Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with advertising

Ads where a word is worth 1000 pictures

Shepherd — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 12:59:36 -0800

Great text-driven (print) ads from 2009? I'm currently working on a project that involves championing the text component of advertising: finding ads where the text is front and centre as opposed to the visual, and language is used intelligently and playfully to sell an idea or concept. I've got a few things lined up, from local businesses to national campaigns, but I'd like to see more ads, most likely print/billboard ads (but TV/Web is also a possibility) where the written word (i.e. visually present, a clever script read with no words on-screen won't cut it) is the star, and does its job remarkably well. Ideas?

home page introductory videos

Bacillus — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 23:35:16 -0800

Do you know of any sites with home page videos introducing new concepts such as the P2 for Wordpress theme? I'm introducing a new concept to the Internet through my website which would be too difficult for people to understand with a plain text and image home page, I believe they would leave very quickly without a video presentation. I'm looking for some good examples which are informative and capture attention.

Can simply be introductory video with examples, even ones with a standing person giving an oral presentation although this is not what I will be using. I will be using something more along the lines of the P2 theme introductory video.

Anyone know anything about Gold Bond Powder?

spilon — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 08:54:39 -0800

I'm interested in learning about the history of Gold Bond Powder -- who invented it, when, why... that sort of thing. Maybe some images of old bottles or vintage ads, historical documents, whatever. My Googling has turned up surprisingly little for such a well-known product. Any help, hive mind?

Where's the website Startup button?

Drasher — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 19:19:10 -0800

I want to create a website and need general and specific guidance. I don't want to give the idea away so the description is a little sketchy. How do I deal with keeping the kids out of the "adult" section? How do I "spread the word"? (to get submissions and readers?; i.e. kickstart) I am considering a WordPress engine and Nearly Free Speech for hosting (at least at the start). Is that reasonable to use? I have not purchased the domain yet.

The website will mostly deal with user submitted documents; I am not really sure I know how to get the submissions: users scan things and email or upload the files. Should I allow submissions to me snail mailed in and I scan them? (I don't want to be required to return them, I think)

I know that some of these things will end up being the "adults only" type (I'm OK with that), but I want to keep the kiddies out of there. Require a registration for that section? What qualifications do I ask for?

Is it reasonable/acceptable/advisable to accept PayPal donations for upkeep? What about advertising? what's the best way? (I don't want to go with the obnoxious popups and horrific banners if I can help it)

Is it possible to make a buck or two if it is popular? I'm not looking to make a real killing, mostly pay for the effort and costs.

How does one select and "promote" moderators that will keep in line with the original concept of the site?

When do I bust the cherry and put it on MeTa's Projects section?

What have I not covered??

Anyone "volunteer" to answer specific questions after I get started?

What is the PayPal of the adult industry?

Anonymous — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 08:29:58 -0800

Adult Website Filter: Which payment processor should I use to sell advertising space on my porn website? I'm going to launch a little project of mine which is a porn website. I won't go into detail about what it does, but it's basically a portal site for advertisers to place banner ads to their websites. I want to be able to accept payment from the advertisers.

I would normally use PayPal for such a thing, but as far as I can tell, PayPal will not allow any transactions from an adult website, no matter what they're for. Is this true? If so, can you recommend another good payment processor which will allow adult content? Note that I am not selling adult content; I am only selling advertising space which will contain adult content.

I have heard that CCBill is good, but their fees are high (starting at 14.5%), and I don't want the upfront cost of a full merchant account.

ad concept confusion

Jason and Laszlo — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 14:06:57 -0800

New to copywriting: what is an 'ad concept' ? I do a lot of writing and now taking a stab at copywriting. I've been hired to produce 5-10 ad concepts for a single page ad, to include headlines and blurbs.

Please explain what an ad concept is! Is this a fully realized idea, or a general idea to be worked out later? Will each of the 5-10 concepts need to be fully realized? (and if so, is this a crazy assignment?)

(The person who hired me seems to be a little upset with my ignorance, otherwise I would keep asking him.)

Is marketing fast food by public schools a common thing?

dejah420 — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 17:22:35 -0800

Is it common for public schools to directly market fast food to children under the guise of "school spirit"? My son started 1st grade at public school this year. So far, about once a month, the Chick-fil-A cow shows up at their school, wanders the hall and hands out these fliers that say that the class with the most kids that show up and order fast food on Date X wins a free chicken nugget party with said cow and a free recess. The class in second place of the spending race gets a free recess.

