Apr 11, 2008 6:05 AM, By Richard Tedesco

VHI: A Bret Michaels standee helped plug VH1 Celebreality bowling events.

VH1 has been staging a trio of bowling events around its celebrity reality shows, lending local bowling lanes the ambience of nightclubs.

VH1’s ‘Celebreality’ viewing events commenced on March 16 with “glow bowling” at 500 bowling centers across the country around a screening of “Scott Baio is 46 … and Pregnant.” The events include themed contests and VH1 bowling shirt giveaways.

Bowlers were able to view the Baio show on multiple screens at the alleys between taking their turns at knocking down the pins.

But the most striking element of the Baio occasion was a set of real events at some of the lanes: 46 couples were married during the initial ‘Celebreality’ affair.

“It’s fun. It’s a social event,” said Wendy Weatherford, VH1 vice president of consumer marketing and promotion.

VH1 sees a crossover between bowling buffs and the music cable network’s 18-to-34-year-old core demographic, according to Weatherford.

On March 30, VH1 staged the second event around the season finale of “Rock of Love 2 with Bret Michaels” complete with life-sized standees of Michaels. The final event is “Flavor of Love 3” featuring Flavor Flav, with bowlers encouraged to wear pajamas to the party, on April 13.

VH1 also is contemplating a VH1 Classic bowling event around its Rock Honors special in July recognizing The Who, according to Weatherford, who said the network may also go back to the lanes to raise money for autism.

The VH1 events represent a big promotional hit for Strike Ten Entertainment, which collaborated with the network on developing the events as the publicity arm of the Bowling Proprietors Association of America.

“The traffic that we create for our new market with this younger crowd opens the doors for us,” said Jim Sturm, Strike Ten chairman.

Strike Ten aims at a core demographic of 28 to 45 years old. Henry Lewezyk, Strike Ten vice president of marketing, said the strong response to the events belies the perception that bowling appeals to a much older crowd: “The bowling audience is younger. VH1 recognized that.”

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