• by Amy Corr , Staff Writer @MediaPostOTL, July 19, 2006

Everybody's got a secret. Say no to graffiti. Turn off cell phones at the movies (good luck enforcing that rule...). Let's launch!

Flooring manufacturer Mohawk Industries has launched a branding campaign that's straight from the mind of Gregory Maguire. That, or I'm reading too many of his books (he wrote Wicked, the prequel to The Wizard of Oz.) The print campaign offers an alternate ending to classic fairy tales, due to the characters' love of carpeting, hardwood flooring or tile. Cinderella doesn't mind staying home, since her true love is her kitchen tiles. The poor horse-drawn pumpkin waits in the background. Goldilocks would rather sleep on carpet than fight over the three bears' beds. Lastly, when the Evil Queen looks in the mirror, she sees her competition is a hardwood floor, not Snow White. The print ads are running in Better Homes & Gardens, BHG special interest books, Architectural Digest, House & Garden, House Beautiful, Metropolitan Home, Blueprint, InStyle Home, O At Home, Parents, Food & Wine, and Cooking Light, to name a few. Each ad directs readers to the redesigned Mohawk Web site. MARC USA handled all aspects of the campaign.

Yahoo is thisclose to finishing its home page redesign--and to celebrate, it's launched Yahoo! Video, a site where users can download creative assets and upload their own Yahoo! ads. The site also features short videos, created by film school students, that cleverly describe how Yahoo is changing. Check out "Therapy," "Health Club," "Telephone," "Pirates," and "School." Hint: most ads involve jokes about playing with your "Yahoo." Click here to watch the ads. Yahoo is also running ads online until Aug. 13 on Atom Entertainment Gamespot/MP3/TV, Heavy, iFilm, Maxim, MTV, Stupid Videos, Tremor, VH1 and Comedy Central. Soho Square and OgilvyOne organized the campaign.

You'll find director Sydney Pollack in movie theatres this summer, in front of the camera and before the movie starts. Pollack directed and appears in "Cliché," a public service trailer on behalf of Cingular Wireless that promotes quiet on the set--or movie theatres. The ad opens with a man making a personal phone call at home. Pollack pops on screen and provides stage direction to the very annoyed caller. "Oh, I'm sorry--is my directing interfering with your phone call?" asks Pollack. "How rude of me!" The trailer concludes with the message: We won't interrupt your phone calls. Please don't interrupt our movies. Silence your cell phones. BBDO New York and BBDO Atlanta created the ad that will air in Regal, United, Edwards, and AMC Loews theaters nationwide. Ketchum handled the media buy.

Why do we find it fascinating to read other people's secrets? I visit postsecret.blogspot.com regularly. Crispin Porter + Bogusky created a site for Method hand soap some time ago called Come Clean where visitors could wash their hands of their secret or read other people's confessions. What's my point? Well, the lifting-the-weight-off-your-shoulders bit is running rampant these days, with three current campaigns walking this line. The first comes from Greased Lightning. The company launched Filthy Confessions, where users can write or record their confessions and enter a sweepstakes to win a trip for two anywhere in the U.S. Bloggers can even get a filthy confessions badge to add to their blog to encourage others to confess.

True story. I kept seeing these taxi-top ads with the URL shareyoursecret.com--and the day that I FINALLY remembered to go to the site, I got an e-mail describing the campaign. Secret Deodorant is the brand behind the campaign, and it held a promotion in Times Square yesterday where passersby could text the short code 45719 on their mobile phone and send their secrets to be displayed live on the Reuters sign. There was also a kiosk set up for people to type in their secrets. The site is an ideal place to "spotlight" your secret. The campaign commemorates Secret's 50th anniversary. Marina Maher Communications executed the Times Square stunt; IMC2 developed the Web site; Leo Burnett handled the creative; and SMG handled the "out of home" elements including the Reuters/Nasdaq signs, taxi-top ads, and phone booths.

3M's Post-it brand notes has launched a Web site called MyPostItSecret.com to educate consumers about the bevy of products that Post-it offers. Visitors choose one of two sites to visit--either Lauren or Nicole--and get the chance to channel their inner voyeur and snoop around Lauren or Nicole's rooms to search for their Post-it secrets. The more secrets you find, the more sweepstakes you can enter. You can also request free samples! Ryan Broadband created the site. The agency's original plan was for people to be able to post their own secrets, but that didn't fit into phase one of the site. But fear not. Phase two will include an area for consumers to post their secrets. Post your secret on a Post-it? I can see it happening.

The city of San Francisco has launched an anti-graffiti campaign in an effort to curb graffiti and tagging in the city. BBDO West created a pro-bono outdoor campaign with three different executions showing graffiti throughout a home, meant to symbolize that outdoor space is everyone's space, and you wouldn't graffiti in your house, would you? One ad shows a man reading the newspaper in his kitchen, surrounded by graffiti. Another ad shows a woman taking a bath alongside graffiti-laden tile. The final ad shows a baby playing in his bedroom that's been tagged with graffiti. Each ad concludes with the message: "Clean up tagging in your neighborhood before it really spreads."

I love the concept behind the new DirecTV spots. The first three ads featured movie characters pausing their role in the movies to hawk DirecTV. The latest ad features quarterback Peyton Manning promoting the NFL Sunday ticket package. Manning is playing in a blowout game when he mentions that with DirecTV's Sunday ticket package you can watch up to 14 games every Sunday. The ad is running on network, national cable and syndication through September. Deutsch created the spot and handled the media buying. Click here to watch the ad.