Talbots joins a few other advertisers who are also targeting the non-Super Bowl crowd, such as cable news channel MSNBC and Internet brokerage firm DLJdirect.

The Talbots campaign, which was developed by Arnold Communications, a unit of Snyder Communications, with Talbots in-house creative team, also ties into a weekend sweepstakes at 400 of Talbots's nearly 700 stores. Talbots is giving away prizes including a $1,000 shopping spree and gift certificates.

``We just wanted to create something fun as an alternative,'' says Margery Myers, a spokeswoman for Talbots, based in Hingham, Mass. The campaign is primarily aimed at Talbots's core shoppers, women between the ages of 35 and 55.

Talbots isn't the only company trying to cash in those who don't care for the Super Bowl, which will be carried this year on ABC. Cable news channel MSNBC had 12 hours of women-oriented programming Sunday to ``provide an alternative to folks who aren't interested in the Super Bowl,'' says Cameron Blanchard, a spokeswoman for MSNBC, which is owned by General Electric and Microsoft.

MSNBC ran women-themed episodes of its `Time & Again' show, hosted by Jane Pauley, from noon to midnight Sunday Eastern time.

The show also uses NBC news archives for biographies or historical retrospectives. Sunday's programming highlighted "Screen Queens," with shows-each being broadcast twice-that profile Elizabeth Taylor, Cher, Barbra Streisand, Judy Garland, Madonna, and Marilyn Monroe.

MSNBC is promoting the lineup with commercials on MSNBC as well as GE's NBC and CNBC networks. The spots don't explicitly mention the Super Bowl, Blanchard says, but still aim to draw an anti-football audience looking to avoid a day of nachos, beer and pigskin.

With football's overwhelming male audience, women represent the most likely candidates for advertisers to take interest in other activities. But DLJdirect is pitching online trading as an alternative to the game - for men or women alike - if the action doesn't live up to the hype.

DLJdirect, which is majority-owned by investment bank Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette, broke a television and newspaper ad campaign Wednesday touting special no-commission trading on Sunday.

``If the game gets boring, you can trade stock,'' says Jonathan Bond, co-chairman of Kirshenbaum Bond & Partners, which developed the campaign.

Bond says instead of spending $2 million on a Super Bowl ad, DLJdirect decided to offer free trading. The ads ask: ``Why invest $2 million on one ad this Sunday when we could invest it in you?''

Bond wouldn't say how much the campaign is costing, but says: ``It's a lot less than a Super Bowl spot.'' Commercials started airing on television last night; print ads will run in the New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, and USA Today.

--The Asian Wall Street Journal