• by March 15, 2006

"Nashville Star" is the latest NBC Universal property to receive a sizable online presence, as the USA Network ratchets up loads of new digital features to lure fans to the fourth season of the "American Idol"-esque show. The show, which debuted Tuesday, features contestants competing against one another to be the next big thing in country music.

The site (nashvillestar.usanetwork.com) offers visitors the opportunity to download a variety of extras, including tracks sung by the contestants immediately, behind-the-scenes footage from the series, interviews with judges, show highlights, video blogs written by contestants and the show's co-hosts, clips of the 10 best performers who didn't make the final cut, and audition bloopers.

The site's centerpiece is a 2.5-minute music video that invites fans to be the star of the show by uploading their photos into an animated country music character. The quirky video is accompanied by a song, and can be sent to friends via e-mail. The original video, animation, and story concept were created by Glow Interactive, New York, which also was responsible for building a multilevel game to promote the latest season of "Monk," also for USA.

Glow deployed the latest version of Flash to execute the "Nashville" video, which was built from scratch--a trend that has accelerated as media companies and mainstream marketers clamor for sexier and more engaging online presences. "Clients all want something that's different, that's made for the Web, and that's original," said Peter Levin, Glow's president-CEO. "There is no repurposing. Clients are constantly looking for ways to create something that's different and viral."

The custom-created video features an even more unique twist: Jesse Redniss, director of interactive marketing for USA Network, and a musician in his spare time, wrote and performed the featured song. Also, his face appears in the animated cowboy cut-out on the site. "I had a lot of fun with this project," Redniss says, adding, "I was able to take some creative freedom, and Glow was able to translate all of it into a hilarious animated video that really promotes the brand and the advertiser."

Chevy, an on-air and online sponsor of "Nashville," receives top billing as cowboys and cowgirls can tool around the back roads in a Silverado truck during the video. An online promotion also features contestants posing with the Silverado. Coty fragrance brand Vanilla Fields is a sponsor of an online sweepstakes for the series. Wal-Mart, Prilosec, and Cotton Inc. are also on-air sponsors.

"'Nashville Star' is one just one component of myriad pieces that are dovetailing," says Alexandra Shapiro, USA's vice president, marketing and brand strategy. "Our new corporate strategy is shifting the focus from the sites as promotional vehicles to revenue-generating entities. When the shift happened, we needed to create content that was appealing to consumers and our advertisers. We have slowly created compatible sites that have the look and feel of our shows, and content offerings that you wouldn't get on TV."

Shapiro--who is responsible for marketing USA properties "Monk," "The 4400," "The Dead Zone," the "ShowUsYourCharacter" initiative, and the forthcoming "Psych"--underscores that "Nashville" is all about the fans. "We want to drive them online to vote, but we also want them to have the 'Nashville Star' experience. But the bottom line is, we're trying to monetize the site."

As the broadcast and cable TV upfronts loom, Shapiro says NBC Universal will take offline/online integration to a new level. "We can offer in-show integration, spot rotation on-air," among other elements. "We can allow advertisers' sponsorships to live even more online. Our charge is to be able to go to our clients and present a 360-degree branding solution. We want to pitch the on-air and online together, to leverage the on-air reach and translate it to the online reach."

And that reach is growing: Shapiro says that since USA relaunched its sites last July, the average number of page views per user stands at nearly 20, with sessions of more than 8 minutes apiece.

It's not only "Nashville" that caps off a prolific period for USA. The network this week launched the second phase of its Characters Welcome campaign with the multimedia "Show Us Your Character" effort. The push signals NBC Universal's intent to dive headlong into the social networking space by offering fans an opportunity to showcase their idiosyncratic personalities and compete in a contest to find the most unique character in America. The effort is supported by a Web site where people can upload their "characters"--videos, pictures, and profiles. The winner will be featured in a documentary-style on-air video, and featured in a movie trailer.

Consumer-generated content from all manner of "characters" is a logical next step for USA and NBC Universal. "ShowUsYourCharacter is an incubator--it's where content can start," Shapiro observes, adding: "if we find fascinating characters, we can migrate them to our air through fictional or non-fictional interpretations."