Weather Channel, Nissan Team Up on “Epic Conditions”
The Weather Channel is looking to build a franchise of “Epic Conditions” with Nissan as sole sponsor of the show on air and online.
The new 10-episode season about extreme sports in extreme conditions, now shot in high definition, debuted on Oct. 1. The series, which has an online vacation sweepstakes tie-in, will air in an early access strip through June, bringing back the five episodes from the series debut earlier this year. Clips from the series will also be accessible via broadband at www.weather.com/epic.
An “Epic Escapes” sweepstakes offers viewers a chance to win a trip to one of three “Epic Conditions” locales, including Alaska, Hawaii and Yosemite Park, CA. The sweepstakes can be entered once daily per person on the Web site, with three winners to be selected at random through October. The winners also receive Panasonic digital camcorders to chronicle their experiences and reproduce them on the web site.
“We look at it as a way to give consumers a chance to interact with our brand,” said Paul Greenberg, TWC director of consumer marketing, “ and we wanted to provide an opportunity for people to go to those locations and perhaps have those experiences.”
So viewers will have a chance to surf on mammoth waves in Hawaii or go snow boarding in Alaska, producing a viral video effect with clips they’ll being back for The Weather Channel’s broadband site.
“We’ve been in an evolutionary phase,” said Greenberg. “This is way to bring to consumers everything that weather is about.”
The vacation sweepstakes concept was developed in-house. OMD helped put together the solo sponsorship deal with Nissan. Nissan sponsored “Epic Conditions” when it debuted as a special in the spring, before it evolved into a series.
“We thought it was important to take this out to one of our premiere sponsors,” said Matt Hays, TWC director of ad sales marketing. It’s part of a strategic effort by The Weather Channel to develop bigger sponsorships with exclusivity.
The series is naturally aimed at a younger demographic. The cable network will track its performance over the next several months, but the current forecast is for a return engagement next season.
