TWC, Fox Team Up for Master Promo

Twentieth Century Fox has docked a sponsorship buy with The Weather Channel to tout its upcoming film, Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World, within the network’s Storm Stories series, which will center on sea-survival tales this coming week.

As part of the sponsorship package, terms of which were not disclosed, the studio will receive on-air billboards and a customized Storm Stories opening that is linked to a 30-second spot trumpeting the Russell Crowe vehicle, which premieres Nov. 14.

The deal also includes Commander identifications within five-second promos flagging Storm Series during the week of Nov. 10-14 at 8 p.m.

"This unique campaign is a strong example of our commitment to personalized advertising solutions based on a client’s needs," TWC president of ad sales Lyn Andrews said in a prepared statement. "The Commander promotion serves to amplify the film’s commercial messages by presenting them within contextually relevant programming. The Storm Stories sea-themed content is the ideal environment for promoting this film."

The sponsorship deal marks an expansion of a program the companies combined on last spring behind the studio’s X2: X-Men United picture.

From April 28-May 2, the network ran five-second creative extensions, tied to Halle Berry’s Storm character from X2, prior to the 30-second commercials for the movie that ran before and after Storm Stories.