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Fox Deploys Faux News Vans, Fake Anchors to L.A., N.Y.

Fox is launching an outdoor campaign over Labor Day weekend in order to publicize its upcoming Kelsey Grammer comedy, Back to You.

The show is based on news anchors in Pittsburgh; the network is sending vans kitted up to look like the news vans deployed by local television stations into the streets of New York, Boston, Chicago and Los Angeles, writes The New York Times. Actors dressed as news anchors will hand out pens and other promotional items.

The network has also launched a website, the BacktoYouAnchorizer, to tie in with the campaign. Users can email pictures of themselves, which are then incorporated into a photo so it seems as though the user is sitting at a news desk between Grammer and his co-star, Patricia Heaton.

“People are so busy, but they somehow find the time to scan in a picture of a co-worker, make him look ridiculous and forward it on to others,” says Joe Earley, executive vp for marketing and communications.

Fox Broadcasting corporate sibling, 20th Century Fox, recently used a similar idea to promote The Simpsons Movie, which created images of users in the style of Simpsons characters.

Promotional plans for Back to You will also embrace traditional advertising, including television, radio, print and billboards.

The big push is a nod to the fact that Back to You airs in a tough time period, opening the night on Wednesdays - expected to be a hotly contested night - where it will air opposite popular shows like America’s Next Top Model and Deal or No Deal, as well as highly publicized new shows like Pushing Daisies and Kid Nation.