Nat Geo Channel Taps Subaru to Sponsor 'Dog Whisperer'

National Geographic Channel has signed Subaru as lead sponsor for the upcoming season of Dog Whisperer with Cesar Millan, in a deal designed to tap into the natural affinities shared by pet owners and drivers who place a premium on safety and cargo features. The agreement, which will extend throughout the show’s sixth season, marks Nat Geo’s first bit of business in the 2009-10 upfront.Terms of the deal include the integration of the Subaru Forester throughout the fall season of Dog Whisperer, as well as custom elements (i.e., billboards, isolated :30s and branded content across Nat Geo’s digital platforms). The pact also marks the successful execution of the “Programming Pillars” initiative that Fox Cable Networks launched earlier this spring, wherein series that share a certain kind of thematic DNA are aligned as a tout for demo-specific endemics.An integral part of Nat Geo’s portfolio, automotive spend has crumpled, falling 15.4 percent across all media in 2008, per TNS Media Intelligence. And yet the cable net has managed to hold onto an enviable portion of its car dollars, said senior vp of advertising sales Rich Goldfarb. “Since the market began changing, we’ve continued to do incremental business with automakers,” Goldfarb said. “This particular campaign is a great example of the lengths we’re willing to go to provide clients with very targeted packages and digital extensions.”Subaru said it jumped at the chance to hook up with Dog Whisperer, which until recently had been unavailable. (Toyota Venza had locked down the sole vehicle sponsorship for the fifth season of the show.)“We’ve known for a while that there’s a significant overlap in dog ownership and Subaru drivers, and then this incumbancy opened up,” said Kevin Mayer, director of marketing, Subaru. “It’s a big deal for us to have this sort of in-show integration. Typically, you have to throw around a lot of money to get that kind of consideration.”In addition to the Dog Whisperer package, Subaru has signed on as presenting sponsor of Nat Geo’s Preserve Our Planet special Wild Spaces, which premieres in July. The network is prepping three 30-second custom vignettes around the Subaru Outback marque, each of which will encourage viewers to “experience more of our country’s majestic open spaces.” Subaru sales dipped 5 percent in May, as the automaker shifted 17,505 units. Forester sales were down 3.8 percent to 6,171.Year-to-date, total Subaru sales in the U.S. have slipped 2 percent to 74,686 vehicles.Per Nielsen data, Subaru spent $138 million on measured media in 2008, and another $23 million in the first quarter of 2009.

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Nat Geo Channel Taps Subaru to Sponsor 'Dog Whisperer'

Anthony Crupi

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