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If you have a product to sell, getting it on a Bravo TV reality show like Top Chef or Project Runway might be the ticket to boosting sales. Thanks to its popular reality shows, Bravo TV has taken the top ratings spot among all broadcast and primetime cable television categories during the first half of 2008.
According to Product Placement News, brands like Toyota, Clorox, Food & Wine Magazine, Campbell’s soup, Diet Dr. Pepper and Quaker are all paid for product placement on the upcoming season of Top Chef that starts this month on Bravo TV. It sounds like each of these brands can realistically fit into the Top Chef premise. The problem will come when brands that have nothing to do with the show they’re placed in are approved for placement.
The great thing with reality TV is product placements can be worked in from so many angles. Think of the Top Chef example. The chefs can drive Toyota vehicles to purchase ingredients, use Clorox to clean the kitchen, incorporate Campbell’s soup, Quaker products or Diet Dr. Pepsi into a recipe (or simply drink Diet Dr. Pepsi).
Now, if we start to see brands like Heinz on Top Chef, then there will be a disconnect. I watch Top Chef, and I know chefs don’t like ketchup. If they start pouring ketchup on their Kobe beef, then the product placements will lose all value. Project Runway came close to self-destructing this past season when the designers were asked to create garments from Saturn car parts.
What do you think? Are product placements on reality TV shows becoming over saturated or is there still room for well-placed products?
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Susan Gunelius
Susan Gunelius is President & CEO of KeySplash Creative, Inc. and Founder & Editor in Chief of an award-winning blog, WomenOnBusiness.com. She is a 25-year veteran of the marketing field and has authored 10 books about marketing, branding, and social media, including the highly popular 30-Minute Social Media Marketing, Content Marketing for Dummies, Blogging All-in-One for Dummies and Kick-ass Copywriting in 10 Easy Steps. Susan’s marketing-related content can be found on Entrepreneur.com, Forbes.com, MSNBC.com, BusinessWeek.com, and more. Susan is President & CEO of KeySplash Creative, Inc., a marketing communications company. She has worked in corporate marketing roles and through client relationships with AT&T, HSBC, Citibank, Intuit, The New York Times, Cox Communications, and many more large and small companies around the world. Susan also speaks about marketing, branding and social media at events around the world and is frequently interviewed by television, online, radio, and print media organizations about these topics. She holds an MBA in Management and Strategy and a Bachelor of Science degree in Marketing.
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When I read the section of your post about unassociated product placement, I was struck with the memory of that part in Wayne’s World where Wayne & Garth were blatantly flashing products during the movie, but that was comedy. If they start placing things like toilet paper or remedies for indigestion/diarrhea on Top Chef I’ll get worried.
Hey Susan, just getting caught up on those of us who used to be with b5 and are now blogging elsewhere. Good to see you here. Love you list of books!
Anne Wayman
http://www.aboutfreelancewriting.com
Scott, I definitely agree. Pepto-Bismol and Top Chef would not be a good match. And I love the Wayne’s World reference, by the way!
Anne,
Thanks so much for stopping by! About Freelance Writing is one of my frequently visited blogs!
Susan
So, you don’t think we’ll be seeing contestants performing the Pepto-Bismol dance? What about Padma Lakshmi, Tom Colicchio or Gail Simmons? Tom would be hilarious doing this!
Scott, that would be very funny!