Indiantelevision.com Team

(26 May 2006 6:00 pm)

MUMBAI: Giant telecommunications AT&T Inc has entered into a marketing tie-up with Disney-Pixar to jointly promote the 9 June theatrical release of Disney- Pixar's Cars.

The animated movie, featuring a cast of comedic and offbeat automobiles, gives consumers more opportunities for interacting with the most anticipated family movie stars of the summer.

Cars is a fast-paced comedy adventure set inside the world of automobiles. Lightning McQueen (voice of Owen Wilson), a hotshot rookie race car driven to succeed, discovers that life is about the journey, not the finish line, when he finds himself unexpectedly detoured in the sleepy Route 66 town of Radiator Springs.

En route across the country to the big Piston Cup Championship in California to compete against two seasoned pros, McQueen gets to know the town's offbeat characters - including Doc Hudson (a 1951 Hudson Hornet with a mysterious past, voiced by Paul Newman), Sally (a snazzy 2002 Porsche, voiced by Bonnie Hunt), and Mater (a rusty, but trusty, tow truck, voiced by Larry the Cable Guy) - who help him realize that there are more important things than trophies, fame and sponsorship.

"The animation team behind 'Cars' knows how to propel its movie characters into the pop-culture landscape so that the names and personalities instantly capture the attention of a very wide consumer base," said AT&T Consumer chief marketing officer Scott Helbing.

"Also, by creatively linking our brand and products to the fresh, fun characters of this movie, we're helping to strengthen our position as a communications and entertainment company."

Under the marketing relationship, according to an official release, AT&T will call attention to current AT&T offers, when purchased online and when bundled, for AT&T Yahoo! High Speed Internet, local and long distance, Cingular Wireless and AT&T | Dish Network services through a dynamic co-branded site, which are available at http://att.com/cars .

Visitors to the site have the chance to race the movie's car characters down a stretch of highway reminiscent of Route 66 while dodging obstacles including mud slicks, rolling tires, construction barriers and other cars. Players are also required to manage their car's performance to account for simulated losses in tire pressure and gas consumption correlating with higher speeds. The number and type of obstacles and the frequency of required pit stops increase through three difficulty tiers.

Site visitors can also customize rock, country, jazz and Latin-inspired tunes for downloading in a special audio lab created for AT&T by Disney. Visitors can also download Cars desktop graphics.

AT&T will promote the Cars campaign with mass media radio, direct mail and broadcast support - including Pixar-animated television ads that tout AT&T High Speed Internet and AT&T bundles - as well as with online and retail communications.

"We are very excited to continue our winning relationship with AT&T, which began with the highly successful campaign for 'The Incredibles,'" said Brett Dicker, executive vice president of Buena Vista Pictures. "We believe that AT&T's original and inventive marketing campaign will help us to introduce the exciting world of 'Cars' to new audiences everywhere."

The Cars relationship is driven by AT&T's brand promise to deliver its customers' entertainment passions - whether film, music, sports or gaming - and builds on a growing portfolio of movie sponsorships that has included Disney-Pixar's The Incredibles and 20th Century Fox' Fantastic Four.