The renaissance of airlines

Probably it is the same in advertising as it is with cinema: there's always two films about one topic at a time. Recently the airline industry seems to take control of the Austrian Media. Although times are really hard in reality, companies started to use the metaphor of flying and the styling/design of airlines to promote their products.

Your happiness is our success was the headline fo the latest event of ORF, Austrias biggest Media Enterprise. Not only the claim is simply a modified version of the former Lauda Air (now part of Austrian Airlines) claim "Service is our success". Also the program at the event, was supposed to create the feeling of an airport, with Check-In Counters and Flight Attendents. (btw: also this concept is stolen, 3 months ago Red Bull opened its Entertainment Center Hangar 7 with exactly the same concept).

The airline industry is not doing very well, especially in Austria (with three national carriers and a lot of competition from Germany and other surrounding countries) it has been a vital part of daily economic news in the past quarter. But still companies like use the buzzwords of this industry, like in their new pricing scheme called Lucky 7, where customers are supposed to "take off". Also Telekom Austria uses Flight Attendants in their latest campaign to sell Internet Connection Packages.

Strange world, isn't it?
 

Old Dodge Ad

Don Dahlmann posts a very nice old ad for a Dodge car. What a pity that ads are no longer made this way today. (via hebig.org)
 

Pubic Branding

There was a controversial discussion when Gucci came out with a new ad showing a new kind of pubic branding. TheAge.com says

Mobile Ad Campagins gettin tougher

the current No. 4 on the austrian mobile phone market Tele Ring just recently launched a new campaign with the new advertising agency D-DF (Dirnberger - De Felice).

The Spot Shows little flubby men running around jumping on ordinary people while they are talking on their cellular. The Claim is "der speck muss weg" which symbolizes the overgrown bureaucracy and sponsorship of the competition leading to higher mobile phone costs.

One rival (T-mobile) now took legal action against this spot.

marketing and legal department of tele.ring are now about to change passages of the spot, saying "that we won't change the whole campaign, just because some rivals seem to have no humor...."
 

Herman Maier Superstar

The wirtschaftsblatt says: hermann maier is now in range with tiger woods, michael schumacher, michael jordan and these guys - regarding his international position as testimonial.

it seems that they are damn right! although the US and the rest of the world pays very little attention to alpine skiing everybody is excited about the unbelievable comeback of hermann maier at the Super G in kitzbuhel.

article in USA TODAY, another one in the NY TIMES (at the bottom, unfortunately, pay-per-view), the well known London Times, even the FAZ, as well as the neue Zuericher Zeitung, or even the Sueddeutsche,....

and surely many, many more!
 

Coke imitates Red Bull

Recent article in Ad.Age the US industry portal for advertising:

Mc Donald's Marketing Makeover

Business 2.0 writes about Mc Donald's new ad campaign.