November 13, 2006
Advertising Campaigns: U.S. Army, Chrysler (Dodge Nitro), VOX (New Campaigns with strong Hispanic component)
– Four new U.S. Army recruiting ads were launched last week through text messaging, Internet search engines and Web sites and on more than 20 cable TV channels. A new page on the Army's recruiting Web site —goarmy.com — also was launched just after midnight and features the ads and other materials associated with the ad campaign. One 30-second Spanish-language spot will air at the same time on Univision and Telemundo cable TV stations. The Army's presence on such search engines as Google and Yahoo will be increased, and the ads also will appear on YouTube.
Print advertisements will begin in January. The U.S. Army's general market ads were developed and produced by McCann Worldgroup, whose two-year $400 million contract is renewable for three one-year contracts at $200 million a year. San Antonio based Cartel Group is the U.S. Army's Hispanic advertising agency.
– Chrysler Group launched an advertising campaign, with a strong Hispanic market component, for the new 2007 Nitro, its first mid-sized SUV. The multimedia campaign takes a masculine approach, but is also reaching out to women. BBDO in Troy, MI. created the campaign, which includes TV, print and online components in both male and female-targeted media vehicles. The buys include sports programming and men's magazines as well as shows like ABC's “Desperate Housewives” and NBC's “Crossing Jordan.”
Media buys will target men in three areas: sports/fitness, social networking/entertainment, and personalization (as in the way men will create a “man den” in the basement or garage.) In addition to TV and print ads on sports programming, men's magazines, and Internet sites, there will be integration of the Nitro in console and online games. The media plan includes 70 magazines, including Domino and Martha Stewart Blueprint, Essence, and Ebony, as well as Web sites for HGTV, Home Depot, and The Nest/The Knot. Ads will also appear Realtor.com, AOL Home/Organizing and MSN Lifestyle: Home. The effort adheres to Dodge's masculine, rakish brand identity, embodied by its five-year-old tag line “Grab Life by the Horns.”
A new TV ad, “Planet,” broke last week on CBS NFL, Fox NFL Sunday, NASCAR on NBC and “Law & Order” on TNT. There will also be four 15-second spots for the Hispanic market, and the two general market ads will be re-purposed for the Hispanic market. Dodge is also touting the vehicle through exclusive sponsorship of NFL Sunday Ticket, a satellite TV program, and the vehicle is being advertised on satellite programs like Enhanced Sunday Ticket, NFL Game Mix and Player Tracker.
All elements of the campaign direct consumers to the updated www.dodge.com/nitro Web site, to which Dodge has added video, sound, and a virtual walk-around of the car. Dodge also has a Spanish-language website at www.dodge.com/es/home.html.
VoX Communications Corp, a nationwide wholesale and retail provider of Voice over Internet Protocol services, has launched a Hispanic-targeted advertising campaign promoting the availability of Puerto Rico virtual telephone numbers.
The company offers customers the ability to add a Puerto Rico telephone number to a U.S.-based VoX plan, allowing friends and family living in Puerto Rico to call them on a local number rather than a long-distance number.
The advertising campaign is initially running in the Orlando market and includes Web advertising, e-mail advertising and radio advertisements on Hispanic radio station MEGA 98.1.
