Don Draper (Jon Hamm) in a scene from Mad Men
1. It turns out that people love Don Draper about as much as they do real ad executives, which is to say: Not very much. Despite Emmy Awards, Golden Globes, and a flood of rave reviews, the fourth season of Mad Men kicked off last Sunday with only 2.92 million U.S. viewers, which is marginally higher than last year's debut but far from what you'd expect with all that promotion. Still, AMC says it's pleased, pointing out that 48 per cent of the show's viewing households earn $100,000 or more, leading to higher ad rates. Well, at least ad executives love a show about ad executives.
2. Speaking of ad executives on TV, we appeared on BNN last Monday for a chat about marketing malarkey with DDB's Frank Palmer, but we're sorry we didn't have the chance to mention one of our favourite cases playing out in the courts right now. The U.S. Center for Science in the Public Interest is accusing Coca-Cola's Vitaminwater brand of deceptive advertising. In ruling that the case could proceed, the judge said the product's labelling could "reinforce a consumer's mistaken belief that the product is comprised of only vitamins and water." But Life Water is still full of life, right?
3. The news about Vitaminwater comes as Coca-Cola is already embroiled in another flap over a social media campaign for Dr Pepper that went terribly awry. The London digital agency Lean Mean Fighting Machine created the promotion in which Facebook users handed over control of their status updates to the brand. Alas, one gutter-minded snipe posted an update to the page of a 14-year-old girl which referenced an infamous porn video, and within days Coke had not only cancelled the campaign, it had also permanently parted ways with Lean Mean. The identity of the offender remains a secret, but we're pretty sure he's got egg on his Facebook.
4. Do you find a national census too intrusive? Then you obviously don't use the Internet, right? This week the chairman of the Federal Trade Commission told the U.S. Senate Commerce Committee that his agency was leaning toward the adoption of a voluntary do-not-track registry that could prevent advertisers from building comprehensive portraits of Web users. Politicians applauded. "I understand that advertising supports the Internet, but I am a little spooked out," Missouri Senator Claire McCaskill said of behavioural targeting. "This is creepy." The FTC head admitted he expected few Americans would actually opt out, but the registry would provide a fig leaf for the industry. Now that's creepy.
5. Will fans of James Ready find it creepy that the brewer knows where they live? Only if they're drunk. This week Marketing reported the odd case of a snafu at a bottling plant that left James Ready caps - normally adorned with philosophical sayings - blank. Rather than wait for complaints, the brewer launched into action with an online campaign promising a special gift to any drinker who sends in a blank cap. What might the gift be, you ask? An old hockey card, a sock, a set of googly eyes, or some such ephemera. (James Ready drinkers have never been the most discriminating.)
Simon Houpt