What Were They Thinking? Jimmy Johns' Bank Robbery Commercial

I saw this commercial the other night and I found it to be in poor taste. I know it originally aired during last year's Super Bowl, which I didn't catch, so it's been floating around but that was my first time ever seeing it and I found it be horrible.

Who came up with the ad campaign of stressful situations = ordering Jimmy Johns. I can't imagine someone siting around the conference table coming up with ideas for this. I also can't believe this was even allowed to air. It's not funny at all and it certainly doesn't make me want to buy anything from them.

Style and Focus News Bites 6/26

Style and Focus Lifestyle PR would like to send out condolences to the families of Michael Jackson, Farrah Fawcett and Ed McMahon.

** Sony Comments on the Passing of Michael Jackson. Commenting on his passing, Sir Howard Stringer, Chairman, CEO and President, Sony Corporation, said: "Michael Jackson was a brilliant troubadour for his generation, a genius whose music reflected the passion and creativity of an era. His artistry and magnetism changed the music landscape forever. We have been profoundly affected by his originality, creativity and amazing body of work. The entire Sony family extends our deepest condolences to his family and to the millions of fans around the world who loved him." (Press Release)

** According to the London Times, a study shows that One in Five Women Choose to be Childless as Careers Takes Precedence. One in five women are remaining childless as a growing proportion choose a career over raising a family, according to the study published yesterday. The trend is most marked among women of higher social class, with better qualifications, and who were brought up as an only child. The study by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) suggests that remaining childless is a lifestyle choice. In the past childlessness was due to poverty, poor nutrition and low marriage rates caused by war and emigration. The proportion of women childless in England and Wales has increased from an estimated 10 percent of a 1945 cohort to 19 percent of women born in 1960.

** Will Your Friends Influence Your Shopping Habits and Interests. That's what two marketing companies, 33Across and Media6Degrees, will be analyzing whether there is a connection between social networking sites, advertising and your friends, and they are not interested in the basic friend lists, but in interactions on the sites, taking note when a user visits a friend’s page, sends a video or exchanges an instant message. In turn, they can identify people who are friends with a company’s existing customers, and then advertise to them.

Instead of using research to identify which Web sites are popular with certain demographic targets, these companies let “the consumer do the heavy lifting for you purely because of the proximity of that customer to other customers,” Mr. Steele said. “There’s a certain traction that you get when you target consumers that you know talk to each other, that you don’t get when you advertise like you would in print.”

Advertisers, eager for any information that allows them to waste fewer ads and spend less money, are trying Media6Degrees and 33Across to see whether friendships are a better indicator of who might like their products than other indicators like age, gender, geography or interests.

It may be valuable for advertisers, but for publishers, it is not great news — tactics like this mean that advertisers can assemble promising audiences while bypassing expensive sites like, say, CNN.com or ESPN.com. And privacy advocates are complaining about online tracking, a subject Congress is examining. (New York Times)

** Beauty Retailer ULTA Celebrates the First-Ever Recipients of the ULTA Enrich, Empower & Enlighten Scholarship. ULTA, "the store on everyone's lips," is honoring today the inaugural recipients of the ULTA Enrich, Empower & Enlighten Scholarship. Committed to positively impacting the future of women, ULTA launched in 2008 the ULTA Enrich, Empower & Enlighten Scholarship Fund to benefit outstanding high school senior girls in select communities across the country.

Sixteen deserving young women were selected based on their academic achievements, community involvement, leadership qualities and commitment to continuing their education; each girl received a scholarship to the educational institution of her choice. The young women also were offered the opportunity to take advantage of a special trip to Chicago for today's awards luncheon and shopping spree at ULTA on State Street with Lyn Kirby, President and CEO of ULTA. (Press Release)

The 2008-2009 ULTA Enrich, Empower & Enlighten Scholarship recipients are:

1. Alexa Del Tufo of Mooresville, NC
2. Katherine Strelzyk of Chicago, IL
3. Alyssa Bilyeu of Chesterfield, MO
4. Laura Rodriguez of Harker Heights, TX
5. Aparna Ghosh of Ann Arbor, MI
6. Leigh Anna Logsdon of Lubbock, TX
7. Chi Wai Tsang of Chicago, IL
8. Lily Marucci of Casa Grande, AZ
9. Emily Gold of Farmingdale, NY
10. Maria del Pilar Delgado deLeon of Fort Collins, CO
11. Emina Becirovic of Omaha, NE
12. Megan Whitehead of Sandy, UT
13. Jessica Morrison of Dunwoody, GA
14. Sarah Eisenberg of New Lenox, IL
15. Julia Alice White of Wellington, FL
16. Shelby Kretz of Toledo, OH

Has Calvin Klein Gone too Far with Ad?

