Evian’s worldwide brand manager Michael Aidan noted, “‘In the majority of countries in recent years, our communication has been very fact-based.”

With the first industry-wide decline in water sales in over a decade in 2008, Evian wanted to bring back some buzz back to the category.

“Consumers expect more from a big brand,” said Aidan, “Hence this breakaway and back to roots campaign.”

Evian’s ad agency, BETC Euro RSCG, took the basic idea of performing babies from an Evian commercial that first aired in France back in 1988 and updated it for the web and an international television by using more advanced CGI techniques and an updated version of the Sugarhill Gang rap classic, Rapper’s Delight.

With comments ranging from “totally cute” to “totally creepy” the Evian rollerskating baby video has done exactly what a viral ad campaign is designed to do: get people talking.

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Living young with the Evian rollerskating babies

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The Making of the Evian Rollerskating Baby Commercial

“Hotel, motel, Holiday Inn,
If your baby starts acting up, then you cast her friend…”

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Other celebrities in attendance were Khloe Kardashian, Lance Bass, Jill Zarin (Real Housewives of New York City), Kelly Bensimon (Real Housewives of New York City), Danielle Staub (Real Housewives of New Jersey) and many others.

Flavored vodkas are really hip right now, so it’s no wonder Three Olives Vodka is using celebrities to market the product. Here we see Khloe and Kim Kardashian showing their ” O-Faces.” (As well as Kim blowing bubbles and some other celeb pics.)

Three Olives Vodka Bubble Launch Party - PHOTO CREDIT: Brian Ach

Three Olives Vodka recently had a contest encouraging people to answer the question, “What’s your O-Face?” by uploading photos of themselves. Over 4,000 entries were received and five finalists were chosen. The finalists became eligible to win a $10,000 trip to NYC.

Image: threeolives.com (screen shot)

On their website (threeolives.com), visitors can rate each entry with a thumbs up or thumbs down. The website also includes cocktail recipes, event listings and other information about the Three Olives flavored vodkas.

As we know, sex sells and the “O-Face” definitely isn’t just about your joy of vodka. I’m just not sure the “O-Face” campaign encourages me to drink vodka.

Three Olives Vodka Bubble Launch Party - PHOTO CREDIT: Brian Ach

Three Olives Vodka Bubble Launch Party - PHOTO CREDIT: Brian Ach

Three Olives Vodka Bubble Launch Party - PHOTO CREDIT: Brian Ach

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Image: Zuma Press

It turns out preparations were a little over the top. The Los Angeles police deployed the largest number of officers since the 1984 Olympics, according to the LA Times . All over the blogosphere, Los Angelinos are complaining about the massive expense incurred during the memorial. Instead of an anticipated million people, fewer than one thousand actually showed up to stand in vigil outside of Staples Center.

Promoters and police insisted that no one would get into Staples Center without a ticket, and strongly encouraged people to stay home. It must have worked. The assistant police chief reported that there were no arrests, traffic accidents, or uses of force required. And memorial attendees complimented the city on such an orderly affair.

What about the expense? Many police officers worked long hours to prepare for the event, and reports indicated that much of it was overtime. And who paid for all that? Why the good citizens of Los Angeles, of course.

One article I saw actually quoted someone from the event asking for donations to cover the huge expense, making sure to note that any donations would be tax deductible. Gee, I wonder if anyone will take them up on their offer?

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Candie’s brand is sold exclusively at Kohl’s. Spears will appear in the fall TV, print and online campaign.

According to The Business Journal, Candie’s outfitted Spears in Candie’s clothes, shoes, jewelry and accessories in her new music video “Radar.” Footage from the video will be part of the brand’s fall TV commercial, which will debut late in the summer. The print campaign is set to launch in popular magazines in September.

“After a successful launch in spring, we know Spears has a strong connection with our young shoppers who want great style at exceptional value,” said Julie Gardner, Kohl’s executive vice president and chief marketing officer.

The fall campaign will include the aforementioned TV, print and online efforts, as well as outdoor billboards, direct mail, circulars, email blasts and in-store advertising.

Below is an ad from the Candie’s Only at Kohl’s spring campaign, as well as Spears’ music video “Radar.”

Image: Candie's Only at Kohl's

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Image: Zuma Press

And now, after Jackson’s untimely death, his landbreaking marketing power is stronger than ever. On Friday, more than half million fans around the globe applied for a lottery for 17,500 free tickets to his public memorial service, which will take place next week. Fans are scrambling to get tickets to the celebration at the Staples Center in Los Angeles happening on Tuesday at 10:00am.

Minutes after the registration period began on Friday morning, the staplescenter.com website crashed from all the traffic. The opportunity to register for the lottery ends on 6:00pm Pacific Time on Saturday, July 4, 2009.

Winners of the lottery will be contacted on Sunday and directed to pick up a pair of tickets and wristbands on Monday. The tickets will be distributed to either the public memorial at Staples Center or a live TV broadcast at the adjacent Nokia Theatre across the street.

With hours and hours of unreleased music, Michael Jackson will continue to be marketed long after his memorial service is over.

More on Michael Jackson and marketing:

• Michael Jackson, Pepsi made marketing history
• How Jackson’s “Thriller” changed the music business
• Marketing the Death of Michael Jackson

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It hearkens back to a time when people pulled themselves up by their bootstraps to get through hard times, digging in and forging ahead all while wearing bluejeans. Yet Levi’s also wants to “refresh and reinvent the idea of a pioneering spirit for the times in which we live,” according to executive creative director Susan Hoffman.

