Apple’s iAds: Better Advertising, or More Rotten Monopolizing?
This week, amidst the hubbub of the iPhone 4’s re-revealing, Steve Jobs also announced Apple’s first foray into the advertising biz. The predictably-titled iAd platform will launch July 1st. Promising to be both smarter and more engaging than the current standard, this in-app solution arms developers with a new stream of cash to support their free offerings. For brands, iAd is an opportunity to engage directly with the millions-strong network of "Passionate," "Responsive," and "Connected" Apple users. But antitrust regulators aren’t quite as jazzed about the initiative. The question is whether iAd is just another case of Apple’s corporate control freakishness or a genuinely exciting step away from the bad mobile ad-age? Let’s have an iLook.
Investment Firm BVP Celebrates Blunders with “Anti-Portfolio”
Everyone is allowed a few screw-ups, right? Problem is, for Bessemer Venture Partners––a goof or two meant missing out on little-known start-ups such as Google, Ebay, and Apple for what would have amounted to millions, if not billions of dollars. But rather than shy away from these mistakes, BVP has decided to celebrate their biggest blunders in a display of humility they have dubbed the “Anti-Portfolio.” We know of a certain industry that might learn a thing or two from these frank financiers…
Not So Gaga For Product Placement
While we’ve seen some brilliantly executed, forward-thinking work this year, a few strategies remain stuck in the ol’ days of advertising. Product placement—usually seen as a very inauthentic tactic—still haunts much of today’s media. Do brands really think it accomplishes much more than ten minutes in the public spotlight? Puh-lease.Apple Includes Social Media in iTunes
Amidst Apple's latest music-centric media bonanza in August came news of a new integration with major social networking platforms. Not the elaborate aggregator that was heavily rumored (Apple fans love to speculate), the feature is little more than a method of sharing iTunes through your Twitter and Facebook accounts. A simple right click and the software exports your iTunes Store links for all the world to see. (Wait, right click?)
Latest Iteration of Crispin Porter + Bogusky’s Ads for Microsoft Are…I Just Don’t Care
The whole ad industry has gotten its panties in a twist over the $300 million Crispin Porter + Bogusky Microsoft ad campaign. There has been a lot of discussion, a lot of Monday morning quarterbacking, and a lot of incorrect assumptions. I want to go over the facts of the matter here, but I'll save it for next week. For now, let's just go over the latest iteration, ImaPC.LifeWithoutWall.com, a supposedly user-generated site with "I'm a PC" testimonials. My initial thought here is that if MS wants to combat the John Hodgman-as-PC image, it shouldn't try to drown out Hodgman/Apple with a chorus of nobodies but instead create a strong character of its own. I like Pharrel Williams, but he just doesn't cut it here...and what was that philosophical tangent about the future of technology all about? Where does that celebrity confidence to talk about complicated issues they know little about inarticulately come from?
Microsoft Is the Glue, Not the Cool
The Seinfeld ads for Microsoft were unbearably counterproductive, and the relief at Jerry’s absence in what MS execs are calling "phase 2" has been palpable throughout the ad world. We were all so pleased to say goodbye to the Jerry & Bill Show that I fear it has caused us to be far too welcoming to the "I'm a PC" ads that have followed.
Everyone’s a PC
It's not the flashiest, cleverest ad, and it's interruptive and not at all entertaining, but I really like what Crispin Porter + Bogusky is doing with what everyone is calling Phase II of the $300-million Microsoft campaign. No more Jerry Seinfeld. Just a healthy dose of Foucaudian reverse discourse. Roll tape:
