Toyota Motor and News Corp.'s Fox network plan to announce that they have cut an extensive deal for the auto company to sponsor -- and be featured in -- a spinoff series for mobile phones of the hit drama "Prison Break." Toyota, as part of the cross-platform deal, also will sponsor exclusive content for a Web site dedicated to the program and get ad exclusivity in several episodes in May as the series nears its season finale.
The development of TV shows for mobile phones is in its infancy in the U.S., but the Toyota deal takes the nascent industry to a new level. It establishes a potentially useful paradigm for how TV companies might set up integrated marketing deals at a time when advertisers are clamoring for opportunities to buy space on new-media platforms.
"Toyota hasn't really been on the radar screen for many young people, so it was really important to do something to get their attention," says Jim Farley, vice president of Toyota marketing. "The campaign is part of Toyota's bid to shed some of its utilitarian image and embed more personality into its cars. Indeed, Toyota describes the Yaris as "cheeky."
This is Fox's second major foray into TV shows for cellphones. Last year, the company trademarked the term "mobisode," for an episode of a TV show shown on a mobile phone, when it released a companion series to its hit show "24" called "24: Conspiracy."
The development of TV shows for mobile phones is in its infancy in the U.S., but the Toyota deal takes the nascent industry to a new level. It establishes a potentially useful paradigm for how TV companies might set up integrated marketing deals at a time when advertisers are clamoring for opportunities to buy space on new-media platforms.
"Toyota hasn't really been on the radar screen for many young people, so it was really important to do something to get their attention," says Jim Farley, vice president of Toyota marketing. "The campaign is part of Toyota's bid to shed some of its utilitarian image and embed more personality into its cars. Indeed, Toyota describes the Yaris as "cheeky."
This is Fox's second major foray into TV shows for cellphones. Last year, the company trademarked the term "mobisode," for an episode of a TV show shown on a mobile phone, when it released a companion series to its hit show "24" called "24: Conspiracy."