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Media / The Ad Business
Is colour a limited resource?
The colour palette is shrinking as brands stake their claim, bit-by-bit, on the exclusive rights to individual tones. You already can’t use Jay-Z blue, or T-Mobile’s magenta. Are we literally selling off the rainbow?
When one man’s disaster is another’s PR coup
American PR firm Imperial PR has been honoured with an industry award for its “achievement” in protecting the image of a major US sugar producer after one of its refineries exploded, killing 14 people and injuring over 40.
Glyn Davis’s modelling debut
Melbourne University Vice Chancellor Glyn Davis appears to have launched a modelling career spruiking the buttoned-up business section of The Age.
MasterChef: has the cash-cow been milked dry?
MasterChef’s celebrity food critic Matt Preston has just released an album. No, really. Throw it in the pile with George Calombaris’ cookbook, Poh Ling Yeow’s TV show, Julie Goodwin’s Women’s Weekly column and tell Fonzie to get the water-skiis out…
Great moments in advertising: Viagra’s 10th birthday
Viagra celebrates 10 years of hard work (boom tish!) with a predictably innuendo-laden ad. It left us a little flaccid at first, but now it’s growing on us…
Web ads: a watcher’s guide
Push-downs, troll ads, blogger endorsements and the Hulk — they’re all new and different ways advertisers and webmasters are trying to catch your eye (and clicks) online, to generate more (or any) money from the web.
Can Coco Pops protect you from swine flu?
Cereal giant Kellogg is in trouble in the US for emblazoning “Now helps support your child’s IMMUNITY” across the front of its Cocoa Krispies (that’s Coco Pops to you, skip) packets, amid the country’s swine flu hysteria. Can the company convince the courts the claims are medically sound?
How a logo is created: from go to ‘woah!’
A graphic designer offers a behind-the-scenes look at how a professionally designed logo is created, from the client’s brief to the unveiling
Australia’s most hated brands
The 2009 Brand Asset Valuator study reveals Australia’s most popular brand names — which this year include Google, Nokia and Vegemite — but far more interesting are the brands we like the least, which include Grazia magazine and Aurora Coffee.
CHOICE names and shames the shonkiest brands of the year
Consumer advocate CHOICE has named its picks for the shonkiest Australian products and services for 2009. Brands coming under fire this year include Aldi, L’Oreal, Tiffany, Qantas and Tiger Airways.
When online journalists moonlight as copy-writers
Only in Japan: the Windows 7 Whopper
In an bizarre cross-marketing campaign, Burger King in Japan has created a special Whopper to celebrate the release of Microsoft’s new Windows 7 operating system, featuring seven quarter-pound beef patties.
Crikey Competition: Pink ribbon pink-washing
Today is Pink Ribbon Day, and Crikey is on the look-out for the most egregious and shamless examples brands engaging in a spot of “pink washing”. Join us!
The best viral ad videos of 2009
Business Pundit wraps up the ads that took the internet by storm in 2009, including LED sheep, Bruce Lee playing table tennis, Vanilla Ice says sorry. Ah, so many memories, so many wasted working hours…
A history of weird and wonderful Windows ads
Celebrate the release of the latest Windows operating system (and hopefully the death of Vista) with a look back through some of the weirdest ads for each Windows release.
Pink bits: the absurd world of gendered consumer products
Marketers have never abandoned the idea that men and women require their own ‘special’ products. Women’s products are often tinted pink and advertised with cuddly names and breathy female voiceovers. Insulting much?
A dispiriting attempt to flog beer to women
Following from the ’80s flop that was Swan Gold, National Distilleries is gifting the ladies with another ‘special’ beer: Hummingbird Blonde Lager. Do women really need our own patronising, bastardised version of beer, asks Mel Cambell.
Seeing red over pink-ribbon products
It’s that time of year again, when advertisers paint their products pink in order to cash in on breast cancer awareness. But as one activist argues: “If shopping could cure breast cancer it would be cured by now”.
Kellogg fights fake corn flakes — with lasers!
Cereal king Kellogg has decided to tackle the pressing issue of imitation corn flakes by using lasers to brand its authentic flakes with the company’s signature logo. Take that, black market breakfast cereals!
