The adventures of Seinfeld and Superman land on the web at AmericanExpress.com

NEW YORK - Jerry Seinfeld and Superman have once again joined forces with American Express to create an action-packed, sidesplitting "webisode" that chronicles the daily exploits and unique friendship between comedian and Kryptonian. The four-minute webisode, entitled "A Uniform Used to Mean Something," co-written by Seinfeld and directed by acclaimed film director Barry Levinson (Diner, Rain Man), is a humorous glimpse into a day-in-the-life of pop culture’s latest "odd couple." The webisode launched today exclusively at www.americanexpress.com.

Seinfeld and Superman last appeared together in a 1998 television commercial for American Express Cards.

Levinson eagerly accepted the challenge of directing the webisodes, a new format for the director. "It’s great to try something you haven’t done, in a format with which you have not worked — especially with someone as talented as Jerry," said Levinson.

Read the article: www.americanexpress.com

Automakers steer products into more TV shows and films

Cars are stars, as everyone in Detroit already knows. But when it comes to product placement in television and movies, automobiles are playing a bigger role than ever before.

On a recent episode of ABC's "Alias," the action practically ground to a halt as the camera zoomed in on a Ford F150 logo. On NBC's "The Apprentice," a Chrysler vehicle will play a role in one of the final tasks assigned to the show's contestants. It's all about weaving products into entertainment in ways other than traditional commercials. Sometimes, it's even about making your car a lead character.

General Motors is teaming up with USA Network on a TV movie inspired by the Pontiac GTO. "The Last Ride" will star Dennis Hopper, Fred Ward and Chris Carmack of Fox's "The O.C." -- plus a vintage 1960s GTO and the newly revived 2004 model.

Read the article: www.freep.com

Gates warns advertisers about changing TV audiences

NEW YORK - Advertisers should not take television audiences for granted and should start preparing for a world in which people watch television how and when they want to, Microsoft chairman Bill Gates has said

Read the article: www.brandrepublic.com

Mediaedge:cia sheds light on movie product placement

LONDON - Nokia, Samsung and The Gap all got it right when it came to product placement in movies including 'The Matrix' and 'Minority Report', according to Mediaedge:cia's latest study.

The study into the effectiveness of product placement in movies found that, in general, brands advertised through product placement are more likely to get noticed by film fans than those in text messaging or radio ads.

The study found that the younger the audience, the more reactive and favourable they are to brands advertised in this way. Forty-one per cent of 15- to 24-year-olds regarded a brand as high quality when associated with films.

Read the article: www.brandrepublic.com

Drivetime on the web?

This week Mitsubishi will be the latest car-maker to launch a model online instead of on TV.

Forget the all-singing-and-dancing primetime TV advertising extravaganza, the internet is becoming the medium of choice for canny car brands eager to make their mark. For proof look no further than Mitsubishi, the latest manufacturer to challenge advertising convention by launching a new model online. The campaign - for the European launch of the Lancer Evolution VIII sports car, or "Evo" - goes live this week. The latest in a series of bold and innovative online car campaigns, it's also set to give the rest of adland a timely wake-up call.

At first glance, Mitsubishi's launch marketing strategy for the Evo - developed by advertising agency StrawberryFrog - sounds a contradictory one: "a secret campaign" to prompt interest by generating a sense of mystery. An online film depicting a man's encounter with a strange new cult (the cult of the Evo, it turns out) has been produced. The film is now being "seeded" - in other words, discreetly placed among various online communities of car enthusiasts.

This will be followed in two months' time by a more conventional online strategy with online media bought to further distribute the film; print advertising in specialist car and lifestyle magazines will then run later in the year. Meanwhile, Mitsubishi has also created a new games website on which visitors can play a number of cutting-edge driver simulation and racing games.

Read the article: www.media.guardian.co.uk

Spike Jonze unveiled as man behind spoof Volvo film

LONDON - Volvo has revealed that it is the cult American film director Spike Jonze who is behind the spoof advertising campaign 'The Mystery of Dalaro', which promotes the new Volvo S40 model.
The campaign includes a television ad, a mock documentary and a spoof website to promote the new model.

The Swedish car maker said that hits to the Volvo UK website have more than doubled since the launch of the campaign, and that 435,000 digital viewers of the ad have selected the red button option to view the documentary via interactive TV.

Read the article: www.brandrepublic.com

Hollywood disaster film set to turn heat on Bush

LOS ANGELES: Here's the pitch: a dullish candidate, outflanked by his opponent's serious money, attacked for his liberal leanings, is swept to an unlikely victory thanks to a blockbuster movie that focuses on the effects of big business and the agro-industrial complex.

It sounds unlikely, but this summer might just see an alliance of commerce, populist entertainment and feel-good concern combine to weaken President George Bush and hand votes to his expected Democrat rival John Kerry.

May 28 sees the worldwide release of The Day After Tomorrow, the eco-armageddon story to beat all others.

During filming last year, Emmerich described the film as "a popcorn movie that's actually a little subversive". Whether this is the typical hype that surrounds a Hollywood blockbuster or the heartfelt statement of a tortured artist does not really matter. What seems certain is that the film will help to propel global warming and the environment high up the political agenda.

