Yes, yours truly is a huge Peanuts fan. And Snoopy and the gang are back on television as spokesmen for MetLife, a relationship that’s been strong for with for 27 years. But before then, did you know Charlie Brown and company appeared in ads for Ford, Dolly Madison, McDonalds, Cheerios, and Butternut bread? Yes, Snoopy’s getting paid, people! First, here […]
Watch out WGN Radio fans! Mayhem is coming your way. But don’t worry – the station’s listeners are still in “good hands”. First reported by Chicagoland Radio & Media Friday night, Tribune-owned WGN-AM radio made a deal with Northbrook-based Allstate Co. to rename its Michigan Avenue streetside studio the Allstate Showcase Studio. The studio is basically used for its afternoon […]
A week of shock and awe – literally. A Halloween edition of T Dog’s Four Pack: Treats – White Collar. USA had a lot of goodies in its bag – to the tune of 5.3 million viewers for the debut of its new Friday night drama White Collar. With the continued success of Dexter on Showtime, being a criminal has […]
The last few weeks had some noteworthy stories, and here’s how it all went down: the good and the bad. Winners – Rick Bayless win Top Chef: Masters. Yes, our town’s own Rick Bayless won Top Chef: Masters last week, just giving us more proof he’s more talented than his brother, Skip. – Project Runway. The move to Lifetime and […]
This is the third annual review of the Super Bowl commercials. Believe it or not, this year’s crop was actually better than those that ran during last year’s game. Here are the best and the worst ads of Super Bowl XLIII (Click the link to watch the commercial): Best 1. Free Doritos. This spot was created by two amateurs who […]
Welcome to Sub Sandwich Smackdown! In one corner, you have long-time vet Subway and another you have feisty challenger Domino’s and their new oven-baked sandwiches, which they claim beat Subway’s in a two-to-one taste test. Bunk to that, says Subway. If fact, Subway sent Domino’s a cease-and-desist letter, ordering them to stop airing the ads, claiming they were deceptive. Well, […]
Cartman. A Twentieth Television Production. Debmar-Mercury has replaced Tribune Entertainment with Twentieth Television as national advertising representative for syndicated reruns of South Park, meaning Twentieth will now sell the national barter ad time for Cartman and friends, effective immediately. Tribune helped clear the off-Comedy Central sitcom in several markets in 2004 and 2005. But the ironic thing here is, South […]
This dates way back when WCIU-TV carried Kids’ WB programming, and this is the price they paid for it: The Weigel-owned independent station was fined $16,500 for kids’ ad violations by the FCC, regarding Pokemon product placement on Eggo waffles and Fruit By The Foot fruit roll-ups (perhaps this is one of reasons why WCIU dropped Kids’ WB from the […]
For the second year in a row, The T Dog Media Blog picks the best and worst commercials that aired during the Super Bowl. Here are the five best and the five worst: (Click the link to watch the commercial) Best 1. Dwayne Wins (T-Mobile) This ad featuring Charles Barkley and the Miami Heat’s Dwayne Wade was funny as hell. […]
The “Whopper Freakout” campaign boosted sales of the sandwich for Burger King, which features angry customers demanding Whoppers after being told that the chain’s doesn’t sell them anymore. It’s all a gag of course. (Here is the Web version:) The campaign drew 250,000 vistors to its WhopperFreakout.com website, according to ComScore, and grew to 1.5 million views in January. The […]
And that phrase is not just coming from Chicago sports fans. Expenditures were down across the board for traditional media for the first nine months of 2007 (with the exception of cable) according to TNS. Not a good year for ad spending on TV, particularly with Spot sales and syndication (thank you, Macy’s.)
The merger of two of the largest beer makers (behind Anheuser-Busch) will create a huge No. 2 presence in the beer industry, and will have a tremendous impact on buying and selling ad time for major sporting events – not the mention the Chicago based ad agencies who create the spots.
Several blue-chip advertisers are passing on Kid Nation, the controversial Lord of the Files-type reality show where kids 8-to-15 years old build and run their own town without the help of any adults. Among the advertisers skipping the show are Procter & Gamble, Ford Motor Co., and Anheuser-Busch (obviously.) The program has been dogged for weeks with allegations of child-labor […]
Yep, you’ve come a long way, baby. And this Heineken commercial Bob Garfield reviews seems stuck in 1973 in concept. Worst. Commercial. Ever. (Except for those stupid Hyundai spots and the Viagra-deprived old guy on those DirectTV NFL Sunday Ticket ads…) UPDATE: The ad community responded and many came into defense of the ad, pretty much proof that either the […]
Arthur Greenwald of TVnewsday says that many ABC affiliates are passing up a chance to promote Dancing With the Stars locally. He compares the promo efforts of ABC-owned KABC-TV in Los Angeles, Tribune’s WGNO-TV in New Orleans, and Hearst-Argyle’s WTAE in Pittsburgh (which won in his book for its promo efforts over the Tribune station and the network O&O website.)