• by Amy Corr  @MediaPostOTL, July 11, 2005

Inside TV, the latest weekly entertainment magazine to hit the shelves, put the celebrities on the back burner (don't expect to see that again) and your "Average Joes" up front for a recent campaign consisting of a mall tour and a viral component.

The nationwide mall tour offered fans the chance to win a walk-on role on NBC's "Medium" and UPN's "Girlfriends." Contestants read a brief scene from a script and had their auditions recorded in front of a green screen, transporting the wannabe actors to the studio set of the two shows. Three thousand participants auditioned for the walk-on roles across ten markets.

Inside TV posted the auditions on InsideTV.com, where participants could view their performance and forward it to a friend.

"Approximately 13,000 unique visitors went to InsideTV.com and sent their audition videos to 5,000 friends," said Stacy Hirschberg, marketing director of Inside TV.

Renegade Marketing Group oversaw the Inside TV account for this campaign, but what did participating TV shows obtain?

"Partner networks received on-site signage (including tune-in information) as well as pre-event promotional acknowledgement through Inside TV's three-week radio campaign in each of the 10 markets," Hirschberg said.

In addition, banner ads for each TV show ran on the introduction and closing screens each time an audition was viewed.

The magazine promoted its double issue, "The 50 Sexiest Men on TV," by deploying street teams to take pictures of people enjoying Fourth of July celebrations in various markets.

Consumers were then given a card driving them to InsideTV.com to retrieve an image of themselves on an Inside TV cover featuring "The 50 Sexiest TV Fans."