• by October 26, 2004

PRODUCT DEBASEMENT - Rick Sirvaitis doesn't go public very often these days, but when he does, the General Motors media buying chief likes to stir things up.

During a session at the American Magazine Conference in Boca Raton, Fla., today, Sirvaitis said he is interested in the notion of product placement deals that would insinuate GM brands into the editorial content of magazines. That, of course, is verboten, according to long-standing guidelines of the American Society of Magazine Editors (ASME), and the Magazine Publishers of America (MPA), which are hosting the conference.

For the benefit of Sirvaitis, and others who may have forgotten, here's a brief refresher on the church and state of magazine editorial and advertising content, which was last revised by ASME and the MPA in September 1997.

As editors and publishers, we strongly believe that editorial integrity and credibility are the magazine industry's most important assets. As a result, we believe that magazines should not submit table of contents, text, or photos from upcoming issues to advertisers for prior review. We are confident that editors and publishers can inform advertisers about a publication's editorial environment or direction without engaging in practices that may at the very least create the appearance of censorship and ultimately could undermine editorial independence.

Since the guidelines cannot possibly cover every situation that arises, we hope that all magazine editors and publishers will respect ASME's guidelines in spirit and in practice. Due to the volume of inquiries in recent years, ASME cannot pass judgment or grant approval on proposed content before publication. If an editor or publisher is not sure whether an ad or article complies with these guidelines, ASME suggests proceeding with caution -- when in doubt, slug it "advertisement" or "promotion," as detailed in the guidelines. Make sure it is easy for readers to tell what kind of content it is.

In order to ensure that online entities with an editorial component also maintain the highest standards, ASME and Magazine Publishers of America jointly issued "Best Practices for Digital Media" in August 2000.

Please note: Any magazine that willfully or repeatedly violates these guidelines will be declared ineligible for National Magazine Awards, and the editor ultimately responsible for the violations (if a member of ASME) may be expelled from the organization.

What does that mean? Well, it means Oprah can give away Pontiac G6 cars to 276 members of her audience on TV's "Oprah Winfrey Show," but she can't plug them editorially in O magazine, unless of course, it was thought up by Oprah's editorial staff, independent of the publishing side, and without the input of General Motors.

By the way Rick, in case you haven't been counting, that was three mentions of GM, one plug for Pontiac, too, so we assume the check is in the mail?

NEW RULES -- Since no such rules apparently exist in the wild frontier of TV product placement, and since nature abhors a vacuum, that's just what Santa Barbara, Calif.-based New Paradigm TV (NPTV) claims to come up with.

Mind you, NPTV doesn't claim its rules will protect the sanctity of the television medium (it doesn't have any). Instead, the NPTV rules are designed to protect the interests of marketers looking to get involved with so-called "branded TV content," or what used to be called product placement.

Actually, Ken Convoy, president of NPTV says they are more questions than rules, and he has five of them that he recommends marketers and their agencies ask before entering into branded content deal.

"Having potential suppliers answer these questions gives advertisers an objective method, or ground rules, to evaluate how well what they're being pitched will reach their marketing, sales and CPM goals, thus enabling them to confidently invest in the show or pass on it," said Convoy, offering the following unsolicited, but free advice in the form of five questions and five qualifiers:

1. How will your show generate and maintain high ratings?

Our goal is to increase our ROI and decrease our CPM, so make me confident your sitcom or drama will generate high levels of sampling (don't say that's the network's job; their promotion isn't effective) and then maintain viewer loyalty so my message will connect with the maximum number of people in our target demo, the show will not be cancelled after four weeks, and as a bonus, it can deliver profits we can share in. But don't tell me how "great" it will be; convince me it will earn high ratings regardless of its time slot and people will sample and stay with it in a 100-channel universe, so I don't have to guess.

2. Why will your show be bought?

Networks are pitched about 1,000 a year - persuade me why yours will be purchased.

3. How will your show increase my sales?

I want to communicate my brand's marketing plan by organically integrating its benefits and/or new applications so sales increase. I'm not paying this much money just for more-expensive product placement, such as two-second product shots, banners, and name mentions to increase name recall.

4. How will the integration be a natural and logical element of each episode?

Show me how it grows out of the story lines because if it is fairly obvious and seems like a commercial it will suppress the ratings' and integration results.

5. How will your marketing extensions increase brand sales and show ratings?

I expect much more than increased name awareness from both the promotional programs and Web sites.

"Some people might question that these queries raise the bar too high, that they are unrealistic. But, if it was a brand manager's personal money being invested, he or she would want them answered," cautioned Convoy.

Seems like sound advice. But we wonder how long it will be before it's being applied to magazine content deals.