World Wrestling Entertainment Inc. will promote its upcoming WrestleMania 21 pay-per-view event with a multimillion-dollar multimedia campaign, the company said Wednesday.
WrestleMania 21 will take place at the STAPLES Center in Los Angeles April 3.
The wrestling organization said it will spend more than $5 million on the "WrestleMania Goes Hollywood" campaign, which will use a mix of traditional national media with local ads, street-level guerilla marketing and a grassroots mall tour.
WWE added that the Hollywood theme is appropriate as it intends to release the first two movies under its WWE Films banner later this year, and it recently signed “Stone Cold” Steve Austin to a three-picture deal.
WrestleMania commercials can be seen on TBS, Turner Network Television, Cartoon Network's "Adult Swim" and DirecTV Inc. On radio, commercials can be heard in 17 markets. And WWE will use online advertising and content integration on IGN.com (www.ign.com) and CBS Sportsline.com (cbs.sportsline.com).
A series of WWE movie trailers parodying great moments in recent cinema history -- such as When Harry Met Sally, Dirty Harry, A Few Good Men, Pulp Fiction, Braveheart, Forrest Gump and Basic Instinct -- will be the campaign’s centerpiece.
More than 290 Regal Cinemas in the top 25 markets are airing 30-second WrestleMania 21 commercials and will air the Forrest Gump parody trailer on their "Lobby Entertainment Network,” which consists of plasma screens in 520 theaters.
AMC Theaters will also show the Forrest Gump parody trailer in 146 of their digital theaters starting March 18.
“Whether our fans are going to or renting movies, listening to the radio, sitting home eating a pizza while watching TV, drinking a cold glass of milk, going to the mall, or surfing the net, we want them to know about WrestleMania 21," WWE executive vice president of marketing Kurt Schneider said in a prepared statement.
"Our fans are entertainment junkies,” he added. “When our current, casual and lapsed fans consume entertainment in the home or out on the town, we want them to view WrestleMania 21 as a must-see event in April."
