Sunday, February 10, 2013 – 8:00pm
Berklee Performance Center
136 Massachusetts Avenue
Boston, MA, 02115
The estate of legendary singer and songwriter John Denver is proud to announce John Denver: A Rocky Mountain High Concert, a live touring experience honoring Denver’s memory and music. The concerts will feature projected vintage video of Denver performing, backed live by members of his original touring band and an accompanying string section. For the first time in fifteen years, audiences will experience John Denver in concert, performing hit songs from throughout his career.
The hardcringing staff thought that was just too creepy until Berklee reminded us that 1) “Denver’s status as a cultural icon stands undiminished” and 2) he’s “a national treasure.”
Yesterday afternoon the hardsurfing staff came across this on Mediaite:
Bizarre PSA To Massachusetts Youth: ‘Pull Up Your Pants’… Or You Could Go To Prison
The Black Mental Health Alliance of Massachusettshas a message for kids who like to wear their pants “hip hop style”: “Pull up your pants. Respect yourself.” Or you could spend up to 3 years in state prison.
In a bizarre new PSA from the Massachusetts advocacy group, a police officer says into the camera, ““So you think you look pretty good wearing your pants like that, don’t you? Underwear exposed, hip hop style.”
He proceeds to explain that in Massachusetts, wearing saggy pants could get you up a $300 fine, 3 years in state prison or 2 years in a county jail.
Saggy pants video:
Here’s what the Black Mental Health Alliance of Massachusetts has to say about the spot:
Black Mental Health Group releases anti-saggy pants video
Video Targeted to urban youth in metro Boston Area
January 24, 2013, Boston, Massachusetts – The Black Mental Health Alliance of Massachusetts (BMHAM) a Boston based mental health advocacy organization released an Anti-Saggy Pants video today, which is running on major television outlets in the Boston market. The video targeted to young urban dwellers in Massachusetts is the brainchild of Dr. Omar Reid, President and Founder of BMHAM says the the video’s purpose is to address the growing issue of young men walking in the streets of our communities without regard and respect for themselves and thier community. “For the BMHAM it’s a behavioral health issue in our neighborhoods and communities that must be addressed the entire community.” says Dr. Reid.
For starters, the hardwondering staff would like to know which “major television outlets in the Boston market” are running this spot.
Beyond that, the hardwatching staff notes that Massachusetts has not introduced saggy pants legislation along the lines of cities in Georgia, Florida, Illinois, and Tennessee (tip o’ the pixel to hypervocal).
No, this spot totally relies on a couple of obscure Massachusetts laws for its warning:
The fine print:
CHAPTER 272 Crimes Against Chastity, Morality, Decency and Good Order
SECTION 16 Open and gross lewdness and lascivious behavior
Someone will be convicted of those offenses the same day the hardworking staff is inaugurated Governor of the Commonwealth.
When the photo appeared on BuzzFeed (as noted by the hardworking staff), that was one thing. But combine it with the New York Post’s headline, and we’ve reached new depths of misHillary.
According to ad industry bible Advertising Age, it’s Kaddish for Lance Armstrong in the marketing world.
Lance Armstrong Blew His Last Chance, Experts Say
Other Disgraced Athletes Have Made Comebacks, So How Marketable Is the Former Champion Cyclist? Not at all.
Lance Armstrong admitted to trying to “control the narrative” of his life during part one of his interview with Oprah Winfrey on Thursday night. But the narrative that’s now spinning out of control is what happens to what’s left of his image and marketability. The consensus on Madison Ave: He’s finished.
Nike, Anheuser-Busch, Oakley, Trek and other sponsors dumped the disgraced cyclist after the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency banned him for life for running what it called the most “sophisticated” doping operation the sport had ever seen. But if Mr. Armstrong thinks confessing to Ms. Winfrey will be the first step in a comeback, he should think again, experts warn.
Representative sample:
Put a fork in Mr. Armstrong as far as future endorsement deals go, said Darren Rovell, ESPN’s sports-business reporter. He’s done.
“Lance Armstrong doesn’t have any future marketability. It’s over,” he said.
