• by Lindsey Fadner , May 9, 2002

Every week new ad campaigns and websites are launched, and it's hard to keep up with them all. If you missed a few, here are this week's highlights.

Zhang Ziyi, famous for her super-human martial arts stunts in "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" and "Rush Hour 2," is getting her kicks from calcium-rich milk. Ziyi leapt into the spotlight as the latest celebrity to join the "got milk?" Milk Mustache campaign to show how easy it is to get the nutrients and calcium in milk to fuel an active lifestyle. Ziyi's ad will debut in the May 13 issue of US Weekly. The ad copy reads, "9 essential nutrients in every easy-to-open bottle. got milk?" Bozell New York is the creative agency for the national campaign. The tagline "got milk?" was created for the California Milk Processor Board by Goodby Silverstein & Partners.

Texas leads the nation in many ways, not all worthy of bragging rights. The fact that Texas leads the nation in traffic fatalities is one distinction the state’s transportation and law enforcement officials are working to change. That's why TxDOT and the Texas Department of Public Safety this week launched a special statewide safety belt public education and enforcement campaign called "Click It or Ticket." Reminders carrying the "Click It or Ticket" message will be delivered via television and radio announcements and on billboards around the state during the month of May. The "Click It or Ticket" campaign is a cooperative project supported by the Texas Department of Health, the Texas Department of Insurance, the Texas Municipal Police Association, the Texas Police Chiefs Association.

The Minute Maid Company this week launched an enhanced website to engage and inform consumers about one of America’s most trusted brands. Set on a background of colorful fruit, the new corporate homepage of The Minute Maid Company presents logos and direct links to each of its domestic and international brands, satisfying the primary reason people come to the site – product information. The site also features faster navigation to promotions and special offers. It includes a more robust Press area, as well as a new Store Locator which allows users to find local stores where Minute Maid products can be purchased. To achieve the new look and functionality, The Minute Maid Company engaged Sharpe Partners, a privately owned, full-service interactive marketing agency based in New York.

The Gillette Company this week announced the debut of the first North American television advertising campaign for its Braun Oral-B Battery Toothbrush. The 15-second spot examines what men notice when they first see an attractive woman. Set at a sidewalk cafe, the spot features a woman who is concerned that men notice only her beautiful teeth. Over a close-up of her mouth, a voiceover explains that viewers can get "great-looking teeth" with the Braun Oral-B Battery Toothbrush. The commercial closes with a passing man commenting "Nice teeth!" as the woman rolls her eyes. The tagline is "Braun Oral-B Battery Brush: Better bristles, beautiful teeth." The spot, created by BBDO, New York, will air through May and June of this year on such network programs as "Law and Order," "All My Children," "Conan O'Brien," "20/20," "Tonight Show," and on such cable networks as A&E, Comedy Central, Discovery and Turner.

Telecom giant Sprint this week launched a new multimedia campaign called "Symbols" to reinforce the company's position as a leading integrated communications company capable of delivering end-to-end global solutions with best-in-class assets to business customers. Sprint intends to target its message to key opinion leaders - Fortune 500 leaders and business buyers of high-end telecom services. The campaign underscores Sprint's high-profile capabilities, but also seeks to educate the target audience about the company's unsung attributes and achievements. Developed by D'Arcy BOS Group, part of the D'Arcy Masius Benton & Bowles Worldwide Network, the campaign features print ads in national dailies and first-tier business and IT books, digital media and high- impact direct mail designed to drive traffic to a campaign-specific website. The site provides the proof behind the facts cited in the advertising, a library of IT white papers, and debuts a streaming media channel for upcoming live and archived streaming video and audio Web casts.

7 UP this week announced that it is launching a new radio advertising campaign that features music by GRAMMY-nominated British R&B sensation Craig David and urban-influenced dance pop artist Willa Ford. In the "7 UP Explains the Lyrics" radio ad campaign, the well-intentioned, yet clueless, 7 UP marketing executive from the brand's TV advertising campaign tries to interpret, and ends up misinterpreting, certain lyrics from the following hit songs: Craig David's "7 Days" and Willa Ford's "I Wanna Be Bad.” In keeping with the overall theme of the "Make 7 UP Yours" TV ad campaign, which uses irreverent humor, the 7 UP spokesman's attempt to correctly explain the musical lyrics in the radio spots ultimately falls short as he misinterprets what the artists are actually singing about. The TV and radio commercials were created for 7 UP by Young & Rubicam New York. The TV spots will air during key events, including the 7 UP-sponsored GRAMMY Awards and the 7 UP-sponsored MTV Movie Awards, as well as throughout the year during teen and young adult-focused programming on NBC, FOX, WB, UPN, ESPN, MTV, the Comedy Channel, Black Entertainment Television and E! Entertainment Television.

And last but not least, this new bridal boutique is one that even grooms won't hesitate to enter, because it's online. The Wedding Boutique at LenoxCollections.com is designed as a one-stop resource for engaged couples, newlyweds and wedding guests. Here, visitors can purchase wedding gifts, personalized products, attendant gifts, party favors, tabletop décor and much more. The site also features items for the ceremony, reception and keepsakes for after the wedding.

-- This newsletter is compiled weekly by MediaPost staff writer Lindsey Fadner. Past issues are archived at the MediaPost website. Your comments, questions and submissions are always welcome and appreciated.