• by Amy Corr , Staff Writer @MediaPostOTL, March 10, 2004

Tommy Hilfiger enlists David Bowie and Iman in its latest campaign. Jaguar launches a full-line brand campaign. Inflatable SkyDancers? Welcome to highlights of ad campaigns launched recently.

In support of Robert Altman's critically acclaimed series "Tanner '88," the Sundance Channel launched an extensive marketing campaign to promote the show's premiere last month. And it had guerilla marketing written all over it. Hoards of campaign volunteers got together in New York City and Washington D.C. for a political rally to support their favorite fictional candidate. The rallies took place at New York's Union Square station and the Dupont Circle Station in D.C., where commuters were offered 1500 free Metro Cards underscoring the premise that there is no such thing as a free ride, except from Jack Tanner. Members of "The Committee to Draft Tanner" also presented commuters with knit caps, bumper stickers, campaign buttons, and a special edition of The Evening Sun, a tabloid created to promote the winning ways of Jack Tanner. Wild postings in New York exclaim: "Jack Tanner - Now More than Ever" and "As Qualified As Any Other Fictional Candidate" with both featuring the tagline, "A Candidate Worth Watching - Only On Sundance Channel." The campaign also included online, TV, and print components.

Jaguar's latest full-line brand campaign is all about performance engineering, combined with thrilling driving moments. Created by the Irvine, Calif. office of Young & Rubicam Brands, the campaign includes TV, print, outdoor, online, and direct marketing elements. Also, movie theatre versions of some spots will appear in such cities as New York, Los Angeles, Miami, Chicago, and San Francisco. The 60-second spots featuring the 2004 Jaguar X-TYPE, entitled "Tunnel," "Grip," and "Tag," are airing during various cable network programs. "Tunnel" opens on a man covertly stepping into his 2004 Jaguar X-TYPE. The man is holding a confidential-like dossier tucked under his arm and is now being chased by the Police. As the distance between the Jaguar X-TYPE and remaining authorities widens, text appears along the bottom of the screen: "Born With: Permanent All Wheel Drive." The spot then depicts the Jaguar entering a mountain tunnel, but it doesn't exit the tunnel. A wider shot reveals the Jaguar X-TYPE clinging to the ceiling of the tunnel, unnoticed by its pursuers. "Lives For: Supernatural Grip" appears across the bottom of the screen, followed by the Jaguar logo, and tagline, "Born To Perform." Print ads will run in The Wall Street Journal, USA Today, Investor's Business Daily, Fortune, Vanity Fair, Details, Fast Company, Wired, and others.

Tommy Hilfiger unveiled a campaign for H Hilfiger featuring David Bowie and his wife Iman. The campaign for spring 2004 features the superstar couple wearing the recently launched premium apparel line, H Hilfiger. Created in-house, the mood of the campaign is sophisticated and elegant, a departure from the Tommy Hilfiger sportswear and Tommy Jeans campaigns. The campaign will appear in April issues of Harper's Bazaar, Vogue, W, InStyle, Vanity Fair, Esquire, GQ, Interview, and Rolling Stone.

Here's something unique... CASSkyDancers International, partnered with Horizon Productions in launching Real-Face SkyDancers. SkyDancers International can place anyone's face onto a giant animated inflatable. For Lingerie Bowl 2004, the company provided two characters in the image of Nikki Ziering and Angie Everheart. Real-Face SkyDancers are more than twenty feet high and add color, motion and realism (realism?) to events. For the Lingerie Bowl, Team Dream's inflatable was located at one end of the field and Team Euphoria's inflatable was placed at the other end. Both inflatables remained in motion throughout the pay-per-view event. Oh my.

Greteman Group has launched a statewide campaign for the Kansas Children's Service League, one of the state's five foster-care providers and the sole provider of adoption services statewide. The agency designed a new logo, a red ball with a child's silhouette, which serves as a keystone for the brand. Billboards, posters, and TV ads focus on a child's image moving through the decades. The campaign's radio spot carries a similar theme.

Sikorsky, builders of the Marine One presidential helicopter for the past 45 years, has launched a campaign to keep its contract and prevent foreign companies from winning the work. The print ads claim that decision-makers are feeling pressure to show they are open to foreign companies, and an Italian-British joint venture is lobbying aggressively for the contract. This campaign shows why the American-designed Sikorsky VH92 is still the best choice, and the only one to meet the latest FAA safety requirements. Ads will run in Aviation Week, Defense News, and Marine Corps Gazette. Mintz & Hoke created the ads.

Smith Brothers Advertising has launched a campaign for Kings Family Restaurants. The tagline for the campaign is "At Kings, You Rule." To highlight the restaurant's desserts, the agency also developed a round dessert menu wheel with a spinner in the middle "for those who might have difficulty choosing from such a wide selection of fabulous new desert options." The campaign also includes outdoor, radio, print, direct mail, and point-of-purchase displays.

In website launches this week:

OSDN has launched a new site for senior-level IT managers using Open Source and proprietary platforms. ITManagersJournal.com focuses on migration strategies and operations challenges facing senior-IT managers. As part of the OSDN network of sites, ITManagersJournal.com features news, interviews with top industry executives, discussions, strategies for migrating to Open Source, and trends in human resources and business innovations. The site is divided into nine key technology sections: grid/clusters, hardware, mobile computing, networking, personal electronics, polls, programming, servers, and software.

Internet marketing company Meandaur Inc. has relaunched its website, designed to support Meandaur's newly revised brand messaging and address the needs of current and potential customers. Key components of the company's service offerings are more clearly defined, and client case studies are now downloadable. The site also offers a digital newsroom, giving users access to recent news articles featuring Meandaur and a chronological listing of company press releases.