Finalists in Branded Content/ Product Placement

by Staff Writers, Oct 10, 2007, 3:53 PM

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Using tactics that ranged from hilarious to renegade, this year's finalists for branded content and product placement got their message across.

Coca-Cola

"The Extreme Diet Coke and Mentos Experiments"

Coca-Cola: Tim Kopp, (former) Vice President, Global Interactive Marketing; Michael Donnelly, Director, Global Interactive Marketing; David Vanderpoel, Principal, North Highland.

EepyBird.com: Fritz Grobe and Stephen Voltz.

Initially, coca-cola wasn't sure what to do when a video blitzed across the Web with two men in lab coats dropping Mentos in two-liter Diet Coke bottles, creating jaw-dropping geysers. A Coke stiff-arm could have led to all kinds of questions about just what's in Diet Coke that causes such combustion.

Instead, the marketer saw an opportunity to link with the offbeat local-theater duo (known as EepyBird) behind the video. The company signed the pair and funded production of another quirky creation, this time with 250 Diet Coke bottles. People marveled at the videos and sent links along, creating a viral phenomenon. Coke launched a contest fronted by EepyBird where consumers were challenged to create a home video as stunning as the geysers.

Connecting with the EepyBird guys is what makes this a winner for Coke. A brand always gains grassroots credibility when eccentric, non-corporate types serve as ambassadors.

Davie Brown Entertainment

Staples

Nancy Mammana,Vice President.

Staples' integration into NBC's "the Office" is both clever and effective. If viewers aren't motivated to buy the featured product for its intended, everyday use, they might be as a source of amusement or stress relief.

The office-supply retailer worked with producers to find a storyline and character to showcase its new MailMate paper shredder, while maintaining the show's distinctive humor. They came up with an accountant character who can barely contain himself as he shows how the MailMate can mangle far more than a bank statement. He eagerly jams in a CD, then a credit card, leaving viewers to wonder just how powerful the device really is.

Staples accomplishes its goal of raising awareness of itself as an innovator of easy-to-use products, and draws attention its new device. Creating intrigue around a document shredder of all things is a tough job built for, well, a MailMate.

Starcom USA

Applebee's

Caroline Boese, Associate Director; Laura Caraccioli-Davis, Executive Vice President, Director; Karla Knecht, Vice President, Director; Sam Sussman, Senior Vice President, Director; Jackie Kulesza, Vice President, Director; Debbie Kaplan, Entertainment Associate; Matt Sharon, Producer; Marie SanRamon, Supervisor.

Consumers don't perceive much difference between the menus at the mass of restaurants that front strip malls from coast to coast. Applebee's and Starcom conveyed the brand's

differentiation point as a comfortable neighborhood hub and local coffee shop in a suburban world via a spot-on integration in NBC drama "Friday Night Lights."

Starcom realized in the development stage that the series, set in a small Texas town infatuated with its high school football team, offered an ideal platform. The restaurant plays a supporting role in multiple episodes. It's the setting for heartfelt moments, like when a coach and wife discuss her return to work, and a spontaneous pep rally before the state championship. Viewers notice favorable shots of Applebee's friendly interior and bright exterior, and a mention of the Quesadilla burger. But it still feels like part of the show - and part of a community.

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