New Campaigns

Client: Labatt USA, Norwalk, Conn. Agency: Ammirati Puris Lintas, Toronto and New York Creative Director: Doug Robinson Art Director: Ian Barry Copywriter: Glenn Hunt Director: Gary Johns Production Company: Imported Artists, Toronto Ammirati Puris Lintas is taking a new tack for Canadian beer Labatt Blue-the aim is to gain wider acceptance of the brand outside Northern U.S. border states -with a TV, radio and print campaign breaking April 6. After nearly three years with product-focused advertising and the tagline, "True Canadian lager," David van Wees, Labatt USA's director of Canadian brands, said, "We want to build some character and personality into the brand." The first spot, which will air in Canada and be modified for the U.S., shows businessmen in Toronto's financial district joining youths in an impromptu game of street hockey. As the game intensifies, a crowd forms around the action, doing the wave. The fun ends when a trolley car rolls through. The tag: "Out of the blue." The ad budget is nearly quadrupling this year, to an estimated $5-7 million; spots will break on ESPN and ESPN2. -Gerry Khermouch Client: Helene Curtis, Chicago Agency: J. Walter Thompson, New York Executive Creative Director: J.J. Jordan Copywriter: Kate Murphy Art Director: Mary Warner Producer: Terry Brogan Director: Thomas Dey Hoping to make a dent in Pantene's dominance of the $3.3 billion U.S. hair care market, Helene Curtis has put $80 million in advertising and promotions behind the launch of ThermaSilk, its new "heat-activated" shampoo and hair care line. J. Walter Thompson's ad campaign kicked off last week with a 30-second TV spot utilizing a digital special effect which stylizes images as if they are being seen through a heat-sensitive camera. The ad shows a model styling her hair as the voiceover declares that with ThermaSilk, a curling iron and blow dryer will actually improve the condition of your locks. The woman's hair appears bright yellow and orange, while her skin is blue, to dramatize the heat activation of the product. The tagline is: "Where there's heat, there's healthy hair." Executive creative director J.J. Jordan said, "These spots look like they do for a reason; the fashion comes from the function." Print ads will break in March, accompanied by radio spots. Procter & Gamble's Pantene accounts for nearly $670 million, or 20 percent, of hair care sales, according to a recent Information Resources Inc. report. Helene Curtis is a division of Unilever Home & Personal Care USA. -Hank Kim Client: Dial-A-Mattress, Long Island City, N.Y. Agency: Dweck & Campbell, New York Creative Director: Lori Campbell Art Directors/Copywriters: Steve Pearson, Scott Vitrone Directors: John O'Hagan, Bryan Buckley Two silent, long-suffering mattress deliverymen are the stars of three new TV spots from Dweck & Campbell, the shop's first work for Dial-A-Mattress since winning its $6-8 million account last October after a review. In the first ad, "Squirrel," which broke last week, our heroes are greeted at a suburban home by an irritable man wearing a squirrel suit. As the "squirrel" leads the men to the basement, he complains angrily in a thick Brooklyn accent about his off-screen wife: "You would hibernate too for eight months if you had to live with what I live with upstairs!" Yet to break are "Wrestler," in which a couple uses its new mattress as a grappling mat, and "Wanna-be," which features a creepy deliveryman groupie. The new tag is: "Always out there." The old tag, "Leave off the last 'S' for savings," played off the client's 1-800-MATTRES number. The campaign's running joke, agency president Michael Dweck said, is that the deliverymen have "seen it all." The campaign includes print, radio and subway Metrocards. Dweck has also redesigned the client's logo, trucks and workers' uniforms. Prior to Dweck, the client worked with agencies on a project basis. -Rob Lenihan

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