• by Karl Greenberg , October 3, 2007

Toyota is pitching its Yaris compact car through a deal with Fox Broadcasting, and TV Guide around Fox's series "Prison Break," the third season of which premiered on Sept. 24. The effort centers both online and in the Oct. 8 edition of TV Guide, which will also contain a 16-page "Prison Break" collector's booklet, of which Toyota is sole sponsor.

The effort includes advertising that exploits a basic tenet of the show's plot: the incarcerated Michael Scofield, who is planning the eponymous escape, is the architect who designed the prison, and has had the plans for the prison tattooed upon his body. Toyota's gatefold ads in the insert don't show the car, but a man's torso--on which scenes of good and evil, in which Yaris is the central image, have been tattooed.

The faux tattoos in the campaign were drawn by Tom Berg, who also does the tattoos on the show's star, Wentworth Miller, who plays Scofield.

The Yaris liftback and sedan are featured, and a third ad on the back cover of the booklet touts a sweepstakes called Toyota/Fox Break On To the Set, which dangles a paid trip to the "Prison Break" set in Dallas for five winners, who get to watch shooting and have lunch with the writers and producers of the show.

Pete Haeffner, publisher of the Gemstar-TV Guide International publication, says the program reflects the kind of programs the Gemstar company has done in the past with shows like "24" in which multiple advertisers were involved. "We try to do it with other shows as a way to extend the editorial package. It extends our ability to talk about the show," he says. "Our goal is to create marketing impact for our partners that goes beyond the page, that create an opportunity that makes it contextually relevant to the television experience."

He says that TV Guide approached Toyota's agencies with the idea, and that Saatchi & Saatchi oversaw art direction. "Our marketing department created the idea and content and brought it to Saatchi and Toyota. The folks at Saatchi, and Toyota and Zenith, worked with us to execute this thing."

A Saatchi media buyer says the company has, in the past, worked with Fox to sponsor scripted online VOD and product integration. "Each time, we strive to include contextually relevant Toyota messaging, i.e. 10-second Yaris spots that ran before the 'Prison Break' spin-off mobisodes."

The media staffer says this is the first time Toyota has worked with TV Guide to produce custom creative that is contextually relevant.

"'Prison Break' is a perfect environment for the Yaris target due to its ability to reach our core youth audience," he says. "The Yaris target has a 'deep diver' mentality, and we have provided them with exclusive content both online and in TV Guide magazine to appeal to their passion for storytelling. [Its] audience is also passionate about entertainment, and this was a synergistic way to keep them engaged with Yaris communications."

He says Toyota will be targeting the entertainment enthusiast with its association with TV Guide. "The best way I can say it is that this magazine is all about television--our job is to write about TV. By putting together a special booklet about 'Prison Break,' there are more TV enthusiasts who will see Yaris advertising in context, and that creates goodwill."

TV Guide's annual "Family Fall Preview" issue in August featured two collectible "High School Musical 2" covers and a CD-ROM affixed to the cover, which was solely sponsored by Wal-Mart, and featured exclusive multimedia material. The Wal-Mart sponsorship package included pages in the magazine, logo on the menu pages of the disc and logo on the disc label.

The magazine also partnered with NBC and Twentieth Century Fox Television for a promotion around "My Name Is Earl," wherein viewers were given an interactive experience with the episode by using a special scent card available in TV Guide's April 30 issue. "The key is that a lot of people are looking to us to help be consultative in the realm of TV viewing and partnerships. [Advertisers] are looking for a big impact and media partners to help them do that, and we have been doing that for a long time."

The booklet includes a look at the new season, character breakdowns and an interview with Wentworth Miller.

Toyota also sponsors a Toyota-branded page at Fox.com that shows video about the show narrated by cast and directors. Toyota also sponsors the "Prison Break" MySpace page.