Lewis Lazare: Allstate is getting personal. When it comes to communicating a message via advertising, that's usually a good way to go. Real people in both the metropolitan Chicago and Detroit markets and their financial circumstances are the focal point of a new print campaign from Leo Burnett/Chicago that is aimed squarely at what Allstate refers to as "middle-market consumers."
My, how a plot can thicken in a hurry! As readers of this column know, it didn't take us long to hear from Alex Tiknius, the ardent Chicago Cubs fan who identified himself as the dejected young man in a new Nuveen Investments billboard ad (June 27). Tiknius is seen standing alone in the Wrigley Field bleachers after a Cubs playoff loss to the Arizona Diamondbacks last year. The Nuveen Investments billboard campaign is now up at Wrigley Field.
Travelers should prepare for even greater sticker shock when they purchase a ticket: United said it will impose another $20 fuel surcharge on most domestic routes. With the new additional increase, the fuel surcharges will total between $30 and $170 on most domestic flights, according to United spokeswoman Robin Urbanski.
Lewis Lazare: Like several other high-profile sponsors that have attached themselves to the very high-profile Beijing 2008 Summer Olympics, Oak Brook-based McDonald's is using the world's premier sporting extravaganza as a showcase for its marketing prowess. And it's giving everyone who is interested an opportunity to see exactly where McDonald's advertising is at circa 2008.
Lewis Lazare: It's hard to grab the attention of kids nowadays. But the Brookfield Zoo and Zig/Chicago are trying to do just that via a new "Animal Attention" campaign that kicked off Tuesday. While youngsters can see plenty of animal-related stuff every day, Brookfield and Zig want to remind the target audience there is nothing like seeing animals in the flesh.
Energy BBDO/Chicago has found its new chief creative officer, Dan Fietsam, a creative leader with deep ties to the Chicago advertising community. Fietsam, 42, most recently was executive creative director at Publicis in the West/Seattle, where he moved after a long tenure at DDB/Chicago.
Lewis Lazare: Is DDB/Chicago zeroing in on a new leader for its creative department? Sources report the agency could be seriously leaning toward tapping Jonathan Hoffman as the agency's new top creative, a position that has been vacant since Paul Tilley's tragic suicide in February. A DDB spokeswoman said "we won't be commenting on particular candidates along the way."
Energy BBDO/Chicago has found its new chief creative officer, Dan Fietsam.
Lewis Lazare: In a world where advertising is too often cheap and degrading, we never cease to be amazed and thrilled by the potency of a simple, smart idea executed with the utmost simplicity and taste. So we found ourselves in a deliriously happy state when we first looked at a remarkably simple and rich new outdoor campaign from Fallon/Minneapolis for Chicago-based Nuveen Investments, a sponsor of the (currently) high-flying Chicago Cubs.
Times are tough. And competition within the mobile phone service category remains as brutal and cutthroat as ever. U.S. Cellular, which recently moved its advertising account to Publicis & Hal Riney in San Francisco, is hoping a new ad campaign with lots of uplift will help it win new customers, while reassuring current U.S. Cellular users they are connected to a caring company.
Paul Brourman's fledgling Sponge/Chicago has scored big. The boutique shop has been named ad agency of record for AutoZone, the auto parts retailer founded nearly 30 years ago that now has more than 3,600 stores nationwide. Billings on the account were not disclosed, but Brourman indicated it is a substantial piece of business.
Lewis Lazare: At first glance, author Mark Bauerlein's well-argued new book, The Dumbest Generation: How the Digital Age Stupefies Young Americans and Jeopardizes Our Future (Tarcher/Penguin, 265 pgs., $24.95), might appear to have little or nothing to do with the world of advertising. But in fact, the book should be required reading for anyone involved in the advertising world for two reasons.
Lewis Lazare: Jim Beam bourbon is clear about where it stands on the matter of the proposed sale of naming rights to Wrigley Field. The world's best-selling bourbon is dead set against any name change, and via a new outdoor and guerrilla ad campaign beginning today in Chicago, the bourbon maker is asking local residents to join in the battle to keep the beloved ballpark's name just as it is.
It became a hit as soon as it opened last fall on the Great White Way. Now playwright Tracy Letts' epic comedy drama "August: Osage County," which was first produced at Chicago's Steppenwolf Theater, can rightfully claim to be the most awarded play on Broadway, after it picked up five Tony Awards, including the Best Play trophy, on top of its Pulitzer Prize earlier in the spring.
At mid-afternoon on Friday, Mike Demaio and his post-production crew at Media Nexus/Chicago were STILL putting the finishing touches on the big rap-off spot starring Cubs manager Lou Piniella and White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen. The commercial is the centerpiece of the first dedicated television ad campaign for the Chicagoland and Northwest Indiana Chevy Dealers Association in nearly a decade.
