Echo Bridge builds campaign for Derby

Zac Efron starrer gets biggest marketing push of DVD premiere titles

By Susanne Ault -- Video Business, 4/24/2007

Promotions include online sweepstakes.

APRIL 24 | Echo Bridge Home Entertainment is launching its largest consumer marketing campaign yet for a straight-to-DVD title, the June 5 release of The Derby Stallion.

Derby stars High School Musical headliner Zac Efron, and Echo Bridge hopes the star will drive the DVD to its first multi-million-unit seller.

Priced at $26.99, with a May 8 prebook date, Derby follows a teenager pursuing his dreams of becoming a champion steeplechase horse racer. The DVD includes cast interviews and in-pack posters.

To curry sales, Echo Bridge is spending well into six-figures to generate more than 75 million impressions with consumers.

The blitz includes print ads in leading teen magazines and radio spots in the Top 30 markets. A sweepstakes is being held at www.thederbystallion.com, where people can win memorabilia from the movie. Additionally, 2 million cell phone customers will gain access to clips and trailers to Derby through a partnership with mobile content company Cinema Electric.

“I think this is our first real big opportunity to hit over a million units or more on a DVD title in its first six-month window,” said Tim Clott, president of Echo Bridge. Efron “is in every issue of every teen magazine. There is a big appetite for him. Where there is passion, there is greater opportunity for success.”

Echo Bridge acquired home entertainment rights to Derby from its producers, following the performance of High School Musical on the Disney Channel and on DVD.

Buena Vista Home Entertainment sold 400,000 copies of High School Musical on its first day of release in May last year, which qualified the title as the studio’s fastest-selling TV movie to date.

Echo Bridge gave a larger marketing budget to Beer League, due to its theatrical and DVD bows, and Clott sees the resulting strong sales of Beer League as proof that the Derby money will be well-spent.

“We continue to do well with Beer League,” said Clott. “We got key placement of the title in new releases at Circuit City.”

With Beer League, Circuit City partnered with Echo Bridge for the first time on a DVD promotion. The retailer offered free copies of the title with the purchase of a Sirius radio and featured the disc prominently on shelves.

And like Beer League, Derby “can totally break through,” added Clott. “We’re being very aggressive on this one. What young girl doesn’t want to see horses and Zac Efron?”

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