• by John Gaffney , July 7, 2003

Fourth of July Symbols: There's probably no stronger image than the American flag, right? But when the family and I joined about a thousand plus people in our town for a Fourth of July concert, I couldn't help but noticing that the guy selling balloons from the movie Finding Nemo was doing a lot more business than the guy selling flags. (Don't worry I don't think this way all the time. I try to have a life.) But it struck me that advertising and movies are such tremendous forces in our lives these days. Even the movies that bomb, like Charlie's Angels and The Hulk, make a huge impression from their initial ad and promotional campaigns. Those ad campaigns are almost down to a science. They can open almost any movie at a high revenue level. After that however, the movie is on its own. Even great ads can't save a bad movie. The clownfish in Finding Nemo seems to be the image of the great campaign with the great movie finding its audience. There have been other examples, of course. But it seems like the images that get burned in our collective heads are grow more powerful by the year. Even at the Fourth of July.

At The Cash Register: You have to admit that Bonnie Fuller's trip over to American Media is going to make for some interesting developments. AM is betting that Fuller's talent for attracting mass audiences, combined with the massive distribution vehicle that places The National Enquirer at most every supermarket checkout stand can launch a new, big revenue print model. That may well happen. But the focus still needs to be on content. You can't duplicate Us Weekly or People, or even make the Enquirer glossy and count on distribution alone winning the day.

At The Buzzer: If you saw the fireworks broadcast from New York on Friday night, you know that putting your name in fireworks (as Jeep and Macy's did) just might redefine product placement.