Council of the U.S. and the Beer Institute announced they will only buy advertising in media that has an audience that is 70% adult, up from the current 51%. The new figure could mean some TV shows and magazines might have fewer beer ads and could make attracting a teen audience less desirable to media programmers, but both alcohol groups said the ad changes would be very limited.
NAA's Display Federation announced it will develop a brand statement targeting advertisers in the hopes of reinforcing the value of newspapers.
In a 3700-word article about the blogging phenomenon, Matt Welch uses his first 660 words to castigate AAN members, calling them "conformist," politically correct and "politically monochromatic." According to Welch, he attended AAN West in February and learned that alternative newspapers and the people who work for them are all "the same," which led him to question whether they still deserve to be called "alternative."
Diageo said on Monday that it will relaunch Smirnoff vodka and brand extensions such as Smirnoff Twist, Ice and Ice Triple black with new bottle and logo designs and national advertising and marketing programs for which the company will spend in excess of $150 million.
The Internet industry has long given up on the debate of whether the Web is a branding or a direct response medium and settled on the mutual understanding that it can serve both purposes rather successfully. Up until now, however, that success has not been truly quantified, but the 2003 American Interactive Consumer Survey conducted by The Dieringer Research Group says the magic number is 50%.
The media's lousy these days with cautionary copy about the rise of methamphetamine and its attendant "tweaker" culture. But when Westword staff writer David Holthouse spent four days with a group of upwardly mobile Denver meth freaks on a high-end speed binge, he came back with a story like no other. Beginning at an upscale Colorado party pad and eventually leading all the way to the Las Vegas Strip and back, Holthouse's tale puts the lie to the myth of meth as a white-trash drug. A companion piece by Westword staffer Alan Prendergast details the staggering costs and freakish health risks that methheads impose on local communities.
A new study conducted by the Center for Survey and Research Analysis at the University of Connecticut found that voters who use the Internet -- regardless of party affiliation -- are highly engaged with politics online.
