TBS putting product placement in stand-up clips
David
Open mike night on TBS
Three advertisers get their messages out with stand-up comedy clips
By Gail Schiller
TBS has launched an advertising platform called "bitcoms" -- 30-second
clips of stand-up comedians telling jokes about brands -- with
Unilever's I Can't Believe It's Not Butter, Pizza Hut and Staples
signed on as the first partners.
The TBS-branded and -produced bitcoms run as the first spot in the
commercial break and lead into the advertiser's traditional
commercial. They are the latest initiative from TBS aimed at getting
viewers to stay tuned through commercial breaks.
"This is a win-win for both the advertiser and the network," said
Linda Yaccarino, exec vp Turner Entertainment ad sales and marketing.
"It's a 30-second piece of original content designed around a brand
that can message its brand attributes, or whatever the client wants to
say, but then we make it funny. That's what makes this such a strong
vehicle and why the network supports it to a great degree and why the
advertisers are so interested in it."
The first bitcoms premiered this week with a comedy sketch during
"Everybody Loves Raymond" featuring comedian Whitney Cummings telling
an audience that as part of her new year's resolution to eat better,
she's giving up butter and eating I Can't Believe It's Not Butter
because "it's so much healthier for you but it tastes just as good.
Seriously, taste it; you'll be more surprised than my mother when I
told her I was straight," Cummings says in the spot, shot in a comedy
club.
Pizza Hut bitcoms will begin airing Feb. 4, though the program on
which they will be featured has not been determined. Staples bitcoms
will starting airing in the next few months during "The Office." All
three advertisers have worked with TBS to create three different
bitcoms each and are available to advertisers during "Raymond,"
"Office," "Family Guy" and TBS' original sitcom "Tyler Perry's House
of Payne."
TBS collaborates with the advertisers and comedians on the scripts.
The bitcoms are shot in a comedy club and feature either TBS talent or
comics hired by TBS especially for the bitcoms. There also will be
online extensions at TBS.com.
"Once we cross that bridge and make it funny, it becomes something
attractive to the network, so that's why we have a big capability to
promote these things, to air them on TBS.com and to get a lot more
mileage out of them than just a traditional commercial," Yaccarino
said. The bitcoms are an extension of the network's "Very Funny
Commercials" platform, featuring back-to-back spots with a TBS "seal
of approval," she said.
Yaccarino would not discuss the financial terms of the bitcoms but
said advertisers pay a premium for them.