Burnett

Mark Burnett, creator of the Survivor and The Apprentice reality shows, and AOL have teamed with CBS to create a web-based treasure hunt titled "Gold Rush" - in what AdWeek writes is a "cross-platform first." The idea is that players will run around trying to find more than $2 million in gold bullion hidden across America, with clues to the whereabouts hidden online, on AOL.com, with sister sites AIM.com, Moviefone.com and MapQuest.com also posting clues, as well as CBS TV network, radio broadcasts, magazines and mobile media.

AOL and Mark Burnett have agreed to integrate CBS programming, along with ads from shared sponsors, into the Gold Rush online game, writes ClickZ. Game players would view CBS TV shows - and the accompanying advertising - searching for "clues" that will help them move forward in the game.

"CBS can offer advertisers a way to make their [ads] more relevant," Burnett is quoted by AdWeek as saying. "It's a TiVo buster–instead of people TiVo-ing through the commercials, they're going to be TiVo-ing again and again to watch the commercials."

The companies will work together to win advertisers whose products and brands will be incorporated into the game and into the various media partners' properties, according to ClickZ. Details of the game itself are not finalized, so that various sponsors' and advertisers' products and services can be woven into the game.