• by Wendy Davis  @wendyndavis, September 2, 2005

Car manufacturer Chevrolet's sponsorship of America Online's upcoming online reality show "The Biz" will involve a wide variety of ads and promotions, including pre-roll video spots, standard banners, co-branded pages, and product placement within the show, AOL said Thursday. AOL also is expected to announce that a wireless company has signed on as a sponsor.

The deal, which runs through November, marks a continuation of Chevrolet's sponsorship of music on AOL. Chevy, which is promoting its HHR (heritage high roof) on "The Biz," also has been a major sponsor of "Sessions"--another AOL music feature--for the last six months.

For "The Biz," in which contestants compete for the chance to run a record label, players will travel by Chevy HHR when their tasks require transportation, said Jim L'Heureux, vice president for sales development at AOL Media Networks. "We're also talking about how we can create some of these challenges that will more specifically involve vehicles themselves," L'Heureux said.

The video pre-roll ads, consisting of 15-second repurposed TV spots, typically run before every third video, said L'Heureux. The creative agency was Detroit, Mich.-based Campbell-Ewald, part of the Interpublic Group of Companies.