I came across an article about creative traditional advertising in AdWeek over the weekend that I thought was great. Author Katy Bachman shed light some much needed light on the groundbreaking advertising the L.A. Times debuted last Friday, in which they took the “homepage takeover” concept from web and adapted it to print.

Created to coincide with the launch of  Disney’s Alice in Wonderland, the front page of the L.A. Time’s Friday’s edition was dominated by Johnny Depp’s Mad Hatter character in 3-D.

According to Katy, this is the first time a major newspaper has run this type of ad unit. Executive Vice President and Chief Revenue Officer of the L.A. Times, John O’Loughlin, explains the move as an ‘unusual opportunity to stretch traditional boundaries and deliver innovative ad unit designed to create buzz and further extend the film’s brilliant marketing campaign’.

Though this is the first time we’ve seen a newspaper take this direction, it’s certainly will not be the last. What makes this so cool, is that for a while now, Ad agenceis have been adapting traditional advertising concepts to the online world. Now, for the first time, we are seeing the reverse take place. With the LA Times “homepage takeover” they applied the online concept of re-skinning a page and made it work in print. This is a bold step for the print advertising world that will allow them to stay relevant in these changing times. Kudos the the LA times for getting creative.

What do you think? Will we be seeing more of this in the near future?

It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to know that the Super Bowl is one of the largest platforms for traditional advertising. The Super Bowl TV commercials have almost become just as big of a deal as the game itself, especially to those who don’t know the difference between a quarterback and a cornerback. Airing your ad during the ‘big game’ not only provides an opportunity for TV revenue and unmatched exposure to the big guys, but also allows businesses to pitch, plug and promote their products.  While the big swingers are paying upwards of $2.5-$3 million per 30-second spot, other companies are getting their exposure through the use of more affordable traditional media platforms.

Radio – The Monday before the ‘big game’ the Super Bowl Media Center opens up, which has become the home of “Radio Row.” Almost every sports radio station, both national and local, has a table set up at the Media Center where they do their live feeds from. It’s here that sports radio talk show hosts do live interviews with past and present NFL stars, as well as actors, musicians and comedians.  And why would all these famous people want to do interview after interview with various stations?  Because they’re capitalizing on the ad money generated from their involvement.  It took me a second to realize that Marshall Faulk was paid every time he said “Hass Avocados” during an interview with a local San Diego radio station a couple years back.  He must have said “Hass Avocados” like 30 times.  Ladanian Tomlinson, yet another NFL player capitalizing on the endorsement opportunities, raked in money by promoting Campbell’s Soup.   Adam Sandler used Radio Row as a way to promote one of his new movies.  It’s unclear exactly how much stars get paid for promoting but one thing is for sure, everyone has one.

Print Promotion - The nightlife in the days leading up to the Super Bowl offers a whole slew of traditional advertising and promotional opportunities as well.  Every major men’s magazine, such as Playboy and Maxim, throws huge Super Bowl parties where famous people and promotional items are plentiful.  Victoria’s Secret has jumped on the Super Bowl party bandwagon this year.  The competition from year to year seems to be increasing as everyone tries to one up the other on the party/promotional circuit. This influx of party throwers can only mean more opportunities for exposure for companies.

Direct Mail – Local retailers are also flooding in with advertisements. The front page of Vons’ weekly special includes coupons for everything from chips to frozen pizza and beer.  Meanwhile, Target is doing their own ‘Super Bowl sale’ for flat screen TVs.  Most, if not all, direct mail advertisements received in this week leading up to Sunday’s game is geared towards the Super Bowl in one way or another. It’s insane.

My point – TV commercials are not the only way to effectively reach the Super Bowl audience.

A lot emphasis is being placed on new media these days, and for good reason. After all, we are a society that thrives off other people’s experiences. For businesses, this can either be a great thing or a catastrophe. But regardless of its impact, new media has yet to take the place of old media. In fact, it’s questionable whether or not new media will ever replace old media.

To get people talking about your brand,  you have to engage them. Whether it’s through a TV commercial that brings tears to your eyes, or a radio spot that has you singing along to its jingle, old media entices our senses. It rattles our emotions. It leaves us wanting more. In his article about Traditional Media, Stuart Elliott references a study called “When Advertising Works”. The study which was released by Yankelovich in association with Sequent Partners in June 2008 revealed that advertisements appearing in traditional media such as television are still “much more likely” to have made a positive impression with consumers than ads running in digital [new] media. When you think about it, Yankelovich’s findings makes sense. I feel that seeing an ad in a magazine or on TV is much less intrusive than the ones I encounter online.

