Easy come, easy go. It was just over a week ago that I noted Gawker Media had launched two new sites with exclusive ad sponsorship, including GridSkipper, a travel site sponsored by CheapTickets. Well, it turned out that the racy tone of the blog was too rich for CheapTickets’s blood and it’s withdrawn its sponsorship.
This promises to be a touchstone for all those who doubt the viability of blog advertising. I agree that it will take a while, if ever, before many advertisers feel comfortable with the unrestrained tone of blogs, but I also agree with Nick Denton, Gawker’s publisher, that it’s their loss; speaking to PR Week, he said:
"We’d rather lose the occasional advertiser than the character that
attracts the audience in the first place. If an advertiser wants a safe
environment, there are thousands of tired media outlets to choose from."Weblogs are supposed to be unexpected and wincingly frank.
That’s an essential part of the appeal to a generation that’s turning
away from network television and print media. We had a million visitors
to our sites on Tuesday alone."
Details on PR Week.
CheapTickets.com Pulls Gawker Media Sponsorship
PR Week: Cheaptickets.com has confirmed it has canceled its sponsorship of Gawker Media travel blog Gridskipper less than one month after the deal went live. (Via Business Blog Consulting)
Trackback by Micro Persuasion — February 24, 2005 @ 1:56 pm
Gridskipper CheapTickets?
Anyone know what happened to Gridskipper’s exclusive sponsor, CheapTickets?
Trackback by KYLEBUNCH.org — February 24, 2005 @ 1:58 pm
Gawker Blog Loses Key Advertiser
CheapTickets has decided that Gawkers’ new travel blog, Gridskipper, is too racy in tone and has pulled its sponsorship of the site. With a rough and ready (Gawkery) point of view, PSFK thinks that Gridskipper is shaping up to be a nice little blog – j…
Trackback by PSFK — February 24, 2005 @ 2:30 pm
Rick E. Bruner’s Business Blog Consulting: CheapTickets Pulls Out of Sponsorship of Gawker Travel Site
Rick E. Bruner’s Business Blog Consulting: CheapTickets Pulls Out of Sponsorship of Gawker Travel Site
Grund: der gewagte Ton des Blogs.
Im Interview mit PR Week erklärt Nick Denton von Gawker Media:
“We’d rather lose the occasional advertiser tha…
Trackback by (b), boris eder — February 25, 2005 @ 9:57 am
David Challenges Goliath… Texas independent record label threatens Wal-Mart with a 100 million dollar lawsuit
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
March 4, 2005, In a statement released today Kirk Phillips, chief executive of Houston based record label GoreallaEntertainment.com, is publicly putting Wal-Mart on notice: “Carry our product, in the original unedited format or face serious legal action.�
Wal-Mart, the world’s largest retailer and record store have a standing policy since 1996 of not stocking CDs, which carry parental advisory labels. Phillips cries foul whenever the policy is mentioned.
“It is time to level the playing field,� says Phillips “Wal-Mart has been making money ‘Just below the public consciousness’ off the sale of risqué, salacious, or otherwise objectionable entertainment items for years.� “While at the same, Wal-Mart’s ridiculously unfair policy aimed at keeping so-called indecent products of the shelves has been in effect and that very policy is financially oppressing independent record labels,� asserts Phillips.
Wal-Mart is accused of trying to keep the independent record labels out of the lucrative global retail market by making it more expensive for them to compete. “ I must manufacture a whole separate run of edited product just for Wal-Mart… have you seen the edited version of Hollywood movie at Wal-Mart?� “Neither have I,� grumbles Phillips “and that’s just wrong!�
“Hollywood DVDs are sold unedited in Wal-Mart with a simple R rating and a perfunctory disclaimer; and likewise video games are sold unedited in Wal-Mart with just the “self-governing� rating system sans the cursory disclaimer contained on DVDs. They both contain the same type of potentially objectionable material that is required to be censored by record companies.�
Wal-Mart has profited to the tune of hundreds of millions dollars off the sales of graphically violent, profanity laced video game titles (The Grand Theft auto series of games: GTAIII, GTA Vice City, and GTA San Andreas, to name a few).
“Requiring independent record companies to edit their albums slated for sale in Wal-Mart puts them at a competitive disadvantage to big-budget record labels, big-budget video game producers, and big-budget Hollywood movie studios: our direct competition for the same retail entertainment dollars� says Phillips.
“This is the Bottom line, if Wal-Mart uses their oppressive anti-small business policy to keep our forthcoming album off of their retail shelves, then they should get ready to face our legal team and a 100 million dollar lawsuit in return, period.�
The upcoming release by GoreallaEntertainment.com artist X-Conn is titled “Mister Number One� and is scheduled for a May 17th release via prospective distributor Select-O-Hits.
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For more information: http://www.GoreallaEntertainment.com/contact.html
Comment by j.Diablo — March 4, 2005 @ 4:21 pm