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CAMPAIGN OF DISTINCTION
By Natalie Finn
Special to TelevisionWeek
On a Tuesday night during the fifth season of Fox's "American Idol," Taylor Hicks sang Queen's "Crazy Little Thing Called Love." On Wednesday, a snippet of his performance was ready to download as a ringtone.
Combining two things that millions of people really love these days-"American Idol" and cellphones-Fox Mobile Entertainment and Cingular Wireless created an unprecedented bit of synergy that strengthened both brands and is being honored with a Campaign of Distinction award from Promax&BDA and TelevisionWeek.
While viewer interaction has always been a part of the "Idol" experience since its inception in 2002, it was time to kick it up a notch.
"The natural next step was to take a live TV event and make a piece of that available to consumers the next day," said Miriam Holzman, executive director of digital content for Fox Mobile Entertainment. Ms. Holzman and Cingular's chief marketing officer, Mark Lefar, helmed the teams who made this pioneering product available, sitting in on weekly-and...