Ford Motor Co. plans reality TV show

Ford Motor Co. of Dearborn, Mich., is getting into the reality TV show business, it was reported Thursday.

Ford announced its plans Wednesday to produce a TV competition pairing contestants with its designers to produce a "dream car," the Detroit News reported.

The TV pitch was unveiled to U.S. car dealers during a meeting in Dearborn to introduce the automaker's latest advertising campaign called "Bold Moves," the newspaper said.
Ford officials said the TV show will be shopped around in the hope of landing on a major TV network.

The "Bold Move" ad campaign will kick off during Tuesday's night's episode of Fox TV's "American Idol." The ad will feature "American Idol" winner Kelly Clarkson singing a new song called "Go."

Mark Cuban Says Bring Back The Fifties Live Commercial

Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban says the future of television advertising is in its past. He says bring back the live commercial so the viewer (nor the advertiser) will know what to expect until it happens. Calling them Reality Commercials, Cuban claims implementing such a thing would not be a technical challenge or a creative one but it would entail a whole lot more work.

He cites a couple of examples which does get the mind thinking. After all, a commercial riffing unexpectedly off what the viewer just watched would be far more interesting and integrated than a canned spot. And, oh, the potential for screw ups....that alone would keep a fair amount of people watching.

It's a radical idea but then Mark Cuban is a radical guy. While we're all lamenting the troubles of the :30, this guy puts forth a simple idea that anyone of us has/could have thought of but we're so stuck with our current model, we can't get out of our own way. I urge brands and networks to try this. There's nothing to lose. Everything's already on a downward slide so there's nothing to lose by trying something like this. And wouldn't it be a hell of a lot more fun and goose bump-inducing than creating an over produced piece of crap that does nothing but wastes the client's money?

from www.adrants.com

ThoughtWorthy Media Premieres Internet Search Engine for Products, Music, and Commercials That Appear on TV

MEDIA RELEASE

Startup Believes There's Not Enough Product Placement On-Screen Today

ThoughtWorthy Media Inc. today announced the launch of a new online vertical search engine for televised product placement, music, spot advertising, and all other TV merchandising relationships.

Watch. Click. Buy.(TM) Simply stated, if a viewer can see it or hear it on TV, ThoughtWorthy Media's new search engine enables that viewer to seamlessly identify, learn more, buy, and even criticize it online at www.thoughtworthy.com.

CLICK HERE TO READ THE ENTIRE MEDIA RELEASE

Chop's cutting it with viewers

Detroit may be America's automobile capital, but apparently the "King of Cars" resides in Las Vegas.

At least that's what some keen marketing by a Dodge car dealer and the A&E cable network would have you believe.

It's finally happened: Someone's turned one of the most mundane and oftentimes excruciatingly painful experiences known to man into a reality TV show. And for all intents and purposes, it's a hit with viewers and a stroke of marketing genius by an entrepreneur.

READ THE ENTIRE ARTICLE AT SEATTLE TIMES.COM

'Super Girl' brings 'super' advertising

"SUPER Girl," one of China's most popular TV contests, is expected to bring its "mother," Hunan Satellite TV, advertising sales totalling 200 million yuan (US$25 million) this year, the Oriental Morning Post said today.

At an advertising bidding meeting on Saturday for the forthcoming competition, the TV station sold twenty 15-second advertisements for more than 130 million yuan, the Shanghai-based newspaper said. The producers of the show auctioned each advertisement starting with a minimum price of 3.5 million yuan and ensured that each one would air 200 times.

CLICK HERE FOR THE ENTIRE ARTICLE

TV advertisers boost their spending on Hispanics

More advertising dollars are headed toward Hispanics this decade, but not enough to match their share of the overall U.S. population. Kagan Research, which studies television ad spending, said Hispanic advertising dollars were up more than 12 percent last year, while total advertising spending grew 6.6 percent.

