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Bush-Aide Karen Hughes Is Giving Up Her Efforts To Promote Brand America

Undersecretary of State for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs Karen Hughes, who led efforts attempting to improve the U.S. image abroad will leave the government at the end of the year.

Hughes said the job of improving America's image would "take a number of years." and that improving the world's view of the United States is a "long-term challenge" that will outlast her.

Hughes was hired by the State Department two years ago to retool the way the United States sells its policies, ideals and views overseas. Hughes' focus has been to change the way the United States engages and responds to criticism or misinformation in the Muslim world.

Under Hughes reign, global opinions of brand America were persistently low, particularly in the Muslim countries where she was supposed to concentrate her efforts.

Despite these facts, White House spokesperson Dana Perino said, "She has done quite a great job of transforming public diplomacy at the State Department and established new initiatives and programs that will serve us well after she's gone," "We are making progress. I know that we have a long way to go."

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said that Hughes had made public diplomacy "strong and central" to U.S. foreign policy and had exceeded expectations in the job. "I knew that she would bring a great dedication and great commitment to all that we're trying to do," Rice said. "She has done just a remarkable job."

Source: Associated Press

Quarterback Tom Brady To Promote Glaceau Smartwater

Tom Brady, the star quarterback for the New England Patriots, has added Coca-Cola-owned Glaceau Smartwater to his list of endorsement deals. The electrolyte-fortified beverage is making an advertising push at a time when sales of enriched waters are on the rise, and sales of carbonated beverages are falling. According to USA Today:

The high-profile deal points up how non-carbonated drinks are now a key battle for beverage makers used to fighting over sparkling colas.

Bacardi To Promote Holiday Happiness Through Getting Liquored-up

OK, OK. The headline might be a little sensational, but it does tell the story of Bacardi's first brand-wide holiday campaign in over a decade.

“It’s a big departure for us in many ways,” said Joe Metivier, brand director at Bacardi, Miami. “The idea is to promote that Bacardi has a variety of products that can be used in a wide range of food and drinks to enhance consumers’ holiday home entertaining.”

Brandweek reports that the effort will be led by TV and print, starting around Thanksgiving. The ads, via Young & Rubicam, New York, also include outdoor, Internet and on-premise promotions by Moosylvania, St. Louis. Consumers will also be driven to Bacardi.com, where cooking show-style videos offer ideas for holiday treats and cocktails.

Bacardi put the spend at $6 million.

Here's Brandweek's take on the TV spot:

The spot opens with a young man arriving at a party and presenting the hostess with a bottle of Bacardi Gold. As a remix of “Sleigh Ride” plays, the camera works its way through the house to show the various ways people are using Bacardi’s products. Bacardi Select is included in an eggnog recipe, Limón is used to make sweet confections and Bacardi Gold is mixed with soft drinks for a cocktail and poured in as the base for a rum cake. Tag: “Happy Holidays from Bacardi.”

In The Battle of Targeted Ads vs The Right To Privacy, AOL To Launch "Do-Not-Track" Lists

Personalization vs privacy. What a conflict.

Since the beginning of commercial messaging, marketers have tried to learn more and more about their consumers in order to develop products, and to create appropriate messaging based on consumers wants/needs/desires.

Making different ads for different people is a great way to reach prospective buyers — and recent technology advances allow the Internet to capture enough data for them to do so. But, at the same time, consumers don't want their privacy invaded.

In recent times, do-not-call lists and SPAM guards and corporate privacy notices have protected consumer privacy via phone, email and mail. Now, the personalization vs privacy fight is going online.

It seems that privacy is winning over personalization. Soon people will be able to sign up for do-not-track lists, which will help shield their Web surfing habits from marketers.

This doesn't mean that the pop-up ads, skyscrapers and take-over ads consumer view will be reduced. Oh no. It just means that marketers will be prevented from using consumer's online history to deliver specific ad pitches to them.

