Ford Motor Co. units in Dearborn, Mich. and Anaheim looked to Hollywood for its latest campaign promoting the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure breast cancer event, recently held at Fashion Island in Newport Beach.
Well before thousands of runners and walkers made their way around the plush shopping center, Ford launched a multi-media campaign, which included print ads featuring actresses such as Megan Mullally of “Will and Grace” and famous couples like L.A. Laker Rick Fox and his wife, Vanessa Williams.
The stars talked about breast-cancer awareness and their ties to the disease and wore a Ford promotional scarf that is being sold in Macy’s stores in Orange County. All proceeds benefit the Komen foundation.
Ford Motor Co., which has sponsored the event nationally for the past seven years, has tied its Web site, fordvehicles.com, to all advertising.
The ads,entitled “Tied to the Cause”,ran in Conde Nast Publications, Ford’s media partner. The campaign, created by Ford’s agency of record, J. Walter Thompson in L.A., also involved advertising resource guide inserts developed by author and breast cancer survivor Jennie Nash, which will appear in the October issues of some Hearst magazines.
Hill & Knowlton in Irvine handled public relations.
Over the past seven years, Ford has contributed more than $48 million to the foundation, including national and dealer advertising.
FCB Bash Draws 800
More than 800 members of the media and local ad shops joined clients and friends of FCB Southern California at its grand opening bash in Irvine.
The party at least temporarily lifted the gloom surrounding the ad industry as the result of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks and a rough economy.
FCB planned the shindig months ago, and decided to go ahead with it. One attendee said it felt good to get out and chat with others in a social atmosphere.
The agency held nothing back. There was a buffet bar, a clown, musicians, and my personal favorite, the greeting committee: two gigantic orange inflatable men dancing in the breeze in front of the agency.
FCB moved to its 100,000-square-foot warehouse earlier this year and renovated the space with funky d & #233;cor. Clive Wilkinson Architects, Los Angeles, handled the design. Most notable: 156 surfboards that form the wall of the elevated company boardroom.
Back to Basics at Buy.com
Who would use this tagline in their marketing: “NOT going out of business sale.”
A troubled dot-com, that’s who.
Aliso Viejo-based buy.com Inc., which recently underwent a restructuring with the goal of reaching profitability soon, retained Thinkbig Marketing Group, Aliso Viejo, as its new agency of record. The ad shop has developed and launched a fourth-quarter marketing and advertising campaign that pushes a theme that made the online retailer widely popular,and almost bankrupt,in its early days: dirt-cheap prices.
“We’re getting back to our roots with the ‘Lowest Prices on Earth’ by promoting buy.com’s low prices on a huge selection of top brands,” said Robert Price, president of buy.com.
Company officials hope the campaign will “build brand awareness and drive revenue”,critical for buy.com as it drives toward profitability and a holiday shopping season that could make or break it.
The creative for the ads draws from buy.com’s earlier minimalist style.
TV spots will be silent and feature the words, “buy.com” and “Lowest Prices on Earth.” Print ads will contain the headline: “NOT going out of Business Sale” to “emphasize that buy.com is here to stay,” according to the company.
There will also be outdoor and direct mail pieces, and a 2002 Porsche Boxster giveaway.
Thinkbig’s managing director and buy.com’s campaign leader Stew Duncan said: “As other dot-com advertising has nearly disappeared, we’re going to make a splash with the campaign’s compelling, creative ads appearing nationally in a variety of media outlets.”
Bits and Pieces:
American Advertising Federation’s District 15 and USA Today are hosting a reception and screening of the Cannes 2001 International Gold and Silver Lion Winners on Oct. 17 from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. at Casanova Pendrill Publicidad, 3337 Michelson Drive in Irvine. Tickets are $30 per person or $250 for 10. Contact Denise Denison at denisedd@home.com or (949) 493-5019. The event is a fund-raiser for District 15, which includes L.A. and OC Ad Clubs, to support its annual National Student Advertising Competition, which will be held in April. That event is sponsored by Bank of America, and involves thousands of students, including those from Cal State Fullerton, who are challenged to develop a national marketing and communications strategy for Bank of America Investment Services Inc. Irvine-based American Dental Supply LLC has launched a television marketing campaign to promote its new over-the-counter teeth whitening formula. The spots began airing nationally last month.
