• by David Goetzl  @dgoetzl, September 14, 2007

In the latest stunt aimed at breaking through the clutter caused by the flood of promotions for the new fall season, ABC will distribute a hospital gown in an attempt to drum up even more interest in "Grey's Anatomy."

The network has negotiated with TV Guide to attach a life-size, ABC-logoed gown in a polybag delivered with the Sept. 24 issue of magazine to subscribers in the top two TV markets, New York and Los Angeles.

The series returns for a fourth season Sept. 27 to its time-period-winning slot on Thursdays at 9 p.m. "We love providing viewers with unexpected and unique marketing campaigns that are organic to our programming," said Michael Benson, executive vice president of marketing at ABC.

For ABC, the maneuver is curious, given that "Grey's" is already a big hit and the "gown" budget could have been devoted to plugging a new or underperforming show. ABC, however, has been doing quite a bit on that front with an out-of-home campaign pumping new dramas "Dirty Sexy Money" and "Pushing Daisies" on subway platforms, buses, phone booths, building walls and elsewhere in New York alone.

For money-losing TV Guide, the "Grey's" stunt is a coup, showing networks at least in part still value it as a marketing vehicle.