Nortel Networks is launching an estimated $30M campaign
featuring an "eclectic list of celebrities," including U.S.
Gold Medalist Michael Johnson and Stars C Joe Nieuwendyk,
according to Todd Wasserman of ADWEEK. The campaign's
"initial print ads" ask, "What do you want the Internet to
be?," and the "answers are supplied" by the endorsers.
Nieuwendyk, for example, answers, "Something to do in the 83
minutes of off-season" (ADWEEK, 9/27 issue). In Ottawa,
Bert Hill reported that Johnson's answer is, "Something that
can keep up with me" (OTTAWA CITIZEN, 9/28).
MOSS SIGHTING: In St. Paul, Don Banks reports that
Vikings WR Randy Moss "shot his portion of an upcoming"
Jordan Brand spot in N.Y. last week. The ad, which also
features Michael Jordan, is Moss' first TV spot for Nike and
is scheduled to air in November. Meanwhile, Moss' "Magical
Crunch" cereal is slated to debut in stores in MN and WV
this Sunday (ST. PAUL PIONEER PRESS, 9/29)....In N.Y., Marc
Berman reports that Knicks G Latrell Sprewell's civil trial,
"stemming from a highway car wreck" in CA in April '98,
forced him to cancel this week's scheduled shooting of an
AND 1 ad (N.Y. POST, 9/29)....Phillies RF Bobby Abreu filmed
a Pepsi ad for Venezuelan TV at Harbor Yard, a minor league
ballpark in CT. Abreu dressed in a blue Pepsi uniform for
the Spanish-language ads, which will appear in Venezuela as
part of Pepsi's national campaign (CT POST, 9/28).
YOUNG GUNS: Sergio Garcia's agent, Jose Marquina,
reached a deal with IMG "to help in certain areas of career
development" (GOLFWORLD, 10/1 issue)....Anna Kournikova was
asked in the recent POV whether her agency, Advantage Int'l,
is presenting her as "more of a tennis player than maybe [a]
sex symbol" as part of a "conscious effort" on her part:
"Not at all. I just think the media has tried to make it
look that way, not me. It was just overexaggerated. I'm
still the same person I was before" (POV, 10/99 issue).
