'Idol' Sponsors Coke, Ford, AT&T Paying More

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.

Link to BrandWeek Article

Ford's Film Deal Puts Company In The Driver's Seat

FORD MOTOR HAS INKED A multi-year product-integration and promotional deal with Robert L. Johnson, founder of BET, and Harvey and Bob Weinstein, founders of Miramax.

The effort gives Ford exclusive automotive product integration in Our Stories Films, a joint venture between Johnson and the Weinstein brothers. Ford will use the venture to promote Ford, Lincoln and Mercury, and its Jaguar and Land Rover brands to African-American and urban consumers via product placement and cross-promotions with the studio's film releases.

The first Our Stories Films project to feature a Ford vehicle is "Who's Your Caddy?" starring rapper Big Boi, which premiered Saturday and features Ford-brand Land Rover's Range Rover.

The association between Ford and Our Stories was brokered by Ford's urban-market agency, UniWorld, Detroit. But the agency did broker the appearance of Range Rover in "Who's Your Caddy?" which pre-dates the new alliance.

Ford says that the deal goes beyond one-off product placement, in which a studio needs a vehicle for a scene and acquires one through a Hollywood vehicle-placement agency. In this, the integration of Ford vehicles into story lines early on means Ford reviews scripts well before production to decide which vehicles match a story and then negotiates Ford vehicles into movie story lines.

UniWorld Group will collaborate with Ford and Our Stories Films to place the vehicles and develop the Ford marketing strategy around each featured film.

The arrangement between Ford and Our Stories Films also includes the kind of sponsorships, advertising that uses film assets, consumer and dealer promotional opportunities, merchandising and other media options that are typical of such deals.

The strategy is not new to Ford or to other automakers--Volkswagen's multi-year relationship with Universal is one example. Several have moved toward multi-year relations with studios in an effort--often risky--to ride the coat-tails of a film's (hoped-for) success by assuring their cars will be more than just set props. Ford, which has had several of its Aston Martin, Jaguar and other vehicles in recent films, has pursued that strategy since it founded its Global Brand Entertainment Group in 2005.

The group became a Tinseltown entity that year when Henry Ford's great-great-grandson and independent movie producer, Al Uzielli, opened a product-placement office for Ford in Beverly Hills. Uzielli now serves as senior advisor to the group. Others in the L.A. office are Bob Witter, Ford Global Brand Entertainment Manager; Brian Daly, senior partner at J. Walter Thompson, Ford's agency of record; and Ross Mackenzie, also of JWT.

Myles Romero, former director of Ford Global Brand Entertainment, who oversaw Ford's brand-integration efforts from Dearborn, Mich., left the company last week to become vice president of strategic marketing and entertainment alliances at Borders Group.

Among other deals, the group inked a multi-year deal between Ford and Revolution Studios that got a Lincoln Navigator a central role "Are We There Yet," and "Are We Done Yet," starring Ice Cube, and in "Johnson Family Vacation," starring Cedric the Entertainer. The Aston Martin DB 9, Land Rover Range Rover, and a Jaguar S TYPE, were in the NBC show "Studio 60." Ford's Fusion car was in "Evan Almighty," starring Steve Carell, and "Man of the Year," starring Robin Williams. Ford's Edge, as well as Expedition SUV and Shelby Mustang, will have major roles in the forthcoming Will Smith vehicle, "I Am Legend."

Wes Brown, automotive marketing analyst at Iceology, Los Angeles, says that product integration, at least of the old-school kind, is problematic because it is difficult to track and gives marketers little control. "To have some product placement in a movie, and expect immediate gain is obviously not realistic, beyond boosting awareness," he says. "It is useful in helping image management in some regard, whether maintaining or supporting the brand or vehicle's image."

He says the long-term deals that automakers ink with studios reduce at least some of the variables associated with putting one's product in someone else's creative hands.

