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ABC Family’s ‘Greek,’ Kohl’s Team Up for Multiplatform Ad Campaign

Aug 29, 2007  •  Post A Comment

When a band plays a song during a show, and the same band plays the same number during the next commercial break, it’s probably not a coincidence.
More and more advertisers are looking to integrate their brand messages directly into programming as digital video recorders make commercial-skipping easier, and networks are looking for ways to accommodate them.
So it is interesting but not surprising that viewers watching last week’s episode of ABC Family’s “Greek” saw the band Dollyrots perform its song “Because I’m Awesome” at a student hangout, then caught an instant replay in a Kohl’s commercial as part of a multiplatform ad buy estimated at just under $1 million.
The idea came from the retailer and its ad agency, McCann-Erickson, but ABC Family has been setting the stage for integration deals for a couple of years, said Laura Nathanson, executive VP of ad sales for ABC Family.
In meetings with agencies and clients, “We were out all year saying we were open to doing these creative integrations where they made sense,” Ms. Nathanson said. “And we took the show ‘Greek’ out well before it was on the air, saying we had this really interesting show, what its production timeline was and that we were really looking for the right kind of partner.”
Among those who heard the pitch were Kohl’s and its agency. Kohl’s was launching a new campaign using the Dollyrots to convey a hipper image and wanted to know if the network would consider integrating the band into “Greek.”
“We said for the right deal we would consider it,” Ms. Nathanson said. The right deal had to consist of traditional media—meaning TV—plus digital media and an integration fee.
“We were above-board. We didn’t have the numbers at that point, but we said we would be looking for that kind of scope,” she said.
The ad sales folks took the idea to the network’s production team. Kate Juergens, senior VP of original series programming and development, and Brooke Bowman, VP of development and programming, thought the idea could work and took it to the show’s writers.
At the network, Laura Kuhn, VP of ad sales marketing, and Patrick Collins, VP of advertising sales, supervised the project for the advertising department.
“College campuses have bands play all the time,” Ms. Nathanson said. And Kohl’s and the band wanted to be a part of the show, not just talked about in the show.
“The client was flexible, our programming people were flexible, so it really worked,” she said. “And then we kind of backed into a deal that made sense for both of us.”
In addition to having the band appear in the episodes on TV, Dollyrots also participated in an online extension of the show called “Virtual Rush Challenge,” a contest with weekly installments that offers viewers a chance to win a trip to Los Angeles and a walk-on part in “Greek.”
The week Dollyrots appeared on the show, the band members also were on the Web telling viewers that the week’s challenge was to submit photos and clips showing how they’re awesome; usually a “Greek” cast member explains the challenge.
Kohl’s ads appear on the “Virtual Rush Challenge” Web page and, after the Dollyrots video about the challenge runs, the Kohl’s commercial featuring the band appears.
One of the concerns about integrating a brand into a program is viewer backlash if the brand is an awkward fit or the sales message is too heavy-handed. At the same time, the sponsor doesn’t want it to be so subtle that most of the audience misses the message.
According to at least one viewer, the “Greek” integration was just right.
Ms. Nathanson said her 15-year-old daughter was watching the show that night, “and she goes, ‘Oh cool. That’s the same song they just sang.’ I was like, ‘Thank you, dear, that’s exactly right.’”
Earlier this season, “Greek” featured another integration, in which some characters went to see the movie “Hot Rod” and declared it hilarious. The scene was the result of an integration with Paramount Pictures.
“If we can do it in a way that doesn’t get in the way with the way writers really would write, there’s really no harm,” Ms. Nathanson said.
If you sit in 50 meetings, she said, about 40 have ideas that are interesting, but the response is, “We’ll get back to you.” About 10 of them have potential, and about five of them actually turn into deals.
“A lot of times it doesn’t make sense,” she said. “That brand doesn’t make sense for our show, or we think it makes sense but the client doesn’t. Or they don’t want to invest in it as a true partnership.”
But networks have almost no choice but to entertain integration ideas. “That’s where the business is moving,” Ms. Nathanson said.
Advertisers still need traditional ads to explain that there’s a white sale at Kohl’s or that hamburgers are 99 cents this week. But they also want to explain some of the subtler aspects of a brand, and integrations give them an opportunity to show how people really use them.
“If they’re willing to pay for the value that they’re getting for that integration, or for the actual production costs, again, it’s not a bad business for us to be in,” Ms. Nathanson said.

51 Comments

  1. AMC’s ‘Mad Men’ is doing something similar.
    Serving as a bumper, an advertising fact/history about an advertiser comes up with the Mad Men music and graphics.
    Then, that advertisers current spot appears directly after.

  2. I love the music on AMC’s Mad Men, – that’s MY era – but can never remember who the artists are and credits are too samll and go too fast at end of program, IF that information is even provided. ? The reruns are just begining and I would dearly love to have this information – any chance? Sincerely, Phyllis Thomas

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