The newly launched web site, Go Forth, features a “new” declaration of the U.S. It also allows site visitors to write their own declaration, stating, “Take up your pen, you general of the new revolution. Add your words, your images, your voice to a new declaration, redefined in the spirit of today’s America. An America in which we hold these truths to be self-evident…” The video ad (shown below) features what is believed to be an original recording of Walt Whitman reading his poem “America.”

Interestingly, Creative Review reports that Levi’s used photographer Ryan McGinley, the same photog who shot recent Wrangler’s ads as well.

One has to wonder what backlash, if any, will result from minorities who weren’t exactly embraced during pioneer days. It’s doubtful that they would want to celebrate times of forced labor, broken treaties, and stolen land. What are your thoughts?

Here’s the video ad with Walt Whitman’s poem:

image: levi.com/goforth

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The new Gillette campaign will feature regular everyday men, as well as Gillette’s top pitchmen — Tiger Woods, Roger Federer and Derek Jeter — as they experience moments of doubt and overcome them to succeed.

The effort includes a 30 second TV spot which debuted during the Men’s Fitness Ultimate Athlete Event on June 20, 2009. The campaign also offers print ads, point-of-sale marketing and digital advertising. Look for the TV ads from Gillette during sporting events, primetime and cable programming.

Gillette has an extensive line of high-performance grooming products including: Gillette Fusion, Gillette Series Shave Gels, Gillette Styling, Gillette Clinical Strength Ultra Comfort anti-perspirant and deodorant and Gillette Hydrating Body Washes.

Image: Gillette.com (screen capture)

“This new campaign is a natural progression of our successful ‘The Best A Man Can Get’ campaign. It supports our strategy to build our global leadership in men’s grooming and strengthen the emotional bond we have with more than 600 million men who start each day with Gillette,” says Peter Clay, Vice President, Brand Franchise Leader, Gillette.

On the Gillette.com website, visitors can watch videos, enter sweepstakes, fill out surveys, get shaving and styling tips, and read product information.

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What exactly are these “biscuit holes” anyway? Hardee’s press release describes them as deep-fried balls of biscuit dough, rolled in cinnamon-sugar and dipped in icing. And the company was stumped when it came to naming the creation. And that’s when the “fun” started, apparently.

Brad Haley, Hardee’s executive vice president of marketing was quoted as saying “They really are irresistible and it’s almost impossible to eat just one. But what to call them was a big challenge. One of my favorite options was ‘Biznuts,’ a cross between ‘biscuits’ and ‘donuts,’ since the closest thing to them are donut holes. But there were many other suggestions that were very funny. Unfortunately, I can’t repeat them here.”

Right. Their tag line goes even further, stating that they “sound so wrong, but taste so right.” Where do we even begin? What is it with these fast food companies recently? Do we really need ball and blow job jokes to sell food? Seriously?

Oh, but wait. It gets even better. Hardee’s made a promotional video (see below) about naming the product. And if you think ‘Biznuts’ is bad, just wait to hear what others came up with. And if that’s not enough, there’s a web site with a naming contest. Yes, Hardee’s wants you to name their balls.

We only wish we were kidding. The site is called Name Our Holes. No, really. It may sound like a bad porn site, but it’s for fast food, people.

I swear, if another fast food company tries to one-up this and starts talking about the female anatomy, I am so boycotting that fast food company for good. And people wonder why we’re an empire in decline. Sigh.

images: pitchengine

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Image: Ancestry.com

Running for at least the next year, the campaign features five 15-, 30- and 60-second TV spots that showcase the heartwarming stories. The TV commercials will appear on AMC, CNN, Fox News, History Channel, Lifetime Movie Network, Hallmark and other cable networks.

Ancestry.com is the world’s largest online resource of family history. They recently announced that since July 2006, more than 1 billion people have been added to more than 10 million user-generated family trees on the site.

The five Americans featured in the “My Story” campaign include:

• Alton Woodman - A New Yorker Finds Answers about His Father
• Cary Christopher - Man Discovers His Great Grandfather was a War Hero
• Jim Lane - South Florida Man Connects Father to His Own Mother
• Peggy McDowell - Chicago Cook Meets Like-Minded Cousin
• Cathryn Darling - Washington Woman Confirms Father’s Passing

“What is truly amazing is that these miraculous discoveries are happening every day,” said Cheyenne Richards, vice president of marketing, Ancestry.com. “We literally went through thousands of incredible member-submitted stories before we chose these five. That’s the inspiration behind our new My Story campaign - to convey how life-changing a family history discovery can be.”

You can check out the clips on Ancestry.com’s YouTube Channel. The story of Alton Woodman is in the video below.

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One of the benefits mentioned — having a new pair of lenses every day. That can come in handy, especially if you don’t like to clean your contacts, or just plain forget to.

There are other benefits as well, according to the company. These new contacts are supposed to help reduce blur, halos and glare, especially in low-light settings. They even have a simulation where you can see the reported difference in a nighttime scene with and without the lenses.

They call this new design High Definition Optics. We guess since everything else is HD, your contact lenses should be, too. It would be better if it would turn my lousy television into a higher end HDTV.

But the lenses are also supposed to have a slow-release moisture formula that helps keeps lenses moist throughout the day. As someone who suffers from allergies and dry eyes, that alone makes me want to try a sample. If I could go back to contacts again, at least occasionally, I would.

By going to the SofLens® site, you can sign up for a free trial, learn more about the lenses and locate an eye doctor nearby. And the lens demo, of course. Let us know what you think.

image: bausch.com

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