AMC Brings ‘The Pitch’ Back for a Second Season

AMC is renewing “The Pitch,” the reality show that pits agencies against one another to win an account, despite lackluster ratings and some harsh criticism from within the industry.

“Simply put, we love the show,” said Joel Stillerman, exec VP-original programming, production and digital content at AMC. “‘The Pitch’ hits all the criteria we look for in an unscripted show: honest characters, original premise and quality production.”

“The Pitch” ignited heated debates among ad agencies, where critics said the series did not accurately portray the industry or the pitch process. It showed CEOs and top marketing executives attending initial meetings with agencies, for example, a rare occurrence in reality. And the format didn’t allow any time for the “chemistry check” meetings where marketers consider their cultural fit with agencies, often a major determining factor in ultimately awarding business.

“We are not surprised by the criticism, but there’s a wide range of opinions out there,” Mr. Stillerman said. “We are happy there’s a lively discussion going on within the industry.” (www.adage.com)

Dunkin Donuts gets into the mobile payment game

Dunkin Donuts is following in the footsteps of rival Starbucks with the launch of its first mobile app, allowing users to pay for coffee and donuts with their smartphone. The app, available for iOS and Android, creates a virtual Dunkin Donuts card, which can be filled by transferring the value of an existing physical Dunkin Donuts Card or it can be funded through a credit card or PayPal transaction in the app.

When it comes time to pay, users select which virtual card they want to use and the app presents a QR code, which is scanned by an employee. The amount is deducted from their balance immediately after the purchase.

Dunkin Donuts’ mobile payment system, which is available at most of its 7,000 U.S. locations, is similar in execution to the Starbucks mobile app, which also works with virtual cards and barcodes. But unlike the Starbucks mobile app, Dunkin Donuts users can also send mobile gift cards to each other via the app. Users can send a gift card up to $100 to a friend via Facebook, email or text message. The app also provides menu and nutritional information plus a tool for finding a nearby Dunkin Donuts. (www.gigaom.com)

‘The Price is Right’ launches first search for a male model

Have you always wanted to show off flashy cars and cozy new living room sets on national television? “The Price is Right” may be famous for Bob Barker (and now Drew Carey)’s lovely ladies, but now “The Price is Right” is holding a contest to find its first male model.

In the game show’s nearly 40-year history, the prizes have almost always been displayed by female models, but now one guy will get to try out the gig for a week on the CBS show, which is currently hosted by Drew Carey.

CBS has announced that the search for a male model will air as a five-episode web series on “The Price is Right’s” official website and on its YouTube channel in late September. An open casting call will be held in Los Angeles on Thursday, August 30, when contestants will be judged on “qualities such as their verbal skills, posing and ability to properly showcase a product,” a release revealed. The producers will be the judges, along with the show’s female models. (www.cnn.com)

A Movie Hatched by Public Radio

“Sleepwalk With Me” centers on a struggling comedian with relationship issues and a serious case of REM sleep behavior disorder—a condition that causes people to act out their dreams. The film traces its origins to the public radio show “This American Life.” On a segment which ran in 2008 called “Fear of Sleep,” director Mike Birbiglia relayed a personal story about jumping through a closed, second-story window at a motel in Walla Walla, Wash. while dreaming he was fleeing a missile.

Mr. Birbiglia later turned his sleepwalking stories into a popular off-Broadway one-man show. The dream sequences “were one of the things that made it seem like it could be a movie,” says Ira Glass, the longtime host of “This American Life,” who produced the film and helped adapt Mr. Birbiglia’s show into a screenplay. WBEZ, the Chicago station that produces “This American Life,” covered $250,000 of the film’s $1 million production budget. (”We accidently had a surplus,” says Mr. Glass.)

Mr. Glass also harnessed the discerning opinions of his show’s fans, inviting them to several “mysterious” events via the Facebook page of “This American Life” to improve the movie. Early screenings helped the filmmakers realize “we were doing things that people just hated,” he says.

One complaint was Mr. Birbiglia’s tendency to pause and talk directly to the audience during a scene. Although the technique worked in the one-man show, it inhibited the audience’s ability to emotionally invest in the story. Mr. Glass calls it a “comedy plus time equals distance thing.” Those scenes were replaced by shots of Mr. Birbiglia driving in a car speaking to the audience in the present. (www.wsj.com)

Finding the Right Fit, With Technology’s Help

ONLINE retailers like HerRoom, True&Co and some stalwarts like Maidenform are trying to reinvent shopping for bras, which account for nearly half of the $14 billion annual lingerie market.

The retailers are vying to draw women away from in-store fitting rooms and persuade them that it is more convenient and private to use new online tools to find the best-fitting bras.

Proper fit is so central for women that 20,000 of them signed up within 36 hours after True&Co, a San Francisco start-up retailer for intimate apparel, opened its Web site in May. Two former Microsoft employees devised a computerized method to connect customers to a correct bra fit.

“It’s one of the most emotional purchases out there,” said Michelle Lam, one of those former employees and chief executive of True&Co. “There are a lot of body image issues around buying a bra.” (www.nytimes.com)

Canon Imagination Goes To Hollywood And Beyond

How does a camera company get away from the product-attributes trap? You know — “Our camera has flex-focus, a double-shot shutter that senses your mood, and a built-in espresso-maker with telephoto lens that doubles as a foam dispenser.” Well, Canon U.S.A. and its AOR, Grey, have been putting the focus, so to speak, on the camera as conduit for visual expression since last year, when it launched the “Long Live Imagination” campaign and its “Project Imagin8ion” program, wherein film director Ron Howard chose eight photos taken by consumers and gave them to his daughter Bryce Dallas Howard, who made an award-winning short film based on them.

