Brand Noise

Air Force Reaching Out Through Xbox

The US Air Force is partnering with Microsoft to promote the Xbox LIVE "Horror Meets Comedy" original short film series premiering this November 19th. The series features eight well-known horror directors who will bring their comedic visions to life. Directors include James Wan & Leigh Whannell creators of the "Saw" franchise, James Gunn ("Slither", "Dawn of the Dead") Andrew Douglas ("The Amityville Horror"), David Slade ("30 Days of Night") and Lucky McKee ("May").

Air Force will create custom intro billboards that will run with each pilot and interactive media placements that will live across the Xbox LIVE online entertainment network and the Xbox.com website. Users can click on these custom units and engage directly with the Air Force Brand Destination which offers users the opportunity to learn more about the Air Force through video downloads, gamer pictures and theme packages.

Seems to me there’s a bigger picture to explore…

School Administrators Get Their Due

Show I'm most likely to secretly watch this season: truTV's new series THE PRINCIPAL'S OFFICE, premiering with two back-to-back episodes Thursday, Aug. 21, at 9 p.m. (ET/PT). School administrators make for great viewing.

I'm envisioning a FOX News U-Report component, that lets kids catch their own administrators on the fly.

(Photo: Somerville School)

      

NBC & DirecTV Split FNL Costs & Rights

NBC struck a deal with DirecTV to split the production costs and distribution rights of “Friday Night Lights”...As part of the agreement, the satellite provider gets to air the new 13-episode season of “Friday Night Lights” this October before it debuts in February on the broadcast network.

When the series airs Wednesdays on DirecTV’s 101 Network, each episode will be paired with a 30-minute live call-in show, in which fans can talk with actors from the show.

Because “Friday Nights Lights” will air on such different platforms, producers are considering creating two distinct versions of each episode to take advantage of having a longer run time and fewer content restrictions on satellite...But it remains an open question whether hard-core fans of the show (are there any other kind?) who don’t have DirecTV will wait to watch it on NBC or download pirated episodes that are bound to make their way online.

In keeping with its true to life mission, the coming season will jump to the fall of a new school year, even though the writers strike prevented the series from finishing its second-season story line.

Read more.

The Scoop on Facebook's Lifechanging Box Sponsor

Facebook has a pretty "sharp" (!) new game circulating...The Lifechanging Box. It's like hot potato in reverse. If the box opens while it's in your possession, you win its prize. But I'm one of those curmudgeons who walks past raffle tickets even when they go to a good cause--because I NEVER win at games of chance. "Maybe this time" runs through my head...but I'm pretty quick to squelch the notion. And so I did the same when I saw the application for Lifechanging Box (sans its sponsor name) fly through my Facebook site. Now that the sponsor has been revealed to me and I see colleagues have already won some pretty cool stuff, I'm rethinking that decision. Is there a vacation in that box? I'm so ready for one.

What? There is No List?

George Carlin cemented his reputation in 1972 with "Seven Words You Can Never Say on Television". His ode to curses led to a landmark Supreme Court ruling. Despite that 1978 ruling, the Federal Communications Commission doesn't have a list of words it considers profane. In its consumer fact sheet, the FCC defines profanity as "including language so grossly offensive to members of the public who actually hear it as to amount to a nuisance." But are those seven not-fit-for print or broadcast expletives still offensive?

What a cool job it would be to compile and edit such a list! Imagine the street cred...

Read more.

Brunette Solidarity

According to W Magazine, Diane Von Furstenberg has been carrying a picture of Wonder Woman around in her diary for years. Who knew? It came up in an article about the capsule Wonder Woman collection she developed in tandem with Warner Bros. and DC Comics. Joel Silver's movie is still in the works for 2009, while everyone laments the team's loss of Buffy Vampire Slayer's Joss Whedon over creative visions.

What About Viewers Under the Radar?

