• by Staff Writers , September 5, 2008

Finalist - Branded Content/Product Placement

CBS: George Schweitzer. Initiative: Paul Leys, Wanda Kato.

In an effort to blur the lines between marketing and content, Cane, a drama on CBS, broke through the clutter of ordinary print marketing in a new way with the help of Initiative. The fictional Duque Rum, featured prominently on the television show, was promoted as if it were a real product. Rolling Stone readers were able to get a taste of a Duque Rum Mojito (without the rum) with a flavor strip developed by First Flavor that peeled right off the pages of the advertisement. This multi-platform campaign also included a real-life contest searching for the next "Face of Duque Rum," a campaign that led thousands of girls to upload photos and apply on the Web site to be the next Duque Rum Girl; hundreds of thousands more went to the site to cast their votes for a winner. The promotion for the show worked, too: Cane became the highest rated new drama of the 2007 fall season, finishing in the Top 25.