• by Lindsey Fadner , November 14, 2002

Every week new ad campaigns and websites are launched, and it’s hard to keep up with them all. This week Sony Entertainment and Pepsi announced plans for a global campaign to debut next summer, Internet search engines are making some bold statements in creative places, and advertisers like Kmart and Sharp gear up for the holiday season. Find out about these campaigns and others you may have missed in this week’s edition of  “Out to Launch.”

Sony Music Entertainment and Pepsi-Cola North America are planning a multifaceted, global marketing campaign that will span the worlds of radio, television and retail. Beginning next summer in the United States, the unprecedented arrangement will include nationwide radio advertising for Pepsi brands featuring "sneak previews" of songs from key SME artists, as well as a series of Pepsi-sponsored TV specials showcasing these select artists. The campaign will also include co-branded sales efforts at non-music retail outlets across the country, providing a dramatically expanded distribution platform for SME releases and unique cross-merchandising programs for Pepsi retail customers. Internationally, while raising Pepsi's longstanding relevance with music and the youth market, the relationship will feature a variety of innovative, co-branded marketing initiatives to maximize visibility for established SME artists and introduce new artists throughout the world.

MyWay.com, the new banner-free, pop-up free portal and search engine, launched a fully-integrated multimedia campaign this week with a bold tagline: "Yahoo! is Toast." The campaign, which will run through November 27, consists of extensive online media, spot radio in 38 markets, print media and college marketing initiatives. The :30 radio spots depict conversations regarding the new My Way site and highlight the site's no banner and no pop-up advertising policy, as well as the fact that My Way's most popular pages load faster than the corresponding pages on Yahoo! The online, print and college newspaper executions, which also utilize the "Yahoo! is Toast" line, depict a toaster and burnt toast. The campaign will be supplemented with a "Yahoo! is Toast" section of the My Way site that will allow users to show their My Way spirit by submitting their personal photographs.

MyWay.com will get some competition in the search engine advertising arena: Ask Jeeves is launching an integrated campaign to help raise awareness of the new advanced technology that has been integrated into Ask.com. The first Ask Jeeves ad campaign in one year will feature Manhattan-specific outdoor ads from mid-November through mid-December along with a partnership with the Los Angeles Lakers. The newly signed deal with the Lakers will garner the Jeeves brand a place on the basketball court with on-screen trivia contests during games, signage and displays, seat promotions, player receptions and more. In addition, the campaign will include signs along the path of the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade.

Sharp Electronics Corporation, the U.S. sales and marketing subsidiary of Sharp Corporation, Osaka, Japan, is expanding its “be sharp” brand campaign with a new television commercial for the holiday season. The 30-second commercial will debut on November 18th and be broadcast on national cable entertainment, news and sports programming during primetime and weekends. Titled “The Other Side” and created by Oasis Advertising, New York, the television commercial depicts how the superior performance, superb design and versatility of AQUOS Liquid Crystal Television combine to enhance people’s lifestyles in nearly every room in the house.

Sound design company Endless Noise this week announced details of its music composition, arranging and production work for the new Hershey's Chocolate "My Chocolate" series of television spots produced for DDB New York. The campaign broke with the :30 "My Chocolate" spot on Sept. 24, and will continue debuting new :30 and :15 commercials on network, cable and syndication across the U.S. through the remainder of the year. DDB's project approach: They sent four casting companies to interview people on the street. If interviewees expressed an interest in chocolate, their names were added to a list. From a group of about 600 people, they narrowed it down to 80, and then called them in for a shoot. The people had no idea what it was for. According to DDB's project producer Eric Herrmann, “We put them in front of a white cyc, started asking them questions... and then threw them a Hershey bar. As you can tell from their reactions, everything was real."

Visual effects and design company A52 this week announced their visual effects and CGI work for TBWAChiatDay's Nissan Maxima "Paint Remover" spot which is currently airing nationwide. In the spot, a new Nissan Maxima races through the desert so fast that its paint completely peels away. The spot is expected to run through the year’s end.

Jeep Grand Cherokee avoids the streets of a suburban Colorado neighborhood and climbs straight up the mountain in a new commercial from BBDO/Detroit with visual effects by The Syndicate. As the camera moves down a suburban block, a BMW SUV drives out of a garage, down the driveway, and onto the street. Shortly thereafter a Lexus SUV does the same, but where the viewer expects to see the garage of the third house, there is a wall instead. The camera rounds the corner of the house and a Jeep Grand Cherokee is revealed driving out of the back of the garage and heading straight up the mountain. In the final shot, the Jeep pulls off the dirt road and onto a paved road headed for an office building.

There’s no shortage of advertising news in the auto industry this week: Following its debut in the latest round of BMW Films’ “The Hire” series, BMW of North America broke a national campaign for the new Z4 roadster on Monday. The commercial, created by Fallon Minneapolis with media planning by Optimedia features the Z4 racing up the coastline, top down, towards an approaching storm. Once it hits the rain, the driver shifts into high gear becoming exhilarated by the driving experience. The 30-second television spot is airing on national cable networks and in selected television markets, including CNBC, TNT, Fox News, ESPN and VH1. The TV will be supported with national newspapers in 2002 and magazines in early 2003. Print features a split image of the car coming and going with the tagline “turn around when you see the ocean.”

Kmart Corporation today unveiled details of their Holiday campaign, "Get More Gifts, Spread More Cheer." The comprehensive advertising plan includes broadcast and weekly newspaper insert print advertising, in-store promotions and community grass-roots initiatives which run throughout the holiday season. The program kicks off with national television commercials that begin airing Sunday, Nov. 17. To generate even more excitement in-store and online at Kmart.com , the company will host a series of promotional events designed around major sales, entertainment releases and holiday occasions throughout the season. In addition, the company will continue its tradition of holiday community outreach by sponsoring the U.S. Marine Corps Reserve Toys for Tots program and the Salvation Army Bell Ringer program nationwide.

Speaking of which, J Walter Thompson announced this week that its digital office in Atlanta has revamped the website of the U.S. Marine Corps, usmc.mil, in honor of their 227th birthday. An online ad campaign will accompany the launch. This is the first time the Marines are running paid online advertising (in conjunction with AOL).

And lastly: Woodbine Entertainment Group, one of North America’s oldest and largest sports associations, announced the launch of myWEG.com, an information-rich website that horse racing enthusiasts can customize. Offering real-time entries, results and charted results from over 75 North American tracks, as well as live racing video and audio feeds, schedules and programs, myWEG.com is a first in the horse racing industry. Designed by Toronto’s iLeo, a Leo Burnett Company, and developed by White Label Technologies, myWEG.com is a robust Web site that utilizes a combination of technologies to create an intuitive user experience for the target audience. iLeo also developed an integrated marketing campaign to support the launch of myWEG.com.

-- This newsletter is compiled weekly by MediaPost staff writer Lindsey Fadner. Past issues are archived at the MediaPost website. Your comments, questions and submissions are always welcome and appreciated.