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Frank Zazza

Member since June 2016

Frank spent 40 years in entertainment marketing specifically in the area of branded entertainment and product placement. The industry recognizes him as, “the pioneer of product placement” orchestrating over 10,000 TV and Film placements. The press has quoted him in over 1500 articles and magazines. His experience garnered specialist global keynote speaking engagements in fifteen countries. In 1992, he was featured on “Dateline” with Jane Pauley as the “marketing manipulating expert” responsible for increasing brand sales by employing product placement in film and TV. His biggest percentage increases were Reese’s Pieces in "E.T." Junior Mints on "Seinfeld" and Red Stripe beer in "The Firm." Beyond all the tie-ins he orchestrated, he is most proud of the unheralded brand activation between the then Nabisco's Royal Gelatin and Ninja Turtles "Secret of the Ooze" creating "Royal Ooze" that for one week "Royal Ooze" outsold the 90% category leader JELLO. Frank spoke at twenty Universities including Fordham, Wharton, and Columbia Graduate Business School, where he received "The Apple for Teacher Award" voted by the students as the most inspiring guest speaker. During the Seinfeld era, he established himself as “the expert in strategically incorporating brands in some of their most memorable episodes.” In 2010 he was a guest speaker at the “Writers Guild” discussing with lead writers branded content techniques on how to integrate global brands organically and seamlessly into scripts. He led brand teams that provided multi-million-dollar "tasks" on "The Apprentice. When corporations needed ROIs on their branded entertainment initiatives, Frank as CEO and "Inventor," founded iTVX the first company with patented technology to measure the impact and value product placement had on TV, Film, and Streaming. In 2014, iTVX was acquired by ComScore, Nielsen, AWS and Microsoft employ the same measurement methodology and technology. Having a pulse on the future of branded entertainment Frank started iVPP®, “interactive Virtual Product Placement.” These interactive digital videos are specifically produced to resonate with Gen Z’ers.

Articles by Frank All articles by Frank

  • 'And Just Like That,' Mr. Big is Up And Running Again in MediaDailyNews on 12/14/2021

    With the recent Peloton product placement debacle, I decided to share my experience and provide some guidelines and thoughts on how product placements should be executed in the future.

  • The Perfect Branded Entertainment Placement (Hint: It 's Not On Television)  in MediaDailyNews on 01/22/2008

    Striking television writers may have a lot to grouse about, but if they took some notes from the creative way one Hollywood production has handled product placement, the picket lines might not be that long - if at all. Last week, "The Bucket List" topped Hollywood's box office sales, pulling in 19.5 million moviegoers, which according to Variety, marked the best opening weekend ever for the film's director, Rob Reiner. Credit marquee names of Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman, but for those media gurus who are involved with branded entertainment the true star of the movie was Chock full o' Nuts coffee. Now how did that happen?

Comments by Frank All comments by Frank

  • Top 5 Predictions For 2025? by Dave Morgan (Media Insider on 01/01/2025)

    Couldn't agree with you more. Just wanted to add that marketing to Gen Z'ers with short form videos will also gain media investments. 

  • Will Netflix Learn Erwin Ephron's Lesson? by Maarten Albarda (Media Insider on 10/14/2022)

    The fact is everyone in the food chain will eat plentiful if ad frequency numbers are met. However, there is another factor that rarely is measured I call it "Cognitive Rejection Tolerance.” Simply put the mind will reject constant high-frequency ads that have exceeded the mind’s cognitive threshold tolerance for watching the same commercial over and over. At some point, the eyes will stare at the commercial however the mind is somewhere else. Cognitive rejections tolerances vary by age and gender, however, we all have a limit far below the repeated commercial airings. Until brands do a deeper research dive on their true ROI, the food chain will continue to gauge themselves on high ad frequency commercials.

  • Study Finds 'Virtual In-Content Ads' Boost TV Campaign Lift by Joe Mandese (MediaDailyNews on 08/17/2022)

    Wow "a study that does not actually define or provide any examples of what it is. A study that  doesn’t explicitly describe the examples of virtual in-content advertising. A study that doesn’t show how the combination of virtual in-content ads and TV compare with other mixes of media." Am I missing something..?

  • Post-Pandemic Product Placement Rebounds, Surging At Double-Digit Rates by Joe Mandese (MediaDailyNews on 08/11/2022)

    These product placement figures will surge as the metaverse takes shape. From static billboard ads to virtual products in the hands of avatars, these placements are only limited by a brand’s creativity. Of greater importance such placements will generate higher recall and ROI’s for advertisers.

  • Consumers Haven't A Clue About The Metaverse, Study Shows by Ray Schultz (Email Marketing Daily on 04/22/2022)

     I am all in on the metaverse yet this report mainly focused on shopping in a virtual world something we have been doing for the past 15 years.The report doesn’t address the main benefit of the metaverse that of meta-learning and its ability to bring online learning environments to life.Imagine students as avatars ready to move backward and descend into the year  300 BC—a year in which they will encounter a new reality.No doubt there will be more games and you can clothe your avatars much the same as you clothed Barbie and Ken. However, the real benefits are realized in meta-education and emersion in every field from pre-school to rocket science.

  • Or: How Putin Learned To Stop Worrying And Love The Bomb by Joe Mandese (Red, White & Blog on 02/25/2022)

    Hey Joe, all you have to do is just listen to these characters to gauge sentiments. Your numbers were quite generous. In the future I'm hoping they don't move their mouths when they speak.

  • 'Billions' TV Character Has Heart Attack After A Peloton Ride by Wayne Friedman (Television News Daily on 01/23/2022)

    Thanks for the correction. Didn't notice the Peloton tweet. I have a little experience in product placement and took a stab beyond what Peloton’s response was. 

  • 'Billions' TV Character Has Heart Attack After A Peloton Ride by Wayne Friedman (Television News Daily on 01/23/2022)

     This is totally inexcusable. Peloton has got to take credit for its actions - meaning a $4,000 bike doesn’t just appear on a production when the set decorator could have gotten a $200 bike for the scene. None of my colleagues in branded entertainment would have delivered the bike if they didn’t read the script first and knew exactly how the product was going to be used. Product placement is a very powerful media sword, however, it’s a sword that can cut both ways. Peloton is a great professional product and they should have employed professionals to handle its product placement initiatives.

  • End-Of-Year-Reflections: What I've Learned From Handling Marketing Challenges by Mack McKelvey (Marketing Insider on 12/21/2021)

    Well stated and to the point- agree 100%

  • Info Is King: Study Finds Americans Simply Want Ads To Tell Them About Products by Joe Mandese (MediaDailyNews on 03/08/2021)

    Unfortunately, no matter how creative or humorous or informative a commercial is we all have a built-in cognitive rejection that leads to “ad nauseum” after seeing the same commercial multiple times. Be it on Linear or especially on Stream a better ad mouse trap will soon surface.

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