Product Placements & Branded Entertainment

There is an increasing growth of product placements & branded entertainment creativity in Reality TV shows. Product placements and branded entertainment are among one of the several new alternative strategies in marketing. The idea behind these marketing forms is that products and brands are incorporated into the story line of movies and TV shows to influence the viewer. The combination of entertainment and advertising is sought out as high value to companies for the following reasons:

• Avoid clutter on commercial breaks
• More natural, avoiding the feel of pressure from an actual advertisement
• Low cost per viewer
• Reaches the target market more accurately than a commercial spot
• Endorsed by favourite TV characters
• Almost impossible to ignore since they are embedded in the show

In the game show, Deal or No Deal, the bright red phone used to call the banker was one obvious product placement by Rogers. The brand placement appeared every episode when a contestant knocked out cases to receive an offer of money to either then walk away (deal) or continue playing (no deal) for the chance to win 1 million dollars. The brand placement had several opportunities for exposure depending on the number of times a contestant refused a deal. When the banker was to be called, host Howie Mandel, would mention he would make the call using the Rogers phone line. This worked great as a brand placement because it fit in with the realness of the show and was unavoidable being placed during the programs time slot.

Another successful brand placement was with T-Mobile’s Sidekick cellular phone in MTV’s The Ruins TV show. This was the sole form of information provided to the competitors on the show which let them know which challenge was next. The T-Mobile Sidekick was showed each episode with the introduction of its signature ring tone. Cast members on the show even played up the brands name, making it a bigger deal than the actual message in some cases.

Choosing brand placements over traditional commercial spots is making advertising more valuable in the sense that it can better reach its target market, as well get passed new technologies like PVR’s that help avoid commercials.

Reality TV's Life Cycle

Many of the Reality Show’s we love to watch seem to get better with each season. Viewers provide feedback with high ratings and are given more of what they want from the show, whether it be more drama, more fights or more skill/competition based productions. We have seen the scope of Realities change over the years in order to grab a larger audience and keep the existing entertained. Similar to the phases of a products life cycle, reality shows have been doing much the same. Reality shows pass through the life cycle stages and are altered and adjusted between seasons to continue to be a success in the eyes of its viewers.

We can see that the discovery of Reality Shows happen in the introduction stage, at which time viewers will decide whether the show is interesting to them or not. Once the market of viewers that are intrigued by the show adopt the Reality and PVR it when at work, the show is in its growth and maturity phase. As ratings drop, viewers are just not seeking much interest in the show which should scream for change or they will move on to the next reality show buzzed about.

So what is next?...Many people associate reality TV with drama which is not always the case at all. Sure tons of shows attempt to keep us excited with the preview of next week’s drama and scandalous acts, but we can only live for this for so long. More of what we need to see getting introduced to viewers today are, Reality Shows that make differences and at the same time see the challenges and efforts faced in achieving goals.

One show that is new on MTV called The Buried Life takes this into account-minus the high school drama. The Buried Life is like no other, it is the journey of 4 friends that venture around the globe to complete a list of ‘100 things to do before you die.’ For every item crossed off their list, they help one stranger achieve one of their own.
Check out the trailer...