On-Cor names a new spokesperson. Verizon bows a Hispanic campaign. adidas debuts its year-long branding campaign. Welcome to highlights of ad campaigns launched this week.

adidas has kicked off 2004 with a year-long branding campaign that encourages athletes to "push yourself further, to surpass limits, to break new ground." The campaign features 22 athletes in total, from various sports and countries, showcasing adidas' broad involvement in sports and unique relationships with athletes. The campaign was developed by 180 and TBWAChiatDay. The global campaign, "Impossible is Nothing," launched Feb. 5th in Harlem, a New York City neighborhood. The first TV spot features Muhammad Ali being joined on one of his famous long runs by a new generation of adidas athletes, including Tracy McGrady and Ali's daughter Laila. The outdoor campaign will span across six U.S. cities - New York City, Los Angeles, Chicago, San Francisco, Miami and Portland - and feature many of America's top athletes. A second set of TV and movie-trailer commercials will go live later in the year featuring Nadja Comaneci, the first gymnast to score a perfect 10, running record-holder Haile Gebrselassie and men's 100 meter World Champion Kim Collins.

The latest campaign launched by Bally Total Fitness features a new tagline, "Every Body Needs Something," and touts the company's range of fitness products and services for consumers. TV spots debuted in January during top-rated daytime and primetime programs; the campaign also consists of radio, print, online, outdoor ads, and in-club promotions and local events taking place throughout the year. The initial TV phase of the "Every Body Needs Something" campaign includes eight spots that focus on a variety of consumers and their fitness concerns. In "Closet," Bally offers the fitness solution to a frustrated female who is having trouble finding the right dress size in her closet. A second spot, "Delivery," pokes fun at the way we eat, depicting repeated high-caloric, high-fat food deliveries made to the same house, and poses the question, "With the way people are eating these days, is it any wonder that every body needs something?" Additional spots will launch between February and April. The campaign was created by RocketScience, Bally's in-house creative shop.

Just in time for Valentine's Day, Jose Cuervo is redefining a holiday traditionally dedicated to couples with its Stupid Cupid Day Celebration. The cornerstone of the campaign is an instant win contest driving traffic to CuervoNation.com's Stupid Cupid promotion microsite off the CuervoNation website. DraftDigital New York created the online presence for the contest. To drive traffic to the site, subscribers of FHM magazine can tear out an insert enabling users to unscramble a prize message when held over a special field on CuervoNation.com. Users that don't receive FHM can use a "virtual decoder" to participate in the promotion. Users drag the decoder over the contest window to see if they won. Among the prizes to be won are a cruise for four to Mexico, concert tickets, CDs and DVDs.

La Agencia de Orcí & Asociados has launched a direct response Hispanic advertising campaign for Verizon. The campaign includes two :60 TV spots, one :60 radio spot, and a bilingual direct mail piece, which promotes Verizon's International Choice Plan. The ads focus on how the plan provides its customers with low international long distance rates. The campaign will run for six weeks in key Hispanic markets - Boston, Los Angeles, New York/New Jersey, Philadelphia, and Washington, DC/Maryland/Virginia. One spot, entitled "Postcards," features a rack of postcards from various Spanish-speaking countries in Central America, the Caribbean, and South America. The camera zooms in and out of these postcards, taking the viewer on a nostalgic journey through Latin America. Another spot, named "Titles," shows consumers the various countries in Central America, the Caribbean, and South America that are part of the International Choice Plan. The ads ask "What country do you want to call?," "Who do you miss?," and "How long do you want to talk?" and feature Verizon's low per-minute rates.

Following its Super Bowl appearance, Monster debuted creative last week from its "Portraits" campaign, a series of seven commercials and online advertising. Each spot features a candid appeal from a real-life job seeker in search of work or an employer seeking a qualified candidate. The campaign was developed by Deutsch New York. The TV spots urge viewers to visit monster.com to hire candidates or apply for positions. The first four ads launched on Feb. 9th and will air throughout the month on NBC, ABC, and 23 cable networks including ESPN, A&E Biography, VH-1, and USA. Rich media banner ads will run on sites such as Weather.com, Lycos, and About.com.

On-Cor Frozen Foods' latest campaign includes a new spokesperson. Richard Kind ("Spin City") takes over the role most recently filled by Al Molinaro ("Happy Days"). Two 30-second TV spots, running in major markets through the first quarter, feature Kind as the "On-Cor Guy," an in-store company representative who answers shoppers' questions and assists them in their selection of On-Cor products. The campaign was created by Blue Chip Marketing and Communications, and includes a new tagline: "Two Full Pounds! One Full Family!." On-Cor has also redesigned its packaging and expanded its Classics and Traditionals product lines.

AutoTrader.com has renewed its sponsorship of NCAA basketball games on CBS. To support the sponsorship, AutoTrader.com began airing its "whoosh," "buddies," and "shelves" commercials on Jan. 31. In addition to the TV ads, AutoTrader.com will sponsor game summaries and TV billboards throughout the NCAA tournament. The brand building TV campaign was created by Donor, Detroit.

In website launches this week:

Ripple Effects Interactive has launched a website for WQED Multimedia's upcoming "The War That Made America" television series. The site is the first of two that will be created for the project aimed at commemorating the 250th anniversary of the French and Indian War. The initial website serves as a central location for information about "The War That Made America" project, establishing a centralized online community for French and Indian War enthusiasts, historians, scholars, and re-enactors. Visitors can view a photo gallery of stills from the series' test filming, download banners and sign up to join an email list to receive e-newsletters about the project. The second website will be an online companion to the film series and offer interactive features and innovative middle and high school lesson plans.

Kurani Multimedia has relaunched its website and it's a fun one. Visitors are invited to "take a stress break" by challenging a co-worker to shoot some foul shots in the "Play" area. Those hungry for knowledge can "strap on their thinking caps" in the "Learn" section which contains streaming audio interviews, white papers, and articles from leading industry sources covering interactive marketing topics. The site was designed in-house.