TORONTO – CanWest is bringing Wii to the "Are You Smarter Than A Canadian Fifth Grader" party as part of its program integration, product placement, and associative branding elements of its new show, a copy of the successful U.S. version on Fox.
The new partnerships are aimed at "maximizing advertising opportunities throughout the casting period and during the broadcast," says a press release.
Calling it "a collaborative ‘dream team’," that "has blazed a new trail in content integration for promotion of Nintendo’s Big Brain Academy: Wii Degree, viewers will definitely know their Wii from their PS3.
The team includes Nintendo Canada, Starcom, CanWest MediaWorks, Insight Productions and Mark Burnett Productions, which have together created a package of integration elements.
Throughout the five special episodes of "Are You Smarter Than A Canadian 5th Grader?", fans nationwide will see a potentially dizzying mix of campaign elements.
“Our goal was to find and build on the perfect opportunity for Nintendo to reach its key demographic to encourage and guide families in the quest to exercise their brains and smarts,” said Shauna Chan, strategy director, for media buyer Starcom, in the release. “We saw ‘Are You Smarter Than A Canadian 5th Grader?’ as a natural fit with the Big Brain Academy: Wii Degree and all it’s potential to reach families in that crucial learning and interactive setting.”
As presenter of The Global Television Canadian 5th Grader Kid-Casting, Nintendo’s Big Brain Academy: Wii Degree will showcase a large presence at the children’s casting, including a Big Brain Academy Zone complete with on-site Wii systems from Nintendo to allow kids and parents to interact with the game in preparation for their auditions.
Throughout the Kid-Casting tour, www.globaltv.com will provide all of the excitement of the show online by streaming updates from the Big Brain Academy Warm Up Zone and providing a behind-the-scenes look at the casting process.
“We were immediately captivated when Starcom shared this strategic opportunity with us,” said Nintendo of Canada vice-president and general manager, Ron Bertram. “It’s been a great experience and we’re delighted to showcase the social, competitive fun that Big Brain Academy: Wii Degree can offer to Kid-Casting participants, the Grade 5 panellists, and to viewers all across Canada during the broadcast.”
During the broadcast of "Are You Smarter Than A Canadian 5th Grader?", audiences will be introduced to the Nintendo program through direct broadcast integration. For example, ‘5th Grader’s’ pivotal $25,000 question will be branded the “Big Brain Academy Question”, and the show will include other hallmark features of the game.
“We are very pleased that all the partners understood the opportunity we were looking to create and immediately shared the same vision for the campaign,” said Gaye McDonald, vice-president, marketing ventures – brand partnership, CanWest MediaWorks. “For CanWest, the real excitement came in the incredibly collaborative, creative and trusting approach this team took, allowing us to move very fast out of the gate to make creative and effective decisions and roll out what we anticipate will be one of the premier campaigns this year.”
