Manchester : Eight Salford Lads are the stars of a new TV advert on Sky Sports. The advert was commissioned by bookmakers Betfred to support their involvement in Rugby League this season. The advert will be shown at half time during every televised game on Sky Sports.

The eight stars of the advert either work for the Salford City Reds Foundation or used to play for Salford's academy.

The commercial features the tense build up to a rugby league game, intercut with dramatic action. Betfred's Head of Media Mark Pearson is delighted with the advert.

"What was most important was to make sure the advert was realistic because it's hard to recreate the drama of sport. That's why I'm very grateful to Salford City Reds for letting us use the Willows and for providing eight lads who were all outstanding. They were all completely natural and professional in front of camera."

The Head of Salford City Reds Foundation John Blackburn had organised the eight players, "The Foundation was delighted to help, the only problem now all the lads want agents!"

The advert was created by Manchester Design and Post production company, Editz.

"We really wanted to create something with stand out value, something that wouldn't alienate true rugby league fans and something that showed the passion of the game," said Rob Pickard, Editz Creative Director.

Boston : A newly launched advertising campaign from the Boston-based Legal Sea Foods restaurant group is receiving laughs as intended, but also a bit of controversy, as some feel the message goes a little overboard.

Entitled “This Day in Fishing History,” the TV commercials present faux historic footage to accompany individual tales of what happens to those fortunate fishermen who finally succeed in selling their fish to the notoriously picky buyers at Legal Sea Foods.

But while the commercials focus on the fact that only the freshest fish makes its way to Legal Sea Foods, each spot features a side order of dark humor or innuendo.

“The essence of this campaign is that we only select the freshest fish to serve at Legal Sea Foods. Given that, we wondered who would be most pleased by the fact that we are so exacting, besides our dining guests. The answer is: The fishing boat captains who consider it a privilege and a cause for celebration to sell their catch to us,” said Roger Berkowitz, president and CEO of Legal Sea Foods. “The message is serious, but our approach is entirely tongue-in-cheek, and some have expressed their disappointment with our humor.”

In one TV spot, entitled “Houseboat”, Captain C.G. O’Reilly purchased a houseboat to live out his life after achieving his lifelong dream of selling a fish to Legal Sea Foods. The documentary-like narration states that the captain’s life was later tragically cut short when he “went to get the paper, and forgot his house was a boat.”

Another spot, purportedly set in 1964, profiles the fictitious Capt. Earl Melvin who finally catches a fish “good enough to sell to Legal Sea Foods.” Viewers learn that the captain commemorated this achievement by getting a tattoo of an anchor. The narrator then adds that the captain also commissioned a tattoo of “two women riding a dingy…but that was for a different occasion.”

The campaign also includes a number of print ads that are designed to look like real newspaper articles that carry the news of a particular fisherman who has just sold his first catch to Legal Sea Foods. These ads have been appearing in newspapers in Washington, Florida and the New York metro area.

The company indicated that it has no plans to remove any of the commercials from the airwaves.

 The campaign, created by the New York advertising agency DeVito/Verdi, can be seen here at:http://www.fliqz.com/aspx/permalink.aspx?vid=abe4f284f4ac4feb818fe7d25fa8e1d4

Continuing the latest trend in casting employees in commercials, Domino’s Pizza, Inc. , the recognized world leader in pizza delivery, has cast 15 of its team members in the latest Domino’s commercial, “Chefs vs. Accountants”. Of the 15 appearing in the spot, six team members from the company’s accounting and research & development departments have principle roles.

“This new commercial is the latest in a string of spots featuring actual Domino’s employees and store owners,” said Russell Weiner, Domino’s Pizza Chief Marketing Officer. “Ever since our CEO Dave Brandon spoke out about how he felt regarding a cease and desist notice in ‘Burn the letter’ and followed that up by taking his message of The Big Taste Bailout to Capitol Hill, Domino’s staff and franchisees have been featured in TV spots and on-line advertising, including the recent franchisee feud over the Domino’s American Legends specialty pizza line.”

Domino’s is not alone with this trend: Best Buy is using store employees in its spots, FedEx used employees’ real adventures, Microsoft featured users as well as employees in their “I’m a PC” campaign as did Ford with “Drive One” while Intel used employees to illustrate what their rock stars look like (although with the help of an actor).

In Domino’s latest campaign for BreadBowl Pasta and Chocolate Lava Crunch Cakes, we meet Domino’s chefs (who put the lava in the crunchy cakes) and its accountants (whose number crunching made the lava crunch cakes free with the purchase of any Domino’s BreadBowl Pasta at menu price through September 13, 2009) battling it out in front of the camera.