Not only that, but he brings home fliers from the school that announce that "spirit night" is coming. Today, we got a call (from the system that I thought was designed to only be an emergency announcement system) that reminded us to go to Chick-fil-A and spend money. Then, when I picked him up from school, he and all the other kids were plastered with a giant branding sticker in the center of their little chests reminding the parents to take their kids to Chick-fil-A tonight.

He was heartbroken when I told him that we would not be going. Apparently, they've been drilling them all week about getting a "free party" and a "get out of class free" period.

Is this as outrageous as I think it is? Is it common, and I'm just overreacting?

My opinion is that I should call the ISD superintendent to inquire why the school is trying to turn my kid into a mindless fast-food eating consumer-bot. But other parents around here don't seem to think it's an issue, and in fact were taking pictures of their kids covered in branding standing next to the cow when school let out today.

Before I go all crusader on the school district, am I being irrational about this?

(For the record; I didn't have an issue with this company before all this marketing to my kid started, and tonight as I was trying to google whether this sort of marketing was common, I came across the information that Chick-fil-A supports tea-baggers and funds homophobic organizations...so thanks to their aggressive marketing to my 6 year old kid, they're now added to my ever growing "boycott" list.)

Advice for advertising CD considering quitting?

Anonymous — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 16:06:41 -0800

NYC big ad agency creative director with art background is considering quitting his job to look for another, in this economy. Would really appreciate some advice... The person in question (seriously not me, but still anon to be safe) is a friend who badly needs advice and I'm doing everything I can to help.

His current job is horribly mismanaged which results in a steady 65+ hour work week with no chance to see family and not much chance for creative success since project schedules are too tight. No exaggeration here, he's had some terrible bosses and situations in his time and handled it fine, but this is really exceptional and doesn't look like it's going to change.

He has a great resume and great creative skills, mostly on the interactive side. Background is in art/design, but most of the last couple years have been "big ideas" for interactive campaigns. Recently has also been doing TV work.

The questions are:
-Is it totally stupid to quit a job in this market? Is there any hope of finding a CD or ACD-type position in the ad biz these days even with a good resume?

-A different tack I discussed with this friend was looking into jobs outside-of but related-to advertising. Maybe like marketing positions in a company? Is this a good idea? Other careers where it might help to have a interactive advertising background? We talked about maybe something more low key in north Jersey where he lives.

-A couple years ago, this kind of job searching was all handled by headhunter/recruiters. Is that still a good way to go? Any recommendations for people to talk to in the NYC or North Jersey area? If not, other ways to look for jobs at this level?

Feel free to email any questions to: cdjobhunthelp@gmail.com

I realize this is a really vague/broad question, but I'd really appreciate any advice, thanks!

African American smokers choose menthol cigs ~75% of the time; Whites ~25% of the time. Why?

jjjjjjjijjjjjjj — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 08:16:46 -0800

How did menthol cigarettes come to control such a large share of African American smokers' cigarette purchases? [quick cites: wikipedia, FDA (via USA Today), Harvard SoPH] The studies linked put ~25% of White smokers as choosing menthol, and 70%-80% of African American smokers as choosing menthol. My anecdotal perceptions for my age cohort and region (~30, St. Louis, MO) seem like they'd widen the gulf even further. How did this come to be?

I suspect that the major mechanisms perpetuating this amount to: advertising (just by looking at where and how Kool and Newport [popular menthol cigarette brands] concentrate the bulk of their advertising) and inertia (just like all the products I use for no other reason than that my daddy used 'em). But how did it get that way, in this case?

Answers will be quite nuanced and variables quite interconnected, no doubt... not looking for any "just so" stories. Willing to read challenging things. Many thanks.

How should we pay our web ad rep?

chocolatepeanutbuttercup — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 19:08:04 -0800

How should we pay our web ad rep? We (partner and I) have got a local arts website that is beginning to do well in terms of readership. We're finally at the point where we want to bring on someone to sell ads.

We've got a good candidate and we're ready to start negotiating their payment.

We're thinking of a small flat fee plus a commission, but don't know how to balance them. We want to be fair - don't want to cheat but don't want to give away the store.

