• by Amy Corr , Staff Writer, September 3, 2003

The Navy targets African-Americans. truth® launches a "Crazy" campaign. The Wine Market Council wants more Americans to accept wine into their culture. These are just a few of the ad campaigns launched this week. Read on for more details.

Expanding on their multicultural recruitment efforts, The United States Navy has launched a campaign aimed at African-Americans, which includes print, radio, Internet and, for the first time, TV spots. The "Person in Me" campaign launched July 28 with a 30-second TV spot on BET. GlobalHue created print ads, posters, online banners and 30-second radio and TV spots, demonstrating the capacity of young African-Americans to positively impact their lives and put themselves on a successful path. The TV ad features recruits declaring the life skills they obtained through their experience in the Navy, intercut with powerful images taken from a number of urban settings. Navy images play out in the shadows of the TV spot. A successful African-American entrepreneur states, "I joined the Navy because I had a plan." A series of other individuals continue to share their stories before circling back to the first man. Standing atop an urban high-rise, he declares, "The Navy gave me more than just a strong foundation. It gave me the courage I needed to find the person in me." The scene ends with the "Navy. Accelerate your life" logo. The TV spot will air on networks such as BET, MTV and Comedy Central, and the print ads will appear in magazines including Vibe, ESPN The Magazine, Muscle & Fitness and The Source.

United Technologies Corp. (UTC) has launched a print, financial TV network and billboard campaign to emphasize its accelerating momentum as a product innovator and market leader. The campaign highlights UTC's innovations and its divisions: Otis elevators, Carrier air conditioning, UTC Power fuel cells, Sikorsky helicopters, Hamilton Sundstrand aerospace systems, Pratt & Whitney aircraft engines, and Chubb security systems. The theme of the campaign, created by Doremus, is "This is Momentum." Print ads will run in Vanity Fair, The New Yorker, Bloomberg Markets and Barron's. Billboards and vertical-building banners will be placed in Grand Central Terminal and the Wall Street subway station.

A recent government survey found nearly 3 million young people age 12 to 17 have abused prescription drugs on at least one occasion. In response to this, Purdue Pharma, the maker of OxyContin, is launching a series of hard-hitting ads focusing on prescription-drug abuse among children, and offering a free "action kit" to help parents and others fight the problem. "The streets aren't the only place kids find drugs. Sometimes they find them at home," the ads warn. "You are on the front line and you can do something to stop the abuse of prescription drugs." The newspaper, TV and radio ads are running nationwide and were produced by media consultant Peter Fenn of Fenn & King Communications and began airing last week. The campaign is part of Purdue's 10-Point Program that includes educating parents and teens, and working with police to fight abuse and diversion of prescription drugs.

Speaking of addictions, truth®, the largest national smoking prevention campaign for youth, introduced their "Crazyworld" campaign to challenge youths to think about how cigarette manufacturers play by a different set of rules than other companies. The ad, entitled "Labels," launched during the MTV Video Music Awards as a sixty second commercial last week. Set outside a supermarket, the ad features grocery carts overflowing with assorted goods. Similar to a game show, we see a giant clock and a sign above it that reads, "The Ingredients Game." A truth® youth hosts the game and invites people to find the product that does not list ingredients. Contestants dig through the carts until the winner finds a pack of cigarettes. The host announces the winner and says, "Cigarettes kill a third of the people who use them, but unlike other products, they don't need to list the ingredients on the label. Welcome to Crazyworld." In addition to "Labels," several new Crazyworld spots will roll out this month and air on broadcast and cable networks including WB, MTV and BET. Crazyworld will also be supported by print ads that will appear in magazines such as the November issues of Teen People and Fader. Crazyworld was created by Arnold Worldwide of Boston and Crispin Porter & Bogusky of Miami.

Wine Market Council has launched a nationwide print advertising campaign aimed at making wine a more widely accepted and enjoyed part of American culture. Debuting on Sept. 26 in People magazine, the campaign will appear in high-profile national magazines and newspapers over the coming year. The second appearance will be in USA Today in October. The campaign theme, "Wine. Since 6000 BC" emphasizes the fun, relaxed role wine has played in western civilization for 8,000 years. The first ad features the statue of an ancient Mayan figure, reclining with a cup of wine in his hand. Digitally superimposed on the statue is a pair of sunglasses. The copy above the illustration reads, "Then as now, the perfect complement to the ancient art of kickin' back." The ad was designed by Rock & Wood, Sausalito Calif.

Another wine launch this week comes from Domaine Chandon, a producer of sparkling wine. They are launching an ad campaign this fall, the first effort from their new agency, Colby & Partners. The print campaign debuts in the September issues of lifestyle and epicurean magazines. The campaign shows that sparkling wine is not just for special occasions, but for any time good friends come together to enjoy one another's company. "Couples," highlights two couples engaged in lively discourse at the dinner table while enjoying a glass of Chandon: "Girlfriends" features three women enjoying a girls' afternoon out and toasting the spirit of their friendship with a glass of Chandon: and, "Men Couple" showcases two men engaged in an evening of great conversation over a glass of Chandon. Each ad ends with the tagline, "We've got to do this more often." The campaign runs in magazines including Bon Appetit, Gourmet, Food & Wine, and Condé Nast Traveler. "Men Couple," targeting the gay community, will be seen in Out and The Advocate.

FINE LIVING Network has launched 16 TV spots (two 30-second spots and 14 10-second spots) outlining FINE LIVING's summer programming schedule. The ads were designed by Nakd and are a combination of 35mm live-action footage and hand-drawn animated illustrations. Each spot starts with a familiar summertime scenario. A group of children draw colorful sidewalk illustrations in chalk. A father-daughter surfing duo sits on the beach, contemplating the next wave. A woman plucks a ripe apple from a fruit bowl. In the 30-second spot, entitled "Chalk," a child runs a crayon along a brick wall and graphics of flowers, birds and rainbows fly off the wall. Each spot closes with the FINE LIVING logo and the company's tagline "Live like you mean it. All summer long."

BrownCo has launched a TV and print campaign with the help of VIA, which won the $15 million account last December, and created six 30-second commercials with the tagline "Where your experience pays off." Each spot features a different answer to the question "What do you want from your online broker?" and run on CNBC and Bloomberg throughout the remainder of the year. Color print ads will run in Money, SmartMoney and the New York Times Sunday Magazine. Black & white direct response ads will run in the Wall Street Journal, Investors Business Daily, Barrons and The New York Times.

In website launches this week:

B-52, I-76. That's right, Bingo.com has re-launched their website. The new Bingo.com gives players easy access to all the games and features available online. Improved navigation aims to increase user retention and overall site traffic. Another feature of the new interface is the use of new colors, fonts, and graphics designed to enhance the Bingo.com brand. Not surprisingly, the new Bingo.com is designed to increase advertising performance, delivery, and revenue.

i-FRONTIER has launched a website for eMedicine. eMedicine's new consumer website provides the company's current Clinical Knowledge Base, previously available to physicians and health professionals, and now available to the public. Contributing physicians use a content management system with multiple levels of peer review on the website to write and edit medical articles. The site currently contains more than 6,000 pages of medical content for consumers.