• by Adam Bernard , August 30, 2001

Every week brings a myriad of ad campaign, and website, launches and it's nearly impossible to keep up with them all. If you missed a few, here are some the major launches of the week that was, and the week that will be.

Starting with the biggest launch, Toyota Motor Sales U.S.A., Inc. announced its plans for the most extensive, fully integrated marketing effort in automotive history. With an estimated value of $160 million, Toyota's unprecedented campaign will be the largest car introduction in the company's history and leverages the strengths of AOL Time Warner, Conde Nast Publications and the MSN network of Internet services to reach a new generation of Camry buyers. The multi-platform advertising and lifestyle initiative begins this month and will culminate in September with its broadest exposure, ultimately reaching 90 percent of all Americans more than eight times with the all-new re-designed and re-engineered Camry message in the next 60 days.

Staying in cars, Mitsubishi Motors and Deutsch LA are once again merging sheet metal and music, this time to launch Mitsubishi's newest model, the all-new Lancer compact sedan. Mitsubishi chose the off-beat Barenaked Ladies song "One Week" as the theme song for the new 30 second spot, titled "Lancer is Here," which breaks on September 6th with three 15 second teasers breaking on the third on network TV, cable and syndication. The launch spot, "Lancer is Here," cuts between people in three different Lancers struggling to keep up with the song's frenetic lyrics. Think karaoke bar on fast-forward. The launch spot will be accompanied by three 15 second spots with lines that personify the car's personality: "The first $14,000 car worthy of a vanity plate." Followed by the payoff, "Lancer is here. Under $14,000. Are You In?"

Moving off-road, Steve Irwin, the explosively popular "Crocodile Hunter," has teamed up with PENTAX Corporation for its latest national advertising campaign developed by Denver-based Thomas & Perkins Advertising. This multi-million dollar brand campaign communicates the breadth and depth of the PENTAX product line -- from its top-of-the-line compact digital camera, to its new weather-resistant point-and-shoot camera, to its wide variety of binoculars. Themed "Reliable gear for your adventures," Thomas & Perkins' latest brand awareness campaign includes two new 30-second television commercials that will air nationally, four-page print inserts for national consumer and photographic publications, and in-store displays -- all aimed at boosting the quality perceptions of PENTAX products.

Staying outdoors, Olympic wrestling champion Rulon Gardner beat the unbeatable Russian - now he's going to the mat against federal policy. Gardner is appearing in two television ads promoting snowmobiling in Yellowstone National Park, where the machines will be banned by 2003. In the ad, Gardner urges viewers "to get involved ... and communicate to your state and federal representative your desire to have winter access to your national parks."

To get to the great outdoors, one has to travel, and CheapestDeals.com, a seller of discounted hotel room reservations on the Internet, today launched a new look. The website, known for its low rates on hotel room nights throughout the world, will retain its easy-to-use interface for visitors but has added a simple, clean look that supports the company's strategic plan for its future direction. Gone from the CheapestDeals.com are air furniture, novelties, jewelry and other items that are not related to travel. The website instead will only sell items that support its hospitality and travel theme.

Staying in travel, Miami-based Club Med North America, the international active lifestyle vacation provider, has chosen IQ Commerce Corp., the global digital marketing services and technology provider, to develop and implement its latest online promotional campaign. Club Med's campaign is a chained survey-to-sweepstakes promotion, which will be distributed via e-mail, banner networks and PDA devices (through AvantGo). Respondents to the introductory survey will be eligible to win a one-week stay at Club Med Cancun, Club Med Ixtapa or Club Med Columbus Isle. The "Win a Club Med Vacation" campaign begins September 1, 2001 and will last for 30 days.

24/7 Media Inc., a multi-platform interactive marketing company, launched a viral marketing campaign for the Seattle Seahawks professional football team. 24/7 Media's specialized iPromotions group developed the viral marketing campaign that promotes the team's 2001 season and has grown the Seahawks' "Hawk Mail" database 7% in its first week. The 24/7 iPromotions division uses the Internet to craft online promotions that encourage and control "word-of-mouth" advertising.

Unilever Prestige, a division of Unilever Cosmetics International, announced the launch of a print advertising campaign for BCBGIRLS, the new fragrance collection developed under a licensing agreement with BCBGMaxAzria. The campaign, created by New York-based advertising agency Badger, Kry & Partners in collaboration with the Unilever Prestige and BCBGMaxAzria creative teams, will appear in U.S. publications beginning in October of this year. The campaign will roll-out to international publications in late 2001.

In support of its successful BlueLight brand, Kmart is launching a national advertising campaign to bring its shopping icon to life through new animated characters called "BlueLights." The "BlueLights" are featured in an upcoming campaign for Kmart's BlueLight Always everyday value pricing program. Through BlueLight Always, effective this week, Kmart will have lowered prices on more than 30,000 items across the store, including the products and brands consumers want and need most. In the commercials, the computer animated "BlueLights" work hard reducing prices throughout Kmart stores. Everything they shine their lights on instantly becomes a great value, thus rewarding Kmart's customers. Working by moonlight while jamming to "Get Down Tonight," "BlueLights" just don't quit!

MovieTickets.com today announced the launch of the latest addition to the popular Stryker Family marketing and branding campaign with a new theatrical trailer starring the SWAT-team-like family. The trailer, dubbed "Stryker Family: Duel Mission," embodies the cinematic style and scope of such films as "Patriot Games," "Enemy of the State," "The Rock" and "Mission: Impossible." It is scheduled to debut in theaters nationwide on August 31, followed by a widespread in-theater slide campaign. In support of the in-theater campaign, Stryker Family radio spots recently ran in major U.S. media markets. Also, the Stryker Family is also in Times Square, where they can be seen on a 42nd Street billboard adjacent to AMC's Empire 25 Theatres.

NameProtect Inc., a provider of trademark and brand protection services, launched their new website www.VigilActive.com. The company's new site is focused exclusively on its VigilActive service, a web monitoring and intelligence service that continuously scans and digests millions of web pages, message postings and other web content on a 24 by 7 basis to identify important occurrences of online brand abuse, marketplace feedback and other business intelligence for leading organizations world-wide. Launched in March of 2001 after more than two years of development by NameProtect, the VigilActive service has already attracted an impressive customer base, which includes several Fortune 500 companies.

The Association for Investment Management and Research, the global association of financial analysts and other investment professionals, is launching a $3 million, 12-month advertising campaign to promote its Chartered Financial Analyst designation as "the global professional investment credential" and "an asset to any portfolio." The campaign was developed by AIMR's new global advertising agency, Citigate Albert Frank, New York, a division of London-based Incepta Group. Targeting investment professionals on four continents (North America, Europe, Asia and Australia) as well as individual investors in the U.S. and Canada, the ads seek to raise awareness of the quality and rigor of the CFA curriculum and examination program, and the value of hiring or working with CFA charterholders. The ads are scheduled to appear beginning in the September and October issues of financial and business media in 15 countries, as well as in multi-national media such as Financial Times, The Economist and The Asian Wall Street Journal.