State Farm title sponsor of 2012 Billboard Latin Music Awards.

Telemundo Media announced State Farm as the title sponsor of the 2012 “Billboard Latin Music Awards Presented by State Farm,” the network’s highest-rated entertainment special to be broadcast live on Telemundo on Thursday, April 26, at 7PM/6c from the BankUnited Center in Miami, Florida. State Farm also will sponsor Telemundo’s partnership with Shazam, a discovery service initiative with a Spanish-language broadcast network. This year’s award show includes mega-star nominees Don Omar, Pitbull, Mana, Shakira and Wisin & Yandel among others, and Juanes and Jenni Rivera are scheduled to perform. 

For the first time ever on Spanish-language television, the awards show will be Shazam-enabled, allowing viewers and fans to get immediate access to more information about their favorite artists walking the red carpet, including links to artists’ web pages for videos and pictures, as well as the ability to buy music directly through the Shazam Mobile App. Recent Shazam-enabled award shows include the 54th Annual GRAMMY Awards and “American Idol.”

“Music is a true passion point for our audience and ‘The Billboard Latin Music Awards Presented by State Farm’ is consistently Telemundo’s most-watched entertainment special, drawing large audiences across all platforms and screens,” said Jacqueline Hernández, Chief Operating Officer, Telemundo Media. “We are excited to once again partner with State Farm, as well as our other marquee sponsors, and welcome our newest collaborator, Shazam, which will make the show Shazam-enabled this year, providing our audience with a unique viewing experience.”

For the fourth straight year, State Farm is the title sponsor of “The Billboard Latin Music Awards Presented by State Farm,” under the campaign theme “Sounds of Mi Vecindario” (Sounds of My Neighborhood). For the pre-show and red carpet arrivals, State Farm will have a branded area on the red carpet with Telemundo host Jessie Camacho, who will interview featured artists and ask them how their neighborhoods influenced their music, as well as monitors displaying a designated Twitter wall on Telemundo.com and on the “Premios Billboard” site. In addition, to promoting the State Farm “Celebrity Music Teacher for a Day” initiative, State Farm teen driver safety and education ambassador, and GRAMMY®-nominated singer-songwriter Gustavo Galindo will be on the red carpet encouraging attending artists to autograph guitars that will be donated to the music and arts program of Boys & Girls Club of America. Telemundo will lend its support by producing an editorial content capsule that will air during the live broadcast and also will produce a piece on “Billboard Extra” featuring the final signed instruments that speaks to the initiative.

“When it comes to supporting the best in Latino artists, few things make State Farm more proud than to again be the title sponsor of the Billboard Latin Music Awards,” said Pam El, State Farm Marketing Vice President. “Billboard does a great job recognizing and promoting the talented pool of Latino artists that are climbing the charts. This event brings together a veritable who’s-who of the music industry for an evening of stellar performances and awards. In addition, we’re very proud that through our partnership with Shazam, the Billboard Latin Music Awards will be Shazam-enabled, giving the audience access to exciting additional content on their mobile devices. We feel privileged to be able to support such an important occasion that highlights the powerful role music plays in our customers’ lives.”

“The Billboard Latin Music Awards mark another major milestone for Shazam’s 200 million fans around the world as we integrate with a major live event on one of the largest Spanish-language broadcasters in the United States,” said Shazam EVP Marketing, David Jones.  “This is one of Telemundo’s most popular broadcasts, so we are excited that we can make it that much more engaging for Latin music fans.”

Additional sponsors for “The Billboard Latin Music Awards Presented by State Farm” include Burger King, L’Oreal USA, Sprint, Target, T-Mobile and Toyota.

For Telemundo, Universal Pictures has produced an exclusive trailer entitled “Summer of Battles” that will air during the awards show. The trailer features previews of three of Universal’s upcoming summer movies: “Battleship,” “Snow White and the Huntsman,” and “Savages,” which stars Latino megastars Salma Hayek, Benicio Del Toro and Demian Bichir.