Slightly Longer Quick Takes 6/19/07

• Defamer has some fun with Marvel’s announcement naming Fruit of the Loom as the official producer of children’s underwear bearing the images of various superheroes. The first products to hit store shelves will be tie-ins to upcoming big screen adaptations of The Incredible Hulk and Iron Man. They also take a piss on the MPAA’s Dan Glickman and his overly optimistic writings about the health of the movie industry.
• It’s going to be interesting if Warner Bros. does, indeed, greenlight a Justice League movie before the Superman sequel that doesn’t seem to have even begun pre-production. A script for the team flick has been turned in but it’s unclear where that fits into the Superman or Batman franchises that have been relaunched or, for that matter, how that could impact solo movies from featuring Wonder Woman or Green Arrow.
• The iMedia panel casts its eye on the Media Banners-created rich media ad for Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End. The ads contained most of the official website content in an ad that expanded when rolled-over with the mouse.
• MGM will work with Brand Sense Partners to identify opportunities for the iconic movie studio to leverage its brand power in the form of consumer products and other promotional opportunities that can help raise its profile.
• Media companies – especially movie studios – are looking at extending licensing deals into emerging markets as a way to increase profits and tap into a new audience. The trick is that this is not a cheap proposition and requires someone who knows that market, a local, to make it happen in an efficient and culturally friendly way.

LOTD: 6/19/07

• Jeffrey Zeldman reminds (gulp) everyone who’s doing a bit of Web design to make sure and set the background color of those sites, so that users don’t do it themselves and then make fun of you. (TB)
• An increasing number of non-profit organizations are getting over long-held prejudices and fears over engaging public relations firms, instead using them to get the word out and compete for press coverage with some big players in the philanthropic area. (CT)
• CNET is launching a whole slew of new blogs dealing with how technology influences various niche interest areas. (CT)
• I don’t understand the hesitation some corporations are experiencing in agreeing to sync people’s iPhones to their corporate email servers. Do these IT departments not realize the iPhone is the BEST DEVICE EVER? (CT)

LOTD: Social Networking Edition

• Businesses are increasingly looking at social networks not as a marketing opportunity but as a way to find new employees and connect team members.
• A number of online social networks exist specifically to connect people for offline activities. There are also startups popping up all over the place that are geared toward niches and specific interest areas for people who don’t want to get lost in the MySpace crowd.
• That leads to the next issue, which is the rise of network aggregators that allow people to manage multiple profiles from one interface.
• A new study shows kids are citing updates from friends they’re connected to as an important source of news, more so than newspapers or other traditional news outlets.