• by Amy Corr , Staff Writer @MediaPostOTL, September 24, 2003

MLB readies for the post-season. Intel "unwires." Celine Dion is back in commercials, but not for cars. Welcome to highlights of ad campaigns launched this week.

Major League Baseball has launched a campaign highlighting the passion and intensity Major League Baseball players have for the game. The campaign, entitled "I Live For This," launched last Wednesday during ESPN's Wednesday Night Baseball. Four spots, including one in Japanese and one in Spanish (both with English subtitles), will air through the end of the 2003 Postseason. The campaign's concept is that Major League Baseball players don't just love the game, they live for the game. Derek Jeter, Sammy Sosa, Ichiro, and Pedro Martinez appear in the spots. The campaign will run worldwide, including in-game on FOX and ESPN, and in-stadium at Major League ballparks. McCann Erickson-NY, created the commercials. New commercials featuring Chipper Jones, Torii Hunter, Jason Schmidt and Jeff Bagwell, will be integrated later this year. Players scheduled to appear in the 2004 campaign include Nomar Garciaparra, Hideki Matsui, Mark Prior and Dontrelle Willis.

Schadler Kramer Group created the latest TV campaign for Borgata Hotel Casino & Spa, which launched this week. The spot made its regional debut during the Emmy Awards on Sunday, September 21. Keeping with the campaign's title "Go to Your Happy Place," the spot positions Borgata as a place of stylized excitement and playful energy. The ads show people from all walks of life leaving their 'city lives' to travel by motor scooter to Borgata. The campaign will run in the New York and Philadelphia markets on cable networks including A&E, CNN, E! TV, MSG, TNT, USA, VH1, and YES, and on ABC, CBS, NBC, FOX and WB market affiliates.

Intel Corporation kicked off its fall marketing campaign this week to promote Intel Centrino mobile technology. The global campaign includes TV, print, online, and outdoor as well as promotions and events that will provide consumers with opportunities for a hands-on experience with the product. The new TV ads communicate how wireless computing with Intel Centrino mobile technology brings greater freedom, flexibility and convenience to people's personal and professional lives. In one ad, a father searches the house for a comfortable place to unwire with his Centrino notebook, finally settling in his backyard. Another ad depicts a businesswoman sending an urgent email while waiting at an airport gate. Print and outdoor ads will feature the Intel Centrino mobile technology logo and include statements such as "No excess baggage," "Make all your connections," "Travel at the speed of really light" and "Need more battery life?" Euro RSCG MVBMS in New York created the television, print, online, outdoor and promotional advertising which run through the end of the year.

Celine Dion is back in ads, but this time it's for perfume. Badger Kry & Partners designed a TV campaign for Celine Dion Parfums, which was created for Coty Beauty U.S. The campaign launches September 29th with :15 and :30 second spots in the United States and :10, :20, and :30 second spots in Europe - airing exclusively on cable. The ad will run on Oxygen, Lifetime, HGTV, TLC, SoapNet and VH1, to name a few. The commercial aims to capture Celine Dion's passion for love and spirit for life. The spot opens with a shot of Celine Dion swinging over a cityscape at twilight. The spots ends with Dion singing the tagline, "Live to Love." The campaign will run until the holiday season.

La Agencia de Orcí and Asociados launched new Hispanic advertising campaigns for Honda's 2004 Accord Sedan and Civic Sedan. The Accord campaign will run on Spanish and English TV, radio and print ads, targeting U.S. Hispanics ages 30-45. The Civic campaign is the same except it will target Hispanic males ages 18-24. The Accord ad, entitled "Substitution," opens with situational vignettes in which household appliances are used in place of automobiles and ends with running footage of the 2004 Accord Sedan and copy that reads, "If you think reliability and quality can't inspire passion, you haven't driven the 2004 Accord from Honda." The Civic spot, "A Day in the Life," opens with a child on a scooter and cycles, through a skateboard, BMX bike, motor scooter, and finally, ending with the Civic Sedan.

British Airways has launched an interactive campaign targeting frequent international business travelers in an effort to increase awareness about their flat bed product and brand awareness amongst potential and existing passengers. The online campaign includes full-page Unicast, half-page and box advertisements, and will run from September 22 through the end of the year in conjunction with print and television ads. itraffic created the online ads. The ads will run online on business and financial news outlets. Users will be able to view, in a "cinematic" presentation, the core benefits of British Airways' business class: enhanced privacy, attentive service, and most notably the world's first flat bed in business class that reclines a full 180 degrees to ensure a proper night's sleep.

The Newhouse Shelter, a Kansas City non-profit shelter and training center for women who are victims of domestic violence, has launched a campaign to support their fundraising effort entitled "Women for Women." The ads were created pro bono by Sullivan Higdon & Sink, and consist of outdoor ads and posters which will be distributed across the city. The ads make people do a double take. At first, it looks just like a cosmetic ad. But upon closer review, you see that the message is much more important. Radio PSAs and outdoor billboards will run through the end of September and posters will be up through the end of the year.

In website launches this week:

Salesandmarketing.com, the online home of Sales and Marketing Management magazine, has relaunched with an entirely new site design to better reflect the changes and developments in its print counterpart. In addition to a new look, the site has expanded its content sections to include information on delivering the perfect sales pitch, suggestions for maintaining a healthy work/life balance, and a daily tip that sales and marketing professionals can put to quick use. CareerBuilder will continue to power SalesandMarketing.com's online career center, connecting more than 25,000 employers with the site's targeted audience of sales and marketing professionals.

Winswept Entertainment Inc. has launched PlayTheAds.com. The site takes a whole new approach to capturing consumer attention and motivating consumer responses to advertising. PlayTheAds.com offers consumers the chance to win daily, weekly and monthly cash prizes by watching and interacting with video commercials streamed over the Internet.