http://www.nytimes.com/2014/09/18/business/for-shows-casting-cities-are-smaller-but-ideas-stay-big.html 2014-09-18 02:22:55 For Show’s Casting, Cities Are Smaller, but Ideas Stay Big In July, the show “Shark Tank” held auditions in three of the smallest markets where it has done so as part of a promotional campaign from the mobile services provider U.S. Cellular. === AUDITIONS for “ But in July, the show held auditions in three of the smallest markets where it has done so — The carrier, which does not operate in many major markets, focuses instead on smaller cities and rural areas, where it hopes to strike a chord with small business through the effort. Two commercials featuring footage from the three auditions will be shown during the show’s sixth season premiere on Sept. 26 and on the next two Fridays. One, “Perfecting the Pitch,” opens with “This was the first time we’ve ever gone to any of these markets,” Scott Salyers, the casting director for the show, says in the video. “This is a great opportunity for entrepreneurs in these three cities.” Grant Leech, vice president for brand management at U.S. Cellular, said the fact that his company both underwrote the auditions and chose the cities was not lost on participants. “What was really amazing is we got the kind of reaction we wanted,” he said. “People came up to us and said, ‘Thank you so much for bringing ‘Shark Tank’ to our city and for supporting our community.’ ” U.S. Cellular, which declined to reveal the costs of production and advertising placement for the effort, spent $38.6 million on advertising in 2013, down from $58.7 million in 2012, according to the Kantar Media Unit of WPP. The campaign is by LiquidThread, the branded content and entertainment division of the Starcom MediaVest Group, which is owned by the Publicis Groupe. Along with appearing as commercials, longer versions of the videos, and additional video from the casting calls, will be featured on a microsite for the effort, Kati Sciortino, a senior vice president and human experience strategy director at Starcom, said the carrier charged her team with developing a strategy to appeal to prospective small-business customers while distinguishing itself from bigger mobile service providers. “They were really looking to make more of an impact with the business community within their footprint, and to do something more significant in their marketplaces where they’re up against the Verizons and the AT&Ts;,” Ms. Sciortino said. Thomas Weeks, a senior vice president and brand content group director at LiquidThread, added, “It’s really about providing access and being champions of small business and entrepreneurs.” While U.S. Cellular embraces upbeat entrepreneurial stories, its own performance has been less rosy. The fifth-largest carrier in the country with operations in 23 states, it had revenue of $1.8 billion in the first six months of 2014, U.S. Cellular dedicates much of its advertising to television, but because it is in a minority of states, it buys local commercial slots from a mix of stations rather than buying the national slots that appear on all affiliates. For the coming “Shark Tank” spots, for example, the carrier is advertising in 56 markets, avoiding top markets like New York and Los Angeles, while appearing on smaller ABC affiliates like those in Eureka, Calif., Bangor, Me., and North Platte, Neb. Mr. Weeks of LiquidThread noted that partnerships between advertisers that spend locally and shows that broadcast nationally were unusual. “U.S. Cellular is a local spender versus a national spender, and ‘Shark Tank’ is a national ABC network show, but rather than looking at it and scratching it off the list, we asked, ‘How can we look at partnering and create a platform?’ ” Mr. Weeks said. “Shark Tank” As with typical auditions for the show, there is no guarantee that anyone who tried out in the smaller markets will appear on the show, and both ABC and Sony have a policy of not revealing who will be featured before broadcast dates. But three young sisters from Cedarburg, Wis. — Elizabeth, Stephanie and Annika Jahr — who pitched their product, S.E.A. Hamsters, at the Milwaukee event, In