Archive for June 16th, 2007

It’s almost comical what Verizon Wireless was attempting to do in its sponsorship of Fox’s summer flop “On The Lot,” a reality-competition show where would-be Spielbergs compete for a Dreamworks development deal.

In the summer of 2002, AT&T took a flier as a sponsor of a British import known as “American Idol,” where it would receive abundant exposure as the facilitator of the audience voting process. Lightning struck.
AT&T has re-upped the deal ever since (even as its brand has morphed from AT&T Wireless to Cingular to AT&T, no Wireless, over the last six years). And linking with arguably the most dominant TV show of all time has of course proven to be as good as it gets in marketing.
Verizon Wireless was simply hoping lightning would strike twice, for its “On The Lot” integration differs very little conceptually from AT&T and “Idol.”

For that matter, the concept of the show itself hardly differs–it’s just about fledgling filmmakers, not singers. Why an industry legend such as Steven Spielberg, the executive producer, would want to lend his name to essentially knock-off TV is quizzical. EW.com calls it “‘American Idol’s’ inbred sister.”

As with “Idol,” viewers get to listen to judges’ takes after watching the would-be big-time auteurs’ creations, then get to select themselves which contestants move on. While they can vote by calling toll-free or using the Internet, the most heavily promoted way on-air is by sending a text message, which only Verizon Wireless customers can do. Those customers are charged a fee, where revenues are surely shared between Fox and Verizon. (The integration was one of the top product placements of the week, according to measurement firm iTVX.)

Full story…

Share This

A COMING television series about Madison Avenue, set in the days when sponsors’ products were regularly woven into the plots of shows, is — yes — getting a sponsor whose product will be regularly woven into the plot of each episode.

Those advertising people, to paraphrase a line from the 1956 film “Written on the Wind,” so clever with ideas.

The series is “Mad Men,” a look at the industry and those who chose it as a career, circa 1960, as told through the employees and clients of a fictitious agency called Sterling Cooper. The hourlong dramatic series is to begin a 13-week run on July 19 on the AMC cable network.

Jack Daniel’s Tennessee whiskey sold by the Brown-Forman Corporation will sponsor “Mad Men” under an agreement that involves the product both on and off the show. The deal was brought to Brown-Forman by the Universal McCann media agency in New York, part of the McCann Worldgroup division of the Interpublic Group of Companies.

“You always want to keep your eye on what’s the next new thing, to talk to consumers in a relevant way,” said Mark Bacon, national brand director for Jack Daniel’s at Brown-Forman in Louisville, Ky.

The funny part is that although the concept of turning products into integral elements of shows, known as branded entertainment, is new to contemporary advertisers, it was actually a mainstay of marketing from the ’30s through the ’60s.

Full story…

Share This

Two of the Big Four networks are taking almost entirely opposite approaches to how they will deal with viewers recording programs to watch later in plans that could mean life or death for some of your favorite shows.

CBS already is telling fans that if they want to see more “Jericho” past its abbreviated second season, they better be watching live (or at least getting their neighborhood Nielsen family to watch it live), because even strong DVR numbers aren’t going to cut it.

Full Story

Share This