Tag Archives: Tanya Gazdik

Do ‘Spider-Man’ Promotions Inside BMW’s Cars Represent a ‘Brand New Day’?

by doctorads

Well the Doc opened up the old mailbag today and here’s what poured out.

Dear Dr. Ads,

There I was, minding my own business and checking out MediaPost’s Marketing Daily, when I came across Tanya Gazdik’s piece about mad-as-hell BMW drivers.

BMW owners are venting online about the automaker’s decision to go back on a promise not to inflict in-vehicle advertising on them.

“Three years after BMW executives said the inside of a car was ‘a private space’ and not a place for advertising, the automaker is facing backlash for rolling out a Spider-Man promotion to infotainment screens around the world,” according to Autoweek. “The move raises concerns that automakers are turning vehicle dashboards into rolling billboards for their literal captive audiences.”

What the hell, Doc – does BMW now stand for Breach My Wheels?

– Drivel, He Said

Dear DHS,

Yeah – this adds a whole new dimension to the old porcupine-and-Beemer joke, right?

The worst part for BMW is that not long ago the automaker assured its customers that it would not do exactly this, as the MediaPost piece noted.

“At the end of the day, I think your car is your last private space,” [senior VP Stephan] Durach told a small group of media members including Marketing Daily during a roundtable discussion in December 2023. “It’s where you can do whatever you want by yourself — you have the right temperature, the music you want. To say I’m selling the screen to play a commercial — I don’t see it. It’s a private space.”

The BMW honcho didn’t see it then, but it’s there for all to see now, along with a banner ad that says “Surprise! Spider-Man just dropped into your BMW!”

With that, BMW joins the inglorious ranks of other brands that made initial murmurs about being ad virgins, from Google (which technically promised ads would be clearly marked and never mixed up with natural search results – you be the judge of that) to Open AI’s ChatGPT (see Anisha Sircar’s Forbes piece for details).

New joke: Q. What’s the difference between NASCAR and a BMW?

A. With NASCAR, the ads are on the outside.

Not very funny, is it?

Do the New McDonald’s Billboards in the Netherlands Pass the Smell Test?

by doctorads

Well the Doc opened up the old mailbag today and here’s what poured out.

Dear Dr. Ads,

There I was, minding my own business and poking around MediaPost, when I came across Tanya Gazdik’s Marketing Daily piece about a new ad gimmick debuting in Europe.

Remember Smell-O-Vision? It’s coming to billboards!

McDonald’s is trying it out in the Dutch cities of Utrecht and Leiden.

“The plain red and yellow billboards don’t use a single word or image to advertise McDonald’s offerings—and they don’t need to,” according to Fast Company. “Instead, the billboards pump out the aroma of warm french fries to passersby, who seem to instinctively know the scent of a McDonald’s french fry compared to any other form of fried potato.”

I dunno, Doc – kind of reeks of desperation, don’t you think?

– Odor Eater

Dear OE,

First off, this is shaping up to be the Year of the Billboard, no? It started with smackable billboards that dispense Heinz ketchup packets, as the Doc noted last month. Now it’s smellable billboards, which McDonald’s is promoting with this YouTube video.

The Mickey D billboards represent the olfactory extension of audio spotlight technology employed in supermarket advertising, which Evan I. Schwartz detailed in a 2004 MIT Technology Review piece: “Known as directional sound, it uses an ultrasound emitter to shoot a laserlike beam of audible sound so focused that only people inside a narrow path can hear it.”

Now we have directional smell. Ain’t progress grand. Then again, when someone comes up with Chanel N°Fry, you’ll know they’ve gone too far.