Sponsors owning and producing their own shows--an idea dating to the beginning of TV--is getting a fresh look as marketers battle consumer ad avoidance and networks battle rising programming costs.
Networks will only OK ideas they deem entertaining, and the show can't be too commercial (no "infomercials").
The marketer-network deals vary widely in cost and how the brand figures
into the show, says Jon Kamen, CEO of production company @radical.media, which has worked on TV shows for Gillette, Unilever and Toyota. Gillette is producing an ABC prime-time reality series starring
the group of NASCAR drivers--dubbed the "Young Guns"--who are featured in its TV ads and online.
Similarly, Unilever's Axe created a half-hour special for Spike TV called "Exposing The
Order of The Serpentine" to promote Snake Peel Shower Scrub. It was a mock news exposé of a secret society that helps guys wash away the shame of poor pick-up choices with an orange liquid. And
Toyota's FJ Cruisers were front and center in a one-hour Speed channel special "Two Roads to Baja" that followed two FJ teams in the Baja 1000 race.
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