GenDigital

Making Feminine Personal Care Cool

Procter & Gamble's web site for teen and tween girls, Beinggirl.com, has partnered with Sony BMG to feature its popular recording artists as well as up and coming musical stars on the Beinggirl site. P&G hopes with the association with Sony BMG artists will bring a new coolness factor to the site which focuses on the very sensitive subject of feminine hygiene care among girls and young women.

Sony Releases Pricing For PlayStation3, Better Start Saving Money Now!!!

Rumors were widespread that due to some of the components that make-up the soon to be released Sony PlayStation3, including a DVD drive and highly powerful cell processor, the retail price would be on the higher end, that might be considered somewhat of an understatement now. At a news conference yesterday, Sony said it will sell two versions of its next generation PlayStation3 console starting at $499 for the lower end model and increasing to $599 for the more powerful, higher end model. Yikes, that is a serious chunk of change we are a talking about. Yes, clearly, there are some die hard PlayStationers out there that will have no problem shelling out $600 to get their fix or better yet, probably hitting up Mom and Dad for an early Christmas bonus. However, once that portion of the market is fulfilled, I can't imagine them continuing to sell the console at such a premium to the already existing Xbox 360 system which is selling at nearly half of what a PlayStation3 will cost. Gaming analysts were unimpressed with Sony's pricing announcement yesterday saying many of the new features on the PlayStation3 are already on the Xbox 360 system with the main exception being, the very expensive and much publicized high definition Blu-ray DVD format. Based on yesterday's reactions from gaming experts and analysts, the company has a lot of work to do when it comes to marketing the unique benefits of PlayStation3 before the console hits stores this fall.

Here's a First: Warner Bros. Partners with BitTorrent To Sell Movies and TV Shows Online

Warner Bros is expected announce later today a groundbreaking (in my opinion) partnership with BitTorrent, the highly popular software service used by millions of users to download large files like television shows and movies, many of which, of course are illegally downloaded. This is a huge step for a Hollywood studio to partner with a software company that has a somewhat infamous recognition among trade organizations like the RIAA and until recently the Motion Pictures Association as well. Thinking about the logistics and strategy behind the deal, it really ends up being a really smart move on the part of Warner Bros by offering users a chance to download movies and television shows for a cost, but totally, 100% legal. Remember when iTunes hit the scene and charged $0.99 per song and not many media outlets or analysts gave them much of a chance to succeed? Right, and who's laughing now with 85% market share. So, why can't the same theory hold true for Warner Bros? The studio said if they can convert only 5 to 15 percent of downloads, it will be significant, I believe that to be more than attainable. The new service will launch later this summer with prices starting at around $1 and increasing from there.

E3 Begins This Wednesday With Lots of Questions

The Electronics Entertainment Expo, commonly referred to as E3, gets underway this Wednesday amid a ton of questions and speculation. Will Sony release pricing on their Q4 release of PS3? Will Microsoft give us a sneak peak of Halo 3, the franchise that has sold 14 million copies worldwide, and one of the most popular titles ever among college students. Will Nintendo release any information about Wii, like may be price, availability and power for starters. A lot to be answered this week, and hopefully everyone will leave the event a bit more informed on the somewhat unsteady gaming category of late.

Disney Ends Deal with McDonald's

As the child obesity epidemic rages on, one leading entertainment company is cutting ties with a long time partner. Disney said it will not re-new its cross promotional deal with McDonald's. "Cars" will be the last Disney movie that falls under the current agreement. You don't think big companies are nervous about child obesity? Well, the deal between Disney and McDonald's was worth about $1 billion to Disney, that's a lot of promotional value to just throw out the door. Clearly, entertainment companies and media companies are attempting to separate themselves from the fast food giants and this probably won't be the first of these announcements you'll hear in the coming months.

Kelly Clarkson Signs With Ford

Ford Motor Company recently promised a bigger ad spend and more creative concepts as part of a new plan called "Bold Moves." The effort is being lead by Ford's agency J. Walter Thompson Detroit. The official launch of Bold Moves is tomorrow when Ford will air a sixty second spot during American Idol featuring an unreleased song from former American Idol winner and now, super-performer Kelly Clarkson. Ford also said they will sponsor Clarkson's summer tour. 

MTV To Run TV and Online Programming Simultaneously

Beginning the summer with the MTV Movie Awards and later in the fall with MTV's popular Total Request Live (TRL) show, the number one cable network for teens and college students, will offer two simultaneous versions of each show, one on television and one on MTV's broadband channel called Overdrive. The Overdrive version will include additional interactive elements while the television version is playing commercials. The company cited a vast amount of market research (including ours I hope) that said over and over again that teens and college students are online IMing one another and other related activities while the television is on. It will be very interesting to see how this pans out beginning with the MTV Video Music Awards on August 31st.