CLICK HERE FOR THE ENTIRE ARTICLE

Brands take buzz to bank through free TV placement

During the past four months, Apple iPods, Macs and other products have been featured 250 times on 38 different network primetime shows, including such hits as "CSI: NY" and "The O.C."

That adds up to 26 minutes of free exposure for one of Hollywood's biggest brand stars, according to Nielsen's Place Views tracking service.

READ THE ARTICLE ONLINE

Muhammad Ali Sells Marketing Rights

Muhammad Ali, one of the world's most recognized people, has sold 80 percent of the marketing rights to his name and likeness to a firm for $50 million.

The 64-year-old former heavyweight champion, who suffers from Parkinson's disease, will retain a 20 percent interest in the business. The new venture will be operated by a company called G.O.A.T. LLC, an acronym for "The Greatest of All Time."

CLICK HERE FOR THE ENTIRE ARTICLE

'Housewives,' 'Lost' Online For Free

The Walt Disney Co. said Monday its TV group plans to offer four ABC prime-time shows including "Desperate Housewives" and "Lost" online for free beginning in May. The offerings will also include current episodes of "Commander in Chief," as well as the entire season of "Alias," and will be available through June.

VISIT CBSNEWS.COM FOR THE COMPLETE STORY

CHOP, KING OF CARS INTERVIEW

He's a rapper. He's an executive producer. He's a car salesman. Now, he's a TV show personality. If your fantasy is the world of high-priced cars and rap, Chop is not only the King of Cars, the title of his new reality series on A&E, but he's also quickly becoming the King of TV and the guy to go see if you ever need a new set of cool wheels in Las Vegas.

With the series now in full swing in the new male-centric, guy-skewed programming on A&E, we got a chance to catch up talk shop with Chop about cars, showgirls and his television show.

GO TO UNDERGROUNDONLINE FOR THE COMPLETE INTERVIEW

The King of Cars is choppin’ on A&E

Mitch Drew

Many of you know that I enjoy forwarding new and exciting marketing ideas to my clients and prospects. A few years ago, I sent an email with a link to a Las Vegas car dealership TOWBIN DODGE who ran late-night TV commercials featuring their General Sales Manager ‘Chopper’.

He is an over-the-top guy who coined the phrase ‘you aint nothin’ without a Blue Genie’ .

Last week, Chopper debuted on A&E as King of Cars! The program is all about Chopper and his exciting, aggressive and unbelievable quest to stay the number one car dealer in Nevada!

It’s hard to believe that we live in a world were a late-night used-car infomercial can spawn a TV show…..but we most certainly do!

CLICK HERE to view clips from the show and other sample video

Mobile TV broadcasting begins in Japan

No charge for one-seg

A digital TV service intended for mobile phones and other devices officially kicked off in Japan over the weekend.

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Your product here: advertising

Nancie Tear revs up her computer in a small meeting room at her Lions Gate movie studio office. Dressed all in black, hair pulled back, she turns up the volume as a short compilation of clips from the TV show 24 plays onscreen. Kiefer Sutherland marches into a dank-looking basement and heads to a lone desk, bending over a computer bearing an Alienware logo. "They've got a missile," he says, distraught. All the shots linger on the computer, a sleek silver-and-black laptop. Sutherland stands next to the laptop, while his accomplice sits at the desk. "Can you hear me?" he asks his team, assembled elsewhere. "I'm looking at a live feed of the warhead!"

Tear, co-founder and creative director of Vancouver-based PropStar Placements, watches proudly--after all, she placed the computer on the 24 set for her client, Miami-based Alienware (now owned by Dell). She's placed everything from gardening products to online search engines on popular TV shows and movies, and recently landed her biggest deal yet--effective immediately, PropStar will handle all of Coke's Canadian placements. "This is the largest consumer packaged-goods company we'd ever want to get," she says. "It's such a huge deal for us."


READ THE ARTICLE AT CANADIAN BUSINESS.COM