Contestants are filmed driving Ford Fiestas to find odd requests from artists' riders.
In an age where there are network shows about the mysterious contents of storage lockers, the lives of hillbilly hand-fishers, duck call makers and naked wilderness adventurers, surely there's space for one that examines the exotic allure of the backstage area at a rock concert, no?
Live Nation is hoping so. The promotions giant is adding a new tentacle to its octopus-like entertainment structure next week with the launch of "The Rider Challenge." The online reality series is a co-production between LN and the title sponsor, Ford Motor Company, and hopes are high that pulling back the cover on the life of the grunts who fulfill the often ridiculous green room requests of rock stars will draw some serious eyeballs.
"The truth is we've always tried to figure out a way to leverage the fact that everyone is interested in what's going on backstage," said Kevin Chernett, executive vice president of strategic alliances for LN. "And this is one of those things where it really came together as an idea and we just had to figure out who to partner with."
The premise of the show, which launches on Sept. 30 at www.livenation.com/riderchallenge, is simple: six teams (equipped with Ford Fiestas) run the streets in search of the oddball requests on the act's tour riders in a bid to win a Live Nation Ultimate Access Pass (which gives them an all-access ticket to concerts at Live Nation U.S. venues for a year) and their own Fiesta.
They will be competing to fulfill the whims of five bands (Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros, Fitz & The Tantrums, Kid Cudi, Fall Out Boy and The Lumineers) in LN's first dive into the original programming space. Hosted by singer Lisa Loeb, the show, with episodes running 3-5 minutes apiece, will also test the teams' musical knowledge as they move between five host cities - Las Vegas, Seattle, San Francisco, San Diego and Los Angeles.
In his role atop LN's media sponsorship group, Chernett said it's no secret that branded entertainment has taken on a life of its own over the past few years. "We've been approached multiple times and what we realized is with our amazing access to all these acts and with the right idea and thinking we could piece it together and make a business," he said of the first in what he speculated could be a number of entertainment offerings. "A lot of acts are interested and willing to participate, so we just needed the money to do it and it helps to have a partner in Ford to fund it."
While Chernett would not say how much the auto giant ponied up to get the $5-million project off the ground, he said it was enough to green-light the series. "Without a partner like Ford we weren't going to launch … they certainly are helping us pull it off," he said. "But Live Nation is obviously putting some skin in the game as well." The "Rider" subsite will link to all LN and Ford online assets and LN has a "huge" social media campaign that will point to the show, as well as buy-in from the acts, who will also socialize the project on their outlets.
"It all goes back to the vehicle and the personality of the vehicle," said Dan Mazei, car communications manager for Ford about why the company linked up with LN despite the company's lack of experience in the field. "The Fiesta attracts the youngest buyers in the Ford showroom and one of their biggest passions is music. Live Nation is a logical partner for us to give us the ability to tie into their love of concerts, festivals and music."
The Rider contestants compete for a Live Nation Ultimate Access Pass.
The traveling nature of the show also fits into the Fiesta public profile, which is linked to 100 social influencers who traverse the country in the car spreading the gospel of their favorite ride. "You get young, socially vibrant people in cars, and music is at the center of that," Mazei said. "This is a nice way to naturally integrate from the music end and showcase the overall concept behind the Fiesta movement, which is about having fun and living your life socially."
Ford had a standing relationship with LN through previous projects and Mazei said the company had confidence in LN's ability to make "Rider" work as their first foray into original programming.
With so many shows, sites and social feeds competing for precious eyeballs, how will LN gauge whether the show is a success? "We have internal numbers we can't share, but for us it's really about engagement," said Chernett about the figures that LN is looking at to measure a successful launch. "We're expecting some big numbers … [which we'll measure by asking] How often are people staying with it? Are people watching one episode and never again, are they following it?"
In addition to the LN and Ford sites, Chernett said the show will have a wide distribution through a content network composed of "hundreds" of different music-related websites. Fans who follow the show before its launch will have the chance to win a fly-away concert package for two after submitting photos and videos answering the question, "What's on your rider?"
Chernett said the allure for his group was twofold. "We've traditionally been able to pull sponsorship dollars and even digital media dollars because we have a digital media business in advertising and on Livenation.com and Ticketmaster," he said, shadowing CEO Michael Rapino's statements earlier this year that advertising and sponsorships could equal or surpass ticketing revenue in the future. "Sponsorship budgets have been around forever, but [they're] finite. In the branded entertainment world, though, we do a sell that crosses the full platform: leveraging venues, artists, access and digital media. We see it as a real growth opportunity."
The other advantage is that the show is allowing Chernett to pull money from budgets that he didn't previously have access to. "Ford has a branded entertainment division that does product placement on TV shows and that budget has nothing to do with the basic digital media business we deal with," he said.
The target demo for the show is young consumers, which is why it is airing online and not on TV. The hope is that tech-savvy teens, twenty- and thirty-somethings will watch the 18 episodes on their phones and tablets when it airs three to four times a week. Being online also allows LN, and Ford, which is targeting millenials with the Fiesta, to get immediate feedback on how many viewers they have and how long they are sticking around.
"Having that visibility for Fiesta is great, but also using those channels to deliver a really credible message to music fans is as big a win as anything else," said Mazei. "It's not Ford going out and saying, 'We love music.' It's Ford, plus Live Nation, plus these up-and-coming fantastic artists giving us the voice to say that."
The other upside for LN is that they are leveraging concerts that are already their promotions, meaning they have invested in those artists and are giving them another shot at publicizing their gigs in a unique way. And while all the acts are touring under the LN banner, not all the action will necessarily unfold in LN venues.
"We're looking for more opportunities and we're cautiously optimistic [about the success of the show]," Chernett said. "We went in with the idea that we can create a real business out of it."
Interviewed for this story: Kevin Chernett, (312) 540-1033; Dan Mazei, (313) 323-7365