• by David Kaplan , March 21, 2005

He's worked on product integration deals with some of the best-known brands and marketers --Chrysler, Coca-Cola, GE, Johnson & Johnson, to name a few--while also executive producing network television programming for such networks as ABC, Bravo, CBS, NBC, Lifetime Television, Spike TV, TNT, TBS, and The WB, with programs that have ranged from TV movies to series including "The Restaurant," "The Winning Season," "House Rules," "Escape from Sobibor," and "Young Americans," among others. He was also instrumental in the creation of three movie franchises, Chrysler Showcase Theater, GE Theater, and Johnson & Johnson Spotlight Presentation.

As Riesenberg, president-CEO of Omnicom's Full Circle Entertainment, prepared to unveil two new shows--one a scripted drama coming to NBC--he spoke about the state of branded entertainment, the good and the bad.

Prior to Full Circle, Riesenberg was director of Interpublic's Magna Global Entertainment for three years where he was responsible for producing more than 50 hours of prime-time television. Before that, he was at IPG's McCann-Erickson North America as senior vice president-broadcast and programming director for the Coca-Cola account.

MediaDailyNews: You've been doing branded entertainment for a while. Does the business feel a little crowded these days, with pretty much every agency having a unit dedicated to pursuing such arrangements for its clients?

Robert Riesenberg: Branded entertainment is nothing new. It's been going on since the start of television--and, yes, lately it's been getting a lot of attention, especially the last two or three years. And because of that, a lot of people have jumped into the space. But we're structured and designed in a way that a lot of the problems that you're seeing, we're able to avoid.

MediaDailyNews: What sort of problems?

Riesenberg: A lot of people don't understand the proper roles and boundaries of the other companies and people they work with. That causes so many problems. You need to understand the day-to-day challenges of the sales department and what they go through. You need to clearly see how they sell certain categories and carve out their exclusivities--what their needs are. And you need to respect those needs.

For example, if we're doing a show on a particular network, and we're selling branded integration, we will set out the ground rules for how we go about that before we make our first sales call. The reason is--a network might have sensitivity in a certain area, such as the beer or automotive category, where they must hold onto that category. That way, we know to whom we can sell to without stepping on anyone's toes.

The second way we approach branded entertainment is with the realization that we're not selling product placement. We're not necessarily putting a value on those integrations. We're selling them a fully integrated marketing package that involves integration within a show, and we help design their marketing efforts outside the show and execute them. Those efforts are in support of the show and in support of the brand.

If we were to sell any kind of product placement, in a particular show, we would always do it with the approval of the network first. You can't just stick any product in a show, because if you do, you've hurt the network sales department. They typically hold onto at least half the inventory of a particular show, and if you're putting a soft drink in there, then they're restricted and can't go to a competitor if they haven't sold that category.

On the creative side, we're careful to protect the show and the client, and make sure that all integrations are elegant and natural and don't draw negative attention.

MediaDailyNews: What's easier to work with in terms of branded entertainment, reality series or scripted?

Riesenberg: Reality shows and scripted shows are different models in a lot of ways. It is easier with reality to create integration within a show. That said, there are still opportunities to integrate within a scripted show.

Reality is easier because you're going into someone's living environment, and oftentimes, reality shows are structured in a way that there's some sort of competition. And you can best structure those competitions with a particular brand.

Whereas with a scripted show, you're dealing with a serialized concept that is not so accommodating of opportunities to shift focus on a brand. Scripted shows are generally about the characters and their relationships and the action that exists. You can't compromise that narrative to incorporate brands. Now, having said that, there are exceptions. We're working on a scripted show right now that very much lends itself to product integration, because of the workplace environment of that particular drama.

MediaDailyNews: How is Full Circle different from what you've done in the past?

Riesenberg: I started with Full Circle about a year and three months ago. It's different than my prior job because we're totally independent, even though we're owned by Omnicom. But we're free to work with any agency and any sponsor. That's an important distinction. We're a production company; we have a P&L (profit and loss) that we have to achieve. And our business model is more similar to a production company than an ad agency. We maintain ownership of the shows whenever we can, and we make our money through those ownerships. We sell sponsorships through those shows.

The other way we work is we will handle individual brands and create shows for them. But we're not restricted to working only with Omnicom clients. We are doing business with other agencies as well.

MediaDailyNews: A lot of agencies have talked about finding the right sort of measurement for determining whether or not an integration is successful or not. Is there a way to tell whether or not it works? Is it simply measuring sales or relying mainly on ratings data?

Riesenberg: I think every situation is different, and it all comes down to the objectives you set out for yourself going in. If you're doing something very image-based, that situation probably requires a more qualitative measurement. For example, the Johnson & Johnson movie franchise is very much based on building a positive image. Hallmark is the same. It's not about sales.

We did a show for Lowe's Home Improvement Center, a home improvement show featuring three different families as they renovate the house, room by room. And whatever materials and help they got, it all came from Lowe's and their salesmen.

Their objective was to communicate the attributes about Lowe's and its stores and its employees. At the same time, they wanted to make the public aware of the merchandise, and they wanted to make it available to them.

So certain shows may be sales-driven, and you have to set it up to handle that. And you have to set up a measurement system that tests those objectives before you go in.

Now, there's a lot of companies out there--and this is a pet peeve of mine--that are trying to create measurement systems that have to do with how many seconds a product has on the screen. I challenge that, because too many seconds can be a bad thing. You may want to communicate an important point about nutrition as it relates to a product, and you may be able to do that effectively in about three seconds. I would take an effective, engaging integration like that versus one that keeps that same product up there for 12 seconds.