CBC vs CTV Hockey - Kodak vs Fuji

I think it was Warren Buffet (the richest man in the world) who said this -- the moment Fuji bought the rights to become the official sponsor of the Olympics, then Fuji became a legitimate equal to Kodak.

Now, CTV has bought the rights to the theme of Hockey Night in Canada, it may have pulled a "Fuji" on CBC. The 40 years of familiarity of the Hockey theme music on CBC has now been transferred to CTV.

I am a big CBC fan. Having said that, in this case, I have to send a big congratulation to the CTV business/negotiation/sports team that got the deal done and closed so efficiently. When the opportunity presented itself, and when time is of the essence, you guys get the deal done and closed in record time.

I will try to blog a bit more when the dust is settled a little more and I am finished covering the Banff World TV Festival.

National Anthem for sale? - The story of Hockey Night in Canada theme

I probably shouldn’t be blogging tonight as I am driving early tomorrow morning to Banff to attend two conferences (Future of Digital Content & Banff World TV Festival).

Anyway, I will spend a few minutes here to share my thoughts. CBC's official blog and CBC National (as the lead news item) that the deal to keep the Hockey Night in Canada theme has fallen apart. So no more Hockey Night in Canada theme. Toronto Star reports (with video) here.

Now, if you look strictly at the economics, CBC executives may be right to offer what it did and walk away from a “bad deal”. (I leave it as an exercise for the readers to calculate the present value of the estimated cash value of the theme until it runs out of its copyright protection. Hint: it is no small change.) And try to buy peace (or bribe us) by paying $100,000 as a prize for Canadians to come up with a new theme.

Because the theme has been used for closed to 40 years, it has become so well recognized and has acquired an almost national-anthem-like feeling to some Canadians. To me, the theme is a rock solid Lovemark.

In our capitalistic world, it is up to Dolores Claman (composer of the theme) and her agent to negotiate a best deal. It might be fun to apply some game theory and the PARTS strategy (the elements of a game are: Players, Added values, Rules, Tactics, and Scope) to analyze this particular business situation in a step by step manner.

P.S. In a Web 2.0 connected world, the rules, tactics and scope have been changed and redefined. Ultimately, I think missteps from either side can cause some unexpected damages rather quickly.

Ad Links: 2008-05-29

• QUIT - Anti Smoking Charity - a really cool concept. Agency: Saatchi & Saatchi London
• Covenant House - a really neat and cool idea. Agency: Taxi, Toronto
• Big Brother Bus Stop - A neat way to use Blue tooth to advertise. Agency: Marketforce, Perth, Australia
• White wins - quite neat. Agency: Grey Istanbul, Turkey
• VW Ads - very charming "interviews", very effectively gives VW an added "personality". Agency: Crispin Porter + Bogusky

Honda ASIMO Conducts Orchestra and Dances

Honda ASIMO conducts The Detroit Symphony Orchestra

Honda ASIMO Dances, Walks, and Runs at Kennedy Center

No. 5: The Film

I hate perfume (especially strong ones). Yes, hate. But I love this Chanel No. 5 ad with Nicole Kidman and Rodrigo Santoro. Enjoy.

Check out the lovely "making of" videos here and here.

Here is an excerpt from Baz Luhrmann’s imdb bio,

In late 2004, he [Baz] directed the world’s most expensive advertisement for Chanel No 5, a 4-minute short film titled “No 5: The Film” starring Nicole Kidman (who he worked with for Moulin Rouge! (2001)) and Rodrigo Santoro. The film ad, about a fairy-tale romance in which Chanel is part of the story but is not what the story is about, cost £18 million and made Kidman a Guinness World Record holder for highest paid actress in a commercial (she netted $3.71 million). Varying length versions of the film ad were shown on television, and - a first for Chanel - in movie theaters. Costumes were designed by Karl Lagerfeld and a score by Claude Debussy. Kidman wore £17m worth of real gems.

ShoeTube

ShoeTube ? Yes, ShoeTube. If “Live Life. Love Shoes.” describes you, check out “The Daily Shoe” @ ShoeTube. [via AdAge]

P.S. If they are going to be successful, they will have to get shoe lovers to create and post their videos/stories, otherwise there isn’t really a community.

Ad Links: 2008-04-21

1. Chelsea Guitars
2. Neu.de - ad for dating service in Germany
3. Ice-made animals fight globe warming
4. Discovery Channel re-branding
5. ATMA Lights - very neat Ad
6. Don't smoke when kids are around - extremely effective. love the idea

Watching Plane Paint Dry

It is actually interesting to see how they do it — painting a plane! Would love to hear a technician explain the process. (smile) [via OpenSkies blog]

You can’t ignore child labour

I previously blogged about my friend Larry Giesbrecht’s insightful film call “Children who work“ about child labour in Egypt. It is nice to see World Vision launched a campaign to create more awareness around child labour. (look closely at the automatic revolving doors)

Loving your MacBook Air this much?

