New Ad Campaigns

The latest roundup from Amy:

Grow a "moneystache." Broken wings. Shadow puppets. Let's launch!

Foster's Beer launched an additional three TV spots last weekend from its revived "How to speak Australian" campaign. An Aussie's definition of "man purse" is a filthy bag the size of your torso used to carry heavy tools. See the ad here. A "metrosexual" is a man with a clean face and a shirt that's slightly cleaner than the one previously worn. Watch it here. "Social networking" does not take place on a computer. It happens face-to-face, albeit from a distance. Imagine that. See the ad here. Digitas Chicago created the ads.

I love these ads from a TV watcher's standpoint. From a marketer's perspective, however, I have no idea how these ads will sell wireless plans. U.S. Cellular launched "Shadow Puppets" Aug. 14 and bows "Fish" Sept. 4. Both are part of its "Believe in Something Better" initiative that aims to humanize the wireless carrier. "Shadow Puppets" is a love story told at night on city buildings. Numerous buildings separate two love-struck puppet bunnies. Boy bunny, let's hope, traverses the city until he lands on the girl bunny's building. The two share a sweet kiss and then the voiceover is heard. "The world is full of things to share. That's why only U.S. Cellular has free incoming Calls, Text and Pix," says the ad. Mood ruined. Watch it here. A neighborhood becomes an underwater paradise as balloon jellyfish and dolphins roam the streets, a building reveals an octopus as a tenant and a car morphs into sea coral. See the ad here. Publicis & Hal Riney San Francisco created the campaign.

NCsoft launched a print and online campaign promoting the Sept. 22 release of massive multiplayer online game, Aion. Flight is used as a means of combat in this game, which helps explain two print ads. Bloodied white wings are affixed against a dark background, in one ad, shown here. An opposing ad shows severed black wings against an icy backdrop. See it here. "A journey uncharted. A hatred unresolved," says both ads. Two additional ads, seen here and here, feature a warrior flying over a battlefield of fallen soldiers and a black-winged woman standing around conquered enemies. Ads are running in PC Gamer, Maximum PC, Game Informer and Play. Ignited created the campaign with help from Meduzarts. Ignited also handled the media buy.

Toyota Prius is making the roadsides of California aesthetically pleasing with "Harmony Floralscapes," displays crafted from more than 20,000 live flowers. The first floralscape can be found along the Pasadena Freeway in downtown Los Angeles. A total of nine designs were created to support the launch of the 2010 Prius. The 30'x60' floralscapes are made of living seasonal flowers grown by local businesses in "Eco-crates" made from recycled plastic. See one here, created by Greenroad Media.

The Minnesota State Lottery launched a TV and outdoor campaign promoting its Mega MONOPOLY Scratch Game. The white handlebar mustache usually seen on Mr. Monopoly finds its way onto game players growing their moneystaches. The TV spot follows the banter between two co-workers. The female co-worker starts the ad sans mustache, but slowly grows a nice fluffy white moneystache. Watch it here. File this under clever bus shelter ad design. It's a red hotel game piece come to life. See it here. There's also mustache mirror clings in bars and restaurants, seen here. Colle+McVoy created the campaign.

BMW launched a TV, print and online campaign supporting its 2009 335d diesel sedan. One part of the campaign plays off the outdated views people have regarding diesel technology. So what better venue to plop a present-day diesel BMW in than the 1960s "Mad Men" era? BMW partnered with "Mad Men" and Vanity Fair to create a 5-page pictorial as part of the company's Advanced Diesel initiative. See the ad here, shot on the "Mad Men" set. Additional campaign elements tout BMW's EfficientDynamics platform to lower emissions while churning out sleek vehicles. See TV and print ads here, here and here. GSD&M Idea City created the campaign and Universal McCann handled the media buy.

Pantene Pro-V launched a TV and print campaign in Brazil for its new Deep Restoration line starring Gisele Bündchen. The ads resemble stateside Pantene ads; the only difference is these ads are in Portuguese. Bündchen sits on a comfy chair, touches her hair, flips it, then walks away and stares offscreen. See the ads here and here, created by Wing.

HP launched a print campaign and microsite called "Hit Print Intelligently." The business-to-business campaign cuts to the chase, telling businesses, "We'll cut your printing costs or we'll cut you a check." The print ad, seen here, ran in the Wall Street Journal and the New York Times. Goodby Silverstein & Partners created the ad. The ad is reminiscent of a B2C campaign Kodak launched earlier this year called "Print and Prosper." The promotion described how consumers overpay for inkjet printer ink and challenged consumers to visit PrintAndProsper.com to calculate how much money they could save by switching to a Kodak inkjet printer. See a TV ad here. Deutsch New York created the campaign.

Random iPhone App of the week: Msnbc.com, with help from Zumobi, launched an App that offers breaking news, videos and photos. The dial design resembles the NBC logo, with each topic, such as politics, business and health, assigned a different color. Users can keep track of Twitter feeds from NBC News and MSNBC Cable anchors and share articles. The App is free at the Apple App Store.

Amy Corr is managing editor, online newsletters for MediaPost. She can be reached at amyc@mediapost.com.

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