Ideas on promoting TAR5?

[speedbird001]

Now that CBS has given TAR5 the green light to air in 2004, I'd thought it be kind of nice for us to come up with ways to help promote the show. Certainly, I want the show's ratings to improve dramatically. It seems to me the ratings from previous seasons aren't so great because not enough people know about the show, or they don't know it well enough.

I'm currently an undergrad student at a major university, and at one point, I asked a selected number of people I knew (e.g. classmates, friends, profs) if they watched the show. Of all the people I asked, one person, and only that ONE person, watched the show on a regular basis. Not happy with the results, I'd like to share some of the common responses of non-TAR viewers:

1.) I've never heard of this show.
2.) I've heard about it, but I never watched it.
3.) I only watch what I already like watching. (Some of these people, for example, would only watch TV when say, Friends or CSI, comes on).
4.) I watched TAR in the beginning, but I stopped watching it because I wasn't into the contestants as much. (One person thought some of the TAR4 contestants lacked character or weren't interesting enough).
5.) I'm not into reality shows.

So going back into the question, I think it's particularly important to target those who fall under responses #1 and #2. I thought about getting CBS to put up ads in high-traffic places. These could include bus stops, billboards alongside freeways, newspaper stands (especially those on college campuses where students get free school newspaper), and airport terminals. How about placing more ads in the major newspapers or magazines? I think not only should we thank CBS for giving TAR a renewal, but we should give them suggestions for promoting the show. What do you guys think of that?

For us TAR fans, we could do our job by spreading word of mouth, through mass e-mails to our family and friends, displaying our love for the show on profiles for instant messenging programs (that's me, as an example), or organizing events resembling TAR (there's been several I've read about).

Got any other suggestions which may be helpful in promoting the show? I'd be particularly interested in knowing how to target viewers falling under responses #3,4, and 5. In addition, how do we get first-time TAR watchers to stay "hooked" to the show for the entire season, so that viewership does not dwindle? My brother told me the reason why he's so into TAR now and why he wasn't before is that before, he did not watch the episodes on a constant basis. His interest did not develop into that of a die-hard TAR fan until the fourth season, when he had more time off and was able to watch every episode.

[audiomaster]

I think there's nothing wrong with the promotion, but just that the people had no time to watch it perhaps...

Well, they can promote it during primetime TV and maybe have some big company promoting it...

[AR Boy]

Promote the show the AXN way. Make it seem very intense and full of action+tension.
B-E-A-U tiful.

[invisible777]

CBS needs to learn how to make good commercials. That's their problem. The people in their advertising department really aren't that good at what they do.

For instance, take the TAR4 premiere commercial. I never once saw it on TV, I watched it on the CBS website. Yippy. Next, the commercial itself sucked. Granted, CBS made it longer than yout average commercial but the content itself sucked ass. As usual, CBS assumed viewers already knew what the show was and rambled on and on about vague bullsh*t. F that. CBS needs to include the following phrases in any TAR commercial--especially a Premiere commercial.

"12 Teams will start at a point in the United States..."

"...the world is their race-track..."

"..exciting 50,000 mile around-the-world race..."

"...first team to cross the finish line back in the United States will win one million dollars..."

Overlay the voiceovers with some intense friggin music..not that Bon Jovi garbage they used last time.

Last time, if I remember correctly, the premiere commercial had some of the gayest voiceovers I ever heard in a commercial...let's change that shall we CBS?

And finally: CBS ARE YOU LISTENING? It's an Emmy winning show...friggen air the commercial on TV. As mentioned above, put some advertisements in airports. Put the commercial in the movie theatre's like the Fox show "24" (genius show) does. Sheesh.

Sorry if this seems harsh, but CBS just pisses me off.

[speedbird001]

Hmm, I gotta check out the commercial, if it's still there. I too also never saw a TAR commercial on TV, and I only started watching TAR when my brother taped it and brought it back home for us to watch. Like you, I've been hearing other people saying that CBS needs to do major brushing up on its advertising campaigns. It sounds like it's not promoting the show enough on TV. As for the content of the commercial, it should really hit new viewers with the sort of impact that made us into TAR fans. CBS should not assume that everyone knows about the show, and they should definitely emphasize the concept of 12 teams racing around the world for $1,000,000. After all, why is it called The Amazing Race? Thank goodness, it's already an Emmy-winning show, but the award alone may not draw viewership into the levels of say, Survivor or American Idol. CBS should definitely make the commercial intense and suspenseful, and it should be very similar to the feeling from watch trailers of future Jerry Bruckheimer films.

Can Phil do the voiceover for the commercial? I would love to hear him promote the show himself. And by the way, I really like the idea of promoting the show in movie theatres. Come to think of it, I'd think it be kinda cool to watch the actual show in a theatre.

[karalott]

Well, CBS should actually promote it. That'd probably help. I wouldn't have known AR4 was starting had I not visited the message boards.
The Early Show spends countless time promoting Survivor. I remember they spent an entire week promoting Survivor Thailand. Why can't they do something like that for TAR? Did they even announce the cast for AR4 like they have in past seasons, or like they do for Survivor? And why not interview all the eliminated teams, instead of just the last 5 or 6. And get someone who knows how to interview.
I see commercials all the time for Survivior. It was like every time I had CBS on there was always at least 1 or more commericials during 1 show. And CBS needs to defiantly plug the Emmy win. People who have never seen the show before may be more likely to watch if they know it's an Emmy winner. This is why I think showing it next summer is a bad idea. They should show it mid season.