Commentary

Out to Launch

Zoo campaigns. Cotton shows its versatile side. Acrobats perform in Pyrex ads. Let's launch!

Eos Airlines (doesn't Volkswagen have a car by the same name?) launched a $6 million print, newspaper, magazine and outdoor campaign yesterday in New York and London markets promoting the company's New York to London flights, where a mere 48 passengers are onboard per flight. Space comes with a hefty price tag: roundtrip fares range from $5,000 to $7,500. One ad portrays the crowded seating at the U.S. Open. A large section, however, is cordoned off for two spectators and their personal waiter. A second ad shows a couple leaving their limo to walk behind the VIP rope enroute to their flight. Click here and here to see the ads. Ads are running stateside in WSJ, Barron's, New York Times, BusinessWeek, Forbes, Fortune, New Yorker and  Travel + Leisure; British ads can be found in Financial Times, Sunday Times, Times Daily, Daily Telegraph, Evening Standard and The Economist. Mullen created the campaign and mediaHUB from Mullen handled the media buy.

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Two TV ads for San Diego Zoo's Wild Animal Park promote how close visitors can get to the animals. "Masai" features a group of tribesman who are either pining for pogo sticks, for they're jumping in place, or they're trying to get a better look at something, namely a group of giraffes. Watch the ad here. A herd of wildebeests run into a pond, then abruptly leave, in another ad. Turns out, there's a stranger among them: two guys in a wildebeest costume trying to get a closer, or even just one, look --  how much can the guy in the rear see, anyway? Click here to watch the ad.M&C Saatchi Los Angeles created the campaign and Round2 Communications handled the media buy.

The Kansas City Zoo is promoting its summertime koala exhibit by describing the adorable little animals as cute and all other normally cute animals as sub-par. In the TV ad, someone leaves a cute kitten in a basket on a family's doorstep. The family looks away in horror and disgust -- as viewers see an adorable kitten that's no longer cute to the family, now that they've gone koala-crazy. Watch the ad here. There's also a radio component to the campaign, where a kitten spills his problems to a therapist. Click here to listen. Print ads show a koala on one side and either an angry duck, kitten or puppy on the other. Click here, here and here to see the ads. In addition, five-foot-tall plush koalas were placed 20 feet high in Hy-Vee supermarket parking lots. Click here to see a picture.Bernstein-Rein created the campaign and handled the media buy.

Liberty Mutual launched a second set of feel-good ads on Monday that again feature ordinary people performing random acts of kindness. There's a 30- and 60-second version of the branding spot, "Responsibility," along with auto-themed and  home-themed ads. Click here, here, here and here to view the ads. Each spot concludes with the same tag line, "Responsibility. What's your policy?" The spots will be airing on network as well as national cable television during "American Idol," "Grey's Anatomy," "Ugly Betty," "CSI Miami" and "Lost," among others. Hill Holiday created the campaign and handled the media buy.

Pyrex uses acrobats to demonstrate the benefits of the wide handles and non-slip silicone grips and bottoms of its Pyrex Accents Collection. "Perform Better in the Kitchen" ads will run in the June issues of Martha Stewart's Blueprint, Glamour, Brides, Modern Bride and InStyle Weddings. An acrobat gracefully balances on a measuring cup in "Don't Slip." Did I mention she only uses one hand for balance? That's some strong glass -- and can they add those no-slip bottoms to my high-heeled shoes? My ankles would appreciate it. "Pour Accurately" is more believable. An acrobat balanced on one leg is standing on another performer's back while pouring liquid into an inverted funnel. "Hold Better" takes place without a net and imitates a flying trapeze act, with each performer holding a Pyrex baking dish. Click here, here and here to see the ads. Cramer-Krasselt created the campaign and handled the media buy.

"Goodbye Mystery Fabric. Hello Cotton," is the closing line in the first of two ads for Cotton Incorporated. Clothing that frays, pills and clings is thrown to the curb, literally, by women fed up with mystery fabric. There's even a cover of Scandal's "Goodbye to You" used in the ad. Click here to watch. Models in a fashion show have no need to change their cotton outfits in "Runway to Everyday." Once they walk down the runway, they step down and leave for the day. Watch the ad here.DDB New York created the campaign and MindShare handled the media buy.

These ads are identical except for the endings. Edwin Watts Golf launched two TV ads in April that position the chain as small and intimate rather than big and impersonal. The ads focus on the things golfers do for the love of the game, such as placing their small golf trophy on the mantle, getting up at 5 a.m. to play on the weekends, saving up for a golf vacation, practicing in the backyard while it's still dark and driving into a practice target set up in the garage. Click here and here to see the ads. The campaign runs through September, in conjunction with the PGA Tour, on CBS, NBC and The Golf Channel during Tour coverage. Blattner Brunner created the campaign and handled the media buy.

Recruit Ireland launched two TV ads earlier this year featuring the characters "Beep" and "Creak." Beep describes his former job as the "beep" at the end of answering machine messages, where cutting people off didn't appeal to him. He found a job on RecruitIreland.com and now he's a television censor. Watch the ad here. Creak had the same problem. He began his career making creaking sounds in old women's houses and now he's in movies. Hear a coffin creak? You know the behind-the-scenes talent. Click here to watch the ad.Chemistry Dublin created the campaign and handled the media planning. Head Gear Animation Toronto handled the production and editing.

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