Read the article: www.guardian.co.uk

Read more about the film: www.thedayaftertomorrowmovie.com

Starbucks tunes in to digital music

BusinessWeek has learned that on Mar. 16, the Seattle coffee giant will unveil an in-store music service allowing customers to do just that, using Hewlett-Packard tablet computers to make their choices. The first musical Starbucks opens in Santa Monica, Calif., and the service will expand into 2,500 stores over the next two years. "This is not a test," says Starbucks Chairman Howard Schultz. "We're going for it.''

Known for taking innovative risks, this is Starbucks' boldest attempt to redefine "the Starbucks experience" since it pushed overseas in the mid '90s. Company execs say the effort is aimed at capitalizing on the forces revamping the music-retailing industry, where advances in digital-music technology push customers onto the Internet, and traditional brick-and-mortar record stores struggle to survive.

Read the article: www.businessweek.com

BT to offer TV and movie hits online

Telecoms giant BT today unveiled ambitious plans to boost subscriptions to high-speed broadband services, including taking on pay-TV companies with 'video on demand' television shows, including hit ITV series The Bill. Under the proposals, broadcasters and movie studios will be able to deliver a huge library of television shows and films to broadband users at a quality equivalent to digital TV or DVD.

Read the article: www.media.guardian.co.uk

Big marketers join to create new TV ad models

NEW TORK - When the nation's largest advertisers gather in New York today to discuss the future of TV advertising, they will touch on some perennial issues - audience measurement, the structure of the upfront marketplace, the impact of new media technologies - but they will do so with a zeal and new sense of impetus that, after years of discussion, the TV advertising model has actually reached its tipping point. Toward that end, some of the biggest users of television, including Kraft, Procter & Gamble, Unilever and Wachovia will announce they have taken steps to move on to a new one.

Read the article: www.mediapost.com

Tesco rolls out trolley TV

LONDON - Britain's biggest supermarket chain, Tesco, is set to revolutionise in-store advertising with a new television station it claims will have more viewers than I'm a Celebrity ... Get Me Out of Here!.

Tesco TV will offer health and beauty tips, recipe ideas and information on healthy living - as well as conventional advertising - on large television screens placed around the stores.

Tesco claims that with 10 million shoppers coming through its stores every week, it can rival some of ITV's most popular shows, including reality television hit I'm a Celebrity, soap opera Emmerdale and dramas such as Footballers' Wives and Life Begins.

Read the article: www.media.guardian.co.uk

Coke fizzes with download success

LONDON - Coca-Cola's music download website has swiftly become the most popular legal service in Europe despite its much hyped January launch falling flat when the service failed to work, according to new figures.

Coca-Cola said today there had been more than 700,000 visitors to MyCokeMusic since it launched on January 20, with single downloads priced from 80p to 99p and albums costing between £6.40 and £7.99 selling at a rate of 10,000 a week.

Read the article: www.media.guardian.co.uk

Rules put a lid on Growth

LONDON - The number of programmes on British TV funded by advertisers will double this year, according to figures released this week by the BCMA. The data comes just two weeks after the marketing chief of Procter & Gamble, Jim Strengel, told a media conference that advertisers should think beyond the 30-second ad and consider investing directly in programming.

Despite these bullish predictions, fears are growing that if the UK doesn't loosen its restrictions on advertiser-funded programming (AFP), and quickly, advertisers will take their money elsewhere...Claes Loberg, chief executive of branded entertainment specialist Cocojambo, says "AFP will grow regardless of further rule changes in the UK. The question is how much of this brand-funded TV content will be distributed in the future via broadcast TV."

Read the article: www.ft.com

Visit London launches free-to-air digital channel on Sky

LONDON - Visit London, the tourist organisation for London, is launching a commercially funded digital TV channel London TV.

The channel, which will be transmitted free-to-air on the Sky Digital platform, will showcase theatre, shopping and tourist information about London. It will seek to attract sponsorship revenue for some of its programming strands and is due to launch in the early summer.


Read the article: www.brandrepublic.com

Branded content TV market set to increase fourfold

LONDON - The market for branded television programmes is set to quadruple this year from £5m in 2003 to an estimated £22m in 2004, according to the Branded Content Marketing Association.
Last year 36 branded content TV programmes, excluding sports programmes, were commissioned and aired. In the first two quarters of 2004, 20 projects have been commissioned or are in development.

Read the article: www.brandrepublic.com

Presidential candidate tempts voters with games

WASHINGTON - American presidential candidate Howard Dean has released an online game to tempt voters in the Iowa primary. Since the game went online Dec. 24, about 70,000 people have played it.

Read the article: www.msn.com

Play the game: www.deanforamericagame.com

Soaps better than ads for social messages says Jowell

LONDON - Soap operas like 'EastEnders' and 'Coronation Street' are better than advertising for conveying social messages, according to the (UK's) culture secretary Tessa Jowell.

She said "A storyline on 'Coronation Street' or 'EastEnders' is a much more powerful medium from which to engage the public than certainly any bundle of government leaflets are likely to be."

Read the article: www.brandrepublic.com

Ford pays chick lit author to promote Fiesta in her novels

LONDON - Ford has paid chick lit author Carole Matthews, writer of 'A Whiff of Scandal', to feature the Ford Fiesta in her next two books in an attempt to target young women.

She follows in the footsteps of a somewhat more famous writer, Fay Weldon, who was paid by the jeweller Bulgari to feature the brand in one of her novels.

Read the article: www.brandrepublic.com