RIP Goes Out to the King of POP

I am sure you all know by now that Michael Jackson, the king of pop died today at UCLA Medical Center in Los Angeles. The news of the tragedy caused some site to temporarily crash due to so many people logging on to read about the tragedy. A lot of famous people have been dying off recently and I don’t know what its all about.

The ad above is a commercial Jackson did for Pepsi. Where a freak accident occurred and his hair caught on fire. I think that may have been his most famous advertising moment. It’s a bit mean spirited to say about a person who just died today but it’s the first thing that came to my mind.

The agency behind the commercial is BBDO. I wonder what the agency did to convince Michael to keep doing the commercial even after being burned. Do you guys think they made as much money back in the eighties for a TV spot as they do today? I’d love to read your comments.

Jackson was certainly controversial throughout most of his career but he is by far one of the greatest entertainers ever to live. He did his last moonwalk. The king of pop is now gone forever, 1967 to 2009.

Best,
A.B.

Voltage Everywher

Mountain Dew has recently introduced a new berry-flavored drink that they hope will saturate the web. The campaign known as “Voltage Everywhere” is primarily a viral marketing effort on the part of PepsiCo. The “Voltage Everywhere” campaign is asking people to go to Dewmocracyvoltage.com where dew fans are rewarded points for spreading the word about the new soft drink.

By spreading the word I mean talking it up on social networks like Facebook and MySpace just to name a few. They can place notes on message boards and start fan pages. Fans can then collect points towards things like an Xbox or iPod. This type of promotion is the year 2009 version of school promotions such as “look under the cap to win.”

On Dewmocracyvoltage.com fans can also play games with other site members, download wallpaper, and do many other things. The site intends to keep the target audience engaged with the product. This is a great idea in my opinion, but it is already being executed on many other websites like the ones mentioned above, why would a consumer want to add another site that they have to visit?

The creators of the site, DDB Tribal claim it is so that the consumer can become deeply involved with the product. Would someone really want to be that engaged with his or her favorite soft drink? DDB Tribal seems to think this is a great idea.

By the way DDB Tribal is an interactive creative shop.

Best,
A.B.

Dear Mr. President Videos

A video montage asking Americans "What would you say to our new President on the day of his inauguration?" This video was created as a marketing attempt by soda Giant Pepsi to cash in on Obama's popularity. Its asking people to submit video statements to our new president. I ask you, what does this do for the Pepsi brand?

Also I found the video on Adfreak.com once again.

The video was created by R/GA

Best,
A.B.