General Motors Announces Integrated Marketing Plan
6 September 2000
General Motors Announces Integrated Marketing Plan to Support PBS Documentary on Jazz by Award-Winning Ken Burns
Starbucks, Sony Music, Verve, and Knopf Unveil Steps to Drive Tune in
for 10-Part Series and Support National Education Programs
GM Education Program to Reach Six Million Students Nationwide. JAZZ Events
and Products to Benefit United Negro College Fund
NEW YORK, Sept. 6 General Motors Corporation has assembled
a diverse and impressive coalition of corporate and charitable partners to
promote the much anticipated 10-part documentary JAZZ, John Middlebrook, GM
vice president and general manager, Vehicle Brand Marketing, announced today
in New York. GM is the sole corporate underwriter of award-winning
documentary filmmaker Ken Burns.
"Since 1990 GM has been proud to share the American experience through
Ken's films," Mr. Middlebrook said. "Last year we announced a renewed, ten-
year commitment to Ken and his production company, Florentine Films, because
no other filmmaker, author or historian has done more to chronicle and share
the history of America with the world. For JAZZ, a celebration of America's
music and a window on an integral part of American history, we have assembled
an exciting group of partners to help us reach as broad and diverse an
audience as possible. We are equally hopeful that this type of cooperative
effort serves as a model for other companies by encouraging them to support
public broadcasting, home to some of the most educational and entertaining
television available today."
"We couldn't be happier with the support this film has received," Ken
Burns said today. "Throughout our relationship, General Motors has been a
generous and creative corporate partner. Jazz offers a precise prism through
which so much of American history can be seen. We're confident that with
General Motors and these other distinguished partners behind this film that
we'll reach as broad a section of the viewing public as possible. Hopefully
this effort will drive tune in to JAZZ in January and into this wonderful
music for many years to come."
As it has with other Burns films, General Motors is underwriting an
extensive education program to complement JAZZ. Working with the Music
Educators National Conference, GM will be distributing JAZZ curriculum posters
to middle school music teachers nationwide. In December, GM will follow-up
with the distribution of 75,000 viewers guides. A specially edited film
compilation and CD -- the latter provided by Sony and Verve -- will also be
available for educational purposes. In total nearly six million students will
benefit from this material.
In addition to Ken Burns's JAZZ, General Motors and its divisions continue
to sponsor jazz related programs throughout the country, including the Atlanta
Jazz Festival, the Montreux Jazz Festival, the Indy Jazz Fest, and the
Birmingham JazzFest, among others. The automaker also announced today that
its Oldsmobile Division will be a major sponsor of the 10th anniversary, 2000
- 2001 Jazz at Lincoln Center season. General Motors regional offices will
also be joining in this year, with Jazz related events in Phoenix, Atlanta,
Detroit, L.A., Chicago and other cities.
United Negro College Fund
To further leverage the film to support education, General Motors is
underwriting a JAZZ program for the United Negro College Fund. In addition to
a screening for UNCF member schools in Atlanta, and tapes for other UNCF
schools around the nation, General Motors will host an event with the UNCF at
the December preview of the film in Detroit. A separate JAZZ gala to benefit
the UNCF will take place in New York City this fall. From 1995 to 2000,
General Motors has donated approximately eight million dollars to the UNCF.
The United Negro College Fund was founded in 1944 with 27 member colleges
and a combined enrollment of 14,000 students. Today, the UNCF is the nation's
oldest and most successful African American higher education assistance
organization. It's a consortium of 39 private, accredited, four-year
historically black colleges and universities. UNCF's mission is to enhance
the quality of education by providing financial assistance to deserving
students, raising operating funds for member colleges and universities, and
increasing access to technology for students and faculty at historically black
colleges and universities. More than 300,000 educated men and women have
worked to strengthen their communities thanks to the support they have
received from the UNCF and its generous supporters.
Sony Music & Verve
In an unprecedented move to support this film, Sony Music's
Columbia/Legacy Recordings and the Verve Music Group, a division of Universal
Music Group Recordings, have joined forces to produce a series of the most
comprehensive jazz collections ever assembled under one banner, Ken Burns's
"JAZZ."
Ken Burns's "JAZZ" will arrive with several musical companions: a five-CD
box set of music drawn from the shows; a single CD "overview" of the history
of jazz, with selections handpicked by Mr. Burns himself; and 22 definitive
individual artist compilations of the titans of jazz (Release date November
7).
Sony Music/Columbia/Legacy Recordings Senior Vice President Jeff Jones
said, "This project represents a fantastic opportunity to celebrate over
100 years of jazz history, while at the same time helping a whole new
generation of music fans to appreciate the beauty, power and importance of
this uniquely American art form."
Ron Goldstein, Verve Music Group President, said, "When I thought about
the importance of this project and what it would mean to jazz music, it was
time to put aside bragging rights or ego. I can honestly say from the first
meetings between our two staffs, the air of cooperation and
mutual desire for success for JAZZ has been exceptional."
