In a branded entertainment deal that weaves the dating site Match.com into TBS' new comedy "My Boys," the big winner may be the network and not the marketer.
Consider: The New
York Times' influential ad column focused entirely on the deal on the day of the show's premiere, a publicity boon for the network that could encourage other marketers to approach TBS looking for
similar opportunities. According to the article, Match.com made the sponsorship deal during the summer upfront, presumably meaning that TBS has the money in pocket. It gets better for the net. Though
the show's ratings may be lackluster and TBS will have to offer Match make-goods, it's unlikely to give the dough back.
For Match.com, it may not be as much of a sure bet.
Judging by the
brand's appearance in the Nov. 28 debut episode, the product placement feels forced, a potential consumer turn-off. This despite Match's CEO telling the Times the appearance had to feel
"seamless and natural." (The integration was one of the top-ranked product placements of the week, according to measurement firm iTVX.)
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Match and TBS clearly made an effort to achieve
seamlessness. The show's conceit dovetails within the orbit Match circulates: 20somethings trying to get the relationship thing right.
But the initial dialogue in which Match appears strains
credulity on several levels. It's a scene where two female friends grab lunch and discuss the highs and lows of the dating minefield. One woman (PJ Franklin, played by Jordana Spiro) laments a recent
encounter. Another (Stephanie, played by Kellee Stewart) struggles with a break-up but turns to Match to find Mr. Right.
"I have been on Match.com a lot," Stephanie says.
"Doing what?" PJ
asks.
"Online dating! It's fantastic!" Stephanie says.
It's just not realistic. Young people have been talking about online dating since the Lewinsky scandal first broke. Two attractive
singles in a city with a single scene as vibrant as Chicago (the show's locale) have just discovered Match.com, the most talked-about Internet dating site? Plus, the woman sampling the service is so
excited about it. She can't contain herself when the bulk of experimenters are a bit more muted about the prospects of clicking with someone, based on a posted photo (potentially doctored) and a
usually hyperbolic description of greatness.
In fact, Match itself acknowledges the unlikelihood of a connection, with a promotion that gives a user six months free use of the site if they fail
to meet someone special during that period.
Which explains why the product placement's effectiveness can be questioned. If Match executives are so certain the integration within the content will
deliver its message, why did they run a billboard/voiceover saying the show is "presented by Match.com"?
While it's become near standard in product-placement execution to explain, via voiceover,
that what viewers just saw was deliberate, thereby reinforcing the placement, the practice can do more harm than good. It can make consumers feel like targets of some sort of commercialization
legerdemain.
Like many marketers, Match may have been on the fence between wanting to avoid that--the CEO did not want to be "heavy-handed"--and wanting to get its money's worth. It probably
netted the latter. The company's link with the show includes an appearance in all 13 episodes, and a presence on TBS.com and in a promotional campaign, according to the Times.
Still, the
dating site and "My Boys" just don't seem to be a match made in branded entertainment heaven.