Homemade Ad Tops Best List

Shock-loving marketers convince pizza chain to dis old pies

(NEWSER) - Have you seen the new Domino’s ad? In what must be an unprecedented advertising move, Domino’s doesn’t just admit that its pizza is lacking, it rakes it over the coals, airing customer complaints comparing the crust to cardboard and the sauce to ketchup. Of course, the goal is in part to contrast that with the chain’s new recipe, but it’s also an ad designed to shock, and it delivers, writes Seth Stevenson for Slate . More»

Advertisers to paste commercials on sides of screen

(NEWSER) - A new strategy aims to grab the attention of viewers now using DVR to skip commercial breaks: in tests, so-called “in-show ads” are run on the top or bottom of the screen—and even on occasion in the middle—during the action, Advertising Age reports. Execs are betting that Americans today have the “capacity to accept multiple messaging all at once.” Early results are encouraging, they say: ads run in a crawl at the bottom of the screen during NASCAR coverage did significantly better than spots. More»

Game? What game?

(NEWSER) - There's probably supposed to be a game or something on tonight, but for legions of Americans, Super Bowl Sunday is all about the commercials. EW jumped in its way-back machine and dug up the 11 most memorable big-game distractions. They were:

• Cindy Crawford drinks a Pepsi (1992)
• The Ridley Scott-directed 1984 Macintosh ad (1984)
• Jordan and Bird's Shoot-off (1993)

DVR pioneer Tivo sells demographic data

(NEWSER) - With cable companies crowding the TV recording industry it once lorded over, TiVo has found a new revenue stream – selling advertisers info about commercial skippers. Already purveyors of minute-by-minute ratings for shows, TiVo will now offer demographic details to hungry advertisers, the Wall Street Journal reports. “I want to know which segments of my customers are skipping my ads,” one marketer said. More»

It's too expensive, says marketing chief

(NEWSER) - Maybe Facebook shouldn't feel too bad that GM is dropping its paid ads from the site: The automaker isn't buying any Super Bowl spots next year, either, reports the Wall Street Journal . GM, usually a heavy presence in the big game, says the price of the ads—currently $3.8 million for 30 seconds—just isn't worth it. The move is part of a larger overhaul of its marketing strategy, but the company says it's not cutting back on its overall advertising budget, which hit $4.5 billion last year. More»