• by Amy Corr , Staff Writer @MediaPostOTL, April 16, 2003

MuchMusicUSA gets a name change. Microsoft Business Solutions debuts new ads. Orbitz brings in the marionettes. C I Host uses the human head as an ad medium? Those are just a few of the campaigns launched this week. Read on for more details.

The Wrigley Company has launched "The Angry Gumball" campaign for Extra sugarfree gum. The Angry Gumball was developed by DDB Chicago and will appear in print and television executions. The campaign tagline is "Long Lasting Flavor. Extra's got it." The TV ad, entitled "The Date" debuted last week and two more ads will begin airing later in April. After seeing a guy buy a pack of Extra Gum, the Angry Gumball escapes from his glass prison (a gumball machine) and begins to rant and rave against the injustice of being ignored. The :30 spots will run on national cable and network outlets. Print ads will appear in a variety of consumer magazines including Glamour, Maxim, People, Real Simple, Sports Illustrated and Seventeen.

TBWA/Chiat/Day, San Francisco has created a fun campaign for Uncle Ben's Rice Bowls. The ads use real-life visuals with a fairy-tale narration to create a visually arresting and emotionally impactful message told in a humorous way. The ads pose the question: What would happen if lunch disappeared? People were so busy they forgot about lunch. They skipped it. They neglected it. Until one day, lunch ran away. "Lost" posters were displayed, search parties were organized, and then lunch returned when people discovered Uncle Ben's Rice Bowls. These 60 and 30-second spots, entitled "Anthem," were preceded by two 15-second teasers called "Lunchbox" and "Bike Cops." Lunchbox featured puzzled school kids wondering where their lunches had gone, and a frantic citizen reporting a missing lunch to the police. The ads featured the tagline "Make lunch a meal again."

Hotwire.com, a discount travel website, has launched a national radio ad campaign making it cool to be cheap. From foraging for change in friends' couches to hoarding hotel shampoo bottles, the 30-second radio ads, produced by New York-based DeVito/Verdi, make light of the frugal and sometimes eccentric things people do to save cash. The campaign launched April 7 via network radio and selected spot markets and uses words such as "Cheapo, Penny Pincher, Coupon Charlie, and Tightwad" throughout their ads. The company tagline for the ads is "Fly. Sleep. Drive. Cheap."

Another travel website, Orbitz.com, has also debuted ads, although the Orbitz campaign is comprised of national TV spots. The three :30-second spots were created by Young & Rubicam/Chicago, and feature a cast of sophisticated marionettes - the "Destination: Orbitz" team. The campaign debuted on April 7, exclusively on cable television's top news, lifestyle and entertainment channels including CNBC, CNN, AMC, BBC America, Oxygen, Lifetime, Style, Travel, Discover, and Court TV. The Destination: Orbitz team is stationed high in the skies in a free-floating blimp. The team is led by "Commander O," who oversees the work of "Code" (the tech whiz), "Care" (who takes care of customers), Hunt and Starr (specialists who scout great hotels and destinations) and Deal (who finds and negotiates great travel deals). Orbitz plans to fully integrate the Destination: Orbitz team into their marketing mix, including presence on the site and in print advertising.

Konica has launched a comprehensive business-to-business advertising campaign in support of its growing line of high-quality color products. The campaign's launch, which coincides with the debut of Konica's new ColorFORCE(TM) 8050 Imaging System, will utilize a highly integrated mix of media, including television and print advertising, direct mail, online initiatives and mobile marketing to maximize impact and reach targeted audiences on a national scale. The campaign was created by Cronin and Company, and will bear Konica's new "Change the Tone" corporate tagline. Main components of the comprehensive plan include Network television spots to be shown over 5,000 times between April 6 and August 22, concentrating primarily on morning news program time-slots. A series of 30-second spots, showcasing Konica's award-winning color product line, will air over a three-month period across top cable television stations including CNN, CNN Headline News, MSNBC and CNBC.

