• by Amy Corr , Staff Writer @MediaPostOTL, August 18, 2004

Olympic Ads. Let the games begin!

Even Olympic gold medalists need career help. Monster launched the next phase of "Portraits," a series of commercials from its "Today's the Day" brand campaign. Developed by Deutsch, New York, the six 15-second spots continue to feature candid appeals from real-life job seekers in search of fulfilling work or employers seeking qualified candidates. One of the TV spots highlights three-time Olympic gold medalist and Monster job seeker Lenny Krayzelburg. Krayzelburg intends to retire from competitive swimming after the 2004 Games and start a career in the financial industry. Three of the six "Portraits" spots will continue to air throughout the 2004 Olympic Games. The remaining spots begin airing in late August and will run through the end of the year on NBC, ABC, CBS and cable networks including ESPN, Bravo, Comedy Central, TLC, BET, E!, A&E Biography, VH-1, and USA.

You think you're hardcore when it comes to the Summer Olympics? In an effort to get in the Guinness Book of World Records, and plug NBC's coverage of the games, NBC Olympics and Guinness World Records partnered to host a world record attempt for consecutive hours of television watching of NBC's Olympic coverage. The final viewer remaining will receive a trip for two to the 2006 Olympic Winter Games in Torino, Italy and a High Definition Home Theater. During the course of the contest, viewers will attempt to break the world record by watching Olympic coverage on seven platforms: NBC, USA, MSNBC, CNBC, Bravo, Telemundo and NBC's HDTV affiliates. The winner was Terrye Jackson, 42, of Marlboro, Maryland. She watched 50 hours, seven minutes of Olympic coverage.

Visa debuted its latest Visa check card commercial, using the talents of the Yankees' Joe Torre and George Steinbrenner. The commercial, called "Injury," plays on the previous theme of two Visa ads that spoofed the relationship between George Steinbrenner and Derek Jeter. Created by BBDO, New York, the new TV ad illustrates Steinbrenner's reputation of spending money to keep his team on top. Shot in the Yankee Stadium training room, "Injury" offers a look at what could happen to someone if they were to write too many checks instead of using automatic bill payment. A trainer comes in and delivers a bad report on an injured arm he has inspected. Viewers see that the arm is George Steinbrenner's, who presumably injured it by writing too many checks. A voiceover then details that Visa check cardholders can pay their electric, cable, phone, and even health club bills automatically and give their check writing arm a break - eliminating the hassles of tracking due dates, late fees and mailing payments. Debuted on Aug. 13 and will run through November.

"It's a busy world out there. Nothing in our diet delivers strength and energy as effectively as protein. And nobody brings quality, branded chicken, beef and pork protein to consumers in more ways than Tyson Foods." This is the foundation of Tyson's new strategy, in an effort to communicate the strengths of the brand to company stakeholders. The fully-integrated marketing campaign uses the theme, "Powered by Tyson," and was created by Arnold Worldwide, Boston. The "Powered by" campaign also includes African American and Hispanic marketing created by E. Morris Communications, Chicago, and Lopez Negrete Communications, Houston, respectively. CJRW/NW of Fayetteville, Arkansas will manage online and retail trade promotions. The campaign launches Aug. 30, and the creative features a humorous, tongue-in-cheek approach, showing people doing things a little better than others--all because they are "Powered by Tyson." In addition to TV, radio and print ads, Tyson will be an associate sponsor of the USA Gymnastics' post-Olympic T.J. Maxx Tour of Gymnastics Champions.

Dan Parisi, the founder of Whitehouse.com, a Web site NOT about the White house (think porn), will be running a politically-themed outdoor ad campaign for House.com, a high trafficked Web site in the real estate sector. Starting in September, House.com trucks will be circling New York City and the tri-state area. The trucks will display John Kerry and proclaim, "He is looking for a new House. How about you?" for the next few months.

La Agencia de Orci & Asociados has launched a PSA for the Latino Scholastic Achievement Corporation (LSAC), whose mission is to prevent college and high school students from dropping out and promote academic achievement within the U.S. Hispanic community. The campaign consists of two 30-second television spots, which will air on Galavision, Telefutura, Azteca America, ESPN Deportes and selected Univision affiliates. The Spanish- and English-language campaign encourages parental involvement in the education of their children. "Out Of Sync" is a sing-a-long spot that presents children singing "Itsy Bitsy Spider"/"Que Llueva," but struggling to read the lyrics on the screen. The spot highlights a child reading poorly and encourages Latino parents to ask their child's teacher at what grade level their child is reading.

Eyeblaster began serving the first live VideoClip Module ads and content today on WWE.com and Style.com. Expect to see more publishers offer VideoClip campaigns in upcoming weeks. The VideoClip Module is an in-stream advertising and content management solution enabling Web publishers and advertisers to create and serve video-based advertisements into video content streams. Deep Focus created the ads.

In Web site launches this week:

Liquid Radio Live , a concept developed by Liquid Compass, has launched. The station, which focuses on the music of independent artists, provides worldwide exposure for artists who have large followings as well as for those who are just starting to build a presence for their music. The site is dedicated to promoting the efforts of independent artists by opening a door to a global audience via the web.

Dynamic Graphics Group, a global source for stock images, publications and events, announced that PictureQuest, which provides royalty-free and rights-managed stock photography from companies worldwide, relaunched its Web site. To support the relaunch, PictureQuest teamed up with Captivate Network to run a 10-second spot illustrating the new PictureQuest site every 10 minutes on more than 800 monitors in elevators in eight major metropolitan markets nationwide.