Ad Agency Claims It Owns The Right To Product Placement; Sues Competitors

from the is-it-april-first-already? dept

A few months back, we wrote about how ad agency Denizen wasn't just claiming to have patented product placement (check it out: patent 6,859,936) but was suing another ad agency, WPP, for violating the patent. Perhaps Denizen's next patents will be on claiming ownership of obvious ideas and suing your competitors, because it's still at it. The latest is that it's suing media agency Mindshare for incorporating the brand Vaseline into the TV show Maneater.

What's really odd here, though, is that Denizen isn't actually asserting that patent in this particular lawsuit -- even though it mentions that it has it. Instead, it's claiming a trade secret violation, noting that it met with Mindshare way back in 2004 and shared this groundbreaking concept of integrating products into show, and worked out an agreement that "Mindshare wouldn't use, publish, disclose, communicate, or divulge information shared on Denizen's proprietary method of product integration." Specifically:

"During the meeting, Denizen disclosed to MindShare certain techniques...that could be used to implement program integrated advertisements, such as, but without limitation, ways to shoot the advertisements, strategies for obtaining Screen Actors Guild contracts, methods to gain access or rights to television program content, and how and when an advertising agency could work with a production house or network."

I'm at a loss to think of how any of that can be "proprietary," but perhaps Denizen has a creative lawyering department in addition to its regular creative advertising/marketing people.

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Microsoft's Ad Agency Sued For Violating Product Placement Patent With Bing Ad

from the product-placement-patent?!?! dept

With the rise of the DVR and the death of the captive audience, it's no surprise that product placement has become more and more popular. But would you believe that ad agencies are trying to patent forms of product placement? Apparently, big ad firm WPP is being sued by a company for violating its patent in an ad campaign run for Microsoft's Bing search engine. The patent in question (6,859,936) is for "a method and system for producing program-integrated commercials." Basically, the idea is to use the actors and sets from a TV show to film a regular commercial spot, and then run that during the show itself. Yes, someone got a patent on that. Why? Who the hell knows. This is a perfect example, by the way, of how just because something's "new" it doesn't mean it's not obvious. It's just that it's so obvious most people wouldn't even bother thinking about patenting it.

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What's The Harm In Undisclosed Product Placement?

from the who's-hurt? dept

Back in June, we mentioned that the FCC was exploring whether or not to require any product placement be more clearly labeled. This didn't make much sense, as we couldn't see who was "harmed" without the disclosure and who was helped by it. It basically treats most people as if they're idiots who can't take into account that products seen on TV may have been paid for placement. It appears that Adam Thierer agrees, and has filed comments with the FCC questioning the wisdom of such a move. While some may insist that Americans are being "tricked" by this, it would seem like there should be some proof that there's actual harm before we go about regulating it. Also, there seems to be little recognition of the impact that reputation can have on this as well. With so many sites ready to pounce on any commercial action that appears to be trickery or misleading in some form or another, companies would be well-advised to be as upfront as possible in their advertising efforts. Those caught "tricking" consumers will feel significant backlash for their efforts, making it not worthwhile. It seems that this ability to shine an automatic light on questionable practices should limit the worst abuses of any "trickery."

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The First Rule Of Product Placement In Songs: You Don't Talk About Product Placement In Songs

from the that-ought-to-make-quite-a-tune dept

We've pointed out recently that as brand advertisers recognize increasingly that content is advertising, they're looking to all sorts of new ways to do "product placement" in places you might not expect. For example, we've talked about product placement in novels. But, what better place for product placement than in a song? Lots of famous songs mention brand names, and it seems some creative advertisers are now going out and trying to sell such placement. At least that's what's being suggested after some guys who received an unsolicited offer to have their brand in a song went and published the email they received. The email notes:

"I'm writing because we feel you may be a good company to participate in a brand integration campaign within the actual lyrics of one of the worlds most famous recording artists upcoming song/album."

