Paul Newman died and the star of my all time favorite movie, Cool Hand Luke, is gone.

In “Eagle Eye,” the Dreamworks/Paramount Pictures thriller set for release this weekend, the lead characters are driven to extreme acts by a mysterious woman who contacts them via their mobile phones.

So what better way to promote the movie than through a mobile-marketing campaign?

The effort, created by Millennial Media for Paramount, follows the movie’s plot, without giving too much away, and drives consumers to opt in for voice, text and mobile-web messages similar to what “Eagle Eye” protagonists Jerry Shaw (Shia LaBeouf) and Rachel Holloman (Michelle Monaghan) experience.

Eric Eller, senior VP-marketing at Millennial, said his definition of a great mobile campaign is one that creates compelling content that is easy to share with others and links to the consumer mobile experience. Thanks to the content of the movie, the last parameter was a given.

“In this case it was easier than usual, and it’s even more interesting because we could bring into play all the ways people use mobile phones — calling, text and mobile web,” he said.

All will be revealed…The first message the user receives is a call, voiced by the same mysterious woman in the movie, warning that “you’ve been activated” and that the line is no longer secure. Other warnings and hints come via text messages, interactive voice response and SMS. The upshot of all this builds to hype the movie, when “all will be revealed on Sept. 26.”

There was also a sweepstakes for a chance to win a $1,000 gift card from Circuit City for those who opt in.

Millennial placed mobile banner ads across its network at a wide variety of websites, including the homepages for Major League Baseball, CBS News, TV Guide and Weatherbug, to drive consumers to opt into the campaign. Consumers can join by inputting their phone numbers right into a box on the banner.

“This groundbreaking campaign is an excellent example of how advertisers can creatively use today’s mobile technologies to connect their content to consumers,” said Michael Rosenberg, manager of national advertising at Paramount, in a release. “We are delivering a highly distinctive theatrical marketing vehicle which brings the ‘Eagle Eye’ film experience to its consumers in a new and exciting way.”

This mobile campaign marked the seventh time Paramount tapped Millennial for theatrical or home-entertainment releases. It is also the latest in a series of aggressive marketing pushes for the anticipated blockbuster that includes not only outdoor, radio, print and TV, but also digital marketing, including well-received alternate-reality game “Eagle Eye Freefall.”

My friend Guy Tucker sent me part of an article about the new Gogle phone.
“Google sees mobile devices as being far more ubiquitous than computers, and the more consumers it can get to go online via their phones, the better, arguably, for companies who make money via online advertising. (Google CEO Eric Schmidt is so bullish on this he called mobile “the re-creation of the internet.”)”
G1 versus iPhone

My good friend Ania sent me this and I thought it was a great idea. Hope all will watch this and think about how they can help.

Metallica’s Lars Ulrich loves Black Sabbath and Deep Purple — and so does his 10-year-old son. Ulrich may have played songs from those old rock bands around the house on his stereo, but he gives credit for his son’s excitement to another source: video games.

Myles Ulrich is a fan of games such as “Guitar Hero” and “Rock Band,” which have spawned a comeback for rock music. “It’s a cool generational thing to share that with your kids,” said Ulrich, the drummer for the multi-platinum quartet. “My son’s favorite bands are the same bands that are my favorite bands the bands I grew up on.”

A few years ago, rock music was struggling on the charts. With hip-hop and teen pop ruling, rock was finding it hard to break through with new music or sell more of the old.

But “Guitar Hero” and “Rock Band” have prompted kids born in the ’90s to discover artists from the ’70s and ’80s such as Aerosmith, Twisted Sister and Pat Benatar. The games’ amazing popularity (last year, the two brought in more than $935 million in revenue, according to the NPD Group market research company) has helped create success in other markets.

Geoff Mayfield, senior analyst and director of charts for Billboard magazine, said he sees a direct cause-and-effect for some of the artists who have licensed their songs to “Guitar Hero.”

A few weeks ago, when the game featuring Aerosmith ['Guitar Hero: Aerosmith'] came out, there was more than a 40 percent increase in their catalog sales.

I expect you’ll see that again when Metallica gets the same kind of treatment in a few weeks.

Once wary of downloading, Metallica has changed its tune with its upcoming album. “When ‘Death Magnetic’ comes out in September, you can actually download the new album the same day it comes out, and play it on your ‘Guitar Hero III,’ ” Ulrich said fully aware of the irony, given his band’s past litigation with the Internet music file-sharing service Napster.

Even in an uncertain economy, the video games also have increased interest in guitars, according to the nationwide Guitar Center chain. And bars holding “Guitar Hero” nights also have enjoyed a boost in business: Big Wangs sports tavern in Hollywood, California, reports a 25 percent to 35 percent increase in sales.

If you’ve ever played air guitar, more than likely, you weren’t doing it to a Michael Jackson song. You were doing it to an Aerosmith song.

The following facts and figures are from www.pewinternet.org, As I studied for my MBA last year I used them a great deal as a source of accurate information especially since I was studying international marketing and the web is such a key element to successful business these days.

I thought is was appropriate to share this as we are all Xanga freaks and use the web daily to express ourselves, so too do the parties and candidates. Although McCain says he doesn’t know the web very well his staff certainly realize its power and Obama is using the web more than any candidate in history.

