POLITICO.com’s Cheney & Hohmann reported the Obama administration is planning an “ad blitz to push health coverage” during NBC’s telecasts of the Sochi Games. The Department of Health & Human Services yesterday confirmed that it has “bought advertising time in markets with high rates of uninsured people." An HHS official said that the ads will be "aimed at young uninsured people and their families.” HHS said that ratings for typical primetime and sports programming “dip during the Olympics, so the administration moved some of its paid media budget to the NBC Olympic inventory to maximize viewership.” The agency “declined to specify the size of the ad buy” (POLITICO.com, 1/7).
MOTHERS' DAY: ADWEEK's Emma Bazilian wrote P&G's new "Thank You, Mom" ad entitled "Pick Them Back Up" is "as warm and fuzzy as it gets." Whether or not viewers have "actually been a parent, it's pretty hard not to get a little misty" about the spot, which was made by Wieden + Kennedy. The ad "has all the essential ingredients for a successful heartwarmer." The two-minute video "will make its TV premiere on Sunday during the Golden Globe Awards" (
ADWEEK.com, 1/7).
AN OLYMPIC FIRST: Kashi has launched its first Olympics-themed ad campaign, featuring U.S. cross-country skier Kikkan Randall. The company during the Games will air 15- and 30-second versions of the "Kikkan versus Kikkan" ad. The program marks Kashi's inaugural partnership with the USOC and the first time an athlete has been featured on one of its products, with Randall highlighted on limited-edition GoLean cereal boxes (Kashi).
STANDING OUT IN THE CROWD: The apparel SOCOG staffers will wear during the Games was discussed on CBS Sports Network's "Lead Off" last night, with CBS' Tony Luftman calling the clothing “miserable” and saying it looks like it is "sponsored by Skittles.” CBS' Doug Gottlieb said, “It looks like they're in paintball or somebody had Skittles and then spit it out all over them. I actually kind of think it’s cool.” Luftman noted he would prefer something that “looks less like rainbow sherbet.” Gottlieb: “If you're staff, you want to have something that sticks out so that if somebody needs something they're like, ‘Got to find a staff guy. There’s a guy that looks like somebody that had Skittles spit out on them’” (“Lead Off,” CBSSN, 1/7).
