CBS Drives Daytime Viewership Via Wedding Promo

CBS Daytime is extending a personal invitation to consumers to the wedding of the year—Guiding Light characters Gus and Harley's wedding—to build excitement around the soap opera storyline.

"We felt that we had another strong story in the position of Gus and Harley," said Richard Mensing, CBS VP-daytime programming. "[We want] to drive tune-in to that special day and build awareness to a market that we see as a potential growth area."

The anticipated event takes place Aug. 19 at 3 p.m. ET. To generate buzz, 100,000 consumers received wedding announcements via e-mail, reminding them to watch the Guiding Light episode and to organize their own viewing parties.

CBS builds buzz around Guiding Light storyline

CBS is targeting female viewers between 18 to 25 and the 18 to 49 demographic as part of the promotion, Mensing said.

Consumers who received an e-mail blast had a chance to enter a sweepstakes to win a prize package for their very own viewing party. The sweeps, which ran Aug. 2 to 11, awarded three winners with a wedding cake from a local bakery, sparking apple cider, champagne flutes and flower arrangements.

To further promote the storyline, street teams are targeting 10 markets this week seeding 16,500 postcards and carnations to drive viewers to the show. Teams consisting of two men per market will visit Baltimore, MD, Columbus, OH, Pittsburgh, PA, Richmond, VA, St. Louis, MO, New Orleans, LA, Memphis, TN, Raleigh-Durham, NC, Washington, DC, Dallas-Fort Worth, TX.

"It's a unique opportunity for CBS to really go out there and...build awareness," Mensing said.

The promotion follows a second Guiding Light promotion surrounding the "Who Shot Philip?" storyline, which aired in May (Xtra May 18).

Boston-based Alloy Media + Marketing handles. E-mail blasts support.

For more stories on games, contests & sweeps