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10 memorable but cheesy hockey player product pitches
1. Wayne Gretzky: Pro Stars. At the height of his stardom, the Great One had his very own cereal, which he plugged on Late Night with David Letterman. More recently, he has been pitching his own line...
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Television’s mid-life crisis
Shutterstock; Getty Images; iStock; Photo Illustration by Sarah MacKinnon A television show can get ratings and still be a failure. That’s what viewers of Harry’s Law discovered, to their chagrin, when...
View ArticleAdvertisers leave after Knicks lose Lin
That didn’t take long. It hasn’t even been 24 hours since the New York Knicks let point-guard Jeremy Lin—as in “Linsanity“—go to the Houston Rockets for US$25 million over three years and already...
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Rolex and Federer: Perfect timing
Toby Melville/Reuters It’s safe to say that Rolex, the world’s largest luxury watch maker, has taken the art of celebrity endorsement to a whole new level. After the company’s highest-paid athlete...
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Did you Yahoo! that?
Justin Sullivan/Getty Images For Ted Mirsky, Yahoo! is a party trick. When his friends or co-workers are stumped by a question, the 27-year-old self-described “early adopter” from Ottawa often says:...
View ArticleThe case of the union sponsorships
Joanna Smith reports that the NDP returned $344,468 after the Conservatives complained about union sponsorships at the NDP’s 2011 convention in Vancouver. An NDP insider familiar with the issue said...
View ArticleAttacking the attacks
Greg Fingas considers the NDP’s new web ad. Well, the good news is that the NDP has avoided the trap which regularly tripped up the Libs. Rather than portraying the Cons’ dishonesty as an affront to...
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According to the Conservatives, your government is awesome
John Geddes The soundtrack is bouncy, the skylines broken by majestic mountains or busy construction cranes. The message is relentlessly upbeat. “Canada’s Economic Action Plan,” says the voice-over,...
View ArticleAs seen on TV
The Harper government has committed another $4 million to advertise itself. Supplementary estimates released by Ottawa midway through the fiscal year show the Natural Resources Department has been...
View Article‘A little bit Conservative’
An interesting pitch from the Conservative candidate in Victoria (a riding that hasn’t elected a Conservative since 1984). The closing argument is “Lets (sic) not send another MP to Ottawa who will be...
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Warning: not safe for work (outside city limits anyway)
The National Farmers Union looks at an ad based on a classic pin-up, and its interpretation is that the new, competitive Canadian Wheat Board must be struggling in a liberalized agricultural market:...
View ArticleBetter know a talking point
As noted yesterday, Tony Clement attempted to explain the government’s spending on advertising with an apparently flattering comparison. “Last year, our advertising budget was $83.3 million, which is...
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The cure for Facebook’s feature-bloat? New features!
before and after the News Feed redesign When I first got on Facebook, it felt kind of like a party—a place to hang out and joke around with my friends. Then a bunch of people I hadn’t seen since high...
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How hit songs become advertising sound-alikes
Jody Colero paused, dropped the phone, and asked a composer in his Toronto studio to play with the guitar line in the track they were writing: “Can you take anything of any interest out of this...
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Swiffer backtracks after using iconic feminist image to promote new mop
Swiffer is mopping up consumer backlash after the brand, owned by parent company Proctor & Gamble, used the iconic image of Rosie the Riveter in a campaign to sell a new steam mop. Heather...
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Sky Go wants audio advertisements through bus and train windows
AFP/GETTY IMAGES The British online broadcaster Sky Go wants to turn bus and train windows into talking advertisements. Along with the German ad agency BBDO Düsseldorf, the company is using technology...
View ArticleHedge funds now allowed to advertise, but investors should read the fine print
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission recently eliminated a long-standing rule prohibiting hedge funds from advertising to the general public—a move critics say is a blow to investor protection....
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Student newspapers adapt to drop in advertising
Shutterstock Canadian student newspapers have been hit hard by the same decline in print advertising that’s hurt many newspapers in recent years and that means big changes are coming this fall to how...
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The pre-movie ads go on, and on…
Andrey Rudakov/Getty Images You’ve paid your $10 or $12 admission. Endured the lineup for overpriced concessions. Negotiated your way into the theatre and settled into your seats. It’s 7:39 p.m. and...
View ArticleJustin Trudeau returns to the chalkboard
A new ad from the Liberal side that will apparently begin airing on television on Monday. This follows the ad the Liberals ran in April to respond to Conservative attacks. The post Justin Trudeau...
