Online Community to Save Tigers?

According to ClickZ.com, Conservation International is introducing an online initiative in attempt to save to only 4,000 remaining tigers on the planet. The online community will combine wikis, blogs, and forums in attempt to raise awareness for the cause.

The initiative will allow Conservation International to spread awareness, and allow everyday citizens to help in ways other than donations.

A representative of Conservation International stated that, "Lots of people around the world don't realize how close we are to losing the tigers," said Mills. "The people who can bring to bear what we need to save tigers are not going to do it unless there is a global movement to do it. We want to create something of an Inconvenient Truth and an Obama Campaign for tigers."

This will have an impact on agency personnel because creative ways will have to be used to relay messages other than spreading brand knowledge. It will impact the media industry because it will be a new way to promote non-profit charity and awareness organizations.

It will also affect me because it makes it clear to me that as a media buyer, I will not be exclusively responsible for buying large corporate identities, but also non-profit organizations and charities.

Microsoft Peels Off A New Online Advertising Concept

Microsoft has broken their homepage by introducing peel-back advertisements that act as advertising layered beneath the home page.

According to an article posted at Habari Media Direct, Microsoft has began placing these advertisements at the top right corner of their homepage, that peel back when rolled over.

According to the article "This placement operates on a 24hr exclusive rota and works in conjunction with the Homepage 300x250 Ad box. MSN guarantees that the roadblock will provide exposure to over 350,000 impressions over a 24hr period and encourages clients to include any data on the Peel Back, including video streaming and interactive games."

Advertising like this will h ave an impact on both the agency and client side of interactive advertising because it is a creative execution that will add to the growing list of possible online advertising alternatives.

It will impact myself as a future online media buyer because it will once again alter the way traditional online advertising is structured.

Apple 'Breaks' a Webpage

Apple has introduced a pretty cool media placement advertising the iPod Touch. Essentially an embedded video of people's hands using the Touch is placed in the middle of the screen. When the hands rotate the iPod, the elements of the webpage are affected, and they move accordingly. A video of the ad can be seen below:



An article located at Ad Age outlines Apples creative media execution.

This advertisement will have a large impact on the industry, because the innovation will cause a shift in online advertising causing the leading online advertisers to attempt to match and exceed the quality of the advertisement. It has an impact on the client because its creative aspect will no doubt catch the eye of a much higher percentage of individuals than a standard leaderboard of big box advertisement.

It also impacts me as a potential future interactive media buyer as the innovation will create changes in the standard buying process of online advertising, as there will be no defined formula for a creative execution such as this one.

Whopper Virgins!

Burger King has combined forces with Crispin Porter & Bogusky to create an innovative and controversial campaign. The campaign focuses on a large-scale case study put into place to see what people who have never tasted a hamburger (Whopper Virgins) think of Burger King`s staple burger.


BK visited remote locations in Thailand, Romania, and Greenland, pitting the BK Whopper up against McDonald`s Big Mac to see what these `Whopper Virgins` preferred.

A series of 15 second teaser commercials have been created to drive traffic to the website. Currently the site consists of a large slideshow that explains the stunt, with a counter beneath it counting the time until the study's results are revealed.

The website is a good example of how online media can be used in conjunction with multiple other media in a campaign to maximize the exposure of the campaign and the impact that it has

An article outlining the media execution can be found here

This execution has an impact on the client, burger king, because it is an attempt to show the consumer (as opposed to tell) that they have the best tasting burgers. It also impacts the advertising industry, as it is a creative execution that is different from typical advertising methods. It impacts me as an advertising student because it shows how interactive media can be used in conjunction with other forms of media to maximize the reach of the campaign.

Energizer's interactive charity is more than just good P.R.

Pretty much all charity initiatives from major corporations are self-serving, with the ulterior motive of gaining positive PR exposure. According to Marketing Mag, Energizer has taken this idea one step further, by creating an online initiative that allows users to enter contests to win Hasbro toys, while having toys donated to Ronald MacDonald Charities at the same time.
Essentially, users can log into the Energizer website and enter for a chance to win a Hasbro toy. For each toy won, a toy is sent to the charity. By the time the contest closes, Energizer will have given away $50,000 in toys.
This initiative allows Energizer to increase their public exposure, combining their charity giveaway with a contest promotion. This way they can drive traffic to their website through the contest and have positive PR resulting from the charity donations.
This is significant to the client because it is an example of how interactive communications can be used in conjunction with other promotions to maximize exposure. It is also significant to the agency because it shows how different aspects of communication (interactive, PR) can combine to produce positive results. Finally, it is significant to me entering the workforce because it shows how creativity can be used to maximize public exposure and opinion.

Timmies Goes Social

According to Marketing Mag, Tim Horton's has recently entered the Social Media world. With the introduction of their new social sub-site EveryCup.ca, Tim's has entered a new generation of advertising and promotion.

The introduction came in an effort to help consumers connect with Tim Horton's product and the brand on. a more personal level. A PR Director at Tim's stated that they were constantly getting letters from consumers explaining their connection with the brand on a personal level, and they wanted to create an environment that allowed them to share these stories and connect with other consumers.

A commercial demonstrating how Tim's is present in consumer's lives, as well as online advertising are used to drive traffic to the site.

This is significant to the client because it demonstrates how a brand that is as well established as Tim's is able to benefit from the history and the presence of the brand in the consumers lives by allowing them to share their experiences on a social level. It is also significant to agency personnel because it shows that a brand with such longevity and traditions can be marketed in a non traditional way to maintain and build its consumer base. This is also significant to me as I enter the industry because I am interested in interactive media, and this is an example of the effective implementation of online communication to a large brand.

