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Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1 appears in 30-second commercial (video)
If -- for some outlandish reason -- you were still doubting the imminent release of the Galaxy Note 10.1, let us invite you to have a peek at the video just after the break. Sure enough, it's an official Samsung teaser showcasing some of the more seductive features of its forthcoming Android slate -- the slate that appeared for but a moment on Amazon. If you're looking for a brief update on how we got here, you may recall us first touching the 10.1-inch Note back at Mobile World Congress in February, with the device caught on camera elsewhere as recently as last month. There's still no definitive ship date to grab hold of, but all comes in due time, readers. All in due time. Update: This post originally and erroneously made a connection between the Note 10.1 and the Judge Koh ruling on the Galaxy Tab 10.1. It has been updated. Update 2: We've removed the commercial after the break at the request of its copyright holder.
Google takes Nexus 7 camping for its first ad, can afford to pack light (video)
There's more than a small amount of fervor swirling around the Nexus 7, so it only makes sense that Google wants to seize the moment and pitch its first Nexus tablet to the world. Its first commercial is a very Norman Rockwell-like, father-and-son camping trip -- if Rockwell replaced Boy Scouts with Jelly Beans, that is. The 7-inch slate handles just about every task the two could care for, whether it's learning about (and exaggerating) the local fauna as well as keeping busy on a rainy day. We'll let you witness the slight twist of an ending first-hand, although we'll add that Google is careful to use a lot of Nexus 7 features that don't demand always-on WiFi: the search giant wants us to know that we can head to the boonies without the tablet becoming a paperweight. The one shock is the absence of that all-important $199 price, which you'd think would help trigger some impulse shopping. You can reconcile your disbelief and enjoy some family bonding by catching the full commercial after the break.
Sony kicks off an Xperia Ion TV ad campaign for the US, meets your daily explosion quota (video)
Sony isn't known for rolling out the red carpet when one of its phones arrives Stateside, although that's partly because US carrier-endorsed versions are few and far between. It clearly sees the Xperia Ion as worth the five-star treatment it's giving the rest of the 2012 Xperia line: the company is starting a rare TV ad campaign to pitch its 720p wunderkind to an American audience that might not have noticed the Ericsson badge going away. As you'd expect, the pseudo single-take spot ends up being as much a vehicle for pushing other Sony projects as it does for the Android phone in question; we hope you don't mind getting a brand overdose. With that in mind, there's more action and explosions per square capita than in any other smartphone ad in recent memory, so if you're upset that other smartphone ads are just too... peaceful, click Play and get your fill of danger.
Microsoft will roll out Kinect-enabled NUads on Xbox 360 this fall (video)
Microsoft's Xbox Live Advertising team first showed off its highly interactive NUads platform at the Cannes festival last year, and today announced they will start rolling out to Xbox 360s this fall. The first advertisers up are Toyota, Unilever and Samsung Mobile USA with Kinect-enabled ads that let viewers respond to questions after a 30-second spot by voice or gesture. According to Microsoft this is great because viewers can easily see real time stats of how others are voting and advertisers get immediate feedback. While we've all wanted to shout down an ad at some point (just look out the window Zooey, seriously) there's probably going to be a contingent that thinks letting advertisers accumulate data from behind that Kinect camera lens is a little creepier than they'd like. Check out Microsoft's pitch for the tech in press release and video form after the break.
Twitter airs first TV spot during NASCAR, implores racing fans to discover the magic of hashtags
Given #thescope with which Twitter has #invadedpopularculture, it may come as a shock to realize that the company hasn't really ventured too far into the world of television advertising -- but then, it seems that it's been doing a pretty good job getting enough #freeadvertising as is. Clearly the folks at Twitter saw an untapped resource in the form of the #NASCAR audience, using the weekend's race to launch its first TV #adcampaign, revolving around fittingly pithy spots capped off with the TWITTER.COM/#NASCAR URL, which redirects to a landing page for the weekend's festivities. Relive the #thrilloftherace with a slew of Twitter ads #afterthebreak.
Walmart ad hints at Vudu streaming on Roku players
We've wondered ever since Roku's media streamers went on sale at Walmart about a year ago when or if the retailer's Vudu streaming service would be available on them, and that time may be drawing near. While there's still no official word or appearance of the channel, Dave Zatz posted an image of an upcoming June 10th Walmart ad from SlickDeals.net for the Roku HD that includes a logo for Vudu. Of course, even if the app is released, as he mentions there's no assurance they'd be able to handle the highest quality HDX streaming, but it would be one more way to get video on-demand, and access to cloud stored Ultraviolet movies.
