Brand placement on TV newest trend

In NBC’s new reality show “Meet Mister Mom,” about dads who compete to run the most efficient household when their wives are whisked away for a week of pampering, the only cars you’ll see fathers shuttling their kids around in are Nissans.

The only cleaning product used to scrub those dirty crevices is Clorox. And the only store the families shop at is J.C. Penney.

Coincidence? Absolutely not.

This is the latest example of branded entertainment, using a TV show to market a product or brand, from Robert Riesenberg’s 1-year-old production company Full Circle Entertainment.

Unlike most production companies that pitch shows to networks and then rely on their sales force to sell the advertising, Full Circle Entertainment is a unit within the advertising giant Omnicom Media Group. All the shows produced by Full Circle are made with the idea that products can be incorporated into the show.

It’s Madison Avenue’s reaction to TiVo, digital video recording and the quick availability of TV shows on DVD, which all allow viewers to ignore commercials.

“Its very hard to get the attention of a consumer simply by buying 30-second commercials,” says Riesenberg. “You have to go a step beyond that in terms of 360-degree marketing.”

Remember the commercials during the now-defunct “The Restaurant” that showed celebrity chef Rocco DiSpirito, the show’s protagonist, peddling American Express cards? That’s Riesenberg’s work.

“The show has to stand on its own,” Riesenberg says. “The integration of brands into shows needs to be very natural. If it violates that the viewer will respond negatively. The ideal is to build awareness about what the product is.”

In the opening sequence of “Meet Mister Mom,” there’s a montage of several families on the show. The camera stops on a little girl wearing a bright red T-shirt with the State Farm insurance logo. It seems out of place until you learn the company is one of the advertisers.

A few seconds later there’s a pause on a J.C. Penney store. It’s also an advertiser.

“The hope is they’re going to understand the connection with J.C. Penney and even like what they see,” says Todd Beurman, national advertising director for J.C. Penney. “This puts us back on the radar screen as a destination for apparel needs, even housewares.”