Market This!

We saw this when it came out back in July, but it’s so great we had to share it again. Britain’s Channel 4 painstakingly recreated the sets, costumes, props, cast and crew of The Shining – all for the sole purpose of assembling a single-take, minute-long television spot to promote their “More 4″ series on the film’s legendary director. To borrow a phrase from across the pond, we think it’s bloody marvelous.

Certainly this concept is a whole lot cooler if, like us, you are film nerds. But for any network airing an entire season of Kubrick films, it seems safe to assume that demographic is their target audience…

Enjoy!

When you’re a brand looking for a captive audience, what better place than one where the people are trapped in a cylindrical metal tube, right? For Pete’s sake, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority has been exploiting this for 50 years.

Well, one airline has finally caught up. Spirit Airlines, the innovator in finding ways to turn a buck beyond ticket sales, will now be selling ad space on the interior of their planes. And not just above the seats, but on the trays, menus, seat backs, and who knows, maybe even on the back of the head of the guy in front of you.

We’re fine with the pleasing images of the Bahamas currently being featured on Spirit flights. But what happens when they start filling the cabin with those disturbing PSAs about domestic abuse? That’s going to be an uncomfortable way to spend 6 hours. (Hey, at least in a subway, we can get off at the next stop…)

A&B spent a few days in Las Vegas talking with drivers and trainers about the Million Mile program, an incentive program Veolia Transportation offers bus drivers who make it to a million miles without a preventable accident. It was inspiring to see such dedication from the operators, and we think the video came out well!

Check it out below and let us know what you think.

…they’re already doing it – if you happen to be running for president this year, that is.

Chances are if you’re a contender for the White House, you’ve got antimetaboles coming out your ears. This Salon.com article explains the rhetorical device, which has been popular for 30 years, but which has experienced an inexplicable resurgence in this particular election.

Anyone care to start posting their own antimetaboles here?

What better song to use at the RNC to introduce Sarah “Barracuda” Palin than the 1977 fem-rock hit that bears her nickname, right? Well, it turns out the band who made the song famous is ticked off at being associated with America’s most famous hockey mom, and they have demanded the GOP stop using the song.

It turns out, however, that if the venue that hosted the RNC (the Xcel Energy Center) has an ASCAP license (which is likely), Heart doesn’t have any legal recourse against the Republican Party. Yeah, I know; it seems cruel, but it’s true.

Of course, the GOP wouldn’t be able to use “Barracuda” in a campaign ad without Heart’s permission, but they can still get away with playing it at any event that takes place at a venue with an ASCAP license. (Though sure they’ll think twice before they do so again, now that Heart has made such a stink about it. And that may have been the whole point of the exercise.)

All this makes you think, doesn’t it? If you’re a musician, and you write a song that is closely associated with the brand of your public image, how much control do you really have over that image if the song can be used without your permission? (All right, yes, technically you gave permission when you signed with ASCAP in the first place, but still…)

Liberal or conservative, we can all agree on one thing: these women sure knew how to rock.

I suppose if I were a fat person, and my Facebook page was constantly telling me that, I’d get upset too. But I actually find the hyper-targeted ads on Facebook (and in Gmail, when I was using the web version of that) to be kind of a relief. (It sure beats the nonstop barrage of phony “hot girl webcam” ads for dating sites on MySpace.)

Facebook has taken some heat for featuring ads that seem like they are directly insulting users, so they’ve removed a few of the more overtly offending ones and added a Pandora-esque “thumbs up, thumbs down” feature so you can stop that one annoying ad from constantly appearing.

Now all that’s left is to sit back and watch the public outcry over the new Facebook design, the new Facebook movie (penned by Aaron Sorkin, a genius who admits he doesn’t know anything about Facebook), and whatever else people can find to complain about…