• by January 21, 2005

I don't know about you, but we're running right out today to get one of those Angus Steak burgers. The 'street smart' team marketed them so successfully last night on "The Apprentice" that they've actually become a real product.

Yes, Burger King is hawking the Western-style numbers starting today. They were advertised last night during the NBC broadcast of "The Apprentice" in a clever stroke of product and brand integration. Notably, when the spot began, we didn't realize the show had segued to commercial because The Donald appeared doing his thing in the boardroom: We didn't realize we were in a commercial! Very clever...

Yahoo! is also very clever. In addition to getting its dancing feet on Broadway (see today's MediaDailyNews news story), the Internet giant has been hired to produce, host, and sell advertising on the official Web sites for Mark Burnett Productions' upcoming series "The Contender" and the third season of "The Apprentice." Although Yahoo! has had other deals with Burnett, this is a vote of confidence for the company and a major coup for its ongoing march into entertainment and forays into original content and programming for the Web.

Last night, as the first contestant booted from the show made his way to the street, the taxi that picked him up was topped with a HotJobs sign which received several nice shots in the space of a minute or so. Interestingly, the Yahoo! portion of the sign (Yahoo! HotJobs) was not featured, leading us to believe that the company wants jobseekers to get used to seeing the name without the Yahoo! preface all the time.

The properties involved in the integration and promotion of "The Apprentice" content include Yahoo! TV, Yahoo! Messenger, Yahoo! HotJobs, Yahoo! Search, Yahoo! Finance, and LAUNCH, Music on Yahoo! These properties combined reach a total monthly unduplicated audience of 85 million unique users, according to December 2004 data from comScore Media Metrix

Content on the official Web sites for the third season of "The Apprentice," and "The Contender," a new unscripted drama about the lives of 16 boxers who fight for $1 million dollars, will be updated weekly to complement each episode and provide a behind-the-scenes experience. Yahoo! will also incorporate branded programming elements throughout other offerings to expand the shows' reach.

Yahoo! says that advertising opportunities on the sites include sponsorship, broadband video ads, and banner ads. Judging by this week's earnings report, Yahoo! isn't having a lot of trouble attracting advertisers to its properties.

Now go out and get one of those new-fangled burgers.