• by Lindsey Fadner , June 27, 2002

Every week new ad campaigns and websites are launched, and it’s hard to keep up with them all. This week alone pop star Kelly Osbourne became the third spokeswoman for Candie’s, Inc., Kelly Ripa agreed to give her testimonial on the benefits of using Pantene, and the world's biggest ketchup maker launched its first mainstream advertising campaign to support its sales to restaurants, hotels and other institutions with, "Insist On Heinz." Find out about these campaigns and others you may have missed in this week’s edition of “Out to Launch.”

There are indeed new developments in the Candie’s, Inc. campaign we featured last week: The company has signed an agreement with Kelly Osbourne, star of MTV's highest rated show in history, The Osbournes. Kelly is joining recently announced R&B Princess Ashanti and Pop musician Vanessa Carlton as the company's new spokeswomen for the national advertising campaign that debuts this fall. Kelly is also the company's third artist to be announced for its fall print campaign. Each artist appears separately in her own ad that portrays a playful, sexy fashion image with a twist, allowing each girl the freedom of self-expression. Kelly's print ads will break in October issues of fashion, entertainment and lifestyle magazines, such as YM, CosmoGirl!, Seventeen, and Teen People. The campaign was created by Candie's in-house creative team.

Pantene announced the launch of a new trust-themed advertising campaign featuring a Kelly of their own. The campaign, developed by Grey Worldwide NY, will incorporate unscripted testimonials from loyal Pantene users, such as Kelly Ripa and Julie Kent. Ripa, All My Children star and co-host of ABC's Live with Regis and Kelly, will kick-off the campaign with a series of print and TV spots. In the advertisements, Ripa will explain, in her own words, how Pantene Pro-V Complete Therapy Conditioners protects her hair against damage from rigorous styling. Kent, the Principal Dancer with the American Ballet Theatre, will focus on how she only trusts her hair to Pantene because Pantene Pro-V Complete Therapy Conditioner keeps her hair strong despite the constant stress it faces. The spots will break on June 10. Each woman will also be featured in her own series of print advertisements slated to break in September.

H.J. Heinz Co., the world's biggest ketchup maker, has launched its first mainstream advertising campaign to support a big, but largely invisible, side of its ketchup business: sales to restaurants, hotels and other institutions. The "Insist On Heinz" campaign, produced by ad agency Ten/United of Pittsburgh, encourages customers to ask for their favorite ketchup when dining out. Food companies have not typically run ads targeting mainstream consumers to boost sales to institutional customers. But increased brand awareness by consumers can help strengthen that side of the business, which has been growing faster than the retail side, analysts said. The tagline, "A good meal out deserves a great ketchup. Insist on Heinz," is used throughout national cable television, print and billboard ads that launched this week. The multimillion-dollar campaign will run through October.

If you accidentally spill some ketchup while out at that restaurant, never fear. The Dockers Brand has developed a stain-resistant pant ready for even the worst accident. An exclusive sneak peak of the latest "Nice Pants" commercial, "Bachelor Party," will air during the nationally televised bachelor party for Tom Arnold on Fox Sports' The Best Damn Sports Show, June 28. The :30 commercial, directed by renowned fashion and beauty photographer, Albert Watson, highlights the Dockers brand new pant with Stain Defender technology. "In order to get the Stain Defender message across, we decided to compress 24 hours of Vegas into 20 seconds highlighting the thrills and spills of a bachelor party," explains Brian Bacino, creative director Foot Cone and Belding, San Francisco. "By the time the guy returns home, at the end of the spot, the benefits of stain repellency on his pants are obvious."

Next week is the 4th of July, and the premiere of a patriotic tribute to our nation's capitol comes just in time. On June 26th, Washington, DC launched a new national TV ad campaign to promote tourism in the city, post 9/11. The NYC-based production company EUE Screen Gems collaborated with the city and a host of sports stars, politicians and musicians to develop this public service campaign to remind summer tourists that Washington, DC is very much open for business.

