MTV Nets' Logo, Subaru Drive 'Legacy'

NEW YORK MTV Networks’ Logo and longtime sponsor Subaru of America are revving up a six-month brand campaign that plays on the notion of creating a legacy for oneself. The Logo Legacy campaign will feature 3-minute video interviews with gay and lesbian entertainers, artists and entrepreneurs, each of whom will expound on how he or she broke into their particular field and how the notion of “legacy” informs his or her work. The first two clips, featuring Top Chef (season five) contestant Jamie Lauren and director Patrik-Ian Polk, can be screened at the dedicated microsite.Other subjects that are expected to appear in the Legacy clips include model/actress Jenny Shimizu, comedienne Sandra Valls and Mad Men actor Bryan Batt (aka Sterling Cooper art director Salvatore Romano).The campaign coincides with the launch of the fifth-generation 2010 Subaru Legacy sedan. Throughout the six-month run, Logo will drive viewers to the Legacy site by way of heavy on-air promo rotation.Beginning with the visual call-out that precedes each clip, the Subaru brand is well represented on the Legacy site. In addition to interactive banners and skyscrapers -- a click-through sends the user to the hub for Subaru’s line of 2010 Forester SUVs -- the Legacy site features a handful of 30-second spots that are no longer in circulation, as well as a number of demo-specific print ads, some of which go as far back as 1996. The trip through Subaru’s recent past reinforces the overall legacy theme, and provides a visual reminder of the company’s progressive marketing stance. A note on the co-branded site states that “no company has established a legacy of community support like Subaru of America,” before going on to list some of its past integrations (Showtime’s The L Word) and previous campaigns with gay-targeted publications like Out and The Advocate.“We are proud to partner with Subaru, a company that has truly raised the bar with the work they have done with and for the [lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender] community to offer this meaningful campaign to our viewers,” said Lisa Sherman, evp and general manager, Logo. “We hope our viewers will be moved by the star-studded videos launching over the next several months and will be inspired to weigh in on what ‘legacy’ means to them.”The deal was hashed out prior to the 2009-10 upfront. Financial terms were not disclosed, although Logo indicated that the Legacy campaign is “part of a convergent deal” with Subaru.The automaker last year invested $138 million in measured media, with roughly half of its spend allocated to television. Per Nielsen, Subaru spent $55 million on media in the first half of 2009, down 22 percent from the year-ago period. While the company has scaled back on its ad spend, over the same six-month period, Subaru managed to increase its light vehicle sales, growing 4 percent versus an industry-wide average decline of 32 percent.Subaru has partnered with Logo since the network launched to 13 million subscribers in June 2005, and was one of the first marketers to create custom commercial content for the startup. As of July 1, Logo now reaches 38.8 million subs.Nielsen Business Media

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MTV Nets' Logo, Subaru Drive 'Legacy'

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