• by Lindsey Fadner , February 19, 2003

Every week new ad campaigns and websites are launched, and it’s hard to keep up with them all. If you missed a few, here are this week’s highlights: Campaigns for Kmart's JOE BOXER brand, Levi's Type 1 Jeans and the Islam civil rights and advocacy group are set to launch.

Kmart Corporation's dancing JOE BOXER guy is moving from the television screen to the computer screen this week as they launch an online game featuring the famous dancer, and marking Kmart's second interactive marketing campaign to support its exclusive underwear and accessories line. Kmart's "Boxer Boogie Breakdown," can be found at www.kmartboxers.com or through www.kmart.com, allows users to control the now-famous dance steps of a computerized JOE BOXER guy. With a click of a button, JOE BOXER fans can send him popping and spinning into moves such as "Puppy Dog," "Spazz," "Touch Down" and "Knock-Knock" (who knew that the actual moves from the recent television commercials had names?) The fun environment found in the commercials is replicated down to the tiniest detail, including the JOE BOXER guy's apartment setting and composer Nicola Conte's infectious "Jet Sounds" grooves. The game can be played and forwarded via email to other fans of JOE BOXER and was developed by YaYa, creator of customized branding and training entertainment.

The Levi's brand announced that it will break a new print campaign to support the launch of Levi's Type 1 Jeans in the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue due to hit newsstands this week. The annual issue unveils the first of eight print executions, and showcases a modern, bold sexy look and spirit of the brand. To mark the introduction, the Levi's brand co-hosted a live webcast with Sports Illustrated from the SI Swimsuit Issue launch party on Tuesday, February 18, in New York. The webcast aired live on SI.com from 8-8:30 p.m. EST and can be viewed at levi.com until the end of March. Cueing the brand's historic roots, the imagery featured in the Levi's Type 1 Jeans campaign is a 21st century interpretation of portraiture photography. Each image in the campaign features a model clad in Levi's Type 1 Jeans holding an intriguing prop that resembles something familiar from current day, but is unusual enough to allow for interpretation. The Sports Illustrated execution features model Liliana Dominguez in Levi's Type 1 Jeans and matching jacket in a bold stance, staring unflinchingly at the camera. She is seen standing near a hubcap linking her to the brand's fall 2002 television spot "Chop Shop" in which she appears. In addition to Sports Illustrated, subsequent executions in the campaign will appear in Allure, Teen People, Details, FHM, Out, Spin, Vibe, GQ, Interview, and Paper among other publications. The campaign run through December 2003.

La Agencia de Orcí & Asociados, one of the independently owned U.S. Hispanic marketing agencies, has launched an original Hispanic advertising campaign to promote Verizon Wireless's most comprehensive bundled package of services: unlimited local and long-distance calling. The agency developed the campaign to highlight the advantages of bundling Verizon's services. With Verizon's Veriations Freedom bundle, consumers have unlimited and untimed calling anywhere, anytime within the U.S., Puerto Rico and Canada. The package also offers great rates for international calling, DSL and wireless. The campaign includes two :60 direct response TV spots, two :60 radio spots, bilingual direct mail pieces and bill inserts. The campaign will run for six weeks in Spanish-language media in Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York and Pennsylvania. In addition, interactive ads targeting the New York market will be placed on websites such as Yahoo.com and Univision.com.

SPEED Channel, the 24-hour network dedicated to motorsports and owned by the FOX Cable Network Groups, has selected Charlotte, NC-based Elberson Senger Shuler to develop both print and TV ads to promote the brand. ESS and SPEED Channel are launching the campaign at February events surrounding the Daytona 500. TV spots begin airing nationally this month on SPEED, FOX, FX, and FOX Sports Net, as well as on local cable systems across the country. Print will run in TV Guide and in auto enthusiast publications like Motor Trend, Car & Driver, and Road & Track.

