some high-flyin advertising!

Have you heard of this company JetAngel? I hadn't either, someone recently directed me to their website because of my interest in advertising.
As far as I can tell, they have travelling aviation museums designed for both children and adults and they sell advertising space throughout the museums - even on the backs of the employees.

In their vision section they write:

"Create a Mobile Aviation Museum offering an experience completely different from any traditional museum. Advertisers and sponsors will become nationally known providers of free Aviation Fun Days for hospital kids (in the Jets4Kids program) or the supporters of aviation history and the promoters of American pride and patriotism (in the FighterMedia program). Both are clear win-win situations: getting the best in public relations by providing excitement while introducing or solidifying their product and/or service awareness."

Oh and at the bottom of the page they write this, which makes no sense to me...

"Turning American air superiority, our swords and spears, into an innovative way to advertise, while providing enjoyable experience for children of all ages as it says in Isaiah 2:4: "They will beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks."

Overall, I think it's a great program. The 'Jets4Kids' program going to hospitals for kids is a great idea. I appreciate that and am thankful for them doing that...but to be honest...I don't know that I would see this as a great advertising medium. Not sure how much the ROI would be for this...

It's very creative, I give them that!

Sci-Fi get's renamed SyFy

Hey did you hear NBC Universal has re-branded the Sci-Fi network...to SyFy. wow.

In other news, Spike will change it's name to Spyke, NBC Universal-owned USA will change to America's Channel, and TLC to the 2nd HGTV.

Oh and my name will now be Jason.

My co-worker made one remark about all of this...."You gotta wonder how much money the guy makes who made this decision"

Another report showing newspapers suck

I don't know about anyone else, but my Ad Age, I swear, comes a different day each week...so who knows how old this news is, but hey...it's new to me.

Page 4 has a listing of the top 25 newspapers in the US and their readership between 1990 and 2008. Five papers have an increase in readership....Wall Street Journal, USA Today, New York Post, Houston Chronicle and the Arizona Republic. The rest average 31.47% decline...with some papers losing as much as 50% and 60% of their readership.

So what is going on with the paper? Ad Age discusses the 'Sunday Focus' which is basically the understanding that more and more people are just getting the Sunday paper...it has the most deals, the most 'guck' as my parents put it, the most info. Everything is moving to the Sunday paper...

I don't subscribe to a paper, if I want a paper, I'll go out Sunday morning and buy one. And I'm not getting it for the news, I go online for that. I can get it a lot faster! I buy it for coupons, and 'extras' like reviews from people I know and trust. But that's it.

Sure the newspaper industry is trying to move online, and that is helping a lot - I think. Nationally, I think we'll see a real funnel down to only a couple news sources, because it will be where everyone goes. Locally...the info isn't in the newspapers. It's in blogs.

Two communities near me have bloggers who are going out and writing their own news.

Jennifer Zartman-Romano used to work (maybe she still does, not sure...never met her just read the blog) for the local paper. She now hosts 'Talk of the Town' - a blog for Columbia City, Indiana. She reports news, takes pictures does everything. She even has people helping her! It's a great tool and even older folks are chiming in - my grandpa is a regular reader.

Seth Anderson over at HuntingtonDaily.com is starting his own news blog. It's neat to watch both blogs grow and see where they lead.

It is in sites like these that the real news will begin to come out. It's faster, cheaper and interactive. Something that newspaper business has never had. Kudos to Jennifer and Seth, thank you for doing what you do and for working to keep the local news fresh for all of us!

Ask.com is taking over your TV!!!

They have been doing it for awhile, but this is the first weekend I've been home and watched TV and therefore noticed.

Ask.com has started buying space during movies and tv shows...not commercials...instead they're taking up the small space in the lower fifth of the screen and asking questions pertaining to the movie, show or scene. The intent of the ad is to send people straight to ask.com to find the answer to said question. Sometimes, they'll list the answer, but normally not.

