Zenith advertising blitz for HDTV

[Gregg Lengling]

New York - Zenith will kick off a $30 million HDTV fall advertising campaign Sept. 1 in which Zenith sponsoring the majority of prime time HDTV programs on CBS and all HDTV prime time programs on ABC for the new season.

Along with the 30- and 15-second TV spots, which features a Zenith 60-inch plasma display showing a space-age action sequence with typical Hollywood digital special effects, the campaign will also include ads in national consumer magazines. Some of the magazines include Time, Entertainment Weekly, Money, Architectural Digest, Gold and Sports Illustrated.

In addition to airing Zenith's new commercials on the networks, selected prime time HDTV programs will feature Zenith's logo in the opening credits, emphasizing the connection between Zenith and HDTV, the company said.

Sam Caputo, brand management and advertising director of Zenith, said at a screening of the new commercials, here, that special print program is also being run with USA Today, a weekly series of one-third page ads below the TV listings in the back of the Life section of the paper. 'In addition to touting our HDTVs, the ads include a listing of what's on HDTV tonight, a first for our industry,' he said.

The concept carries over to Zenith's web strategy, in which the zenith.com site will allow consumers to log on with their zip code and see a listing of all the HDTV programming available in their area.

Along with the 60-inch wide, 4-inch deep plasma HDTV from Zenith, the 30-second spot will briefly feature other HD products from the company, such as its 34-inch widescreen integrated HDTV and 15-inch LCD HDTV monitor, followed by the company's tagline, 'Zenith: Digitize The Experience