A record-breaking 46% of Americans have used the internet, email or cell phone text messaging to get news about the campaign, share their views and mobilize others.

Barack Obama’s backers have an edge in the online political environment. Furthermore, three online activities have become especially prominent as the presidential primary campaigns progressed:

First, 35% of Americans say they have watched online political videos, a figure that nearly triples the reading the Pew Internet Project got in the 2004 race.

Second, 10% say they have used social networking sites such as Facebook or MySpace to gather information or become involved. This is particularly popular with younger voters: Two-thirds of internet users under the age of 30 have a social networking profile, and half of these use social networking sites to get or share information about politics or the campaigns.

Third, 6% of Americans have made political contributions online, compared with 2% who did that during the entire 2004 campaign.

A significant number of voters are also using the internet to gain access to campaign events and primary documents. Some 39% of online Americans have used the internet to access “unfiltered” campaign materials, which includes video of candidate debates, speeches and announcements, as well as position papers and speech transcripts.

Online activism using social media has also grown substantially since the first time we probed this issue during the 2006 midterm elections.

More web facts regarding this election:
1. 11% of Americans have contributed to the political conversation by forwarding or posting someone else’s commentary about the race.
2. 5% have posted their own original commentary or analysis.
3. 6% have gone online to donate money to a candidate or campaign.
4. Young voters are helping to define the online political debate; 12% of online 18-29 year olds have posted their own political commentary or writing to an online newsgroup, website or blog. Led by young voters, Democrats and Obama supporters have taken the lead in their use of online tools for political engagement. _
5. 74% of wired Obama supporters have gotten political news and information online, compared with 57% of online Clinton supporters.
6. In a head-to-head match-up with internet users who support Republican McCain, Obama’s backers are more likely to get political news and information online (65% vs. 56%).

Obama supporters outpace both Clinton and McCain supporters in their usage of online video, social networking sites and other online campaign activities. Yet despite the growth in the number of people who are politically engaged online, internet users express some ambivalence about the role of the internet in the campaign.

On one hand, 28% of wired Americans say that the internet makes them feel more personally connected to the campaign, and 22% say that they would not be as involved in the campaign if not for the internet. At the same time, however, even larger numbers feel that the internet magnifies the most extreme viewpoints and is a source of misinformation for many voters.

Crucial Arctic sea ice last summer shrank to its second lowest level on record, continuing an alarming trend, scientists announced.

The ice covered 1.74 million square miles on Friday, marking a low point for this summer, according to NASA and the National Snow and Ice Data Center in Boulder, Colo. Last summer, the sea ice covered only 1.59 million square miles, the lowest since record-keeping began in 1979.

Arctic sea ice, which floats on the ocean, expands in winter and retreats in summer. In recent years it hasn’t been as thick in winter.

Sea ice is crucial to worldwide weather patterns, both serving as a kind of refrigerator and reflecting the sun’s heat. Given recent trends, triggered by man-made global warming, scientists warn that within five to 10 years the Arctic could be free of sea ice in the summer.

Even though the sea ice didn’t retreat this year as much as last summer, “there was no real sign of recovery,” said Walt Meier of the snow and ice data center. This year was cooler and other weather conditions weren’t as bad, he said.

“We’re kind of in a new state of the Arctic basically, and it’s not a good one,” Meier said. “We’re definitely sliding towards a point where the summer sea ice will be gone.”

Sony Pictures, McDonald’s, State Farm and Toyota have signed on as platinum sponsors of MySpace Music.

The e-commerce venue is slated to launch in the next few weeks. It will be integrated with MySpace proper for some functionality, but can also be used as a standalone resource by those who are not members of the News Corp.-owned social network.

I believe that MySpace Music will succeed because of the social filter on top of it, making the service more like an online community than simply a source for music.

Jeff Berman, president of sales and marketing drew a distinction between the site’s relationship with the music labels Sony BMG, Universal and Warner and the new sponsors. “We haven’t made just a commercial deal with the labels, but a joint venture, so they are invested in our success,”

Berman said. Platinum sponsor brands, on the other hand, will be integrated into various MySpace Music programs. For example, McDonald’s will sponsor free music downloads and have a presence among the customized tools on the MySpace Personal Music Player.

The site will accommodate ad-sponsored unlimited live streaming of content, but downloading material to another device would typically require a fee.

State Farm’s brand will be visible throughout the site, gracing the music player and various playlists. The insurer will probably integrate its MySpace Music affiliation with its own content offering, NowWhat.com.

Toyota plans to sponsor “Toyota Tuesdays,” supporting free music downloads and rotating its ads on the music player for the next year.

Sony Pictures is launching a campaign for the Oct. 3 release Nick & Norah’s Infinite Playlist. Whereas MySpace users can now only add a single song to their profiles for sharing, MySpace Music will allow them to create and post entire playlists. Sony will exploit that feature by skinning user lists with messages related to the movie. A MySpace Music homepage roadblock for the film is also planned.

MySpace Music will be marketed via the MySpace network of 76 million domestic and 122 million worldwide users and through some offline marketing as well.
News Corp