'The Sopranos' Uses Google Maps To Promote New Season

ADAGE.COM: HBO may have unearthed a new branding platform, Google Maps. The Time Warner unit is out promoting the return of “The Sopranos” through a variety of mediums but is likely to be the first advertiser to have paid the search giant to use its map technology for promotional purposes.

HBO is creating a map of New Jersey to remind viewers about some of the story lines -- the series has been off air since May 2004. Working through interactive agency Deep Focus, HBO is buying search terms such as “Sopranos Map” to push viewers to the site.

“The Google thing, we are really excited about,” said Courtney Monroe, senior VP-advertising, HBO. “It is a geo-visual tour of the TV series, a very interactive way to get people caught up. We love doing things that haven’t been done before, and the notion of super-imposing fictional events of the show on to real-life locations gave us a huge kick.” Ian Schafer, CEO of New York-based Deep Focus, the maps will go live Feb. 27.

Seeking influencers

In keeping with its tradition of targeting media-savvy influencers, HBO is also planning a significant online presence for its "Sopranos" ad campaign at sites such as Gawker and The Smoking Gun. A giant Super Bowl promotion already ran on Time Warner sibling AOL. HBO.com will also be carrying a new interactive game, “Whack a Soprano.”

Separately, HBO is using the logo from mob boss Tony Soprano's strip club, the Bada Bing, in ads running on Playboy.com. Ms. Monroe said that while the company would buy outdoor ads around nightclubs, there are no ads at actual strip clubs. This week’s Sports Illustrated swimsuit edition also features a pop-up of the club logo. (SI's publisher is another Time Warner sibling, Time Inc.)

HBO has been forced to come up with inventive creative since it is excluded from advertising on the main broadcast networks for competitive reasons. However, “The Sopranos” campaign will air during CBS’s NCAA basketball coverage in March, since the network made an exception for HBO in this particular case.

"For the most part we are confined to buying locally," Ms. Monroe said.

The network has also sponsored a car for the upcoming UAW-DaimlerChrysler 400 at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway. The Nascar event is airing on Fox on March 12, the same night the series returns.

Yahoo Says It Is Backing Away From TV-Style Web Shows

NYTIMES.COM: After proclaiming grand plans to bring elaborately produced sitcoms, talk shows and other television-style programs to the Internet, the head of Yahoo's Media Group said yesterday that he was sharply scaling back those efforts. He said the group would shift its focus to content acquired from other media companies or submitted by users.

The executive, Lloyd Braun, the former chairman of ABC Entertainment, was the subject of speculation in recent weeks that he was leaving Yahoo over differences with its chief executive, Terry S. Semel.

Mr. Braun said yesterday that he had called a meeting of his group tomorrow in Santa Monica, Calif., where he would outline the new strategy. He said Mr. Semel would attend to endorse it.

"I thought it would be a good time, given all the rumor and innuendo, for me to reiterate once and for all that I am not going anywhere," Mr. Braun said.

Yahoo said Mr. Semel was not available for comment yesterday, but Daniel L. Rosensweig, the company's chief operating officer, said, "We are very happy with Lloyd, and Lloyd is very happy with Yahoo." Mr. Braun acknowledged some differences with Yahoo's management — his initial budget requests for this year were rejected, he said — but he dismissed that as normal corporate back-and-forth. And he said he had been engaged in a discussion with Mr. Semel and others at Yahoo's corporate headquarters in Sunnyvale, Calif., about his revised strategy for the media group, which includes Yahoo's news, sports, finance and entertainment sites.

"I didn't fully appreciate what success in this medium is really going to look like," he said. "This is not about creating one-off hits like in my old business. That is not going to create a sustainable competitive advantage over the long term."

With advertisers moving large parts of their budgets online, the market for content, created by professionals, bloggers and individual users, is expanding rapidly — as is the competition. Major media companies are developing video-based programming for the Internet. Myspace.com, purchased last year by the News Corporation, has become a major site based on user-contributed content. Many start-ups, like youtube.com, seek to follow suit.

From Blogger to Published Author, for $30 and Up

NYTIMES.COM: Though not all blogs may aspire to literary permanence, they can achieve it through the new Book-Smart software from Blurb, a publish-your-own-book service. The software, which is expected to be available free later this month at www.blurb.com, features a "Slurper" tool that automatically downloads and reformats the contents of a Web log into a book that bloggers and their admirers can purchase online.

Slurping is not all BookSmart has to offer. It simplifies the layout process by providing design templates for various kinds of books, including cookbooks, photo books, portfolios and volumes dedicated to pets and babies. The software guides users through design decisions like choosing text styles and how many photos will appear on each page.

Pricing for printed versions of your book from Blurb starts at $30 for an 8-by-10-inch full-color hardcover volume with dust jacket and up to 40 pages. A book of up to 80 pages is $3 more. (Blurb plans to eventually offer paperback editions selling for about 30 percent less than hardcover.) Authors will also be able to set up online bookstores through Blurb's Web site.

Although an early version of the software occasionally stuttered or froze, Blurb expects to have the kinks ironed out in time for its public release.

The Origami Project

MICROSOFT BLOG: Like Slashdot and other blogs and online forums, we, too, are getting tips about a new Microsoft concept gadget codenamed "Origami" that we understand is sort of a "Mini Me" PC.

We're unable to confirm much right now, other than that National Semiconductor several years ago built a prototype device called Origami. But we are unaware as of yet if there's any connection between the two.

A very cryptic Origami site only tells us more information about the product will be unveiled on March 2.

For now anyway, NetworkWorld's Paul McNamara seems to have the best insight; he cites an industry source who has reportedly seen Origami and calls it an ultraportable lifestyle PC.

An Engadget blog from earlier this month quoted a Microsoft mobile platform division executive calling the device "wearable, always on, no larger than 10 inches, connected through 3G networks, pen-based" and that it would sell for $500 or less.

Other speculation and insight is offered at Design Tastes Good, Thatedeguy and Robert Scoble, among other sites.