IAC: June 2010 Archives

Who cares?  He's a celebrity and celebrities win.  Deal with it.  No one would care if the Pope or Rupert Murdoch was moved to the front of the line.

I think the 'booing' was more because of the Orbit Gum Commercial Jason produced for DumbDumb and Electus than for getting special treatment by a store manager.

I also heard a rumor that at the Apple Store on 5th Avenue in New York, once it was discovered that Ben Silverman was standing in line like a common schmuck, people in front of him laid on the ground.  Police then ordered Ben to step over and on their bodies to get to the front.  Ben did gladly and was able to get the last phone in stock (which was promptly comped to him by the store because of who he was).

And in Queens, New York, Ricky Van Veen waited in line for over 24 hours and still didn't get a phone and wasn't allowed to cut.  He also still hasn't been able to get tickets to Twilight Eclipse.

Jill Kennedy - OnMedea

I see Ben got the message (though the horse and buggy logo doesn't inspire "future of entertainment").

"Coming Soon" is a step in the right direction, I suppose.  Just be sure and have a "Thanks for the Memories" logo ready once the money is gone.

By the way, I enjoyed the Orbit Commercial.  Jason Bateman and Will Arnett are perfect in those commercials.  They really made gum chewing cool.  

Most gum commercials don't get a launch party.  But most gum commercials aren't made by Ben Silverman's company.  And with the death of independent film, celebrity parties to show gum commercials just may be the new normal.  (The key words here are "gum" and "commercials".)

Perhaps the next step is for Electus or Notional to come up with an Award that it can give the gum commercial so that Ben can call it "Award Winning" at his next corporate presentation.

And, maybe, down the line, those five minute "gumisodes" can be trimmed down to 30 seconds and shown on regular television - then you'll really sell some gum.  But the fellows at DumbDumb may not think that's as cool.

Jill Kennedy - OnMedea

So, after my very long vacation, I decided to check in on my old friend Ben Silverman's new company - Electus.  Now, I've been pretty tough on Electus and Ben Silverman since this venture was announced 11 months ago(!) - so, I went to Electus.com with new hope and got nothing... just an error message.

So I went to the IAC Corporate site and got a blurb on Electus - which gave me a link to this... more nothing:

Look, Ben, I realize Electus.com isn't going to be the final destination for all the brilliant content you produce (I mean, you did create "The Office" - didn't you?  Ricky Gervais owes you big time!), but how about a basic Corporate site with a little information? 

Even Notional.com put up a logo - but, then again, Ricky Van Veen is a freakin' genius.

Jill Kennedy - OnMedea

Now THAT'S what I call a month off. 

As many of you have noticed, I haven't been around for the past month (replies to your emails are coming).  Where have I been?  CLIMBING MT. KILIMANJARO! 

I was told MK is considered one of the easiest of the BIG mountains to climb and would require very little training. 

After assigning myself the difficult task of bringing down big media buffoons such as Ben Silverman, Meredith Whitney and Jeff Zucker, I don't have the time to train to climb mountains.  And, yet, with only a few hours logged on the Stairmaster, somehow - I MADE IT!  More pics and stories to come on that later - but this isn't a travel blog and I'm sure you can find much more interesting Mt. Kilimanjaro tidbits elsewhere.

As I have been "off the grid" for a month - I was very happy to hear about Jeff Zucker's potential exit from NBC Universal after the merger.  I was very unhappy to hear he may receive upwards of $40 million when he leaves.  I was hoping his exit package would only include one big kick in the ass on his way out the door.

I would love to see a Jeff Zucker / Ben Silverman reunion over at the ill-fated Electus.com before it runs out of Barry Diller's money and shuts its doors for good sometime next year.

Oh, well, a girl can dream, can't she?  It's great to back.

Jill Kennedy - OnMedea