It's a unique idea, when I heard about it a month or two ago, I was skeptical, but having seen it, I don't believe it is very intrusive. People can't DVR through it...unless they want to skip their program.

I've had local advertisers tell me they do similar ploys to stay visible for the DVR watcher. One keeps their logo visible during the evening news as a part of the ticker, another is always a bumper to the news....almost becoming a part of the news itself.

Personally...I think they should be advertising on a digital medium that doesn't allow for DVR...*cough*digital signage*cough*...oh did I say that? hmm....


On a different note, I recently found out that my cousin's husband who has been fighting in Iraq for the last several months has been reading my blog. It meant a lot to know he is and that he's enjoying it. Jordan, know I'm praying for you and everyone over there. Thank you for everything you are doing.

Readers, I invite you to send a kind word as well via the comments of this post.

Jordan...this post is for you!

Is Facebook Killing the Conversation?

I visited with some friends over the weekend and went to tell them about the happenings of my life, but they already knew about it. I'd been excited at the time and tweeted it, which in turn, placed it on Facebook. So what did I have to talk about? After all, much of their news, I'd read on Facebook.

Thus the question...Is Facebook Killing the Conversation?

Or is it creating it...by forcing us to bring more to the table?

Maybe Facebook has simply removed (not killed) the small-talk of life. Maybe this is forcing us to do what we should have always done with our relationships, delve deeper into what really matters. Stop talking so much about what is going on on the outside of our lives, and what is happening inside.

Facebook isn't killing the conversation, it's removing small talk from our close friends. It's something that should have been taken care of a long time ago.


thoughts?

Life without advertising

What would life be like without advertising? Think about it, what if you never saw a billboard, or a commercial...nothing...

How would you discover what is new? What if we became a society that could only rely on word-of-mouth. Would your product survive?

Would your company?

Would you?

Advertising has become expected in our society, and yet, we're continually seeking out new ways to bypass it. DVR, Satellite Radio, Ad Blockers online, etc. But we still do it. The funniest part is when and advertising executive uses his DVR to skip a client's commercial. You know it happens, because at the end of the day...you're just tired of it.

So what do you do?

You think outside the box. Create advertising that is no longer advertising, but a story. Create campaigns that drive people to other pieces so they can continue the story. After all...when you think about it...how often do you hear a story behind word-of-mouth?

Just my thoughts...

I'll be better...

It seems like I've been apologizing a lot lately on here about not blogging as much as I used to...I'm now building it into my daily routine to see if that works...but we'll see.

The truth is, I haven't forgotten about you...See I was named Newcomer of the Year and as such, I've been traveling the country opening grocery stores, kissing hands and shaking babies in the name of our industry. I've been touring with the new Miss America - who is from Indiana and highly attractive.

So what have I learned in my travels? The economy sucks. But you really didn't need me to tell you that did you.

Still, companies are finding new ways to stay innovative and ahead of the competition. The truth is I haven't been on here as much because we've got a lot of things happening at Neoti right now and I am waiting for the right time to tell you all about it. Lets just say it's big...

In other news...I'm guest lecturing to two classes on Monday at my Alma mater - Taylor University. (And now because I've written that eight of their PR people are reading this post...Hi Jim! I love google alerts...) The lectures will focus around the impact social media is having on PR today and the tools available to the savvy user.

If you have any thoughts that you think I should remind them of...feel free to post them here!

In digital signage news the Digital Signage Expo announced it was down in numbers this year (which is to be expected) but up in exhibitors...really?! wow. I didn't make it, wanted to, but I have enough happening at Neoti right now, I don't need to get sidetracked. Kudos to the DSE folks! I'm sorry I didn't get to see everyone, but hopefully you will be attending the Digital Signage Show in May...I'll be there...accepting my award and opening more grocery stores....actually I think I've been booked to do a stage show as well.

Well that's all from me...see you soon!