• by David Goetzl  @dgoetzl, December 12, 2006

In a branded entertainment deal that weaves the dating site Match.com into TBS' new comedy "My Boys," the big winner may be the network and not the marketer.

Consider: The New York Times' influential ad column focused entirely on the deal on the day of the show's premiere, a publicity boon for the network that could encourage other marketers to approach TBS looking for similar opportunities. According to the article, Match.com made the sponsorship deal during the summer upfront, presumably meaning that TBS has the money in pocket. It gets better for the net. Though the show's ratings may be lackluster and TBS will have to offer Match make-goods, it's unlikely to give the dough back.

For Match.com, it may not be as much of a sure bet.

Judging by the brand's appearance in the Nov. 28 debut episode, the product placement feels forced, a potential consumer turn-off. This despite Match's CEO telling the Times the appearance had to feel "seamless and natural." (The integration was one of the top-ranked product placements of the week, according to measurement firm iTVX.)

Match and TBS clearly made an effort to achieve seamlessness. The show's conceit dovetails within the orbit Match circulates: 20somethings trying to get the relationship thing right.

But the initial dialogue in which Match appears strains credulity on several levels. It's a scene where two female friends grab lunch and discuss the highs and lows of the dating minefield. One woman (PJ Franklin, played by Jordana Spiro) laments a recent encounter. Another (Stephanie, played by Kellee Stewart) struggles with a break-up but turns to Match to find Mr. Right.

"I have been on Match.com a lot," Stephanie says.

"Doing what?" PJ asks.

"Online dating! It's fantastic!" Stephanie says.

It's just not realistic. Young people have been talking about online dating since the Lewinsky scandal first broke. Two attractive singles in a city with a single scene as vibrant as Chicago (the show's locale) have just discovered Match.com, the most talked-about Internet dating site? Plus, the woman sampling the service is so excited about it. She can't contain herself when the bulk of experimenters are a bit more muted about the prospects of clicking with someone, based on a posted photo (potentially doctored) and a usually hyperbolic description of greatness.

In fact, Match itself acknowledges the unlikelihood of a connection, with a promotion that gives a user six months free use of the site if they fail to meet someone special during that period.

Which explains why the product placement's effectiveness can be questioned. If Match executives are so certain the integration within the content will deliver its message, why did they run a billboard/voiceover saying the show is "presented by Match.com"?

While it's become near standard in product-placement execution to explain, via voiceover, that what viewers just saw was deliberate, thereby reinforcing the placement, the practice can do more harm than good. It can make consumers feel like targets of some sort of commercialization legerdemain.

Like many marketers, Match may have been on the fence between wanting to avoid that--the CEO did not want to be "heavy-handed"--and wanting to get its money's worth. It probably netted the latter. The company's link with the show includes an appearance in all 13 episodes, and a presence on TBS.com and in a promotional campaign, according to the Times.

Still, the dating site and "My Boys" just don't seem to be a match made in branded entertainment heaven.