Job Site Takes First Trip To Superbowl

Job-hunting Web site www.CareerBuilder.com plans to increase ad spending by more than a third in 2005, producing a major ad campaign spearheaded by a spot on the Superbowl, CareerBuilder Vice President of Advertising Richard Castellini said Monday.

We're going to focus further on building the brand on a national scope, and there's no better venue than the Superbowl to begin," Castellini said. "We've earned our way to the big game."

Castellini said that this year's ad blitz would consist of both online components and traditional advertising in major television forums like the Academy Awards, the Grammies, and the NCAA Final Four.

The TV spot will be produced by independent Chicago-based agency Cramer-Krasselt, and must compete with the popular ads run in previous Superbowls by online job-hunting rival www.Monster.com. "We're very confident in what we're going to bring to the table. It's the Superbowl, and it's the Superbowl for advertisers as well. Our creative is worthy of that event," Castellini said. "We're going to be the standard bearers from now on."

The TV spot will also be aired on the Web, along with traditional ads and Web-only rich media content. The Web campaign will be managed by ClickHere, and "it will be new, interesting, and different than what you're used to seeing online," Castellini said.

A pre-release of a similar ad with the same theme will debut on CareerBuilder's Web site on Jan. 24, a CareerBuilder spokeswoman said. The campaign features a man being harried by his co-workers -- who happen to be monkeys. There will also be a viral campaign, which will involve more ads and other online content hosted on a separate Web site, the spokeswoman said. The viral campaign will debut after Jan. 24.

To finance this initiative, CareerBuilder is upping its advertising budget to about $200 million--more than a third higher than last year's, Castellini said. "This is by far the most we've ever spent to advance the CareerBuilder brand."

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