“Like at Halloween: I knew I’d arrived when I saw people dressing up on Halloween as my character.” ~Jane Badler

Saturday my family and I went to a Halloween party/dinner. However, at 1pm we were still having troubles trying to decide what to go as. A few web searches showed that there are some ambitious and creative people out there when it comes to Halloween costumes.

I know the economy is struggling, but I was a bit surprised when I stumbled across a NPR story of an Idaho high school selling advertising on their test sheets. It has been over a year since this was reported and I am curious to know how successful this experiment of extreme personalized marketing panned out. Did it help bring in significant amount of funds, and did the advertising businesses feel that they where able to receive an ROI on their advertisements?

This is a unique case study and it makes me wonder how ethical it is to penetrate the academic veil. I know we have advertisements in the schools, like vending machines and other healthy alternatives =), but I wonder what damage we do when we start prostituting the actual learning environment. To me, having interruption advertising on the test teaches the kids that nothing is above the principle of making money.

If you are going to have advertising on the test, you might as well put advertising on the school toilet paper! You definitely would get more views, though you would be competing against the creative artwork and slogans found on the walls of the stalls.

A little while ago my friend, Reina, asked about my thoughts concerning the recent change in the FTC advertising guidelines. I have a strong opinion on why I feel the FTC is meddling with bloggers (and other web entities). Below is my answer to her question. It may come across a bit as conspiracy theory, but I don’t believe I am wrong (I guess conspiracy theorists usually believe they are right).

REINA: So today is slow at work so I was going back through all my emails at work and found an article about changes in FTC guides regarding web endorsements. I’m curious if you’ve heard about this, if so, what your thoughts are on it, and also how it has affected blogging and advertising. Have you noticed a difference? Is this sort of thing enforceable or will it be online business as usual? The article made me think of you. Just curious what your thoughts are. Here’s the article.

With all the brilliant ways to do web marketing I am amazed that banner ads are still alive. We see them every where, so someone still finds impression advertisement effective. For me the banner ad was born dead (or at least mostly dead ). Even back in the 90′s I never clicked on them, I felt they were invasive and annoying (as I assume that a lot of people do).

Yet, like spam, banner ads penetrate the masses with nothing more than sheer brute force and undodged determination. Whether it is with the old static skyscraper ads or the new interactive—play a game or punch President Bush—banners, you cannot but surf a few popular websites without being annoyed by them.

The other day I clicked on my first banner ad in over a decade. The ad copy stated: “Warning: Smoking Can Used To Kill You” (see actual ad below). I looked at the ad for a long time before clicking on it. First, I was trying to tell myself that I didn’t need to encourage businesses using intrusive advertising to get my attention. Second, I was trying to figure out what the ad’sangle was. Finally, my curiosity won and I succumbed to yet another marketing scheme and clicked on the banner.

Every since I was a kid and first heard about subliminal advertising I have been fascinated about whether it works or not. In college I read a study about a Canadian TV network running subliminal advertising and then informing their viewers at the end of the program. They asked people to call in and tell them what they thought was being advertised to them—less than one percent got it right.

I believe if done correctly subliminal advertising could work. This video makes me believe that I just might be right.

I have made my fair share of spelling mistakes in my own marketing campaigns. So, it is somewhat heart warming to see large corporations make similar mistakes. I found this gem in an email newsletter I received, which boasts of a readership of 78,000. The true irony though, is that this is an ad from an institution promoting “Higher Education.” What a hard lesson to learn in proof reading your ads before launching them. ~Paul W