Coca-Cola, Ford and AT&T are back again as the three main sponsors of Fox's megahit American Idol, but it’s going to cost them.
The three are forking over roughly $35 million each for the opportunity to be featured in America's most watched TV show, as well as air commercials during Idol, post online content and run off-air co-branded marketing programs.
The $35 million price tag is up slightly from the estimated $30 million the sponsors spent last season, but the advertisers are likely to get an even better return on their costly investment than they had hoped for. With the writers strike having shut down production on most original scripted programming, Idol—which premieres Tuesday night—is expected to be an even bigger ratings juggernaut than ever.
As far as this season's integrations, Ford, Coca-Cola and AT&T will for the most part be repeating their in-show performances from years past, with a few new revisions in either content or products featured.
Ford, which will again be featuring its vehicles in music videos with the final 12 contestants that air during the show, will be seeking to incorporate its Ford Escape Hybrid into the program this season. While the final details of Ford's integration have not yet been decided, Ford will give away Hybrids to the two top finalists instead of the Ford Mustangs it has awarded in years past.
"As all of Hollywood and the world is going green and looking at more environmental initiatives, I wouldn't be surprised to see more involvement creatively from the Ford Escape Hybrid in American Idol," said Bob Witter, Ford global brand entertainment manager.
Ford is also planning to heavily promote its new crossover vehicle the Ford Edge in this season's Idol as well as its new Sync voice-activated communications and entertainment system for mobile phones and digital music players, which was developed with Microsoft.
Coca-Cola will be back with its branded cups on the judges' table, the Coca-Cola red room where the Idol contestants are interviewed by host Ryan Seacrest and hang out backstage, and Coke graphics on the LCD flat screen that sits behind contestants on stage as they are being interviewed by Seacrest.
Coca-Cola spokeswoman Susan Stribling said the red room will be refreshed with some new design elements and the flat screen images on stage will be updated as well with "Coke Side of Life" graphics.
AT&T, which is believed to reap the greatest benefits of all the partners from its sponsorship of the text message voting every week, as well as Idol downloads, ringtones and even video of bad auditions and performances last year, is expected to be back with very similar on-air and off-air elements to its campaign. "We're delighted to be back," said AT&T spokesman Mark Siegel. "It's a great partnership and sponsorship for us."
While the writers strike may deliver stronger ratings than ever for Idol, Ford, Coke and AT&T—all major network advertisers—are losing out overall, with the strike causing ratings shortfalls in other shows in which they may be running spots or be integrated.
Nestle is also back for the second year as an off-air promotional partner. Other off-air partnerships are expected to be announced in the coming weeks. Last year, Fremantle lined up six promotional partners including McDonald's, Samsung, Pringles and Dreyer's, all of whom are believed to have paid over $1 million for the rights to feature Idol branding on their packaging, products and marketing programs.
This year, Nestle announced an on-pack "Idol Elimination" game promotion offering fans the chance to win $1 million if they correctly choose who will be eliminated each week from the top 24 contestants. Specially marked packages of Nestle candy bars will feature a code that allows fans to play the game online at www.americanidol.com.
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