• by Amy Corr , Staff Writer @MediaPostOTL, January 25, 2006

"Got Milk?" changes its Spanish tagline. Hilton Hotels undergoes an extreme makeover. Kia saves the greenbacks. Let's launch!

Hilton Hotels is undergoing a luxurious renovation. The campaign spotlights massive amounts of physical enhancements and luxury brand amenities added to the hotels, from Crabtree & Evelyn's La Source bath amenities to the Serta Suite Dreams mattress and box springs. "Travel Should Take You Places" includes print, TV, and online components emphasizing Hilton's philosophy that travel is more than going from point A to B. The ads reminded me of an outdoor campaign for the Air Tahiti Nui. Check it out and let me know if you think I'm wrong. TV ads are running nationally and print ads can be found in The Wall Street Journal and USA Today. Y&R created the campaign.

The California Milk Processing Board--the "Got Milk" gang--is launching a Hispanic campaign on Jan. 30 with a new tagline. Grupo Gallegos created three 30-second spots, "Contortionist," "Amazon Hair Goddess" and "TeethTown." The new tagline, "Toma Leche" (Drink Milk) will accompany all CMPB Spanish-language ads throughout 2006. The old tagline was "Familia, Amor y Leche" (Family, Love and Milk). In "Amazon Hair Goddess," women use their strong hair for work, self-defense and for fun. Their secret is not in their shampoo, it's the protein in the milk that they drink. "Amazing Contortionist" shows a circus family that uses their contortionist skills in their everyday life: from typing on the computer with their feet, to becoming a human hula hoop.

The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and the Advertising Council launched a campaign to curb childhood obesity. "Can Your Food Do That" aims to help children and their parents make wise food choices and increase physical activity. Three ads, "Birds," "Bulls Eye," and "Grandpa" highlight the benefits of healthy eating by showing kids being kids. My favorite spot was "Bulls Eye," which showed a boy eating a watermelon and using his sister as a target when he spit out the pits. "Grandpa" shows a girl on a picnic with her grandfather, who has dozed off. The young girl brushes the stem from her grapes on her grandfather's face, causing him to wake up and, thinking he's being bitten by a bug, smack himself. The campaign directs kids to SmallStep.gov. McCann Erickson New York, created the TV and online aspects; Carton Donofrio Partners created the Web site.

Citizen's Bank launched 30- and 60-second spots slated to air in the New England market. "Numbers" shows people going about their daily routines. Instead of wearing their hearts on their sleeves, those featured wear their bank account balance on their chests. A man taking out the trash has $7,485, while a woman on a shopping spree has negative $187. The amount fluctuates when a waitress picks up a $2 tip, and when a father meets with his daughter's wedding planner. The spot closes with a voicover stating: "When most banks look at you, they only see one thing. But at Citizen's Bank, we see things differently. To us, you're worth a lot more than what it says on your statement." Arnold Worldwide created the campaign.

A concerned activist pleading to "Save the Greenbacks" was the crux of Kia's year-end sales event campaign. "Beach" and "Arctic" shows rescue operation footage and volunteers shilling for the fictitious charity "Save the Greenbacks." The volunteers unload dollar bills from a rubber raft onto the shore and peel the "Greenbacks" from below the ice. Throughout each spot, a spokesperson discusses the plight of these poor little green things. "The Greenbacks are disappearing at an alarming rate," he explains. "By taking part in Kia's Save the Greenbacks Program, Greenbacks are able to stay in their natural habitat." The campaign initially launched in Los Angeles and Denver, and expanded to an additional forty markets. The campaign was created by davidandgoliath.

TBS channeled its inner flower power for a buzz marketing campaign promoting its comedy series "Daisy Does America." TBS partnered with 1800Flowers.com and capitalized on star Daisy Donovan's name. For 10 days, teams of cyclists on oversized tricycles distributed individually wrapped daisies to consumers in New York and Philadelphia. Inside each package was a two-sided card promoting the series and a daisy discount available at 1800Flowers.com. In addition, TBS also delivered daisies in door hangers to households in Philadelphia, Milwaukee, Detroit and St. Louis with a high viewership of female-skewing shows.

The North of England Inward Investment Agency (NEIIA) a U.K. government-sponsored agency that promotes direct business investment from North America into Northern England, launched its first integrated campaign to build its brand identity in the United States. The multimillion dollar campaign launched late last year using a "reasons why" theme in its print ads. Copy includes: "1,000 aerospace companies didn't come to North England just for the air"; "4 out of the 5 top U.S. pharmaceutical companies are based in North England. Read on for side effects"; and "60% of Japanese computer games are designed in North England. Game on." The campaign targets C-level executives and is running in The Wall Street Journal, BusinessWeek, The Economist, Fortune, Forbes and their accompanying Web sites. Souk Communications created the campaign.

This week's Web site launches focus on sports videos and a groundhog with cabin fever.

The Pennsylvania Tourism Office is at it again. The state is promoting Groundhog Day, with a film about the groundhog suffering from cabin fever, as in Jack Nicholson in "The Shining" cabin fever. The trailer is hysterical--the only thing missing is "Redrum. Redrum." Installments of the film will be posted on the site weekly, leading up to Groundhog Day. There are four installments viewable to date. The site will also offer an RSS feed so that viewers can be updated when a new video is posted. This highly enjoyable entertainment promotes Pennsylvania tourism (its Cabin Fever promotion) and the VisitPA site. RippleEffectsInteractive created the campaign. Check out the peep cam, but remember: content may be inappropriate for groundhogs under 13.

BroadbandSports.com is a video-only sports portal that allows viewers to watch professional and user-generated sports videos and offers capabilities to "tag," search, find, store and replay videos any time, anywhere. The site was launched to make sports video programming easily available and features an interactive community where devotees can share, view and discuss, rank and rate videos. Users can also receive notification of new programming based on "tags," a service similar to 43things,Technorati, and Flickr.