Any advice, anecdotes and/or resources are welcome.

Thanks!

CopyWriterFilter 5000: How do copywriters come up with names for products and product lines?

metajc — Sat, 17 Oct 2009 10:49:23 -0800

CopyWriterFilter 5000: How do copywriters come up with names for products and product lines? I've been slowly transforming into a copywriter (so painful) and have been tasked with developing around 40 "unique, sonorous" product names for a well-known manufacturer.

I took a drive around town to brainstorm and noticed that housing subdivisions seem to have been named with use of a programmed, automated name builder ... such that "some British village name" + "a random selection of 'wood' 'creek' or 'view'" = American McMansionville. Are they using a system to whip those out?

That's a horrible example and not what I'm looking to do ... but are there systems for developing brand names that could quicken my pace? Are there some sites and/or books I can read about that?

"Well, as you can see ... it SUCKS as it CUTS!"

What's the most iconic blue-jeans video ad?

funkbrain — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 19:23:23 -0800

What's the most iconic blue-jeans video ad?

How to get connected and get working as a retoucher in Berlin?

freudenschade — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 07:27:52 -0800

Talented, creative, experienced (but mostly non-German-speaking) Canadian digital artist looking for postproduction/retouching work in Berlin. Got any leads or advice for my girlfriend? We moved to Berlin a couple of months ago, and after some much-needed down time, the job hunt has begun. We have visas that allow us to live and work in Germany for at least the coming year. Being fairly competent in German and focused in the tech/software/marketing world, I'm OK for leads for now, but my girlfriend could use some tips.

Background: She graduated from Sheridan College with a diploma in Applied Photography in 2004. Spent the last four years working for Dixon Film & Photography, one of the top advertising photography studios in Canada -- the past two of which were as head retoucher, working on national and international ad campaigns for big clients in partnership with top ad agencies. She's incredibly talented, and able to contribute to projects creatively as well as technically. Basically, she's a postproduction ninja. She just needs someone in the industry here in Berlin to take notice.

You can view samples of her professional and personal (fine art) work here: www.lunaland.net

So, creative industry Berliners (and others in the know), what can she do to make some more connections locally and find the right position? Full time would be ideal, but regular freelance is an option as well. Again, she doesn't really speak German, but it seems like it would definitely be possible to find work as an English speaker in the mostly English speaking creative/advertising industry.

Any and all feedback is definitely appreciated. Specific suggestions for related work (i.e. art direction) would also be great. Danke schön in advance!

Find IBM Ad

canoehead — Sun, 04 Oct 2009 08:34:01 -0800

Hey does anyone remember this IBM commercial from the late 90's or so? There were executives conducting a meeting on the beach in surfer gear & talking in surfer talk, I thought it was quite smart & funny. Would really like a link to a video of this.

Mutton dressed as lamb

Funmonkey1 — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 03:19:36 -0800

Is there a formula related to the statement "What's old becomes new again"? As middle age encroaches, it becomes harder and harder not to see history recycled and repackaged whether fashion, music, etc... Do marketers and and advertisers have a strategy backed by science or math? Or is this just my first sign of developing "Get off my lawn" syndrome?

looking for an ad for clinique happy featuring a football player and a skinny woman with a cake.

binocularfight — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 18:37:31 -0800

I'm looking for a print advertisement for Clinique Happy perfume from the (I think) late 90s. It features a beefy football player and an extraordinarily thin woman holding a cake. Can you direct me to a copy? I'm looking for the print ad described above for a lecture I'm giving on how advertising functions in American society. This particular ad is one that sticks out in my memory, but I have absolutely no idea how to find a copy. If someone could direct me to a link online (I have searched high and low, to no avail), or if you have a copy you could scan and post somewhere (or e-mail to me), i would be incredibly grateful.

Also, if anyone has a favorite blog or website (or whatever) that posts incendiary ads (anything dealing with race, class, gender, sexism, homophobia, etc. in a manner that reifies these things), i'd love to know about it! Thanks!

Help me find this ad.

mareli — Wed, 26 Aug 2009 15:13:30 -0800

Help me find this ad: American Express ad in a magazine, early 1990s: a classroom, fifth grade maybe, kids at desks in traditional rows. Books open on desks, maybe a teacher at the blackboard. One little girl's open book shows an American Express card instead of what should be inside the book. The implication is she's daydreaming about what she wants to buy.

