• by Wayne Friedman , June 23, 2005

Turner Broadcasting System has paired its "Very Funny" network-wide marketing campaign with ice cream retailer Baskin-Robbins, setting the stage for its next big effort--bringing TNT's "We Know Drama" campaign together with a major marketer.

"We have some plans," said Chris Eames, senior vice president, Turner Entertainment and Sports Ad Sales, Sponsorship and Marketing, who wouldn't go into detail. "We are talking to many brands about these types of relationships."

The deal with Baskin-Robbins is a first for the TBS "Very Funny" marketing campaign, which has been in effect for a year. Typically, Turner cable networks do marketing deals for specific programs. Recently, TNT did one campaign with Audi of America, who sponsored the commercial-free premiere of the network's new drama, "The Closer." Also this summer, Bacardi Silver is doing a marketing partnership with "Sex in the City" on TBS.

The TBS/Baskin-Robbins deal focuses on a summer campaign devoted entirely to July, called the "31 Days of Funny." The marketing program features co-branded TBS/Baskin-Robbins promotional spots that will show clips from TBS comedies and movies.

These spots drive viewers to TBS.com to enter the "31 Days of Funny Sweepstakes." The grand prize winner receives an "Everybody Loves Raymond" family adventure to a Florida theme park.

"In the summer months, we are about mood elevation and levity and character-driven comedy, and Baskin-Robbins is all about mood elevation and levity," said Eames. "We felt that the brands fit very well."

Eames says Baskin-Robbins made a hefty media buying component for the deal--but he wouldn't go into details. "We wouldn't do these kinds of deals unless there was a significant relationship," he said. Media marketing experts suggest the paid media component of the deal is value of between $2 million and $3 million.

Baskin-Robbins will do much in-store signage in its 5,400 store locations. This includes scratch-off game cards that offer classic quotes from sitcoms' characters, and reveal whether the cardholder is a winner of a Baskin-Robbins ice cream prize.