Sopranos in Russia

Russian TV3 Channel started a guerilla campaign to promote a new season of Sopranos. 150 cabs in Moscow attracting special police attention drove all around the city. TV3 is a third-rate channel with an average 2.1% rating. The previous season of Sopranos ran on a NTV and it was a complete failure. NTV bought several seasons at once to get a discount but now it had to sell to TV3 for a song.

Related Tags: Russia, Moscow, advertising, marketing, Sopranos, NTV, TV3

Madonna and Vympelcom

Madonna plans to give only one concert in Moscow on the 11the of September. What a great event for this country! The box was sold out in several hours. There are rumors that black market prices for not the best seats already reached US$900. Taking into consideration all the public excitement generated by Madonna’s concert it was not necessary to advertise it but Vympelcom, the concert’s official sponsor, thinks otherwise. The slogan on the poster reads, “Cut your way through to the concert of Madonna”.

It actually means that if you participate in a special Vympelcom promotion program you can win a chance to be at the concert but Moscow City officials saw it as a direct call. They argue that hundreds of jerks would read the slogan word for word and would try – right! – to break their way to the concert by force. Having seen a couple of times Moscow riot police in action I don’t believe they succeed.

Related Tags: Russia, Moscow, Madonna, Vympelcom, advertising, marketing

Heroin

Not everyone knows that Heroin was invented by a German pharmaceutical company Bayer. It was viewed a safe alternative to morphine. During the testing many researches found that together with pain killing the drug made them feel elated, euphoric and heroic. So the new drug was called Heroin. It was banned in Germany only in 1969.

Megaphone

Last week Russian mobile communications company Megaphone (#3 in this country) started its new “image” campaign with a commercial aimed at people who think that Megaphone is “just about cell phone services”. Marketing managers at Megaphone believe that it’s not just talking but… communicating (sic!). You see, this is a communication company and it creates – I quote Larisa Tkachuk (Megaphone’s VP), “communicative environment for communication.” I don’t have any idea what communicative environment for communication means but I know Megaphone often creates a lot of highly emotional environment when you run around the neighborhood trying to find an exact spot where communication is more or less stable. I think, being #3 is no excuse to save money on cells. Build more cells, cover more territory and charge less. What else does a person want from a cell phone company? I can hardly imagine anyone subscribing to cell phone services because the company’s “image” is very attractive.

Click here to play (MPEG, 6.38Mb)

The commercial to improve Megaphone’s “image” is created by McCann-Erickson. Producer Hady Shuaib.

Via Sostav.ru

Reklama Review

Alex Shifrin from eXile writes in Dove Drops the Soap about the company's new adoptation campaign in Russia. A very bizarre one. Actually they use the same message, ideas and slogans for all countries where they sell the brand no matter how different cultures and demographic situations are.

Some have argued that this is important because it maintains international brand continuity, but the reality is that often times, it alienates international markets because of different mindsets and cultural assumptions as well as poor translations.

This latest Dove effort is a prime example of how adaptation can go wrong. I'm not arguing against the validity of feminism in general, nor am I trying to downplay the importance of "inner beauty." Well, maybe I am. Maybe because everyone knows that it's because "inner beauty" is one of those wretched consolation prizes, like "good personality," which you grant to those who aren't...beautiful. This Beauty-Myth-for-consumerists may work in suburban North America, but not here.

But my main point is that the kind of mindset which values this alleged "inner beauty" carries more weight in other markets, such as in the West. And perhaps ONLY the West.

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Do women like soccer?

Do women like soccer? A Russian advertising agency RAVI made this hilarious ad for Dirol Cadbury candies Halls Peach Creamy-Liptus. The new enhanced peach taste is an attempt to “soften” general consumer attitude towards Halls. In this country Halls is widely regarded not as a candy but a powerful medicine against cold and sore throat. Halls Extra is a nuclear weapon – it’s so powerful one can hardly inhale.

Click here to watch (2,72 MB, MPG)

Via Adme

SuperMiner

David Zaripov, an independent Russian designer, is getting ready for the Day of Miner in Russia. David thinks that miners are real forgotten heroes in this country who risk their life working deep underground in conditions hardly compatible with life. At the same time media pays too much attention to worker of natural gas industry. That’s unfair. Life is much easier in gas industry. Miners’ Awareness Campaign of Mr. Zaripov is called “ SuperMiners defeats evil Doctor Metan”.

Via AdMe