Bebo and Endemol Team Up with Trident for Integration on Ultimate Reality Adventure Series

LONDON - 31 July, 2008: - Trident chewing gum, sponsor of Bebo’s leading online interactive reality show The Gap Year, produced by Endemol UK, has developed a series of innovative ‘Mess With Your Head’ moments which are being uniquely integrated into the travel experiences of UK traveller Dave Brett across the series as he pursues his dream gap year.

The ‘Mess With Your Head’ (MWYH) moments are being dispersed randomly throughout Dave’s travels to surprise him along the way and truly mess with his head! These challenging, and often comical, moments are all captured on camera, forming an integral part of Dave’s travels and online video blogs which form part of the series. With its global backdrop, Bebo’s Gap Year has already presented a host of unique situations and opportunities perfect for unleashing the MWYH moments, with more to come!

Following the success of earlier brand integrations in Bebo's original dramas KateModern and Sofia's Diary, the Trident 'Mess With Your Head' moments for The Gap Year have been creatively co-developed by Endemol UK and Trident to enhance the series and contribute to the interactive Bebo user experience. The news of Trident’s integration signifies the popularity of the online video diaries - recently Dave’s ‘Space Oddity’ video which saw him visit a UFO Festival in Roswell dressed as an Alien received over 350,000 views.

As part of its overall Mess With Your Head campaign incorporating TV advertising, press ads, PR and further digital activity, Trident has also created a Bebo profile page at www.bebo.com/messwithyourhead, where a variety of user competitions and interactive web based applications are found. The combined activity works to deepen brand engagement while making The Gap Year the most exhilarating, interactive reality journey on the web, with 5.2 million views to date.

Each integration is carefully crafted and seamlessly woven into the storyline – a perfect example is when Dave attended the Moon Amtrak event in California dressed only in underwear as voted for by the Bebo community! The most recent Mess With Your Head moment saw Dave thrown in the deep end as a cowboy in Colarado at the Cheyenne Frontier Day where, after having his cowboy name – ‘The Lone Raver’ – chosen for him by Bebo users, he had to learn the ropes as a real life cowboy …though thankfully his bucking bronco was animatronic rather than real life itself!

Sarah Gavin, Global Director of Communications, Bebo commented: “There is a clear synergy between Trident’s Mess With Your Head campaign and The Gap Year’s ambitions to encourage young people to be open to new adventures and experiences. The integration has already led to some fantastic creative moments.”

Pasa Mustafa, Head of Digital Studios at Endemol UK comments: “The beauty of these ‘Mess With Your Head’ moments is that they genuinely enhance the narrative while creating a great sense of interaction with the Trident brand.  The Gap Year’s viewers and travellers have already had a lot of fun with these and there’s a lot more to come.”

Jill McCall, Assistant Brand Manager at Trident commented: “Trident’s sponsorship of The Gap Year has provided the perfect opportunity to expand the Mess With Your Head campaign into the digital arena, and give it a more interactive edge.”

About Bebo
Bebo is the world's leading global social media network. Building on the notion of traditional social networking websites, Bebo combines community, self-expression and entertainment to enable its users to consume, create, discover and share professional and user-generated content through the Bebo website. Bebo has over 11.9m unique users in the UK and a total membership of more than 45 million worldwide.
Bebo's worldwide users spend an average of 30 minutes a day on the site.

Bebo forms part of AOL's newly created People Networks business unit which combines Bebo, the AIM and ICQ personal communications network, widget technology company Goowy Media and social search and answer service Yedda. People Networks' collection of community platforms reaches 80 million unduplicated users worldwide.

Bebo is a wholly owned subsidiary of AOL LLC, a majority-owned subsidiary of Time Warner Inc. (NYSE:TWX).

* Source for metrics data in this release: comScore Media Metrix, May 2008, except for the Bebo user number, which is internal.

About Endemol UK
Endemol UK is one of the largest independent production companies in Britain and annually produces over 6,000 hours of output.  It incorporates a number of production brands including Brighter Pictures, Cheetah Television, Initial and Zeppotron.  These four specialise in a range of genres including comedy, game shows, entertainment, specialist factual and scripted series.

Endemol UK is also a market leader in digital media and also incorporates, Endemol Gaming and Digital Studios - which specialise in digital content. In addition, the UK group has a 25% stake in digital entertainment producer and distributor MoMedia International Ltd and a 40% stake in Pure Grass Films.

The UK group’s credits include factual entertainment series Gok’s Fashion Fix (Channel 4), Supersize vs. Superskinny (Channel 4); Coleen’s Real Women (ITV2) and Ready Steady Cook (BBC Two); hit game shows Deal or No Deal (Channel 4), 1 vs. 100 (BBC ONE); Golden Balls (ITV1) and The Kids Are All Right (BBC ONE); reality blockbuster Big Brother (Channel 4; E4); and comedy series 8 Out Of 10 Cats (Channel 4), Would I Lie To You (BBC ONE) and Charlie Brooker’s Screen Wipe (BBC Four; BBC Two). 

The company is also behind a growing portfolio of innovative multiplatform entertainment including Bebo’s groundbreaking online reality show, Gap Year; BBC THREE’s online and TV event Upstaged; O2’s first ever made-for-mobile drama, Cell; BBC online interactive drama Signs of Life and BBC THREE’s interactive comedy series The Wall.  

Building on its market leading position in branded entertainment, Endemol UK has recently launched New State, a new division dedicated to securing partnerships with leading brands.  Recent credits in this area include iTunes Live: London Festival (ITV2), Vodafone TBA and The Vodafone Live Music Awards (Channel 4), Bratz Design Academy (Nickelodeon) and Orange Playlist (ITV1).

Endemol UK is part of Endemol - a global leader in entertainment that comprises an international network of companies that spans over 20 countries on five continents. 

Endemol is owned by a consortium consisting of Goldman Sachs Capital Partners, Mediaset Group and Cyrte Group.  For more information, please visit www.endemol.com