Smallville
Invites Fans To Prepare For Justice and Doom!
Tonight
at 8PM (ET) at www.cwtv.com/justice,
the Smallville Legends: Justice and Doom
interactive campaign will begin.
This
"immersive online game," sponsored
by Toyota Yaris, will explore many facets
of Smallville lore and it sounds like
it will be a lot of fun for all involved.
Here
is the press release:
WARNER
BROS. TELEVISION GROUP, THE CW AND TOYOTA
LAUNCH “SMALLVILLE LEGENDS: JUSTICE AND
DOOM,” A MARKETING
CAMPAIGN FOR THE HIT SERIES “SMALLVILLE”
First
Integrated, Transmedia Campaign Developed
Around Innovative
Content Wrap Advertising Format
Elements
Include On-Air Content Wraps Produced By DC
Comics,
Immersive Online Game, Mobile Alerts, Clue
Drops,
National Sweepstakes and More
Burbank, Calif. and Torrance, Calif. (April
19, 2007) – The Warner Bros. Television
Group, The CW Network and Toyota Motor Sales
(TMS), U.S.A., Inc. are joining forces on
a five-week integrated marketing and promotional
campaign in support of the hit series “Smallville”
(airing Thursdays at 8:00 p.m. ET/PT on The
CW), featuring the Toyota Yaris, it was announced
today by Lisa Gregorian, Executive Vice President,
c Worldwide Marketing, Warner Bros. Television
Group; Rick Haskins, Marketing and Brand Strategy,
The CW; and Kim McCullough, Corporate Manager
Marketing Communications, Toyota.
The extensive “Smallville Legends: Justice
and Doom” campaign will commence with
the return of original episodes of “Smallville”
on April 19 (today) and run through the season
finale on May 17. The heart of the initiative
is a series of custom digital on-air comic
book interstitials produced by DC Comics that
will air in the form of Content Wraps on The
CW during “Smallville.”
Launched
with the premiere of The CW in September 2006,
content wraps are an innovative new advertising
format that brings compelling content into
the entire length of the commercial break
and takes the place of typical spots. Each
content wrap is custom designed to appeal
to different demographics of the network’s
schedule. Every content wrap to date has produced
approximately 100% audience retention or better
out of the program it was scheduled around.
“Smallville Legends: Justice and Doom”
marks the first time a fully integrated, transmedia
program has been developed around the content
wraps.
Each
content wrap will drive viewers to an immersive
online game at www.cwtv.com/justice (launching
at 8 PM ET/5 PM PT today, April 19), which
will present players with five challenges
related to the last five “Smallville”
episodes of the season. Via cutting-edge video
techniques, a mysterious figure appears on
screen to guide players through the completion
of each puzzle. Marketing elements of “Smallville
Legends: Justice and Doom” will include
a cross-carrier mobile campaign, street-team
distribution of game clues in selected cities
and a national sweepstakes for a chance to
win a 2007 Toyota Yaris.
The
campaign will feature the Toyota Yaris subcompact
vehicle. The Yaris audience is made up of
die-hard pop culture fans and loyal followers
of cult shows like “Smallville.”
The integrated storytelling experience of
the content wraps and game will give them
more of the exclusive content they crave.
It will answer unexplained questions from
the entire run of “Smallville,”
detail the back story behind a major plot
line, explain the secret history preceding
the formation of Oliver Queen’s team,
and reveal the perilous mission it has been
tasked with. The Yaris has already made many
appearances on “Smallville.” One
of the main characters, Chloe Sullivan, drives
a Yaris.
In an extraordinary show of collaboration,
the show’s producers and writers, the
network, DC Comics, Toyota and Toyota’s
ad agency, Saatchi & Saatchi LA, worked
closely together on the creation of the multiplatform
campaign. The team created a seamless world
between fantasy and reality by cross pollinating
elements of the show and the campaign. For
instance, a gadget previously seen on the
show appears in the real world via the clue
drops. In one episode, the content wrap even
carries the “Smallville” storyline
from commercial break to commercial break.
“We
are excited to be partners with Toyota in
this multiplatform brand enhancement experience
for ‘Smallville,’” said Lisa
Gregorian. “We are committed to creating
unique and compelling experiences for the
fans of our shows and our network, The CW.”
“Our
viewers crave cutting-edge promotions that
delve deep into the world of our shows, and
this campaign is guaranteed to deliver,”
said Rick Haskins. “We expect ‘Smallville’
fans to love the new game, and embrace the
entire, comprehensive multi-platform package.”
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“The
independent-spirited Yaris audience
loves digging deep into TV shows like
‘Smallville,’” said Kim
McCullough. “We’re inviting
them to engage with this interactive
storytelling experience in order to
reveal new and surprising details of
the show’s mythology.”
With realistic portrayals and award-winning,
state-of-the-art special effects, “Smallville”
reworks the Superman lore from its roots.
The series stars Tom Welling, Kristin
Kreuk, Michael Rosenbaum, Erica Durance,
Allison Mack with John Glover and Annette
O'Toole. “Smallville” was
developed for television by Alfred Gough
& Miles Millar (“Herbie Fully
Loaded,” “Shanghai Noon”
movies, “Spider-Man 2”), based
on DC Comics characters. The executive
producers are Gough & Millar, Mike
Tollin, Brian Robbins, Joe Davola (all
three from “One Tree Hill,”
“The Bronx Is Burning,” “Norbit,”
“Wild Hogs”) and Ken Horton
(“The X-Files,” “Millennium”).
Superman was created by Jerry Siegel
and Joe Shuster. The series is from
Tollin/Robbins Productions, Millar/Gough
Ink and Warner Bros. Television.
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About Warner Bros. Television Group:
A division of Warner Bros. Entertainment,
the Warner Bros. Television Group (WBTVG)
is an industry leader in the production and
distribution of television and motion picture
content. WBTVG consists of five production
divisions (Warner Bros. Television, Warner
Horizon Television, Telepictures Productions,
Warner Bros. Animation and Studio 2.0), three
distribution entities (Warner Bros. Domestic
Television Distribution, Warner Bros. Domestic
Cable Distribution and Warner Bros. International
Television), and The CW Network, the new fifth
national broadcast network, co-owned with
CBS Corporation.
About The CW:
The CW Network, which is owned jointly by
CBS Corp. and Time Warner, Inc., consists
of a six-night, 13-hour primetime lineup including
Monday through Friday nights from 8:00-10:00
p.m. ET; Sundays from 7:00-10:00 p.m. ET;
Sunday from 5:00-7:00 p.m. ET outside of prime
time as well as a Monday-Friday afternoon
block from 3:00-5:00 p.m. ET and a five-hour
Saturday morning animation block. Altogether,
the new network programs 30 hours a week over
seven days. For more information, visit www.cwtv.com.
About Toyota:
Toyota
Motor Sales (TMS), U.S.A., Inc. is the marketing,
sales, distribution and customer service arm
of Toyota, Lexus and Scion in the United States,
marketing products and services through a
network of 1,427 Toyota, Lexus and Scion dealers
in 49 states. Established in 1957, and currently
celebrating its Golden Anniversary in the
US, TMS and its subsidiaries also are involved
in distribution logistics, motorsports, and
research and development.
