Mark Burnett
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Mark Burnett who is responsible for creating hit reality shows Survivor and The Apprentice, has gotten together with CBS to launch a Web-based treasure hunt called Gold Rush!
The premise of the show will be that people will run around America searching for $2 million dollars in gold bullion hidden across the country.
Burnett said "CBS can offer advertisers a way to make their [ads] more relevant, it's a TiVo buster—instead of people TiVo-ing through the commercials, they're going to be TiVo-ing again and again to watch the commercials."
"The interactive reality series will appear on AOL.com, with sister sites AIM.com, Moviefone.com and MapQuest.com also posting clues. Joining the AOL network in disseminating clues will be outlets including the CBS TV network, radio broadcasts, magazines and mobile media. Some clues will even be aired via commercials."
George Schweitzer, president of the CBS Marketing Group responded when asked it will attract advertisers "Since we announced it at our upfront yesterday at Carnegie Hall, our sales department was swamped with requests for presentations." He also added that he said that the response was because of the "unique nature, the time of year, the fact that it's big TV and a big online service, plus that it's the first interactive game that transcends both media—and also that Mark Burnett created it."
In the short-term this should be a good strategy that gets certain types of fans to get involved. The real issue will be whether they make it deep and wide enough for the fans that they do draw in, beyond simply watching commercials to get clues.
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