• by David Kaplan , November 19, 2004

Looking to capitalize on the ever-growing trend of product placement, Interpublic Group's deutschMedia has reached a deal with consultant iTVX to launch an entertainment marketing company, Media Bridge Entertainment.

The company plans to introduce "pay for performance" as its core offering, or as it's redefined the acronym ROI: results oriented integration.

"ROI provides clients with a precise measurement tool that allows them to pay only for product exposure that appears on the screen, not what ends up on the editing room floor," said Linda Sawyer, managing partner, chief operating officer at Deutsch.

MBE was born of the ideas of Peter Gardiner, partner/chief media officer at Deutsch, and Frank Zazza, the creative director and CEO of iTVX, Sawyer said. ITVX has arranged product placement deals for such marketers as Unilever, Kraft, and Verizon.

"Access to iTVX's system and a systemized approach allows us to provide more strategic product placement for our clients and reflects Deutsch's results-based orientation performance that is measurable and accountable," Sawyer added.

As for deciding to go outside the full-service realm that Deutsch has tended to cultivate when it comes to adding marketing disciplines, the alignment makes sense as a way to skip over much of the "building-up" such undertakings require. And by bringing in a company that's had experience in the area of product placement, Deutsch can always decide to walk away painlessly.

"With everyone jumping on the bandwagon of product placement, it's a veritable must that agencies have some sort of access to such deals," one media analyst said. "And rather than try to create a business from scratch--especially when there's really no prior expertise--it makes sense to partner with another company. And for iTVX, it gives them an entree to work with Deutsch clients that they might not otherwise be able to."

In other MBE news, the company has also hired Tal Salomon, a former partner, group media director at Lowe New York, as director of sales and marketing development.