Category — Branding

In-game advertising group, Massive Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Microsoft Corp, has announced that it signed a multi-year deal with Activision’s Blizzard Entertainment (maker of Starcraft and Diablo) today. Massive will be delivering dynamic in-game advertising to 18 titles on the Xbox 360 and PC platforms.

But in-game doesn’t necessarily mean in the game… Paul Sams, chief operating officer of Blizzard Entertainment, was quick to point out that there won’t be any ads cluttering up your battle Blood Raven, or worse, Mephisto: “This partnership does not include in-game advertising, as Massive understands and respects our stance against advertising that might detract from gameplay or offend our players.” Good call.

Activision’s major game franchises like “Guitar Hero: World Tour” and “James Bond: Quantum of Solace” are among the 18 titles included in the deal. The youth market is tough to reach with traditional advertising, so this in-game deal will probably end up being very profitable for both parties. Look for in-game advertising to grow exponentially over the next few years until it becomes one of the major advertising trends. Check out the complete press release:
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The Visa Black Card comes with an Exclusive Rewards Program. Apply Now!

A while back, we wrote about the Centurion card, better known as the American Express Black Card, the criteria you need to meet to get one, and some of the competing cards that have popped up to try to get in on that same market niche.

The Visa Black Card – a new ultra-high end card

There are a few of these “ultra-high end” cards out there, most of them issued by various banks or lending groups. Now Barclays Bank has tossed it’s hat into the ring with the Visa Black Card. Check out this website for some information about it.

Visa already has a high end card called Visa Infinite, which is issued by Visa, but the Visa Black card is handled by Barclays directly. Read more about the market for these cards:
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We’re big fans of Agent Provocateur here at AdSavvy. They’re hip, they have quality collections, and their advertising is top notch. Plus they always have the hottest models. We can’t get enough, and neither can consumers apparently. Even in economic tough times, AD is doing well.

The company is poised for some rapid expansion following last years’s $120 million dollar acquisition by the private equity firm, 3i Group. There are already 40 boutiques worldwide, including 8 in the US, and their planning on building even more: Boston, Chicago, Bahrain, Geneva, Puerto Barres, Madrid, St. Petersburg, and Germany to name a few. AD also had a fragrance launch party in London recently where Daisy Lowe showed off the goods on the catwalk.
Check out Daisy Lowe’s near-naked hotness; plus more recent sexy adverts:
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Let me refresh your memory:

Agent Provocateur constantly pushes the envelope when it comes to sexy advertising. This Kylie Minogue ad came out in December of 2001 and caused a huge hullabaloo. It was banned by UK TV networks (all 1 of them, the BBC), and it ended up only able to be shown in movie theaters.

Luckily it made it’s way to the internet and became one of the most viewed videos ever. Some estimates say this particular video has been viewed over 360 million times. Sex sells.

Finished watching? Ok, stand up…

Human beings tend to think they’re rational creatures, and that they make sound decisions based on all the available facts. They think their memory is an accurate record of things that have happened to them. But the reality is that we all have a slew of cognitive biases that can alter our thinking… and even our memories.

Psychologists have names for all the different fallacies and biases that influences our thinking: cognitive dissonance, inattentional blindness, blind spot bias, better-than-average bias, introspection illusion, self-serving bias, attribution bias, representative fallacy, availability fallacy, anchoring fallacy, hindsight bias, and the one I’ll be talking about here: framing effects
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Every year hundreds of the biggest marketers, agency heads, and all manner of people involved in advertising get together at the Association of National Advertisers’ annual conference. And every year, they vote on the best advertiser of that particular year. This year Barack Obama won with a pretty substantial 36% of the vote, beating out the two runners-up Apple and Zappos.com. Nike, Coors and Sen. John McCain filled out the bottom of the vote.

“I honestly look at [Obama's] campaign and I look at it as something that we can all learn from as marketers,” said Angus Macaulay, VP-Rodale marketing solutions “To see what he’s done, to be able to create a social network and do it in a way where it’s created the tools to let people get engaged very easily. It’s very easy for people to participate.”
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Magic and advertising are both deeply rooted in manipulation, and exploiting knowledge of human psychology. One of the most important aspects of the magician’s trade is manipulating the spectators choice while at the same time tricking that spectator into thinking they willingly made the choice. Derren Brown is a master of that particular trick. Check out some Derren Brown videos at the bottom of this post.

Ironically, that type of manipulation plays a huge part in advertising as well. In fact, magicians, politicians, advertisers and mediums are all essentially doing the same thing, the difference lies in their levels of honesty. The magician is usually the only honest one.
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American Apparel doesn’t do high gloss sexy like Abercrombie or Calvin Klein. There’s no silicone or collagen or Botox. There’s no major Photoshopping or retouching the models. It’s a reflection of our idea of what sexy is as a society.

The perfect blonde on the beach is leaving our collective fantasy; our idea of sexy isn’t defined by film or by print anymore, it’s defined by the internet. Our generation has unprecedented access to smut, and it’s infiltrated our definitions of beauty and our everyday fantasies. Gonzo porn is our sensual fantasy now. Set in some freaks house as a 19 year old meth-addicted girl with low self-esteem knocks on the door. “I’m here for the party.”
Hott.
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Ever since the 1980s, there’s been a rumor that American Express has a special card for the elite members of society. Supposedly the ultra-rich use it to get into the secret floor at Macy’s or the unadvertised underground restaurants of New York. It was cool to think there’s a whole lifestyle that you could gain access to if only you had a special card. Unfortunately, it didn’t actually exist until 1999. That’s when American Express decided to capitalize on the urban legend and make it a reality.

Since then, the Black Card (real name: The Centurion Card) has worked its way into popular culture. Rappers rap about it, writers incorporate it into books and magazines, it’s mentioned on TV shows. It’s the mark of wealth. But how hard is it to get one?
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McCain’s recent ad, Man In The Arena, is surprisingly good looking considering his other recent ads. Now, I’m talking from a purely aesthetic point of view. As far as substance goes, this ad offers nothing more than Obama’s American Promise, and everything I said about that ad can be said about this one. But still, it’s very effective advertising; more so, I think, than anything Obama has offered so far.

McCain’s ads to date have been almost entirely negative, usually with a disgusted sounding voice-over talking about things Obama has either done or not done. They were particularly acerbic and difficult to watch. This ad is different though, it optimistic, focused on McCain, and I think it portrays him in a better light to those who don’t really care about issues anyway.
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