CBS Exec VP/Sports Ad Sales & Marketing John Bogusz said ad rates are up by "mid single-digit increases" for the entire NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament, according to Tim Baysinger of REUTERS. Sources said that the price for a 30-second spot during the April 3 National Championship game "ranges" from $1.2M to more than $1.5M. Some of that is "buoyed by the tournament having 19 different corporate sponsors, three more than last year, that have ad buys throughout the tournament." Turner Sports Exec VP/Ad Sales Jon Diament said, "We got this major jump start in ad sales, because we have upwards of 60 percent of our advertisers already in" (REUTERS, 3/13).
SNAKE CHARMING: ADWEEK's Gabriel Beltrone reported Basketball HOFer Charles Barkley, actor Samuel L. Jackson and director Spike Lee are "eating steaks on a plane" in a new spot as part of Capital One’s latest March Madness campaign from DDB, Chicago. The spot is a "cheeky reference" to the '06 film "Snakes on a Plane" that starred Jackson. The trio performs in "six new ads" for the campaign, which "launched Sunday." In another spot, Barkley "wears a sweatshirt backwards, so he can eat potato chips out of the hood by simply dipping his chin, instead of using his hands." In a different one, Jackson’s enthusiastic applause during a game "triggers Barkley’s clap-activated on-off switch -- killing the TV and the lights at a crucial moment" (ADWEEK.com, 3/13).
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LG's campaign features several college
mascots, including Oregon State's beaver |
FRIDGE MAGNET: ADWEEK's Christine Birkner reports LG is rolling out a "new campaign launching during March Madness" via 72andSunny, L.A. The campaign, dubbed "Life's Not Perfect. Life's Good," includes "eight TV spots," the first two of which will run during the men's Final Four and "feature college mascots" from Michigan State, Kentucky, Oregon State and Colorado. The mascots "knock on the refrigerator door to check out what's inside, with food appropriate to each mascot" (ADWEEK.com, 3/14).
