ABC to air new reality show featuring 'Young Guns'

Gillette is turning its NASCAR "Young Guns" advertising theme into branded content and the basis for a reality television show on ABC that begins filming this week at Lowe's Motor Speedway in Charlotte, N.C., and is slated to run during the NBA Finals.

Fast Cars and Super Stars: Gillette Young Guns Celebrity Race will see the Nextel Cup drivers that have appeared in ads for the men's personal care brand -- Kurt Busch, Kasey Kahne, Carl Edwards, Jamie McMurray, Ryan Newman and 2006 champion Jimmie Johnson -- instructing a bevy of sports and entertainment stars on the finer points of stock-car driving.

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Participating celebrities include John Elway, Tony Hawk, William Shatner, Laird Hamilton and his wife, Gabby Reese, WWE champion John Cena, John Salley, Serena Williams, Bill Cowher, and Jewel and her boyfriend, rodeo king Ty Murray.

Winners are established via time trials, head-to-head heats and skills competitions that will include fastest speed, quickest driving from zero to 100 mph, braking and pit-crew skills.

The final heat will feature three celebrity cars competing in time trials. The show will be hosted by Kenny Mayne with Brad Daugherty.

Radical Media is the production company.

The finished shows are envisioned as six 30-minute episodes plus a one-hour finale. They are scheduled to run as a lead-in to the NBA Finals, which start June 7 on ABC. (On the West Coast, the show will immediately follow the games.) They would run from 8-8:30 p.m. ET as a lead-in and be matched with each of the games of the Finals, which could run as late as June 23. The event will be part of a time buy with the network.

Although the concept originated from longtime Gillette creative agency BBDO, the same shop that dreamed up the original "Young Guns" ad platform, the show is being sold by Leverage Agency, New York.

Advertisers in or close to committing to the show include Gillette, Lowe's, Alltel, Cars.com, Walgreens, Kroger, Scotts Lawn Care and Sam's Club.

Made-for-TV contests involving top sports stars are nothing new.

However, a sports reality show based on an advertising concept is intriguing, since it comes at a time when every marketer is looking for new branded-content plays.

Given NASCAR's overtly commercial nature, some sponsor conflicts have already surfaced. Sources said Nike has qualms about Williams appearing in a Gillette-branded firesuit, since the company considers it "athletic apparel."

Sources also reported conflicts between the sponsors of drivers, the show and Lowe's Motor Speedway, which is owned by Speedway Motorsports Inc. As of last week, track signage will be shown, and drivers have agreed to use cars emblazoned with their regular Nextel Cup number and with primary sponsor logos, but not drive in their regular Nextel Cup vehicles. Celebrity cars will carry logos from show sponsors.

Since Gillette's core products are its shaving lines, contestants were told they "must be well-groomed" and that "stubble or scruff of any kind" is unacceptable.