Coalition for the Future American Worker (CFAW ) has launched a TV spot this week reminding the country that 15 million Americans are out of work but our government is still bringing in 1.5 million foreign workers a year via immigration to take American jobs.

CFAW points out that while the country’s economic vital signs are improving, the signs for the American worker are still pointing down. Economists say more Americans are going to lose jobs over the next twelve months in what they’re terming a “jobless recovery.” Swift action needs to be taken to get middle class Americans working again so the recovery isn’t just limited to the affluent with heavy positions in the stock market.

It’s time to put politics aside and start creating jobs for the American worker. The first step is stopping the flow of 1.5 million legal foreign workers a year via immigration to take American jobs. The second step is to make sure all employers are using E-verify, especially any companies performing stimulus money work. The third step is re-instituting worksite enforcement of immigration laws. Enforcement of immigration laws at the worksite is opening up jobs for American workers. Fourth is getting control of our borders so America’s most vulnerable workers can get American jobs instead of illegal foreign workers. The fifth step is stopping discussions of amnesty for illegal workers. Amnesty rewards illegal behavior, puts law breakers in front of those abiding by the law, incentivizes new illegal crossings and overstays, and makes it easier for illegal workers to compete for American jobs.

Inspiring strength in others epitomizes the U.S. Army’s new Officership advertising campaign set to launch August 3. The Army will showcase the vast opportunities it provides its Officers and raise awareness among tomorrow’s leaders of the different paths available to become an Army Officer. The campaign will include ads, web and interactive media and university awareness programs.

“We are emphasizing the fact that Army Officership is a path to lifelong success. We want our prospects to understand that through Army Officership, they gain leadership experience by inspiring strength in others. They also gain tangible skills that can be transferred to virtually any profession – both in the Army and the civilian sector,” said Lt. Gen. Benjamin C. Freakley, commander of U.S. Army Accessions Command.

“Army Officers gain a high level of knowledge and skills to mentor, challenge and guide others to their greatest strength. Today, more than ever, our nation and our world need leaders who will rise to the challenge with the ability to advance their generation into a strong future,” emphasized Lt. Gen. Freakley.

The new TV ads show that Army Officers are trained in a diverse set of challenging experiences through which they develop mental, physical and emotional strength – equipping them to succeed in life and their professional careers. These real-life role models represent different dimensions of success – leadership, service to nation, education and opportunity – and reflect the different paths to Officership. The Officers featured in the TV ads have personally experienced the leadership opportunities that Army Officership provides.

An Army Officer’s goal is to inspire strength in others through leadership while serving the nation. There are four different ways to become a commissioned officer. These paths are the Army Reserve Officers’ Training Corps, the Direct Commission program, Officer Candidate School and the United States Military Academy at West Point. The paths provide high-level leadership, management and communications training and the opportunity for educational funding. Becoming an Officer is an ambitious choice for today’s young leaders who are interested in pursuing or have already completed a college degree.

In addition to TV, interactive media units will intrigue this highly digital audience and direct them to goarmy.com/officer for information and web videos on the paths to Army Officership.

“The Army realizes that our future leaders are constantly online, so the socially connected media are meant to enhance and provide more information to our audience and help them determine which path to Army Officership is best for them,” continued Lt. Gen. Freakley. “These ads will highlight a proven path to success, a path that is not always top-of-mind for potential prospects.”

McCann Worldgroup, the U.S. Army’s marketing agency of record, produced the fully integrated campaign. It is designed to complement the Army’s “Strength Like No Other” campaign which launched in November 2008.

To further raise awareness about Army Officership and the opportunities available, the Army will also conduct Officership panel discussions and information sessions at universities across the country and Puerto Rico throughout fall 2009.

Virgin Media will this week unveil the first television ad for its mobile product since the company formed in 2007. The high production value, 60 second ad will air from 24th June and run for five weeks.

Previous campaigns built a reputation for stand-out mobile phone ads featuring iconic celebrities such as Busta Rhymes, Christina Aguilera and, in a major coup in 2005, Kate Moss, when the world famous supermodel fronted a campaign shortly after a media scandal.

The new ad, the second in Virgin Media’s ‘Powerful Stuff’ series, takes a different twist and features stunning images and a soundtrack that could catapult 90s alternative rock band, Mazzy Star, back into the limelight.

Showcasing the power of the internet on a Virgin Media mobile phone, the ad opens with a man boarding a train. As he sits down and pulls his mobile out of his pocket he is immediately whisked away to be with friends and loved ones and is immersed in a world of music, film and gaming.

