Procter & Gamble Co. is putting a new, more energetic face on its Cover Girl cosmetics franchise with TV commercials starting this week.
The TV campaign and a follow-up print effort this spring stress Cover Girl as a brand. Previous ads stressed specific Cover Girl products, like a foundation or lipstick.
The ads highlight some new, younger Cover Girls to appeal to the 12-to-18 set, and they try to make the brand ''more active, more lively, more fun,'' P&G spokeswoman Kimberly Stewart said.
''Everybody in cosmetics has made this such a serious business, talking about technology like it's some cure for a disease,'' Ms. Stewart said. ''We're trying to put the fun back in it.''
P&G also would like to put a little more profit back in it, too.
Last year, Cover Girl slipped as the top-selling cosmetics in dollar volume, though it is still indisputably the biggest seller in unit share. On dollar volume, Cover Girl has about a 20.6 percent share, second to the new No. 1, Revlon, which has 21.1 percent, according to Information Resources Inc.
Trade magazines predict that Cover Girl will spend about the same as competitors like Maybelline, with a $70 million ad budget. P&G won't discuss the size of the campaign except to say it's the largest in years.
Ad agency Leo Burnett, meanwhile, has been given a similar mission to enliven Procter's smaller U.S. cosmetics brand, Max Factor.
The current Max Factor's campaign stresses the brand's Hollywood heritage, showing various movie makeup artists that have relied on Max. ''We will clearly focus more on women and beauty than on the makeup artists,'' Ms. Stewart said.
Last week, P&G began shipping the latest Max Factor product, a moisturizing lipstick called LipSilks.
Raco software locates, pictures golf courses
Raco Industries, a small Cincinnati software and bar-coding company, aims to triple its sales driven by a new CD-ROM series that combines two of the country's favorite passions: golf and the Internet.
The product showcases golf courses in a given city, including a location map, pictures, the scorecard for each course and other course-specific information, such as directions and cost.
So far, the company has CD-ROMs available for Cincinnati, Dallas-Fort Worth, San Antonio-Austin, Texas, and the Houston area and one in the works showcasing the top 100 courses in the country.
Advertisers, namely pro shops, can pay to have the CDs custom-made to include their advertisements.
Rob Adams, Raco vice president of marketing, said he has begun negotiating with a few major travel agencies and real estate offices to advertise on and distribute the CDs.
Browsers can also download course information from the company's World Wide Web site http:// www.cdsalesman.com
Mr. Adams founded Raco as a bar-coding company eight years ago and gradually moved into software development. From $2 million in revenue last year, he forecasts sales expanding to between $5 million and $6 million this year.
List of this year's Addy winners, Part II
Following up last week's column, here are other award winners from the Advertising Club of Cincinnati's annual Addy's event:
George Tassian Organization, one gold, two silver; Anthem Blue Cross & Blue Shield, one gold, one silver; Sanger & Eby, one gold, one silver; Kling Marketing, one gold; Leap Ministries, one gold; Lightborne Communications, one gold; Plankton Design, one gold; PPS Inc., one gold; Freedman, Gibson & White, three silver; Paradigm Communications Group, three silver; Backley Gingrich Tobe, two silver; Flynn, Sabatino & Day, two silver; Hensley Segal Rentschler, two silver; Libby Perszyk Kathman, two silver; Lipson Alport Glass & Associates, one silver; Liebel & Co., one silver; Scribner, one silver; and Sound Images, one silver.
P&G realigning ad agencies in Japan
Procter & Gamble, effective June 1, is realigning advertising agencies for three Japanese health and beauty care brands: Vicks cough and cold products; Clearasil skin care; and Milton anti-bacterial infant care products.
Vicks will be handled by Tokyo Agency International/D'Arcy, Masius, Benton & Bowles; Clearasil is assigned to Leo Burnett Kyodo; and Milton will be managed by Dentsu Kansai, which has previously managed P&G's anti-bacterial soap Muse.
McCann Erickson, which previously handled the brands, will continue to handle Colac, a laxative sold in Japan.
Ad cetera . . .
Roberts Advertising has been named agency-of-record for the 36th annual Homearama by the Home Builders Association of Greater Cincinnati. Roberts also will handle media plans for Citirama '97 this summer. . . . Fisher Design is redesigning the packaging for the Murray cookies line owned by President Baking Co. . . . Mann Bukvic Gatch Partners has created a radio/print campaign for The Rouse Co.'s mall-to-mall tour of a Rolling Stones photo exhibit. . . . Carole Walters, senior vice president and director of media for Northlich Stolley LaWarre, will present two classes next week to MBA students at Cornell University. The topics: media in the 21st century, emerging technologies for interactive communications and how to build brand equity in cyberspace.
