NBC, Chevy meshing gears for Olympics mini-movie
Posted on: Sunday, 8 January 2006, 21:55 CST
By Gail Schiller
LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - NBC and Olympic sponsor Chevrolet have produced a "mini-movie" that will promote the network's coverage of the upcoming Torino Winter Games while integrating Chevy vehicles.
The mini-movie will premiere during Monday night's episode of "Las Vegas," which will feature cameos by some of the same Olympians and tie its own story line to the content of the mini-movie just before it airs.
After its "Vegas" premiere, the 2-1/2-minutes mini-movie will screen in more than 10,000 theaters from January 13-February 9 -- the day before NBC broadcasts the opening ceremony. It also will be cut down to 60-second promos to run on NBC.
NBC said it is the first time in its 40-year history of broadcasting the Olympics that athletes will make a primetime cameo appearance before the games. Playing themselves in "Vegas," 2002 Olympic snowboarding halfpipe gold medalists Kelly Clark and Ross Powers and Olympic hopeful and U.S. Open champion Gretchen Bleiler are seen in the show's Montecito Resort & Casino being sought out by three fans who also star in the mini-movie.
Then, in typical "Vegas" style for scene transitions, the camera swishes to Torino for the mini-movie, which features Clark, Powers and Bleiler along with alpine skiers Erik Schlopy, Ted Ligety and Julia Mancuso; freestyle moguls skier Toby Dawson; and snowboard cross rider Seth Wescott.
NBC said it is taking time from programing, on-air promos and commercial spots to broadcast the mini-movie, which is being viewed as a marketing partnership between NBC and Chevrolet and did not require the automaker to pay product-placement fees or premiums beyond its Olympic ad buy on the network.
This is the second time NBC and Chevy have produced a mini-movie integrating Chevy vehicles to promote the Olympics. They teamed for a similar venture for the 2004 Summer Olympics, but that mini-movie was seen only in movie theaters and did not involve integration into an NBC show.
Reuters/Hollywood Reporter
Source: REUTERS
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