"30 Rock" rolls ads into story lines

[Brian Damage]

NEW YORK (Hollywood Reporter) - In the November 15 episode of NBC's "30 Rock," Alec Baldwin and Tina Fey, in their roles as Jack Donaghy and Liz Lemon, sang the praises of Verizon Wireless before Fey looked right into the camera and asked, "Can we have our money now?"

At least in this case, art did indeed imitate life. Verizon said it handed over an integration fee to NBC, in addition to some marketing support, for the mini-commercial within one of the network's hottest shows.

The scene in question featured Jack saying, "These Verizon Wireless phones are just so popular. I accidentally grabbed one belonging to an acquaintance." Liz responded, "Well, sure that Verizon Wireless service is just unbeatable. If I saw a phone like that on TV, I would be like, 'Where is my nearest retailer so I can get one?'" She then broke the fourth wall and addressed the camera with the plea for cash.

"We talk with NBC on a consistent basis about opportunities," said Lou Rossi, director of media and sponsorships at Verizon Wireless. "We had engaged them to think about some ways we could help increase our presence in the marketplace, and they came back to us with the '30 Rock'-specific opportunity."

Rossi declined to disclose how much Verizon paid for the "30 Rock" integration but said that in addition to fees, it provided marketing support for the show with a co-branded ad in Maxim magazine and promotional content on VerizonWireless.com. "We want an integration to be as organic and natural to a show as it can be," he said. "Certainly with the '30 Rock' humor and writing, this type of integration just works well for them and for Verizon Wireless as well." NBC declined comment on the financial terms of the deal.

PLAYFUL PLUGS

It's not the first time the irreverent NBC comedy has made a joke of the increasingly common practice of product integration while at the same time plugging a network advertiser. In fall 2006, there was a similar spoof with Snapple in the episode "Jack-Tor," which featured Lemon and the show-within-a-show's other writers protesting a directive from General Electric and Donaghy to write product placement into the show, all while talking about how much they love Snapple. The dialogue included lines like "I only date guys who drink Snapple" and ended with Donaghy saying, "Yes, everyone loves Snapple. Lord knows I do." There was even a guy in a Snapple suit who walked out of the elevator asking for the human resources department.

Snapple's integration was part of its media buy on the network, a company spokeswoman said.

Despite the integration deals, "30 Rock" has made it onto Nielsen's list of the top 10 shows with product placement only one time since the fall season started. "The Office," another NBC show known for cutting major integration deals with advertisers in the past but which insists it no longer is involved in any such deals, turned up on the Nielsen top 10 list for four of the first five weeks of the fall season.

Through November 18, Nielsen tracked 142 placements this season for a total of 779 seconds, or nearly 13 minutes, for "30 Rock," compared with 381 occurrences for a total of 2,505 seconds, or nearly 42 minutes, for "Office." From September 24 through November 11, there were more than 80 brand mentions on "Office," according to Nielsen. But sources at NBC and production company Reveille insisted that the placements were all scripted humor rather than emerging from any media buys or integration deals with NBC Entertainment or production company Reveille.

"Office" showrunner Greg Daniels has said that the show is no longer doing product integration because he "found it pretty impossible to balance the desires of the ad agencies and their clients with the creative needs of the show."

Among the brands with the most frequent or longest-lasting placements on "Office" this season are Hewlett-Packard, Boise Paper, Cisco Systems, Ever apparel, Microsoft, Vizio televisions, Toyota, Ford and Office Depot.

Reuters/Hollywood Reporter

[EmoJoe]

both scenes were hilarious...this is why i love the show. <3