$25 Million Campaign Reflects New Unified Identity and Image Across All
Starz Channels and Platforms
ENGLEWOOD, Colo., March 31 /PRNewswire/ -- Starz Entertainment today
unveiled a $25 million brand and marketing initiative that will include a
new logo, a new on-air look and an integrated advertising campaign on-air
and online. The aim of the campaign is to drive home the company's passion
to bring the best entertainment experience to its viewers with a variety of
different programming across multiple Starz delivery platforms.
(Logo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20080331/LAM047LOGO)
The "Are You Ready?" year-long brand campaign is the company's largest
long-term brand investment since 2002. The new identity runs across the six
Starz standard definition and the four HD channels. The new logo and tag
line will roll out in on-air image, cross channel spots, trade marketing,
national broadcast, cable television and online campaigns.
"The new brand campaign is the culmination of an evolving process for
Starz," said Nancy McGee, senior vice president, marketing, Starz
Entertainment. "Clearly we are not the company we were 18 months ago. We've
invested in new and exciting ways to entertain and engage our audiences,
from the production of our new original series to first-run theatrical
movies from Overture Films. We are the ultimate source for a
commercial-free premium movie experience. This long-term brand investment
was a natural next step and signifies our strong commitment to deliver the
best entertainment experiences for our customers."
The "Are You Ready?" brand campaign concept was designed to create
anticipation for the magic that happens when a viewer turns on Starz to
experience the channels' content which includes compelling original
programming, a robust selection of first-run movies, and premium movies on
the Starz channels and platforms. These platforms include Starz On Demand,
Starz HD On Demand and Starz Play.
"This new brand campaign embodies our commitment to bring the best
entertainment choices to our subscribers," said Starz Entertainment Vice
President Marketing Communications and Consumer Strategy Kelly Bumann, who
spearheaded the brand campaign. "The tagline is an invitation to our
subscribers to be entertained, with lots of premium program choices, any
way and any time they want it."
Starz' bold new logo will debut on-air in image spots Wednesday, April
2. A series of five 30-second television spots will launch Monday, April 7
on syndicated entertainment programming, network late night programming and
on various cable networks, followed by an online campaign that will
premiere Monday, April 14 with various sponsorships on each site.
The new brand and logo will be employed by all Starz companies,
including Starz Media and its subsidiaries Starz Animation and Starz
Productions. It will also be used to identify Anchor Bay Entertainment,
Manga Entertainment, Film Roman and Overture Films as Starz companies. "The
use of a common Starz logo for all our companies," McGee said, "emphasizes
that we are a fully integrated media company able to produce all types of
programming for distribution across all platforms worldwide. We look
forward to continuing the integration of our consumer marketing as
appropriate to drive home the message that the Starz name means high
quality entertainment no matter where the consumer finds it."
In September, Starz Entertainment will premiere its first original
drama series, "Crash," based on the Academy Award(R)-winning feature film.
The production team includes key members of the Oscar(R)-winning theatrical
production, including the film's director, co-writer and producer Paul
Haggis, co-writer and producer Bobby Moresco, producer Bob Yari, producer
Don Cheadle, producer Mark R. Harris and executive producer Tom Nunan. Glen
Mazzara ("Life") is the showrunner for the series.
In January, Starz launched its first two original half-hour comedy
series "Head Case" and "Hollywood Residential." "Head Case" stars Alexandra
Wentworth. "Hollywood Residential" stars Adam Paul and is executive
produced by Cheryl Hines.
Starz' programming content remains strongly committed to movies. The
network's upcoming lineup include such big hit movies as No Country for Old
Men, Spider-Man(TM)3, Ratatouille, Superbad, Pirates of the Caribbean: At
World's End and others. In addition, Starz is the exclusive provider of
first-run films from leading Hollywood studios, including Walt Disney
Pictures, Sony Pictures, Columbia Pictures, Overture Films, Revolution
Studios, Miramax Films, Touchstone Pictures, Hollywood Pictures,
Disney-Pixar and Tri-Star.
The national broadcast and online campaign was developed by kirshenbaum
bond + partners. Troika Design Group developed the company's new on air
look. Darwin, in partnership with Design & Image Communications, created
the new brand identity and logo.
Starz acquired IDT Entertainment in August 2006 and renamed it Starz
Media, a programming, production and distribution company that includes the
Film Roman, Anchor Bay Entertainment, and Manga Entertainment brands. Other
Starz Media businesses include Starz Productions, Starz Animation and Starz
Worldwide Distribution. In November 2007, the company launched motion
picture studio Overture Films. In April Overture will release The Visitor
starring Richard Jenkins, Haaz Sleiman, Danai Guria and Hiam Abbas. The
studio has already released two films theatrically: Sleepwalking starring
Charlize Theron, Nick Stahl, Anna Sophia Robb, Woody Harrelson and Dennis
Hopper; and Mad Money starring Diane Keaton, Queen Latifah and Katie
Holmes.
Starz Entertainment, LLC, is a premium movie service provider operating
in the United States. It offers 16 movie channels including the flagship
Starz(R) and Encore(R) brands with approximately 16.3 million and 30.7
million subscribers respectively. Starz Entertainment airs more than 1,000
movies per month across its pay TV channels and offers advanced services
including Starz HD, Starz On Demand and Vongo(R). Starz Entertainment
(http://www.starz.com) is an operating unit of Starz, LLC, which is a
wholly owned subsidiary of Liberty Media Corporation, and is attributed to
Liberty Entertainment Group, a tracking stock group of Liberty Media
Corporation.
Contacts:
Chelsye J. Burrows Tom Southwick
Starz Entertainment Starz Entertainment
720.852.5838 (o) 720.852.5821(o)
303.876.4665 (m) 303.513.3758 (m)
chelsye.burrows@starz.com tom.southwick@starz.com
SOURCE Starz Entertainment, LLC
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Related links:
http://www.starz.com
Photo Notes:
NewsCom: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20080331/LAM047LOGO
AP Archive: http://photoarchive.ap.org AP PhotoExpress
Network: PRN3 PRN Photo Desk, photodesk@prnewswire.com
CONTACT:
Chelsye J. Burrows, +1-720-852-5838, mobile,
+1-303-876-4665, chelsye.burrows@starz.com, or Tom Southwick,
+1-720-852-5821, mobile, +1-303-513-3758,
tom.southwick@starz.com, both of Starz Entertainment, LLC
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