TV Guide Pushes ‘Star Wars’ with Special Covers

This week, TV Guide is touting the debut of the animated "Star Wars" film and TV series with special covers like this one.

Plugging an animated “Star Wars” film and a TV series set for a fall debut, TV Guide is aiming to spark newsstand sales with four covers featuring characters from the iconic film series combined with a CD-ROM providing a preview of the animated series.

The four covers for the Aug.11 issue , hitting newsstands this week, are being touted as collectibles by the weekly TV consumer publication. They spotlight characters both familiar and freshly created as part of the saga from a far-off galaxy as a prelude to the theatrical release of “Star Wars: The Clone Wars” from Lucasfilm Animation next week. “Clone Wars” takes on a TV life of its own in a weekly series on Cartoon Network this fall.

“The objective behind any cover that has a stunt like this is to build newsstand sales,” said Pete Haeffner, TV Guide publisher. “This is a pretty cool promotion and a great franchise to be associated with.”

Toy R Us presents the accompanying CD-ROM, featuring clips from the cartoon series and behind-the-scenes content and on-camera commentary from executive producer George Lucas and director Dave Filoni. The CD-ROM, bearing the toy chain’s logo, also features a photo gallery of the characters, which is already being marketed in its retail outlets.

TV Guide has enjoyed considerable lift from special covers with CD-ROM combos in the past, according to Haeffner. He said a recent issue with two covers and a CD-ROM touting Disney’s “High School Musical 2” boosted newsstand sales by 50% of their normal rates. Haeffner characterized the magazine’s readership as a “pretty rabid group” for potential collectibles.

Typically, TV Guide produces issues with CD-ROMs or DVDs attached twice annually. It seeks to defray its production costs through advertising. The Toys R Us participation as a sponsor for the current multi-cover “Star Wars” issue exemplifies that practice.

“Each one of these efforts has its roots in television,” said John Geiger, TV Guide vice president of consumer marketing and business development.

Geiger noted that the popular weekly TV publication has produced “Star Wars” covers in the past as part of a long-standing relationship with Lucasfilm. He said TV Guide took images from the animated movie and an in-house designer transformed them into the four disparate covers.

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