"Advertisers competing for the much desired attention of the college-aged set now have another opportunity to get their ads in the hands of students - and hold their interest for up to 90 minutes. FreeHand Advertising distributes free note-taking paper to students on their way to class. Each page is branded with the same type of horizontal ad you see on websites, only these are visible for at least the duration of a college lecture, and longer if students refer back to their notes (as they should)(...).

Ads can be used to gain visibility, offer coupons, or promote sales, grand openings or other events. Colored and recycled papers are also available, and larger images can be displayed as watermarks. With so many brands and marketers reaching out to this market, note paper is an innovative low-tech solution for grabbing their attention. (...)"

Source: http://www.springwise.com/marketing_advertising/

Source: B&T Magazine, August 3, 2007, p.4

Experimental marketing is getting more and more popular all around the world. The intention of this kind of marketing is to surprise and delight consumers in a way that magazine ads or TV spots cannot. An Australian example of experimental marketing is the pop-up night club of Southern Comfort earlier this year:

SoCo Cargo can be assembled within a day, with an entirely adaptable interior. The venue usually contains a bar, stage and lounge area, but the main focus varies per location. One time it will be a nightclub, next time a live music venue or art gallery, popping up by the side of the road, near a festival, carnival or other outdoor event.
There is probably a lot to follow in this year's festival summer!

Source: http://www.springwise.com/food%5Fbeverage/popup%5Fnightclubs/

MediaSmart launches local in-game ads

"MediaSmart has signed its first locally produced in-game advertising campaign for the launch of two new movies aimed at young male consumers.

A partnership between MediaSmart, Sensis' digital sales arm and an in-game advertising services company, IGA Worldwide, has meant gamers going online to play Counter-Strike, Battlefield 2142 and 9 Dragons were the first to experience 20th Century Fox's billboard ads for its new movie Die Hard 4.0 which went live last Saturday (...)."

Source: B&T Magazine, August 3, 2007 p.4

Social Networks are the new way of socializing. Currently, there are 200 existing online social networks worldwide. Especially "My Space" and "Facebook" are extremely popular. My Space currently has 3.38 million Australian users, 50% of which are under 25 years old.

The popularity of these networks makes them perfect advertising platforms. The media budget spent in advertising on My Space & Co adds up to $280m in the US and $70m internationally. By 2011, an amount of $2.5 billion in ad spend is predicted. For My Space, an ad growth of 200% in 2007 is estimated.

Whilst individuals might profit from these networks, for many companies this trend has negative effects. Users are spending countless business hours on e.g. Facebook to keep up with their contacts. With 800,000 affected businesses worldwide, this social networking addiction has lead to an estimated A$5 billion in productivity loss in 2006/07.

Sources: Digital Media Magazine, Edition 2.0 2007
http://www.news.com.au/business/story/0,23636,22274717-5012426,00.html
http://www.rossdawsonblog.com/