Of course, now there's also something of a dispute concerning the publicizing of the email. The guy who apparently sent the email is threatening to sue the recipients who posted it to their blog -- though it's entirely unclear what they'd be suing over, other than that someone called them out for their marketing practices.

In the meantime, I don't see any problem with bands mentioning brands in their songs, but it seems like there are much better ways of doing that, which don't seem quite so tacky as unsolicited emails asking people to pay up to get included in a song.

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Advertising Is Everywhere... Even Armpits?

from the product-placement dept

If you were among those who thought advertising in urinals was reaching a new low, you probably won't be please to learn of the new ad campaign from deodorant maker Right Guard. The Raw Feed points us to the news that it's kicking off a promotional campaign/publicity stunt, where it appears to be outfitting folks with clothing that has video screens sewn into their armpits, which will be running a constant stream of ads for Right Guard. It's certainly a different way of getting attention.

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What Difference Does It Make If Product Placement Is Disclosed Or Not?

from the grow-up,-get-over-it dept

After a bunch of consumer groups started complaining, it appears that the FCC is going to start exploring whether or not TV shows need to be a lot more explicit in identifying product placement. This is, frankly, ridiculous. Is anyone actually being harmed by product placement? Plenty of people recognize that products in TV shows are placed there for a reason, and if they feel wrong or don't work with the content in the show, then the show itself will suffer for it. However, if they make a show more realistic or it works fine, then what's the problem? Who, exactly, is being hurt?

The problem is that people still think that content and advertising are different. They're not. All content is advertising in some manner or another. A TV show acts as advertising for the network it's on, for the actors in the show, for the producer of the show and as "endorsers" of the products in its ads. Does that all need to be disclosed as well? If people are upset that there's "too much" advertising, then there's a simple solution: don't spend time with the shows that bombard you with too much advertising. However, if it fits in with the show, then it won't seem like too much, and there's no reason to complain. Either way, there's no reason for the FCC to get involved at all. However, since they are getting involved, will they "disclose" that this grandstanding acts as "advertising" for their own reputations?

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Content Is Advertising... On TV

from the but-you-need-to-be-careful dept

Continuing my series of posts on how all content is advertising and all advertising is content, there was an interesting story last week about how a top ad agency is teaming up with NBC to create TV shows around sponsors' products. This is an interesting idea, but the risk is in how it's being implemented. Such a strategy worked well when BMW put together its BMWfilms effort -- but the focus there was very much on making sure that the films were top notch. It involved star directors making quality short films that didn't necessarily promote BMW, but had BMWs in those films. The content itself was quite entertaining, and many people watched them.

And that, of course, is the key element here. The content itself needs to be compelling and stand alone as quality content, no matter what the products being showcased. Also, since the films were clearly labeled and promoted as BMWfilms, there was no "hidden" product placement. Everything was very upfront and aboveboard. What I fear with something like this new experiment from NBC, is that the the advertisers at the table will have too much of a say in the creative content, and will focus on making sure the product is positioned right, rather than making sure the content actually works and has entertainment value.

It will also be interesting to see how NBC handles promotion of this series. Will it be treated like any other series? Will it be available online? Will NBC let others copy and share it? Will there still be interruptions from commercials when it airs on TV? The answers may be very telling in how NBC is approaching this effort. Either way, this will be an experiment worth following. My guess is that, given the players involved, it will fail. The ad agency will push too hard to make the content more focused on the sponsored products. NBC will struggle with how to position and promote the show. And the whole thing will disappear quickly. I'd love to be wrong, and see real quality content come out of this, but, that may be asking too much at this point.

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Other posts in this series:

• Advertising Is Content; Content Is Advertising
• On Content, Promotions, Basic Economics... And Loutish Statements
• Content Is Advertising... In The Newspaper Industry
• Content Is Advertising... On TV
• Newspaper Content Is Advertising For More News Content

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