Out to Launch
Thursday, September 7, 2006
M&Ms launches a campaign offering a reward of 2 million dark chocolate M&Ms for the return of "The Scream." Said campaign is mentioned in this column--and two days later, "The Scream" is found. Draw your own conclusions. Let's launch!
  • M&Ms launches a campaign offering a reward of 2 million dark chocolate M&Ms for the return of "The Scream." Said campaign is mentioned in this column--and two days later, "The Scream" is found. Draw your own conclusions. Let's launch!

    DirecTV cracks me up. Its latest campaign, touting its Super Fan package, features Marv, a diehard football fan, a manly man who pronounces beautiful "beyewtiful." He's front and center in all four ads and even has his own Web site, HeyButtercup.com. In "Bikini Wax," Marv talks about the closeness of HDTV by mocking the players, encouraging them to get bikini waxes for their close-ups. Click here to watch "Bikini Wax." "There's no shortcuts in football," says Marv in "Buttercup." "Football is hard work and groin pulls." Click here to watch "Buttercup." "Ice Cream" shows Marv working out. It's quite a sight. Click here to watch "Ice Cream." "In My Day" shows Marv getting a haircut and describing how he can watch eight football games on one screen. In the old days, you watched one game and sucked up a team loss. Click here to watch "In My Day." The ads will be running on network, national cable and syndication throughout the NFL season. Deutsch handled all aspects of the campaign.

    ESPN's latest "This is SportsCenter" campaign gears up football fans for the upcoming season by featuring some brotherly love between Eli and Peyton Manning. "Wet Willy" shows the Manning family on a guided tour of ESPN's Digital Center. The boys lag to the back of the tour, Peyton flicks Eli's ear, Eli returns the favor with a Wet Willy and both boys receive disappointed looks from their dad. The spot ends with Peyton getting a good hit on his baby brother. Click here to watch "Wet Willy."Wieden + Kennedy New York created the campaign.

    Pioneer Electronics launched a campaign promoting its new line of Pioneer and Elite PureVision HD plasma TVs and displays on Sept. 2. The $20 million campaign coincides with the kickoff of the NFL and NCAA football seasons and targets men in their 30s and 40s. The ads are set in a futuristic testing facility where Pioneer plasmas undergo a series of rigorous tests. The ads reminded me of a facility where you'd see cars being tested. "Wind Tunnel" shows a plasma TV withstanding the high speed blowing sand test. Click here to watch the ad. The planets align for a plasma TV in "Orbit." Click here to watch it. Print and online ads embody a similar feel. TV ads will air during sports programming, including ESPN Monday Night Football, NBC's Sunday Night Football, MLB on Fox, The Ryder Cup and various cable programming. RPA handled all aspects of the campaign.

    The folks behind the "Got Milk" campaign are shifting gears with the launch of Body By Milk. This initiative targets teens and encourages them to eat right, stay active and drink milk instead of soda. There's even a BodyByMilk.com Web site where teens can view ads, make their own ads and play games. David Beckham, "American Idol"'s Carrie Underwood, figure skater Sasha Cohen and New York Yankee Alex Rodriguez are the first celebrities to lend their upper lip to the campaign. The ads feature taglines such as "Goal by Beckham. Body By Milk," "Country By Carrie. Body By Milk" and "Edge by Sasha. Body By Milk." The ads launched in the September issues of Blender, CosmoGirl, Seventeen, Electronic Gaming, Spin and Sports Illustrated. The celebrities will also appear in posters that will be distributed to more than 100,000 schools. The campaign's interactive components include a page on MySpace.com and banner ads on Alloy.com, Bolt.com, Facebook.com and Gamezone.com. Lowe New York created the campaign and handled the buying.

    Oxygen is promoting its new show "Breaking Up With Shannen Doherty" with a series of user participation ads. The campaign includes wild postings, postcards, radio, online, print and billboards in New York and Los Angeles. In top markets, postcards make breaking up as easy as reading through a list of flaws (from "talk with your mouth full" to "are too much like my dad"), and checking off all that apply. In New York, wild postings in the form of blank "Dear John" letters make breaking up easier. Passersby insert the dumpee's name and add a few lines about why the relationship is over. These will be a huge hit, I'm sure. Radio ads feature a guy's mother doing his girlfriend's dirty work, breaking up with him for her, and outdoor ads feature a great tag line: "Starts at 10 p.m., by 10:30, it's over." Print ads are running in Entertainment Weekly, US Weekly, Life & Style, In Touch and TV Guide. Toy created the campaign and Media Kitchen handled the media buying.

    Mediaedge:cialaunched a pan-European campaign for Sony Ericsson last week to promote its Cyber-shot K800i camera phone.The camera gives users nine time-sequenced shots with one snap of a button. A series of outdoor ads placed in high traffic areas across 10 countries, starting at London's Victoria Station, play off this feature. Passersby can stop by the "Body in Motion" installations and strike a pose for a nine-shot photo sequence. The photos are instantly processed, appearing on giant screens at the center of the installation; participants can take home their favorite picture. The 13-week campaign will run in shopping centers and train stations in London, Paris, Zurich, Berlin, Madrid, Athens, Budapest, Moscow, Riga and Istanbul. MEC handled all aspects of the campaign.

    You can't be a part of CBS' Sunday night lineup unless you rhyme with the night's current show titles. Playing off this quirky coincidence, CBS promoted "The Amazing Race," "Cold Case" and "Without A Trace" with human anagrams at The U.S. Open Tennis Championship. The human billboards would spell out race, case and trace. I'd take this over egg-vertising. CBS Marketing Group produced it in-house.

    The burning question on everyone's mind today is probably, "Will M&Ms pay out its reward of 2 million dark chocolate M&Ms?" The answer is yes. The brand is prepared (albeit ill-prepared, I'm sure) to fork over two million M&M's Dark Chocolate Candies for the return of "The Scream" to the Munch Museum in Oslo, Norway. Since I'm a stickler for useless information, two million Dark Chocolate M&M's equals 40,000 1.69-ounce bags, worth $22,000. They got off cheap.

    Whirlpool has launched a nature-loving campaign promoting various brand appliances. "Artic" shows what looks like a line of waddling penguins; they're actually a set of black and white shirts that dive into a wintry pond to promote the Whirlpool Duet. Someone watched "March of the Pengiuns." Click here to watch "Artic." "Sensing Nature" highlights the washing machine's ability to adapt to its load. "Waterfall" and "Underwater" will launch later this year. Publicis New York created the campaign and Final Cut New York handled the editing.

    IKEA launched two ads promoting its 2007 catalog. "Color" shows a wife asking her husband if they're too white. Click here to watch "Color." "Baby" shows that biological clocks don't necessarily go away, no matter how old you are. Click here to watch "Baby." The ads ran throughout August and were created by Deutsch. HMI handled the media buy.