It's just like, it's just like viral advertising.

When Sammy Stephens started rapping about bedrooms, bathrooms and dinettes for Flea Market Montgomery, he probably didn't think it would make him an internet celebrity. Well, it did.

He could have just basked in his internet fame but instead, he got smart. He made a viral-friendly blue screen version of his rap that let singer-songwriters and little superstars show you "it's just like a mini-mall." My man gave the content to the people. They showed him love and helped spread the word about his business.

Sammy proved that even small business can make huge waves with their advertising. That's right, we're even talking 'bout flea markets.

Product Placement Loops the Loop

Product placement has been all the rage for movies and television these days. That was until "Janet Jackson's left raisin shot that horse in the face." That's why Fox show The Loop takes product placement to new heights.

As funny as this is, it could become a reality. If the revolution won't be televised, product placement needs a new home. That means some brands might sell their souls to other brands in the form of product placement. It might even be successful.

In fact, the Stride Gum they mock in the show is a real product, and they're really promoting it through product placement. Like the man said, "There's a new whore in town, and she likes gum."

Cartel Gets Blogger Buzz for Band in a Bubble

Tonight, Cartel will go all John Travolta on us and lock themselves in a bubble. The Band in a Bubble will have their every move monitored online and broadcasted on MTV as they write and record their new album in a giant transparent bubble located in New York City. After 20 days, Cartel will emerge and perform their new tunes live on MTV.

Dr. Pepper and MTV are behind the event and they've even solicited bloggers to give it some love. So when they promised me a Cartel prize pack, I was more than happy to sell out for one of my favorite bands.

Seeking link love and blogger buzz is absolutely the right way to promote this. Because people like me, who love Cartel, will jump all over this. I've seen them live and their drummer, Kevin Sanders, plays some slick SJC Custom Drums. So by hitting me up, these companies can authentically hype the event and, in turn, their brands.

Old Spice Asks A Ninja for Placement

After Bruce Campbell's awesome experience monologue on television, Old Spice has waded into the new media waters. The brand is promoting its Keep it Clean photo contest for Red Zone body wash on The Ask A Ninja podcast.

This is a great tactic for a brand that competes for the young male demographic with Axe, Tag and now RGX. In a category filled with boobs, boobs and more boobs this contest promoting sophomoric humor is a welcome change of pace. Not to mention being savvy enough to turn to podcasting to promote it.

So if you're unfamiliar this "factory that produces apple pie for whales," check it out.

Snakes on a Concert

This weekend I went to an awesome concert in Lawrence. It featured some of my favorite bands - Cartel, Boys Like Girls and Quietdrive.

I also saw Cobra Starship, the band that played an integral part in the fueling insatiable internet hype leading up to Snakes on a Plane. The band, with a little help from their friends, did the Snakes on a Plane theme song.

In doing so, they joined the ranks of the great Vanilla Ice. You might remember that the Ice-Man did a little Ninja Rap in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Secret of the Ooze.

Oh, snap. Go, Cobra. Go, Cobra, go.

Rand Fishkin's Super Proposal

I'll be honest, I never got into the whole My Super Proposal thing. I knew it was going down, but it failed to capture my attention. That is until I found out the man proposing was A-list blogger Rand Fishkin from SEOmoz.

Last night Rand proposed to his girlfriend Geraldine, a.k.a. "Mystery Guest," with a commercial on her favorite show, Veronica Mars. Her reaction is absolutely priceless. But even better is the fact that this wasn't a marketing ploy. No fake bride maiming her hair in a rage of wedding fury to hock hair product. It was just a guy using the power of the Internet and social media to do something innovative and entertaining.

Now, I'm not blind to the fact that this will greatly benefit SEOmoz and Rand because of all the public exposure and more importantly, the residual links it will generate. But that's what you deserve if you create a legitimate Internet sensation that isn't a commercial in disguise.

Congratulations Rand and Geraldine for making it legit.

