Out to Launch

• by Amy Corr , Staff Writer @MediaPostOTL, July 27, 2005

Marvin Gaye for Hennessy. Scantily clad women for Milwaukee's Best. A "Jackass" hawks Sneaux shoes. Let's launch!

To support Verizon's corporate branding campaign, including the launch of www.richerdeeperbroader.com, the company is displaying the site's profiles of actual broadband enthusiasts live on the Reuters sign in Times Square until August 10. Those brave enough to tackle Times Square can view profiles from 1 to 2 PM and 6:40 to 7:20 PM for a total of 100 minutes a day. Users with a profile on the Web site can push theirs to the top of the order by calling 1-877-VZ-Story and entering their phone number. Soon afterwards, the person's face will be on the 23-story Reuters sign. A digital picture will be taken of each profile on the sign and e-mailed to the user. R/GA created the campaign.

I promised scantily clad women, and the latest campaign for Milwaukee's Best brand beer has no shortage of them. The tag line of the print, TV - and there's a Web site, too - is "Brewed for a Man's Taste." Milwaukee's Best Light has been misunderstood and misrepresented as a beer with no real reason for being other than price. This campaign aims to set the record straight: Beer is what hard-working regular guys are looking for - it tastes good and it's cheap! Which leads me to the print creative. The "Heartbreaker Series" print ads debut in the August issue of Playboy. The creative attempts to resemble a pin-up poster - something that guys would hang up in their garage. The TV spot marks first time the company has advertised on TV since 1998. Mother NY created the campaign.

Sneaux shoes will make its nationwide debut tomorrow with a multi-million dollar campaign featuring a "Jackass." Steve-O, star of MTV's "Jackass," is the spokesperson for the brand. The campaign will target a young market (shocking!) with 15- and 30-second TV spots running through August for the back-to-school season. Expect to see the ads on MTV, MTV2, Cartoon Network, UPN, ESPN, and ESPN2. The ads essentially, are spin-offs of "Jackass." In one ad, Steve-O's feet are laced in Sneaux sneakers and he is bitten by an alligator and screams to prove just how tough the shoe is. Will the Sneaux shoes protect you from the bite of an alligator? Steve-O screams they don't, but they are a darn good shoe. "Sneaux is a darn good shoe," is the tag line of the campaign. In another spot, Steve-O drinks sour milk out of a sneaker. Margeotes Fertitta + Partners created the ads.

A season-long promotion with the Chicago Cubs entitled "Breakfast in the Bullpen" is the latest in-store promotions used by the Kellogg Company and Jewel-Osco stores. For nine designated games through September 25, Kellogg's is providing Jewel shoppers with the chance to win a day at Wrigley Field that includes: four tickets to the Cubs game; breakfast with a Cub in the bullpen; pitching on the bullpen mounds; and participation in pre-game presentation and announcements, to name a few perks. The promotion is being featured exclusively at Jewel-Osco stores and uses illustrations of Tony the Tiger in a Cubs cap on point-of-sale posters and displays, in-store circulars, store windows, and on the Jewel-Osco Web site. Draft Chicago created the campaign.

CreativeOndemanD (COD) has created a campaign for the New York International Latino Film Festival (NYILFF) taking place July 26 to 31. The campaign includes TV, movie theater, print, and bus shelter ads. The TV spot opens on an emotional father-son conversation in the park. The scene quickly shifts gears when a flick of a cigarette causes a chain reaction in which all hell breaks loose. In addition to the father and son, characters in the ad include: a man engulfed in flames, criminal nuns, cops, a chainsaw wielding psycho in a hockey mask, and a stomping dinosaur. The spot ends with a message urging viewers to catch the best of independent Latino cinema before it loses its independence.

DDB Canada has developed a TV spot and two print ads to promote the 2005 National Jazz Awards in Canada. "Death Becomes You" shows what it would be like if people outside of the jazz world improvised, in their line of work, the same way jazz musicians do when they play music. The TV ad shows a morgue beautician who transforms a male corpse into a member of a rock band. The tag line, "There's a place for improvisation," certainly applies here. The print ads are more toned down and simplistic. "Map" lays out a map to the event on the neck of a guitar. "Player" channels the mood of a jazz club with the text: "It's all about the music."

Sfear creates what it deems street basketball gear bag should resemble. To promote "Roxac," an alternative to big, lumpy duffel bags, a series of hip, urban posters featuring real street basketball players launched in Washington, D.C., Detroit, St. Louis, Houston, and Denver markets this summer. The campaign also includes a tie-in with the Hoop It Up 3on3 Tournaments, an organized street basketball competition going on throughout the summer in cities across the country. The ad features photos of locally famous street basketball players and the exaggerated, in your face taunting that is part of the game. The tag line of the campaign is "Everything you need to own the game, on your back." McClain Finlon Advertising created the ads.

Smith Brothers Advertising bowed a TV campaign for Pittsburgh Brewing's IC Light Beer. The campaign focuses on taste and its unique brewing process. The secret is in the water - or lack thereof. Many beer brands add water to their lager to make their beers "light," where IC Light is brewed as a light beer from start to finish for a bolder taste. "Nachos Light," "Chili Light" and "Wings Light," demonstrate how watering down a beer (or anything else) can destroy the taste. Each spot opens with a plate off food that is then drowned in a splash of added water, quickly turning Nachos Grande into Nachos Grande Light.

kirshenbaum bond new york launched a campaign for Hennessy using the late R&B icon Marvin Gaye in outdoor and print creative. The campaign is themed around the fact that Hennessy is a bold and independent spirit that has become part of American culture. The ads liken Gaye to Hennessy, demonstrating that both rise above the competition. The outdoor ads launched nationwide this month and the print ads are launching in August in Complex, Ebony, GQ, VIBE, Fader, KING, The Source, and Urb magazines.

This week's Web site launches include "The Donald" and a dancing guy.

Donald Trump has launched a Web site for his International Hotel and Tower in Las Vegas. The site captures the beauty of the golden 64-story tower, including its record height (at 645 feet it will be the tallest building in Las Vegas; the site navigates vertically from the lobby to the building's top floor), and showcases its luxury amenities. The new site is meant to generate public interest in the hotel-condominium project, drive sales, and attract potential Asian and European real estate investors. Geary Interactive designed the site.

Brutal Fruit, a fruity alcoholic drink targeting women, has launched a similarly targeted Web site. Ladies can view the "Guide to Flirting," find out what type of naughty you are (sultry, luscious, manic or kinky - and I am not revealing my answer), or play with the Dancing Guy. Move your mouse and this poor guy gyrates uncontrollably and takes his shirt off. Plus it's viral, so you can send it to your friends. Studiocom created the site.