Archive·The San Diego Union-Tribune·November 2005·Quoted as EVP, 1st Approach
Product Placement - The Plot Sickens
A long feature on how product placement escalated into 'product integration' (Chili's on What I Like About You, Pontiac on The Apprentice) and who was objecting; Jeff explained the economics from the set-designer's side and described the Black & Decker AutoTape seeding campaign.
You’re a set designer, and you get your script for the week, and you’ve got a limited budget. You’ve got a choice. Either you get products provided for you by a brand, or you’ve gotta go out and rent it or buy it.
Ninety-nine percent of all brands in television are there for free. People don’t pay for them.
Last summer, Greenfield sent nearly 1,000 Black & Decker Autotapes, a tape measure that extends automatically, to Hollywood script writers.
Black & Decker didn’t pay anyone to get on these shows,
They provided the product and paid us for our time. We provided a service. We knew it was cool and cutesy enough that the writers would have fun with it.
As reported; not a direct quote
The San Diego Union-Tribune · reported by Robert P. LaurenceOriginal no longer online.
