The world's largest toy marketer is about to get even bigger. Mattel Inc. is about to enter into a new global licensing deal with the cable channel Cartoon Network to make a variety of new products like games and puzzles based on the network's shows. The deal covers nearly all original Cartoon Network programming for children ages 6 to 11, as well as the rights to create Cartoon Network-branded merchandise. Among other shows, the Time Warner-owned Cartoon Network's stable of kids' shows includes the popular "Powerpuff Girls." Under the new deal, Mattel can produce a wide range of toys--including electronic …

Toyota is targeting some of its advertising for its new Scion model to a group of consumers who can't even use the product--kids. It sounds crazy, but the company says the idea is actually paying off. Not long ago, the automaker paid for the car's product placement in Whyville.net, an online interactive community populated almost entirely by 8- to 15-year-olds. The goal was twofold: Toyota wanted the kids to influence their parents' car-buying decisions, and to develop brand loyalty to Toyota. And guess what? Ten days into the campaign, visitors to the site had used the word "Scion" in online …

Radio giant Clear Channel is developing a new form of advertising that goes by so fast that if you blink, you might miss it. The format is a one-second radio spot called, appropriately, Blinks. Although the company has yet to sign any deals with advertisers, it has created some demonstration spots to show how the concept could be executed. For example, a Blink created for BMW's Mini Cooper features a horn honking and man's voice saying "Mini," that plays before miniaturized news report. Other audio mnemonics that could use Blinks are the Intel chime and the NBC bells. Clear Channel …

In what appears to be a pairing of strange bedfellows, upscale automaker Volvo and fast-food marketer McDonald's are joining forces in a new promotion centered around the new Disney film "Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest." The extensive promotion includes TV ads and Volvo-dedicated packaging for French fries, Big Macs and sodas, along with 672 prizes headlined by a daily car giveaway for 28 days. Even Volvo acknowledged it might seem odd to give a $46,000 vehicle to someone who just stopped in for a couple of burgers. However, "we looked at it from a branding standpoint and felt …

Marketers are beginning to realize that the Internet is not just for kids. While it was true that older consumers were initially skeptical about making purchases on the Internet during the medium's first commercial push several years ago, they are now much more comfortable doing so. And they have a considerable amount of money to spend, research shows. "This group has been kind of overlooked until now," said Heather Dougherty, an analyst with Nielsen/NetRatings, an online consultancy. "But the older boomers are far from newbies at this point. We're not talking about people who are 100 years old and haven't …

Promotional products bearing corporate logos are becoming increasingly popular among marketers seeking alternate ways to reach consumers. Long a staple of so-called "goodie bags" given away at business functions and conferences, such products have gained new prominence in a fragmented media universe where capturing consumers' attention has become more difficult than ever. Sales of promotional products--useful, often cheap things that bear a company logo--reached a high of more than $18 billion last year, according to Promotional Products Association International. They were up 4 percent, the association said, while TNS Media Intelligence reported that other forms of ad spending rose 3 …

Holiday Inn, long associated with families on vacation, wants more business travelers to stay at its hotels. To achieve that goal, the company is introducing a new, $33 million marketing effort targeted to businessmen in Generation X and baby boomer age groups. The core of the effort is a $20 million print and TV campaign featuring three coworkers named Zack, Marcus, and Ted that focuses on the hotel chain's business trip amenities. In one of eight spots, novice business traveler Zack breaks hot tub etiquette by sitting too close to coworker Marcus. Another execution, showing off in-room workspace, has Ted …

The marketers of Meow Mix cat food are sponsoring a new reality TV show starring, well, cats. The project consists of 10 three-minute segments in which ten cats, picked from animal shelters nationwide, will live in a New York house to compete for a grand prize--in this instance an executive-level job with Meow Mix cat food. "This thing is very tongue-in-cheek," Ira Cohen, the company's director of advertising and marketing, said Thursday. The segments will run on the Animal Planet channel on Friday nights for ten weeks, starting June 16. Cohen acknowledged that the stunt is designed to generate publicity …

Instead of buying your father a beer for Father's Day, here's an alternate suggestion: have a beer with him. "Getting together for a beer is a great way for fathers and their adult sons and daughters to celebrate the day, share stories, and create new memories that will last a lifetime," said Bob Lachky, an Anheuser-Busch marketing executive. "These new ads are a unique way to honor fathers and convey beer's place in family celebrations." The new ads Lachky was referring to are part of a promotional campaign from a beer industry support group backed by A-B called "Here's to …

One of the last entertainment vestiges to be virtually commercial-free is becoming less and less so as marketers try to capitalize on the affluent, captured, and educated audience it offers. The venue is theater, and more and more advertisers are trying to take advantage of it. Marketers are interested in theater as an ad venue for many reasons, but one of the most alluring is that theatergoers can't zap through ads the way they do at home with digital video recorders and VCRs. Meanwhile, Broadway producers are eager to offset their soaring costs. They spent $165 million on expenses for …