It's time to think United. No, not the airline. United Way, the philanthropic entity that does good things for so many worthy causes in Chicago.
Lewis Lazare: While every legacy airline in America is slipping and sliding, Southwest Airlines is preparing to use this dark moment in aviation history to cement its position as the pre-eminent domestic carrier -- one that may soon have wireless Internet onboard and several international codeshare airline partners.
Lewis Lazare: The advertising from Michigan and its agency McCann Erickson/Detroit is tops in our book when it comes to state tourism campaigns. But we don't want to leave the impression Illinois and its ad agency JWT/Chicago aren't doing anything to promote tourism. They are, but we can't remember the last time we actually saw an Illinois tourism television commercial on air, even though they do exist.
Lewis Lazare: For more than two decades, Brigid Murphy has been known in savvy Chicago showbiz circles as the creative force behind -- and vivacious star of -- the unique and hugely popular performance art event known as "Millie's Orchid Show."
Just to be clear. Several of the upcoming four commercials featuring Chicago Cubs Manager Lou Piniella and Chicago White Sox Manager Ozzie Guillen do employ stunt doubles that perform many of the activities the presumed best friends enjoy together, including riding a bicycle built for two, jumping rope and walking pooches. The two images that appeared in Monday's newspaper featured the stunt doubles, as does this new bike-riding visual.
Lewis Lazare: We have to give credit, where credit is due. For quite a long time, the folks at the Morton Arboretum have been doing their part to keep kids of all ages engaged in learning about nature. All aspects of nature. And lately that has stretched to include -- ugh! -- bugs in all their creepy glory in an eye-popping exhibition called "David Rogers' Big Bugs."
Lewis Lazare: It promises to be quite the show. White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen and Cubs manager Lou Piniella are teaming up in a new wave of television commercials from Media Nexus/Chicago for the Chicagoland and Northwest Indiana Chevy Dealers Association.
Lewis Lazare: Who knew? Well, maybe you all did. We sure didn't. But we're here to tell you beloved actor and comedian Bob Newhart graduated from Loyola University in Chicago with a degree in accounting. Yes, you read that right. Accounting. Meaning no offense to all you hardworking accountants out there, but that has to be one of the, uh, least scintillating majors one could choose to pursue in college.
Lewis Lazare: McDonald's is revving up an advertising campaign that is intended to whet our appetite for the fast-approaching Beijing Summer Olympics. If a new spot called "Victory" from DDB/Chicago that has begun to air during the NBA Finals is an indication of what's to come in McDonald's' cavalcade of Olympic-themed work, we say "hurray!"
Lewis Lazare: Renetta McCann is stepping down as CEO of Chicago-based Starcom MediaVest Group, one of the world's largest media buying firms, and preparing for a yearlong sabbatical that begins Jan. 1. McCann, 51, will vacate her post immediately, and Laura Desmond, 43, currently CEO of SMG/The Americas, will assume McCann's responsibilities.
The axman has arrived at Element 79/Chicago. As had been expected for weeks, Element 79 began laying off staff Tuesday in the wake of the loss of the huge Gatorade account earlier this spring.
The Dana Hotel and Spa, which opens at 660 N. State on Friday, hopes to carve out a name for itself as a hip boutique hostelry in a city where there is certainly no shortage of hotels of every type vying for travelers's attention (and money).
Renetta McCann is stepping down as CEO of Chicago-based Starcom MediaVest Group, one of the world’s largest media buying firms, and preparing for a year-long sabbatical that begins Jan. 1, 2009. McCann, 51, will vacate her post immediately, and Laura Desmond, 43, currently CEO of SMG/The Americas, will assume McCann’s responsibilities. McCann is one of the highest-ranking African-American executives in the advertising and media services industry.
Lewis Lazare: Suddenly it's everywhere. Advertising for Bank of America, that is. The so-called "Bank of Opportunity" is determined to let Chicago know it's a major player in the nation's third-largest market by flooding media of all sorts with marketing messages -- as if BofA's fire-engine-red signage dotting the urban landscape weren't enough to advise us it has arrived in a big way.
Lewis Lazare: Let us now talk nuts, shall we? Planters nuts to be exact. Planters, a unit of packaged foods behemoth Kraft Foods, decided sometime last year to shift the marketing focus for its iconic nuts brand to men. Research that Kraft conducted apparently suggested men really like nuts much more than a lot of other salty snacks.
Lewis Lazare: The stage is set. The only big question lingering out there is: Can he do it? We'll all know the answer Saturday as undefeated 3-year-old Big Brown makes his run for history in the Belmont Stakes, where he hopes to become the first Triple Crown winner in 30 years. His trainer is certainly convinced Big Brown will win.
