New Ideas for Commercial Theme Songs

This is a great video. Self explanatory. Very funny. The comedian is Eric O'Shea. He's talking about new ideas for putting theme songs into television commercials.



Have a great weekend.

TV "Events" Are Compelling Media Buying Opportunities

Cross-published on Brogan Blog

I think I watched about 1 hour of TV over the last 3 months. There was nothing on. I've got stuff to do. I didn't really miss it.

But then Monday: Wham! TV was back, and it wasn't playing around. How I Met Your Mother, Heroes, the new weird show Chuck. Tuesday with Two and Half Men. All of sudden TV was back. And I watched some Monday and <<gasp>> even a bit more on Tuesday. (Completely coincidentally, someone in my office just said to someone else: "Isn't tomorrow the Office premiere? Boom. Done. I'm there.")

There's been lots written about fragmentation of TV channels, the proliferation of DVRs like Tivo, the rise of alternative entertainment choices (online, gaming, etc.) and much of it is true. But let's remember that TV can still be an event that brings people together.

These events are advertising opportunities, and they are getting more valuable. Think season premieres, season finales, award shows, big sporting events... We've bought the Oscars for clients and been very happy with it. TV has problems, but to reach the world quickly, there are still opportunities.

What do you think? Leave a quick comment.

Original Design Gangsta Video is Classic

This video is a number of things that marketing people will appreciate. It is:
a) hilarious, particularly to any designers/art directors out there, and those who work closely with designers; and
b) an absolutely great example of social media marketing on a shoestring budget. Enjoy.



I'm particularly proud that he's a fellow North Carolinian, and worked "North Cackalack"into the video...

~Jim Tobin
Life Is Marketing

Michael Vick Apology Believability Varied Moment by Moment

After my earlier post on Michael Vick and his apology, I was contacted by the folks at HCD Research about some interesting research they did on the believability of Michael's apology moment by moment.

Turns out that HCD got a panel of 300 folks to watch the apology and to move their mouse either left or right to indicate how much they believed or did not believe Vick as he apologized. As you can see in the video, he was doing fairly well when he was saying he was wrong straight up.

But when he said he'd come to realize that dog fighting was wrong, people didn't believe him. And when he said he'd found Jesus, his credibility fell to near zero.



This sort of "dial testing" has been used for years to test ads and the like. I wasn't aware of MediaCurves using an online panel and a mouse to do it before they reached out. This is a fascinating way to analyze what "works" and doesn't work in public relations.

If you look at the MediaCurves channel in YouTube, you can watch similar panels about American Idol, Barry Bonds, and the apology of Cardinal Roger Mahony. Great stuff.

Thanks to Marcella Inserra at HCD Research for reaching out to me. A) It's the first time I've been "pitched" as a blogger, so I feel all grown up now and B) It was really interesting.