'This Christmas' gets an 'American Idol'-style promo campaign

Christmas came early to the Baldwin Hills Crenshaw Plaza this year.

On a sunny, 75-degree day in October, dozens of aspiring stars from across the Southland gathered there to raise their voices in song, competing in an "American Idol"-inspired contest.

Each was asked to perform 60 seconds from either "Silent Night" or the Donny Hathaway R&B favorite "This Christmas" before a panel of "celebrity judges."

Even if the songs were at odds with the spirit of a season defined by jack-o'-lanterns and artificial cobwebs, they were sung in the service of a yuletide hallmark that arrives each year as faithfully as old Saint Nick: a Christmas movie.

The competition was actually part of a multi-platform promotional campaign for the upbeat family comedy "This Christmas," which hits theaters Nov. 21 and stars teenage R&B superstar Chris Brown, Regina King and Delroy Lindo. Similar competitions took place in 34 other cities across the country, and it was 18-year-old Atlanta native Antenica N. Smith who took home the top prize. Smith was chosen via online poll at AOL's Black Voices portal -- where clips of the contestants' performances can be viewed -- and will sing live tonight on Black Entertainment Television's "106 & Park," a special also intended to hype "This Christmas." The newcomer will share the stage with none other than pop prince Brown.

Winning was only of secondary concern to Tiara Edwards, 19, who heard about the contest on the radio early last month and, on a whim, drove from Lancaster in an eye-popping minidress to perform her song standing in front of a "This Christmas" one sheet.

"I want to take Chris Brown out on a date!" Edwards said. "I'll even pay.

"If I don't win, I'll probably see the movie anyways."

Screen Gems has become moviedom's foremost practitioner of the contest-promo gambit.

Sony's scrappy genre division successfully staged fan competitions in conjunction with its previous urban youth-oriented films, the teen dance drama "You Got Served," which topped the box office in its 2004 weekend debut and the collegiate dance drama "Stomp the Yard," which took the No. 1 spot in its opening weekend in January.

Marc Weinstock, Screen Gems' executive vice president of marketing, explained the way such contests virally generate publicity without costing big advertising bucks.

"When winners are selected, those markets see grassroots efforts geared to help a local represent [his or her] city," Weinstock said. "Those winners get on local radio, print and TV. And that translates into people seeing the movie. It's branding six weeks before the open."

Weinstock added that Christmas movies have historically benefited from strong word of mouth -- the cornerstone of the marketing push for '"This Christmas."

"There are so many things we love about contests," he said. "They bring the movies to fans in a way that's not advertising. It gets them excited about the talent. And music is a big part of the backdrop in this movie -- Chris Brown's character sings two amazing songs -- so it was concept-related. Most contests are like, 'Hey, win a trip to Washington D.C.' "

"This Christmas" cast member Lauren London, who plays a conflicted college student home for the holidays in the film, was roped into judging the singing challenge at the Baldwin Hills Crenshaw Plaza. She was most struck by contestants' palpable mix of eagerness and apprehension -- their fervent desire to get into Brown's mix.

"It seems like it's a big thing for them," London said. "I saw people whose hands were shaking. They didn't know where to look. Chris Brown is so hot right now, he has that effect on people."

Carrie Rides Carnival Straight to No. 1

Carrie Underwood's new single might be "So Small," but her new album is big, big, big!

With the 41st Country Music Awards less than a week away, several country artists debuted new albums, but it was the season-four American Idol champ who ultimately ruled the rodeo, selling 527,000 copies of Carnival Ride, according to Nielsen SoundScan numbers released today.

In addition to topping the charts, Underwood scored the best first-week sales of any female artist in 2007. Norah Jones' Not Too Late held the previous mark with 405,000 during its opening week back in February. Carnival Ride is the year's sixth-best bow overall, following albums by Kanye West, 50 Cent, Linkin Park, the High School Musical 2 cast and Rascal Flatts.

