Phones: Dial this ad
A company called Total Free Call in Waterloo, Ont. has found a novel way to circumvent costly phone bills – get advertisers to pay for them. The Toronto Sun and CFRB 1010 in Toronto have already embraced the system to offer free long distance calls to people in the 905 and 613 area codes, in exchange for listening to a 15-second ad.
All users have to do is dial 416-644-FREE, listen to the ad, and then wait for the prompt to dial their number. The Sun’s Web site touts a captive audience, community goodwill, and the non-invasive nature of the advertising as key selling points. It also mentions targeted advertising opportunities. That is, the ability to target your ads to certain times of the day or to exact communities in the 905 area code.
John Stix, co-founder of Total Free Call, hopes to see free long-distance in all major centres across Canada by the end of the year.
Fast food: Is this logo low-carb?
In a major culinary breakthrough, an entrepreneur in Nesconset, N.Y., has single-handedly discovered the means and mechanism to put branded logos on fast food. Two devices can be outfitted with standard messages or custom logos.
The ‘Roller’ is designed for embossing smaller, narrow foods, such as a pie lattice or the edge of a pizza. The ‘Stamper’ is just as it sounds, but with a special ergonomic handle.
To quote inventor Rich Errera, CEO of Gourmet Impression LLC, ‘From children to adults, from restaurants to one’s kitchen, from near and by far, foods will be speaking for themselves or others, and in any language.’
The United Inventors Association put the products in its top 10 list for the 2003/04 inventing season – right behind the Polar Fusion SoundFlips (ear warmers you can hear through). So far, ‘hundreds of people’ have signed up to get their hands on the yet-to-be manufactured products.
Lamp posts: This cut-out is not for sale
As the plight of Vancouver’s prostitutes gains attention in the news, Vancouver shop Rethink is gearing up to put an advertising campaign on the streets. A new awareness campaign for WISH, the Women’s Information Safe House, will see life-size cardboard cutouts of prostitutes strapped to 12 light posts across Vancouver.
Rethink is counting on weather, graffiti artists and general wear and tear to damage the cut-outs over a week or so. That’s when the agency plans to add signs that read: ‘No woman should be left out on the streets.’
The stunt complements a transit ad that shows a hooker getting into a hearse and a TV spot where a prostitute talks to the doctors who are conducting a premature autopsy on her body, sending the message: ‘Let’s stop treating downtown east-side sex workers like they’re already dead.’
Money: Trafficking in stickers
USA Network cut out the middleman to promote Traffic: The Miniseries. Rather than paying for airtime, the network stuck looney-sized ads directly on 50,000 $1 bills, which went into circulation as change from bartenders in Los Angeles and New York.
USA Network thought that dirty money was an appropriate medium for a show that looks at the illicit global trade of drugs, weapons and people. L.A.-based GoGorilla was pleased to discover that its stickers, which do no damage to the bills, are perfectly legal.
