• by David Goetzl  @dgoetzl, July 26, 2006

Hewlett-Packard has signed on for a multi-tier ad package on Rainbow Media's AMC network covering the third quarter. Under the deal, HP will attach its brand to interstitials with trivia questions focusing on the intersection of music and technology. The spots will run in AMC's "Sunday Morning Shootout," a half-hour show with industry vets Peter Bart and Peter Guber dissecting hot topics in the entertainment world.

The HP-sponsored trivia segments will also run in prime time.

HP gets an added promotional boost as a sponsor of the show on tune-in spots, billboards, and AMCtv.com. At a time when ad skipping via DVRs haunts major advertisers, marketers are increasingly looking for ways to attach their logos and taglines to on-air promos. The conventional wisdom is that viewers are less likely to fast-forward through them.

Arlene Manos, Rainbow's president of ad sales, says her unit is looking to craft ad opportunities allowing "simple and efficient brand messages."

HP's deal with AMC includes a second attempt to circumvent DVRs and short viewer-attention spans. Quick voiceovers promoting HP's message--"the computer is personal again"--are woven into billboards over a four-night period (Aug. 15-18) in AMC's prime-time movie block.

In a similar initiative, part of Ford's deal as "presenting sponsor" of AMC's June mini-series "Broken Trail" included a brand presence in 30- and 60-second tune-in spots, as well as print ads.