GM: May The Best Car Win

GM's current number one priority, no doubt, is to win back the trust of the millions of consumers they have let down in their home market over the past year. In their first push since GM Re:Invention, the American car manufacturer has launched a 60-day money back guarantee, underlying just how much the brand believes in their own products. Below is the TVC featuring the new GM Chairman, Ed Whitacre.

According to AdWeek, the next phase of the campaign will compare the attributes of GM models to those of competitors and is scheduled to run until December 2010.

Via - AdWeek

Google To Help Others Charge For Online Subscriptions?

Google, which came into existence and prominence because of their aim to make information freely available to everyone has just announced something which seems rather incongruent to everything they have stood for.

According to Revolution Magazine:

"The internet giant's plans, outlined in a proposal to the Newspaper Association of America, focus on allowing publishers to generate much needed Revenue from online subscriptions and micropayments.

The system will essentially allow consumers to sign-up and manage multiple content delivery accounts through one single channel, thus allowing them to easily access premium content from a range of different websites.

Rather inconsistent with their altruistic nature?

Via - Revolution Magazine

Pay As You Want Advertising Agency

With the recent global recesion, businesses have had to adopt strategies that will enable them to survive this economic downturn. One of the uncharacteristic business behaviors as a result of the recession is businesses are adopting pay-as-you-want schemes. Magazines, restaurants and hotels have led the way, now an advertising agency in the U.K is offering its clients a payment option that allows them to pay what they think the work is worth.

The briefing process begins when client submits a work request form with Agency Nil. Using temporary, freelance staff and recent graduates, the agency gets the work done by the deadline requested. It's then up to the client to decide how much the work is worth. There are standard costs that are agreed on before work commences these include: travel, proprietary research tools and production.

Lebber the co founder of the advertising agency states “The system has been terribly lopsided for a while now, and I hope this can be the start of a breaking point in the industry on some level. It won't depress the market—the price will still come up and down, and work will get done just the same. Except now, it won't be based on a set amount of hours to fill or stay under, and work can get done for work's sake. For quality's sake. For the client's sake."

Via: agencynil.com

Change In Media Focus Increases Sales

Asics, traditionally a print advertiser in the US, has had a taste of TV and can't seem to get enough of it.

The brand tried TV for the first time last year, spending about $5 million of its $27.6 million U.S. media budget on TV advertising. The spend came primarily at the expense of magazines, which have traditionally dominated Asics' budget. Magazine spending fell $2 million, to $21.7 million, despite a $3 million spending increase overall, according to TNS Media Intelligence.

The trial has seemingly paid off for the brand, with Asics' sales rose 11% last year, according to SportsOneSource. Considering the major push by traditionally strong running-focussed brands such as Nike and new-comers Body Armour during the Olympic year that was 2008, Asics' gain appears even more impressive.

A spokesperson for the brand has said the they will continue to invest in TV this year, although primarily concentrating on the major US cable networks.

Via - AdAge

Banks' TV Ads Drive People To Invest

Not that US banks hold any authority in the world at the moment, but an interesting research has shown that U.S. banks seeing the highest returns on their advertising investment between 200 and 2008 and are not necessarily those spending the most but instead have the heaviest TV budgets.

A new report from financial-services research firm Aite Group - which examined ad-spending trends and return on advertising performance of 32 of the largest 50 U.S. retail banks from 2006 through 2008 - found that top 25% highest-performing banks are those with TV-heavy buys.

Ron Shevlin, senior analyst at Aite Group and author of the report said banks in the top performing quadrant - which include big names such as Citibank and Wachovia, as well as smaller companies Huntington, BB&T and Hudson Bank - did best in driving deposit, loan and IRA account growth.

While other banks succeeded in ramping different traditional metrics of advertising return, such as awareness, he said those ad dollars were ultimately lost because they did not result in new deposits, loan or IRA growth.quick

So could TV ads have contributed to the current financial melt-down? I'm not sure if there'll ever be conclusive proof on that issue but despite all the hype on new media and the death of TV ads, it's nice to know that it's still effective.

Via: AdAge

Make That Ad Disappear!

Leo Burnett Italy has created a novel awareness campaign for the Fiat Panda which makes use of 100% edible paper as the medium. I guess the agency was relying on word of mouth rather than reaching more of the target market through potential pass-along readers.

In order to generate buzz and interest in the car deal, the unusual ad comes packaged with a magazine and reads, “100% edible paper. Fiat Panda 1.2 Natural Power Climbing at €11.000. Offer valid until supplies run out. Better make this ad disappear quickly.”

An interesting idea, although one would question how many of these ads were actually seen by the target market, considering the relatively high production costs the ad would require.

Book Innovations

Penguin UK has recently launched a new book series called “We Tell Stories”. With this series, Penguin aims to converge traditional book-reading with real world and online elements, with the ultimate goal of enhancing and furthering each book’s storyline. The online element also allows interaction for the user and will be tied in with a competition element.

The first story to be published, Charles Cumming's The 21 Steps, allows readers to follow the protagonist's movement with Google Maps in order to learn more about the story.

Surf The Largest Swells At Teahupoo With Red Bull

Red Bull, with the help of a company called Immersive Media and their 360-degree spherical video camera (a technology that uses a specially designed camera housing to capture eleven separate video streams), have created a completely spherical and high-resolution view of various surfing clips at the Teahupoo surfing event in the South West Pacific.

The technology, in effect, creates an unique viewing experience that allows viewers to feel as though they are part of the action by controlling the camera with their mouse during the video.

Below is one of the clips:

To view more, go and check out the Red Bull Surfing site by clicking here.

Ferrari Magazines

Ferrari, with the help of Condé Nast, has lately ventured into the world of publishing with a glitzy international magazine set to have an initial print run of around 30,000. The magazine will be published four times a year with the first issue due out around June, with the second slated for the 2008 Paris Auto Show at the end of September.

The magazine will be overseen by Editor in Chief Antonio Ghini, Ferrari communications and brand management director. The staff will include Jason Barlow, who has served as contributing editor to the motoring section of British GQ, as well as Rebecca Smith, formerly of British Vogue.

The publication, sadly, will only be available to the elite few who own Ferraris.

YouTube Coming To TV

The blurring of the television and the computer, envisioned by technology enthusiasts for years, advanced another step on Wednesday the 12th of March when TiVo, the popular maker of digital video recorders, announced an agreement with YouTube that will deliver millions of Web videos directly to users’ TV screens.

“TiVo’s strategy is to bridge the gap between Web video and television and make as much content available as possible for our subscribers,” said Tara Maitra, TiVo’s vice president and general manager for content services.

TiVo is the latest entrant into the marketplace for porting Internet videos to television. Apple has introduced a version of Apple TV with similar features. Although several companies are trying to merge online content with the big screen in the living room, no one product dominates the market.