Path: bloom-picayune.mit.edu!snorkelwacker.mit.edu!news.media.mit.edu!americast.com!usa-post Newsgroups: usa-today.ads From: usa-post@AmeriCast.Com Organization: American Cybercasting Approved: usa-post@AmeriCast.com Subject: ads Mon, Apr 27 1992 Date: Mon, 27 Apr 92 05:41:46 EDT Message-ID: 04-27 0000 DECISIONLINE: Advertising USA TODAY Update April 27, 1992 Source: USA TODAY:Gannett National Information Network HAMMER PITCHES FOR KFC: A new TV ad for Kentucky Fried Chicken has rap star Hammer dropping into the fictitious town of Lake Edna to try Honey BBQ chicken. Hammer also endorses Pepsi for KFC's parent Pepsico. The ad was directed by Ernest Dickerson, director of the movie "Juice." KFC has traditionally used celebrities to introduce new products, including Magic Johnson, Ray Charles and Ella Fitzgerald. (For more, see special Hammer package below.) MAGIC SIGNS WITH SKYBOX: Earvin "Magic" Johnson has signed his first endorsement deal since disclosing he has tested positive for HIV, Advertising Age reports. He has signed a two-year contract with SkyBox International trading cards. Skybox in June plans a $15 million spot TV, radio and print campaign starring the former NBA basketball star. `LOVE IS HELL' TO BEGIN PILOT: Wednesday, Jay Sandrich of "The Cosby Show" directs the pilot for his next CBS sitcom. It is a romantic comedy tentatively titled "Love Is Hell," starring Susan Dey and Jay Thomas in an odd-couple relationship. Dey is a just-divorced restaurateur and Thomas is a Jimmy Breslin-like columnist. VAN DYKE COULD HAVE WEEKLY SHOW: CBS will air Friday night its second TV movie of the year starring Dick Van Dyke as Dr. Mark Sloan, a combination teacher, detective and doctor. If the ratings are high enough for "The House on Sycamore Street," the concept will likely be turned into a weekly show next Fall on CBS. REYNOLDS SELLING QUAKER STATE: Burt Reynolds is pitching Quaker State motor oil. With motor oil, like vodka, "it's difficult to stand out" on product attributes alone, says George Newall, creative director at Grey Advertising, Quaker State's ad agency. "Most of the oils are made to government specifications. You're always looking for minute differences in the product to sell." AD-LIB USED IN COMMERCIAL: The Quaker State motor oil ads with Bert Reynolds show off both Reynolds 1957 Thunderbird and his self-mocking humor. In one, Reynolds says he was asked to be the spokesman because he's tough - then worries, "You don't think it's because they think I'm oily?" The line was an ad-lib, says creative director George Newall. "I wouldn't have dared write that." POWERADE TO TAKE ON GATORADE: Coca-Cola says it is ready to take on Gatorade. PowerAde sports drink arrives next month in four Southern cities - Birmingham Ala., Chattanooga, Tenn., and Augusta and Savannah, Ga. - and will slowly spread nationally. Coke says its massive distribution network and the power of its name - which is mentioned in a PowerAde TV ad - will give it an edge against Quaker Oats' Gatorade. LEVI GOES WITH DEKTOR: Spike Lee, who directed the Levi 501 "Button your fly" campaign for the past two years, has been replaced by Leslie Dektor for a 501 campaign breaking in July, Advertising Age reports. Dektor directed the "501 Blues" ads from 1984 to 1988 and the "Levi 501 USA" ads in 1989. Levi's ad agency is Foote, Cone and Belding. MEDIATECH MAKES DEAL: Mediatech, a Chicago-based commercial distributor and Scientific-Atlanta have signed a deal to jointly distribute ads via satellite-fed digitally compressed signals. Although final financial terms are still being worked out, the system is planned to begin delivery in early 1993. TEEN SAFE DRIVING ADS TO AIR: Public service announcements will begin airing nationally this weekend to launch Liberty Mutual Insurance Group's national teen safe driving program, Avoiding Collisions. The program is being sponsored in conjunction with Students Against Driving Drunk and the National Safety Council and will be available nationally in mid-May. SPECIAL PACKAGE ON HAMMER: HAMMER GETS $25 MILLION: Rap star Hammer's $25 million deal with Kentucky Fried Chicken includes sponsorship of his "Too Legit" tour. Colin Moore, Kentucky Fried Chickens' senior vice president of marketing, says Hammer has "tremendous crossover appeal" between whites and blacks and "a way to add some excitement." HAMMER VISITS LAKE EDNA: In the ad, Hammer visits the fictitious town of Lake Edna. The town that was created epitomize what advertisers have seized on as the theme of the '90s: "an overall movement ... back to more traditional values and way of life," Moore says. "We want it to be the place that gives everyone fond memories of a place they've been to or would like to be or can envision." (End of package.) Advertising Editor: Ed Kelleher. (1-919-855-3491) Making copies of USA TODAY Update (Copyright, 1992) for further distribution violates federal law. This article is copyright 1992 Gannett News Service. Redistribution to other sites is not permitted except by arrangement with American Cybercasting Corporation. For more information, send-email to usa@AmeriCast.COM