Vestas Sponsorship of Award-Winning Documentary Series ‘Planet in Peril: Battlelines’, Concludes Bumper Year for Energy Sector Advertising on CNN International
Danish energy company Vestas Wind Systems A/S culminates its successful 2008 commercial association with CNN International with a multi-platform sponsorship of the network’s award-winning documentary feature series ‘Planet in Peril: Battlelines’, when the film premieres on 12th December on CNN’s feeds in Europe, the Middle East and Africa.
In a year that has seen increasing commercial interest from the energy sector, including:
a raft of clients who are new to global scale advertising
a shift towards modern energy giants communicating to an ‘influencer’ audience through multi-media brand campaigns
global campaigns using business messaging to cut through the “green” marketing rhetoric and draw real attention to the need for sustainable energy solutions.
The trend follows CNN’s September announcement of a record 250% rise in energy sector advertisers on CNN International from both traditional and renewable energy companies since 2003.
“Our research says that 81% of the CNN audience use television and the web as their preferred sources of environmental information* – great news for our commercial partners when this year’s EMS results confirm CNN International as first choice international news channel to reach upscale television and online audiences across Europe**”, says Rani Raad, SVP Advertising Sales, CNN International. “This is a superbly shot, powerful piece of programming. We’re proud to revisit our commitment to the issues explored and we look forward to seeing Vestas realise the commercial benefits of the association”, he adds.
Since their inaugural sponsoring of CNN’s ‘Planet in Peril’ in 2007, brand awareness of Vestas amongst the CNN International audience has increased three fold.
The list of energy companies who partnered with CNN on multimedia advertising communications plans 2008 have included energy giant Shell, in their fourth year of ‘Principal Voices’ Time Warner partnership, alternative energy company Suzlon who sponsored ‘Eco Solutions’ and Italian power company ENEL who launched their international advertising campaign with CNN this year.
About the Vestas Advertising Partnership
Vestas sponsorship includes 10 second opening and closing sponsorship billboards around the documentary and advertising within each break. Throughout the year, Vestas has had on-air presence around the weekly ‘Planet in Peril’ editorial features as well as 60 second ‘Planet in Peril’ sponsorship vignettes sponsorship visible internationally.
Online, Vestas will exclusively sponsor the ‘Planet in Peril’ www.CNN.com/PlanetinPeril microsite with banner advertisements visible to users in Europe, the US, India and China. The website offers a companion special report, complete with interactive maps that enable users to pin-point environmental battle lines across the eight countries on four continents examined in the documentary. The special section also includes photo galleries, audio slideshows, video blogs, commentaries and an “Impact Your World” section that guides users to various charities across the world dedicated to protecting and preserving the environment.
Mobile execution includes exclusive sponsorship of the WAP site www.cnnmobile.com/planetinperil containing news stories and video content. User interactivity features include a section where users can submit their own tips for going green, send their own environmental iReport and a quick votes function.
