There’s nothing like a little corporate synergy to make a promotion really sing.
Ford Motor Co. used a tie-in with Columbia TriStar’s Dawson’s Creek TV series to gain a music hook for its new Focus compact, which is using a variety of trendy alliances (Ricky Martin, for instance) to reach Echo Boomers and Generation X’ers (October promo).
The deal included sponsorship of the “Concert on the Creek,” an event held Nov. 13 in Wilmington, NC (where the series is shot) and featuring Paula Cole, Shawn Mullins, Tal Bachman, and Wood – most of whom appear on the million-selling Songs from Dawson’s Creek soundtrack, and most of whom also come from Columbia parent Sony’s music stable.
Ford gave away 300 trips for two to the private concert via radio call-in contests in 43 markets and through its focus247.com Web site, which also broadcast the event live for Dawson’s diehards who didn’t win a trip. TV spots and print inserts in Entertainment Weekly, Rolling Stone, and People pitched the Web cast, the CD, and the car. J. Walter Thompson, Detroit, handled.
Ford liked the Dawson’s connection because of the chance it offered to plug into both the series and music. “It’s a good target audience for us. The fans are very loyal, and it’s a loyalty we’d like to engender in our products,” says Bill George, manager of Ford Division public affairs. The effort “ties in with an overall arrangement we have with Sony” that will include work with other TV and music properties and a program at Loews Theaters, he notes.
The contest attracted more than 36,000 entries in the first two weeks, a number that made the folks at Columbia TriStar Television “happily impressed,” says Paula Askanas, senior vp of media relations and promotions.
Ford and Columbia followed up the concert with a watch-and-win contest inviting viewers to go online and answer questions about the Nov. 24 episode for a chance to win a Focus.
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