ESPN Sends Collegiate Bands Battling With Indiana Jones…

Credit Brian Gainor at the Partnership Activation bloguncovering a great month-long promotion that ESPN is doing with seven top college marching bands and the multiplatform release of the DVD of Indiana Jones and the Crystal Skull in October.unique performance of the Indiana Jones theme song, with the winning band getting $25,000. The promotion is taking place online and on campus at all the schools, ranging from the Univ. of Florida to USC, with fans getting to vote for the best performance. It's the latest example of movies becoming more and more savvy using sports to reach their core demo, this time for a DVD release of a movie whose previous films were obvious favorites of those growing upo and now in college. Although the Crystal Skull may not have skewed to the college crowd, using the band platform to promote on campus is a smart one, and one which will generate more unique interest in that demo for an audience that is much more used to the download than the DVD buy these days.Nice foray into the market with a great spin.

Some other good reads…NASCAR.com has a really good look behind the scenes at the sponsor and team evaluation process heading into the offseason…Bill Dwyre in the LA Times has a great look back at the racing career of Paul Newman…George Solomon's Sunday Washington Post column has a good look at how the Washington Capitals brand is picking up right where it left off at the end of last season…the Edmonton Sun has a good look at the Oilers long shot Kyle Brodziak and his trip to the NHL…the Calgary Sun has a good followup piece on the Flames rising star Mikael Backlund…?