• by Fern Siegel , April 9, 2010

Young & Rubicam has joined with Fox Sports Net to develop original client-sponsored programming. The debut project is with wireless provider Cellular South. The agency is working with other clients to create similar shows.

The genesis for the TV series "Head to Head " grew out of a successful 2009 branded entertainment campaign for Cellular South. "Head" follows two rival Mississippi high-school football teams as they navigate the 2009 season. The 12-episode show, which begins April 12, also highlights the coaches, schools and community participation. It airs nationwide on FSN affiliates, reaching more than 85 million households.

Cellular South has a presenting sponsorship each time it runs on FSN. This includes two presenting sponsor billboards and two ad units. Cellular South also has certain rights to use the content online to drive Web traffic and sales.

Since Cellular South and Y&R were program partners from inception, they jointly decided how best to maximize content to drive business, such as online usage, point of purchase, etc.

Tony Granger, global chief creative officer, stated: "Our ultimate goal is to create entertaining content with broad national appeal, but with special appeal to the target prospects of an individual client." In Cellular South's case, the audience is customers who passionately follow major Friday night high-school football.

"Partnerships like this allow us to share intellectual copyrights and revenues," said Granger, "while engaging consumers and providing our clients with multiplatform opportunities that help them achieve their business goals."

Young & Rubicam and FSN will work with Home Team Sports, FSN's affiliate network partner, to secure advertisers for HS football integration opportunities cross-platform.