Commentary

Out to Launch

Microsoft Corporate launches campaign. Just For Men targets Hispanics. M•A•C launches campaign to raise money for its AIDS Fund. Welcome to highlights of ad campaigns launched this week.

Microsoft is launching its corporate advertising campaign, "Your Potential, Our Passion," to more than twenty countries. The campaign launched in the US in 2002. TV and print ads will convey Microsoft's global commitment of helping people use technology to achieve goals they never thought possible. The campaign was developed by McCann-Erickson San Francisco. The print portion launched on Jan. 1 and TV launched Jan. 5. TV spots are airing on national cable and primetime; Print ads will run in the New Yorker, Atlantic Monthly, Economist, Harvard Business Review, and Newsweek, to name a few.

Keeping with Microsoft, MSN has developed an online marketing campaign for Visa Extras, a customer rewards program from Visa USA, to reach out to small businesses via a branded website for owners of small companies. The Your Business website launched on Monday. Designed to serve business owners that have 10 or fewer employees, Your Business discusses topics from small-business marketing strategies to timely financial tips. The site also profiles successful small-business owners who share their secrets to success. The campaign will feature targeted media running throughout the MSN network, including bCentral and MSNBC.com.

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The Office of National Drug Control Policy and the Partnership for a Drug-Free America launched an integrated campaign to motivate parents to do something about their teen's early experimentation with marijuana and drinking. The ad launched during the Super Bowl and was created by Foote Cone & Belding, New York. In "Rewind," the story is told in reverse. It opens on the negative consequences of a teen's drug abuse, and then progresses backwards in rapid-fire reverse clips to the moment in time when a parent's intervention would make a life-changing difference. A second spot in the campaign called "Slam" shows a mother and father slamming the door on each other as they practice how they will deal with their teen's reaction when they approach him about his substance abuse.

La Agencia de Orcí & Asociados has launched the first U.S. Hispanic advertising campaign for Combe Incorporated's Just for Men haircolor. The campaign consists of radio and TV spots, and has an estimated $4 million budget. The campaign will run for five months in key Hispanic markets - Chicago, Dallas, Los Angeles, Miami, New York, Phoenix, and San Francisco. One spot, entitled "Mozart," features a wife and children who see their husband/father dressed in Mozart-period clothing. They view him this way because of his gray hair. Seeking their approval, he uses Just For Men to get rid of his gray. Later in the commercial, after coloring his hair, he is dressed in a leather jacket, where he notes that he doesn't look old-fashioned any more.

Keeping with targeting the Hispanic audience, Knorr food products is reaching out to a younger Latino audience in its latest campaign. The brand has become involved with Artisan's promotional campaign for the Feb. 27 release of "Dirty Dancing, Havana Nights." Knorr is launching a campaign around the film's release, which includes radio, print, and online, as well as in-store material signage. Consumers can register to receive free discount certificates to the movie by visiting a bilingual website created for the promotion. MASS Promotions designed the campaign.

Broadcom Corporation, a provider of silicon solutions enabling broadband communications, launched its first ever advertising campaign, targeting IT professionals involved in networking equipment purchases for their companies and organizations. The campaign consists of print and online ads, created by Cole & Weber Red Cell. The ads use imagery designed to convey next-generation networking through an inside-out view of a seamless, end-to-end network connected by the company's silicon solutions.

The M•A•C AIDS Fund, the charitable arm of M•A•C, has named Christina Aguilera, Missy Elliott, Linda Evangelista, Chloë Sevigny, and Boy George as the latest spokespeople for the new VIVA GLAM V Lipstick and Lipglass, the primary fund-raising tools for the M•A•C AIDS Fund. The ad campaign was designed in-house, and 100% of the selling price of VIVA GLAM goes to the charity.

 In website launches this week:

Discover magazine has relaunched its website to provide science fans with more insight into a wide variety of science topics and news. The new site includes enhanced features such as Web-exclusive science updates and reports from science conferences; Educator's Guides geared to high school students, teachers, and parents; and the new Discover Forum, which will give members a chance to exchange ideas and insights. In the coming months, the site will feature Q&A's with thought leaders in all fields of science, as well as special surveys and contests.

Genex has redesigned the Sports Illustratedwebsite. The agency enhanced the site's visual appeal and streamlined its navigation, as part of its re-branding from CNNSI.com to SI.com. The site gives users in-depth features, along with immediate access to news, scores, and statistics.

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