In a double-edged promotional ploy, TV Guide is publishing a special booklet to create buzz for Fox TV’s “Prison Break” featuring twin tattoo ads with images of the Toyota Yaris.
The 16-page collector’s booklet includes two, two-page ads that depict good and evil imagery tattooed on the front and back of a man’s torso. The ads are intended to reflect the prison architectural blueprints tattooed onto the body of the character, Michael Scofield. Images of the new Toyota Yaris liftback and sedan models are woven prominently into the tattoo schemes, along with the Toyota logo.
TV Guide’s in-house marketing team worked with Toyota and its agencies, Saatchi & Saatchi LA and ZenithMedia to develop the customized images in the booklet, which will be featured in the magazine’s Oct. 8 issue. Toyota is the sole sponsor of the booklet.
“Everybody who knows the show knows that the tattoo is the key to the premise of the show. Creating the Toyota tattoo was a fun way to celebrate the brand and its relationship to the program,” said Pete Haeffner, TV Guide publisher.
TV Guide’s creative team came up with the good and evil tattoo concept, according to Haeffner, who said Toyota and its agencies gave TV Guide a lot of creative latitude.
In addition to the two two-page tattoo ads, the booklet’s back cover features a co-branded Toyota/Fox Break On To the Set sweepstakes promotion. Five sweepstakes winners will get a free trip to the Prison Break set in Dallas for a behind-the-scenes experience and lunch with writers and producers of the show.
The special insert, touted as a collector’s booklet on the magazine’s cover, provided the opportunity to develop content that would not have otherwise made it into the magazine. The booklet features an overview of the series’ third season, profiles of the characters and an interview with series star Wentworth Miller.
“It allows us to create a greater editorial package to deliver to our readers that we ordinarily couldn’t fit into the magazine,” Haeffner said.
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