Taking the Old Fashioned Route of Marketing

by erica ~ September 19, 2008

It’s not just in the fashion world that we are seeing some old styles making a huge comeback. The media world just can’t let go of some old marketing tricks. Does the “Colgate Comedy Hour” ring a bell? Don’t worry… it’s not making a comeback but something similar is taking its place.

The Colgate Comedy Hour was one of the first shows to be backed by a sponsor, which meant product plug-ins was quite frequent.

Similarly, the Levi’s 501 line is joining with Logo, a division of MTV Networks for a campaign called “Logo Unbuttoned.” Logo was introduced in 2005 and is a network aimed at gay and lesbian viewers.

“Levi’s 501 will be the sole sponsor of a program block that Logo plans to introduce on Oct. 12, “Saturday Nights Unbuttoned Presented by Levi’s,” which will run from 1 to 3 a.m. on Sunday mornings. The programming will include series like “The Big Gay Sketch Show,” “Queer as Folk” and “The L Word”; music videos; comedy shows with Mario Cantone and Joan Rivers; theatrical movies like “Fighting Tommy Riley”; and short films, ” according to yesterday’s NY Times.

Levi’s comes in during the commercials and video clips available online, which feature gay men and lesbians talking frankly about trying to live life “unbuttoned.” These stories are real and so are the people. More than 100 people auditioned, but only 10 people made the cut.

It’s no surprise that sponsors are taking over all sorts of media outlets. With so much product placement in TV series, it already seems like every show has its own sponsor but without their name included in the headline. Being a communications student, I get the chance to look at all sorts of media throughout the generations and it’s interesting to see the cycle that occurs. After a while, I think everyone (including me) will be annoyed with these plug-ins and we can someday resort back to old fashioned generic props!

Erica Berkovich is an Associate Account Executive at Mediashop PR. She is currently pursuing a Masters degree in Corporate Communications at Baruch.