• by Amy Corr , Staff Writer @MediaPostOTL, October 26, 2005

E.T. comes home. Guinness extends its "Brilliant" campaign. British Airways gives users an "Insider's Guide to London." Let's launch!

Polartec has created a print, outdoor, TV and online campaign targeting various age ranges. The print campaign is currently running in the U.S. but was translated into four additional languages for a future European campaign. Creative weaves images of fabric engineers with outdoor athletes wearing sports apparel made out of Polartec fabrics. Ads are running in Outside, Shape, Backpacker, Men's Journal, and Freeskier, to name a few. Outdoor ads, consisting of billboards and ads in airports, will run in select markets. The 30-second TV spot will be seen on the Resort Sports Network as well as in-store. I saved the best aspect of the campaign for last. Looking to appeal to a younger audience, the company launched ShaveMyYeti.com. The site hands users a virtual razor to shave off all the yeti's fur. Once he's hairless, users can dress the yeti in a Polartec outfit and go along as he travels to the Golden Gate Bridge and ice skates in Rockefeller Center. nail communications created the campaign.

Put me in, coach. I'm ready to play. Today. Johnnie Walker has launched an online, print and outdoor campaign celebrating the journey of "Mighty Casey," the fictional baseball player at the center of the 1888 legendary poem "Casey at the Bat," by Ernest Lawrence Thayer. The campaign debuted at the beginning of MLB playoffs and asks the question, "what if Casey had kept walking?" In the original poem, Casey strikes out during the season's final game with the winning runs on base. "The Mighty Casey: His Next at Bat," picks up the story here, showing Casey working his way back up to the major leagues and getting a second chance to prove himself in a clutch situation. This time, he does not disappoint. Online ads are running on ESPN.com, MLB.com and SI.com, and print appears in ESPN Magazine, Sports Illustrated and the Sporting News. Lastly, wild postings are running in New York, Chicago, and Boston, recreating the Mudville Monitor newspaper headlines, one announcing Casey's first strike-out and the second proclaiming his return to the game. BBH created the campaign.

Guinness is extending its "Brilliant" advertising campaign, via three TV spots: "Poker," "Cheeseheads" and "Acronym." The spots continue the adventures of the Guinness Brewmasters, a pair of inventors who love all things Guinness. The 15-second spots features the Brewmasters' point of view on the current poker craze, football tailgating and social responsibility, all punctuated by cries of "Brilliant," the campaign's tag line. In "Cheeseheads," the Brewmasters are tailgating at Green Bay's Lambeau Field, when they put large chunks of Limburger cheese on their heads in an effort to emulate local tradition. Their efforts turn out to be not so brilliant when everyone around them flees the stench. The spots will air nationally through the first quarter of 2006, primarily on cable sports programming and also NFL broadcasts on CBS. BBDO New York created the campaign.

Look, kids... it's Ben Big and Parliament! British Airways wants to give visitors an "Insider's Guide to London," with a Web site designed to showcase insider tips and local events including social, artistic and civic happenings. Users can also view the latest fare offerings and book a flight. Thankfully, the site features the uber-popular "Brit-Speak" dictionary, which was created in conjunction with British Airway's "Go With Those Who Know" campaign earlier this year. An online campaign running on About Travel, Salon.com, Washington Post, New York Times and the Travel Channel, will drive traffic to the British Airways site. Each ad displays a monthly calendar of upcoming events with thumbnail images and content delivered dynamically to each unit. Targeting international leisure travelers aged 25 to 65, Agency.com created the campaign.

AOL's AIM service launched "I AM," a national ad campaign supporting AOL's next generation AIM service "AIM Triton" as a service that offers instant messaging, e-mail, SMS text messaging and streaming videos. The campaign consists of traditional, online, and buzz marketing elements, including print, indoor and outdoor ads on college and university campuses. Copy reads: "I am video chat. I am text messaging. I am instant messaging." An on-campus wild posting campaign, featuring two unique posters per week, will run through mid-November, and full-page print ads will appear in 43 student newspapers nationwide. Online ads will run on MTV.com, ESPN.com, TicketMaster, About.com MySpace, Facebook, Bebo and the AOL.com network. ATTIK created the campaign.

Was Debbie Gibson unavailable? '80s mall singer Tiffany and street marketers paying homage to E.T. took to the streets of New York to promote VH1's series "I Love the 80s 3D," which launched Monday. "E.T. in 3D" featured teams of BMX bike riders wearing red-hooded sweatshirts emblazoned with "I Love the 80s 3D" logos, and '80s ambassadors handing out 15,000 3D glasses in Times Square, Penn Station, Grand Central Terminal, Port Authority Bus Terminal and Union Square. Universal Consulting Group handled the campaign.

Keeping with guerilla advertising, Women & Co. launched a campaign in New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Chicago introducing its women's financial membership service in a magical way. Hundreds of mirrors were posted throughout the cities with lines such as "You're one of a kind. Is your financial plan?"; "That smile would go great with a financial future"; and "You look like a million bucks. Does your retirement account?" All mirrors directed passersby to the Women & Co. Web site. In addition, street teams handed out branded compact mirrors to women as a way to remind them to keep looking at their finances. Interference New York handled the campaign.

Toronto newspaperThe Globe and Mail is encouraging readers to share their thoughts and comments on its stories through its new program entitled "Join the Conversation." To support the initiative, Globeandmail.com is running a contest in which readers can win unique prizes ripped from Canadian headlines... and they are different. Prizes include a gay wedding, a trip to Hans Island (a small island near Greenland that is the subject of debate between the Canadian and Danish governments), $10,000 in "overpriced" gas, and softwood lumber (the subject of a trade dispute between Canada and the United States). Naked Creative developed the outdoor and online campaign.

When she's not racing cars (and allegedly punching other race-car drivers) Danica Patrick is the spokeswoman for Tissot watches. Patrick is the first female U.S. "Ambassador" for the brand, and will appear in a print and outdoor campaign launching in November and point-of-sale material beginning in December. The company has a three-year contract with Patrick that runs through 2008. Print ads will run in GQ, Cargo, Road & Track, Racer, Maxim, InStyle, Glamour, and Self.Typhon created the campaign.

This week's Web site launches include an agency's redesign and a viral campaign for Xbox 360.

AKQA has launched a viral campaign for Perfect Dark Zero, an Xbox 360video game. The campaign also consists of e-mail and mobile marketing component, and marks the first major push by Xbox supporting its holiday games titles for Xbox 360. At the site, users meet Joanna Dark, the sexy heroine who seeks vengeance against the dataDyne Corp. If you have a friend that you're mad at, let Joanna "take care" of him. Your friend receives a cryptic e-mail about another slaying at dataDyne, allowing him to click through to a Web video of what appears to be a patient dying--whose toe tag will have your friend's name on it. Once your friend has viewed the unsettling video, your mobile phone will ring with the message, "This is Joanna Dark. The job is done. Check your e-mail." Your e-mail will contain a proof-of-death image.

Yellow Steel, an integrated marketing and advertising firm, specializing in the building, home goods and remodeling industry, has relaunched its Web site. The site enables the user to access Yellow Steel's creative showcase, strategies at work, client experience, services and newsroom sections.  The site also features Yellow Steel's "Words of Steel" news articles and the firm's new logo. The company also has an e-mail newsletter called "Words of Steel," with previous issues archived on the site.