Promo - May 2008 - (Page 6)

www.promomagazine.com A Penton Media publication EDITORIAL PROMO Editor in Chief Larry Jaﬀee larry.jaﬀee@penton.com Larr y Jaf fe e / Editor in Chief THE RESTLESS CONSUMER Executive Editor Patricia Odell Senior Editor Amy Johannes Reporter Richard Tedesco Editor-at-Large, Promo and Direct Brian Quinton DESIGN/PRODUCTION Art Director Jed Davis ADVERTISING paying the piper Legal vetting may save copyright headaches Intellectual property—especially that tied to entertainment and sports—is still coveted by marketers as a conducive environment for a commercial message to be received. Obviously there’s a reason why third baseman David Wright shows up in Vitamin Water advertisements without his New York Mets cap or uniform. Incidentally, Citigroup is spending $400 million over 20 years to place its name on the Mets’ new stadium opening in April 2009. Lately, lawyers are getting rich over several notable copyright disputes that have implications for promotional marketers. Heirs of copyright owners won a significant victory in late March when the family of “Superman” co-creator Jerome Siegel for the first time received federal court recognition that it should share in U.S. revenue emanating from the superhero. Siegel sold his rights to the character 70 years ago for $130 to Detective Comics. A change in copyright law opened the door for reclamation in 1999. Look what’s at stake: the 2006 movie “Superman Returns” took in $200 million in box office, and that’s just movie tickets. Factor in various marketing tie-ins, merchandising, etc. The March 26 ruling obviously perturbs Warner Bros., but leaves alone its international rights through DC Comics. It appears the case is going to trial. Alternative rock band Smashing Pumpkins filed a lawsuit against its former label Virgin Records for sponsoring a worldwide promotional marketing campaign by Amazon.com and Pepsi. The group contends that the deal was set up without its knowledge or permission, in breach of its contract. The label did not respond to a request for comment. Meanwhile, Woody Allen is suing American Apparel with a claim that the clothing company ad used on billboards in New York and Los Angeles contains an image of himself from the 1977 movie “Annie Hall.” Obviously, somebody screwed up at the contrite, publicly traded clothing manufacturer/retailer, which issued the following mea culpa: “Our use of his image dressed as a Hasidic character alongside Yiddish text was meant strictly as a social parody. Although we generally use our two billboards (one in New York on the Lower East Side, and the other in Echo Park, Los Angeles) for commercial purposes, we also use them as a vehicle for non-commercial social and political commentary. We had no intention of selling garments through the use of Mr. Allen’s image. The billboards were up for less than one week back in May 2007. We will make every effort to resolve this with Mr. Allen in an amicable way.” Maybe Mr. Allen found an investor for his next film. By the way, in case you were wondering, Homer Simpson’s image on the cover was expressly created for Promo magazine by 20th Century Fox, the copyright P holder of “The Simpsons.” Thanks, Fox; it’s greatly appreciated. l 6 may 2008 / WWW.PROMOMAGAZINE.COM / Promo Associate Publisher Bryan Benjamin bryan.benjamin@penton.com National Sales Manager Barbara Paul barbara.paul@penton.com Dir. of Mktg. Services/Classiﬁed Alan Steen alan.steen@penton.com Resource Sales Associate Cynthia Foristel cynthia.foristel@penton.com Resource Sales Associate Karen Putrimas karen.putrimas@penton.com Online Sales Development Director Rob Shore rob.shore@penton.com Production Manager Diane Straughen diane.straughen@penton.com Classiﬁed Production Coordinator Lindsey Sutton lindsey.sutton@penton.com P E N TO N M A R K E T I N G M E D I A S T R AT E G I E S Senior Vice President, Penton Media Financial Services and Marketing Group Warren N. Bimblick Publisher Leslie Bacon Group Editorial Director Ray Schultz Group Copy Chief Charles Vietri Group Research Editor Richard H. Levey Audience Marketing Manager Seth Olson Show Director Angela Eastin READER INFO Editorial e-mailbox: promo.mag@penton.com Subscriber Service: (866)505-7173 (toll-free in the U.S.); (847)763-9504 (for calls originating outside the U.S.) Reprints: reprints@pentonreprints.com or (888)858-8851 List Rental: Marie.Briganti@walterkarl.infousa.com ADVERTISING 249 West 17th Street New York, NY 10011-5300 Phone (212) 462-3580 Fax: (212) 683-4572 or (845)732-7054 EDITORIAL OFFICES 11 Riverbend Drive South Stamford, CT 06907-0225 Phone (203) 358-9900 Fax (203) 358-5834 Chief Executive Oﬃcer John French john.french@penton.com Chief Revenue Oﬃcer Darrell Denny darrell.denny@penton.com Vice President, General Councel Elise Zealand elise.zealand@penton.com Reprints: Contact Penton Reprints (www.pentonreprints .com) to purchase quality custom reprints or e-prints of articles appearing in PROMO at (888) 858-8851 or reprints@pentonreprints.com. Instant reprints and permissions may be purchased directly from our Web site; look for the iCopyright tag appended to the end of each online article. Portions of our magazine subscriber lists are available to carefully screened companies that oﬀer products and services directly related to the industries we cover. Any subscriber who does not want to receive mailings from third-party companies should contact the subscriber service department at (800) 441-0294 (USA), or (913) 967-1707 (outside USA). ©2008 Penton Media. All Rights Reserved http://www.promomagazine.com http://Amazon.com http://www.pentonreprints.com http://www.pentonreprints.com http://WWW.PROMOMAGAZINE.COM

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Promo - May 2008

Promo - May 2008 Contents Editor's Note Eyeballs All the Same... NBC Makes 'Law & Order' a Mobile Game Recession Rewards Comfort Virally Toaster on Wheels Commentary Ay Caramba! The 2008 Interactive Marketing Awards Winners How Bulletproof? Q&A: What a Ride Resource Center The Agency Center Blogging 101 Index of Advertisers

Promo - May 2008

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