Marketing

Swag the Blog

"Blog placement" has become a growing trend in marketing, with elite bloggers receiving gifts like show tickets, laptop computers, trips to Paris and bottles of champagne. A surprising number of bloggers seem unaware of ethics codes that exist to guide relations with advertisers, says Jaap Favier, research director at a technology research company. "The lines are blurring," he said. "Who can we trust? I think we're going to go through a couple of years where it's going to get more confusing. What is true and what is fake?"

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Re-Branding Israel: Priority or Pointless?

"When the word 'Israel' is said outside its borders, we want it to invoke not fighting or soldiers, but a place that is desirable to visit and invest in, a place that preserves democratic ideals while struggling to exist," said Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni, during a September meeting with "public relations executives, branding specialists and diplomats" in Tel Aviv.

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Marketers Seek Multicultural "Magic"

The Association of National Advertisers recently held its Multicultural Marketing Conference, "which drew more than 300 attendees from companies such as McDonald's Corp., Sprint, Home Depot and Lexus." Earvin "Magic" Johnson told the conference that early engagement of communities of color resulted in brand loyalty. If "somebody beat you in, we're going to stick with them," he said.

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It's Flacks v. Flacks Over Junk Food Marketing "Reform"

"This was spin, and [the food industry] will have to get beyond that and make real changes or they'll get beat up again very soon." Perhaps a line from a nutritionist slamming the Better Business Bureaus' weak new voluntary restrictions on junk food marketing to kids? Instead, it's the president of MGP & Associates Public Relations, Mike Paul.

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Sugary Deals Tempt Health Care Charities

Public health charities are under intense pressure from potential or ongoing commercial sponsors to boost their budgets with product promotion schemes. For example, the American Diabetes Association (ADA) currently has a $1.5 million sponsorship deal with Cadbury Schweppes, maker of Dr. Pepper and the Cadbury Creme egg.

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Big Pharma Poised to Pay For Faster FDA Ad Approval

Negotiators representing Big Pharma and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration are close to a deal on raising fees paid by industry to speed up reviews of direct-to-consumer advertising. A spokesperson for the trade group BioCentury said that the FDA is seeking to raise about $6.2 million per year, putting individual application review fees at about $41,000.

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