Let Pac-Man Do His Thing

Most big brands and agencys get nervous when the public interacts with the brand in a way that wasn't expected. This is why NBC pulled videos from YouTube and why many companies fail to realize that these situations are opportunities to further communicate the message.

They can all learn a lesson from the Department of Transportation in Wright County Minnesota. The department painted giant dots on a stretch of highway to deter tailgating. This prompted a giant Pac-Man to be painted on the road, which generated lots of public and media interest. Instead of hitting the wall and having the dot-diner immediately removed, the department used the attention to hammer home the message.

"I don't know where Pac-Man came from," said Patricia Hackman, director of Safe Communities of Wright County, "but anything we can do to bring more attention to traffic safety, I'm all for it."

Although I'm putting a lot of people on notice, I'll throw out a little love to Honda and Wieden + Kennedy, London for have the guts to put this into practice. The agency showed spoofs of its new Honda Asimo spot on the agency blog, Welcome to Optimism. Bravo W+K - way to embrace your motto to fail harder and use public response to highlight your message.

Only One Ad in Top Viral Videos of 2006

The end of the year means it's time for everyone to start compiling best of lists for 2006, such as iFilm's 50 best viral videos of 2006. The only ad included on the list was "Ping Pong" starring Ronaldinho and his golden Nike boots.

Here are the other advertising-related videos that made the list:

• Little Superstar - This was later branded as a TiVo ad - mash-up style.
• Angry Professor - Jonathan Schoenberg, creative director and partner at TDA in Boulder staged this cell phone slam during a guest lecture at a college.
• Parodied Mac and Pc Ads - It took someone poking fun at the original ad to make the list.
  
• One Bank - Viral for all the wrong reasons.
  
• Agency.com - The infamous subway pitch.
  

Now, I'll defer to AdJab on defining a viral video and withhold comment about the omission of OK Go to highlight that only one video on the list was truly an ad. For all the talk about viral advertising, our industry must not be doing too well if only one ad cracks the top 50 for the year. We need to stop making ads and start creating content.

YouTube Increases CBS Late Show Ratings

Yesterday, CBS put out a press release heralding the success of the CBS Brand Channel on YouTube. The channel is one of the most viewed and CBS attributes on-air ratings increases to the YouTube channel. It reports that ratings for the "Late Show with David Letterman" are up 5% and ratings for "The Late Show with Craig Ferguson" are up 7%.

The only thing more unexpected and exciting than the ratings increases is a national TV powerhouse vying to be the most-viewed channel on YouTube. Perhaps the traditional media are figuring out they must adapt to survive. Good for CBS for getting it, although it probably helps that their most-viewed clip is called "cat fight."

Smell-vertising in San Francisco

Apparently olfactory advertising is all the rage these days. There's been much ado about Kraft Foods' scratch-and-sniff ads in People magazine and now, Goodby, Silverstein & Partners is testing scent-sensations at bus stops in San Francisco. Goodby will place chocolate-chip cookie scented strips in bus stops as part of the "Got Milk" campaign.

I'd trademark the phrase "Smell-vertising" as the boys over at American Copywriter tend to do, but I think someone beat me to it.

30 Seconds of Chipotle Fame

This year's SuperBowl is quickly turning into the "please make our commercial for us bowl" for many major companies. Although Chiptole's 30 Seconds of Fame contest uses consumer-generated content, it has a fresh take on the concept.

Chipotle has enlisted students at 22 colleges, including my Alma mater, to create and post videos on YouTube. The most-streamed video will win $10,000, be posted on Chipotle's Web site and have a chance at some national television air-time. Boulder agency and avid YouTube enthusiasts TDA are behind the contest.

Targeting college ad kids and filmmakers shows a little social responsibility and donates some money to the winning school. Chipotle treats their customers well and often goes after the college crowd. For example, Chipotle in Lawrence, KS offered to pay for out entire homecoming float and give us free burrito coupons to hand out at the parade if we incorporated a burrito into the float. That's how you create brand advocates!

