Much has been said lately about advertisers’ practice of blending their branded products into the storylines of television programs—Staples for “The Office”, for example (actually a pretty good idea). They figure that with everyone DVR-ing through their commercials, they need to get the word out somehow.
Its one thing to have a blatant Coca-Cola sponsorship of American Idol (full disclosure: my sister works for Coca-Cola, but it doesn’t mean I get a discount on my Diet Coke). Even those Ford commercials, though extraordinarily annoying, are at least not fooling anyone but the most sheltered viewer.
I know I was as excited as anyone when “Carpoolers” came on the scene last season. Anyone know what happened to that show? Okay, so it didn’t exactly show a realistic view of carpooling, and in some ways brought the image down a peg or two, but it did get the word into the public lexicon and gave us something to talk about for a few months. Maybe “Vanpoolers” would have given them more story lines—conflict between characters, clandestine romances, medical issues. Heck, I think its an hour long drama, myself. Maybe I’ll write it someday.
In the meantime, though, can’t we get some Desperate Housewives onto the LA Metro for a shopping trip? Does Ugly Betty have a good experience on the subway? Can the cast of The Office decide that they can’t take the rising gas prices and take advantage of a company-sponsored vanpool? Or even Chloe and Courtney fighting for a bus stop in front of their clothing stores on Keeping Up With the Kardashians? That pretty much exhausts my knowledge of prime time TV (and I happened to catch the Kardashians on The View last week; my son and I normally stick to Deadliest Catch and the Food Channel, although right now he’s watching Wipeout, which is just downright hopeless).
I was on a project team recently where a part of the marketing plan was to have buses roll by with the project logo on them. I think we can be more creative than that. Just as driving the latest Escalade helps to define a character so, too, would their use of transit, carpooling or vanpooling. Watch for “The Real Working Housewives of Westchester County” coming to a network to you soon. Just kidding.
Tags: carpooling, doing good, gas prices, marketing, primetime TV, product placement, The Office, transportation, vanpooling
