• by Staff Writers , September 1, 2006

Marketers know they have to reach increasingly diverse audiences. These finalists went beyond translating a slogan and delivered culturally relevant messaging.

AOL

Ford Motor Co.

AOL: Aimée Bivins, Associate Manager, Impact Marketing; Michal Shapira-Sperling, Director, Impact Marketing; Peter Blacker, Director AOL Latino (former); Mark Lopez, Publisher, AOL Latino; Marcus Christiano, Account Executive, AOL Latino

Zubi Advertising: Ayan Valle, Account Executive; Christina Rua, Assistant Account Executive; Maylinn de la Maza, Account Director (former); Verónica I. Socarrás, Account Executive; Natalia Martinez and Susan Osorio, Account Supervisors

Media 8: John Santiago, Co-CEO; Gustavo Garcia, Creative Director; Victor Mochkofsky, Art Director; Ivan Ledesma, Senior Programmer IC Group, Inc.: Ryan Shaver, Account Manager

Ford partnered with AOL Latino to create Mi Negocio, a Web site and promotion targeting Hispanic entrepreneurs and small business owners. Contestants competed for the title of "El Visionario"; applicants could be current business owners with fewer than 500 employees or anyone planning to launch a small business.

The contest received 810 applications, with 93 complete, far above the expected 50 completed applications. The grand prize winner received more than $100,000, including $25,000 in cash toward small business, a 2006 Lincoln Mountaineer, $25,000 in business services, and $11,000 in travel vouchers.

An online campaign drove users to the site to voted on semi-finalists.

TM Advertising

American Airlines

Darynda Jenkins, VP, Group Media Director; Stefanie Carroll, Associate Media Director; Melissa Nagengast, Media Supervisor; Dave Russell, Director of New Media; Renee Whittingstall, Interactive Media Supervisor; Katie Gurry, Interactive Media Planner

A limited budget, two target audiences, and an established competitor? TM Advertising rose to the challenge to promote American Airlines' new nonstop service between Chicago and Shanghai.

The bilingual campaign targeted Chinese-Americans with a longing for home and international business travelers who needed an efficient flight. Asian-American marketing agency Ten Communications helped place ads in Chicago's World Journal, Sing Tao Daily News, and China Press. Ads also ran in mainstream papers, on Chinese-language news sites, and on mainstream travel sites. AA handed out fortune cookies in the business district with branded messages tucked inside.

The campaign included an eye-catching red-and-white wallscape in Chicago's Chinatown and a banner towed by a fleet of scooters that read, "Go nonstop to Shanghai a lot faster than this."

Online generated nearly 12,400,000 impressions and 11,800 bookings. The route grew faster than any of American's eight previous Asian routes.

Click here to see the original entry.

Zoom Media & Marketing and Mediacom

GlaxoSmithKline/ Nicorette

Zoom Media & Marketing: Patrick West, Vice President, Experiential Marketing; Rudy Duthil, Project Coordinator

MediaCom: Deirdre Prier, Vice President Out-of-Home; Nicoletta D'Elia-Napoli, Account Director; Randi Pesso, Buying Director

GlaxoSmithKline, Consumer Healthcare: Chris Saltmar, Nicorette Brand Innovation Manager; Bill Kollitz, Associate Brand Manager; Karen Schade, Sr. Manager, Advertising Services

Graffiti artists gave life to the campaign to promote Nicorette to African-American communities. GlaxoSmithKline hired community-known artists in the top five markets to create murals with minimal Nicorette branding, giving the artists extensive creative freedom.

The murals appeared online at MyCityMyArt.com, where users voted for their favorites. Zoom tallied more than 140,000 votes, with 50,000 going to the winner, Chicago's We Are Supervision. The campaign's radio tour drew attention from African-American media outlets such as American Urban Radio Network.

The campaign, with charities, launched an arts program for kids in each of the five cities and generated 126 media placements and nearly 24,000,000 impressions.

Click here to see the original entry.

For more information about the Creative Media Awards ceremony go here.