As one of its first initiatives for new client Hanes Canada, Toronto-based StarCom MediaVest added a front-page wrap to today’s issue of Metro. It also hired cadres of underwear-clad young men to hand out the free daily in downtown Vancouver, Montreal and Toronto.

Mind you, in a seasonal concession, the newsboys-for-a-day are wearing branded Hanes undies as outerwear. Their mission is to get $1-off coupons into consumers’ hands to encourage them to try ComfortSoft Underwear, a new technology that wraps elastic waistbands in combed cotton.

The Hanes initiative also includes inserts containing fabric swatches and discount coupons in the December issues of Coup Pouce, Reader’s Digest and LouLou Shopping Guide. Creative for the Metro wrap was done in-house at the newspaper, and Reader’s Digest developed the creative for the participating magazines.