Marketing

First USA Pays Teens to Promote Credit Cards

First USA, a division of Bank One, is paying two young men to walk around the Jersey Shore this summer wearing white t-shirts showing their company logo. The company has also agreed to pay each $40,000 in tuition, room, board and books for the academic year when they enter college next month. In return, the two 18-year-old boys, will promote the First USA-sponsored message of smart budgeting and financial responsibility. They will make campus appearances, serve on a student advisory board and publicize financial tips for students on their website.

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Arbitron To Try "Portable People Meters" For Measuring Radio & TV Audiences

Arbitron Inc., the research company that provides the ratings on which most U.S. radio advertising rates are based, plans to use new technology to increase the accuracy of its audience data. For nearly 35 years, Arbitron has collected data by having individuals fill out paper diaries documenting their radio listening habits. Needing to replace the outdated system to stay in business, Arbitron will be testing out "portable people meters." The beeper-like devices electronically measure every radio, television and cable broadcast a person takes in.

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Magazines Offer Extra Services to Advertisers

Magazines are offering more to advertisers than just ad space. "Integrated marketing" increasingly is being used by large publishers to draw in corporate advertisers. The Wall Street Journal reports that AOL Time Warner's Mutual Funds magazine offers marketing services at an additional charge to those who buy ad space.

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Sweden Leads Effort To Ban Advertising To Children

Sweden has gained support from other EU members to ban television advertising aimed at children under 12. The LA Times reporters, "The move threatens to wipe out $200 million a year in advertising revenues for Europe's commercial broadcasters, entertainment industry lobbyists said. Perhaps more important to U.S. entertainment conglomerates, such a ban would significantly limit the ability of such companies as Viacom Inc.'s MTV and Nickelodeon and Walt Disney Co. to influence the buying habits of Europe's children."

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Disney Plans $250-Million Promo Push

In celebration of the 100-year anniversary of company founder Walt Disney's birth, Walt Disney World is pulling out all the advertising stops with a $250-million campaign. Disney's major corporate partners--McDonald's, Coca-Cola, Kellogg, American Express, and Hallmark Cards--will all contribute paid media to counter sagging attendance at the four Florida Disney parks. Advertising Age reports, "As with most of Disney's big marketing efforts, all its companies are synergistically involved, including the ABC Television Network, which will air a documentary on Walt Disney...."

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Study on News Coverage & Advertising

By understanding the interaction between news coverage and advertising on consumer perceptions, large companies hope to develop more effective and less costly communications plans. This report takes some first steps toward understanding that relationship. This paper is based upon research conducted in the late 1990's by AT&T's Public Relations research department.

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Product Placement Replacing Old-Fashioned Ads

The old 30 and 60 second ads we know and love may be obsolete in the future, thanks to the miracle of product placement. We've all seen lingering, seductive shots of consumer products in movies...and in the future, "you probably won't know where the commercial stops and the programs begin," says Bob Kuperman, President of New York ad agency TBWA.

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Grass Roots Seeded by Drugmaker

"Showing all the signs of a thriving grass-roots movement, a host of new health-care groups are drawing attention to the perils of a contagious, sometimes lethal virus called hepatitis C," writes Robert O'Harrow. "But contrary to appearances, these coalitions are not spontaneous gatherings of concerned citizens. They are instead a key part of a carefully orchestrated marketing campaign funded by Schering-Plough Corp. to sell the primary therapy for hepatitis C, Rebetron, which costs $18,000 a year." Several members of the Hepatitis C Coalition are on the payroll of the Shandwick PR firm.

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Cokeheads In Our Schools

Greenbrier high school senior, Mike Cameron was suspended from school for wearing a Pepsi shirt at a Coke Day rally at his school. The Coke Day rally, dreamed up by the school's student government, was part of a marketing contest that offered $10,000 to the high school that does the best job of distributing Coca-Cola coupons. At Greenbrier, students were encouraged to dress in Coke's red and white and lined up to spell out the word "COKE" while more than a dozen of the company's executives looked on.

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