Bebo & Universal Music UK Partner on Revolutionary Online Drama
Label and artists act as backdrop in “The Secret World of Sam King”
New York, US and London, UK, 9 June, 2008 – Bebo today announced the next generation of its online drama commissions, to be produced by Universal Music UK's production arm Globe Productions in partnership with Monkey Kingdom and set amongst the real-life workings of the music company's West London headquarters.
In a first between social network and music company, "The Secret World of Sam King" revolves around a junior 'facilities' employee at Universal Music who secretly founds his own start-up label in the post room. Producers will draw on real-life experiences along with cameo appearances from Universal artists to bring additional authenticity to the setting and story.
The blurred line between fiction and reality has been designed to allow for unprecedented levels of interaction between the community and show. Bebo users will be called upon to actively participate and shape the creative output of the both the show and Sam's label, appealing to prospective marketers, journalists, video producers, A&R scouts, sound engineers, stylist, designers and song writers alike.
Additional characters Katie (Sam's love interest) and Johnny (Sam's friend) will feature in spin-off programming formats "Katie's Love-in" and a radio podcast respectively, providing a rounded digital music experience.
Bebo's CEO Joanna Shields said, "This is a hugely exciting new commission for Bebo and a first between a social network and a music company. Both KateModern and Sofia's Diary have demonstrated that Bebo has an active user base that is drawn to quality drama that they can interact with and share with their friends. We're confident that the subject matter for The Secret World of Sam King and the opportunities for involvement will resonate well with our community."
Universal Music UK's Chairman & CEO David Joseph says, "The show is a compelling, quality drama that will mix a brilliant narrative with cameos from some of our major recording artists. The Secret World of Sam King will appeal to creative users with broad-ranging interests - all connected to music."
Similarly to stablemates “KateModern” and “Sofia’s Diary”, financing for the project follows Bebo’s proven model of brand integration. Sony Ericsson is kicking off the series with the first three months of the show, so we can expect to see some clever references that integrate the brand or its other properties in to the show - whether it’s Sam blagging his way out to an Ibiza Rocks with Sony Ericsson gig or simply winding his boss up with mobile phone-related pranks.
Dave Hilton, Head of Marketing at Sony Ericsson, UK & Ireland states:"The Secret World of Sam King has set a new standard in programming and we look forward to working with Bebo and Universal Music to create unmissable content where our products will play a role in continuing the legacy of the show."
Bebo's vision for online media combines community, self-expression and entertainment to enable its users to consume, create, discover and share content through the dedicated channels on the Bebo website. Unlike its competitors, Bebo offers access to a line-up of high quality commissions such as the BAFTA-nominated KateModern and Sofia's Diary (which recently became the first online drama in the UK to transfer to television when it was picked up by the UK's Channel Five), alongside entertainment from professional broadcasters, independent producers and other rights owners and gives users a simple set of tools to curate their favourite online media content and communicate their tastes to everyone in their network.
As with its existing shows "KateModern," "Sofia's Diary" and "The Gap Year", Bebo will also support cross-distribution of "The Secret Life of Sam King" across several AOL channels to expand the scale and reach of these shows across the combined networks.
Bebo has a membership of more than 42 million individuals worldwide and is geared towards an audience aged under 30, with the core of 16-24 year olds spending 2.14 billion minutes on the site per month.
* Source for metrics data in this release: comScore Media Metrix, April 2008, except for the Bebo user number, which is internal.
NOTES TO EDITORS:
About The Secret World of Sam King: Tells the story of Sam King, a junior employee at Universal Records who starts his own record label in the mail room without the knowledge of his colleagues. Hungry for success, King hopes for the day when he can take over from his rather obnoxious A&R boss Greg. King makes no secret of the fact that he thinks he can do a much better job than Greg, especially since he feels his boss only got the job because his father was a recording artist. Sam's days are spent running around on errands for Greg, bumping into his favourite artists and doing whatever he can to get his own label off the ground.
Katie's Love-in is a music TV show presented by Sam's love interest Katie. It will air on a separate Bebo channel. Johnny's radio podcast is a weekly radio show that he DJs. It will also be available on a dedicated Bebo channel.
As part of the drama, King invites the audience to get involved with him in both his personal and professional life. Viewers are encouraged to send in material, suggest bands he should go and scout, profile emerging talent and generally help him in all elements involved in creating his own label.
About Bebo: Bebo is the world's leading global social media network. Building on the notion of traditional social networking websites, Bebo combines community, self-expression and entertainment to enable its users to consume, create, discover and share professional and user-generated content through the Bebo website. Bebo has over 12m unique users in the UK and a total membership of more than 42 million worldwide. Bebo's worldwide users spend an average of 30 minutes a day on the site.
Bebo forms part of AOL's newly created People Networks business unit which combines Bebo, AIM, ICQ, Goowy Media and Yedda and reaches about 80 million unduplicated users worldwide.
Bebo is a wholly owned subsidiary of AOL LLC, a majority-owned subsidiary of Time Warner Inc. (NYSE:TWX).
About Globe Productions: Globe Productions is Universal Music UK's in-house production arm and is involved in developing a wide variety of programming for television, on-line and mobile. Globe works with all the major terrestrial and digital channels in the UK as well developing television formats internationally.
About Universal Music UK: Universal Music UK is a division of Universal Music Group, the world's leading music company with wholly owned record operations or licensees in 77 countries. Its businesses also include Universal Music Publishing Group, the industry's leading global music publishing operation.
Universal Music Group's record labels include Decca, Deutsche Grammophon, Disa, Emarcy, Fonovisa, Interscope Geffen A&M Records, Island Def Jam Music Group, Lost Highway Records, Machete Music, MCA Nashville, Mercury Nashville, Mercury Records, Philips, Polydor Records, Universal Motown Records Group, Universal Music Latino, Universal Records South, and Verve Music Group as well as a multitude of record labels owned or distributed by its record company subsidiaries around the world. The Universal Music Group owns the most extensive catalog of music in the industry, which includes the last 100 years of the world's most popular artists and their recordings. UMG's catalog is marketed through two distinct divisions, Universal Music Enterprises (in the U.S.) and Universal Strategic Marketing (outside the U.S.). Universal Music Group also includes eLabs, its new media and technologies division, Bravado, its merchandising company, Twenty-First Artists, its full service management division and its music booking agency Helter Skelter.
Universal Music Group is a unit of Vivendi, a global media and communications company.
About Sony Ericsson: Having sold over 100 million phones in 2007, Sony Ericsson is currently one of the five largest mobile phone manufacturers in the world. An important industry player operating in over 80 countries, our phones, accessories and PC cards are synonymous with innovation and style. With R&D sites in Europe, Japan, China, India and North America, diversity is one of the core strengths of the company. Sony Ericsson was established as a 50:50 joint venture by Sony and Ericsson in October 2001, with global corporate functions located in London. For more information about Sony Ericsson please visit www.sonyericsson.com.
Contact:
Bebo
James Selman / freud communications
020 3003 6427
james.selman@freud.com
Universal Music UK
Selina Webb / Universal Music UK
020 7471 5385
Selina.Webb@umusic.com
Julia Konstantinovsky/ Atomic PR
001415 439 4250 or julia@atomicpr.com
Published on: 2008-06-09
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