Carnival Ride also makes Underwood the first American Idol champ to top the charts since Ruben Studdard's Soulful debut four years ago. Follow-up albums by Kelly Clarkson and Studdard, the only other champs to top the chart, failed to repeat. Likewise, debut albums by Fantasia and Taylor Hicks never made it to the top, entering the charts at eight and two, respectively. In fact, Chris Daughtry, the fourth-place finisher from season five, is the only other former contestant to hit number one in recent years, though season-six champ Jordin Sparks will get her chance Nov. 20, when her self-titled debut drops.

Meanwhile, Underwood's debut disc, Some Hearts, remains in the Billboard 200. The 2005 album, which debuted at number two, entered its 102nd week at 60, up 21 spots, bringing its two-year tally to nearly 6 million.

It was a busy week with six top 10 debuts, enough to send last week's chart-topper, Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band's Magic, down 11 spots to number 12.

Among the other new debuts, the odd coupling of Zeppelin rocker Robert Plant and bluegrass songbird Alison Krauss was good enough for a second-place debut as Raising Sand sold 112,000 copies for the week ended Sunday. Another country crooner, Gary Allan, sold 69,000 copies of Living Hard to follow at three.

Remarkably, this is the first time in Billboard 200 history that three country albums debuted in the top three spots.

A trio of rock releases made up the rest of the top 10 bows. System of a Down screamer Serj Tankian sold 66,000 copies of his solo album Elect the Dead for a number four finish. Sci-fi prog-rockers Coheed & Cambria followed at six, selling 62,000 copies of No World for Tomorrow. Seether, powered by the top 10 rock hit "Fake It," nabbed the nine spot, moving 62,000 copies of Finding Beauty in Negative Spaces.

The week's top 10 holdovers were Josh Groban's Noël at five, Kid Rock's Rock N Roll Jesus at seven, Rascal Flatts' Still Feels Good at eight and the High School Musical 2 soundtrack at 10. With the exception of Groban, each of these albums originally debuted at number one.

A pair of rockers just missed the top 10. Neil Young's Chrome Dreams II sold nearly 54,000 copies at 11. Colombian superstar Juanes, who's often called the Latin Bono for his exceptional humanitarian efforts, sold 47,000 of La Vida...Es un Ratico at 13.

Further down the chart, Hurricane Chris' 5150 Ratchet sold 26,000 copies at 24, while Say Anything's In Defense of the Genre debuted at 27, with 25,000.

Other noteworthy entries included Ryan Adams & the Cardinals' Follow the Lights EP at 40, Dwight Yoakam's Dwight Sings Buck at 42, Steven Curtis Chapman's This Moment at 47, Shooter Jennings' The Wolf at 52, Rob Zombie's Zombie Live at 57, Ween's La Cucaracha at 69 and Cobra Starship's Viva La Cobra! at 80.

Overall, there was a 5 percent uptick from last week's glacial sales, though the figures were still down 17 percent compared to the same week in 2006.

Here's a recap of the Top 10 albums:

1. Carnival Ride, Carrie Underwood
2. Raising Sand, Robert Plant and Alison Krauss
3. Living Hard, Gary Allan
4. Elect the Dead, Serj Tankian
5. Noël, Josh Groban
6. No World for Tomorrow, Coheed & Cambria
7. Rock N Roll Jesus, Kid Rock
8. Still Feels Good, Rascal Flatts
9. Finding Beauty in Negative Spaces, Seether
10. High School Musical 2 soundtrack, various

American Idol Winners

The sixth season of American Idol has finished up and we have a new American Idol winner joining the ranks. Jordin Sparks dazzled America and scored the title over cutie Blake Lewis. Check out the goods on the current and past American Idols!

