Costa Mesa-based PBS SoCal will air Hollywood Reporter Roundtables, a five-part series featuring Hollywood’s leading stars—including Oprah Winfrey, George Clooney, Julia Roberts, Emma Thompson, Matthew McConaughey and Forest Whitaker.
The broadcast, done in partnership with the Hollywood Reporter, kicks off Dec. 22 and will run through the holiday week. The series will be moderated by the Hollywood Reporter’s executive editor, Matthew Belloni, and features editor Stephen Galloway.
Each show will feature six Oscar contenders representing the top talent and performances of the year in their fields, including actors, directors, writers and producers. The discussions will center on “participants’ careers, personal challenges and triumphs, industry trends and tales about how they brought their projects to life.”
“We know our … viewers are passionate about arts, culture and entertainment, and we can’t imagine a better way to kick off the awards season,” Mel Rogers, PBS SoCal’s president and chief executive, said in a news release.
The Hollywood Reporter is owned by New York-based Guggenheim Digital Media, which also owns Billboard and Adweek.
Kia Luxury for Super Bowl
Irvine-based Kia Motors America Inc. plans to feature its newest model, the K900, in its Super Bowl ads next year, its fifth year of advertising during the big event.
Of course, mum’s the word on what the commercials will involve.
“I can’t say anything about the creative at this point except that it’s going to have K900 and be fabulous,” said Scott McKee, the company’s director of public relations.
David and Goliath in Los Angeles, Kia’s advertising agency of record, created the ads, which will be preceded by a “direct and digital outreach” and “teaser TV ads,” McKee said.
“When we are starting with an entirely new name plate like K900, there is an education process,” he said. “The car will sell itself, but people need to experience it … as opposed to just advertising where it’s more of a limited interaction … so we’ll be doing a number of different experiential marketing tours with the car.”
Kia went through a similar process with the Cadenza, its first premium sedan, which launched in January.
“As a brand, Kia has always been more than willing to be disruptive, more than willing to do something other than what people expect, and that has worked for us,” McKee said.
The marketing plan for the K900 is poised to “bring awareness for the nameplate,” but it is also “a brand communication,” he said, adding that “people don’t normally expect that Kia is going to have a luxury brand vehicle, so we need to leverage this car to elevate our brand overall.”
Fox Sports is charging 30 advertisers $4 million for a 30-second spot during the Super Bowl, which will take place Feb. 2.
“Answer Men” Acknowledged
A marketing campaign by Experian PLC’s Data Breach Resolution division was recognized as the Gold Marketing Campaign of the Year by the 2013 Best in Biz Awards.
The Answer Men campaign and more than 500 other entries were judged by members of the press and industry analysts. The Experian campaign highlighted the company’s own experts and “personalized the brand, while positioning the ‘Answer Men’ as reputable brand ambassadors and thought leaders.”
“We are thrilled to receive this industry recognition from the Best in Biz Awards,” Ken Chaplin, senior vice president of marketing for Experian Consumer Services, said in a news release. “We continually strive to better serve our clients and consumers and it is great to have our teams acknowledged for their creativity and effective efforts.”
Ireland-based Experian has its North American headquarters in Costa Mesa. It provides data and analytics tools and credit report services.
