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.
Last week, Howard Dean of Vermont, a onetime dark-horse presidential candidate who is suddenly -- to political insiders almost inexplicably -- leading the pack of Democratic candidates, undertook a 10-city, three-day flyaround of America. The "Sleepless Summer Tour," it was called -- in conscious rebuke of President George W. Bush's alleged inaction in the face of America's problems. Three AAN papers went along for the ride. The Memphis Flyer's Jackson Baker found in Dean a 21st century remake of "Give 'Em Hell" Harry Truman.
Similar to the way it sells network radio, Clear Channel has organized its 71 stations in California into eight statewide advertising networks. Each of the networks groups its stations by demographics, such as the Female Voter Network (23 stations), the 50-Plus Mature Adult Network (26), News/Talk (12) and the Coastal Network (37). Candidates can also purchase individual stations.
Advertising news and legal issues to be covered