American Idol: Season Six - Jordin Sparks
Birthdate: December 22, 1989
Birthplace: Staten Island, New York
Jordin Sparks may be the youngest AI winner to date, but she has a voice that contradicts her age and musical experience beyond her years. Jordin has been watching American Idol since she was 12, and released an independent EP when she was just 13 years old. So now that she's reached the ripe old age of 17, she's ready to be an Idol!
American Idol: Season Five - Taylor Hicks
Birthdate: January 24, 1977
Birthplace: Birmingham, Alabama
Taylor Hicks brought a sound as unusual as his grayer-than-average look to American Idol. His Alabama upbringing gives his sound a soulfulness that his fans love. Taylor's been singing since he could crawl and had already been performing at various venues around the US since he left university. He has even already put out an album called Under the Radar. Taylor tried to audition for American Idol at its Memphis audition but that was cancelled after Hurricane Katrina so he went to the Vegas one instead. Taylor's first post-Idol
Courtesy of Fox
album (called - what else - Taylor Hicks) was dropped in 2006. American Idol: Season 4 - Carrie Underwood
Birthdate: March 9, 1983
Birthplace: Checotah, Oklahoma
The contestants from season four of American Idol were whittled down and the winner was Carrie Underwood! This country crooner wowed America week after week with her powerful voice. Before driving for seven hours to audition in St. Louis, Carrie was enrolled in college taking Mass Communications. Carrie's first single, Inside Your Heaven, debuted at number one in the charts. Her second single, Jesus Take the Wheel, peaked at number one in the country charts and her full album, Some Hearts hit shelves in November 2005.
American Idol: Season 3 - Fantasia Barrino
Birthdate: June 30, 1984
Birthplace: High Point, NC
Fantasia Barrino brought a new flavor to American Idol during season three. Her raspy voice set her apart from the thousands of other contestants she was up against. Since her win Fantasia has released her first album, Free Yourself. There are some pretty big appearances on this disc - Missy Elliot is featured on the track Selfish! Fantasia published her memoir in late-2005 called Life is Not a Fairy Tale and her second album, Fantasia, hit shelves in late 2006. She's currently starring in the Broadway musical The Color Purple, produced by Oprah Winfrey.
American Idol: Season 2 - Ruben
Courtesy of RCA
Studdard
Birthdate: September 12, 1978
Birthplace: Birmingham, Alabama
Real Name: Christopher Ruben Studdard
Before American Idol, Ruben Studdard was a voice major at Alabama A&M University. He also performed with his bands, Just A Few Cats and God's Gifts. Ruben auditioned for American Idol in Nashville, Tennessee and all three judges said they got goosebumps when he sang. Later, guest judge Gladys Knight nicknamed him The Velvet Teddy Bear. Ruben beat Clay Aiken by 134,400 votes in the season two American Idol finale. He has since released two albums, Soulful and I Need an Angel. His third album, The Return, met with poor sales in 2006.
American Idol: Season 1 - Kelly Clarkson
Birthdate: April 24, 1982
Birthplace: Burleson, Texas
Kelly has really come a long way since her big win on American Idol. The competition launched her into the spotlight and her first disc, Thankful, made a huge splash. Tracks like Miss Independent and Beautiful Disaster became instant summer anthems. Critics may have thought that Kelly would fade out fast, but with the release of Breakaway, Kelly Clarkson has proved that she has real staying power in the industry. Kelly's third album, My December, drops in June 2007.

American Idol International

American Idol is broadcast to over 100 nations outside of the United States, including many with their own version of Idol; however, it is not a live broadcast and may be tape delayed by several days or weeks (excluding Pakistan, India, Israel, Canada, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, and the United Arab Emirates in which it is also aired live).

American Idol Television ratings

U.S.
Seasonal rankings (based on average total viewers per episode) of American Idol on FOX.

Each U.S. network television season starts in late September and ends in late May, which coincides with the completion of May sweeps.

