Mitsubishi has been confirmed as the sole sponsor of a ground-breaking integrated cross-platform marketing campaign that will combine the popularity and reputation of Tropfest with the clout and reach of the number one media company in Australia, PBL Media.
The Mitsubishi Lancer Supershort Series involves six 60-second films, with each movie based on one of the six themes behind the new Mitsubishi Lancer: safer, smoother, greener, stronger, smarter, roomier.
The films, to be rolled out over six weeks with exclusive launches on the Today Show, will be created and directed by previous Tropfest finalists tailored to the Mitsubishi Lancer launch. The chapters will be shown across the Nine Network Australia, in Hoyts cinemas, on ninemsn, on Foxtel and covered in ACP magazines including the Australian Women’s Weekly, NW, Woman’s Day, Ralph, Cosmopolitan, Men’s Style, Motor, Wheels and Madison.
Viewers will then have the chance to vote for their favourite chapter out of the six, and in doing so go in the running to win a brand new Mitsubishi Lancer, or one of hundreds of instant win prizes. The chapter voted the viewers’ favourite will then be run again across Nine, Hoyts and ninemsn.
The films will be played at the February 2008 Tropfest Festival around the country as Mitsubishi are a major sponsor of this event in 2008.
‘This unique media and content platform will provide Mitsubishi with the reach and voice it desires to position the Lancer as dynamic, unique, stylish and world-class. This is a bold and far-sighted move by Mitsubishi to support one of its most important launches in recent years.
‘The Lancer Supershort Series is an innovative and exciting extension of the Tropfest brand which is exclusive to PBL Media and their association with the Tropfest Festival, which is the largest short film festival of its kind in the world,’ said Joe Pollard, Director of Sales & Marketing, PBL Media.
Paul Unerkov, General Manager of Marketing at Mitsubishi, said: ‘Mitsubishi is delighted to be associated with this ground-breaking marketing concept because it reflects the innovative approach we have taken to designing the new Lancer, the very best yet.’
Unerkov said Mitsubishi would also give up-and-coming Australian short film talent their ‘big break’ by calling for submissions for an extra short film, a ‘7th Chapter’, to be themed ‘Better Lancer’.
‘The winning 7th Chapter will be played at the Tropfest Festival in February 2008, appear on the official Tropfest DVD distributed with Fairfax newspapers, and the winner will be flown in to Sydney as a VIP to attend the festival event and sit and mingle with the stars in the VIP area,’ Mr Unerkov said.
John Polson, Tropfest founder and creative director, said that Mitsubishi’s commitment to the project was good news for Australian filmmakers looking to experience more than just the traditional filmmaking world.
‘This is a way for up-and-coming filmmakers to extend how they think and create films in not just a creative world but with a commercial element,’ Mr Polson said.
The PBL Media-Tropfest partnership will set new levels of both integration in cross-platform marketing and Australian User Generated Content.
The four-year partnership between Tropfest and PBL Media will enable advertisers to leverage unprecedented cross-platform campaigns through ninemsn, the Nine Network, Hoyts, mobile marketing and pay TV.
Other integrated components include: in-foyer car displays in Hoyts cinemas; posters in 39 Hoyts locations driving the vote promotion to win a new car; and the sponsorship of Nine’s telecast of the Tropfest Festival in 2008.
[release from Spin Communications]