and Muslim world. Roy Haddad, the Beirut-based CEO of WPP Group's J. Walter Thompson, warns that the current political situation makes the US a hard sell. "The long-standing Israel issue is the biggest hindering factor. ... There's been a lot of reaction in the US, feeling that Arabs were pro-bin Laden. It's not so much a pro-bin Laden as an anti-American attitude, anti-Western.
Submitted by Sheldon Rampton on
The terror attacks have made what was already a severe advertising downturn even worse for cash-strapped publications. Advertisers are taking advantage of the downturn by nibbling away at editorial independence, asking for more marketing freebies, better placement and bigger discounts. Wall Street Journal reporter Matthew Rose describes how the Ford Motor Company pressured Rolling Stone publisher Rob Gregory to offer free publicity for a music tour promoting the Ford Focus.
Submitted by Sheldon Rampton on
In a new deal, Amazon.com is running commercials near author appearances on NBC, CNBC and MSNBC. The spots lead viewers to Web addresses where they can purchase the books. NBC concedes that it will receive 10% of each book sale, calling that "synergy." Media critic Mike Drew calls it "cynical."
Submitted by Sheldon Rampton on
PR Week profiles the career of Charlotte Beers, once nicknamed "the most powerful woman in advertising," now overseeing U.S. efforts to improve its image overseas. Beers made her name selling Uncle Ben's rice products before going to work for ad agencies including J. Walter Thompson, Tatham-Lair & Kudner and Ogilvy & Mather.
Submitted by Sheldon Rampton on
Most of the new PR plan was ready to go. As the new moon ushered in the month of Ramadan last week, U.S. officials prepared "Mosques of America" posters, showing glossy images of domes and minarets, for distribution across the Arab world. President Bush and ambassadors in the Middle East and Asia would welcome Muslims into their homes to mark iftar, or the breaking of the fast. Muslim Americans were set to mingle with foreign Islamic journalists from the Washington area, no doubt to extol the virtues of the Bill of Rights.
Submitted by Sheldon Rampton on
The 50 most heavily advertised drugs last year accounted for nearly half the increase in prescription drug spending, according to a new study from the National Institute for Health Care Management Research and Educational Foundation. Sales of drugs rose 18.8% to $132 billion last year, with 47.8% coming from increases in the sales of the 50 most heavily advertised drugs. Merck & Co. was one of the biggest advertisers, spending $160 million to advertise Vioxx -- more than Anheuser-Busch spent flogging Budweiser.
Submitted by John Stauber on
Katie Couric of "Today," Diane Sawyer of "Good Morning America," and Bryant Gumbel of "The Early Show" are three of the nation's biggest media stars. But are they journalists or glorified hawkers? According to a report by the Project for Excellence in Journalism, which studied the three network morning shows for two weeks in June and two weeks in October, these programs spend an awful lot of time selling things to the public. ... Even given some slight moderation after the Sept. 11 attacks, the report suggested that the shows were becoming a "kind of sophisticated infomercial."
Submitted by John Stauber on
How much is your local TV news influenced by the people who buy ads? In a survey of 118 news directors around the country, more than half, 53 percent, reported that advertisers pressure them to kill negative stories or run positive ones. The pressure to do puff pieces about sponsors occurs "constantly," "all the time," "everyday," "routinely," and "every time a sales person opened his/her mouth," news directors reported.
Submitted by Sheldon Rampton on
Popular Internet gateway Yahoo Inc. will start letting advertisers pay to be listed in results generated by the site's search engine.
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