Season	Premiered		Ended		TV Season	Timeslot	Rank
	Date	Viewers (in millions)	Date	Viewers (in millions)
1st	June 11-12, 2002	9.90	Final Performances: September 3, 2002	18.69	2002	Tuesday 9:00PM (performance show)	#30
			Season Finale: September 4, 2002	22.77		Wednesday 9:30PM (results show)	#25
2nd	January 21-22, 2003	26.50	Final Performances: May 20, 2003	25.67	2003	Tuesday 8:00PM (performance show)	#5
			Season Finale: May 21, 2003	34.24		Wednesday 8:30PM (results show)	#3
3rd	January 19-20, 2004	28.56	Final Performances: May 25, 2004	25.13	2004	Tuesday 8:00PM (performance show)	#2
			Season Finale: May 26, 2004	28.84		Wednesday 8:30PM (results show)	#3
4th	January 18-19, 2005	33.58	Final Performances: May 24, 2005	28.05	2005	Tuesday 8:00PM (performance show)	#1
			Season Finale: May 25, 2005	30.27		Wednesday 8:00PM (results show)	#3
5th	January 17-18, 2006	35.53	Final Performances: May 23, 2006	31.78	2006	Tuesday 8:00PM (performance show)	#1
			Season Finale: May 24, 2006	36.38		Wednesday 8:00PM (results show)	#1
6th	January 16-17, 2007	37.7	Final Performances: May 22, 2007	25.33	2007	Tuesday 8:00PM (performance show)	#2
			Season Finale: May 23, 2007	30.74		Wednesday 8:00PM (results show)	#1

American Idol does not have a ranking for the 2001-2002 season because it aired in the summer of 2002. If it had aired within the official 2001-2002 U.S. television season, the Wednesday results show would have ranked #25 and the Tuesday performance show would have ranked #30, assuming it would have had the same rating as it did in the summer.

American Idol has bucked the trend of most successful television programs, past and present, by growing in audience numbers in its fifth season. According to the overnight ratings for May 24, 2006, an average of 42.94 million viewers tuned in to the final half-hour of the fifth season finale when Taylor Hicks was announced as the 2006 American Idol.

Season Six: On the season finale of the sixth season, the ratings of American Idol saw a drop of 19 percent from last year, when Taylor Hicks was crowned as the 2006 Idol. However, the results are preliminary as the ratings were measured between 8pm-10pm. Ratings of the season finale peaked at 34.9 million viewers at 10pm, just five minutes before Jordin Sparks was declared the winner of Idol.

American Idol controversy

Main article: American Idol controversy
Fans and critics alike were stunned at Melinda Doolittle's departure. Simon Cowell admitted that the sixth season's crown should have rightfully gone to Melinda.Executive producer Nigel Lythgoe responded, noting that "[Idol producers] were so engrossed with the mentors and didn't really focus on the Melinda Doolittles of the show". Lythgoe also produces So You Think You Can Dance, and has noted that the dance program gives background information about its contestants, while American Idol will focus more on its big name celebrity mentors, such as Tony Bennett, Gwen Stefani, and Jennifer Lopez.
American Idol has come under fire for maintaining what some claim to be total control of the careers of the winners of the contest. Former co-host Brian Dunkleman referred to the show as "owning" the winning contestants, noting that winners sign contracts to only record with companies owned by the show's producers and to allow related agencies to manage their careers.
Former contestant Corey Clark told reporters in April 2005 that he and Idol judge Paula Abdul had a "secret affair" prompting an investigation by external counsel hired by Fox, FremantleMedia and 19 Entertainment. The 600-hour investigation spanning three months cleared Abdul of all charges levied by Clark.
During season three, controversy arose at the poor showing during the semi-finals of three highly praised African American contestants, Jennifer Hudson, LaToya London and Fantasia Barrino - collectively known during that season as the 'Three Divas'. After the surprise elimination of Hudson, Sir Elton John, who was a guest judge for that season criticized the vote as 'incredibly racist' in a press conference.The elimination of both Hudson and London relatively early in the competition has been pointed out as a classic demonstration of vote splitting in the American idol vote.Barrino would eventually go on to win the competition.
Since the 2004 season, American Idol producers have battled online community services such as the websites DialIdol.com, Worldsentiment.com, and VotefortheWorst.com. DialIdol predicts which contestants may be voted off or are in danger of being voted off based on the percentage of times an automatic dialer encounters a busy signal for each contestant; Worldsentiment uses very large samplings and algorithms to predict the outcome of the vote-off; and VotefortheWorst exhorts viewers to vote for what the site deems to be the worst contestant, rather than the best. Some in the media have implied that Las Vegas odds makers exert behind-the-scenes influence in protecting the services.
A series of provocative photos surfaced on the Internet of Season 6 Top 24 Contestant Antonella Barba.
According to the Howard 100 News LaKisha Jones's departure (Season 6) was not because of America's vote, but rather a predetermined outcome. Their source claims that travel arrangements for LaKisha to return home were made prior to the start of the May 8, 2007 performance show, well before the phone lines were opened. The source also claims that a significant sized crew was sent to Flint, Michigan for reaction shots, however crews were not sent to the remaining contestants' home towns.

