A herculean effort
ADVERTISING | Bank of America Olympic spots not quite gold-medal caliber
The cheering -- we have no doubt -- is just beginning. But with a corporate name like Bank of America, it makes sense that the giant financial institution -- now a major presence in Chicago -- would want to get in on all the Olympic hoopla earlier rather than later. Which is probably why BofA is among the corporations that have begun doing their Olympic marketing thing well ahead of the games' opening ceremonies next month in Beijing.
BofA's Olympic advertising thrust -- devised by BBDO/New York -- is built around the theme "if you cheer, they'll hear." "They," in this case, are the athletes representing America at the 2008 Olympics on the other side of the world. A peppy BofA commercial insists America is the kind of country that loves everything the Olympics represent. To prove its point, the commercial is pretty much a cavalcade of scenes featuring flag-waving and pompon-pumping Americans coupled with some lively voice-over that underscores the cheering theme. But BofA also has found a way to connect its financial interests to those of Americans interested in the Olympics by encouraging viewers to run out and get an Olympic-themed BofA credit card and then use it. Because each time a card is used, BofA will make a contribution to America's Olympic team.
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BofA certainly isn't hiding its desire to increase use of its credit cards in this Olympic spot. But at least it's done a reasonably good job of cloaking brazen bottom-line interests in a commercial that celebrates our love for all things Olympic and, particularly, the American athletes who will be striving to bring honor and glory to our country.
Designkitchen/Chicago has been acquired by Wunderman, the world's largest marketing services network, part of the WPP Group. Designkitchen clients include Coventry Health Care, Oprah's Angel Network and Motorola. Under terms of the sale, Designkitchen will operate under its own brand name and retain its management team, led by founder and CEO Sam Landers.
Chris Komisarjevsky has joined Edelman as strategic adviser to President and CEO Richard Edelman. Previously, Komisarjevsky was worldwide president and CEO of Burson-Marsteller. He also taught crisis management at Boston University after retiring from B-M. Komisarjevsky joins Edelman as the firm announced 18 percent growth for the fiscal year ending last month. With a staff of 3,200 worldwide, Edelman increased its revenues to $445 million.
The 2008 St. Pauli Girl, Irina Voronina, will visit Chicago on Wednesday and Thursday. The multi-lingual Voronina will be signing posters and making promotional appearances at various bars and pubs in the Wrigleyville neighborhood, as well as Binny's in the South Loop and several bars and liquor stores in Forest Park.
Kraft is getting into the garbage and recycling business. The packaged goods behemoth is paying schools and not-for-profits to collect garbage such as used drink pouches, energy bar wrappers, cookie packaging and other detritus. The collected materials will be upcycled by a firm called TerraCycle and transformed into products such as drink pouch pencil cases, totes, backpacks and umbrellas sold at outlets such as Office Max, Target and Walgreens.
Maddock Douglas in Elmhurst has been named agency of innovation by the Des Plaines-based Sterno Group. The partnership includes branding and marketing initiatives.
Carol Jouzaitis has joined Hodge Schindler Integrated Communications/Chicago. Jouzaitis previously was vice president of public relations at Slack Barshinger/Chicago after serving a stint as vice president of corporate communications for Chicago-based travel Web site Orbitz. She spent the first 20 years of her career as a financial journalist.