Facebook lets advertisers easily buy mobile-only ads, our news feeds feel slightly unclean
Facebook's fistfuls of cash come almost exclusively from advertising, but virtually none of it comes from mobile. Much to its delight and our chagrin, that's changing. Prospective advertisers now only need to use the social network's ready-made ad interface and Power Editor to back a sponsored news feed story on mobile devices, instead of getting the explicit say-so from Facebook. It's not open season on Facebook's mobile apps: we won't see dating ads rear their pretty heads in Facebook Camera anytime soon. All the same, it does mean the social stream on your HTC Status will be a bit less than pristine from now on.
iPhone "buzz" gets a boost following celebrity ads
Love them or hate them, those new Siri ads starring Zooey Deschanel and Samuel L. Jackson are apparently effective, says a YouGov BrandIndex report. As noted by Fortune's Apple 2.0 blog, the celebrity Siri ads are creating buzz among 18-34 year old questioned in the survey. In just a few weeks, the buzz score for the iPhone went from 16 on April 19 to 51 on May 4, surpassing Android on its way up. The buzz score is based on a survey of consumers who were asked whether they've heard anything about the brand in the last two weeks, either through advertising, news or word of mouth, and whether it was it positive or negative. [Via Fortune's Apple 2.0]
T-Mobile targets iPhone, AT&T in new ad
T-Mobile is really shaking up its ad strategy lately. First, their demure young lady in the cute dress became a leather-wearing biker chick (supposedly to show off how fast the company's new network is), and now they're targeting AT&T and the iPhone directly, in the new ad you can see below. There's an interesting subtext on this one, however, and that's that T-Mobile is likely going to finally get the iPhone on its network later this year. So this ad is a surgical poke rather than a broad swipe: it attacks AT&T's service, and subtly hints that the iPhone would be so much better in the hands of the lady on the black and pink bike. Funny.
Bizarre internal Apple video shows Steve Jobs rallying the troops against IBM
We're going to warn you up front: what you're about to see is eccentric, puzzling, and perhaps even disturbing. And undoubtedly, it's the fanboy film to end all fanboy films. According to Network World, who managed to get ahold of an internal 'rally the troops' video, the referenced clip was produced with a $50,000 budget and shown to an international sales force at a 1984 meeting in Hawaii. The film, entitled "1944," was purportedly provided by one-time Apple employee Craig Elliott, now CEO of Pertino Networks. The vintage footage shows then-CEO Steve Jobs as Franklin Delano Roosevelt, and the nine minute film drags on to show Apple-clad soldiers lining up to do battle with IBM -- a massive, massive rival in the space during that era. The full watch can be found in the source link below (embedding was disabled), and again, this will absolutely freak you out. Fair warning.
Toshiba sings NAND Flash's praises, thinks you should too
Have you taken a moment today to stop and thank NAND Flash for existing? No? Well, Toshiba would like to say tsk, tsk. Today the company launched a full-scale campaign to promote this storage technology -- and by full-scale we mean a dedicated "25 Years of NAND Flash" website, a "NAND Flash Deprivation Experiment" video series, new Facebook and Twitter accounts and a Toshiba Excite 10 giveaway. We must have missed the memo that NAND was dangerously underappreciated, because we're still trying to figure out why it needs a marketing campaign of its own. Toshiba has a slew of laptop refreshes and the Excite 7.7 and 13 tablets just around the corner -- and that interim period between announcement and launch date can be killer -- but somehow talking up NAND Flash doesn't seem the right course of action. Take a look at the campaign's first video below the break and decide for yourself.
Tiesto tracks released inside Tap Tap music game
Disney's always had kind of an identity complex with Tap Tap Revenge. The brand is one of the oldest on the App Store -- it was originally called Tap Tap Revolution, and was eventually picked up by Tapulous and turned into Tap Tap Revenge, a sort of DDR-style music game. Then, of course, Tapulous was bought by Disney, and its CEO, Bart Decrem, was put in charge of Disney's entire mobile division, where they've had significant success with other titles and brands. But Tap Tap has always been an interesting one. It has definitely benefited from Disney's ties to the music industry, and there's no question that the in-app purchases of popular songs help the app's profitability. But at the same time, it seems Disney isn't quite sure what to do with Tap Tap. The company, along with Decrem's insight, keeps coming up with different ways to try to tie together the relatively ancient Tap Tap gameplay with the Disney empire at large. And here's another one. DJ Tiesto is planning to release a new album, called Club Mix: Volume Two Miami, and he's signed a deal with Disney to debut it in the Tap Tap Revenge app itself. Starting today, fans will be able to download certain tracks from the album for free in Tap Tap Revenge, and then over a two-week period, various songs will be available to play for a limited time, allowing for a preview of the entire album. Disney's also giving away copies of the album in the game itself, and the two brands are just generally promoting the heck out of each other. It's not a bad idea at all, and it'll probably work. Tiesto's audience probably lines right up with the people playing this game, and spinning an album for the first time through an app is an intriguing strategy. But it definitely feels like Disney is poking around for something that works with Tap Tap Revenge, and if this doesn't, they'll have to dream up something else.
