When it comes to sponsoring content, the 30-second commercial is no longer enough.
Marketers these days talk about being tied to programming in new ways that provide more options for consumers to remember who is bringing them their favorite shows.
Many of these deals involve sponsoring extra content, including outtakes and other non-broadcast material, online spinoffs or character blogs that help fans forge deeper connections with their favorite shows. The marketer hopes to piggyback on that connection to forge a link to a very engaged viewer.
When the marketer is Verizon Wireless, though, it has an additional tool because it can deliver content to its customers without going through a TV screen or a computer monitor. Content comes through mobile phones and other devices directly through its Vcast video service.
On the other hand, for a programmer, bringing a Verizon on board can mean not just cash but additional ways to reach viewers while promoting a show.
In a new deal, Verizon is partnering with Fox and the Warner Bros. Television Group on an integrated marketing partnership promoting Fox series “Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles,” which premiered this week.
The promotion connected the launch of the series with mobile, digital on-air, cable and off-air components.
The push kicked off with a “Get Terminated” mobile market-to-market tour making its way through New York, Los Angeles, Philadelphia, Boston, Dallas, Washington, D.C., Phoenix, St. Louis, San Diego and Charlotte, N.C.
In each city, teams distribute branded premium items and try to get fans to board a Verizon-branded bus to film an action scene opposite a Terminator using green-screen technology. The video shot on the bus can be sent to the fan’s e-mail or Verizon Wireless phone, or shared by posting it on social-networking sites such as MySpace, creating a viral marketing message.
After the series launched on Fox, Verizon Wireless Vcast subscribers began to get access to exclusive material from “Sarah Connor Chronicles” produced specially for mobile.
Vcast also is hosting a game based on the show. Each week Verizon Wireless customers will use clues given during the broadcast to access the game via their mobile phones to solve the puzzle.
Fan who play the game get content not available elsewhere, including ringtones, wallpapers, behind-the-scenes footage and the chance to enter a sweepstakes.
Vcast subscribers get exclusive access to sneak peeks and recaps before and after each episode. Another feature is “Director’s Takes,” vignettes about the creation of the show that are shot on location and designed to reveal little-known aspects of the series’ production.
The material is designed to draw fans deeper into the show and its mythology.
At part of the deal, Verizon Wireless co-hosted with Fox a red-carpet premiere for the show.
Online, Verizon will be the sponsor of a micro-site on Fox.com that will offer unique content tied to the series.
On Fox’s cable network, FX, Verizon will promote its association with “Sarah Connor Chronicles” during upcoming telecasts of the theatrical “Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines.”
“Partnering with Verizon Wireless enables us to align the natural synergies between a high-concept series and the capability of Verizon Wireless’ cutting-edge technologies,” said Jean Rossi, executive VP of sales for Fox Broadcasting Co. and president of integrated sales and marketing for Fox One.
Jon Lafayetteis a reporter for TV Week, a sister publication for RCR Wireless News. Both publications are owned by Crain Communications Inc.
