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CBS Blows Own Horn for Restaurant

Sep 10, 2008  •  Post A Comment

No one does product integration like a network does product integration for itself.
Last week, CBS unveiled the CBS Scene Restaurant & Bar, located next to the New England Patriots football stadium in Foxborough, Mass.
Networks have gone into the restaurant business before. There are a string of sports bars in airports using the Fox Sports brand. And they’ve been on TV before. ABC used to broadcast its “Monday Night Football” pre-game show from the ESPN Zone in Baltimore.
The new CBS restaurant was featured on “CBS This Morning” last week, then in a segment during halftime of CBS’ NFL coverage on Sunday.
Besides showing scenes from inside the restaurant, including the food and the numerous flat-screen displays, the segment featured CBS CEO Leslie Moonves and Patriots owner Bob Kraft extolling the virtue of their new sports bar. On the set, CBS Sports football analysts said they too had enjoyed the victuals.
Patriots quarterback Tom Brady also endorsed the food. That was about the time Mr. Brady was getting injured, which is expected to keep him off the field for the rest of the season, giving him plenty of time to hang out at his favorite new spot.
The kind of attention CBS paid to its new restaurant is sure to get noticed, especially since the NFL on CBS scored its highest opening-weekend ratings since 1999. Football on CBS drew an 11 rating and a 24 share, up 4% from last year.
The attention CBS was paying its new restaurant venture also got noticed in Boston, where CBS owns WBZ-TV.
Some of that attention, however, serves as an example of the notion that, while product integrations and product placement can be effective, if they’re so obvious as to interfere with the program there can be a negative reaction.
WBZ sent its anchors to the CBS Scene for several reports over the course of the week, according to the Boston Herald. One anchor on the scene gushed about the “crispy crab cake” at the “incredible place.”
WBZ-TV was the only station in its market that didn’t send a reporter to the political conventions, raising questions about why it was sending anchors to a restaurant opening. One story about the CBS Scene on WBZ was two minutes long, compared to the average report on the station, which clocked in at 1 minute 20 seconds, the Herald said.
“They’re completely off the reservation on this one. This is over the top like I’ve never seen it,” former “World News Tonight” executive producer and local press critic Emily Rooney told the paper.
CBS and the Kraft Group call the CBS Scene a three-story, 15,000-square-foot entertainment and dining destination.
The joint features 135 Sony plasma, LCD and graphic projector displays. All of those screens show classic and current content from CBS.
“In this interactive age, people want to experience their entertainment and leisure time to the fullest, and this extraordinary new place gives them a totally unique multisensory taste of CBS, past, present and future,” said Leslie Moonves, president and CEO of the CBS Corp. “With the feel of a TV studio, a broadcast control room and fine dining all in one unique environment, visitors to the CBS Scene will be blown away by a full entertainment experience that they can’t find anywhere else. We’re thrilled to partner with the Kraft Group to bring this innovative restaurant and bar to life in one of New England’s hottest locations.”
The CBS Scene includes a restaurant, two bars, private meeting space and a retail outlet selling CBS merchandise.
In addition, the CBS Scene has broadcasting facilities for the CBS network, CBS Sports and the company’s local Boston TV and radio properties, including WBZ-TV, WSBK-TV, WBZ-AM, WBCN-FM, WBMX-FM, WODS-FM and WZLX-FM.

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