MONTCLAIR, N.J. — Nothing seems amiss in this well-appointed home in a tony New York City suburb…except for the intriguing experiment taking place inside.
Six college students who have cultivated their own “creator” bases have come here to compete against one another in challenges brought to them by Katie Feeney, the up-and-coming sports influencer who now holds forth on ESPN. Their trials and tribulations will be featured in “Best in Class,” a seven-part competition series that will launch August 5th on the TikTok and Instagram channels of Xfinity, the Comcast-owned TV, broadband and phone connectivity service that is shown powering each person’s efforts. The two-minute episodes will drop weekly.
“There are six different challenges, and they get to put their content-creator skills to the test, and, ultimately, win $100,000 in a brand deal with Xfinity,” Feeney explains during a break in shooting. “At the college age, that’s life changing.”
In a different era, Comcast used eyebrow-raising TV commercials that tapped familiar figures from the company’s content archive, which includes “E.T.” and “Jurassic Park,” to capture consumer attention. “Best in Class,” however, is aimed at a constituency that doesn’t necessarily watch traditional marketing pitches may not think of Xfinity first when it comes to linking up to the digital realm. Still, the series may give younger consumers, known for their propensity for cord cutting, a new reason to keep Comcast’s services in mind.
