Princess Cruises has signed up as the first sponsor of WE tv’s watch and win effort aimed at getting people to tune in to shows within the three-day C3 ratings window and watch commercials.
WE-tv began the Watch W/In promotion in November. Viewers were able to enter a sweepstakes by watching during a commercial break, spotting a code word and entering that word at the network’s web site. Several thousand people entered the sweepstakes, the network said.
Beginning Friday, Princess Cruise is sponsoring WE tv’s series David Tutera Celebrations. Viewers will be urged to watch within three days and enter the code to win a seven-day cruise.
Princess hadn’t advertised on WE before but found the networks’ demographics and the Celebrations show in particular a good match, according to Gordon Ho, senior VP of marketing and North American sales for the cruise line, which promotes holding special events on its ships. The watch and win promotion helps increase the chance the ads are seen and have an impact. “We’re really excited to be partnering with WE tv to drive more engagement with their shows and our Princess cruise vacations,” he said.
“As we discussed ways to drive viewer engagement we thought that their Watch & Win contest was a great vehicle — and David Tutera's Celebrations was a perfect show,” Ho added. “Princess invented ‘Weddings at Sea’ and we are the official ‘Love Boat’ cruise now. With this Watch and Win promotion on, fans can not only learn about our fantastic cruise vacations, but they have a chance to win a Princess cruise and have their own celebration during our 50th anniversary.”
Ho declined to say how much Princess would spend on the campaign.
“We started Watch W/In as a way to encourage timely viewing of our shows, delivering engaged audiences to advertisers and driving real-time conversations around our content,” Marc Juris, WE tv president, said. “The initial response has been terrific and we are so happy to have Princess Cruises on board as our first sponsor of this initiative and a new advertiser on WE tv.”
The Watch W/In effort is also designed to promote timely social activity around the networks shows by encouraging them to watch live.