Created by Rainey Kelly Campbell Roalfe/Y&R, this new ad continues the impact and sense of wonder captured in Virgin Media’s ‘Powerful Stuff’ campaign. The wistful music of ‘Into Dust’ from Mazzy Star is intrinsic in creating the aspirational atmosphere. 

Ashley Stockwell, executive director of brand and marketing at Virgin Media said, “This is an ad that really packs a punch. We wanted to engage people on an emotional level and show them just how much the mobile internet can bring to them, from social media and music to film clips and games, all for less than the price of a packet of crisps. Bringing our mobile product back to the small screen has been truly powerful stuff.”

The TV ads are part of a multi-million pound media campaign for Virgin Media, which includes TV, print, outdoor and online. 

The first creative elements of the campaign will be seen during the week of June 22 at the Cannes Lions International Advertising Festival, at the John F. Kennedy International, Los Angeles International and London Heathrow airports, and among select international media.

OpenTV (Nasdaq: OPTV), a leading software and technology provider of advanced digital television solutions, and Sigma Systems, an industry leader in Advanced IP Service Fulfillment solutions, today announced they are seeking to accelerate the deployment of advanced advertising through the development of an integrated solution that is expected to allow TV service providers to use subscriber data for addressable ad placement in an on-demand environment. The technology can also be applied to linear television.

Integrated in accordance with the SCTE 130 guidelines, the joint solution will combine OpenTV’s campaign management product with Sigma’s Subscriber Information Service (SIS), which enables audience qualification. The combined solution is expected to allow TV operators’ ad management systems to source subscriber information databases in order to make highly relevant ad placement decisions that yield best-fit ads for subscribers.

“As cable MSOs look to derive more revenues from advertisers, being able to address ads and drive new revenue streams through on-demand or linear TV ad insertion has become crucial,” said Paul Woidke, OpenTV’s senior vice president and general manager, Advanced Advertising. “By partnering with Sigma Systems, we continue to build out relationships and develop joint solutions that ease – and accelerate – the delivery of advanced forms of advertising.”

OpenTV’s campaign management solution enables large cable advertising operations to manage their multi-channel advertising campaigns more efficiently and with minimal resource requirements. OpenTV’s advanced digital TV solutions have been deployed by leading MSOs around the world.

“Sigma Systems continues to lead in the creation of the most robust advanced advertising ecosystem to help TV operators deliver relevant, personalized ads, and better compete against alternative video providers,” said Rick Mallon, vice president of Product Management for Sigma Systems. “Driving interoperability among the advanced advertising players simplifies the ad delivery process for operators. By partnering with OpenTV, we have the ability to extend our audience qualification solution to their broad customer base.”

Sigma’s award-winning service fulfillment solutions are deployed in some of the world’s largest Next-generation Operators for the delivery of IP services, including broadband, digital TV, wireless, and residential and business VoIP. Its Subscriber Information Service provides a federated view of subscribers – including demographic data, services usage and behavioral information – for identifying unique audience qualifiers.

Graduation parties, Proms and last day of school parties mark a dangerous time of the year for South Florida’s Middle and High School children and youth; a time when underage drinking reaches one of the highest levels. The United Way of Broward County Commission on Substance Abuse (UWBCCSA) and The Miami Coalition for a Safe, Healthy and Drug-Free Community (TMC) pooled resources and are asking parents, especially moms, to step up conversations about this issue right now.

UWBCCSA and TMC chose Univision Ch. 23, FOX’s Ch. 7, Univision radio station AMOR, Clear Channel’s Y-100, the Miami Herald’s www.momsmiami.com and South Florida’s no. 1 Haitian radio station WSRF to create spots and air this television, radio and online trilingual campaign. The campaign runs from Monday, May 18th thru Saturday, May 30th.

“Every year during this latter part of the school year, far too many children and youth under 21 years of age are involved in terrible situations with far reaching negative consequences as a direct result of underage drinking,” stated Dr. Joel Kaufman, Vice President/Executive Director of the UWBCCSA. “It is our goal to encourage moms to have conversations and ultimately, to try and reduce the number of tragedies that are directly related to underage drinking.”

The campaign encourages moms to learn how text so they can text their children during the parties, to know who their children’s friends are and to know their parents, to not allow underage drinking in their homes, and to tell their kids they can call home for help no matter what time it is.

“It isn’t inevitable that children under 21 will drink,” stated Doug Hughes, Executive Director, TMC. “Unfortunately, for too many parents, it is simply accepted as a ‘rite of passage.’ Extensive research tells us this is the furthest thing from the truth. And, we also know, moms have the most intimate knowledge about their children’s behaviors. We hope to encourage these much needed conversations.”

