Agency News

NEW YORK

Horizon Media, New York, is teaming up with the Association for the Cure of Cancer of the Prostate (CaP CURE) to launch a PSA campaign. The effort will support the seventh annual “Home Run Challenge,” which raises funds for prostate-cancer research by securing pledges for home runs hit during 60 select Major League Baseball games; those games will take place from June 10-16. The campaign, scheduled to run from May 15 through June 16, was negotiated to air in more than 15 markets by Horizon Media buyers and will promote both the “Home Run Challenge” and prostate-cancer awareness. PSAs will air in all major broadcast media, including national network and cable TV, network radio and in select spot markets. The campaign features New York Yankees man ager and prostate-cancer survivor Joe Torre, and includes home run foot age of Ken Griffey Jr., Derek Jeter, Mike Piazza, Chipper Jones, Alex Rodri guez and Sammy Sosa. Each MLB team has a CaP CURE player representative, who en dorses the “Home Run Challenge” by involving himself in various promotions surrounding the event. The TV PSAs were created by New York-based Della Femina, Rothschild, Jeary and Partners.

Harrisdirect, the Jersey City, N.J.-based money manager, launched an ad campaign last week that touts the benefits of direct investing through the company’s “Guided Independence.” The work, created by Euro RSCG MVBMS Partners, New York, features three TV spots and three print ads. The theme is that Harrisdirect is the only brokerage service that provides varying degrees of guidance for direct investors, said Bruce Schwenger, client president and CEO. “This campaign captures the essence of our direct investing philosophy and makes it clear to investors that they can be in control without being alone,” he said. The effort will run through November.

Stein Rogan + Partners was named Carey International’s advertising agency, following a review. The account is valued at more than $1 million. Carey is a Washington-based chauffeured-vehicle-service company that serves 480 cities in 75 countries. The New York-based shop created an inte grated marketing campaign for the client that broke in consumer and trade media this month. Stein Rogan is part of the Interpublic Group unit The Partnership.

Cookie manufacturer Eleni’s New York tapped Stormhouse Partners to handle branding and advertising assignments, as well as its media planning. The New York-based branding agency is charged with redesigning packaging for 20 new products that make up the client’s Bridge line. Eleni’s cookies are sold in department stores such as Neiman Marcus, Bergdorf Goodman and Henri Bendel, as well as at Kate Spade. Stormhouse won the business following a review. The new pack aging will debut in the fall and be supported with consumer print, outdoor and direct mail.

Zona Design, a New York-based motion-design and branding studio, created and produced the program and promotion packages for Founding Brothers, a four-hour, two-part documentary special from The History Channel. The program is based on the book with the same title and will premiere today. Zona staffers who worked on the project include creative director Zoa Martinez, executive producer Dennis Fluet, associate creative director/designer Curt Neumann, designer Jane Holland, composite artists Andre Sam and Rick Malwitz, and assistant producer Jill Haick. Zona also worked on BBC America’s on-air promotion lineup packages, which began airing this month. Martinez, Fluet, Holland, Malwitz and Haick worked on the BBC America project as well.

The Hazelnut Council, an industry coalition that promotes hazelnut consumption in the U.S., tapped Publicis Dialog to take on its public relations, advertising and direct marketing duties, as well as special events. The New York-based public relations agency was selected following a review in which six New York shops participated. The account will be led by John Bissell, senior principal and group management director of Publicis Dialog’s Food Commodities group. The client, which is based in Neptune, N.J., is made up of the Ore gon Hazelnut Marketing Board, the Black Sea and Istanbul Export ers Unions and the Association of Food Industries. Publicis Dialog, part of Publicis in the U.S., the U.S. division of Paris-based Publicis Groupe, also has offices in San Francisco, Dallas, Chicago, Seattle, Salt Lake City and Boise, Idaho.

Yvette Piñeyro, editor and founder of wild(child), a New York-based editing house, worked with masius, New York, to create a new three-commercial campaign for Guar dian Life Insurance Co. of America. The work uses footage shot by Errol Morris of @rad icalmedia in Santa Monica, Calif. The spots, “Commuter,” “Bikemaker” and “Reporter,” broke at the end of last month. Guardian is a New York-based insurance and investment company.

NEW JERSEY

Onkyo USA Corp. hired the R&J Group in Parsippany to create consumer and trade print ads, as well as collateral materials. The client, based in Upper Saddle River, markets premium audio and video com ponents. The shop’s campaign is set to break in August in audio-enthusiast publications. R&J provides advertising, marketing, design, media and public relations services.

The MWW Group added three new ac counts to its anti-tobacco practice. The East Rutherford-based public relations and marketing-communications company will create public-affairs campaigns for the NYC Coalition for a Smoke-Free City, the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids and the Missouri Partnership on Tobacco or Health. The coa lition is made up of 250 member organizations that include the American Lung Association, American Cancer Society and American Heart Association. Its mission is to eliminate environmental tobacco smoke in public places and to reduce tobacco use in New York City. The campaign is a nongovernmental initiative that focuses on protecting children from tobacco addiction and exposure to secondhand smoke. The partnership is a coalition of public and private health-advocacy organizations in Missouri. MWW is an independent brand of Golin/Harris International and part of the Interpublic Group.

Keating Public Relations was assigned a project by Gene Bridges, a DNA engineering specialist company. The Millburn-based public relations agency is charged with launching the Dresden, Germany-based client in the U.S. and in international biotechnology markets, as well as with handling future public relations efforts. Gene Bridges, which was founded in June 2000, plans to open a U.S. subsidiary by the end of this year.