Sony Music and Verve have contributed 20,000 CDs to support the education
program and promotion for the film. In addition, CDs will be donated to each
of the UNCF member schools.
Starbucks
"Jazz has always been an integral part of the Starbucks experience," said
Howard Schultz, Chairman and Chief Global Strategist of Starbucks Coffee
Corporation. "We are proud to join General Motors and the other partners to
make sure that as many Americans as possible know about this film. Throughout
January, JAZZ will be promoted in our 3,000 stores around the nation. Banners
highlighting the film will greet Starbucks customers, jazz music will be
played in each store and special viewers/listeners guides will be available."
In addition to promoting the film, Starbucks will be selling the overview
CD in all of its stores. Starbucks will be donating a percentage of proceeds
from the sale of these CDs to the United Negro College Fund.
The National Basketball Association
To help promote the film and interest in the music, the National
Basketball Association will celebrate jazz this fall in special half time
shows in NBA arenas. In addition, the NBA will run League produced Jazz
themed "I Love This Game" promotional announcements on cable and network
television. NBA players will also speak at JAZZ related events around the
country.
Knopf
Knopf is publishing JAZZ: A History of America's Music by Geoffrey C. Ward
and Ken Burns in conjunction with the film (Publication date, November 9,
price $65). In addition to supporting the promotion tour and screenings at
colleges and public schools around the nation, Knopf is donating 1,000 copies
of the book to UNCF and its member schools.
Ashbel Green, Vice President and Senior Editor of Knopf, said, "Beginning
with THE CIVIL WAR, we have been privileged to work with Ken Burns for more
than a decade, and with the publication of JAZZ we feel he has reached new
heights in his lifelong depiction of the American experiment. Even more than
with THE CIVIL WAR and BASEBALL, in JAZZ Ken has brought together the
cultural, social and political streams of this aspect of American life into
a compelling narrative. The book that he and Geoffrey Ward have written is,
quite simply, a treasure."
Sharon Rockefeller, president and CEO of WETA Washington, D.C., the
co-producer and PBS presenting station for JAZZ, reiterated public
broadcasting's commitment to the film. "This series will resonate with
current and new viewers of PBS across the country," Rockefeller said. "Many
stations have committed to multiple airings of JAZZ, enabling more viewers in
more markets across the country to enjoy this superb work. Stations
nationwide are also participating in an aggressive community outreach program,
encompassing concerts, screenings and other jazz-related events."
With 75 interviews, more than 500 pieces of music, 2400 stills and over
2000 archival film clips - many rare and never before seen -- the GM Mark of
Excellence Presentation of JAZZ follows the growth and development of jazz
from the gritty streets of New Orleans to the Lincoln Gardens on Chicago's
Southside where Louis Armstrong first won fame, from Prohibition-era
speakeasies to the wide-open clubs of Kansas City, from the elegant Roseland
Ballroom in Times Square where only whites were allowed to dance, to the more
egalitarian Savoy Ballroom in Harlem where people of all colors mingled.
JAZZ was directed by Ken Burns and produced by Burns and Lynn Novick. It
was written by Geoffrey C. Ward. Additional credits include: Supervising Film
Editor Paul Barnes, Cinematography by Buddy Squires and Ken Burns;
Co- Producers Peter Miller and Victoria Gohl; Associate Producers Sarah
Botstein, Natalie Bullock Brown and Shola Lynch. The actor Keith David
provides the narration. Third person voices are provided by Samuel L.
Jackson, Delroy Lindo, Derek Jacobi, and Harry Connick, Jr., among others.
It's a production of Florentine Films and WETA, Washington, D.C., in
association with BBC.
General Motors is the sole corporate underwriter. Additional funding was
provided by: The Public Broadcasting System, Park Foundation, The Corporation
for Public Broadcasting, The Pew Charitable Trusts, The Doris Duke Charitable
Foundation, Louisiana Department of Culture, Recreation and Tourism, The
National Endowment for the Humanities, The Arthur Vining Davis Foundation, The
Reva and David Logan Foundation, The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur
Foundation, The National Endowment for the Arts, and Peter and Helen Bing.
JAZZ will air on PBS in January 2001. Each episode will air at 9:00 p.m.:
Monday, January 8 "Gumbo" (Beginnings to 1917)
Tuesday, January 9 "The Gift" (1917-1924)
Wednesday, January 10 "Our Language" (1924-1928)
Monday, January 15 "The True Welcome" (1929-1935)
Wednesday, January 17 "Swing: Pure Pleasure" (1935-1937)
Monday, January 22 "Swing: The Velocity of Celebration" (1937-1939)
Tuesday, January 23 "Dedicated to Chaos" (1940-1945)
Wednesday, January 24 "Risk" (1945-1955)
Monday, January 29 "The Adventure" (1956-1960)
Wednesday January 31 "A Masterpiece by Midnight" (1961-The Present)