In today’s world the launch of a luxury product cannot just live on the TV and in print, there must be an online component and it has to match the high-end feeling of the product.

Porsch’s Panamera does a nice job of this with their new sports car targeted at families, with room for four.

While they did not forgo all traditional advertising, making sure to have plenty of spots during the world series games, they did not forget about producing video documentaries featuring Jerry Seinfeld that are meant to be viewed on YouTube.

The value of this reaches even those who are not in the Porsche income bracket, allowing them to watch over and over again, bringing further recognition to the brand.

Last night, I wandered into my neighborhood bar to watch Monday Night Football with The Wife. My downstairs neighbor, David, was there too and we got into a conversation that I thought was worth sharing.

David is a successful documentary filmmaker. He lives in Tribeca with his wife (a journalist) and kids. As far as I know, he makes movies about interesting aspects of American culture. Essentially, a successful, creative, intellectual, family guy.

As the game played on, David mentions that he’s obsessed with the NFL. A Running Back for the Eagles was hurt in the 1st quarter; David already knew who would replace him. That is some in-depth, on-demand knowledge about two teams that are arguably not on the forefront of many minds outside of DC or Philadelphia. That led to Fantasy Football.

I like pro football. With few exceptions, I’ve tuned in every season since I was a kid in Indiana. I’ve certainly heard of Fantasy Football, but didn’t know anything about it. David enlightened me. Fantasy Football has become an incredibly popular phenomenon. Just prior to the 2009 NFL season, Colin Cowherd of ESPN said “more than 27 million players play fantasy football. They spend an average of nine hours a week (during football season… playing fantasy football).” And per David, in addition to ‘drafting’ players and competing in your ‘league’ based on real player stats, it is a singularly fascinating way for all these guys in diverse social, geographic and racial groups to connect with one another (trading players, anguishing over defeats, boasting victories, etc.).

The wife and I ordered a bite to eat. David declined; he had just eaten at home - NutriSystem. I’d say his enthusiasm for NutriSystem and Fantasy Football were about even. It just works, he said. We were suspicious about the food; he said it was fine. He likes spicy food, so he often adds hot sauce - said the portions are small but he eats them throughout the day so he never feels hungry (“lots of pasta and chocolate”). David has dropped 20 lbs in 6 weeks via NutriSystem. ”. Apparently it does just work. David discovered NutriSystem a few years ago after being on the set of a sports show with Dan Marino; thought Marino looked great and made the connection. I’ve always imagined that a diet program would mean dreary food tinged with endless hunger pangs. Certainly not so in reality it seems. In fact, he was counting his scotch as a “snack” permitted within the program.

Interesting that Weight Watchers, with its pink & white packaging and location in supermarket freezers, is so clearly aimed at women. Jenny Craig: the name alone excludes men, while NutriSystem seems to be more inclusive - for anyone with an interest in dropping a few pounds.

Sitting in a bar watching the game, learning about the apparently pervasive Fantasy Football League and how easily it connects 27 million “owners” across socio-economic barriers (most of the other guys in David’s league are on Wall Street), and talking about the wonders of NutriSystem: unrelated except that I hadn’t appreciated the importance of online community around sports and self-improvement for men.

With all the press coverage and reviews surrounding Windows 7, it seems Microsoft has come out with a real winner. Positive reviews are pouring in and seems that Microsoft has made it right with the new OS.

The company has really stepped up its marketing efforts with the “I’m a PC” campaign, highlighting the diversity of PC users all over the world. Its extended campaign “I’m a PC and Windows 7 Was My Idea” takes a much-needed personalized approach with consumers by putting its consumers first and showing everyone that it takes customer feedback seriously.

With months of commercials featuring “Laptop Hunters,” a campaign against high-end laptops; the latest ads released have showcased Windows 7 new features allowing consumers to get an idea of its simplicity and ease. But the real star for Microsoft so far is 5-year old, Kylie, appeared about a month ago. Showing people that Windows 7 is a major hit among users and critics.

Microsoft also plans on opening flagship stores nationwide throughout the US, giving the company an established physical presence.  Customers will be able to try out products such as Microsoft’s Zune, its gaming console, Xbox 360, and Windows 7 based PC’s. Having a flagship store to service all your computer needs is a great idea for a company with so many users using the Windows platform.

So our hats are off to Microsoft for a great job with their new campaign.

Commercials:

The 7 sec. ads

It may be the pastry turf war on 5th Ave, or just plain ol’ street level marketing, but long standing Eisenberg’s on the west side below 23rd issued a cheeky update on their outdoor board. It’s aimed at an upstart over the road on the east side below 23rd. “Cupcakes from a truck? What will they think of next?…” goes the message.

It’s tough to launch a business, especially in this economic climate, and food trucks seem to be gaining momentum as we are seeing more and more parked in their regular spots to try generate a following. However, they aren’t going unnoticed from long standing shop fronts.

That is right, you read correctly, now the question becomes can Condé Nast save its empire with the iPhone? Will people be willing to pay the premium price of $2.99 for a small screen experience? It looks like advertisers will leverage the interactivity of the iPhone to create a new form of advertising

Condé Nast’s latest app is one for GQ which will be the first of its kind in that it will be a digital version of the hard copy that goes to news stands and costs the same amount, as apposed to just a feature, like apps that have already come out for magazines like Lucky and Wired.

This kind of digital approach to the magazine business is bringing back advertisers that in the past few years were hesitant to purchase pages. Although GQ has not quite decided how to incorporate advertising into their app, they already have interested patrons like Godiva Chocolate who were, pre-app, on the fence about buying advertising this year in GQ.

The GQ app will launch in November, making the entire issue available on iTunes. It will be interesting to see if this will simply be a passing phase or a whole new outlet for the magazine business.

Ford Motor Company is going to launch a new, (yaaaaaaawn, goodness, pardon us) car in 2011.

But wait, there seems to be something different about this introduction. Ford is making a big bet on Social Media to launch its Fiesta.

In an effort called The Fiesta Movement, Ford gave 100 Fiestas to selected consumers 18 months before the car will be introduced. The participants are required to record their impressions and they are aggregated on popular social media sites. The results of the blogging, Facebooking, You Tubing, and Tweeting has been eye opening.

The awareness level of Fiesta, a car that is not even in the US yet is 37% among Gen Y.  That is about equal to the awareness level of Fusion or Flex, models that have received hundreds of millions of dollars in traditional media spend.

There’s nothing particularly earthshakingly original about The Fiesta Movement except that Ford is the one doing it. American car companies have introduced new models the exact same way for 50 years and none was more dogged in their ways that FMC. So CreativeFeed applauds this fresh thinking and wonders if there’s green shoots beginning to show in this American car company.

http://fiestamovement.com

Yes, it is true.  Twitter has become a producer of wine.  With the help of the custom crush facility Crushpad, a company that allows you to create your own blend of wine, Twitter will launch a chardonnay and a pinot noir to be released next summer.  The idea started as a team building activity and quickly turned into a much larger project with the proceeds going to Room to Read, an organization that raises money for literacy.  With tens of thousands of Twitter users this could be the largest online wine project to date.

Twitter is the perfect company to embark on such an endeavor with hundreds of users already using the social networking site to do virtual wine tastings.  It allows for enthusiasts to learn what their peers think about certain wines without ever having to do any drunk driving.

The launch is destined to create a win-win situation for Twitter.  Either the wine will be a success and raise money for a great cause or the Twitter headquarters in San Francisco will be enjoying themselves with all of the leftover bottles.

“Fledging Wine: Twitter Launches Wine Label to Benefit “Room to Read” Nonprofit