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HEALTHNOW HEALTH PLANSWhat sort of customers do health insurers want most? Healthy ones, of course. People who make minimal use of the health plan are essential, since their premiums largely pay the way for those who get seriously ill, have triplets, etc. HealthNow will win its share of robust subscribers with ads that treat the need for heavy-duty healthcare as something unexpected. ("No one plans for these things," the copy begins.) The fit-as-a-fiddle sorts would be unmoved by ads that position the health plan as a user-friendly provider of regular service. They will, however, feel drawn to a company that isn't thrown by life's medical surprises. One complaint: The buzzword "proactive," which recurs throughout this campaign, will suggest to wary readers that HealthNow is dominated by MBAs rather than MDs. The same goes for the vow that HealthNow goes "beyond the status quo by taking our benefits and services to a whole new level." While there are good reasons for the ad to sound unclinical, it shouldn't reek of sales-meeting rhetoric, either. Agency Arnold, McLean, Va. ClientHealthNow New York, BuffaloExec. Creative DirectorMatt SmithSenior Creative Director Fred BurgosArt Director Dan MadoleCopywritersGreg JohnstonDon CorriganProducerAlison WagnerBLACK HAWK HELICOPTERSDepending on your line of business, it can be tricky to find testimonials from satisfied customers. People use computers or cars or credit cards every day, so we're prepared to believe someone always has nice things to say about them. Pity the poor defense contractor, though, who must wait through years of peace before his wares can win such praise. Moreover, this is a brand whose most storied moment came in defeat. (If you're playing a word-association game and someone says "Black Hawk," you'll probably say "down.") Under the circumstances, who can blame the company for seizing a fresh opportunity to brag? The text is sensibly circumspect about it. While we assume it's alluding to action in Afghanistan, it never says so explicitly. Thus, one doesn't feel the company is crassly exploiting a war in order to give its sales pitch some pizzazz. Instead, one gets the point that Black Hawks have taken hits and lived to tell the tale. One pitfall in the ad's structure: Compared with the first-person testimony, the typeset copy sounds like standard adspeak when it calls the Black Hawk "the toughest, most powerful and survivable helicopter ever made."Agency Arnold,McLean, Va.Client HealthNow New York, BuffaloExec. Creative Director Matt SmithSenior Creative Director Fred BurgosArt Director Dan MadoleCopywriters Greg JohnstonDon CorriganProducer Alison WagnerINTERNATIONAL DESIGN GROUPRather than give one bold punchline to its imaginative visual jest, this ad gives two muted versions. One comes in the script footline (it's too low on the page to be called a headline): "You'll want nothing between you and ourcarpet." The other concludes the body copy: "No wonder people want to be close to our elanté carpet." The first of these texts is a decent payoff for the photo, but the fancy script is more suggestive of a wedding invitation than of a deadpan joke. As such, the words don't resonate strongly with the visual. The second punchline is in type so small that it almost asks not to be read. In an ad that uses fewer than 30 words altogether, it's also odd that the only two full sentences repeat the same idea in such similar form. Thus, the text is too repetitive to seem concise, yet too terse to be very informative. The basic idea is quite clever, so one wishes the ad had given it sharper expression. Agency Huey/Paprocki, AtlantaClient International Design Group, AtlantaCreative Directors Ron HueyJoe PaprockiArt DirectorsPaul CrawfordScot CrookerCopywriters Chris DuttonRon HueyPhotography Greg SlaterLOS ANGELES DODGERSWhen baseball marketing executives discuss their business, one often suspects they'd be happier selling computers or SUVs—you know, something quick and modern rather than slow and old-fashioned. Little wonder the category's ads often ignore the ball game while emphasizing the "fan experience." And even less wonder that such advertising tends to look plastic. The Dodgers' new spots take the fan-experience approach, but manage to do so in a way that's distinctive and engaging. In one spot, first baseman Eric Karros recalls going to games with his family when he was a kid—hoping to catch a foul ball, scrounging in the stands for discarded programs, etc. "Every once in a while we'd find some loose change." You may not believe Karros when he says it was "almost as fun" as being a big-league ballplayer—he wryly emphasizes the "almost"—but the monologue sounds sweet and genuine. The same goes for a spot in which catcher Paul Lo Duca tells how he feels, having spent eight years in the minors, to see fans at Dodger Stadium wearing jerseys with his name on the back. These personal testimonies work in an unphony way to bridge the gulf between high-paid players and ordinary folks. Why, viewers might not even mind that they'll encounter a baseball game once they get to the ballpark! AgencyHuey/Paprocki, AtlantaClient International Design Group, AtlantaCreative Directors Ron HueyJoe PaprockiArt DirectorsPaul CrawfordScot CrookerCopywriters Chris DuttonRon HueyPhotography Greg Slater

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