Holden puts Shortland Street Fans in the Drivers Seat

Iconic car brand Holden has joined forces with another iconic brand, New Zealand’s favourite TV drama, Shortland Street.

Shortland Street returned to our television screens last night and involves a new cast member with Holden signing on as the show sponsor for 2014.

Holden has also created an online challenge for devotees to drive home the new association with Shorty fans now able to log on to www.shortlandstreetcarpark.co.nz and test their show knowledge by guessing which Holden car might belong to which character.

Tell-tale personal items will be left in a selection of Holden models for fans to match the car with the Shortland Street character.

TVNZ Head of Sales and Marketing, Jeremy O’Brien, says Holden has created an engaging experience that showcases the popular car brand.

“Holden has come up with a great way to tap into the show’s huge following and we think fans are going to love it,” said Mr O’Brien.

“People who watch the show are very active online so this is a canny brand integration that lets viewers experience specially selected Holden cars in a fun way.”

Holden New Zealand General Manager of Marketing, Marnie Samphier says Holden is delighted to be associated with such an iconic show as Shortland Street.

“2014 is a big year for us as we commemorate 60years since the first Holden was seen on New Zealand roads. So what better way to celebrate than team up with another New Zealand icon, Shortland Street,” said Ms Samphier.

“We’ve got some fun promotions planned, that will challenge Shorty fans’ knowledge of their favourite drama. And we’ve got some great prizes to reward their efforts as well, including a brand new, top-of-the-range Holden Trax to be given away at the end of March.”

www.shortlandstreetcarpark.co.nz went live for the first time during last night’s first episode of 2014 and can be accessed via PCs, tablets, laptops and iPhones throughout the season.

Shortland Street is TV’s biggest show at 7pm – on average half a million New Zealanders aged 5+ watched each night last year. In TV2’s target demo of 18-49 year olds, over 290,000 viewers tuned in to each episode. It’s also the most watched show on TVNZ Ondemand, racking up more than eight million streams in 2013.*