"With long-term deals, arguably, I should be able to have some control over how the product and brands are presented and used," he says. "Product placement is fine and dandy, but if it's not integrated right it comes off as worse than an ad. Long-term deals allow more seamless integration with regard to product placement. That will enhance consumers' feelings regarding that brand, because they will recognize it, but won't think of it as a sales job."

Link to MediaPost Article

Automakers Look to Develop Their Own Versions of Bud.TV

Toyota, Audi, Ford Build Media Channels and Video Podcasts in Pushes to Attract Younger Consumers

By Jean Halliday

Published: July 09, 2007

DETROIT (AdAge.com) -- Automakers are taking a page -- albeit a smaller and wisely less ambitious one -- from Bud.TV and getting into the content game with their own broadband media channels, podcasts and newsletters.

A music-focused podcast from Ford has been downloaded 51,000 times since it launched in February.

While the auto industry has been talking about wanting to adopt a pull-marketing strategy for the past five years, it's better able to do so now that U.S. broadband penetration has passed the 80% mark. The media content is meant to drive awareness and affinity, as well as work 24/7, for what are most often youth-skewing brands.

Toyota's Scion brand is expanding the offerings on its six-month-old broadband channel accessible via scion.com. This month the marketer added "The Skinny," a video newsletter about its events and on-the-road reports from Slick Rick about what's hot in select U.S. cities. One recent newsletter included a feature on a Chicago merchant selling cool sneakers.

Jeri Yoshizu, sales-promotion manager at Scion, said her target is young consumers who live in smaller cities but still want to know what's happening and hip. She is using e-mail to get the word out about "The Skinny."

Audi dives in
Meanwhile, Germany's Audi launched its own German- and English-language broadband TV channels in Europe last month at tv.audi.com, an expansion of its 2005 digital TV Audi channel, which reached more than 7.6 million households in the U.K.

On the site, visitors anywhere in the world can pick from videos about culture, sports, lifestyle or technology; reports from a "live" channel; and on-demand information about Audi design and motor sports.

"We regard Audi TV as an innovative communications channel that operates like a TV channel but which also reflects the merging of traditional TV broadcasting with the internet," said Audi's Hans-Christian Schwingen, who heads marketing communication. Audi of America isn't promoting the broadband site here from its parent, a spokesman said.

Joseph Jaffe, president of Crayon, a marketing-innovation agency and a self-described Audi loyalist, said it's a shame Audi of America isn't promoting the site. "This Audi channel is a gold mine," he said.

Jeri Yoshizu, sales-promotion manager at Scion

Ironically, this broadband strategy by the auto industry, America's biggest ad-spending category, is heating up in the backdrop of a heftier TV upfront. But Mr. Jaffe said TV has gotten "a brief reprieve at best," noting that these broadband channels need to be supported by mass media to generate awareness and buzz.

MyCadillacStory.com
That's what General Motors Corp.'s Cadillac brand did earlier this year, using national TV and print ads to promote customers and curious prospects to a site at mycadillacstory.com. The marketer invites brand loyalists to send photos or essays about their Cadillacs to the site, which also offers short documentaries on celebrity owners.

Ford Motor Co.'s content approach centers on music. It has teamed with iTunes to offer free, downloadable music videos at the Apple-owned site as well as at fordvehicles.com to build awareness with 30-something, newlywed professionals for the Ford Edge crossover. The automaker tapped River Rock Music, San Francisco, to recommend artists for monthly podcasts and handle approvals. WPP Group's Wunderman produces the video podcasts, which will continue for seven months. The more than 51,000 downloads since the podcasts started in February have exceeded expectations, said Dave Finnegan, marketing manager of the Ford Edge.

Ford's presence is limited to a brought-to-you-by mention and its blue-oval logo. "We don't want to get overly commercial in this space because we don't want to do anything to turn off our customers," Mr. Finnegan said. "We don't want to make this an intrusive experience."

"It's not about reaching most people," said Mr. Jaffe. "It's about reaching the best people or the right people."

Link to AdAge Article