AOL is first to announce a service of this type, which it says will be up and running by the end of the year. AOL plans to set up a new Web site that will link consumers directly to opt-out lists run by the largest advertising networks. The site’s technology will ensure that people’s preferences are not erased later.

The New York Times reports that there is a silver lining for marketers, however:

the AOL site will try to persuade people that they should choose to share some personal data in order to get pitches for products they might like. Most Web sites, including AOL, already collect data about users to send them specific ads — but AOL is choosing to become more open about the practice and will run advertisements about it in coming months.

Consumers who have already seen some benefits from online tracking systems — in the form of movie recommendations from Netflix, perhaps, or product recommendations from Amazon — might warm to AOL’s argument.

“Instead of having interruptive ads, instead of jarring things that will grab your attention, things are hopefully tailored to be suitable to your experience,” said Jules Polonetsky, the chief privacy officer for AOL. “We think tailoring advertising content in a way that is useful is a good proposition.”

Whether consumer privacy groups and other advertising companies agree with AOL’s philosophy will become clearer tomorrow and Friday at the event put together by the F.T.C., the agency that monitors advertising for deceptive and unfair practices. The gathering will feature privacy officials from Google, Yahoo, AOL and Microsoft, as well as experts in the field of behavioral targeting, which is the delivery of ads to people based on their online habits.

The Times notes that AOL executives say they are happy to give people a way to keep their Internet habits private, even though that would undercut AOL’s own behavioral targeting efforts.

“We all have to build toward a future where we are delivering ads people want and not just ads we want people to see,” said Dave Morgan, the founder of Tacoda ( a behavioral ad network acquired last July by AOL). “The only way to do that is to listen to consumers.”

Saga To Launch Social Networking Site for Seniors, Bebo To Launch Reality TV Show

Two bits of news this morning about the world of social networking sites:

As Facebook and MySpace evolve (the first on the rise, the latter becoming too mainstream/commercial for the younger set) news from the UK of a new site for the over-50 set, and word that Bebo's getting into reality TV.

First, social networking for seniors:

Saga, the travel and insurance company, has launched a social networking site for the over-50s, called Saga Zone, launched today after a four-month trial.

As on other social networking sites, users can create personal profiles and make contact with other members. It already has more than 13,000 registered users -- the oldest is 87.

And, from Bebo:

Bebo is to show an online reality TV series it has commissioned from Endemol UK, following the round-the-world adventures of six people selected through video auditions by the Bebo community.

'The Gap Year' will follow six Bebo users on a journey round the world to mirror the site's global reach. Their itinerary is likely to include Rio Carnival, Chinese New Year celebrations, China, Zen Week in Sri Lanka and the full moon party season in Thailand.

Bebo is launching a casting call in December and users can submit a video postcard about their ideal gap year. Winners will be chosen by the Bebo community.

'The Gap Year' will be filmed in 2008 and is scheduled to air exclusively on Bebo.com.

This will be Bebo's third programming effort after serialised drama 'KateModern' and upcoming drama, 'Sofia's Diary'.

Source: Brand Republic

Robert Goulet Passes Away

The Associated Press is reporting that Robert Goulet "the handsome, big-voiced baritone whose Broadway debut in "Camelot" launched an award-winning stage and recording career, has died. He was 73."

His recent appearence in an Emerald Nuts commercial was a fitting final act, and one of my favorite recent spots:

Thinking Outside The Box (and Bun): Taco Bell Gives Away Free Tacos, And Reaps Huge Benefits

It's hard to argue with good buzz.

However, I often find it difficult to convince company executives to participate in the-best-of-all buzz tactics: give-a-ways. Not because they're cheesy (they don't have to be) or difficult to measure success, but because it often is a hard emotional sell to convince an exec to give away something, rather than buy something (like media).

Here's an example of the multiplier affect that giveaways can provide. Keep this case study handy the next time you want to convince your boss or client to participate in a promotional giveaway:

Advertising Age says that Taco Bell scored a PR home run with the promise of a free taco to any American who wants one if a base was stolen in the World Series.