Nielsen Co. is unveiling its "fusion" research products that integrate data from disparate media and brand research. The latest product, which was created for Sony Pictures Television, fuses audience ratings data from Nielsen's TV and online surveys with the product purchasing data from Nielsen's HomeScan panel to create a unified view of what TV programs and Web properties consumers use and what brands they buy.

Meantime, MediaPost also reports that Fox is pairing with social networking service Passenger to launch a private online community giving the network access to ongoing audience feedback on programming and marketing efforts. Made up of some 2,000 loyal Fox Network viewers invited to join, the community lets members preview new shows, interact with TV producers, post comments, engage in online discussions and participate in polls.

But what about the audiences that aren't so quick to raise their hands? Often, today, these are the most compelling viewers. They're in. They're out. They leave an indelible mark. They do follow behavioral patterns. Think of the Rachael Ray Sucks Community that thrives online throwing jabs or the case of Friday Night Lights, so well written it fell off the radar.

It's 2008. Do you know where your consumers are?

Bunch of stuff happening along the lines of media in the past week:

1. Microsoft announced it will buy Navic Networks, an addressable advertising technology provider that enables marketers to dynamically target and measure audiences based on patented technology available in 35 million set-top boxes nationwide.
2. And the race to own the web's platform is still very much alive and well. Like Google, Microsoft has ambitions in the online ad space to be the platform through which ads flow -- to use targeting and technology to make publisher inventory more valuable and give advertisers better returns.
3. The addressable advertising market has had major momentum in recent months in the wake of Project Canoe, a consortium of the country's top cable operators whose mission is to create universal metrics for video on-demand ad opportunities to national advertisers. Part of Canoe's initiative will be to introduce its own addressable and interactive ad products to the marketplace, with an additional data-and-analytics product to help advertisers assess the effectiveness of Canoe's ad-serving technology.

The value of these emerging networks is about how well they identify and engage their consumers--something very different from old school top-of-the-mount origins.

PBS Launches YourWeek, fueled by Reddit

Found this out straight from the horse's mouth at lunch yesterday...

and saw it on CNET: Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian announced Wednesday on the company blog that the site will be powering the news behind YourWeek, a new show on affiliates of the public broadcasting network. In a more youth-focused spin than PBS' news is known for, the new show details the week's headlines as chosen by Reddit users. Reddit has set up a new section of the site for discussion.

The juxtaposition of host talent includes Michelle Cottle and Rich Lowry. Reddit also keeps a Reddit user nicely embedded as producer on the PBS side of YourWeek. And, of course, in addition to a Friday night TV spot starting this Friday, the content will be served how you like it--via YouTube.

All Over the World, Teens Crave Empowerment

Last season, Frontline/World ran a story from the Middle East that introduced viewers to the fastest selling comic book in the Arab world, The 99. The comic features characters with super powers based on the concept of Allah's 99 attributes, including wisdom and generosity, as taught in the Koran. Its creator, Naif al-Mutawa, is a 36-year-old from Kuwait who was educated in the United States and who, as a boy, devoured Marvel comics and the Hardy Boys mysteries.

Reporter Isaac Solotaroff followed al-Mutawa as he marketed his comics throughout the Middle East, hoping to spread a moderate, modern image of Islam to the world. In this update, Solotaroff catches up with al-Mutawa in Jakarta, Indonesia, where the comic creator is trying to sell his work to the largest Islamic country in the world, a country that accounts for one in six of all Muslims worldwide. An ensuing documentary, Wham! Bam! Islam!, is in the works. Go, Isaac!

Even more compelling will be to see how the Islamic comic fans evolve. Will the cosplayers take it to the next level? Spirituality already underlies many a Manga. And, apparently, you can even see lotsa hijabi girls in Malaysia attending cosplay events. Could cosplay become the common ground the world needs? Can kids who think change the world? In our own research we've found the cosplay kids to be some of the most open-minded serious global thinkers. It belies the initial impression often viewed simply as kids in costume. These are not the Star Trekkies of past generations.