Bandujo Donker & Brothers recently launched a new insurance industry trade print campaign for SurfControl, a Westborough, Mass.-based software developer and email filtering company. The campaign highlights a serious issue affecting insurance companies today: securing private customer data, particularly as more and more of this data travels via email or becomes available through online access. The ad uses a humorous visual and unique type placement of the “Are you exposing your customers’ privates” headline to reinforce the need for security in the area of web and email content. The campaign breaks this month in leading insurance and technology publications.

i-traffic, the interactive marketing and advertising subsidiary of AGENCY.COM Ltd., this week announced the launch of British Airways’ newest interactive campaign supporting their “Truly flat beds in business class.” This effort targets frequent international business travelers to increase British Airways’ brand awareness and the association of the premium airline with the first truly flat bed seat in business class. The campaign will run through 2003, and will appear in print and television ads as well as oversized online units and page takeovers. Extending the offline advertisements conceptual and stylistic strategy, visitors to online business and financial news outlets will be given the opportunity to interact with a 3-D animated demonstration of how the Club World Flat Bed reclines a full 180 degrees to ensure a proper night’s sleep. In order to ensure consistency between online and offline ads, itraffic worked closely with British Airways’ offline agency to develop a creative approach that had a similar look and feel.

A campaign for the cruise ship Cunard Line, which began last week, carries the theme "Can you wait?" The estimated $8 million print effort, by the New York office of TBWAChiatDay, part of the TBWA Worldwide agency owned by the Omnicom Group, is meant to help build and amplify buzz for the initial voyages of the Queen Mary 2, scheduled to start in January 2004. The campaign surrounds the 150,000-ton ship, being built at a cost of $800 million, with superlatives, all phrased in the form of questions. Among them are: "Will you rush through dessert to view the stars in the onboard planetarium?" and "Will you spin your way around the largest dance floor at sea?" The queries lead up to the payoff, which is, "Will you be on the grandest ship ever built?" The campaign, to appear in travel and lifestyle magazines, will run in publications that include The New Yorker, Architectural Digest, Conde Nast Traveler, Travel & Leisure, Vanity Fair and W. The budget is to be increased in 2004, once the Queen Mary 2 is on its routes, which in addition to the trans-Atlantic trips are to include Caribbean voyages from New York; sailings to Rio de Janeiro at Carnival time, and fall "leaf peeping" trips to New England and Canada.

A prominent national Islamic civil rights and advocacy group this week announced it will launch a year-long "Islam in America" advertising campaign designed to foster greater understanding of Islam and to counter what the group says is a rising tide of anti-Muslim rhetoric in the United States. The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) kicked off the campaign with an ad, headlined "We're All Americans," in the New York Times editorial page on Sunday, February 16th. That ad featured images of an African-American girl, an Asian man and another man of European heritage, and asks the question: "Which one of us is a Muslim?" The response: "We all are...we're American Muslims." CAIR's weekly ads, each explaining one aspect of Islam, will be distributed to Muslim communities around American for placement in local newspapers. As each ad is published in the New York Times, it will be available on a website specifically designed to promote the campaign.

Ruder Finn this week created a new website for Ready.gov which supports the Department of Homeland Security's 'Ready' citizen-preparedness campaign. The website seeks to communicate the Federal Government's official guidelines on how to prepare and respond to another potential terrorist attack. The main objective of Ready.gov is to present guidelines in three major categories: 1. Make an emergency supply kit; 2. Make a family communications plan; and 3. Be informed about how to react during another attack. As the Department's primary communications vehicle for this information, the site has been specially designed to be accessible to all Americans, including the blind and disabled. While the 'Ready' campaign will also include print and broadcast public service announcements, the Internet is the centerpiece. In creating the web destination of the Department's public relations initiative, Ruder Finn sought to beat the industry standards in usability, accessibility and security.

On a brighter note: LenoxBaby.com is a new online resource for baby gift-giving. In addition to personalized products, feeding utensils, religious gifts and lifetime keepsakes, the site also offers gift-giving tips and decorating ideas featuring popular baby themes. A visitor to the site can create a wish list, view others' wish lists, and set up personal reminders. "While the reminder function is designed to help our customers keep track of gift-giving occasions, it's also a handy tool for expectant and new parents," said Ken Bausch, VP of interactive and database marketing at Lenox Collections. "For example, a visitor may want to set up reminders for prenatal or pediatric appointments." LenoxBaby.com is the second boutique to be added to the LenoxCollections.com shopping site. LenoxWedding.com features wedding-related products, offers bridal registry, gift-giving and entertaining tips, and links to an online bridal sweepstakes.

-- This newsletter is compiled weekly by MediaPost staff writer Lindsey Fadner. Past issues are archived at the MediaPost website. Your comments, questions and submissions are always welcome and appreciated.