Bob Dylan will star in a new multi-platform campaign for the 2008 Cadillac Escalade that integrates his XM Radio show, "Theme Time Radio Hour." The campaign, which began yesterday, highlights XM as a standard feature in the Escalade through TV, online and print. Coinciding with the campaign’s launch, Dylan’s show, which offers an eclectic mix of music based around a weekly theme, will include a "Cadillac"-themed episode, premiering 10/24.
Creative includes a The:30 second television spot titled "Detour" and an online video vignette as well as a 30-minute sample preview of the "Cadillac" episode of Dylan’s XM show are available at xmradio.com/dylan-cadillac, and soon at mycadillacstory.com and cadillac.com. Creative features Dylan behind the wheel of a Cadillac driving across a remote desert listening to XM. Print and online will begin running in November.
RBR/TVBR observation: Now we can see, more and more, the ways satellite providers can score ad dollars on their "commercial-free" music channels. Of course, traditional radio has far more latitude to do so than the satellite folks, but this is the sort of "different" campaign clients and agencies are looking for than the standard spot.
As well, now that the HD Radio Alliance has opened up the multicast channels to advertising in 2008, "ground floor" pitches should be being made now for clients to "own" some or all of these channels.
