Commentary

Out to Launch

The Energizer Bunny is back. Fabio and ESPN? Tom Brady gets SIRIUS. Let's launch!

Apple Core Hotels, a group of five hotels in midtown Manhattan, insists on giving guests everything they need and some things they don't. Launching in mid-September, the "Everything You Need. And Some Things You Don't." ad campaign promotes Apple Core Hotels as a premium groups of hotels that offer great value without skimping on guests' convenience and service. The Ad Store created the campaign that touts the hotels' complimentary Wi-Fi and Continental breakfast, in-room coffee makers and coffee, telephones with data port and voicemail and on-site business and fitness centers available to all guests free of charge. The campaign includes an elderly man examining the Wi-Fi antenna outside his Apple Core hotel room, and a bald man looking at a hotel hairdryer.

The Energizer Bunny is back. And he's inspiring others to "Keep Going" with a $68 million campaign that will put the Energizer Bunny on billboards and taxicabs, bus shelters and skyscrapers from California to New York. The Energizer Bunny will honor those who defy the odds, overcome obstacles, and always strive to do their best. Three 30- and 15-second spots launched on Aug. 30th during primetime television. Created by TBWAChiatDayLos Angeles, each ad celebrates an individual who keeps going. "For those that never quit, the battery that never quits. Energizer -- Keep Going," an announcer says as the Energizer Bunny comes across the screen. The campaign will be heavily pushed in New York, Los Angeles, Tampa, Minneapolis, Cleveland, Philadelphia, Houston, Phoenix, Miami, and Chicago. Adding a guerrilla component to the campaign, look out for the Energizer Bunny greeting the public at subway stations and busy street corners handing out memorabilia and offering encouragement.

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ESPN's campaign for ESPN's Sunday NFL Countdown, themed "The Hardest Working Pre-Game Show in Football," features an interesting group of talent. The spots feature Sunday NFL Countdown personalities Chris Berman, Michael Irvin, Tom Jackson, Chris Mortensen, and Steve Young, actor Robert Loggia and a cameo by Fabio. The five 30-second and five 15-second spots emphasize that practice makes perfect and great shows don't happen by accident. Instead, a lot of hard work and preparation goes into every episode of Sunday NFL Countdown. A tough-as-nails coach, played by Robert Loggia, relentlessly runs Berman, Irvin, Jackson, Mortensen, and Young through the paces, focusing on every facet of the show. Created by Wieden + Kennedy New York, the spots began airing on ESPN networks Aug. 30th. In addition, ads will run in ESPN The Magazine, on ESPN.com, and ESPN Radio.

Keeping with sports, Tom Brady of the New England Patriots has teamed up with John Madden in an ad campaign for SIRIUS Satellite Radio, the Official Satellite Radio Partner of the NFL. The campaign debuted during a "Monday Night Football" broadcast on Aug. 2. The TV spot, "Breaking News," features Brady in his car showing off his new "favorite receiver" to Madden. Brady's real-life wide receivers, Deion Branch, Troy Brown, and David Givens, appear in the spot bewildered at Madden's "news" that a SIRIUS Satellite Radio is Brady's "new favorite receiver." The campaign promotes SIRIUS NFL Sunday Drive, a programming package that brings every NFL local radio game broadcast around the country every week. The campaign also consists of radio and print components.

This doesn't top Oprah's definition of product placement, but NBC's "American Dreams" has teamed up with Campbell's Tomato Soup and Scholastic magazine this fall for a unique product tie-in. The partners will sponsor an essay-writing contest for high school students with a grand prize of a $100,000 college scholarship to be mirrored in a storyline of the season premiere of "American Dreams." The essay contest began on Aug.15 and ends Nov. 30, and asks students, "How does your American Dream compare to that of your parents"? The contest is open to students from ages 13 to 18 in grades 9 through 12 across the country. In the parallel storyline, high school student Patty Pryor (Sarah Ramos) will enter a similar essay contest. At the end of the hour, the cast of "American Dreams" will appear in a 30-second spot to encourage student participation. The story thread will continue to weave through additional episodes during the season. To promote the campaign, Scholastic Marketing Partners, a division of Scholastic, is distributing educational materials including in-school and online curriculum for teachers/student magazines and magazine "advertorials" for students. Campbell's Tomato Soup is promoting the contest in a variety of ways, including: placement on 42 million labels of its soup cans, print, radio and TV advertising. The NBC Agency designed the campaign.

Why wasn't this thought of sooner? Nabisco has placed California Milk Processor Board'sGOT MILK? trademark on - what else? - Oreo cookies. Oreo's will hit store shelves nationwide with Oreo packages and cookies embossed with the GOT MILK? logo. In 2002, Nabisco's Oreo commercial, "Dilemma," was re-released with the GOT MILK? tag line. A TV campaign supporting this latest partnership is soon to follow.

An all-volunteer organization of Connecticut media and business professionals has created EVE'S FUND, dedicated to "Ending Violence Everywhere." The organization helps to raise awareness of domestic violence and sexual assault in Connecticut, and to raise funds for programs supporting the victims of violence. Mintz & Hoke created the campaign, which appeals to the emotions of donors by putting a face on the victims of domestic violence and sexual assault. The campaign also shows that victims include more types of people than the stereotypical battered wife.

In Web site launches this week:

To launch Mountain Dew Pitch Black, a limited-edition Mountain Dew with a blast of black grape that will only be available through Halloween, Tribal DDB Dallas gives consumers control of a virtual flashlight they can use to find their way through an online haunted house. Visitors can direct the flashlight with their mouse and discover various ghouls, spiders, and other surprises. The site also includes "Terror in the Woods," an interactive game in which users run through the woods down a dark trail, dodging fallen trees and low-hanging limbs to try to escape from a heavy-breathing pursuer.

AKQA has redesigned the Web site for The Body Shop. The site targets women aged 25 to 44 and offers hundreds of naturally-inspired bath, body, skin care, fragrance, and cosmetics products including a new range of hair care products. Consumers are able to consult an ingredient glossary that allows them to understand product benefits and find products by ingredient. The redesigned site also supports The Body Shop at Home business, which allows consultants to operate their direct selling business by providing individual Web sites to their customers.

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