Hill, Holliday ‘Digs Deeper’ in First Lycos Spots

Hill, Holliday, Connors, Cosmopulos’ first campaign for Lycos Network portrays the client as not merely a search engine, but as a means of allowing users to “dig deeper” into subjects about which they care passionately.

The Boston shop’s TV, print and outdoor push, which was slated to break this past weekend and run for at least several months, uses the line, “Whatever you’re into, dig into it deeper. On Lycos.” The work comes just a few weeks be-fore Waltham, Mass.-based Lycos’ $12.5 billion acquisition by Spain’s Terra Networks is set to close.

Spending for this campaign will be about $20 million, said Jim Corboy, client svp and chief marketing officer. The annual budget is not finalized.

Three 30-second TV spots targeting 18- to 34-year-olds are running on broadcast and cable, and focus separately on Lycos’ music, shopping and games offerings. One shows a guy “traumatized” by his stepfather, who years ago used his son’s heavy-metal CDs for skeet shooting. The youth takes revenge via Lycos, downloading raucous rock music for his graying stepdad, who listens through headphones with a pained look.

Spots close with a black dog “digging up” the ground for informa-tion. A similar dog was in Lycos’ “Go get it” work, crafted the past few years by Bozell in New York. In the new ads, the canine takes more of a cameo role.

“This [campaign] takes [Lycos] beyond being just a search engine,” said shop representative Eric Fehrnstrom.

Hill, Holliday replaced Bozell this summer after a review. Postacquisition, the company will be called Terra Lycos, but Corboy said a “multi-brand strategy” is in place, with the Lycos brand name set to remain.