HitMusic.com, a provider of on-demand music videos and audio tracks, drew 5,000 college students visiting Panama City Beach, FL, for spring break this week to christen its partnership with the television show “Baywatch.”
The Panama City Beach promotion is a tie-in with the annual Baywatch Search, which brings stars of the popular show to spring break and on a college tour to promote the show and search for new talent.
The marketing promotion will last until March 25, when “Baywatch” will visit college campuses across the country in a 21-foot-long van plastered with the HitMusic.com logo.
HitMusic.com’s participation consists of a pavilion where students can see site demonstrations, tour the van and receive giveaways of logoed water bottles, HitMusic.com temporary tattoos, enhanced CDs, a link to the site and other items. The company will also sponsor a volleyball tournament and provide music and video displays for “Baywatch” events.
“This ‘Baywatch’ promotion is just the beginning,” said David Greenburg, founder/CEO of Electronic Global Broadcasting System, the parent company of HitMusic.com. “This is part of our plan of continuity of advertising. So many dot-coms just plaster their name on television, but we are on a mission to get directly to the audience we serve. Spring break and a subsequent college tour are perfect for us. Most sites go for shotgun advertising, but we believe by going the traditional route and constantly reminding and meeting our visitors we will be more successful.”
The van will figure highly in the campaign by stopping along roadsides and traveling through small towns on its way to various colleges after the “Baywatch” events are completed. Other promotions by the site include a car giveaway, bulk mailings of enhanced CDs and an online banner ad campaign. Greenburg said that a second, much larger marketing campaign would be rolled out later this year that will focus on local cities through both print and television.
“Localization is such an important factor,” said Greenburg. “Later, when we roll out television ads, they will be highly targeted to a specific region where we can then also go out and visit people on a one-to-one basis. The site itself is so multimedia-based and so personalized that meeting college kids at their schools and in their towns is obviously the best way to get them to come to the site.”
HitMusic.com is the first site launched by Electronic Global Broadcasting. Greenburg said he plans to use the information collected from the marketing efforts to solidify interest in new entertainment sites, which will eventually form a network aimed at mostly college students.
