Samsung sponsors the 2008 Olympic Games

Although last weeks posts suggests that China's relation to the Sudan might effect the sponsorship for the 2008 Olympic Games, Samsung is jumping to collect a sponsorship spot for the games. Samsung has signed on with the Olympic games to become an official world wide partner and has launched a campaign for three of their new mobile phones designed especially for the event. According to the article, Olympic Sponsorship-Line Blur Samsung, Kodak, and Panasonic payed at great deal of money to become apart of the top program sponsors.To be a program sponsor you are give rights to provide wireless, audio, video, and imaging devices. But since technology has made such drastic improvements over the years there has been a blur between cellphones, tvs, video, and stereo. Now all of those options can be consolidated onto a cellphone, therefore causing an issue between media usage. 

To try to work around the problem, Samsung has said that they are focusing on mainly marketing the wireless-communication  of the phone rather than the video, internet, or photo accessories. Samsung sponsored the 2006 Turin Winter Games and their Italian phones increased in sales by 80% and they are predicting the Beijing market to be very lucrative. To learn more about Samsung's phones and their sponsorship with the Olympic Games visit their official website. 

Darfur effects Olympic Advertisers

On August 8th,2008  the Beijing Summer Olympics will have its open ceremony. The article, "Darfur could tarnish sponsers' Olympic dreams" informs that one of the advisors for the opening and closing ceremonies was famous director Steven Spielburg because he does not want to support China when they are Sudan's leading oil customer and supplier of weapons. Speilburg states, "I find that my conscience will not allow me to continue business as usual. At this point, my time and energy must be spent not on Olympic ceremonies, but on doing all i can to hep bring an end to the unspeakable crimes against humanity and that continue to be committed in Darfur."

This activism has put pressure on Olympic sponsors. Yet advertisers say the Olympic Games are about sports, not politics. Although there is pressure from an opinion leader such as Steven Spielburg and much discussion of the matter, no sponsors have pulled out yet. The Beijing Organizing Committee for the Olympic Games say that they stay out of the politics and focus more on the games. They leave the political aspects up to the organizations that deal with these specific issues. 

The Beijing Organizing Committee for the Olympic Games hopes that by hosting the 2008 Olympics it will give Beijing the publicity they have longed for. China's leading computers, Lenovo, is using the Olympics to advertise its brand to the world. Although the Olympic games will bring much good to China yet advertisers have failed to address the situation in Darfur which might lead to more sponsors pulling out in the future. 

To learn more about the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games visit their official website. 

Applebee's Teams up with Primetime

Starcom, the advertising agency, has taken their client Applebee's chain restaurant to the next level. The article," Starcom Puts Applebee's Into the 'Friday Night' Game" informs that  Applebee's landed a reoccurring role on NBC's drama, Friday Night Lights. Applebee's has made an appearance on every show, acting as a meeting spot for the couches and the team. Friday Night Lights takes place in a small town in Texas, therefore this specific product placement of Applebee's makes NBC show seem more authentic and the catchy slogan made sense with the setting of the show, "Eating good in the neighborhood."

Although television shows do not like to have long term relationship with brands, Applebee's adds a sense of reality to the show. Bill Leibengood, executive director-national marketing at IHOP Corp-owned Applebee's International believes that, " It's had a great impact on our brand." Friday Night Lights is loved by viewers as well as critics and it has been picked up by NBC for a second season, which means there is more success for Applebee's image to be had. Watch video clips from Friday Night Lights and look for the Applebee's product placement. To watch full episodes of the show visit NBC's web page. 

The Venice Festival of Media

The Venice Festival of Media 2008 is a global meeting that has a guest list of 800 delegates of the world's advertisers, media agencies, developers, and media owners. It is a four day festival that is taking place at the Palazzo del Cinema, Venice, Italy on Sunday, April 13th and goes until Wednesday April 17th. The article "The Venice Festival of Media 2008" explains that this global event will focus on issues such as dealing with the "buying and selling of pan regional and global advertising communications." The four days have a full agenda of conference session, speakers, and scheduled social networking opportunities. Check out the agenda for the week. In addition to providing these four days of activities, The Venice Festival of Media is teaming up with WaterAid in which delegates will be invited to make corporate of individuals donations for the cause.   

