TD Bank Group is offering a seat to people associated with U.S. reality show The X Factor.
The financial services company and its media agency Starcom MediaVest Group have partnered with Bell Media on a new multi-media campaign constructed around the Simon Cowell reality show.
Built with the additional cooperation of Cowell’s production company, Syco Entertainment, and FreemantleMedia, the extensive “TD Making of a Star” campaign features exclusive behind-the-scenes interviews with “mentors” from The X Factor’s crew, as well as weekly on-set contestant interviews (commencing when the live performance shows begin) conducted in the TD Comfort Zone, situated directly on the show’s set.
The 30-second segments, featuring X Factor’s vocal coaches, choreographers and stylists, will open and close with TD branding, while all of the interviewees will be sitting in the comfortable green chair that has been a mainstay of the bank’s brand advertising for the past decade.
The segments will air during the show’s weekly broadcasts and also be shown on Bell Media properties including CTV, CTV Two, Bravo and E! Extended. Interviews will also be posted at a dedicated microsite, TD.CTV.ca. The microsite will also house the CTV personality Twitter feed and additional exclusive content from the set of The X Factor, and will be promoted across targeted Bell Media sites.
Carmen Lago, director of brand partnerships for Bell Media in Toronto, described the program – which launched Wednesday and runs for 13 weeks –as an evolution of TD’s 2010 “Up Close & Comfortable” campaign, a Media Innovation Award-winning program which featured interviews with the creative masterminds behind CTV hits like Lost, Grey’s Anatomy and Desperate Housewives conducted in the TD chair.
“What we looked at is ‘How do we evolve that and tie-in mentorship, advice and guidance,’ so what we had to do is challenge ourselves to think what specific shows that we broadcast offer substantial advice,” she said. “What we found is that mentoring reality shows such as The X Factor were a perfect fit, because they really take average people and turn them into stars,” said Lago.
Viewers using the CTV app during a two-screen viewing experience will also be able to access enhanced content made possible through the app’s “fingerprinting” technology.
When the CTV app detects the TD segment airing during the standard TV broadcast, it will send a notification ad to the mobile device inviting viewers to navigate to the dedicated microsite where they can enter a contest, view longer versions of the on-air interviews and participate in polls.
The program has been in development since January said Lago, but while she characterized it as “cutting edge” she suggested that media companies like Bell would continue to establish new boundaries for what can be achieved from a brand integration standpoint.
“Our clients are always challenging us to come up with out-of-the-box ideas and integrating their brand in a new and fresh way, so we’re constantly trying to push those limits,” she said.