Creative way to advertise for the new Leafs season

Media in Canada posted an interesting article about Smirnoff's advertising initiative to celebrate the 2008 Toronto Maple Leaf's home opener. Smirnoff placed a six-storey billboard in Yonge-Dundas square in downtown Toronto. Suspended from the billboard were two stuntmen dressed in Maple Leafs gear pretending to play hockey suspended hundreds of feet in the air.

A video of the ad can be seen here:


From an agency perspective, this shows how media and creative were able to work together to create a very successful ad that provided a long lasting impression even though the ad lasted for only a day. it also had an impact on the media company, as they had to be innovative and use creativity to add a new element to an old advertising medium.

This also impacts me because It has shown me how agencies can be innovative, adding a creative element to a traditional medium, and generating a lot of hype and awareness in the process.

Audi's 'Bright Idea'

I came across another article online at the MarketingMag website that discusses Audi's new idea for promoting the A4.

Audi is releasing a new campaign aimed at accentuating the LED fuel-saving running lights in the new A4. The Ad's come in the form of large wall boards in the parking garages of upper-scale office buildings in major Canadian cities.



The boards contain material that causes the lights to reflect when car's headlights hit the sign. The primary goal of the ad's are to get people excited about the A4 - a car that has a lot of competition in its class.

The campaign is complemented with print, TV, and online advertisements, but the parking garage boards are the bread and butter.

The innovative boards show how a particular audience can be targeted. In this case, Audi is targeting business personnel that work in upper-scale office towers. They also show how products such as cars, which typically have fairly standard ads that are not very different from product to product, can be advertised in an innovative way.

These ads will affect the agency, as it will require advertisers to become more creative and innovative to keep up with the competition in the industry. They will also affect the consumers, because if the campaign is a success, it will potentially affect their buying habits.

The NHL... 'Is It This Year?'

I came across an article outlining the new advertising campaign that the National Hockey League has put into place to promote the '08/09 season. the article was found at MarketingMag.ca and was titled "NHL Brings Big Shots to Life."

The article outlines the new campaign, which contain four of the leagues bright young stars, talking to the audience about their past experiences in the league, and pondering the question "is it this year?". The Ad's start with static images, with the player in question turning towards the camera while the rest of the image remains static. The players describe the setting that they are standing in, and talk about the emotional impact it has on them.

this is the first commercial of the series


This article will potentially impact the way agencies market sports and sporting events. It is a new way of attacking sport advertising on TV and depending on the success of the campaign, it will provide sports advertisers with a new insight into advertising. There is also a potential affect on consumers, as they may be able to relate to the advertisements much more than typical sports pieces because there is an emotional aspect that give the athletes a much larger sense of person.

The article has a potential impact on myself as it gives me more of a perspective on advertising potential. It shows how with a little creativity and research, a typical bland teaser advertisement can be transformed into something that really strikes a chord with its target audience.

Spinning Negative into Positive

EA Games responds to glitch with Tiger Woods Jesus walk video

I came across an interesting video yesterday and decided to look into it a little more. The video begins with a screen capture of a Youtube video where you can hear a kid narrating in the background, explaining (sarcastically) how great the new feature (glitch) in Tiger Woods 09 by EA Sports is that allows you to walk and take shots on water.

The video flashed text directed at the user who posted the original video saying “you seem to think it was a glitch in the game.” The video switches to a shot of Tiger Woods dropping a shot on top of the water and taking his shoes off and walking across the water (in real life) to take the shot. After he sinks the shot, the text reappears stating “he’s just that good.

I found this to be very interesting, and it was a creative way to spin the negativity that stems from a glitch in games. For arguments sake, I will ignore the possibility that the glitch and response were planned by EA as a publicity stunt, and comment on how the media company (EA) was able to work with their agency to create a funny, interesting way to spin the glitch.

This undoubtedly has had a direct impact on EA, as the publicity that has stemmed from this error has turned from negative to positive. It also has an impact on the consumer because their video response has gone viral and has been viewed well over 2 million times on Youtube.

The unique PR gives me creative insight on potential disaster recovery and spin marketing. It shows how a company can turn negative press that has a potential impact on sales and revenue into positive press that provides positive brand exposure

The article can be found here

Back to the Blog

A new school year and a new program means more blogging!

I will take this opportunity to reintroduce myself. I am an Advertising Media Management student at Centennial College in Toronto. I have recently committed an honours B.A. in Mass Communication Studies and Multimedia, and I have always been interested in new media and its place in communication (particularly advertising and promotional communication).

When I'm not at school I am typically watching, reading about, or playing sports. I currently play hockey through both the winter and summer, and I am an active snowboarder during the snowy months. I follow Hockey, Football, Baseball and Basketball all fairly closely (especially the first two).

This blog will be used as my opportunity to comment on interactive media in the news. Typically, I will find an article or news segment that i find rather interesting, summarize it, and provide some input on my opinions related to the information that it provides.

I find many types of new media interesting, but I will likely concentrate on topics related to communication. This will likely include (but not be limited to...) social networking, interactive marketing and media in politics.

I hope that my blog can be used as an opportunity for not only me to share my thoughts, but also as a forum for discussion with my peers. I am interested in any commentary that anybody would like to share... please comment on my posts or email me at gsgerber@gmail.com.

That's it for now... I'll leave you with a funny video outlining the potential disasters of using Wikipedia as a credible source.

See more funny videos and funny pictures at CollegeHumor.

BarbaraMillarDesign.com now live!

It has been a long time coming, but we (my partner and I) have finally finished our senior thesis project.

We essentially made a website for interior design/construction company Barbara Millar Design. The site can be accessed
here.