Exclusive: Viacom Drives New Dart With Comic-Con Stunt

Cable channels will highlight "Live in It to Win It" auto giveaway

By Jon Lafayette -- Broadcasting & Cable, 7/10/2012 2:01:46 PM

Along with the numerous TV series and movies looking for attention Comic-Con, Chrysler is test-driving the event to help launch its new Dodge Dart and is counting on Viacom's networks to steer it towards its target audience of millennials.

The Dart launch is a big deal for Chrysler, which is reentering the compact market. The campaign is kicking off with a 90-second spot during the All-Star Game Tuesday night. Comic-Con is another event that the automaker thinks will help drive awareness of its new vehicle.

"Comic-Con has become a pop culture event," says Mark Malmstead, Dodge media, social media and consumer relationship management lead. "We want to target young influential millennials and Viacom owns all the key networks, Spike, Comedy Central, MTV and VH1."

Malmstead says Viacom made a proposal to create a unique platform that included everything from TV to digital to social media and on-site activation.

"Dodge said they wanted us to create a large scale promotion," says Samantha Newman, VP, integrated marketing, entertainment and music, Viacom Media Networks. "We thought we could leverage of coverage of Comic-Con and really create a stunt around their launch."

The stunt wraps around a "Live in It to Win It Challenge" in which four costumed contestants will try to win a Dart by scoring points in more than 30 challenges staged in and around the car. The challenges range from trivia to more physical contests at Comic-Con from July 11 to July 14.

Each contestant can earn prize-points for receiving text votes from fans. A Bingo game will be played via Twitter and completing skill challenges inside and outside the vehicle.

"We've got a couple of competitions that hopefully are going to help spread the word on Dart virally," Malmstead says.

Newman says Viacom will air more than 30 hours of live streaming from the challenge at DodgeDartChallenge.com.  The event will be emceed by Andrew Santino from MTV's Punk'd. Also appearing will be Josh Horowitz of MTV News, Daniel Kayser, host of Spike's All Access and Jim Shearer, host of VH1's Top 20 Countdown.

Viacom cable networks MTV, MTV2, VH1, Comedy Central and Spike will participate by airing coverage of the challenge as part of their reporting from Comic-Con. They will also air interstitial video, tune in announcements designed to drive viewers to the web site.

Each network will participate in way that reflects its personality, Newman says.