• by David Goetzl , April 23, 2009

In the latest example of a network looking to build viewer retention during breaks, the CW is launching Dove-sponsored vignettes during "Gossip Girl." The 90-second pieces hope to offer somewhat real-life versions of the series.

Tabbed "Gossip Girl: Real NYC Stories Revealed," they will begin airing April 27 during the last four episodes of the show this season. The vignettes are slotted in the last commercial break of each.

The content, produced in part by Dove marketer Unilever, features four real women who have lived in the "Gossip Girls" Manhattan setting, although they appear to be slightly older than the show characters. They provide some insight into the challenges they face post-private school, as twenty-somethings with their lives and loves.

The content for each will extend online to a Dove-branded site, as well as cwtv.com.

Dove, which is using the interstitials to plug a new body wash, is hoping the content will serve as an inspiration for young women. It pushes the message that success can come without placing so much pressure on themselves.

Dove Marketing Director Kathy O'Brien said the "Gossip Girl" link is rooted by the strong ratings the show enjoys among twenty-something women, while the women's stories focus on those "who have taken risks to pursue their own life passions."

The effort is an extension of Dove's five-year-old campaign for "Real Beauty," which it says aims "to make more women feel beautiful every day by widening stereotypical views of beauty."