AAF - Cleveland

Moonvertising

Rolling Rock is putting ads on the moon.

Well, sort of. A website accompanying a brilliant campaign allows users to broadcast their messages on the surface of a virtual moon. The site also allows you to download the VP of Marketing's presentation which is a dead-on spoof of agency rhetoric. Hilarious.

Also Rolling Rock has also apparently bought outdoor boards in select markets telling the public to watch the next full moon for their ad. And people aren't real happy. But Rolling Rock does get extra publicity. Shoot for the moon, I guess.

Does your law firm polka?

Adrants posted a link to San Francisco law firm Hanson Bridgett's new bizarre YouTube video. Watch it here.

There's a press release on their website talking about it. Here's my favorite excerpt:

A lot of people have been asking me what the video means," Partner Garner Weng reports. "And a lot of people have been telling me what it means. Everyone has a different take on it," as reflected by some of the early comments on YouTube and the blogs.

"That's the beauty of it," Weng says. "If you're wondering, there is a specific message we were trying to deliver — but it's a secret."

Here's a marketing secret for the HB Gang - the messages in your communications aren't supposed to be a secret. Effective communication and candor are two things I would look for from a legal firm. I'm all for trying to do something different (and frivolous accordion antics) but you need to have a point and people should be able to get that point. I don't want to have to play a guessing game. Tell me what you stand for or stop wasting my time-wasting time on YouTube.

Pharma Report

Join us on Thursday, March 27 @ 2pm for our Direct-to-consumer drug advertising seminar. We'll hear from James Davidson, founder of the public policy advisory firm Davidson & Company, and Benjamin Zelman, VP, Pharmaceutical Development and Business Management at Medical Mutual.

This event promises to be an informative and lively dialogue on direct-to-consumer drug advertising. Answering questions such as:

What are the legal, medical and financial implications of advertising prescription drugs directly to consumers?

Who will be among those deciding?

Is this merely the latest advertising horizon or could it be creating unrealistic demand?

This event is a bargain at only $10.

Register here.

March Luncheon

Our March 19 luncheon will consist of a panel of local marketing executives:

Judy Abelman, Avery Dennison

Peter Baka, Lincoln Electric

Rob Horton, ICI Paints

Tom Leibhardt, Moen

Rob Spademan, Cleveland State University

They will be addressing their marketing mix, budget trends within their respective companies, how those budgets are allocated between advertising, PR, direct marketing, promotions, research, collateral, events, etc., where they think their opportunities lie, expectations from their agency and vendor partners, marketing communications changes, and a description of employer challenges and opportunities.

Tickets are still just $25 for AAF-Cleveland members and $40 for nonmembers. Click here for more details and tickets.

Division of Merch and State?

There's a state representative in Missouri attempting to have Budweiser recognized as the state's official beer. The rep thinks that if the state officially recognizes the beer it might increase tourism. I'm not so sure about that but it is interesting that the state would name a specific brand as it's official symbol.

But thanks to the wonder of the Internet, I learned that it's not the first time products have received plugs from states. Kraft Foods got two big endorsements when in 1998 Nebraska named Kool-Aid as their official state beverage and Utah tapped Jell-O as the official state snack food in 2001 (here's the resolution). Pennsylvania's state toy is the Slinky.  North Carolina endorses events - be sure to visit the Hertford County Watermelon Festival, the official Northeastern North Carolina Watermelon Festival (not to be confused with the the The Fair Bluff Watermelon Festival, the official Southeastern North Carolina Watermelon Festival. They also chose an official state Collard Festival - the Ayden Collard Festival, of course.

So far Ohio has kept the state symbols pretty tame, despite a play made by lobbyists from the Ohio Pawpaw Growers' Association. Apparently, they made a push to name the Pawpaw the official state fruit but Big Apple defended their territory as our state's sole official fruit.

Are there any other brands that you associate with specific states deserving of "official" status?