Google AdWords via Database?

dacoit — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 15:53:58 -0800

Anyone know of a way to set up a Google AdWords account so that ads and keywords can be uploaded in bulk (as a database)? I would very much like to be able to place Google AdWords ads in bulk (by the thousands), not one by one. Surely there's got to be some way to do this?

Has anyone heard of any way that this can be done? Perhaps uploading or feeding some kind of database to Google (in whatever format they require) with fields such as 1.) triggering keyword, 2.) title/text of ad, 3.) ad link, 4.) bid for the keyword, etc. ... something along those lines?

I've been searching and sifting through information about the AdWords API but with no luck so far ... and yet it's such a simple idea, surely I'm missing something obvious? If you have any experience with this kind of thing, your thoughts and ideas are very much appreciated.

I'm Only Interested In The Poster

mattdidthat — Wed, 19 Aug 2009 19:46:58 -0800

What is this poster, seen hanging on the wall in this ad? The poster tagline reads,

They're young . . .
They're in love . . .

The poster appears to be either a movie or Broadway show poster, circa mid-1950s to early 1960s.

The ad is K-Y's "Shocked".

Bonus points for high-resolution images, or where-to-buy-it information!

DFW window sign installers?

DB Cooper — Fri, 14 Aug 2009 12:20:01 -0800

Can any Mefites recommend a reliable sign company in the Dallas-Ft. Worth area? I need to have vinyl lettering (or whatever the sign-person recommends) installed on a plate-glass, storefront window. I would love for the sign to be Dallas City Code-compliant.

Help Me Figure Out the Legality of Having Beer Labels in a Bar Advertisement

rmrudy — Wed, 12 Aug 2009 10:55:38 -0800

Do print ads for bars/restaurants have to blur the labels on the beers they carry in pictures? Our bar is putting out an ad in a magazine and the picture we're planning on using has a lot of the beers we carry in it. Do we have to censor the labels of beers we carry at our bar for the print ad for any reason? I know it seems like a silly question, but I'm genuinely clueless. Copyright, the magazine taking issue with free advertisement for the beers, etc? I'm not turning up many helpful things in my errant Google searches. Thanks hive-mind.

How Do I Get Paid For My Podcast?

HostBryan — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 07:02:25 -0800

How should I go about monetizing my podcast in a legitimate and professional manner? I've been operating my podcast for over three years now. In that three years, I've made a lot of new friends, met and interviewed some of my personal heroes, and just generally had a good time. We've since gone from just one main podcast to a soft launch of a network of podcasts on various topics, which I am pretty excited about.

Unfortunately, I've never really gotten anything in terms of financial compensation, which means I've been running it at a loss for three years. Now, it is not a gigantic expense and I am otherwise employed, but I'd like to make the podcast make at least a little money. I'm not looking to get rich, but if I could cover server and domain costs, give my co-hosts a little something, and maybe cover a few other bills I'd be ecstatic.

I've got some experience with radio sales but podcasts are a whole different beast, especially because it seems like I pretty much have to set up my own operation. I don't mind going hat-in-hand to potential sponsors but I also don't want to look like some shady character who's just going to take the money and run.

I plan on offering recorded ad messages and on-air mentions of the product/website/whatever, as well as banner and link space on the front page of the actual website. I'm mostly looking for cash, but trades of products or services for giveaways/reviews/whatever are also welcome.

So I guess I have a couple questions.

1. How do I go about making everything nice and legal and official? I want to make sure there's a paper trail and documents for sponsors to follow, also I want to be sure how to file taxes for this sort of thing. Plus, I don't want to look schlubby.

2. What would be a fair ballpark rate to charge for podcast advertising? We aren't a huge podcast but we get a large number of downloads for each episode, and we've been having a lot of luck with landing relatively big-name guests lately. I'm thinking of offering a tiered structure - sort of a Bronze/Silver/Gold/Platinum-type thing.

3. Would I instead be better off just accepting donations?

Thanks for your help, hive mind.

Help me bust these SEM Scammers.

reticulatedspline — Fri, 07 Aug 2009 07:59:55 -0800

Help me bust these SEM scammers. I'm just a humble SEM account manager, so I don't know nearly enough about programming, web services, etc. to crack this nut.

