Digital, Mobile, Social Media Combine for TV Program Promo
Gail Chiasson, North American Editor
New York-based Zoom Media and Marketing and VH1, the MTV-owned channel on all things pop culture, are promoting the VH1 program The Great Debate via a 10-day groundbreaking interactive initiative that involves audience participation via TV broadcast; VH1.com; Twitter; Facebook; Viacom’s massive 44 1/2′ HD screen in Times Square; and close to 400 screens of Zoom’s resto/bar network of digital screens..
The Great Debate features irreverent discussions about the classic pop 
culture arguments of our time, with topics including Star Wars vs. Star Trek, Rocky vs. Rambo, Boxers vs. Briefs, Ginger vs. Mary Ann and more. The program gives viewers the ability to directly participate in the debates through real-time text messaging at Zoom’s nightlife locations in the US, as well as at the Viacom Times Square screen, and via Twitter and Facebook.
“The integrated campaign has been developed to be totally seamless,” says Dan Levi, Zoom’s senior vice-president of digital media.
The interactive platform connecting The Great Debate, social networks and the out-of-home screens, is provided by LocaModa, a company at the forefront of extending interactive media beyond the Web.
Wendy Weatherford, VH1’s vice-president of consumer marketing and promotion, says, “As our audience multi-tasks and time shifts, we are finding ways to reach and engage them wherever they are. Zoom Media’s locations deliver upscale, social young adults who are seeking interactive entertainment, and LocaModa’s platform enables us to have a multi-channel dialogue that was never before possible.”
“This combination of mobile and social programming across broadcast and out-of-home channels is an industry first,” says Levi. “It is a terrific example of integrating multiple media platforms in a way that engages consumers both in and out of their homes, while creating significant awareness and buzz.”
July 9th, 2009 at 14:19 @638
Not wishing to be a pedant, but isn’t that really 44 1/2 ‘ (foot) as opposed to ” (inches)?