It’s Launch time, and this week we’ve got pizza, alcohol, and prehistoric cartoon animals. I guess it’s time to party like it’s 1499.

Old Chicago, home of Chicago-style deep-dish pizzas and more than 110 beers from around the word, has debuted a series of new advertising and promotion campaigns in nine markets around the country. Created by Minneapolis branding agency, Clarity Coverdale Fury, and Parachute Design, the campaign breaks in Colorado and Minneapolis this week, then rolls out to Omaha and Lincoln, Neb.; Wichita, Kan.; and Boise, Idaho, over the next several months. The campaign initially launched with a new radio spot, entitled “Sounds of the Game,” that raises awareness of Old Chicago’s “Ultimate Sports Experience Contest.” The spot juxtaposes how the experience of watching your favorite sports team is more fun when you move from the distractions of home to cheering with your friends and eating at Old Chicago. In each market, the spot concludes with announcer tags that offer listeners the chance to win tickets to their favorite local sporting events by visiting Old Chicago restaurants. The Ultimate Sports Experience Contest is the first of four promotional offers that will run this year. Each offer will be supported by in-restaurant signage and radio advertising.

Want something to drink with that pizza? Well, on February 19th, the “SMIRNOFF ICE* Not Your Average Night Sweepstakes” launched on Maximonline.com. Users can sign up for a sweepstakes drawing for a chance to win an opportunity to gain access to the ultimate party. A microsite provides information about eligibility and prizes, as well as handy "tricks of the trade" to help prepare men for their next big night out.

Are you what you drink? The people at Horizon Organic think so, as they have unveiled their largest national consumer advertising campaign. Targeting its core customers, women ages 25-49, especially mothers, Horizon Organic emphasizes the benefits of its product line, always produced without hormones, antibiotics and pesticides. The campaign is a hybrid of print and outdoor advertising combined with in-store promotions and consumer sampling. Hoffman/Lewis created the multi-million dollar campaign that Outdoor advertising will also be in heavy circuit in key markets such as San Francisco, New York, Denver and Los Angeles through December of this year. The advertisements focus on Horizon Organic's overall brand and support the company's other marketing efforts, including specific product advertising in key trade publications, in-store promotions, and consumer sampling in key markets, throughout the year. The campaign features a close-up picture of a young, bright-faced child with the tag line "You are what you drink" and reinforces that all Horizon Organic products are produced without hormones, antibiotics or pesticides.

Maybe, instead, you are what you drive. Chrysler Group started the second phase of a pilot TV and print advertising campaign in California designed to increase the company's presence among Asian American consumers. The campaign for the 2002 Dodge Caravan minivan kicked off with two print ads in Chinese language newspapers February 15th. A 30-second TV spot began airing February 18th on Chinese language television stations. The ads will run in San Francisco and surrounding areas. The campaign is the second Asian American media initiative from Chrysler Group slated for Chinese language TV and print outlets. A Jeep Liberty program is currently underway in the Los Angeles area through March.

Moving on to more intellectual things (well, sort of) characters from “Ice Age,” the new animated film from 20th Century Fox, including an acorn-crazy saber-toothed squirrel named Scrat, are the latest movie stars to be featured in literacy ads from the Newspaper Association of America. In addition to Scrat, “Ice Age” characters Manny, a moody woolly mammoth (voiced by Ray Romano), and Sid, a smooth operator giant sloth (voiced by John Leguizamo), appear in different versions of the ad. All three urge young people to read the newspaper, with the headline “Don't be left out in the cold. Read the newspaper!” Each ad continues with additional copy specific to its character. For example, Manny's reads, “I don't want my brain to become extinct ... So I read the newspaper every day.” All three ads close with the tagline, “It all starts with newspapers.” The ads are timed to coincide with 20th Century Fox's release of the film on March 15th.

Microsoft Corp. launched its first global .NET advertising campaign simultaneously in 10 of the world's largest media markets. The new “One Degree of Separation” campaign will focus on how Microsoft enterprise software and .NET technology can make companies more agile by integrating all their business systems, enabling a free flow of information among customers, partners and employees. The campaign also will highlight companies such as Dollar Rent A Car, The Nasdaq Stock Market Inc., Pfizer Inc. and Trans World Entertainment Corp. FYE Brand, which have already begun to realize business benefits from .NET, Microsoft's strategy for delivering an XML web services platform. Throughout the coming year, Microsoft will invest more than $200 million in advertising to create awareness and excitement for .NET among enterprise customers.

Lastly, The National Association of Realtors launched the second wave of a multi-million dollar, multi-media advertising campaign in the hometown newspapers of 13 influential members of Congress to encourage members of Congress to cosponsor the Community Choice in Real Estate Act, which would prevent large banking conglomerates from taking over locally owned and operated real estate companies. The ads urge constituents to call their member of Congress and ask him or her to “do the right thing” and cosponsor the Community Choice in Real Estate Act. “H.R. 3424 will keep the personalized service consumers now receive from their local neighborhood real estate professionals...We need the support of strong (congressional) leaders so that consumers and local communities will win,” the ads read.

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