I thought I would find something in the news about Charlie’s black eye but I had no idea he got it from saving his MacBook Air. (big smile)

Links: 2008-03-13 Capital of Google Earth, Luxor Ad, Blackstoned, Nikon D300 review, Tall tale, WP vs MT

1. Nanaimo, BC - the Capital of Google Earth
2. Luxor Highlighter - neat ad
3. Blackstone-d: Behind a Monster IPO Flop - a report
4. dpreview of Nikon D300
5. Tall tale by Malcolm Gladwell - program starts at 45 minutes
6. An interesting war of words between WordPress and Movable Type

Links: 2008-03-11

1. Japan IDs All Its Citizens - It depends on how much risks are needed to be considered as "substantial" ? - "There are no substantial risks of information leakages or their misuse for purposes other than originally intended"
2. Facebook CEO Admits Missteps
3. The GigaOM Interview: Mark Zuckerberg, Founder & CEO Facebook
   
4. Brantano Shoe City Ad
5. NYT Obit of Gary Gygax, co-creator of the game Dungeons & Dragons
6. How Google keeps your information secure - from Google

Links: 2008-02-29 Conservatives bribe, End Software Patents, Avi on Al-Jazeera, Waterproof camcorder ad

1. Conservatives made million-dollar offer to MP Cadman - it is a criminal offense if a bribe was indeed offered.
2. Cadman 'bribe' furor grips Tories
3. Cadman's daughter backs up mom's bribe story - Conservatives have lots of explaining to do as this I just can't see any reason why the honourable Cadman family would tell lies like these
4. "End Software Patents" Launches With Website and Report
5. Joff Wild Responds to "End Software Patents"
   
6. Former CBC-TV host Avi Lewis begins hosting U.S. show on Al-Jazeera network (with YouTube of show)
7. Sanyo Waterproof Video Camera

Links: 2008-02-27 Human dissection photos, Sun MySQL, Daylight savings, Phone for homeless, Canada couldn’t say No, Smoking kills Ad

1. Incredible human dissection photos on Flickr
2. MySQL is Officially a Part of Sun
3. Daylight savings time increases energy usage - interesting study
4. Permanent phone numbers and voicemail services to the homeless (GrandCentral’s Project CARE initiative)
5. Canada: The Country That Couldn’t Say ‘No’ - This may not be a bad thing if one believes in free trade.
6. Smoking kills 14,000 people everyday - very creative ad

Links: 2008-02-21 Free Speech, US Mail Surveillance, Privacy, Games for Windows?, Google Video Ads, Emerging Tech 2008

1. In Free Speech Flap, Calif. Judge Orders Web Site to Shutter
2. U.S. Post Office to Enable Wholesale Surveillance of Mail - Hmm, not good
3. Canadian Privacy Commissioner's Power and Privilege
   
4. "Games for Windows?"
5. AdSense for video now in beta - Interesting Google Video Advertising Solutions
6. MIT Technology Review Emerging Technologies 2008

Links: 2008-02-20 Olay Ad, Review Business Method Patents, Supreme Court, US NBER, Travel Wishes

1. Olay Ad - very creative
2. US Fed. Circuit to Review Business Method Patents - good step
3. Should Canadian Supreme Court Justices get along?
4. A Changing of the Guard at the National Bureau of Economic Research
5. 20 Travel Wishes for 2008

Links: 2008-02-13 - Lock-in, Amnesty Ad, CBC, Buffett, Baltimore Cop, Power Dressing, Patent

1. Lock-In (iPhones, etc)
2. Amnesty International Ad
3. CBC President and Ouimet on Search Engine (14th Feb, 2008)
4. Buffett's bond insurer gambit no burst of altruism - What's wrong in making money again if both sides agree? (smile)
5. Cop roughs up teenage skateboarder on video
6. Nanowires allow 'power dressing' (self-powered nanotechnology)
7. Patent Law: Issues With Employee Assignment Agreements
   

Superbowl 2008 Commercials

Here are some Superbowl 2008 Commercials,

1. Carrier Pigeons - FedEx - funny (8.5/10)
2. James Carville and Bill Frist - Coca Cola - funny (7.5/10)
3. When You're Near Me - Victoria's Secret - OK (6/10)
4. Jackie Moon - Bud Light - Funny for some people (6/10)
5. Spot On - GoDaddy.com - This ad is a waste of money. How dumb do they think GoDaddy customers and potential customers are? - (2/10) Mind, I am not against effective dumb ad. Ah, I got sucked into talking about it ...
6. Pepsi Stuff: Justin Timberlake - Pepsi-Cola - funny (9/10)
7. Icebreakers: Carmen Electra - Hershey's - like the ad except the ending (7.5/10)
8. Sweet Spot - Lexus - beautifully shot (8/10)
9. Wanted - Universal Pictures - neat trailer (8.5/10), just hope the movie doesn't suck
10. Buy Dell Join Red - Dell Computers - (2/10) Another dumb ad. May be it will be effective. I don't know.

P.S. Check 0ut this neat Superbowl wrap-up from Freakonomics.

Links: 2008-02-04 Super Bowl Ads, China firewall, Prentice Copyright, Jerry Yang, IP v6

1. Super Bowl Ads: 2008 - I don’t watch the game but I will watch the Ads
2. China’s “great firewall” faces new opposition
3. Is Prentice’s Copyright Bill Born in the U.S.A.?
4. Jerry Yang e-mail reaches out to Yahoo employees
5. Q&A: IP Version 6 - BBC - (Internet’s new addressing system as of Feb 4th)

Links: 2008-02-03 MacBook Air, NYT Deathwatch, Yahoo, CBC dumbed down, Wonderbra, e-ink phone

1. Taking apart the new MacBook Air - Cool Pix and notes (Wow, just 19 screws to remove the battery. And a total of 88 screws to hold things together. (smile))
2. Inaugurating the New York Times Deathwatch - by Marc Andreessen - kinda funny in a bad way
3. Yahoo! and the future of the Internet - Google Official Blog
4. CBC ‘dumbed down,’ broadcast act architect says by Marke Andrews - Vancouver Sun
5. Wonderbra Rebranding
6. Polymer Vision’s Readius e-ink phone coming mid-2008 to Italy