Commentary

Out to Launch

How fast is your Internet connection? Do the lawnbada. Ski Canada. Let's launch!

CREDO Mobile launched a liberal brand awareness campaign that I'm sure will grab the attention of conservative consumers. "Say Much More" launched last week in Seattle and San Francisco via print, outdoor and online ads, running on Ideal Bite, Huffington Post, Evite.com and Weather.com. Outdoor ads features copy running on two different color backgrounds; text conversation begins as everyday banter and transitions into a social stand, "Yo, wassupport gay marriage," reads one ad (looking like one big typo.) "I'll bring chips and dipreserve rain forests" and "see you this weekend the war" say other ads. The tagline "You can say much more with your CREDO," sums it up nicely. Click here, here, here, here and here to see the ads. SS+K created the campaign and Horizon Media handled the media buy.

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The Canadian Tourism Commission launched an online, outdoor and print campaign in San Francisco, New York, Chicago and Washington, D.C. markets encouraging Americans to choose Canada as their skiing and snowboarding destination. Online ads feature snow-covered peaks along with the copy "See why everyone comes back. Then comes back again. And again." Outdoor and print elements pose questions such as "what's a black diamond run without a hot tub to finish?" and "ever experienced 5-star living under 6 feet of snow?" alongside wintry imagery. Click here and here to see the ads. Online ads can be found on NYTimes.com, OnTheSnow.com, TripAdvisor.com, and SFGate.com. Print ads are running in Outside Magazine, Travel & Leisure, Departures and Food & Wine.DDB Canada and Tribal DDB Canada created the campaign and OMD Vancouver handled the media buy.

Old Mutual US is launching a multimillion-dollar consumer campaign, its first, over Thanksgiving weekend consisting of TV, radio and online elements. TV ads feature conversations where common, everyday, words are replaced with "Old Mutual." In one scene, a football coach tells his player to "protect the Old Mutual," and a woman tells her friend that a sculpture is "completely Old Mutual," to which her friend replies, "If you say so." Watch the ads here, here and here. Ads launch Thanksgiving Day on all four national networks, along with CNN, ESPN, Fox News, the Food Network and HGTV. Creative drives users to a microsite that provides company and financial planning information. Kilgannon created the campaign and handled the media buy.

Pioneer's latest ad for its KURO plasma TV still scares me, but not as much as its previous work. Eyeballs are devoid of mouths this time around in a 60-second spot using the "seeing and hearing like never before" tagline. A journey of sights and sounds inside the viewer's head are shown as the person watches a KURO TV. The spot ends with viewers leaving the confines of the person's head through an ear, but when I first watched the ad, I thought we were exiting through the nose; maybe that can be used for a future, scent-smelling TV. Watch the ad here. TBWA/Chiat/Day Los Angeles created the campaign and OMD handled the media buy.

Manners didn't make it to the Thanksgiving dinner table in a TV spot for Meijer. The turkey purchased from Meijer is so delicious that family members neglect to finish chewing as they describe how juicy it is. I wouldn't want to sit next to Grandma, for she spits out food when she talks. Watch the ad here. DeVito/Verdi created the campaign and handled the media buy.

The Southern Nevada Water Authority bowed a TV spot that not so subtly encourages Las Vegas residents to conserve water. One man's sprinkler system is another man's wet dream in the ad. While the homeowner casually makes lunch, a man clad in skimpy swim trunks relives his youth and frolics under the sprinklers. Talk about motivation to conserve water. Watch the ad here.R&R Partners created the campaign.

AT&T launched "Feeling of Fast -- Window Washers," touting AT&T Yahoo DSL as the fastest Internet in its price range. Window washers are near the top of a high-rise when one man asks the other what his fast DSL connection feels like. It's comparable to moving from the top of the building back to ground level in five seconds. One man lost both his hat and his gum in the exercise. Watch it here. GSD&M's Idea City created the campaign and handled the media buy.

1882, a new brand of Italian alcoholic drink Fernet, launched a quirky TV campaign this summer in Córdoba, Argentina, a province where residents are obsessed with drinking Fernet and only Fernet. Rather than launch a campaign that positions 1882 as a Fernet brand, twelve nonsensical TV spots were created. A man with a big head, little face and no body is taunted by the unattainable 1882. Then there's a bird with a moustache swimming in Fernet and singing about it. A group of pigeons go crazy for a loaf of French bread in another ad. My two favorite ads involve a boy's choir and some fancy yo-yo work. Click here and here to watch the ads. Madre created the campaign and handled the media buy.

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