From my Marketing POV, Calvin Klein is a great brand with amazingly chic clothes and I feel like they don't have to go out of their way to create controversy to sell the brand. I'm all for creative expression but you don't always need to use sex to sell everything. It gets old rather quick and it kind of suggest that their marketing and advertising people couldn't think of anything else to promote the clothing, so they fall back on using sex to sell. Let the product sell itself.

This type of advertising gets in the way of successfully communicating the product by distracting the audience from the purpose of the ad, which is to promote the product. With ads like this, the product gets lost amongst the blatant sex appeal.

With so much pressure on young women (be it directly or indirectly) to be sexy and to do things they might not be emotionally ready for, are ads such as this contributing to the pressure to be sexy? Although in this new day and age, sex is viewed in a different way than in the past and people are less judgemental but despite the changes there is still a double standard applied to women compared to men when it comes to sex. It's a porn-inspired or centered aesthetic that sends the message (mostly teen girls) that if they dress or act that way, they will be accepted.

Some questions that have arise from these ads are: "What is Calvin Klein's social responsibility for these types of ads?", "How are they contributing to society's well-being?" and "How far will companies go to out-sex each other to try to get consumers attention?"

Has Calvin Klein gone too far? What is your opinion?

Are Massive Outlay of Ads No Longer in Vogue?

Here is a pretty interesting article that I read recently in the Wall Street Journal on how some fashion magazine's were reducing the number of ads featured in the magazines. Even though the current fall magazines don't seem to be lacking any glossy ads in my opinion.

Style & Focuse PR

Massive Outlay of Ads No Longer in Vogue
Condé Nast Title, Others Sport Leaner Fall Looks As Marketers Hold Back

By SHIRA OVIDE
August 11, 2008; Page B7

Last year, the all-important September issues of fashion and beauty magazines such as Condé Nast's Vogue and Hearst's Cosmopolitan were thick enough to throw out the backs of mail carriers across the country. The champ, Vogue, weighed in at a hefty 4.9 pounds, thanks to 725 pages of glossy ads.

It is a different story this year. As September issues begin hitting the newsstands, two-thirds of the 16 top fashion and beauty magazines by number of ad pages are smaller than a year ago. W magazine, also published by Condé Nast Publications, a unit of Advance Publications, has 18% fewer advertising pages. Vogue has 674 pages of ads this year, down 7%, while Hearst's Cosmopolitan is six pages, or 3.2%, lighter.

Until recently, fashion and beauty magazines had been something of an oasis amid the steady stream of red ink being reported by print-media properties. Last year was a record year for many titles in the category, and a number of publications were still selling ad pages at that pace into the first quarter of 2008.

The magazines' core marketers in luxury goods, clothing, jewelry and beauty products have been slower than advertisers in other categories to shift spending to the Internet. At the same time, the magazines have a rich history of readers who flip pages as much to see ads for the latest fall fashions as to read the stories, a factor that help keeps advertisers loyal.

But now things are starting to get ugly for the beauty magazines. Ad pages for the top fashion and beauty titles were down about 8% in the second quarter, and publishers acknowledge the downturn largely has held or grown steeper since then.

While luxury advertisers mostly are hanging in, many middle-market clothing and cosmetics firms are paring back ad pages or pulling out completely as a cooling economy quiets their cash registers. Other categories that traditionally advertise in these publications, such as autos and liquor, are also bumpy. At prices that can climb to $120,000 for one full-page ad, every missing page hits the magazines hard.

Of course, the appeal of fashion and beauty magazines' September issues hasn't suddenly vanished. Those pages are still considered a must-buy for many advertisers wanting to pitch new car models, back-to-school shopping and fall fashions. And a number of tony brands are still ubiquitous.

"We have definitely the biggest fall budget we've ever had for advertising," says Alex Bolen, chief executive of Oscar de la Renta. Mr. Bolen says the designer increased its U.S. print media budget by 15% this year, including lavish spreads in the September issues of Hearst's Town & Country; Elle, which is part of Lagardère's Hachette Filipacchi Media U.S.; W; and Vogue. The ads featured items such as a $4,750 Goya handbag.

But in most cases, increased spending by advertisers such as Oscar de la Renta isn't covering the cuts by midtier marketers. Apparel retailer bebe stores took out four pages with In Style -- a magazine published by Time Warner's Time Inc. -- last September and none this September. Nordstrom's had a six-page spread in Elle last year to promote its "via C" clothing line but has nothing this year.

As with other segments of the magazine industry, advertisers are increasingly willing to yank ad spending at the last minute and are less inclined to make commitments far in advance. Most magazine executives aren't optimistic about a turnaround. "Everyone is facing 2009 cautiously," says Valerie Salembier, publisher of Hearst's Harper's Bazaar, which increased its September advertising take by 3%. "I'm nervous, and I think all magazine publishers in our field feel the same way, whether they admit it or not."