Taco Bell's promotion gave every American the opportunity to receive a free taco. Wow, that might sound like a big proposition--and a high risk one. So how much did the promotion actually cost? A lot less than one might think. In AdAge's words, "Advertising buy: $5.6 million. Potential giveaway cost: under $1 million. Publicity value: priceless."

Here are the details from (AdAge.com):

According to Nielsen Monitor-Plus, the fast feeder is one of the top 10 advertisers in the series, spending $5.6 million (General Motors Corp. is the heaviest hitter, at $13.2 million).

It's expected that figure includes all the extra airtime Taco Bell got on the broadcast -- plugs from TV anchors and sports figures about the promotion and a live interview with Rob Savage, chief operating officer of Taco Bell -- not to mention a mention of the promo from a player in a "candid" conversation between Sox shortstop Royce Clayton and Mr. Ellsbury the evening before the big steal.

'Pretty low-risk'
Of course, those are just buy-in costs; Taco Bell now has to put its tacos where its mouth is. Mr. Bortz said the chain is expecting "millions of Americans" to turn up Tuesday from 2 p.m. from 5 p.m. for free seasoned-beef crunchy tacos, which normally cost a whopping 77¢. Mr. Bortz wouldn't disclose costs, but even if the tacos -- as some analysts suggest -- are 20¢ to make, the cost wouldn't be outrageous. Even in the impossible scenario that half the U.S. population made a run for the border, Taco Bell's liability would be less than $30 million. But experts estimate it will cost a fraction of that -- less than $1 million.

"It's pretty low-risk," said Ron Paul, president of restaurant consultant Technomic. If each of 6,000 locations gives away three tacos a minute for about three hours, Mr. Paul calculated Taco Bell would give away a maximum of 3 million tacos. He estimated they cost Taco Bell about 20¢, making the maximum total cost about $700,000.

And of course, Taco Bell chose its hours and dates wisely -- the free taco giveaway is comfortably between the lunch and dinner hours. The company said it didn't take out any insurance on the promotion, which indicates it wasn't concerned about financial risk.

And, on top of all the foot traffic the giveaway will generate, remember the additional food items that will be purchased...a higher-margin soft drink to wash down their freebies, plus, a Gordito, a Crunchwrap and a burrito to go. Besides, Taco Bell has been handing out free food on a national and regional basis for years, so its franchisees are well-versed in ways to make the most of increased foot traffic.

Fake Steve Jobs Book Signing in SF

As you may know, I'm a big fan of the fake Steve Jobs blog, "The Secret Diary of Steve Jobs." Forbes reporter Dan Lyons has captured a perfect balance between parody and reality while lampooning one of the technology industry's grand leaders.

If you are in San Francisco this Friday (Nov 2 at 7pm), you may want to stop by Books Inc. in the Castro, 2275 Market Street, 415-864-6777 to meet Lyons at a book signing where he'll "...discuss the anonymous blog (http://fakesteve.blogspot.com/) that lampooned the real Steve Jobs, as well as Silicon Valley’s characteristic excess and his new novel, Options: The Secret Life of Steve Jobs, a Parody."

INFO: http://www.booksinc.net/NASApp/store/IndexJsp?s=storeevents&eventId=357862

And, thanks to 5 Blogs' "Ever Loyal Reader" for the tip.

Old Spice To Wieden & Kennedy

I place the Old Spice brand up there with Sun-maid Raisins, Quaker Oats, Charmin and Folgers coffee as brands whose advertising is legendary, and iconic. I can name the Old Spice jingle in just three notes!

Now comes word that Procter & Gamble has extended its relationship with Wieden & Kennedy by handing it the global digital account for its Old Spice brand, along with its Escada fragrances and Graham Webb haircare businesses.

Will they be able to do better than this (he blogs, tongue-in-cheek):