• by Karl Greenberg , April 10, 2008

It's all about the content for global sponsors of the seventh Tribeca Film Festival (TFF). American Express, Snapple, LG Electronics, Verizon, iShares and Yahoo are some of the global brands backing the 12-day festival in New York City with pod-, broad- and web-casts, branded forums, events and awards.

The festival, which starts April 23, was founded by actor Robert DeNiro and his partners, Jane Rosenthal and Craig Hatkoff. It has had about 2 million attendees since its inception, with yearly attendance rising from 150,000 in 2001 when the festival began to 500,000 last year, according to John Patricof, COO of the festival's production and media company, Tribeca Enterprises. "From all tallies we have done, the reach is actually over 4 billion, in terms of awareness," he says. "We have become a top-tier film festival."

Patricof says the top-tier sponsor list is also growing. This year, he says, there are 12 returning and 5 new top-level, or Signature, sponsors. He says the multi-year sponsors include General Motors (Cadillac), Delta Airlines, Apple, Bloomberg, NBC and The New York Times. "We are working with more and more sponsors to integrate both their on-site physical sponsorships with digital and traditional media extensions."

New sponsor mutual fund company iShares will sponsor screenings of four independent films that the festival will curate, as well as interviews with cast and crew, including Sissy Spacek and Melvin Van Peebles. "IShares is capturing that content," says Patricof. "The programs allow our partners to connect with our audience at events and extend content out more broadly."

Founding sponsor American Express will sponsor a video series of director and filmmaker interviews, premieres, and panel discussions at americanexpress.com/tribeca.

Verizon will do likewise with footage available to Verizon Wireless V Cast and FiOS TV subscribers, while Yahoo will have a festival microsite. The Independent Film Channel will cover the festival on-air and at IFC.com.

And Jameson Irish Whiskey is creating mini movie theatres at international airports around the world, where people can view festival highlights.

Several companies will have their brands on venues, booths and lounges around the city during the 12-day event. American Express will have an "Insider Center" at the Union Square Ballroom. There, customers who flash their cards can attend master classes, roundtable discussions with directors, casts and crew, film personalities and critics, and private short film screenings. As it has in the past, the company is sponsoring info booths at Union Square and Tribeca hubs.

Ongoing sponsor Target will have a Target-Tribeca Filmmaker Lounge for filmmakers, industry and press; General Motors will have the Cadillac Lounge, an after-party lounge in which filmmakers, industry members and press will gather to celebrate the premieres of select festival films. In addition, Cadillac will transport VIPs by providing a fleet of Escalades.

New sponsors LG Electronics and Snapple will promote products: the former its LCD HDTV line; Snapple its Antioxidant Waters as a co-sponsor of the Tribeca Drive-In and with product tastings at Tribeca's Family Festival Street Fair.

Finally, several brands have their names on awards. Amex has title sponsorship of Best New Narrative Filmmaker and Best New Documentary Filmmaker; Delta Airlines hosts the World Narrative Features competition; L'Oreal Paris has the "Women of Worth 'Vision' Award"; and Target the "Target Music Maker Award."