For starters, “If the [Tour de France] wins are not legit, then neither is he.” Beyond that, there’s no chance Armstrong will ever again attract the competitive attention he drew in his cycling career.
So from here on out Armstrong’s just, you’ll excuse the expression, spinning his wheels.
With a little over a week before the Senate Armed Services Committee begins confirmation hearings on former Sen. Chuck Hagel’s nomination to be the next Secretary of Defense, the television air wars against him are heating up. This morning the conservative group, the American Future Fund, is releasing a tough new ad accusing Hagel of declining to “publicly disclose millions in underlying assets,” accepting “gold plated trips from lobbyists” and noting that he sits on the board of the oil giant Chevron “which receives hundreds of millions in Pentagon contracts.” The group says it is spending half-a-million dollars on the new spot, which will run on Fox News and CNN across the country.
The spot:
But ads like that are unlikely to change facts on the ground like this (via the New York Times):
Hagel and McCain Sit Down to Iron Out a Few Differences
WASHINGTON — For President Obama, the first test of his second term passed peacefully on Tuesday as his nominee for defense secretary, Chuck Hagel, sat down with the Republican who poses one of his biggest potential hurdles to Senate confirmation, Senator John McCain of Arizona.
By all accounts, the 45-minute one-on-one meeting went well enough for the White House to feel that it has finally turned the tide in favor of Mr. Hagel, whose positions on Israel and Iran have drawn heavy fire from conservatives, pro-Israel groups and other critics.
Branded content – the packaging of marketing material as editorial or entertainment content – is all the rage these days, although no one’s very angry about it.
More Spending Is Flowing Toward Content Marketing, Yet Many Advertisers Don’t Fully Understand How to Do It or How to Measure it
Content marketing remains the bright, shiny objet du jour for marketers, even as they work to figure out how to best implement it and measure results.
Content marketing is attracting its share of marketers’ budgets — 12% on average — and more than half of marketers plan to spend even more in the coming year, according to a survey Ad Age conducted in late 2012 of nearly 600 marketers. Yet, it’s clear most marketers are struggling with some pretty basic questions: Who should be the “boss” of content? How much should be spent on content marketing? Is it effective?
Maybe they should ask The Atlantic, which is still trying to explain the pimping out of its website to the Church of Scientology last week . . .
Ron Johnson: Hillary Clinton Planned To Get Emotional To Evade Questions
“I think she just decided before she was going to describe emotionally the four dead Americans, the heroes, and use that as her trump card,” the senator tells BuzzFeed.
Point #1: Really?
Point #2: Is it possible Wisconsin Sen. Ron Johnson just decided before he was going to describe Clinton that way, and use that as his trump card?
Governor Deval Patrick appointed a former aide to Andrea J. Cabral to succeed her as Suffolk County sheriff on Tuesday, saying he was not concerned that Steven Tompkins could be seen as a political hire.
“By the way, it’s a political job, so the folks that are criticizing it as a political hire, tell them: they’re right,” Patrick told reporters shortly after administering the oath of office to Tompkins, who will serve until the 2014 general election.
An upstart organization run by several former Romney campaign staffers is hitting the airwaves in five states with a volley of television ads aimed at squashing the nomination of former Nebraska Sen. Chuck Hagel to be the next Secretary of Defense.
Sponsored by the new group, Americans for a Strong Defense, the ads will run on broadcast and cable television in Alaska, Arkansas, Colorado, Louisiana and North Carolina. They are specifically tailored to pressure senators from those states to vote “no” on Hagel’s nomination.
The spot:
The hardwatching staff especially likes the assertion that “Barack Obama’s nominee for Secretary of Defense wants America to back down” from Iran, North Korea, and Russia.
The estate of legendary singer and songwriter John Denver is proud to announce John Denver: A Rocky Mountain High Concert, a live touring experience honoring Denver’s memory and music. The concerts will feature projected vintage video of Denver performing, backed live by members of his original touring band and an accompanying string section. For the first time in fifteen years, audiences will experience John Denver in concert, performing hit songs from throughout his career.
Campaign Outsider 