Yahoo! gets local. Corbis and Andy Warhol artwork form an exclusive partnership. Oh YES! Clairol redesigns its Web site. Let's launch!

Yahoo! launched Yahoo! Local this week. The service leverages Yahoo!'s search technology, comprehensive local listings, mapping functionality, and user-generated content to deliver a more relevant search experience for consumers looking for local information online. To support the launch, Yahoo! Local rolled out a marketing campaign designed to showcase the unique and precise "finds" that Yahoo! Local can provide. The campaign uses online and offline advertising, and a pinch of buzz marketing via Yahoo!'s "street team." Consumers will be able to experience Yahoo! Local via interactive bus shelters. Situated in New York, Los Angeles, and San Francisco, people can search for businesses in the surrounding neighborhoods, view them all on a single map and print out the information at the bus shelter to take with them. Additionally, Yahoo! Local will offer consumers a chance to discover the "Local Finds" of their neighborhoods through an online promotion that features special prizes from some of the merchants and services in each area. People searching for information in Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Dallas, Houston, Los Angeles, New York, Philadelphia, San Francisco, and Washington D.C. will see an invitation at the top of the page to enter the contest for a chance to win prizes from local merchants.

Twentieth Television has opened a beauty salon - in an RV. To promote the September launch of its daytime series "Ambush Makeover," Twentieth Television refashioned a 33-foot RV into a beauty salon, complete with three makeover stations, a lounge area, and TV monitors broadcasting "Ambush Makeover." The mobile salon is the centerpiece of a national marketing campaign entitled "Ready or Not, It's A Whole New You" that spans TV, radio, online, outdoor, and print. "Ambush Makeover" is a half-hour show with six style agents who "ambush" unsuspecting fashion targets and give them the head-to-toe makeovers. Beginning in Boston and concluding in New York, the tour also features a wrapped sport utility vehicle that will travel with the RV. Hadley Media outfitted the RV to look like a hip, New York City salon. At each stop, the tour's stylists and staff will provide makeovers and style tips for attendees, and hold contests in conjunction with local promotional partners. Look out for the RV in Philadelphia, Washington, D.C., Detroit, Chicago, Milwaukee, Kansas City, Denver, San Francisco, and Los Angeles, to name a few.

Captivate Network, the company that delivers ads in office building elevators, has launched its own ad campaign, consisting of print, online, direct mail, and e-mail components. The campaign's tag line: "See Us At Work," stresses both the results the medium delivers for its clients and its unique ability to reach a desirable audience during the business day. The executives featured in the campaign are presented as consumers in surroundings that remind marketers of how CEOs, attorneys, and stockbrokers spend their money and personal time. This visual is contrasted with a graphic of an elevator panel, to remind advertisers how these executives can be reached. Print ads are running in Advertising Age, Business Week, Forbes and USA Today, to name a few. Captivate is live in Atlanta, Boston, Calgary, Chicago, Columbia, Denver, Hartford, Houston, Los Angeles, New York, Philadelphia, and San Francisco/San Jose, among other cities. Visual Republique designed the ads.

Corbis formed an exclusive partnership with the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, making Corbis the exclusive licensor of digital Warhol artwork on a global basis. More than 500 images of Warhol artwork are available for licensing. To support the partnership, Corbis launched a global ad campaign, which was created by Bondo & Remer, Seattle. Print ads are running in Communication Arts, Creativity, CMYK, Creative Review (UK), Eye, Novum (Germany), CB News (France), and Brain (Japan). There will also be advertising via backlit panels at the Frankfort Book Fair from October 6 to 10.

DGWB Advertising and Communications launched a campaign for Wienerschnitzel called "The Chili Dog Diet," a spoof of recent popular diet crazes. National TV and radio spots, print advertising, and in-store promotions, in both English and Spanish, debuted last week. With tag lines including: "A diet you just can't lose on" and "A new diet for people who don't," the campaign features "real" people confessing their Chili Dog Diet stories.

Regal CineMedia, in a deal with KidToons Films and Hasbro, showed the big screen premiere of "Tonka Tough Truck Adventures" on Sept. 25 at Regal Entertainment Group movie theaters in Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Denver, Los Angeles, and New York. The Saturday morning screening of the movie -- created for kids ages 3 to 9 -- is the first of a planned series of regular Regal events geared towards kids and families. The event was promoted via trailers, counter cards, banners, and other collateral, and attendees were also treated to playtime with Hasbro's Tonka trucks in theater lobbies.

The Advertising Council partnered with the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center to launch a series of public service announcements (PSAs) designed to inspire a new generation of "Freedom Conductors." Created pro bono by Leo Burnett USA, the TV and radio spots are the second phase of the Racial Cooperation campaign, which aims to encourage Americans to speak out against issues of injustice. According to a survey conducted in 2000 by The National Conference for Community and Justice, 79 percent of Americans think that tension between racial, religious, or ethnic groups is a serious problem in the United States. The PSAs conclude with the tag line: "Imagine the power of one voice," delivered by actor Dennis Haysbert.

In Web site launches this week:

Clairol®, a division of Procter & Gamble, has launched its redesigned Web site. Dallas interactive agency, imc², developed the site, which features hair color tips, expert advice, special offers and extensive product information related to the Clairol portfolio of hair color brands including Nice 'n Easy®, Ultress®, Herbal Essences®, Natural Instincts®, and Hydrience®. The site also features a Try It On Studio, a virtual hair color makeover tool, where consumers can try out new hair colors and styles.

Ravenswood Winery has launched a quirky Web site. Living up to its reputation as the winery with a bold series of wines and an even bolder sense of humor, Ravenswood invites wine drinkers to the outlandish and zany world of 'Zinfomania.' Boasting a slew of irreverent activities and info, the Web site invites fans to sign up for the "Zinsider" newsletter and a chance to send a "Postcard from Zinfomania" to their friends. Renegade Marketing Group created the site.