Commentary

Brandtique: Sunkist, 'One Tree Hill'

Are branded integration dollars so flush that a marketer's commitment to spend them can actually determine whether a network picks up a ratings-challenged series? In other words, if Pepsi offered NBC beaucoup millions for the right to sprinkle its bottles throughout "Studio 60" and some other tie-ins, would the network then give it a second season?

Hard to believe, but apparently a similar arrangement convinced the CW to give former WB series "One Tree Hill" another year, at least according to its executive producer Joe Davola.

Creative types--particularly writers--are supposed to abhor advertisers wielding some say over what happens in their scripts. Same for many producers, "Law & Order"'s Dick Wolf a notable one.

Then there are the Davolas, who seem willing to descend from the Ivory Tower when the very fate of their shows, incomes, back-end syndication takes, DVD sales cuts, etc. are at stake. Maybe Wolf would do the same if "SVU" and "CI" were on the block?

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CW programmers reportedly made an eleventh-hour decision to keep Davola's teen drama going on the new network, even with viewer figures lower than critically acclaimed WB show "Everwood."

Why?

Sunkist ... if you believe the executive producer. Really Cadbury Schweppes. The marketer's willingness to pony up for a sprawling integration for the orange soda this season (a second straight) seems to have guaranteed enough dough to CW for the network to give the series another go-round.

On the green-hued CW, the deal gives "One Tree Hill" a coat of orange. There are billboards and Web banners, product placement (a scene in the Feb. 7 episode featured two characters strolling with a Sunkist machine dominating the space behind them...clocked time: 29 seconds) and a contest with the flavor du jour...user-generated content.

The contest, where the winner was crowned on the Feb. 7 episode (one of the top product placements of the week, according to measurement firm iTVX) sought homemade videos from series fans. The "Sunkist Brings 'One Tree Hill' to Your Town Contest" winner was determined partly via online voting, and gets an episode shot in their town.

"The Sunkist promotion kept us on the air," Davola told The New York Times.

In the Times, Davola referred to the Sunkist cash as "the slush fund." That probably didn't bring too many smiles to the faces of CW, Warner Bros. (the studio) or Cadbury Schweppes executives who read it on Dec. 7. A common definition for the term is "money set aside by a business or other organization for corrupt activities such as the bribery of public officials."

In fairness, Davola appeared to be employing some tongue-in-cheek (though the Times played it as matter of fact) referring to "the slush fund" as useful for reducing production costs, which presumably would then trickle down to allow the CW to pick the show up and reduce its outlays.

The promotion was launched last fall as Davola's co-executive producer Mark Schwahn appeared in a spot during an episode.

Davola and Schwahn sure don't seem to mind the spotlight.

Leading up to the declaration of the winner during the Feb. 7 episode, Schwahn appeared in several spots with star Hilarie Burton teasing the coming Publisher's Clearing House-style surprise visit to a high school assembly in Honey Grove, Texas to announce the winner.

Once there, Burton and Schwahn appeared before the assembled students, and Burton said the cast would soon be back to shoot the episode.

The Sunkist team at Cadbury had to be pleased. The teens went bonkers, and a group appeared with Sunkist T-shirts to thank the soda marketer for making it all possible. Would-be cynical teens exasperated by ad creep expressing gratitude to a marketer? That's not a bad endorsement.

Then there was the star Burton asking the euphoric teens: "Are you guys ready to party with Sunkist and 'One Tree Hill'?"

More bedlam.

This season, viewership is once again down for "One Tree Hill." Will Davola find another white knight on Madison Avenue?

Maybe an orange one.

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