http://www.nytimes.com/2014/11/12/business/media/volkswagen-to-sponsor-a-cnn-series-.html 2014-11-12 02:00:35 Volkswagen to Sponsor a CNN Series The sponsorship opportunity includes automotive category exclusivity during each CNN Films presentation. === DECADES after television offered sponsored newscasts like the Volkswagen The sponsorship opportunity includes automotive category exclusivity during each CNN Films presentation — that is, while VW will not be the sole sponsor, commercials for other car brands are verboten. The deal was brought to Volkswagen of America by its media agency, Although financial terms of the CNN Films sponsorship are not being disclosed, Volkswagen of America more than doubled its ad-spending commitment to CNN in the 2014-15 upfront compared with the 2013-14 upfront. The sponsorship is planned to run through the end of the third quarter of 2015. The sponsorship will be promoted in video clips and posters using phrases like “CNN Films, presented by VW,” rather than giving Volkswagen a shout-out in the title the way that, say, “Camel News Caravan” did for Camel cigarettes or that, in the contemporary sports realm, a college football championship game was renamed the Although most current sponsorships of news programming take the kind of low-key tack that CNN has chosen, others are more reminiscent of the era when advertisers received prominent billing. For instance, newscasts on WCBS-FM radio in New York are delivered from the “McDonald’s McCafé Newsdesk.” CNN has had “sponsorships for our individual films,” said Katrina Cukaj, executive vice president for CNN sales and marketing at Turner Broadcasting System, a division of Time Warner. “The idea became to find a partner we could work with, a quality partner that wanted to associate its brand with quality premium content,” she added, as CNN sought to “create brand partnerships that would drive more revenue for the company.” According to Amy Entelis, senior vice president for talent and content development at CNN Worldwide, “there are conversations to extend the partnership digitally and socially.” CNN Films are also shown in movie theaters and at film festivals in addition to appearing on CNN. “As a smaller player” in the competitive automotive market, “we need to find ways to amplify our voice,” said Jennifer Clayton, general manager for marketing communications at Volkswagen of America in Herndon, Va. “By aligning with a program or a network in a more nontraditional approach, we hope to make more impact,” she added, “so it’s not just a TV spot we’re relying on to break through the clutter and compete with other brands.” Volkswagen of America is also the exclusive automotive sponsor for the “Sunday Night Football” postgame show on NBC. Such sponsorships are “a modern interpretation” of the “Camel News Caravan” kind of branded content, Ms. Clayton said, when advertisers had much more say in the programming. “I want to let the experts do what they do,” she added. “We are in the business of selling cars, not show business.” CNN presented seven documentaries last year under the CNN Films banner; there will also have been seven by the time 2014 ends. At least four are in the works for 2015, including, in addition to “Life Itself,” a documentary about sexual assault on college campuses. The target audience for CNN Films, roughly men and women ages 25 to 54, matches the types of car shoppers sought by Volkswagen of America. “We like the fact CNN is evolving into a little different content presentation” by augmenting news coverage “in a quality way” with films, said Marc Wallen, managing partner for media investment at MediaCom, part of the GroupM unit of WPP. “We applaud CNN for recognizing that the talking heads are not drawing the ratings.” Documentaries are “a format viewers are interested in seeing,” Mr. Wallen added, citing networks like ESPN and HBO that are also enjoying success with them, and CNN’s ratings “have tripled in some instances” with CNN Films compared with regular news programming. “We would love to get full circle” and have title sponsorships of television shows for MediaCom clients, he said, “but I don’t think that level of ownership is possible anymore” because of the modern-day strictures about separation of “church and state” — journalism and advertising. Some marketers are taking a different tack by producing documentaries on their own and screening them at film festivals and online. For example, Illycaffè, the Italian coffee company, presented a film in May, “A communication strategy of branded content” makes sense for the company, Andrea Illy, chairman and chief executive of Illycaffè, said during an interview in Manhattan on Tuesday, because “we are not a big spender” on traditional advertising, which is “not as relevant in the new media” as it is in traditional media.