Imagine a world where a music TV station actually played videos! The idea is closer than you think. MuchMusicUSA will change its name to Fuse, expand its programming and launch a multi-media ad campaign. Ads will break in trade publications such as Multichannel News, Broadcasting and Cable, and Media Week. Outdoor ads will be seen on buses, subways, and telephone kiosks throughout NY. The official name change takes place on May 19. Besides changing their logo and taglines, Fuse will also debut Fuse On-Demand, a new video-on-demand (VOD) service providing full-length music videos from a wide variety of music genres. The Fuse brand represents the 'fusion' of many platforms - television, online and interactive game play - into one unified music entertainment concept. Fuse will also use a host of guerilla marketing techniques - street teams, underground parties and online marketing - to support the launch. The new taglines used by the company include: "FUSE: More music than the leading brand;" "FUSE: Saving the music video one day at a time;" or "FUSE: kicking ass and taking names."

McCann-Erickson, San Francisco has designed new online and print ads for Microsoft Business Solutions. The ads will appear in print publications such as The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Forbes, Business 2.0, and Business Week, and on their websites. The ads are purely technology focused, and showcase end-to-end business solutions, applications and services for small business, and mid size/corporate accounts. The initial campaign (consisting of 2 print and online executions) began on April 14, and ends in July. Additional launches for both print and online, will launch this summer.

Marshall Advertising & Design has teed off against the competition - literally - in its latest TV spot for Yamaha motorcycles. The 30-second commercial for the Yamaha R6 sportbike, entitled "Tee Off," is one of five new spots launching this month as part of a multi-million dollar national campaign to support Yamaha Motor Corporation, USA's 2003 line-up. The spot starts off with a motorcyclist in full racing leathers and helmet, with golf club in hand, whacking a golf ball off a mountaintop. He then proceeds to casually drop his club, stroll to his parked R6 motorcycle, then chase the dimpled ball in flight down a harrowing, twisty road, ultimately beating the ball to the green where he waits patiently for it to arrive. The spot ends with a voiceover uttering the only words of the commercial: "You only get one shot at life." TV spots will run on Speed Channel, ESPN, ESPN2, FOX Sports Net, FX, The History Channel, Comedy Central, TNT, TBS, and SCI-FI. Print ads will run in Road & Track, Car & Driver, ESPN The Magazine, Maxim, and FHM.

My vote for the most ridiculous launch of the week goes to C I Host, a Web hosting and Internet solutions provider. They have hired a 22-year-old Illinois man to tattoo a 25- square inch, full color C I Host logo on the back of his head and keep it visible for five years. The 'human billboard,' Jim Nelson, from Moline, Illinois, said he and his business partner need money to fund their enterprise, a collectibles store for swords and knives. C I Host won a bid on eBay for Nelson's services. The logo is five inches square and is orange, blue and black.

 

This week's website launches include:

McCarran International Airport in Las Vegas has redesigned its website in time for the traveling season. Among the features of the new website are interactive dining and shopping directories, integrated with a powerful live mapping system to provide listings by gate location. Access to real-time flight information has also been expanded and improved, with upcoming arrivals and departures listed on the airport's home page, detailed flight information pop-up windows (including weather updates for destination cities) and a new flight watch feature providing rich resources for travelers. The site was designed by Creative Dynamics.

Medtronic MiniMed has launched Pump Expeditions, an interactive game developed to provide young diabetes patients with a simulated experience of daily life using insulin pump therapy. This educational game reinforces the benefits of pump therapy, which can enable many diabetes patients to improve their blood sugar control, lead a more flexible lifestyle, and improve their health and quality of life. Pump Expeditions engages players in a mysterious search through the mountains with a fictional character named Zack, an insulin pump user and wilderness photographer. By experiencing "a day in the life" with Zack, players learn how pump therapy can help diabetes patients better control their blood sugars and lead a more normal life.