Greatest American Dog Show

Greatest American Dog,

CBS Touts 'Greatest American Dog'

NEW YORK CBS literally "puts on the dog" to promote Greatest American Dog, a reality series that bows tomorrow night.

The campaign is a mix of traditional and non-traditional marketing, with some elements created in collaboration with the network's media agency, Initiative. The campaign spans out-of-home, online, in-store, print, radio, cable and cinema advertising.

George Schweitzer, president of CBS marketing, pointed to several of what he deemed to be "unique promotions," such as an alignment with Dogster.com, "the Facebook for dogs," in which the network takes over the homepage of the site and introduces a "fan club."

In pet-food sections of certain supermarkets, motion-sensor video screens have been set up to run a 30-second spot. The monitor snaps to life with the sound of a barking dog when shoppers gets close, inviting them to press a button to view the program.

CBS has also employed walkers in New York who are sporting vests and T-shirts with the show's logo. The dogs are also outfitted appropriately, displaying pertinent information about the show.

Also in the mix: branded hot dog stands throughout Manhattan. "We thought it was a good way to create more visibility, especially in a city like New York, where there is so much going on," said Schweitzer. "We're playing off of the words, 'So you think you have a hot dog?' Well, we have 'hot dogs' here, too."

"We're trying to do as many things as we can to 'unleash' the media onslaught," said Schweitzer.

Just in time for the dog days of summer, we get the CBS reality show "Greatest American Dog," which premieres Thursday.

A dozen of them compete for fun, doggie treats and, naturally, the obligatory $250,000 grand prize (or the equivalent in dog biscuits, presumably).

These unscripted shows have all grown almost indistinguishable from one another, including the trio of judges (Wendy Diamond, Allan Reznik, Victoria Stilwell) and the back-biting (in this case almost literally). To be sure, the Westminster Kennel Club is nowhere in sight for this dog show, which turns out to be (surprise!) far more about the people than the canines.

Created and executive produced by Emmy-winning documentary specialist R.J. Cutler ("American High"), this series turns out to be far less than the sum of its parts, with the human egos far surpassing the stupid pet tricks in terms of relevance and screen time. And that's wholly unfortunate.

A dozen dog-human teams square off to judge which dog can best follow instructions. It's not really entirely clear what the criterion is for success here other than a capacity to impart silent cues to one's animal. And the not-so-silent ones might be nearly as equally important. The judges include dog magazine/book authors and TV series hosts. But it's the owners who are on center stage, make no mistake. And they turn out to be a predictably self-absorbed, if generally colorful, lot.

They range from a Manhattan doctor (with a Parson Russell Terrier named Elvis) to a building maintenance man from Flint, Texas (with a Brittany Spaniel named Star), to an aspiring dog salon owner from Portland, Ore. (with a Giant Schnauzer named Kenji).

Source: http://www.adweek.com/aw/content_display/news/agency/e3i39993a2e41be15525e3a8a4844296fce?imw=Y
Greatest American Dog