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Why Lily Allen wants a Christmas ad
Photo illustration by Sarah MacKinnon With its controversial lyrics and twerking-heavy video (meant as a parody of Robin Thicke’s Blurred Lines), Lily Allen’s song Hard Out Here may be getting all the...
View ArticleThe Conservatives would like to remind you they support Keystone XL
The latest assessment of the Keystone XL pipeline has been released—see Luiza Savage and Andrew Leach for the details—and now the Conservative party has a video they’d like you to see. Here it is with...
View ArticleThose federal anti-marijuana ads seem to be a recent idea
The story of Health Canada’s reported plan to mount an advertising campaign this fall on the dangers of using marijuana, aimed at young people, is being spun two ways—both, at first blush, reasonably...
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The one story that could save your life—well, maybe not
Whether you’re a reader of Time, CNN and ESPN, or thousands of other, smaller online publications, you’ve encountered a widget under a story pointing to other “content you may like.” With their...
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How money and advertising matter now in federal politics
Darryl Dyck/CP To a certain degree, we can say the influence of money on our federal democracy is rather limited. Unlike the orgies of fundraising and spending that American politicians now revel in,...
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Tim Wu delivers a screed about advertising
The Attention Merchants by Tim Wu (No credit) THE ATTENTION MERCHANTS By Tim Wu Humanity is in crisis, Tim Wu asserts—not so much because of climate change, or inequality, or the rise of the alt-right,...
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A reality check on the debate over regulating food marketing to kids
A McDonald’s cheeseburger Happy Meal with the new apple slices option is shown on Tuesday, July 26, 2011, in Pittsburgh. (Keith Srakocic/AP) Dr. Yoni Freedhoff is an assistant professor of family...
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Quick, Canadians! This might be your last year to watch U.S. Super Bowl ads!
MINNEAPOLIS, MN – JANUARY 31: The Vince Lombardi Trophy and helmets from The New England Patriots and Philadelphia Eagles. (Photo by Nick Wosika/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images) Fear not football fans...
View ArticleWhy it’s finally time to crack down on Facebook
Mark Zuckerberg is sorry again. The founder of Facebook—which had revenue of $40 billion last year thanks to its two billion regular monthly users—will humble himself, a giant on his knees, when he...
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How the feds hope to ban lifestyle marketing of legal pot
Anybody who expected to see pot being marketed as part of an affluent, fun lifestyle, starting with its legalization today across Canada, is in for a surprise. In fact, federal law imposes buzz-killing...
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Yes, you can watch Super Bowl ads in Canada this year—but it might be the...
For the third year in a row, Canadians will be able to watch the same Super Bowl ads on television as their friends south of the border—but enjoy them while they last. In November, Canada signed off on...
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South Dakota is proud to be ‘on’ meth
South Dakota has a meth problem. According to government data, in 2016, police raided nine meth labs, seizing 64 pounds of the drug and arresting 2,687 people. Statistically, South Dakotan teenagers...
View ArticleThe robocall rules (II)
Elections Canada has no comment on reports of an automated call sent out by the Valeriote campaign in Guelph during the last election. Elections Canada says it does not pre-authorize election messages...
View ArticleSelling the opposition
In a release this morning, the NDP announced the creation of an official app and hinted at more to come. This new social media tool is the first step in a national outreach and advertising campaign...
View ArticleSleeves: rolled up
The NDP launches its campaign with an ad for the Quebec market. The post Sleeves: rolled up appeared first on Macleans.ca.
View Article‘Jack’s vision is in good hands’
As viewers of last night’s Blue Jays game know, the NDP has launched the English portion of its ad campaign. The clip follows the script that was leaked to the CBC last month. If you watch Hockey Night...
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How does Google know what I’m looking at?
helgabj/Flickr Google announced new tools yesterday to help marketers measure how their ads are doing. One of these is Active View, which claims to reveal whether or not an online display ad was in...
View ArticleThe science of attack ads
Sadie Dingfelder reviews the latest research on political advertising. In one study, published in 2005 in the American Journal of Political Science, Brader and his colleagues found that campaign ads...
View ArticleGM drops Facebook ads days before IPO
General Motors announced plans to stop advertising on Facebook Tuesday, just days before shares in the social media giant are set to hit the open market. Executives at the auto making giant just aren’t...
View ArticleLost in the supermarket
Susan Delacourt reviews Political Marketing in Canada, which includes an interview with Conservative strategist Patrick Muttart. “Close campaigns are decided by the least informed, least engaged...
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