Elton John teams up with XM. Microsoft and Intel play nice. The pendulum stops at Bush. Let's launch!

Intel and Microsoft have launched their first joint consumer campaign to showcase the benefits of an emerging digital lifestyle. The campaign consists of TV, print, cinema, and online advertising, as well as "experience zones" that provide consumers with the opportunity to try Intel and Microsoft's digital entertainment technology. "Digital Joy" launched on Nov. 7 and highlights how families can use today's high-powered PCs to deliver the ultimate digital entertainment experience. The spot unfolds with a horse-drawn chariot racing down a city street followed by a high-octane car chase. "Annie" dances with a marching army; a father films his child's first bike ride on home video, while a UFO flies overhead. We see all these characters walking and converging on an all-American home. They gather around a family in their living room and show a home PC that allows them access to enjoy rich digital media in one location. Deutsch, New York, created the TV, print, online, and cinema ads.

Nortel unveiled a global branding campaign this week based on the theme: "This is the Way. This is Nortel." The campaign focuses on CEOs, CFOs, and CIOs, using major business and news media around the world. The campaign marks Nortel's return to TV advertising. The TV spot includes shots of a noisy stock exchange floor, high-rise office buildings, and security department switchboard operators, set to a familiar tune sung by a children's chorus. It ends with a voiceover stating: "... this is the way hundreds of millions of people, Fortune 500 companies, and government institutions around the world trust their networks to be reliable and secure." The campaign was developed by The Richards Group.

Infiniti launched its first-ever marketing campaign aimed at African Americans entitled, "Infiniti in Black." In this yearlong campaign, "Infiniti in Black" celebrates the African American innovator, aligning five Infiniti vehicles with distinct cultural art disciplines. During each two-month phase Infiniti will partner with a "modern African American innovator" -- an emerging talent whose vision represents the personality of its respective Infiniti model. The campaign kicks off with "A Portrait in Black" featuring the G35 Coupe and African American artist Kehinde Wiley. Infiniti partners with Wiley in the debut of his first museum exhibition, "Passing/Posing" at the Brooklyn Museum of Art. The campaign includes print, online, and outdoor components. Print advertising for "Infiniti in Black" is a three-page ad unit that features three large blank canvases representing the walls found in a museum, art gallery, or performance hall. The last page features the G35 coupe on display. The outdoor elements include billboards, bus shelters, illuminated street displays, pole banners, and wall projections. TRUE created the campaign.

Letterman canceled his subscription because of this: On outdoor billboards in New York (on the West Side Highway) and Los Angeles (above Wilshire Boulevard and Fairfax) prior to the presidential election, TIME Magazine had a pendulum swinging between photos of John Kerry and President George W. Bush. After the election, TIME stopped the pendulum, freezing the cover of TIME over the photograph of the winner, President George W. Bush. Needless to say, the pendulum wasn't the only thing that stopped; so did traffic. The $5 million campaign was designed and created by Fallon New York.

SC Johnson launched a family campaign on Nov. 7. This is the first time SC Johnson is airing its family campaign ads since the passing of Sam Johnson in May 2004. The ads aim to show consumers what makes this family-owned company unique and trustworthy. The first 30-second TV spot in the "A Family Company" campaign, entitled "You Listen," showcases the Glade and Windex brands, and debuted during ABC's "Extreme Home Makeover: Home Edition." The campaign is also slated to appear during holiday specials including the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade and "It's a Wonderful Life." Foote Cone & Belding, Chicago created the ads.

Elton John will appear in a national TV campaign for the Delphi MyFi satellite radio, the hand-held unit for listening to XM Satellite Radio. The spot launches Nov. 15, following the Nov. 9 release of John's latest album. The ad features Elton and his new hit single "Answer in the Sky." He will also take part in three music specials to be aired exclusively on XM. Elton will also host "EJ the DJ," a 90-minute XM special featuring the singer as disc jockey, playing twenty of his favorite songs, ranging from Bob Dylan and Nina Simone to Joss Stone and Elvis Costello. XM is also producing "The Complete Elton John," where John personally walks through every album he has ever made. No wonder it's 36 hours long.

How I miss seeing these on my walk to work. Giant four-foot apple sculptures and other unique works by contemporary artists such as Cindy Sherman, Jenny Holzer, and Kehinde Wiley will be auctioned off at the Big Apple Fest Auction. Sotheby's will conduct the auction on November 29 at Cipriani from 6 to 9 p.m. Proceeds from the auction will go to the Police Athletic League, City Harvest, and the NYC & Company Foundation. Those interested can register online. All contributions are tax-deductible under New York State law. A disco ball apple... need I say more?

DGWB Advertising & Communications unveiled a creative campaign for Toshiba America Business Solutions, featuring Toshiba's Segment 6 copier, the e-STUDIO 1050, that is dubbed "Built for Speed." To demonstrate the speed of this machine, the ads created used 1947 race footage from Utah's world-famous Bonneville Salt Flats in which racecars were replaced with the Toshiba copier as it speeds through the desert. The new campaign also includes print ads, which are running in Fortune, Forbes and BusinessWeek, along with radio spots.

She's so outrageous... Anna Nicole! In her latest TV ad for TRIMSPA, Anna Nicole Smith looks just purr-fect, and fear not, that famous line of "TRIMSPA Baby!" is back too. The national spot launched on October 25 and was created in-house.

In Web site launches this week:

Kelliher Samets Volk has launched a new Web site for the Burlington, Vt., Department of Parks & Recreation. Latest features for tourists and Vermont residents include: an interactive park finder, information about campgrounds and boathouses, event listings, photo galleries, schedules, and registration for popular recreation programs and classes.

Illinois-based agency, ImagineThat, has relaunched its Web site. The home page is a slew of dragable post-it notes (except for the one that says "you can't drag this." I tried.) that say things such as "Will work for food," "Redirect what?" and "reloading." Once you enter the site, the agency's work is laid out like pages of a magazine and users can view work by clicking on a page number. The agency wanted to design an experience that creatively told its story and displayed its work at the same time - while going beyond the typical point, click, and scroll, of course.

Now this is what happens when you don't pay attention to expiring domain names. The United Kingdom domain name for Ogilvy and Mather expired and was bought by viral agency A S A B A I L E Y. The site shows an expiration of some sort - the feet from a cadaver complete with a toe tag that states: "If you understood the modern brand... ... you'd understand how to protect it." Ouch. Visitors to the site can click on the toe tag to send the link to a friend. The e-mail subject line comes up as "Ogilvy London Hijacked."