Now comes “Project Imaginat10n.” The effort brings back the Academy Award winner Howard but now instead of one film, there will be an entire film festival comprising 10 films again inspired by consumer generated photos uploaded as part of a social media campaign. The films will be directed, respectively, by Eva Longoria, Jamie Foxx, Biz Stone, Georgina Chapman, James Murphy and five others.

The effort, at imagination.usa.canon.com, allows consumers to submit photos, which will be screened, vetted, and winnowed down by Canon, Ron Howard and community voting. Ultimately each of the ten filmmakers will choose ten photos representing ten storytelling elements, and then hopefully find a way to apply those images to a storyline. The campaign will culminate next year with the Canon “Project Imaginat10n” Film Festival.

Canon USA’s long-time AOR Grey New York developed the campaign with Alliance, the activation and public relations division of Grey, which is handling the talent partnerships, promotional, event and public relations efforts. (www.mediapost.com)

The Breeders’ Cup To Live Large In L.A.

The Breeders’ Cup horse racing series is about three months away, and the series organizers are already about the business of building buzz and making sure that the two-day, 15-race event is a prestige happening that transcends horses and betting chits. It helps matters that the race is returning to the Santa Anita track in Los Angeles after two years at Churchill Downs, the Mecca for horse racing and a venue that pretty much guarantees that any efforts to turn the Breeders’ Cup into something urban/cosmopolitan will be reined-in, so to speak.

It also helps the Breeders’ Cup’s efforts to expand the event beyond “inside baseball” (or its equestrian equivalent) that the races will be televised primetime on NBC.

Peter Rotondo, VP of media and entertainment at the Lexington, Ky.-based Breeders’ Cup, tells Marketing Daily that NBC Sports will air the race at 8 p.m. on Nov. 3. “It means more exposure than we have ever had,” he says, adding that the race had been carried on ESPN and ABC, but who have since backed away from horse racing. NBC, which already carries other top-tier races like the Triple Crown, will carry Breeders’ Cup again next year when the race returns to Santa Anita.

On deck in L.A. are some guerrilla marketing tactics to build awareness in coming weeks: the Breeders’ Cup and Metrolink are, for example, doing wraps in Los Angeles to make a train car look like a horse car. And 10 days out from the event the Breeders’ Cup will host a press conference at LA Live with the city’s mayor, welcoming the Breeders’ Cup to Los Angeles. There the organization will unveil an interactive 3D street art painting.

Rotondo says the biggest sponsor this year is Grey Goose Vodka, which will activate at the race track. He says race week at the track is also a much more elaborate affair than at races past. “We took a step back and looked at our messaging through the years and felt this was time to take it to the next level. We are calling it the “Taste of L.A.,’” he says. He says the Breeders’ Cup brought in New York-based architectural and design firm M (Group) to create a venue-wide motif. “There will be jazz bands, a food festival with top L.A. restaurants represented, a fashion contest, restaurants, turf terrace.” (www.mediapost.com)

Red Branding Dominates Blockbuster Takeover

With Redbox taking control of the Blockbuster Express kiosks, the “red” brand is gaining visibility where the “blue” operated, namely at Publix and Safeway stores. Redbox plans to convert up to 2,900 Blockbuster movie-rental kiosks into Redbox ones by the end of 2011.

Many are located at the two rental chains; Redbox has never had locations at Publix stores. Publix locations are mainly in Florida.

Redblox also plans to shutter up to 1,000 kiosks that it says are “underperforming,” according to Coinstar CEO Paul Davis, who appeared at an investor event Thursday.

Coinstar’s arrangement to offer a digital streaming product with Verizon will result in a launch later this year. The Redbox in-store kiosks will be used as a promotional platform and provide some sales tie-in opportunities. Davis also said a pilot of “a complementary product” is planned for later this year, but offered no details. (www.mediapost.com)

Triscuit ‘Apologizes’ For Stressing Toppings

Kraft Foods’ Triscuit is looking to drive greater use of the crackers for simple, everyday snacking (as opposed to use with toppings) with a humorous new campaign — the first with the brand’s new agency of record, Crispin Porter + Bogusky.

Triscuit is the most “topped” cracker in its category, according to Kraft. The no-toppings-needed messaging also aims to support the brand’s growing number of varieties — 11 varieties of original, square Triscuits (the newest being dill, sea salt and olive oil), and four varieties of Triscuit Thin Crisps (smaller, crispier, triangular crackers).

The premise of the “Toppers’ Tantrum” campaign is that Triscuit is apologizing to its “angry satisfied” customers for having stressed topping suggestions for the crackers in its marketing over many years — neglecting to point out that the crackers are delicious snacks sans toppings. Now, the brand wants to make amends by offering U.S. consumers who post “Topper Tantrums” on the brand’s Facebook page a free box of Triscuits. (The free-box offer is good through Sept. 9; consumers can reach the Facebook page either through www.ToppersTantrum.com or www.facebook.com/triscuit).

National TV spots (with 30- and 15-second versions) show an actor playing a Triscuit executive watching as “angry satisfied” Triscuit lovers (including a young father and a female teenager) storm into Triscuit’s “headquarters” to throw tantrums about just having discovered that “untopped Triscuits taste great.” (www.mediapost.com)