• by Adam Buckman , Featured Columnist, September 30, 2025

NBC’s new marketing competition show “On Brand” completely glosses over the real, hard work of actually putting together a national marketing campaign for an A-list brand.

Instead, the show would have you believe that a winning marketing concept can go from no idea to presentation in just one hour.

And not just any presentation either. In Episode One, 10 amateur contestants are directed to come up with a national marketing concept to promote Dunkin’s $6 breakfast Meal Deal.

They are then sent off to an office somewhere for an hour, and after they arrive, they run around a room festooned with Dunkin’ merch in the manner of overexcited children on a sugar high.

Then, in the blink of an eye, they are seen presenting their ideas one after the other to Scott Murphy, president of Dunkin’ Americas, and Jill McVicar Nelson, Dunkin’ chief marketing officer (both seen in the photo above).

Also on hand to hear the presentations are Bozoma Saint John, one-time CMO of Netflix, and Jimmy Fallon.

The presentations include visual elements, such as taglines, seen on a large screen.

Plus, each presenter has in their hands an example of Dunkin’ packaging that has been custom-designed and manufactured to accompany their concepts. Was all of this really done in an hour? Really?

Never in the premiere episode previewed by the TV Blog were any of the contestants seen applying some elbow grease or working long hours to hone and improve their concepts in the manner of, say, “Project Runway,” in which the hard work of designing and then producing each week’s fashions was front and center.

I have never designed and produced a multimillion-dollar marketing campaign, but I suspect that shepherding a concept from the idea stage to execution must involve hard work, long hours and then excitement as marketing teams approach the finish line.

But in “On Brand,” that process is neglected in favor of a lot of noise supplied by loud music and shrieking. The whole thing felt oversold.

At least Dunkin’ got a show-length promotion for its $6 Meal Deal -- one that they presumably paid for -- and Dunkin’s Murphy and Nelson come off very well in the show.

They are polished and professional, and not reluctant to provide candid feedback to the presenters even when it was negative.

Brands featured in the next seven episodes of ‘On Brand” are Southwest Airlines, Marshalls, Sonic, Captain Morgan, Pillsbury, Kitchen-Aid and Therabody.

In the final analysis, it is difficult to see “On Brand” igniting an interest in brand-marketing among the general public, although it might play reasonably well among professional marketers who are curious to see how their profession translates to reality TV.

“On Brand” premieres on Tuesday, September 30, at 10 p.m. Eastern.