• by Adam Bernard , August 10, 2001

Every week brings a myriad of ad campaign and website launches and it's nearly impossible to keep up with them all. If you missed a few, here are some the major launches of the week that was, and the week that will be.

Crazy Eddie, Inc., the home entertainment and consumer electronics retailer known for its "insaaane" low prices has announced the return of its legendary advertising campaign to New York area radio and television airwaves. The new ad campaign heralds Crazy Eddie's electrifying return via a toll free telephone sales center, and on the web. The print, TV and radio campaign, which will begin August 8, is the brainchild of Eddie Antar, Jerry Carroll, and Larry Weiss, the same marketing triumvirate of the original Brooklyn, NY-based Crazy Eddie retail chain in the 1970s and 80s. It brings back one of America's best-known advertising icons. Jerry Carroll will reprise his role as Crazy Eddie's energetic pitchman, best known for his ear splitting "prices are insane" mantra. "We've been calling the new spots 'Crazy Eddie retro,'" said advertising director Larry Weiss, who was also Crazy Eddie's original advertising director in the 70's.

Indianapolis Motor Speedway served as the backdrop for the national launch of Drive to Read @ your library, a new program developed by Hershey's Milk and the American Library Association (ALA) to ignite interest in reading among America's teens and drive them right into libraries. NASCAR driver Ward Burton was on hand to launch the national awareness program, an effort to connect with teens by aligning libraries with one of the nation's hottest NASCAR drivers and Hershey's Milk. The Drive to Read @ your library program calls on teens to check out one of the Best Books for Young Adults for 2001 -- selected by librarians through the Young Adult Library Services Association, a division of the American Library Association -- and write a short essay describing why they would recommend the book to a friend and how it's a meaningful or inspiring book for today's teens. Once the essay has been written, teens have to check in with their school or public librarian to ask him or her to sponsor the contest entry. One lucky teen will win a trip with a parent or guardian, and the sponsoring librarian and a guest, to The Homestead Miami Speedway on November 11, 2001 to meet NASCAR star Ward Burton and attend the day's race. Speed to www.hersheysmilk.com for all of the program details.

Continuing in sports, beginning Friday, August 17, McDonald's Restaurants of Southeastern Pennsylvania, Southern New Jersey, and Kent and New Castle Counties, Delaware will not only be serving quarter-pounders, they also selling quarterbacks! To gear up for the upcoming Eagles' season, McDonald's will introduce the Donovan McNabb bobblehead doll, available exclusively at participating McDonald's Restaurants of the Greater Philadelphia Region. Fans and collectors can purchase the hand painted, ceramic doll for $4.49 with the purchase of any soft drink, while supplies last. McNabb bobblehead dolls will be available in home and away jerseys.

Still in sports, a trip for two to the Salt Lake 2002 Olympic Winter Games is the grand prize of The U.S. Olympic Team "Gold Medal" Sweepstakes, launched on August 1st at usolympicteam.com. The promotion is supported by an ad campaign in USA TODAY, USOC publications, USOC email database and USOC partner websites. The ads instruct consumers to visit the site, where they can click on a promotional button linked to a short registration form that enters participants into the sweepstakes. The grand prize package is provided by USOC sponsor CoSport.

The New York Times launched a state-of-the-art business-to-business website. The site allows advertising clients to manage their accounts with The Times online, enabling them to place reservations, submit new creative material, view upcoming or past schedules and access media kits from their desktops. This site is the most comprehensive web-based system for display advertisers and agencies in the newspaper industry.

Moving on to cars, the Dodge Division of DaimlerChrysler Corporation has announced that "Grab Life By The Horns" is the new advertising theme line for the cars, pickup trucks and minivans sold under the Dodge brand. "Grab Life By The Horns" will be the Dodge brand line for all print and television advertising that debuts nationally in mid-September. The new tag line was developed in partnership with PentaMark Worldwide of Troy, Mich., and other BBDO offices in New York City.

Still in cars, AutoTrader.com, an online automotive classifieds site, launched an innovative marketing campaign to enhance online brand awareness among a targeted, young adult-oriented demographic. The "Slide Into Your Ride" online sweepstakes uses a new concept in interactive marketing, known as advergaming. Developed by Midway Games Inc., a software industry publisher and developer, advergaming combines advertising messages with entertaining and compelling game play. "Slide Into Your Ride" builds upon the distinctive images of AutoTrader.com's award-winning TV campaign, drawing a parallel between their offline advertising and the popularity of online gaming to visually demonstrate the empowerment and selection consumers experience when visiting AutoTrader.com. Exile on Seventh, an Atlanta-based interactive advertising agency, created the concept and creative elements for this innovative marketing strategy to engage first-time car buyers in the interactive medium of online gaming while expanding AutoTrader.com's reach to a younger, Internet-savvy demographic of 18 to 24 year olds.

Speaking of advergaming, Octopi, an interactive brand marketing firm, announced the launch of the industry's first advergaming portal on the Internet, Octane Games. Octane Games helps brand managers meet their brand exposure goals through tightly integrated, highly playable games. The new portal, located at www.octanegames.com allows brand managers to test-play the company's rapidly growing game portfolio and experience Octopi's cutting edge illustration and animation for promotional tie-ins.

Longer-lasting Pup-Peroni NawSomes! dog snacks is kicking off the "America's Most NawSomes! Dog" contest to help raise funds for at-risk dogs as part of the NawSomes! product launch. Is your dog worthy of the coveted title "America's Most NawSome! Dog"? Tell NawSomes! why, and you could help Animal Avengers rescue less fortunate dogs and find them loving homes. From now until September 15, dog owners can enter online at www.thinktreats.com and tell NawSomes! why their dog is worthy of being crowned "America's Most NawSome! Dog." The grand prizewinner will be announced on January 15, 2002, and will receive a cash prize of $7,500, NawSomes! product for life and national recognition on thinktreats.com. The six semi finalists will receive a video camera, along with a year's supply of NawSomes!. For each "America's Most NawSome! Dog" contest entry, NawSomes! will donate $1 to Animal Avengers to help further its mission of rescuing at-risk dogs and finding them a loving home.

The Timberland Company announced the launch of its largest-ever global advertising campaign, centered on their "For the Journey" theme. The integrated campaign will debut this September and will feature a new television spot to run on national cable, national and regional print, key market outdoor and customer-specific co-op advertising. The company will reach more consumers than ever before with the fall 2001 U.S. media buy, which represents a 20 percent increase over Timberland's entire 2000 advertising spend. The For the Journey campaign will also launch this fall in Europe, South America and Canada.

To promote the launch of Almay Kinetin Skincare, Almay has selected USA TODAY as a large component of its media plan. Choosing a news and information publication represents a major shift in media strategy for beauty product launches, which typically advertise in beauty and health care magazines. Almay's agency, Deutsch Inc., recommended the move based on successful past campaigns with USA TODAY and a desire to tap into the news organization's mobile, professional female audience. According to the USA TODAY 2001 Readership Study conducted by MORI Research, nine of ten USA TODAY female readers rely most on USA TODAY for their news and information.