Barkley Blows Sonic's Throwdown

The local Kansas City agency that earned mad love for its cool rocket and car on cup promotion just gave it all back.

Barkley, the agency of record for Sonic Drive-Ins, saw spoofs of Sonic's silly in-car ads popping up on YouTube. They cleverly responded by posting a video of Pete and TJ challenging people to create their own ads. So far so good.

But it all goes wrong when Barkley violated major Web 2.0 etiquette and disabled users from embedding the video on Web sites or blogs. A little research from Teresa Valdez Klein over at the Blog Business Summit reveals that Barkley doesn't distribute the Sonic commercials online because they didn't pay the talent accordingly. What a waste of a seemingly good throwdown.

So in return, I'm throwing down the gauntlet. That's right Barkley; I'm talking to you and your cohorts over at Citizen Brand, Risley Ranch and Woolard Speak. You guys need to give the content to the people, and that means making all your Sonic ads available online or everyone who reads this blog will come after you.

So as your commercials state, you'd better watch out for my mom and her neighbor.

Quiz Is Just Another Name for Survey

I took this quiz, which I found on Scamp, to "find my tribe." I completely disagree with my categorization, but that's irrelevant.

What is relevant are the questions I was asked about many brands in the quiz. It asked for my opinions - favorable and unfavorable. Now, this had no bearing whatsoever on the results of this quiz, but I ponied up some answers to get to the end and see my results. I'm willing to bet that many others did and will do the same.

So all you marketers out there seeking information - just integrate it into a quiz or game of some sort. Give the people interesting content, and they will give you your data.

Conan O'Brien Crunes TV's Woes at Emmys

Last night, Conan O'Brien hosted the Emmy Awards and kicked it off with a song and dance number. The tune was a parody of "Trouble" from the Music Man, which was rewritten to highlight television's declining ratings and viewership.

Although Conan's litle ditty didn't mention declining ad revenue, it did mention TiVo users skipping commercials and kids watching YouTube instead of television.

When the awards show celebrating the best in television leads off with a song blasting the medium, you know that the 30-second spot isn't what it used to be. Back east in Connecticut, Joseph Jaffe just did a little fist pump.

The Walking Billboards

This idea might be new, but its old school roots go way deeper than sporting a driver's cap. Protestors and street peddlers used similar signage to promote their message to the masses since the world was black and white. However, A company called The Walking Billboards sells ad space on a sign that has two guys carry it around with their feet chugging along and hanging out the bottom the Flintstones.

The ads shown on the Web site don't really do anything special with the medium. However, the right message for the right product could change that. The message would need to take advantage of the unique vehicle and capitalize on its constant motion and the goofy guys carrying it around. So all you creatives, make something great for these guys, and please avoid cheesy puns like "feeling boxed in by your advertising?"

via: Marketing Post

Advertising in Free Textbooks

Freeload Press, an upstart advertising agency out of St. Pail, Minnesota, is putting advertisements in textbooks so they can distribute the books for free. Students can sign up for the service and download the books from Freeload's Web site.

As a recent college graduate, I know firsthand that textbook prices are completely ridiculous. Many of my friends and I have abstained from buying some books or split the cost with a friend or roommate to save money. The market is ripe if Freeload can deliver the goods.

The company still has a long way to go. It has yet to get a major book distributor onboard, so its current title offerings are limited. However, the ads deliver impressions to an extremely hard to reach and highly targeted demographic. The business model also conquers the problem of outdated textbooks. Normally book stores won't buy back old textbooks when the new version comes out. This process eliminates that problem and benefits from textbook updates because it provides opportunities to sell fresh ads.

So the next time a sleep-deprived college student pulls an all-nighter before the big midterm, they might see an ad for a local coffee house at 3 a.m., when they need it the most.