There will be many speakers at the festival such as Brandon Berger, Director of Digital Innovation, MDC Partners; Joanne Bradford, the Vice President and Chief Media Officer at MSN; and Brett Brewer, President AdKnowledge & Co-founder of My Space. These speakers will be accompanied by many other big wigs in the advertising world. This 2008 festivals also has big name sponsors. Some of these include AD Europe, ESPN, Yahoo, Advertising Age, Euronews, and the Wall-street Journal. 

To find more speakers that will be attending as well as partners of the Venice Festival of Media check out their official website. 

The all natural Pepsi Raw

Pepsi has taken their products to the next, much healthier, level. Pepsi Raw is the brand new soft drink made by pepsi which features all natural ingredients. The article "Pepsi Tests 'Naturally Sourced' Beverage" announces that this drink has yet to hit shelves around the world, but is being launched in the U.K. to tests how well it does in the  markets. If this healthy soft drink is a hit in the U.K. international distribution is to take place. According to the article "Pepsi launch new drink made from 'all natural' ingredients," Pepsi Raw, is made with raw cane sugar that replaces artificial sweeteners. It also contains no article preservatives, colors, flavorings or sweeteners.  It is only sold in glass bottled and is said to be more expensive than regular pepsi. Lynn Dornblaser, a new-product analyst believes that Pepsi Raw is a niche product with a small target audience. Dornblaser also thinks that the main consumers will be the younger generations who want to know exactly what they are putting in their body. 

The U.K. is proud to have this new product on their market, although Coca-Cola is the leading brand. To learn more about Pepsi Raw check out heir offical website . To see what the public thinks about this healthy alternative check out this video.

Louis Vuitton International Ads

Louis Vuitton, the French born bag company has created a reputation as a high class delicacy in the purse industry. Dating back to the 1850's Louis Vuitton luxury bags have been a hot commodity. Print advertising had been their primary way of promoting their new styles ever since the sixties. But now the are taking their advertising to the next level by airing a television commerical. There 90 second commercial is travel themed and was shot in France, Spain, India, and Japan. Louis Vuitton is also sending this commercial around the world. It was aired in thirteen different languages in theaters, cable, and satellite television. Louis Vuitton plants to air their new commercial on most watched networks such as CNN and BBC. The campaign recently was started on February 15th and is to run throughout 2008. Check out recent print advertising campaigns for Louis Vuitton.
The article Vuitton Ads Venture on to Television states that the new television commercial aims at promoting the brand rather than specific product, therefor very few shot of the bag are shown in the commercial. By taking this new step in their television international advertising campaign they are changing the medium high end fashion brands advertise with, therefor creating a new edge for their brand.

McDonald's Advertising Ups and Downs

The biggest fast food chain in the United States is struggling through sales this year in China. Competitors such as KFC is ahead in sales due to the cultural preference of chicken rather than beef for Chinese consumers. Although McDonald's focuses its main attention on sales in the United States and Europe it is promoting a new advertising campaign in China that is putting more chicken items on the menu. Also McDonald's plans on opening 125 more restaurants throughout the country. But there is only so much money that can go into countries other than the United States and Europe where the majority of the money is being generated.
But sales are not even coming close to decreasing in Australia. In 2007, 1.2 million Australians had been in McDonald's a day. The are 762 restaurants across the country all stating their top seller is the cheeseburger. This seemingly healthy country has a soft spot for the golden arches greasy food and about 5% of Australians were reported eating McDonald's daily. Although McDonald's is promoting healthier options many more Australians are becoming over weight. There advertising is now promoted towards the whole family, especially at parents increasing their sales drastically. Check out McDonald's official website and their global campaign.

Sterrett, David. "Crouching Burger Hidden Nugget." Crain's Chicago Business 27 Nov. 2007: 1. Proquest. Ithaca College, Ithaca.

Tattersall, Hannah. "1.2 Million: That's How Many Australians Go Through the McDonalds Golden Arche's Each Day." The Sun Herald 27 Jan. 2008, First ed.: 9. Lexis Nexis. Ithaca College, Ithaca. 18 Feb. 2008. Keyword: McDonalds Internation Advertising.