• by Amy Corr , Staff Writer @MediaPostOTL, December 20, 2006

Pee on this. Download a VW widget. Create a virtual gingerbread cookie for charity. Let's launch!

Toronto Crime Stoppers has launched an unusual PSA encouraging people to call and place anonymous tips if they've witnessed any crimes. The first element of "Crimes don't solve themselves" is a TV ad featuring what doesn't happen during a bank robbery. The ad shows man robbing a bank, but before he demands money from the bank teller he rambles off his contact information and a personal description so he can easily be found. Watch the ad here. The spot ends with the copy, "Crimes don't solve themselves, 1-800-222-TIPS. Make the anonymous call." Print, outdoor, radio and online ads will launch in 2007.  DDB Canada created the campaign.

The California Lottery launched two TV ads hypothesizing possible scenarios of winning the Mega Millions. What if you got a second chance to shine in your high school football game? "Big Game" shows a football game played by grown men with one particular man getting another chance, 30 years after high school, to successfully kick a field goal. Click here to watch the ad. "Wall" features a family whose outside view from their apartment building is the wall of another building. The family wins the lotto and promptly demolishes the wall, revealing an ocean view. Personally, I would have just moved, but that's just me. Watch the ad here.BBDO West created the ads and PHD Los Angeles handled the media buy.

I don't even watch "Star Trek," yet the Star Trek Enterprise was the first thing I thought of when I watched an ad for Clearblue Easy's digital pregnancy test. "Pee Ship" launches on December 26, will run through 2007 and is the first TV ad promoting the new product. The ad positions the stick as a technologically advanced spaceship that opens up in time to catch a healthy stream of space urine. Watch the ad here. Definitely a not-so-conservative take in an otherwise conservative category. Amalgamated created the campaign and RJ Palmer handled the media buy.

EBay has launched a microsite that offers gift ideas to users. Playing off its BBDO-created "It" campaign, the site highlights the top 10 gifts, the "it" of the day and a section to buy gift certificates. Once you decide whom you are shopping for, by selecting the types of personality your friend or loved one exudes, you choose from eight suggestions of varying prices. The Buddy Group created the site.

Mobsters recycle while they're polluting the ocean, if you know what I mean, in an ad for Keeping California Beautiful. Two mobsters carelessly dispose of a body, but when the time comes to dispose of a plastic bottle, one mobster places it in a recycle bin. The ad concludes with the line, "Redeem yourself. Recycle." Click here to watch "Mobsters."BBDO West created the campaign.

We all know that the Volkswagen Rabbit is back, but did you know that it has its own widget, available to both Mac and PC users (oh, that holiday spirit) that informs users of every free event (from museum tours to concerts and readings) happening in major cities on any day? Now you know. Crispin Porter + Bogusky created the widget that can be downloaded here.

Carat Fusion San Francisco created a holiday microsite that taps into users' creative side while simultaneously raising money for charity. The site allows users to design and bake a virtual gingerbread cookie. With each cookie saved to an online gallery through December 22, the agency will donate $1 to Save the Children. Bake away.

SurvivorHope, a Chicago-based nonprofit organization, launched a campaign to coincide with World AIDS Day asking Chicago residents to donate a day's salary to help survivors of Rwandan genocide and Chicago women with HIV. Ads are running in Crain's ChicagoBusiness, Chicago Sun-Times, Chicago Reader, Time Out Chicago and Chicago magazine, and draw readers in with shocking headlines such as "The lucky ones were murdered." There's also a Web site where users can research more information and donate to the cause. DraftFCB created the pro bono campaign.

The South Carolina Aquarium went the Nemo route, as in "Finding Nemo," in an outdoor campaign created to drive traffic to its Sea Turtle exhibit. Two ads channeling "Crush" from the hit movie ran in highly populated areas and featured a picture of a sea turtle and overly-simple copy: "dude" or "'sup." The ads attempted to breathe new interest in the aquarium to residents while also targeting vacationers. Rawle Murdy handled all aspects of the campaign.

Happy Holidays! "Out to Launch" will not be published next week, but a fresh (and refreshed) edition will return Jan. 3.