Dancing With the Stars Hits the Streets Via Tour, Contest
ABC is hitting the road Monday with a tour and dancing contest to promote the second season of its hit show Dancing with the Stars.
During stops in seven cities, dancers will host dancing contests and show off their moves to generate buzz aroundthe show, which premieres March 19 at 8 p.m. ET on ABC.
Celebrity judges, including professional athletes and choreographers, will pick one winner from each market.
Winners will be posted on a micro site, which goes live Monday, where consumers can vote for their favorite between March 19-26. The top vote-getter will receive a trip to Los Angeles to see a live taping of the show. Contestants will receive tickets to sporting events and dance lessons.
Also on the site, a blog will profile the traveling dancers.
“This is a big foray for ABC in terms of a non-traditional marketing campaign,” said Dan Mannix, president and CEO of LeadDog Marketing Group, the New York City-based agency handling the tour.
Dancers will also make appearances on various talk shows to drive awareness of the tour, he said.
At each stop, brand reps will hand out 40,000 fliers with tune-in information and 40,000 disco ball key chains, Greta Palmer, account director for LeadDog Marketing Group, said.
The tour kicks off Monday at Madison Square Garden in New York City. Stops include Liberty Place in Philadelphia, PA, Union Station in Washington, DC, Lenox Square Mall in Atlanta, Dallas, the Irish Faire in Phoenix and the Town Square at The Grove in Los Angeles. The motorcoach will transport 14 dancers and a band.
PR efforts will support the tour.
The tour follows a campaign the network launched last fall that sent dozens of dancers to the streets of New York City to promote the show.Dancers rode around in a double-decker bus with a live band, making stops to show off their talent. (PROMO Xtra, Sept. 12, 2006).
“It worked so well, we said why don’t we build off the bus idea and take dancers around the country and have dance parties,” Mannix said.
