Commentary

Out to Launch

Cars. Beverages. The Gap. Welcome to highlights of ad campaigns launched this week.

Jeep has launched a new ad campaign for its Jeep Trail Rated vehicles. The campaign is built around the Trail Rated badge, which is affixed to all 2004 Jeep 4x4 vehicles -- the Grand Cherokee, Liberty, and Wrangler. The emblem signifies that every Jeep 4x4 has been designed to perform in a variety of challenging off-road conditions. Trail Rated ads launched in late-October with five print advertisements, two 30-second TV spots, and a Trail Rated section on Jeep.com. In the TV spot "No Endorsements," a Jeep 4x4 drives through Arctic tundra snow, crosses a stream, and scales boulders. All of the tasks are completed in the presence of typical signs of sporting success -- a football-style scoreboard and a finish line, but no people. Throughout the spot, the voice-over states that no gold medals or world championships are given to vehicles that complete these challenges. "So why do we make sure every Jeep 4x4 is Trail Rated to meet such strict standards of capability? Perhaps," says the voice-over, "the better question is, why doesn't everyone else?" "No Endorsements" was created by BBDO Detroit, and the other TV ad, "Car Shopping," was created by GlobalHue.

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Keeping with cars, production company UNCLE and Muse Cordero Chen & Partners have created two spots for Honda, targeting multicultural markets. The 30-second spot, "Nation of Civics," pays tribute to Honda owners by showcasing the different ways drivers personalize their cars, while "Sweet in the Morning," unveils the new Accord. "Sweet in the Morning," features a couple on a quest to capture the sunrise from a hilltop overlook. The spot opens on a man in a Honda Accord, pulling into his girlfriend's driveway. She gets in and the car winds through the dark, moonlit streets. The car arrives at its destination just as the sun arcs into the sky, casting a glow on the couples' faces. The voiceover announces "Sweet in the morning, noon and night," as the endtag, "Wherever You're Going" closes out the spot.

Not done with cars just yet. ATTIK has created a series of magazine "Outserts" and cinema ads to support Toyota's new car, Scion. The "Outserts" are a series of ads which began running in October in 25 magazines, including Vice, Blender, Filter, URB, XLR8R, The Source, Flaunt, SOMA, Tokion, and various niche and mainstream auto enthusiast magazines. The ads support Scion's three :60 cinema ads, which started airing in July with the tagline "what moves you." The cinema spots initially ran only in the southwestern United States, in sync with the availability of Scion vehicles (the cars are available in California with availability slowly spreading across the country). Ads are now running on the East coast in Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, and Vermont, to name a few.

There is a car involved in this launch, so I'm including it with the other car launches. Guerilla marketing's favorite client, The Discovery Channel, hit the streets recently to promote the premiere of its latest special Dinosaur Planet, which aired in two parts on Dec. 14 and Dec. 16. The company held paleontological digs for children under age 14 in New York City and Washington, D.C. from December 11-16, and placed several parked cars (Aha!) crushed by dinosaurs in Los Angeles, Calif., Philadelphia, Pa., and Orlando, Fla. during the same time period. The paleontological digs allowed kids to unearth buried bones that when constructed will assemble a 15-foot long, six-foot high dinosaur skeleton. The parked vehicles bear the enormous footprint of one of several dinosaurs including a 27-foot long male dinosaur called a Daspletosaurus, an ancestor of the T-Rex. Interference, Inc. created the guerilla campaigns.

Gap has launched a holiday-themed TV campaign capturing the spirit of the holidays -- giving and getting love. Nine artists including Al Green, Melissa Etheridge, and Kelly Rowland recorded "Put a Little Love in Your Heart," which serves as the musical backdrop for four :30 second holiday spots. The ads feature people getting into the holiday spirit alongside their family members while showing off Gap's holiday line at the same time. Consumers can also purchase a special holiday CD featuring the recording of "Put a Little Love in Your Heart," for $2 at all Gap stores. The campaign was developed by Laird+Partners.

On to the beverages. Allied Domecq Spirits has extended its U.S. advertising campaign for Stolichnaya Russian Vodka to highlight Stoli's seven flavored varieties during the holiday season. The Stoli "Little Truths" has expanded to include a print advertisement that reinforces the variety of Stolichnaya's flavors, including Ohranj (orange), Razberi (raspberry), Vanil (vanilla), Strasberi (strawberry), Persik (peach), and the two newest flavors, Cranberi (cranberry) and Citros (citrus). Created by Publicis/Hal Riney San Francisco, the ad captures the essence of Stoli flavored vodkas, while highlighting the real truths in life to which Stoli consumers can relate to. The ad will appear in magazines such as Entertainment Weekly, Maxim, Playboy, Stuff, and FHM.

Speaking of alcohol, Fat bastard wine wants to become the laugh of the town. Radio listeners in Madison, Wisconsin are the first to experience Fat bastard's first ever "whoppingly great" radio advertising campaign, which is humorous and irreverent. Running on six stations since October 2003, the three 30-second ads, were created by The Famous Radio Ranch. The Fat bastard radio campaign is scheduled to run in Madison, Wisconsin through 2003 and will break in select markets in 2004. Fat bastard Wine Company also launched a website where users can listen to the radio ads from the website and also purchase T-shirts, boxers, and hats.

In website launches this week:

Still with beverages... Nurun has redesigned Evian'swebsite. The site provides the brand's drinkers with Evian's history, hydration tips, Evian happenings, a store locator, and restaurants that received Evian's seal of approval. Nurun also created an online promotion, where visitors can enter to win dinner on Evian at selected top restaurants throughout the United States. The promotion has been running since August.

 

Lastly, and a beverage stretch to say the least, the ABSOLUT bottle has entered the world of music having been interpreted into three distinctly different sound tracks by three emerging producers in the club community - Brikha, Taxi, and Rollercone. ABSOLUT BRIKHA, ABSOLUT TAXI and ABSOLUT ROLLERCONE are only available online. The three artists were provided identical briefs and asked to create an interpretative sound of the ABSOLUT bottle and to capture the spirit of ABSOLUT. ABSOLUT THREETRACKS pays homage to club music and the composers were selected based upon their different styles within the genre.

Happy Holidays!

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