American Idol Media sponsorship

American Idol is often noted for advertising its sponsors during the show's runtime. Being the number one rated show in the United States, it costs around $705,000 for a 30-second commercial.

Coca-Cola is a major sponsor in the U.S., and all the judges, hosts, and contestants are seen consuming beverages out of cups bearing the Coca-Cola logo, while contestants and host Ryan Seacrest gathering for a Keeping it Real segment between songs in the Coca-Cola Red Room, the show's equivalent to the traditional green room. (During rebroadcast on ITV in the UK, the Coca-Cola logo is obscured in the shots.) In seasons 1 through 4, after every Wednesday results show, the remaining contestants and host meet in the Coca-Cola Red Room to discuss next week's theme; the footage of this meeting is shown at the start of the following Tuesday's performance show.

Text voting is made possible by AT&T Mobility, formerly Cingular Wireless. It was provided by AT&T Wireless Services before Cingular acquired that company.

Kellogg and Pop-Tarts are also two major sponsors, especially of the cast tour that follows the end of every season.

Products from the Ford Motor Company also receive prominent product placement; contestants appear in Ford commercials on the results shows, and the final two of Seasons 4, 5 and 6 each won free Mustangs. Previous contestants Kelly Clarkson and Taylor Hicks have also been tapped to do commercials for Ford. Also, in the top 24's studio, in the red room there is a glass table with a Ford tire inside of it. The camera routinely captures the logo

Contestants will occasionally don Old Navy clothing during performances, and celebrity stylist Steven Cojocaru appeared in two previous seasons to assist contestants with picking out wardrobe pieces from Old Navy. Clairol hair care products also sponsors the show, with contestants usually getting Clairol-guided hair makeovers after the first two or three episodes during the round of 12.

The show's marketing reach is not limited to the hours of broadcast. Edy's Icecream is tapping into the buzz with a campaign to have people vote for their favorite 'Idol' inspired Ice Cream.

American Idol Season 7

Main article: American Idol (season 7)
Auditions for the seventh season of American Idol begins July 30.

The Auditions will be held in the following cities:

San Diego, California: Qualcomm Stadium - July 30
Dallas, Texas: Texas Stadium - August 6
Omaha, Nebraska: Qwest Center - August 10
Atlanta, Georgia: Georgia Dome - August 14
Charleston, South Carolina: North Charleston Coliseum - August 18
Miami, Florida: American Airlines Arena - August 22
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: Wachovia Center - August 27
The above list is subject to change. Contestants are required to be between the ages 16 and 28 on July 28, 2007 and eligible to work in the United States. Those ineligible include former contestants who reached the top 40 of past seasons, those holding recording or management contracts or those who are not US citizens or landed immigrants (i.e. temporary residents).

The seventh season of American Idol will air in January 2008.