Advertising Is Good For You

Marc Jacobs continues to do strange things to Victoria Beckham

The latest in a series of odd promotional photos for the Marc Jacobs fashion brand.

Addendum

A couple of quotations from an article in today's New York Times Thursday Styles section about this campaign.

"Marc has created a world around himself, and everything he does has a kind of mystique. It's very aspirational to anyone who wants to feel they get it."   Dennis Freedman, Creative Director, W

"The ads are really for people who get it, and I think Marc and Juergen (Teller, the photographer) happily dispense with those who don't." Barbara Gladstone, art dealer

I sense a theme.

Nordstrom's announced it will begin selling clothing designed by musician Pete Wentz

"I think this relationship shows how much fashion and music are linked," said Pete Nordstrom, President of Merchandising.

"I am stoked to collaborate with Nordstrom," said Wentz, seen below demonstrating an emotion that could be "stoked" or could just be how he reacts to a broken zipper on his hoodie.

Source: East Bay Business Times

44% of Americans don't believe statements made by companies.

Read more about the survey at The Consumerist.

If you're going to spin to the advertising community, you're going to have to try harder than that

So, advertising trade rag AdWeek is going from being a weekly magazine to publishing only every other week. Everyone in the advertising industry knows what's going on: AdWeek's readership has plummeted and it's trying desperately to remain relevant in a mostly-digital world.

All of which makes Sabrina Crow, SVP of Nielsen Business Media -- in an unenviable role to be sure -- sound silly as she tries to spin AdWeek's strategy for staying in business:

Today, AdWeek is focused not on the antiquated idea of a weekly-only model, but on the minute-by-minute schedule that our audience desires. While our magazine continues to be an essential element of this iconic, multi-platform brand, we are moving with our audience by relaunching AdWeek.com to maximize the value we provide our community—delivering the most robust content in the industry 24/7 replete with exclusive Nielsen data. In addition, we will publish 36 print issues next year, beginning in the first quarter of 2008, and continue to engage the community through our events and forums."

As George Parker at AdScam puts it so succinctly, "What a load of shit."

Image: MegaGadgets

Marketing takeout burgers like Mom used to make

"Homestyle Melts are comfort foods Burger King-style, with great, robust flavors and textures people associate with home."

John Schafulberger
Sr. VP/Global Product Marketing, Burger King

It's a lame brand name even if your mother did cook up burgers that looked like this. 

Homestyle Melts comes from the same school of product naming as Betty Crocker's Warm Delights.

Source: Fast Food News

"What we are bringing to Mexico is not Mexican food, it's our exciting quick-service restaurant brand."

--  A Taco Bell marketing wonk explaining what Taco Bell hopes to contribute to Mexico when it opens a new Taco Bell there.

Apparently, good food is not a value proposition of the "exciting quick-service restaurant brand."

Source: Fast Food News

The London Olympics logo inspires spokespeople and politicians to show off their mastery of the word 'brand.'

The logo for the 2012 London Olympic Games has been released. The pink shapes are meant to represent the numbers 2-0-1-2.

Accompanying the logo introduction, the expectedly insipid comments...

London 2012 organizing committee chairman Seb Coe: This is the vision at the very heart of our brand. It will... act as a reminder of our promise to use the Olympic spirit to inspire everyone and reach out to young people around the world.

Olympics Minister Tessa Jowell: This is an iconic brand that sums up what London 2012 is all about - an inclusive, welcoming and diverse Games that involves the whole country.

London Mayor Ken Livingstone: The new Olympic brand draws on what London has become - the world’s most forward-looking and international city.

British prime minister Tony Blair: When people see the new brand, we want them to be inspired to make a positive change in their life.

Source: Daily Express

Previously: Logo for Chicago's Bid for the 2016 Olympic Games

Spin, PR Man, spin!

Referring to Dell's decision to begin selling its Dimension PCs in Wal-Mart stores -- and deftly avoiding any reference to Dell's sagging sales -- a Dell spokesperson was quoted saying:

Our customers are asking us for additional ways to purchase our products and we plan on delivering on a global level. Offering Dell Dimensions in Wal-Mart is a great example of this approach.

Source: Wall Street Journal
Image: By Timothy Cummings at the Nancy Hoffman Gallery

Addendum (posted 1 June 2007)

Michael Dell got in on the action. Referring to Dell Inc.'s plans to lay off 8,000 employees, Dell said:

We know these actions are critical to our ability to deliver unprecedented value to our customers now and in the future.

Do you smell it, too?

Source: MultiCultClassics

The classics never go out of style. Even though, perhaps, some should.

You want to get lots of free publicity for your product? Do it the old-fashioned way: build/make a giant version of your product.

Dutch gourmet cheese maker Beemster made a record-breaking cheese wheel. The giant cheese measures 6 feet wide and weighs 1,323 pounds.

Master conversationalist and Beemster CEO Eric Hulst said, "It was a challenge to make such a large piece of cheese. We used special equipment."

Source: Spluch

McDonald's peevishness is advertising its brand's shortcomings.

McDonald's has decided to take on the Oxford English dictionary for its disparaging definition of McJob: 

An unstimulating, low-paid job with few prospects, especially one created by the expansion of the service sector.

Referring to the definition, a McDonald's spokesperson said:

It's a complete disservice and incredibly demeaning to a terrific work force and a company that's been a jobs and opportunity machine for 50 years.

I'm pretty sure you can't sue a dictionary. Especially if it's accurate.

McDonald's is doing the public relations equivalent of taping a KICK ME sign to its own back while the rest of us are doing the same thing kids in a schoolyard would do: we're laughing at McDonald's.

Source: Spiegel Online