U-Dance by Always was a talent show starring R&B singer Sheryfa Luna, who is an icon to French girls.We began with an online casting for teenage dancers, which built anticipation, and then followed six contestants as they travelled to New York to train under a professional dance teacher. Sheryfa Luna acted as a big sister to the group, and we followed their everyday lives and their experiences performing in a Broadway theatre.We partnered with MSN and Dailymotion to show the 25 three-minute episodes on the web, and made them easy to share. Our content was embedded in MSN’s instant messaging service, and both our web partners drove traffic to a dedicated site that we had stuffed with interactive features, including a U-Dance online game.The episodes were re-edited for broadcast on the youth-oriented TV channel NRJ12, and the winner will soon be seen in Sheryfa Luna’s video.

We reached two-thirds of all French girls aged 11-15 who use the web. Or, more accurately, they reached us, because they sought out the show. The web episodes were watched over 2 million times.The TV show reached 8 million.There was lots of free publicity in girls’ magazines, on TV and on the web, as well as a social networking buzz.And by the numbers: brand preference was up 24%, penetration up 22%, and market share up 0.9 percentage points.