Corrections & Amplifications:

An earlier version of this story incorrectly implied Hearst's Marie Claire is a magazine that lost advertising pages this September.

Style & Focus News Bites

Style and Focus PR would like to send our condolences to the families of Bernie Mac and Isaac Hayes.

** Advertising: Calvin Klein and Condé Nast Strike Online Ad Deal. Condé Nast has signed an exclusive deal with fashion brand Calvin Klein to run an ad campaign for its fragrance Secret Obsession on the vogue.com website. The deal, which will run for four weeks and will kick off before the campaign breaks nationally, will see Calvin Klein sponsor VogueTV and run banner advertising across the site. Calvin Klein will also offer exclusive sampling to Vogue.com readers. (Brand Republic - Media Week Magazine)

** Entertainment: Keke Palmer to Star in New Nickelodeon Series "True Jackson, VP". Keke Palmer of the hit film "Akeelah and the Bee" will star in Nickelodeon's newest live-action series "True Jackson, VP." The network has ordered 20 episodes of the series centered around 15-year old True Jackson (Palmer) who is tapped to head the youth division of a major fashion label. True soon learns that corporate life has the same highs and lows as high school, complete with cliques, mean girls and crushes -- but with cool perks like designing for up-and-coming rock stars and casting super cute models. (Black Entertainment News)

** Beauty/Business Law: L'Oreal Loses to eBay in Counterfeit Case. L’Oreal has lost to eBay in a Belgian court after it tried to sue the online auction site for selling counterfeit goods. The Tribunal de Commerce ruled in favour of eBay, dismissing claims from the cosmetics giant that the online auction site was not doing enough to prevent the sale of counterfeit Lancôme products. L’Oreal awaits the decision of courts in the four other European nations where the case was filed. (Cosmetics Design)

** Health/Business: Thousands in California whose health policies were canceled to be offered new coverage. About 3,400 Californians whose health insurance was canceled by Kaiser, Health Net and PacifiCare after they got sick will soon receive notification that they may be eligible for new coverage and for compensation for medical bills they paid while they were uninsured. In a deal with state regulators, the insurers agreed to offer former members new coverage regardless of preexisting medical conditions and to reimburse them for medical expenses. In exchange, the state Department of Managed Health Care will close investigations into the companies' rescission practices. Regulators began mailing out notices to individuals Tuesday. (Los Angeles Times)

** Advertising: Google Shuts Down Popular U.K. Advertising Blog. The UK's most popular advertising industry blog, Scamp, has been shut down by Google for breaching the conditions of its blogging platform, Blogger. Scamp, written by Bartle Bogle Hegarty creative director Simon Veksner, is hugely popular in the UK ad industry, often drawing hundreds of comments per post from disgruntled advertising executives. (Guardian)

** Art: Economic Realities Press on Artists’ Outdoor Eden. The 25 year-old open air studios of Laddie John Dill and Ed Ruscha are being encroched upon by the rapidly reviving city of Venice, CA. The city of Los Angeles wants to tear down the fence, pave the space for a parking lot. The project has quickly emerged as a fight between the artistic values that led to the renewal of Venice and the commercial interests that are reshaping the community’s character.

“After the railroad line stopped back there, and Venice began its slow deterioration, this was a really rough part of town,” Mr. Dill said. Now, however, as the boulevard on the other side of the alley has become populated with restaurants, clothing boutiques and a Pinkberry cafe, “this whole thing is symbolic of the gentrification of Venice.”

City bulldozers are expected to begin work on the 100-space parking project soon after a ground-breaking ceremony on Thursday. That has led the owner of the warehouse leased by the two artists to begin preparing a lawsuit seeking to stop the project. (New York Times)

Is Creativity the Way to Boost Sales during Recession?

by A. Brooks
Style and Focus Lifestyle PR

During hard times companies are looking towards their marketing, PR and advertising - in-house or outside agency - to provide creative ways to make an impact and attract sales more often than not with a minimized budget. Creativity will be key because it will set a business apart from all it's competitors.

This is when marketers, advertisers and publicist really start earning their paychecks and surprisingly are given more free range to be more creative and use their imaginations to promote the products, services, the company's image, etc. However, there is no magical formula but it will take creative energy, innovative ideas and follow through to implement the new marketing plan. Publicist will continue to work the "free press" to get their clients name out there including continued contact with bloggers and social networks sites. They are also sending out more human interest pieces to show that the company cares as well as the traditional news releases and media alerts. It's a great cost effective way to reach the target market.

