In "Donny!" “Brought To You By” Are Again Words to Live By (And Buy)

So more than 60 years after their original broadcasts audiences in 2015 watched Dean in episodes of quotCampbell Soundstagequot heralded as quotpresented for your enjoyment by Campbell39s soupsquot quotGeneral Electric Theaterquot quotKraft Television Theatrequot which ended with the announcer Ed Herlihy encouraging recipeseekers to quotjust send a postcardquot to Kraft at quotBox 1718 Chicago 77 Illinoisquot quotRobert Montgomery Presentsquot also billed as quotThe Johnson39s Wax Programquot quotPhilco Television Playhousequot quotUnited States Steel Hourquot and quotWestinghouse Studio One Summer Theatrequot The DVDs include episodes of quotArmstrong Circle Theaterquot quotHallmark Hall of Famequot and quotLux Video TheatrequotNow it39s unlikely that anyone who watched the episode of quotCampbell Soundstagequot on TCM ran out and bought a case of Campbell39s soups even if he or she noticed the images of the Campbell39s Kids festooning the closing credits And it would be hard for even the most ardent Dean fan today to thank Lux or Philco for believing in him early in his careerStill the long afterlife for the episodes is a reminder of how marketers and consumers benefited back in the day from an advertising model that was discarded after being outdated Among the other pluses the ability to reduce interruptions by embedding paid pitches into the plots of programs and increasing the memorability of ad messages by having cast members deliver commercials Also sponsored shows with their branded quotBrought to you byquot benevolence typically had fewer commercials and fewer commercial breaks And you never knew what might happen when commercials were delivered live as seen in the video belowamp160Considering the difficulties confronting Madison Avenue because of technologies like ad skipping the new TiVo Bolt for instance lets owners avoid entire commercial breaks and ad blocking it39s no surprise that some strategies from the Golden Age are being revisited and reevaluatedOn the theory that it39s hard to block ads when they39re part of a program brands will be woven into the plots of the six episodes of a series on USA Network starring the former adman Donny Deutsch pictured at top that will premiere Nov 10 Viewers of quotDonnyquot will see Deutsch turn to the camera break the fourth wall and tout sponsors39 products such as Hak39s barbecue sauce and Purity vodka in one episode he39ll clean his home with a Dyson vacuumSuch organic integrations were quotan essential part of the show from the beginningquot said Alexandra Shapiro executive vice president of marketing and digital at USA recalling how during discussions Deutsch said quotthe system isn39t workingquot and asked quothow do we make a show that speaks to what advertisers want customized content that in theory is DVRproofquotquotWe carry these integrations over to socialquot Shapiro said explaining that on the DaManDonny accounts on Facebook and Twitter quotthe voice is his fictional character a talkshow host endorsing the productsquotquotHe approached an oldschool model and made it feel modernquot she addedamp160For more on quotDonnyquot read quotIntroducing Donny Deutsch Sitcom Starquot by Ed MartinDan Lovinger executive vice president of advertising sales at the NBCUniversal Entertainment Group which includes USA cited a former NBC star Jack Benny who seamlessly knitted commercials for sponsors such as Lucky Strikeamp160first video below and JellO second videoamp160into the story lines of his showsamp160amp160quotWe39re always looking at the legacy of TV to find great ideasquot Lovinger said quotWhat39s old is new againquotGiven the quotchallenges the industry is wrestling withquot he added quotwe39re trying to be as proactive as possible in solving for themquot Other examples cited by Lovinger include custom commercials for Comcast Xfinity Samsung and Toyota that are created by and feature cast members of the USA series quotPlaying Housequot and a new iteration of the public service campaign quotThe More You Knowquot in which Andy Cohen of Bravo promotes pet adoption and Subaruamp160belowamp160Some advertisers are trying out sponsorships among them Sysco with a series on Food Network quotChopped Impossiblequot that incorporates a chef who39s a Sysco brand spokesman Others are boomeranging to the quotBrought to you byquot era such as General Electric which is codeveloping a new cable series quotBreakthroughquot with National Geographic Channel and becoming a sponsor of a virtual reality film project with the New York TimesWhat will be the next big step on Madison Avenue39s backtothefuture journey Here39s a fearless forecast A cable or broadcast network will sign at least one advertiser as a title sponsor of a primetime seriesThe opinions and points of view expressed in this commentary are exclusively the views of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of MediaVillageMyersBizNet management or associated bloggers

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In "Donny!" “Brought To You By” Are Again Words to Live By (And Buy)

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In "Donny!" “Brought To You By” Are Again Words to Live By (And Buy)

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