Sara Lee Stars In Satellite Radio Promo

For two days this month, Sirius Satellite Radio will offer all 75 of its channels free over the Internet to guests who sign on to listen to fare from the likes of Howard Stern and Martha Stewart.

Beneficiaries of the two-day promotion (on Oct. 25 and 26) will include Sara Lee Food & Beverage--the latest blue-chip marketer to sign on with Sirius, which also counts Procter & Gamble, Panasonic, Heineken beer and Sony among its advertisers.

No. 2 Sirius is locked in head-to-head competition with XM Satellite Radio, which this week launched a new brand campaign that asks "Are you on?" XM, which twice this year has lowered its forecast for subscriber growth, says it signed up 285,000 subscribers during the most recent quarter, while Sirius added more than 441,000 subscribers. XM now claims nearly 7.2 million subscribers. Sirius--which positions itself as "the best radio on radio"--has added more subscribers than XM for four straight quarters, and says it has 5.1 million subscribers.

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To pump up the number of subscribers, Sirius also said it would provide listeners with the option of paying a monthly fee of $12.95 to play its 75 channels over the Internet without having to purchase a separate receiver. XM radio already streams its 70-plus channels on the Internet for $7.99 per month.

As part of its deal with Sirius, Sara Lee will promote "The Joy of Eating," the tagline of its first corporate cross-brand marketing campaign, which launched in August. That's also the name of the contest it will promote in ads and on specific programs featured on Martha Stewart Living Radio through Nov. 10.

Meanwhile, Sara Lee is looking for Martha radio to incite more conversation about how food plays a central role in our lives. Listeners will be asked to submit recipes featuring Sara Lee products and stories about how food enhances their lives during the daily talk show, "Whatever with Alexis & Jennifer," hosted by Alexis Stewart and Jennifer Koppelman Hutt. Recipes, photos and the stories will be featured on the Joy of Eating Web site, and the best of them will be singled out with a prize.

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