Parents seeking information on underage drinking and talking to their kids may call the South Florida Coalition Alliance, the partnership created to serve this regional initiative, at 1-800-334-4568.

HealthJustice will introduce five television ads featuring Mike Farrell (BJ Hunicutt of M*A*S*H, author and activist) advocating Medicare For All, Everybody In Nobody Out. HealthJustice produced these ads with Mr. Farrell speaking to doctors and nurses about single payer Medicare For All health care.

The five ads are showing on national TV, starting with the ad entitled “Don’t Sell Us Short, Mr. President” on Larry King Live and Hardball (first shown 5/2/09.) The ads have continued to play nationwide on BET network, GameShow network, MSN, CNN and others.

This press event will introduce the ads and the people whose personal commitment motivates the advocacy of single payer Medicare For All. Mike Farrell speaks eloquently for human rights with reason and common sense. Margaret Flowers MD put herself on the line when she demanded a seat at the table in Senate Finance Committee hearings. Clark Newhall MD JD founded HealthJustice in January 2009 and pushed hard to produce these ads and air them in less than three months.

The ads are coordinated with a nationwide calling, emailing and faxing campaign to Congress and the White House. As of Friday May 8, the coordinated campaigns have delivered over 25 thousand faxes, 2000 voicemail or live phone messages and countless emails to Congress and the White House, all advocating Medicare For All single payer health care. The fax campaign volume overwhelmed the fax machines in the White House and in the offices of Sen. Baucus and Speaker Pelosi, causing them all to stop receiving temporarily. The calling campaign delivered 500 calls to the White House and Sen. Baucus’ office in one morning. The TV advertisements continue to produce an outpouring of nationwide support for single payer Medicare For All.

The campaigns and the TV ads are funded entirely with donations to HealthJustice, typically less than $100 each. Seed money came from Physicians for a National Health Program and from the Leadership Conference for Guaranteed Health Care.

Absolut defies the recession and presents its first global marketing initiative since Pernod Ricard acquired Absolut Vodka. In mid April, the brand launches “Absolut Hugs” globally, a new visionary TV commercial depicting a world where transactions are paid for with affection and gratitude, rather than currency.

As a part of the “In An Absolut World” campaign that depicts scenes from a more vibrant world as envisioned by the brand, the “Hugs” spot sends a spirit of community, suggesting that “In an Absolut World”, money can be replaced by acts of kindness. It was first shown to 19 million TV viewers in the U.S. during the Grammy Awards presentation. Since then, an impressive number of people have already seen it on YouTube and now the campaign is rolling out globally.

“With Absolut Hugs we became the first-ever spirits brand to advertise at the Grammy Awards. Never before have we reached so many people in such a short time. “Hugs” is a warm, engaging and perfectly timed advertisement, reflecting the mood of our global consumers. The spot was very well received in the U.S., and we look forward to showing it to the rest of the world,” said Matthias Aeppli, Vice President Marketing, The Absolut Company. “It is a demonstration of our confidence that we are launching this global campaign at a time when our competitors are making major cutbacks on advertising. This is our first global campaign under our new ownership, and “Hugs” shows that Pernod Ricard is determined to keep the brand’s long-term focus on creative marketing.”

All shot in Argentina, the spot takes the viewer to eight different countries, showing people all over the world hugging and kissing rather than exchanging money when “buying” groceries and movie tickets or “paying” for bus and taxi rides. During 3 days of shooting, a cast of hundreds exchanged countless hugs in front of the cameras.

“It was a spectacular shoot with an overload of kindness from both actors and members of the crew. The positive theme of the spot created a special atmosphere during the shooting, which can be seen in the behind the scenes movie now being launched at YouTube,” said Jesper Andreasson, Global Manager of Communication Development, The Absolut Company.

“Hugs” was directed by visionary Michael Haussman who previously has directed videos for Britney Spears, Kanye West, Chemical Brothers, Justin Timberlake and Madonna, as well as commercials for adidas, BMW, Coca-Cola and Yves Saint Laurent. Director of photography was Paul Cameron, whose cinematic credits include “Collateral” and “Gone in 60 Seconds”.

Absolut Hugs features a soundtrack especially composed for the ad. When the brand got the chance to premiere the spot on the Grammy Awards, Absolut chose a classic soundtrack by beloved jazz artist Louis Armstrong. The spot was created by TBWA\Chiat\Day and is available in a 30- and 60 sec version.