Bravo, Miramax Television and The Weinstein Company announced today that Macy′s, L′Oreal Paris, Saturn, Orbitz, TRESemmé, and Delta Air Lines have been named official sponsors of the third, highly-anticipated season of Bravo′s Emmy-nominated pop culture phenom,PROJECT RUNWAY, which premieres Wednesday, July 12 at 10:00 p.m., ET/PT.
The multi-platform deals with L′Oreal Paris, Saturn, and Macy′s provide significant brand exposure highlighted by a variety of components including product integration and a presence both on-air and online. Orbitz will be featured on-air, while TRESemme will have presence both through product integrations and online. ELLE returns as the series′ ongoing publishing partner and Delta Air Lines will appear in product integrations on-air.
"The buzz factor that has become synonymous with PROJECT RUNWAY gives sponsors all the more reason to join us on the runway," said Lauren Zalaznick, President of Bravo. "Viewers are fascinated by this series and our advertising partners recognize that an engaged consumer - someone that deems PROJECT RUNWAY as appointment television each and every week - makes this the perfect sponsorship opportunity."
Harvey Weinstein, co-chairman for The Weinstein Company added: "We couldn′t be more pleased about the success of PROJECT RUNWAY and the excitement and anticipation it has generated over the past several seasons. Thanks to Bravo and all of our partners for making this such a successful series for everyone involved."
"Elle is thrilled to be a vital part of the PROJECT RUNWAY phenomenon," said Carol Smith, Senior Vice President and Publishing Director, Elle. "We are proud of our partnership with Bravo, The Weinstein Company and Miramax Television and look forward to another successful season."
The third season of the premier reality series, set in the glamorous and rigorous world of New York′s fashion industry, opens the door for fifteen budding designers to break into the notoriously exclusive fashion business. As part of their prize package, Saturn will award the winner a 2007 Saturn Sky Roadster. The winner′s designs will be featured in a spread in ELLE and Macy′s will award them with a mentorship with I.N.C. International Concepts. The winning designer will also walk away with $100,000 in seed money from TRESemme to help launch his or her own line.
Called "the best reality show ever" by TV Guide, the Emmy-nominated series gives aspiring designers an opportunity to break into the notoriously difficult-to-crack fashion world. Hosted once again by supermodel Heidi Klum, the series continues to generate impressive ratings for Bravo underscored by the performance of the program′s second season finale this past March. The highly-anticipated episode was seen by an audience of over 3.4 million making it the most viewed single telecast in the 20-year history of the network. In addition to its impressive ratings numbers, PROJECT RUNWAY continues to drive traffic to the BravoTV.com site. Since its launch, the series has garnered an impressive 87 million page views and 2.2 million unique visitors and remains one of the most popular sites on the web. Tim Gunn′s "Take Section" on BravoTV.com alone garnered 9.1 million page views and the "Tim′s Take Podcasts" have gotten 600,000 downloads.
The PROJECT RUNWAY series is co-produced by The Weinstein Company and Miramax Television. Dan Cutforth and Jane Lipsitz of Magical Elves (PROJECT GREENLIGHT, LAST COMIC STANDING) are executive producers of PROJECT RUNWAY. Rich Bye is also an executive producer of PROJECT RUNWAY for Magical Elves. Heidi Klum also executive produces the series with Desiree Gruber and Jane Cha of Full Picture. Barbara Schneeweiss oversees the production on behalf of The Weinstein Company.