Google announces Brand Activate Initiative for online advertising, hopes to establish new standard
When Google makes a new move in advertising, people are bound to take notice, and it's made a fairly big one today. It's announced what it's dubbed the Brand Activate Initiative at the Ad Age Digital Conference today, something that initially consists of two new services for advertisers: Active View and Active GRP. The latter is a so-called gross rating point metric that's modeled to some extent on TV advertising, while Active View is something that Google hopes will become a standard for all online advertising. In short, it measures both how long an ad remains on a person's screen and how much of it is viewed -- if at least 50 percent of it is viewable for at least one second it's counted as an viewed impression. Both of those options are rolling out today, but they're apparently just the beginning of the broader initiative. You can see Google itself explain it in the video after the break, and on its DoubleClick blog linked below.
New iPhone ads air featuring Zooey Deschanel and Samuel L. Jackson
Last night saw the airing of two new ads for the iPhone 4S that featured celebrities Samuel L. Jackson and Zooey Deschanel. Both thirty-second spots showed the celebs using Siri in their home environment. Jackson used Apple's personal assistant software to help him plan a "date night" and cook a meal, while the ad with Deschanel saw her using Siri on a rainy day. The ads are significant as they mark a deviation from Apple's recent television advertising: they feature celebrities playing themselves and are as much a focus of the ad as the iPhone itself. As of the time of this writing Apple has yet to post the ads to its iPhone ad gallery or its official YouTube channel. However, you can check out both ad below thanks to a couple sharp-eyed viewers who had their cameras ready when the ads appeared.
Samsung's AdHub Market advertising platform set to debut this year
Would it be such a bad idea if Sammy were to try squeezing more revenue out of those five million (and counting) Notes? Not by any means. According to The Wall Street Journal, Samsung, in partnership with OpenX Technologies, is planning to launch an advertising platform of its own at some point during the second half of this year. Dubbed AdHub Market, the service will be able to run on the company's handsets and slates, following a model similar to that of Apple's iAds. The AdHub Market would essentially allow advertisers to shell out cash in exchange for real estate within apps running on most of Samsung's devices. What's not clear, however, is how Google will react to the news...
Australian court holds Google responsible for misleading search ads
In a turnaround from a lower court ruling, three Australian Federal Court judges ruled yesterday that Google was responsible for its advertisers' content and that it breached the country's trade law by hosting misleading ads. The case centered on four ads in particular, in which the advertisers used the names of their competitors to ensure the ads appeared in search results for said companies. That, the court ruled, was likely to mislead folks searching for those competitors. While there's no fine imposed on Google with that judgement, the judges are asking Google to change its practices and to pay court costs. The ruling also, of course, sets quite a precedent if it is upheld. Not surprisingly, Google disagrees with the judges' decision, noting that it believes "advertisers should be responsible for the ads they create on the AdWords platform," and that it's now considering its options (including an appeal to the High Court).
Samsung does some awesome face projection to push Galaxy Y Duos (video)
So, imagine that you're Samsung, and you're looking to promote your double-SIMed Galaxy Y Duos smartphone. How to go about it? How about performing a cool light show on some dude's face? That's the approach of this spot brought to you by the Portugal wing of the hardware maker. The model in question reportedly had to sit still for "up to" three hours straight as his face and upper body were used as a canvas for the same sort of video mapping we've seen applied to the sides of buildings. The result is a little strange, a bit spooky and generally awesome, even if your Portuguese is a bit rusty. Check out the video after the break.
Sony Xperia's 'Made of Imagination' TV spot, directed by Wes Anderson (video)
Sony certainly has its fair share of legendary commercials, but its first major spot since taking over the smartphone torch from Sony Ericsson is a real gem. Dreamed up by an eight-year old longing for understanding of what happens within a pocketable computer and directed by the famed Wes Anderson (you know, the guy responsible for The Royal Tenenbaums and Fantastic Mr. Fox), the 'Made of Imagination' ad features a gaggle of robots powering Sony's Android family. The rest, of course, we'll leave to you to enjoy. Head on past the break for the clip, and have a peek at the TechCrunch via below for a bit of the backstory.
Google patent outlines ads targeted to 'environmental conditions'
The ad game is all about targeting: demographics, locations, keywords -- and really, few companies are more equipped to target users than Google. In case you were worried that the search giant doesn't have enough information to harvest, a newly surfaced patent outlines the company's interesting utilizing environmental conditions, including things like temperature, humidity, sound, light or air composition, in order to serve up advertisements to devices. Of course, as with other interesting ad patents from the company, the fact that Google applied doesn't necessary mean we'll be seeing this specific technology rolling out any time soon -- or ever, for that matter.
Microsoft expands Internet Explorer push with new TV ad
Internet Explorer may still be the world's number one web browser, but Microsoft has a declining market share to deal with, as well as the small problem of folks hesitant to upgrade from an earlier version for one reason or another. The company's now making a new push to address both issues, however, and has today unveiled a relatively rare Internet Explorer TV commercial extolling the virtues of IE9. That ad continues the "beauty of web" campaign Microsoft has been promoting as of late, and focuses more on web-based apps and games than traditional web sites -- or, for that matter, the browser itself. What remains to be seen is just how big a marketing push Microsoft plans to put behind the new ad campaign, but it is an actual TV ad, not just a web ad. Press play above to render your own judgement.