With the influx of new media, it seems more companies are diverting their advertising dollars away from old media. This may have a lot to do with old media being extremely hard to track. But with trackability aside, old media continues to serve an important and irreplaceable role. According to J. Walker Smith, president at the Yankelovich Monitor division of Yankelovish in Atlanta, ads that made an impression in old media were more likely to stimulate word of mouth than ads that made an impression in digital media. Thus, old media creates the buzz that people take to the social media platforms.

Both the old and the new media have different components that are equally important to the overall success of the campaign. So when looking at the bigger picture, its not new media vs. old media; but, rather old media combined with new media. Thus, old media just got a whole lot better!

It seems the San Diego Union Tribune isn’t the only newspaper in a fight for its life. Ten other major newspapers across the country are reported to be on the outs too. According to an article published by The Center for Media Research, an estimated eight of the fifty largest daily newspapers in the U.S. could cease publication in the next eighteen months. And though this news doesn’t come as a huge surprise, it does serve as an indication of where we’re headed as a country when it comes to where we go for our news.

So, how are people taking this news? PewResearch reveals in one of their recent reports that only 43% of Americans say that losing their community newspaper would greatly hurt the civic life of their community. And, mere 33% of American’s say that they would “miss” reading their local community newspapers.

Consensus is — out with old and in with the new…

Watch to find out… http://adage.com/brightcove/lineup.php?lineup=1182767334

It’s hard to say which of this year’s Superbowl Commercials was my favorite — they were all so creative. But if I had to choose, I’d say E-Trade’s “Wings” spot took the cake. What about you?

Even though our beloved Charger’s aren’t playing in this years Superbowl, we San Diegan’s still have something to be proud of. One of the commercials scheduled to air–not once, but twice– during the Superbowl come out of an agency located right here in San Diego.

To have one of your commercials run during the Superbowl is like winning the lotto in the Advertising industry, which is why the Mering-Carson agency located in Encinitas, has reason to celebrate.

The young man making this all possible is Chris Roberts, a fellow alumni from Point Loma Nazarene University. His 30-second commercial called “The Chase” was one of five finalists chosen in the Doritos Superbowl ad competition. Chris’s success reinforces what we’ve been saying all along — San Diego’s creative is among some of the nations best. Congratulations Chris!

 Traditionally, the Inauguration of a President was either heard on the radio or watch on a television. However, the Inauguration of President Obama surpassed all, with people tuning in via live webcasts and social networks such as Twitter and live blogs. AdAge Daily News reported that Obama’s Inauguration will likely “have been watched by more people and on more platforms than virtually any other televised event in U.S. history — including the Super Bowl.” History in the making in more ways than one!

There were many parts of President Obama’s Inauguration speech that hit home for me; however, one part of it was particularly moving to me…”Our challenges may be new. The instruments with which we meet them may be new. But those values upon which our success depends — hard work and honesty, courage and fair play, tolerance and curiosity, loyalty and patriotism — these things are old. These things are true. They have been the quiet force of progress throughout our history. What is demanded then is a return to these truths. What is required of us now is a new era of responsibility — a recognition, on the part of every American, that we have duties to ourselves, our nation, and the world, duties that we do not grudgingly accept but rather seize gladly, firm in the knowledge that there is nothing so satisfying to the spirit, so defining of our character, than giving our all to a difficult task.”If that’s not encouraging, I don’t know what is.

Last Saturday my husband and I were downtown celebrating two of our friends birthdays. At around 8pm I discovered that my license was no longer in my back pocket. I was more annoyed than anything because it meant that I was going to have to backtrack to every place we had been to so far (and there were many) to find it.

After an hour of searching, I was forced to accept that fact that it was gone – lost on the streets of downtown San Diego, or so I thought.

This past Tuesday I received a letter in the mail from someone who had found my license on the street and took it upon themselves to ensure its safe return to me.

This act of kindness was so refreshing.

To know that there are people out there who would take the time to do something like this for someone they don’t even know warmed my heart; so much so that I felt the need to share it.