• by Amy Corr , Staff Writer @MediaPostOTL, December 7, 2005

Milk and Oreos: perfect together. More holiday ads. Washington Mutual sets a world record... for the largest doormat. Let's launch!

Talk about an innovative way to sell shoes. Palladium shoes is tapping in to the Geocaching phenomenon (a game where players use GPS receivers and Web clues to find hidden "caches" around the world) to hawk its men's and women's travel shoes. For starters, each page of the Palladium Web site refers to the Geocaching game. The pages display each of nine shoe styles in a "home city," and provide travel information and cache clues for that city. Even better, Palladium is placing clues on non-Palladium sites. Clues will be hidden in different retailer-determined locations and announced on public geocaching sites. Posters will go up in the cities where the hidden caches are placed.Targeting "Urban Nomads" ages 22 to 38, and launching this month, the campaign tag line fits like a glove: "The Destination is the Journey." The Republik created the campaign.

Cingular called on "A Christmas Carol"'s Ebenezer Scrooge and his ghostly friend, Jacob Marley, to promote its Family Talk promotion. "Scrooge," says Marley. "Why haven't you called?" Scrooge replies with a cheap shot of "Because you're dead and I'm too cheap to spring for a phone." Marley tells his friend that he can add an extra line for $9.99--and if he buys one phone, he gets four free. Marley concludes by saying that there will be enough phones for Scrooge, Marley and a few of his "ghostly friends." The spot is running nationally on cable and prime-time TV during shows such as "Grey's Anatomy" and "Nanny 911." BBDO New York created the spot.

In fact, it wouldn't be the holidays without a bevy of Scrooge-themed ads. Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park launched a print, radio, and TV campaign supporting the run of its performance of "A Christmas Carol" through December 30. Set to the cheery holiday song "Holly Jolly Chistmas," "Holiday Trip" follows Scrooge throughout a typical holiday season: stealing sugar packets from a restaurant, slamming his door on Christmas carolers, and tripping a shopper, causing all his presents to scatter. The ad concludes with Playhouse contact information and the copy, "Scrooge is Back. God help us everyone." Print ads are running in City Beat, Cincinnati Herald, All About Kids, Family Magazine, and Cincinnati Magazine. The Creative Department developed the campaign.

For the third time in 10 years, Oreo cookies make an appearance in a "Got Milk" commercial. The California Milk Processor Board teamed up with Kraft Foods for a 30-second spot entitled "Triplets." The ad, running through January 2006, opens with three hungry and thirsty triplets, each decked out in adorable pink tutus. Each sister has her Oreo ready for dunking, but there's a problem: a small amount of milk has been poured into narrow glasses--equal amounts for each girl, of course--but the girls can't reach the milk to dunk their snacks. Problem! What to do? Pool together your resources, that's what! The girls pour all the milk into one glass, making a full glass of milk, most suitable for dunking their Oreos. The ad concludes with the ever-so-famous "Got Milk" tagline. Foote Cone & Belding NY created the campaign.

Washington Mutual has launched its very own traveling E-bus, a full-size commercial bus, complete with mobile technology, computer workstations and Internet connections, all via satellite. The E-bus can bring a bank and mortgage company to potential clients who might never have had access to homeownership education or their credit reports. Wexley School for Girls, in partnership with design firm General Public, created a "first home on wheels." The bus, wrapped to resemble a house, even set a Guinness World Record for having the "Largest Door Mat." The mat is 10 feet tall by 36 feet long--I wonder if it takes people that much longer to wear out their welcome.  If you live in Southern California, keep an eye out for the bus. It's traveling the area for the next six months.

Rocky Mountain Clothing Company launched two separate campaigns for its men's and women's western line of jeans. Ladies first. The Cruel Girl jeans campaign aims to add "beauty" to the stereotypical "western" image and further emphasize fashion. The tag line is: "Our jeans. Your body. A cruel combination." Four different print executions are running through the end of the year in riding and rodeo publications, including Super Looper, Stockhorse News, Horse and Rider.

Gentlemen, wait no longer. Rocky Mountain Clothing Company simultaneously launched a campaign for Cinch jeans using the tag line: "Made for the man who lives his life in denim." The concept here is similar: focus more on the brand by using creative that resembles Western movie posters, portraying the wearers as heroic. Five different print ads are running in the same riding and rodeo publications as the Cruel Girl campaign (Super Looper, Loops, and Stockhorse) through the end of the year. McClain Finlon Advertising developed both campaigns, its first work for the client.

This week's Web site launches will get you thinking.

In honor of World AIDS Day, Night Agency created the Keep a Child AliveWeb site. The site shows the plight of many children in Africa. Heart-wrenching images of malnourished and sick children flash across the screen to the song "Don't Give Up," sung by Bono and Alicia Keys. Copy is simple: "Don't give up Kenya; Don't give up Uganda; Don't give up Africa. Give the gift of life this holiday." The duet is available for purchase through iTunes. Donations are accepted on the site and visitors can send the link to a friend.

Ripple Effects Interactive has redesigned the MBA sites for Rutgers Business School and Wake Forest University's Babcock Graduate School. The agency developed the site architecture for Rutgers Business School, and installed its content management system onto the school's servers, so the internal staff could migrate content from the old site to the new. For Wake Forest, the agency redesigned the look, information architecture, navigation system, and content migration portions of the site. The site displays videos featuring current students, alumni, faculty and the Wake Forest MBA dean.