McCann-Erickson New York and digital production house Charlex have stepped up to the plate for Major League Baseball this summer, premiering “All Star Game” and “Home Run Derby” spots with an animated superhero theme. The spots feature individual players, drawn by comic book artist Trevor McCarthy, in a series of action vignettes sprung to life. To get the effect of dynamic action, Charlex dimensionalized the drawings with multi-layering so that the characters, their surrounding panel edges and the backgrounds all appear to be on different planes.

The wireless telephone company, Sprint PCS Group, will launch a new campaign on Monday that will feature a tie-in with the much-hyped Men in Black 2 alien comedy movie. Chip Novick, vice president of marketing, said Sprint PCS cell phones will be sprinkled throughout the movie and will showcase futuristic non-voice features such as digital imaging, voice commands and wireless Internet access. Sprint PCS will also incorporate the movie into television, radio and newspaper ads and in-store materials. The campaign will continue to convey the message that users can hear clearly on Sprint PCS networks. In one spot, "the Sprint guy" has a conversation with three Men In Black worms in which the worms misunderstand the words "tangerines" and "trampolines" during a wireless call.

The Advertising Council has announced the addition of three new public service advertising campaigns to its docket. The first campaign will communicate the benefits of breastfeeding. The new campaign will be developed pro bono by ad agency McKinney & Silver in order to increase the rates of breastfeeding in the United States. Another effort, sponsored by the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center, is designed to inspire modern-day abolitionists. The second campaign, addressing individual freedoms and developed pro bono by ad agency Leo Burnett, seeks to inspire a new generation of freedom conductors and to encourage every American to promote equality by speaking out against incidents of injustice. The third campaign addresses low literacy skills among African Americans. Sixty three percent of African American students in the fourth grade cannot read at grade level. The campaign, sponsored by the National Urban League, will encourage African American parents to get involved in helping their children prepare to read and write at an early age.

When the Children's Services Council was created in Broward County, Florida two years ago, its leaders acted with one goal in mind: to protect and serve Broward County's most at risk children. One way they thought they could make a difference was by working with the Florida Department of Children and Families' Broward division (the state agency that runs the foster care system, public adoption system, and cares for at risk children) to find adoptive parents for the more than 300 Broward County children in foster care who are in need of a permanent home. They teamed up with Zimmerman Partners Advertising, who created a comprehensive campaign of radio, television, newspaper, magazine, billboard, and movie theatre ads. Each ad showcases the need for adoptive parents, as well as details the new simplified adoption procedures that the Broward Department of Children and Families has established for people wishing to adopt. They call it the "Easier than Ever" campaign. A powerful and emotional internal video was also created for Department use in profiling this new approach, and brochures, posters and print ads direct readers to the newly formed Broward County Adoptions website, where a series of frequently asked questions about adoption are posed to readers. The campaign is scheduled to run for three months during the summer.

The International Food Information Council Foundation in partnership with chemistry, an interactive creative agency, unveiled an educational Web site designed to help kids in a different way. Kidnetic.com is designed to teach kids and their families how to stay active and lose weight in order to live healthier lives. The website organizes information into four key areas: fun, food, fitness, and feelings, and encourages a dialogue between kids and their parents about healthy lifestyles. The result is a site that blends together science-based information on nutrition, physical activity, and behavior with interactive games and engaging activities.

Lastly: On the heels of the 33rd annual Songwriters Hall of Fame induction ceremony two weeks ago, IconMedialab has launched a virtual museum for the organization. The site features archival photos, audio clips, biographies and discographies on a number of the 300 songwriters honored by the Hall of Fame, from Irving Berlin and Leonard Bernstein to Alan Bergman and Hal David. It is meant to celebrate the unique and eclectic identities of the many inductees and the myriad musical styles they represent. The site, which replaces a temporary one IconMedialab launched last fall, includes information on the Songwriters Hall of Fame and its parent, The National Academy of Popular Music.

-- 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.