Out to Launch

• by Amy Corr , Staff Writer @MediaPostOTL, March 26, 2008

Clearasil users rub cheeks. Croquet players and bandleaders drink 10 Cane Rum. Corona continues to relax beachside. Let's launch!

DIRECTV is briefly shifting its advertising campaign from "4th Wall," where memorable movie scenes were recreated using the original stars, to a series of ads directed by Christopher Guest and featuring members of his comedic ensemble cast. That would be a "yes" to an Ed Begley, Jr. appearance and a "no" to seeing Catherine O'Hara. I wonder if the spots were adlibbed, much like Guest's films. The "Empty Cable Suit" campaign takes place at Cable headquarters, where executives are brainstorming about ways to keep up with DIRECTV. An exec asks his team if they are doing as well in the customer satisfaction department as DIRECTV. The response: hearty laughter. Watch it here. Another suit details DIRECTV's impressive amount of sports in HDTV format and suggests a paradigm shift. To what, he has no idea. See it here. Cable's solution to keeping its customers from deserting the company for DIRECTV is louder channels. My favorite ad. The final ad shows a brainstorming session that ends with the grand plan of making up false statistics to compare to DIRECTV's offerings. Click here to watch. Deutsch Los Angeles created the campaign and Deutsch New York handled the media buy.

Apple launched a contextual ad featuring Mac and PC that's running on WSJ.com, NYTimes.com, gizmodo.com, PCWorld.com and CNET.com until March 31. In "Emergency Refresh,"PC aims to rid The New York Times' Web site of a negative banner ad trashing Vista as "one of the biggest blunders in technology," by performing an emergency refresh. The ad space turns white and comes back to life with a different banner ad blasting Vista. A final refresh produces a positive review... of Leopard. See the ad here. TBWA/Media Arts Lab created the campaign and handled the media buy.

The Food Bank for New York City positions vegetables, such as carrots, in the form of carats in print ads commemorating its 25th Anniversary. One ad shows a piece of broccoli in a jewelry box along with copy reminiscent of both jewelry and beef ad copy: "Broccoli: it's what happy anniversaries are made of." Pinto beans, posed below copy stating "The most beautiful anniversary gift of all," put the campaign's objective into perspective. See the ads here, here and here. Ads are running in Time Out New York, AM New York, The New York Times, el diario and Hoy. Walrus created the campaign.

I'm happy to report that Corona Extra and Corona Light have not left the beach. TV, outdoor and print ads find the brand relaxing on the beach, with nary a technological device in sight. My kind of place. The first TV ad, "Treasure Map," begins with an aerial overview of a beach with a large X marking the spot. As the camera gets closer to the ground, viewers unsurprisingly see the "X" is an umbrella covering a couple and their Coronas. See the ad here. Seductive music and clothes strewn about a hotel room led me to believe I was watching one of those commercials for K-Y. But I wasn't. The not-wrinkled (but they should be) clothes led to the hotel room balcony, where vacationers relaxed and enjoyed the view. Click here to watch the ad, running on late-night programs such as "Late Show with David Letterman," "Jimmy Kimmel Live" and "Late Night with Conan O'Brien." Print ads are running in ESPN Magazine, Esquire, Sports Illustrated, Rolling Stone and Spin, using copy such as "SPF 9 ½" to depict a Corona bottle sheltered from the sun by a flip flop. Click here, here, here, here, here and here to view the ads. Cramer-Krasselt created the campaign and handled the media buy.

Beach croquet, anyone? 10 Cane Rum launched a print campaign featuring a laid-back group of beautiful people living it up beachside. Creative features an official seal from the "Ministry of Relaxation," deeming the group "officially relaxed." Ads, running in Vanity Fair, GQ, Details and Conde Nast Traveler, illustrate the proper way to drink the rum: in a relaxed setting. Three ads depict an official beach croquet team that doesn't officially play. There's the obligatory team photo, team strategizing and lunch atop a seaplane. A woman poses on the beach in her marching band hat in the final ad, seen here. Mother New York created the campaign and Mediacom handled the media buy.

Eskimos rub noses -- and teenage girls who use Clearasil Skin Perfecting Wash rub cheeks. With friends and strangers. Parents beware. In a humorous ad promoting Clearasil's face wash with microbeads, a teenager riding a bus leans in and rubs cheeks with a cute stranger reading a newspaper. Next to be rubbed is her BFF; the spot ends with the girl rubbing cheeks with a DJ at a party, much to the chagrin of other girls in attendance. "Clearasil may cause confidence," concludes the ad, running on CW network programs such as "Girlicious," "America's Next Top Model," "One Tree Hill" and "Smallville." Watch the ad here. Euro RSCG New York created the campaign and MPG handled the media buy.

Hockey equipment manufacturer CCM launched a TV ad that constructs a hockey skate from human body parts. "Anatomical" begins with veins begetting the bones of a rib cage that are then covered by fibrous tissues and muscles. The spine is then revealed to be the back of a hockey skate. "Built to be a part of you," closes the ad for the U+ skate. Watch the ad here. Print ads, running in The Hockey News and USA Hockey,follow suit, but aren't as realistic as the TV spot. Cramer-Krasselt Milwaukee created the campaign and SpaceTime Chicago handled the print media buy.

To support last week's World Water Day, TAP Project, an initiative created by UNICEF, ran a TV and print campaign to raise awareness and funds for the cause. The City of Angels receives another angel in the form of a drop of water with wings in the TV ad, which drives the point that people can make a difference one drop at a time. See the ad here. Print ads feature a group of water droplets emerging from a faucet with a halo and wings. Click here to see the ad, created pro bono by TBWA/Chiat/Day Los Angeles.