• by Lindsey Fadner , January 14, 2003

Every week new ad campaigns and websites are launched, and it’s hard to keep up with them all. To recap some of this week’s highlights: Samsung unveiled a gigantic sign in Los Angeles as part of a global advertising campaign, Coca-Cola has signed some new celebrities for its Classic brand, and the Advertising Council announced it is launching a Public Service Announcements for Girl Scouts of America to encourage an interest in math and science.

Samsung Electronics this week unveiled a very large, dazzling neon sign just blocks away from Hollywood in Los Angeles. The sign is part of a global advertising campaign designed to position the company as a leader in the digital convergence area. This visually arresting sign is located on the northeast corner of the historic Wilshire/La Brea building. Similar to the Times Square sign that Samsung recently debuted, the north and south panels of the L.A. sign are designed to reinforce brand awareness and are utilized with the “Samsung” logo. The east and west panels are used to communicate Samsung’s marketing slogan “SAMSUNG DIGITall – everyone’s invited”. The sign was developed by Gateway Triangle Development.

DraftWorldwide this week launched the first marketing campaign for Chicago Mercantile Exchange Inc. (CME) since its initial public offering last month. The fully integrated branding campaign (including television, print, outdoor and online advertising) is targeted at investors, and marks the first work by Draft since winning the business in December 2002. Using the theme "CME now," the campaign ties journalistic images with powerful statements to evoke interest in CME. CME will also wrap the 57-story W Hotel in Times Square in New York City with dominant, attention-grabbing banners that read "Where there's no such thing as no such thing."

The Coalition for Affordable and Reliable Health Care (CARH), an organization of health care providers, business leaders, and others seeking medical liability reform is launching a campaign to bring attention to the growing crisis in health care. The first spot in the “Real People. Real Stories. A Real Crisis," campaign focuses on Leanne Dyess and her husband, Tony, who sustained serious head injuries in a car accident six months ago. He was rushed to a local hospital immediately after the accident, but neurosurgeons who normally worked there had left their practices because they could no longer afford exorbitant medical liability insurance premiums. He did not get the treatment he needed when he needed it, and, as a consequence requires constant care, unable to communicate, to work, and to provide for his family.

Coca-Cola Co. recently introduced an ad campaign featuring actresses Penelope Cruz, Courteney Cox and singer Mya. The Atlanta beverage maker introduced one commercial showing Cruz guzzling Coca-Cola, another showing Cox pouring her husband, actor David Arquette, a Coke, and a third showing singer Mya offering her own hip-hop version of Eddie Harris's golden oldie "Compared to What." Coke's new tagline, "Coca-Cola Real," shadows its classic "The Real thing" slogan. The company will also put out new print ads including one with boxer Muhammad Ali and NASCAR drivers.

PepsiCo meanwhile signed singer and actress Beyonce Knowles to endorse Pepsi, joining a long line of pop stars that includes Michael Jackson, Madonna, and most recently Britney Spears. The new ads, which were tested extensively with consumers, are intended to fill an important gap by appealing to teens and ethnic consumers. If the new campaign is a hit, spending in 2003 is expected to reach typical Coke ad-spending levels, which amounted to $155 million in 2001, according to CMR, an ad-tracking unit of Taylor Nelson Sofres.

Basketball footwear and apparel company AND 1 launched the second spot in the company's new "Get Yours" brand campaign on Tuesday. The 30-second spot, "Steph Quest", features star Phoenix Suns point guard Stephon Marbury, with music and lyrics by rapper 50 Cent. The new commercial supports the launch of AND 1's latest performance basketball shoe, the Quest Mid, available at retail January 16 for $90. The spot will air for four weeks with $1 million in media behind it. The AND 1 website will feature a micro-site with behind the scenes footage and outtakes from the Coney Island shoot. A print execution will also run in athletic and men's sports and fashion publications beginning with January issues.

