Product Placement: The Next Generation

Does anyone think it's becoming harder to distinguish content from advertising on TV? Ha! Those of you who read this regularly know that's a trick question – advertising is content, and vice versa. But still, new areas of convergence seem to be manifesting themselves in more interesting, more self-conscious ways.

Our friends at a subsidiary of the Sheinhardt Wig Company called NBC-Universal seem to be leading the way in advertising convergence, if not in ratings. At some point last year, NBC lunged into product placement with gusto, apparently deciding that if they couldn't do it subtly, they could do it satirically. A kind soul on YouTube has saved us the trouble of having to dig up a lot of examples by putting together this montage of 30 Rock making fun of selling out while selling out. (I'm pretty sure these aren't the only examples, and others are to be found throughout NBC's primetime lineup.)



Elsewhere in the building, the folks at Saturday Night Live have been doing some interesting experiments. I can just imagine the day that an exec (maybe Lorne Michaels, or maybe one of the mad men at the Arnell Group) mused "Commercial ads are about 30-60 seconds, and we have video sketches that are about 30-60 seconds ... hmm ..."

To provide some context for non-regular SNL viewers, here is one of the video sketches we've seen a lot of lately.



On the January 31 show, I was not surprised to see a "MacGruber" sketch appear, but I was a little surprised when it appeared during the first commercial break – preceded and followed by actual commercials. Not typically the way they package their sketches, but nothing to write home about. After I saw another one, I started to wonder if I was seeing a sketch at all ...



These ads ran again during the Super Bowl, confirming in fact that they could be called "ads" and not just "sketches with product placement". But can they be both?

For another example, some of you may have noticed the brilliant/tasteless (depending on your viewpoint) "Whopper Virgins" campaign hurled our way by Crispin Porter & Bogusky. Here's a taste.



In one of SNL's episodes late last year, we were treated to this "parody":



So what exactly did we just see here? Given the length of the segment, you'd have to think it was a sketch. But the Burger King name and logo are clearly prominent, as is the name "Whopper". I'll leave it to you to decide.

So now to the question we always ask: Why? What makes the folks at 30 Rockefeller so gung-ho about product placement? Were they desperate for more ad revenue? Are they trying out a new policy of "give us your ad money and we'll throw in the creative work for free"? If so, are the creative people on these shows relishing the opportunity to skewer the brands they are simultaneously hawking, or do they resent this abuse of their talents? And how do the brands, or their surrogate ad agencies, feel about being parodied? Do they get to have a say in how they are portrayed, or do they not care as long as the logo is in the shot?

I suppose an intellectual-type (like the kind who watch NBC shows) might find this very forward-thinking. In the age of Tivo, Hulu, and whatever the next TV-watching innovation will be called (perhaps Loza or Poho?) commercials are being marginalized as people demand, and obtain, the ability to get their entertainment more-or-less immediately without interruptions. Moreover, the sophisticated couch potato of the future is not flipping through channels, but browsing links and watching videos embedded in other pages. In that respect, I guess I'm playing right into their hands. In fact, not only have I been helping to advertise the products for free (I do that in every post), I've also been advertising for Hulu, the site that implicitly promises to take over TV as we know it, or at least some part of its audience, in the future. (More about Hulu in a future post.)

Is this really the future of TV? Is it really the future of advertising? Is NBC, which isn't making any money now, shrewdly making a downpayment on something that will pay dividends in the future, or are they selling out just to stay afloat? Are other studios and networks going to follow their lead? Remember that the main perpetrators here are shows that are produced and aired by the same company, an increasing rarity in the entertainment world. Will the integration of content and advertising lead to future integration of talent, production and distribution? Are we on our way back to NBC's Texaco Star Theater with Milton Berle?

I think that may be a stretch. But kudos to NBC for taking a step up, even if they happen to be standing on a downward-moving escalator.