Here's the scoop:

For the past week, there have been various ads showing up on Google on travel-related queries. These ads all direct to a co.cc domain, and make insane claims like "All Tickets 90% Off!" or "$15 Flights". When you click the ad, you get taken briefly to the domain listed, and then redirected to some other site, seemingly at random. Clicking the same ad several times will send you to a variety of sites, some of which are actually airline related, some are not (one time it sent me to an online pharmacy selling tamiflu), and some are just pages with nothing but content ads. This is clearly in violation of Google's Adwords policies, since the destination is not reflected in the display URL. Each time I see one, I report it to our Google reps, and they remove it. Problem is, each time they remove one ad, another one pops up under a new domain name after an hour or so. So far since Wednesday I've seen:

http://afeelgon4.co.cc/
http://afeelgon2.co.cc/
http://quanuker4.co.cc/
http://rasnoty5.co.cc/
http://pertolen4.co.cc/
http://muklok5.co.cc/

These are making my job a bitch for a few reasons: a) they always show up in the top position for pretty much every single air travel related query imaginable: any query with "flights" "travel" "airfare" "tickets" "airlines" "air" etc in it. This means my position is worse whenever they're showing, my CTRs are thus lower, and my CPCs are the same or slightly higher. More importantly b) they provide a shitty user experience. Slow load times and a destination page which is not related to the ad the user clicks, and which does not in any way support the insane claims made in the ad. This means the user is left with a shitty taste in their mouth and is much less likely to actually buy from a legitimate site when/if they click on another ad. It doesn't help that c) they seem to frequently closely mimic the ad copy I use, thus meaning my ads get even more negative association.

I've been watching closely every day for these ads to show up, and each time they do, the conversion rates on my ads showing on the same keywords drop like a rock and do not recover until the fraudulent ads have been removed. Yesterday one of my highest converting campaigns ended the day with a conversion rate of 0.12% (the average to date was 2.13%). At this point I'm pausing many of my campaigns when the ads show up, to avoid killing my CPA, but doing so means my sales numbers drop like hell.

Since they're new ads each time, these guys must be bidding insane amounts to hit the top position. On certain keywords I've been running on for close to a year, I have a historical CTR of close to 40% and bids of over $1.50 and they're still beating me for top position every single time. The only way I can see this behavior of theirs functioning as a profitable business model is through a combination referall fees, content ad payouts and affiliate payouts (probably per visitor, since I can't imagine they're getting high conversion rates from these misleading ads), so they're making money from a variety of sources on each click, enough to offset the huge CPCs they must be paying on their ads.

At this point the Google reps seem helpless to do anything other than remove the ads each time they pop up. They've said that they don't think it's the same person doing it, though they find the coincidences between the ads "alarming". I personally would disagree, considering the MO is identical in each instance. That alone suggests that somewhere behind it all there is one entity responsible. Either way, I don't think they have a deep understanding of what the methodology being used is, exactly, for them to do anything about it other than play whack-a-mole with the ads.

At this point any insights into this would help. Like I said, I don't really know enough about the nuts and bolts of web coding to understand how they're doing this or what clues they might be leaving that could be used to identify a culprit. I don't know how to stop on the landing page for long enough before it redirects for me to view the source code, and even if I did, it probably wouldn't mean anything to me.

Any suggestions, explanations, insights, etc. would be greatly appreciated.

I'm looking for amusing phrases that could be found on old health tonic/elixir advertisements.

SouthCNorthNY — Sun, 02 Aug 2009 21:51:29 -0800

I'm looking for amusing phrases that could be found on old health tonic/elixir advertisements. They don't have to be real, just funny. Example: "Most beneficial for the humors!"

What kinds of advertising options should a new internet startup offer its customers and how should they be priced?

tnoetz01 — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 15:46:06 -0800

What kinds of advertising options should a new internet startup offer its customers and how should they be priced? I'm starting an online service targeted at beer enthusiasts, and we're considering offering advertising to the industry.

I'm trying to build some revenue model scenarios based on advertising options and rates. Specifically, I'm looking for help deciding what advertising options to offer and how much to charge for each, likely on a CPM basis.

What advertising options are typical, and what are typical CPMs for a site targeted at a fairly niche audience like ours?