• by Wayne Friedman , June 11, 2007

Under its new senior entertainment executives, NBC wants to bring advertisers into the program-development process even earlier for possible brand entertainment and product-placement deals.

With the program-development process starting in another month, Marc Graboff, co-chairman of NBC Entertainment and NBC Universal Television Studio, is gearing up. He hopes to establish some consistent practices when it comes to TV advertisers.

"I want to try to institutionalize this a little bit," says Graboff. "Creative has been typically in its silo here in Los Angeles, and advertising sales in its silo in New York. Why not have someone from the sales group in the room during those development meetings?"

This process has already started, adds Graboff, who has gotten Barbara Blangiardi, senior vice president of strategic marketing and content innovation for NBC Universal, involved in the initiative.

"Bringing in an advertiser is tricky," says Graboff. "[Marketers] are working on the timing to get their product launch. At the same time, we don't always know when and where our product [show] will get launched. There is a needle to thread."

Graboff, along with Ben Silverman, who shares the title of co-chairman of NBC Entertainment and NBC Universal Television Studio, have plenty of experience with marketers in this area.

Silverman, with shows like "The Office" and "The Biggest Loser," has had marketing deals with Staples, Chili's and 24HourFitness. Graboff, as NBC's long-time business-side executive, has worked with Mark Burnett, who struck a variety of branded entertainment deals associated with "The Apprentice" and "The Contender."

Graboff notes that NBC's sister network USA Network started a deal at the development level with its new limited summer series "The Starter Wife." Ponds' beauty cream is not only a title sponsor, but has product placement elements in the show, too.

NBC was at the forefront of some groundbreaking branded entertainment deals, such as the one with Mark Burnett's "The Apprentice." Burnett had a unique arrangement: He could sell in-show branded entertainment deals to marketers for millions, without requiring advertisers to buy traditional TV commercial time with NBC's ad sales group. That gave marketers big savings, coming at the expense of NBC's ad sales revenue coffers.

But Graboff said after the third cycle of the show, there was better coordination. Going forward, "The Apprentice" may return sometime in the future, and if that happens, the deal structure would change: "If we continue with 'The Apprentice,' we would do it in a more cohesive effort."

While some producers still grouse about product placement in their shows, increasingly there is more understanding. "It's financial, promotional, and it's what we need as a network. They are getting savvier."

This past season, for example, Graboff says "Heroes" creator Tim Kring, after an early chance meeting with an advertising executive, went home and wrote a story line about the new car brand Nissan Versa, an arc that was woven into the story of the character Hiro.

Although product placement is almost taken for granted in TV programs, networks still need to ensure that it works for viewers. Here's a response from a message board of 9thWonders.com, a "Heroes" fan site: "I hate the Nissan Versa thing. Product placement in itself is awful enough, but then they are so blatant about it. I mean, who in real life would really call it a Nissan Versa or a Versa every time they referred to it instead of just calling it "the car"? It compromises realistic dialogue in the script-writing, and it certainly does not compel me to actually buy one."

To be fair, there are also general mentions about the brand, discussing how the Nissan car doesn't seem to get dirty or have a scratch on it--even after an explosion.

Still, network executives are doing their best to make brands appear as organic as possible in TV shows. Due to increased time-shifting--and as a consequence, viewers' increasing habit of fast-forwarding through commercials--NBC will continue to try to get marketing messages inside programs.

"The TiVo effect is a growing part of the business," says Graboff. It's not going away. It's something that we have to address because advertisers are demanding it.'