SANTA MONICA, CA. (The Recording Academy) - The Recording Academy announced today a wide range of sponsorship partners, to help promote the 47th Annual GRAMMY Awards and its surrounding GRAMMY Week events.
Sponsors include 7 UP, Heineken, Cadillac, Verizon, PEOPLE, Hilton Hotels Corporation, and Continental Airlines.
Additionally, Westwood One - the official GRAMMY radio network worldwide - is broadcasting extensive GRAMMY programming, promotions, news and events to both domestic and international radio listeners for the eighth year.
"Building strategic, integrated partnerships is central to achieving the Academy's ambitious marketing goals," said Recording Academy President Neil Portnow. "As we continue to strengthen our overall marketing strategy, we are thrilled to have such an impressive lineup of blue-chip partners to work with. With their support, we look forward to another very successful GRAMMY season."
Coming back to join The Recording Academy for a fifth year is 7 UP, the official soft drink, and for a second year is Heineken, the official beer and malt beverage of the GRAMMY Awards. First-time Recording Academy and GRAMMY sponsors are: Cadillac, the official vehicle; Verizon, the official telecommunications provider; and PEOPLE, the official magazine. Longtime partners Hilton and Continental Airlines remain, respectively, the show's official hotel and airline.
7 UP began its big GRAMMY promotion in mid-October of this year with the launch of the 7 UP GRAMMY Musician Cans. More than one hundred million cans in-store nationwide include a unique custom-designed GRAMMY logo by GRAMMY-nominated and winning artists, including Michael McDonald on 7 UP, John Ondrasik on Diet 7 UP, Wynonna on Cherry 7 UP, Brian McKnight on Sunkist, Dave Koz on Canada Dry Ginger Ale, and Randy Travis on A&W Root Beer.
7 UP, the proud presenting sponsor of the GRAMMY Foundation's GRAMMY Signature Schools program, made a donation to the program on behalf of each participating artist. Further showing their support of the importance of music education, 7 UP launched a two-week eBay auction in late October, which included items from the artists, as well as collectible 7 UP GRAMMY Musician Can products, with all the proceeds from the sale going to The GRAMMY Foundation.
As part of its music focus and initiatives, Heineken will offer its consumers a "Heineken All Access" experience to the 47th GRAMMY Awards that will include an online GRAMMY experience, behind-the-scenes access, and entry to the Heineken Lounge at the official 2005 GRAMMY Celebration after party. Heineken will showcase its overall commitment to causes important to the music industry, including The GRAMMY Foundation's programs and the What's The Download (www.whatsthedownload.com) public education campaign by transforming the traditional red carpet to "Heineken Green".
As a GRAMMY Week sponsor, Cadillac will provide a fleet of more than 100 customized, GRAMMY Escalades to transport talent to the awards telecast and other GRAMMY Week events, as well as present Cadillac vehicle showcases at select events. This limited-edition fleet of Escalades will be sold after the awards at local Cadillac dealers in the Los Angeles area. Verizon has decided to showcase its DSL Broadband Service and feature GRAMMY photos, video, trivia and a chance to go to the 47th Annual GRAMMY Awards on www.verizon.net, which will be accessible exclusively to Verizon's DSL subscribers.
Verizon has dedicated a national TV, radio and print campaign in support of the consumer DSL campaign and their GRAMMY promotion. PEOPLE and its parent company, Time Inc., are the official print media partners of The Recording Academy and the GRAMMY Awards.
In addition to PEOPLE's presence at the 47th Annual GRAMMY Awards and official 2005 GRAMMY Celebration after party, this partnership will continue throughout the year on core Academy and GRAMMY initiatives involving other Time Inc. properties as well. This new relationship will provide PEOPLE's 37 million readers the opportunity to learn about all Academy-related news and information first hand.
The 47th Annual GRAMMY Awards will be held on Feb. 13, 2005, at STAPLES Center in Los Angeles. The show will be broadcast by the CBS Television Network (8 - 11:30 p.m. ET/PT), supported on radio via Westwood One worldwide, and covered on the Internet at GRAMMY.com.
