• by David Goetzl  @dgoetzl, November 14, 2006

No one knows if NBC's "Friday Night Lights" will last the season, but it's already come up a product-placement winner.

The drama about a high-school football team and life in the fictional Dillon, Texas is ranked lower than most Texans would rate their hometown team: 67th among prime-time shows in the 18-to-49 demo.

What saves it, from a marketing perspective, is the deal between restaurant chain Applebee's and NBC, which brings "organic" product placement to the show that both parties can be proud of. At times, it goes over the top, but in general, it's more than plausible that an Applebee's would serve as a locus of life in Dillon.

In May, NBC entertainment president Kevin Reilly referred to the drama as "'The O.C.'" with heart." Applebee's would avoid a show set among the privileged in SoCal, but one set in a Texas town that loves its football hits its target demo.

For example, one ad the chain runs, often around NCAA basketball tournament time, concerns a retiring high-school basketball coach, who gets his picture placed on the wall in the local Applebee's. This strategy is at the core of the company's ads: Get a good meal at a decent price and celebrate what makes one's hometown unique.

In Dillon, it's the pigskin team, and the Oct. 30 episode includes a scene where Coach Taylor (Kyle Chandler) sits at a table devising plays. Later, the local Applebee's serves as the launching pad for a romance between a local girl and an out-of-towner. (The scene was one of the top-ranked product placements of the week, according to measurement firm iTVX.)

In an earlier "Lights" episode, Coach Taylor met some local bigwig team supporters at the restaurant for lunch. (Applebee's link with the show includes a "Hometown Hero" section on NBC.com and banner ads there). Best for the show, it's all highly believable. Adding to Applebee's advantage, the placement is noticeable but not intrusive. Credit NBC for realizing the synergy and executing the brand integration tastefully.

To be sure, Applebee's isn't content to just settle for being wallpaper. The camera offers a close-up in the Oct. 30 episode of the "Carside to Go" sign in front--an Applebee's service in which a person calls ahead for an order and has it brought out to the car. Later, the camera goes by the Applebee's "Neighborhood Bar & Grill" sign--arguably gratuitously.

At one point in the Oct. 30 episode, the local girl says: "There's more than one restaurant in this town." But none would dovetail so well with the goings-on in Dillon, Texas--or towns like it.