American Express has jumped
on the Glee bandwagon, making a deal
with Fox to use original content created by the show's producers and featuring
characters to support the credit card company's Members Project social action
initiative.
Starting Wednesday (Sept. 1), content
will appear on television, online and in movie theaters urging consumers to
volunteer or make contributions to charities.
"We collaborated with
American Express to develop an initiative with Glee to inspire people to take action and to make a difference,"
said Jean Rossi, president of Fox One and executive vice president, sales at
Fox. "The partnership is built on the spirit of Glee's unique brand of fun to encourage people to get involved in
anything from arts education to the environment."
"We are
very excited to be able to engage with the incredibly passionate fan base of Glee, and we hope to inspire even more
people to do something good for their community through this partnership," said
Nancy Smith, vice president, global media, content and community, American
Express. "We expect the Glee spirit
to mobilize even more people to contribute to their communities and create
change."
The on-air part
of the program features a series of vignettes, each featuring one of Glee's key characters. The actors
participating include Matthew Morrison, Jane Lynch, Lea Michele, Cory Monteith,
Amber Riley, Chris Colfer, Jenna Ushkowitz, Kevin McHale, Mark Salling, Heather
Morris and Naya Rivera. In addition to appearing on Fox, the vignettes will
appear on American Express' online promotional channels.
The on-air content directs
people to log on to membersproject.com/glee
and participate in an interactive quiz to find out if they are more like "Shue"
(good-guy glee club leader Will Schuester) or "Sue" (scheming cheerleading
coach Sue Sylvester). Participants can follow the conversation between Shue and
Sue on Facebook through the Members Project community page and Glee pages, and learn about ways to take
action by volunteering, voting or donating through Members Project.
Beginning Friday (Sept. 3),
a video promoting Glee and the Members
Project starring Sue Sylvester and created by the show's writers and producers,
including creator Ryan Murphy, will appear in select movie theaters across the
country. Moviegoers will be able to interact with additional content via their
mobile devices.
