BRAVO ANNOUNCES SPONSORS FOR "PROJECT RUNWAY" SEASON 5
BRAVO ANNOUNCES AMERICAN EXPRESS, BLUEFLY.COM, L'OR�AL PARIS, SATURN, AND TRESEMM� AS TOP SPONSORS FOR "PROJECT RUNWAY"
Brother International Returns As Integrated Partner For Season Five, Premiering Wednesday, July 16 at 9 PM ET/PT
Bravo Renews Series Partnership With ELLE Magazine For Fifth Season of Peabody Award-Winning And Emmy-Nominated Series
NEW YORK � July 14, 2008 � Bravo and The Weinstein Company have inked partnerships with American Express, Bluefly.com, L'Or�al Paris, Saturn, and TRESemm� as official sponsors of the fifth season of Bravo's Peabody Award-winning and Emmy-nominated series, "Project Runway," premiering Wednesday, July 16 at 9 p.m., ET/PT. The multi-platform deals provide significant brand exposure through product integration and presence both on-air and online. The joint announcement was made today by Susan Malfa, Senior Vice President, Ad Sales, Bravo Media and Oxygen Media and John Miller, Executive Vice President of Television at The Weinstein Company.
For the fifth consecutive cycle, Bravo continues its overall series partnership with ELLE magazine, including the expertise of Editor-At-Large Nina Garcia as a series judge, and prizing for the winner of "Project Runway," who will receive an editorial feature in an upcoming issue of ELLE.
"Our passionate viewers want to connect with our shows on all platforms: online, on the phone or interactively with the show," said Malfa. "Our viewers create the buzz; they are influencers and advertisers get the benefit of that word-of-mouth power."
"Project Runway gives us the unique opportunity to incorporate a diverse group of partners, who are all committed to building the Project Runway brand outside of traditional categories," says Miller. "We are thrilled to be working with these unbelievable brands, some of whom have been with us since season one and have proven to be an invaluable asset to the show."
Elements of the sponsorships and integrations surrounding the fifth season of "Project Runway" include:
AMERICAN EXPRESS: American Express will present the weekly broadband aftershow, "Watch What Happens: After The Sew Live," hosted by Bravo's Andy Cohen, available to American Express Cardmembers. The live aftershow series will be housed on a custom microsite on www.BravoTV.com (bravotv.com/americanexpress). Custom on-air spots will drive viewers online each week to see exclusive commentary from Cohen, aufed contestants, past designers and special guests. American Express will also sponsor the Project Runway blogs, accessible to fashion fans everywhere. These activities are part of American Express' continued commitment to adding value and enhancing experiences for people passionate about fashion and creating special benefits and access for Cardmembers.
BLUEFLY.COM: Bluefly, a fully integrated sponsor, has teamed up with "Project Runway" to give the winning designer an exclusive opportunity to sell his or her creations on Bluefly.com and will once again host the "Bluefly.com Accessory Wall" in the designers' workroom. Bluefly will additionally be sponsoring Bravo's new B-Hive Viewing Parties � where fans are encouraged to submit pictures from their viewing parties to www.BravoTV.com for the chance to win the Ultimate Viewing Party attended by a past Project Runway designer. Their sponsorship also includes Bravo's "INFO Frame" live voting as well as the wildly popular "Fan Favorite," where the winning designer will be awarded a $10,000 Bluefly.com shopping spree.
L'OR�AL PARIS: The world's biggest beauty brand returns to "Project Runway" for the fifth year and continues to have an important presence, both on-air and online. L'Or�al Paris will once again provide a makeup room in each episode for the models' reveal. L'Or�al Paris will also sponsor the "Project Runway" Mobile Fan Club, which gives fans access to their favorite show personalities as well as exclusive show-related content weekly via their mobile phone. Bi-weekly L'Or�al Paris tips will be sent to fans who sign up for them. Their sponsorship also includes the Fashion Flyaway sweepstakes, which offers one lucky viewer an all-expense paid trip to New York and tickets to the season finale in Bryant Park along with a beauty makeover.
SATURN: A fully integrated sponsor, Saturn will award the winning designer a brand new 2009 Saturn VUE Hybrid. Saturn will also host an on-air vignette series featuring past "Project Runway" contestants who have been paired with a different Saturn vehicle and challenged to create an outfit inspired by the car. The vignettes detail their creative process, reveal the final results and drive online to a custom microsite to see how each designer "rethinks" design. The custom microsite also features additional footage, photo galleries and regular blogs from each designer. The site will also feature a weekly blog from Saturn advertising specialist, Lisa Gilpin and fans will be able to download widgets to put on their social networking sites. Saturn will also sponsor the "Fashion Fastlane" game on www.BravoTV.com as well as the Fashion Flyaway sweepstakes, which boasts an all-expense paid trip to New York and tickets to the season finale in Bryant Park.
TRESemm�: TRESemm� Professional Hair Care, a fully integrated partner, will provide the "next great American designer" with $100,000, for the winner to start his or her own collection. TRESemm� will once again increase its presence online with the sponsorship of the Weekly Online Challenge on www.BravoTV.com, where fans can test their design skills for the chance to win weekly prizes as well as the Project Runway weekly poll and the Model Photo Galleries. Lead TRESemm� stylist for Project Runway, Jeanie Syfu, will also write a weekly blog about the series. This season, the brand is partnering up with last year's winner, Christian Siriano, for the TRESemm� "How Fierce Is Your Hair" contest.
BROTHER INTERNATIONAL: Brother International Corporation has earned its reputation as a leading supplier of innovative products for the sewing and embroidery enthusiast and will be featured through on-air product integration. Through a growing network of sewing machine dealers and retail outlets nationwide, Brother offers a full line of home sewing and industrial machines, from basic to top-of-the-line sewing and embroidery machines.
Returning to the runway, host and supermodel Heidi Klum heads a panel of industry luminaries, including judges, top women's and men's wear designer Michael Kors, and fashion expert Nina Garcia, as they decide who is "in" and who is "out." Tim Gunn, Chief Creative Officer at Liz Claiborne, Inc. will once again act as a mentor to the designers as they take on weekly fashion challenges. In what is certain to be the most fabulous season yet, viewers can expect to see top names in fashion and design guest star as well as surprises and twists along the way on this season of "Runway."
The 16 "Project Runway" contestants will be whittled down week-by-week to the finalists who will show their own line in front of an audience of fashion industry movers and shakers at New York Fashion Week.
"Project Runway" is co-produced by The Weinstein Company and Miramax Films. Dan Cutforth and Jane Lipsitz ("Top Chef," "Last Comic Standing") and Rich Bye of Magical Elves are executive producers of "Project Runway." Heidi Klum is host and executive producer. Harvey Weinstein and Bob Weinstein, and Desiree Gruber and Jane Cha of Full Picture are also executive producers. Barbara Schneeweiss oversees the production on behalf of The Weinstein Company.
Bravo is a program service of NBC Universal Cable Entertainment, a division of NBC Universal, one of the world's leading media and entertainment companies in the development, production, and marketing of entertainment, news, and information to a global audience. Bravo has been a NBC Cable Network since December 2002 and was the first television service dedicated to film and the performing arts when it launched in December 1980. For more information visit www.bravotv.com.
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