Mecca USA, the manufacturer, marketer and licensor of cutting edge urban apparel, footwear and accessories, will launch a provocative new advertising campaign for Spring 2003. Created by Mixed Business Group, the advertising campaign is inspired by the dramatic and controversial protests of African American athletes at the 1968 Summer Olympics in Mexico City. The athletes, Tommie Smith and John Carlos, won the gold and bronze medals in the 200-meter race. At their now infamous medal ceremony they stood barefoot, each with their fist raised in the Black Power salute during the playing of the "Star Spangled Banner." Marc Balet, Creative Director of Mixed Business Group, describes the campaign as timely and attention getting. "We were looking to create an image that was both monumental and symbolic - a campaign based on a big idea. Mixed Business Group is used to creating images for clients that have an 'afterglow affect'. We're very proud of this one." Photographed by Markus Klinko, the US marketing effort will be anchored by national print and major market outdoor advertising throughout Spring 2003.

As part of its “Put Yourself in a Better Position” advertising campaign, The New York Times is launching new creative in the metropolitan New York area for Job Market, the newspaper’s print and online recruitment services offering. The campaign is a cooperative effort between Bozell New York, The Times’ agency of record, which developed the ads, and Kang & Lee and BRAVO, the agencies extending the campaign to multicultural audiences in Asian-American, Hispanic, Chinese, Korean and Russian communities. Four different television spots, as well as radio commercials, Internet banners and outdoor ads will steer job seekers and hiring managers to the expanded online version of the Job Market website.

The Ad Council and the Girl Scouts of the USA are launching a national PSA campaign this week to encourage girls to develop and maintain an interest in math, science and technology. According to the National Science Foundation, women represent 46% of the total workforce in America, but only 25% of the technology workforce and only 10% of the nation's top technology jobs. Even though research shows that girls exhibit early interest and ability in math, science and technology, recent research shows that adults tend to discourage girls from pursuing these areas. Created pro bono by the Kaplan Thaler Group, the new campaign uses television, radio, print and Internet PSAs to deliver a national call to action for parents and caregivers and other adults to empower girls to embrace math, science and technology. These PSAs motivate influencers to "keep her interest alive." All of the PSAs direct viewers, listeners and readers to visit girlsgotech.org for more ideas about how to engage young girls in math, science and technology. The ads end with the campaign tagline, "It's her future. Do the math."

CARE, one of the world’s largest relief and development organizations, has spent more than 55 years finding solutions to poverty in the developing world and helping people devastated by emergencies. For the first time, since air-dropping CARE packages to the needy in war-torn Europe after World War II, CARE is looking to reach new donors with a creative integrated marketing campaign that keeps their marketing costs low. It began this Fall with ads in upscale, "high brow" publications. The ad campaign served as a lead-in to a direct mail effort targeted to the magazines’ mostly middle-aged, highly educated, and affluent readers. The ad focuses on a fictional African child who dies "of being born in the wrong place." The stark photo of Zoomi Danlami, 4, stares back at the reader next to a short "obit" that states the cause of death as "poverty, malnutrition and poor medical conditions." Zoomi is "survived by her mother, who was powerless to help her, and by all of us who could have helped prevent her demise." The ads ran over the last three months in National Geographic, Smithsonian, Atlantic Monthly and World Press Review. The agency is Austin Kelley of Atlanta, which did the creative ads pro bono.

The nation's largest provider of shelter beds for the temporary homeless unveiled its new web presence at homeaid.org. HomeAid America, a national non-profit organization based in Southern California, partnered with JUXT Interactive, a leading interactive marketing firm, and big development, a top-notch technology resource, to create a powerful and compelling online home to increase awareness, communicate with its constituency, and raise financial support. HomeAid’s new web home will serve as a strategic resource for the organization, highlighting the HomeAid mission, partner builders, and current and upcoming projects, as well as provide a web home for its 21 chapters across the U.S. JUXT and HomeAid are also creating an email marketing campaign to drive traffic to the HomeAid site and increase awareness of the nation's homeless.

-- 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.