A Las Vegas HUMMER dealer, Dan Towbin of Towbin HUMMER, has been ordered to take down a 30' x 60' American flag he's flown 100 feet above his dealership for a year because his neighbors have complained about the sound of the flag flapping and the obtrusiveness of its looming pole. While Towbin claims the the flag is an expression of his patriotism, the dealer's neighbors and other concerned citizens in Las Vegas assert that his intentions are mostly commercial, accusing Towbin of exploiting veterans for his own financial gain. One point of controversy is a war memorial Towbin planned to build at the base of the pole.
Towbin, who is an honorary commander at Nellis Air Force Base, said he has not built the memorial because the flag was only approved tentatively pending a six-month review. The six months came and went without the city following up on the matter.
Whatever the circumstances, an interesting component of the battle over the flag is the fact that both sides claim the other is anti-American -- critics of those who wish that the flag be removed say that taking down a flag is unpatriotic, while others say keeping the flag up allows Towbin to commercialize a patriotic symbol.
Only Towbin knows for sure his intentions, of course.
Factoid: Dan Towbin is owner of , and his son is Josh Towbin, a.k.
a. Chopper from King of Cars.
Advertising a product on television can be a very complicated exercise, as each demographic and market get its own specialized message.
Many people who travel overseas notice that commercials are peculiar outside their native market, and anybody that sees GM's new Cadillac commercial for the Chinese market has to be scratching his or her head.
In the commercial, a large group of 18th century Englishmen (or American colonists?) are trying to wrangle a wild horse, when a Cadillac SLS comes in to tame the beast while the wig-wearing gentlemen in puffy Seinfeld shirts and petticoats run for cover.
We think the premise of the commercial is that the beauty of the SLS tames the savage horse, but with all those makeup-wearing colonists running around, we're too distracted to know for sure. Hey, here in the States we have Abe Lincoln pitching insomnia medication, so anything is fair game. to view this bizarre pitch, and chime in to let us know what you think.
Posted May 20th 2007 3:10PM by
Filed under: , ,
For years analysts have been recommending to Ford that they shut down the Mercury division unless they actually create some unique vehicles for the brand. With few exceptions like the 1998-2002 Cougar, Mercury has had few vehicles that weren't just rebadged Fords in decades.
According to Warren Brown of the Washington Post, .
In his decidedly unscientific analysis, when his wife and assistant evaluated the Mercury Mariner Hybrid a few weeks after the Escape hybrid they found the Mariner a much more enjoyable vehicle. They thought the Mercury was distinctly different and less SUV-like.
I find this all highly dubious and I seriously doubt that most women would actually feel this way, especially if they tried the vehicles back-to-back. Aside from possibly some different color combinations and maybe a little extra chrome trim in the Mercury, the two vehicles are exactly identical. A Mariner is equally as SUV-like as an Escape and anyone who says otherwise is deluding themselves.
Let's hear what the women out there think in the comments.
[Source: Detroit News]
Posted May 16th 2007 6:32PM by
Filed under: ,
When some us of think Dodge, we think performance. And that's as it should be.
In the past few years, the automaker has blessed us with rides that are wholly American, whether it's the Charger, the Viper or any of the SRT-infused vehicles that roll of the line. So why not build off that image?
It seems that some of the heads of Dodge see their company in the same light, and have decided to make the director of marketing for the Chrysler group's SRT offerings the main man in charge of promoting Dodge.
Michael Accavitti has swapped titles and is now the brand manager for Dodge and the SRT wing. We think it's a smart move, but we'll reserve final judgment until we see how the Chrysler buyout affects the brand.
[Source: Automotive News ndash; Sub.
Req.]
Following up the on the subject, Audi TV has launched on the internet, offering up original Audi content 24-hours a day, seven-days-a-week.
Magazine-type shows, from "behind-the-scenes" looks at vehicle launches to interviews with musicians and other Audi partners, pepper the web waves in both English and German for the enjoyment of Audi-philes across the world. Available at and , programming covers not just the cars themselves, but culture, sport, lifestyle and technology.
The effort is spearheaded by a small team at Audi AG in Germany and supported by various marketing, communications, sales, technology and design heads elsewhere throughout the company.
Check out Audi's press release after the jump.
Every automaker has its own subset of dedicated enthusiasts, with varying levels of obsessive behavior. Honda is no different. Take away the misinformed ricers, and Honda's racing heritage stands alone in a sea of commuter-infused mediocrity.
In order to recognize the Big H's engineering prowess and its motorsports legacy, Honda has launched a new ad campaign in the UK that focuses on the automaker's obsessive compulsive attention to detail. Dubbed Hondamentalism, the idea is to forge a link between its racing successes and its consumer vehicles ndash; hardly a new concept ndash; but the way it's presented deserves a look. The new spot, posted after the jump, will give you a feel for the campaign as a whole, albeit in a somewhat melodramatic, Aphex Twin-influenced creative.
You can get your head into the campaign by heading over to the , and you can check out a brief run down on what the Red H is all about .
[Source: Honda]
Just last year marketing agencies were bemoaning the advent of the TiVo and similar digital video recorders (DVRs) that allow viewers to fast forward through commercials. A few of the smarter marketing folks, however, are embracing it. San Francisco-based Venables Bell Partners was hired by Audi at the end of 2006 and the first campaign produced by the ad house has already hit the airwaves.
Two of the ads, named 0.2 Seconds and Moment, feature 0.2 seconds worth of images flashed on the screen in a rapid fashion.
It almost looks like subliminal messaging, but it's too noticeable. In fact, Venables Bell Partners want you to rewind your DVR after the commercial and plays and go through it frame by frame to see those images. It's an interesting idea, if only because this is the first time anyone's thought of engaging a TV viewer through the medium of a DVR.
We would quickly go back to skipping commercials if our favorite shows were surrounded by ads like this.
Since these are the first commercials of their kind, Venables Bell Partners has also produced a How-To video for Audi, which shows your average couple on a catch experiencing the commercials for the first time and using their DVR's remote. Wow, we think everyone's aware how to rewind and use frame-by-frame on their DVR.
News RSS