No doubt you have probably noticed the free gas cards being offered at certain businesses, new packaging, company logo's being updated, promotional tie-ends and free GWP (gift with purchase), magazines offering low priced subscriptions, etc. all to encourage current and potential new customers to try their products or services. The goal is to stay visible to their customers.

Visibility is important to fashion boutiques, because several popular ones continue to set up celebrities in-store promotions to promote the celebrity's clothing line which would result in additional sales and "free press" with perhaps the daily newspapers, entertainment TV shows and blogs. However, visibility can work in reverse with many boutiques dropping some celebrity lines if they can not get the celebrities for an in-store promotion, case in point, with the recent removal of Lauren Conrad's line from Kitson and Victoria Beckham's clothing also from Kitson back in April.

Will injecting more creativity boost sales during recession?



Style and Focus Lifestyle PR is a publicity and marketing freelance company as well as an informative and entertaining blog, Style and Focus Lifestyle PR, that helps small businesses build brand awareness in Fashion, Beauty, Philanthropic, Lifestyle, Entertainment and more. For more information contact Style and Focus Lifestyle PR: styleandfocusfreelance@yahoo.com

Style and Focus News Bites

** Entertainment: Rupert Grint has signed on to do the independent film "Cherry Bomb". The movie centers on best friends Malachy (Grint) and Luke (Robert Sheehan), embarking on a wild weekend and come across a beautiful but troubled stranger (Kimberley Nixon). Production on the film, penned by playwright and screenwriter Daragh Caville has already begun and is tentatively scheduled for a 2009 release. (Digital Spy) - Entertainment

** Fashion: Christian Louboutin To Open Paris Store. The 100-square-meter Paris store located in Rue du Faubourg Saint-Honoré, will feature a county-fair theme. Mr. Louboutin has also decorated the new space with vintage chairs and a large crayfish sculpture. In addition to shoes, the shop will sell Mr. Louboutin's line of handbags. (Wall Street Journal) - Fashion

** Business: Lil Wayne Launches Champagne Brand. Lil Wayne (whose's real name is Dwayne Carter) has teamed up with French vineyard and wine manufacturers Voirin-Jumel to produce a range of champagne - entitled Halo champagne. There will be four varieties available: Halo Brut, Halo Brut Vintage, Halo Rose and Halo Pinnacle. (Contact Music) - Business

** Fashion/Business: Steve & Barry's Seeks Financial Help. The sportswear company Steve & Barry's LLC is expected to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. The privately held New York-based company said it is being represented by a bankruptcy frim and is in negotiations with lenders. Published reports said that the chain could liquidate about 100 of its stores bud did not specify which ones. (Detroit Free Press) - Fashion/Business

** Entertainment/Art: Jackie Chan Museum Planned in Shanghai. Construction has begun on a museum for Chan in the Chinese financial capital Shanghai. Earlier this week, Chan attended a ceremony marking the start of work. The museum will display props and costumes from Chan's movies, photos and other memorabilia. Construction is scheduled to finish in October 2009. (The Associated Press) - Entertainment/Art

** Advertising: McDonald's Hatches New Billboard. A Chicago McDonald has unveiled it newest billboard a 21 feet egg. The billboard is adjacent to the McDonald's restaurant at Clark and Addison which is in the shadow of Wrigley Field. It's been ingeniously designed by ad agency Leo Burnett - Chicago, to crack open to promote McDonald's fresh eggs for breakfast. It includes a timer that starts opening around 6 a.m. each day then the egg closes up around 10:30 a.m. The egg-travangza in Wrigleyville also will open for each Chicago Cubs home game through at least mid-August. (Chicago Sun-Times) - Advertising


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** Accessories/Cause: Russell Simmons Launches The Green Initiative Bracelet. The bracelet will be exclusivly sold at selected H.Samuel stores in the UK and from hsamuel.co.uk. The Simmons Jewelry Co. are proud to introduce an exquisite collection of premium quality malachite and raw diamond unisex bracelets in aid of the Diamond Empowerment Fund. The design of the bracelet is symbolic of the African continent with the green malachite a symbol for the care of the planet, natural and human resources. The Green Initiative bracelet is available in two unisex sizes and is priced at £125. There will be a donation of $20 ($US) to the Diamond Empowerment Fund from the sale of each piece.

The Diamond Empowerment Fund(DEF) which was founded in 2007, is a non-profit international organization that was established to work towards the empowerment of Africa. The fund’s mission is to raise money and support education initiatives that develop and empower people in African nations where diamonds are a natural resource. (Press Release) - Accessories/Cause

** Entertainment: DJ AM (real name Adam Goldstein) has sued the New York Daily News for libel and false-light invasion of privacy, alleging that a June 22 article published online and in print about his lack of earning prowess since he and former fiance Nicole Richie split is false. His lawsuit states that his career is not in financial trouble. (E!) - Entertainment