In Depth
NBC's 'Southland' Pushes Ad Limits in L.A. Times
NBC is promoting tonight's premiere of "Southland" with a front-page ad in today's Los Angeles Times that appears to be unlike any other front page ad the paper has run previously.
That's because the ad is designed to resemble a news story.
As part of the next phase in its extensive marketing campaign for the John Wells-produced drama, NBC has bought a traditional strip advertisement that will run across the bottom of the Times' page one and will feature key art from the show. It will be adjacent to another paid ad unit: an advertorial-type feature story documenting the first day on the job of a fictional Los Angeles Police Department rookie cop.
The faux story, headline "Southland's Rookie Hero," will promise readers a ride-along with new LAPD officer Ben Sherman (Ben McKenzie) during his first day on duty. To avoid reader confusion, the story will be printed in a different typeface than normal Times stories, and will also feature a prominent disclaimer: The NBC peacock logo and the word "advertisement" will appear just above the ad's headline.
The story will run just below the page one fold, and will extend to the bottom part of the page where the more traditional "Southland" ad is set to run. The adjacency, as well as the fact that the story carries no byline and doesn't jump inside to another page. are also designed to make sure readers know they're looking at paid content.
"Today's consumer is sophisticated enough to pick up on these things," said Adam Stotsky, president of marketing for NBC Entertainment.
At the bottom of the story is a message, in italics, noting that the above was "just one of the many incredible stories" from the new NBC series "Southland" and that viewers should tune in tonight.
NBC is no stranger to product integration, regularly looking for ways to show off an advertiser such as Applebee's in a show such as "Friday Night Lights." Now, however, it's NBC that's looking to work its product into someone else's editorial content.
"This is a great way to integrate our messaging into their editorial content," Mr. Stotsky said.
NBC didn't have to work hard to convince the Times to try the possibly groundbreaking messaging.
"They developed the idea and came to us with it," Mr. Stotsky said, crediting L.A, Times Vice President of Entertainment Advertising Lynne Segall for spearheading the promotion.
"It's a reflection of the overall media landscape," Mr. Stotsky said. "We have to innovate or we perish."
He said the Times ad helps "contextualize our message."
"We're telling the stories of police officers and detectives in Los Angeles. What better way to market that than in their hometown paper," Mr. Stotsky explained. "The more contextualized you can make your marketing, the more engaging it becomes."
A statement from the Times indicated the paper was well aware it was entering uncharted territory.
"The delivery of news and information is a rapidly changing business, and the Los Angeles Times is continuously testing innovative approaches," the paper said. "That includes creating unique marketing opportunities for our advertising partners, and today's NBC 'Southland' ad was designed to stretch traditional boundaries."
NBC and Mr. Stosky have done numerous print campaigns with made-up editorial content. To promote February drama "Kings," for example, the network published a special section in Time magazine designed to mimic that week's Man of the Year content.
Mr. Stotsky's staff wrote the "Southland" story in Thursday's Times, with the paper's sales and marketing staff giving input on matter such as font size (but not specific ad copy, according to an LA Times spokesperson).
The executive said NBC and the Times did have some debates over the exact look of the ad. "Figuring out type treatment and branding so that their readers knew this was an ad was a discussion for us," Mr. Stotsky explained. "We landed on a solution that was comfortable for both of us."
Mr. Stotsky declined to say how much NBC paid for the front-page ad package.
"But the L.A. Times recognizes that their most valued real estate is their front-page news section," he said. "It was priced accordingly."
(Editor: Baumann. Updated with details on Times' staff's involvement in writing copy.)
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Comments 66
Todd
Interesting. Now, I have to ask. Is this an ad, or a story? If it's an ad, how much did the LA TIMES and NBC pay TV WEEK for the great placement? And if it's a story, did the network or the Times help you write it?
Everything about the mock-story ad concept is fine with me, EXCEPT the part where the LA TIMES "helped" write the fake story. Gotta figure that NBC's marketing guys can write their own fake news story, right? If not, I hope the TIMES marketing (NOT editorial) team pitched in.
If TIMES editorial staffers are spending time writing fake news stories for NBC, then the ad/edit firewall is made of tissue paper, and we're all in danger of going up in flames.
Witz
Anyone who can't tell it's an ad, rather than a story, needs new glasses. The "story" is clearly set off with a dark rule that links it to the ad, and the first words at the top of the "story" are "NBC," with the peacock logo, and "advertisement." Pretty obvious.
Newsdoc
The author has GOT to be kidding – that ad looks nothing like a news story:
>> It’s surrounded by the rest of the page by a thick black box.
>> It uses an entirely different font from everything else on the page.
>> It has a brightly colored NBC logo and the word “Advertisement” right at the top.
>> It has an italicized slug at the bottom which clearly identifies it as nothing more than a promotional write-up for a TV show.
Is the author really that inept when it comes to understanding how readers would interpret something like this, or does he just have a personal axe to grind with the LA Times? And where was his editor on this -- is this really the kind of blatantly biased reporting TV Week and Crain Communications should be known for?
Steve
How out of touch is NBC anyway? A newspaper ad? Aren't readership levels at historic lows with newspapers going out of business? Ridiculous.
WriterGuy
As far as a true advertorial goes, I'd judge this a failure (except for the press coverage it seems to be generating). The restrictions on typography apparently placed on NBC by the paper make it SO obvious this isn't a news story that the "advertorial" effect is completely missing.
Contrast this with most magazines, which allow advertisers to much more closely imitate the magazine's font size, leading and letterspacing, and thus allow for a far more successful blurring of the line.
For concept, I give them an A-minus.
For execution, I give them a D.
DGLEFFORGE
NBC IS SO FAR IN THE CELLER THEY WILL TRY AND FAIL AT EVERYTHING THEY SO!! THEY WASTE SO MUCH MONEY IT'S NOT EVEN FUNNY!! I SAY START TO CLEAN HOUSE !!! N-O-W !!!!
Morehabanero
Todd, read the article would ya -- Mr. Stotsky's staff wrote the "Southland" story in Thursday's Times, with the paper's sales and marketing staff giving input on matter such as font size (but not specific ad copy, according to an LA Times spokesperson).
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R.I.P. Print Media
Would someone just shoot the poor thing? Watching it suffer like this is just inhumane and ugly.
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This pathetic selling of one's principles and integrity by the owners of the Los Angeles Times merely enforces the paper's total lack of credibility as a true news media.
I would have expected to see this sort of thing on the cover of THE ENQUIRER or GLOBE.
(with my deepest apologies to those two publications)
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Principles? Integrity? The LA Times?
Gimme a break. This rag gave up on "news" over 40 years ago.
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