NBC combines product placement and e-commerce
Published:
25 April 2001 y., Wednesday
At the end of Thursday’s episode of “Will & Grace,” NBC tried to sell the shirt off of Debra Messing’s back — a $52 Polo T-Shirt.
IN WHAT APPEARS to be the first attempt to cross promote a prime-time show product placement with an e-commerce site, NBC ran a 10-second promo at the end of the last commercial break on the highly rated sitcom. It said: “If you’d like to buy a Ralph Lauren pink pony T-shirt like the one Grace (Messing) is wearing in tonight’s episode and help the fight against cancer, log onto Polo.com.”
Polo.com is the e-commerce Web site for designer Polo Ralph Lauren’s clothing line and is 50 percent owned by NBC. Once at the site, a box with a picture of a model wearing the cotton T-shirt “seen on Will & Grace,” pops up and links users to the section that sells the item. Fifteen dollars of the $52 price goes to “support programs dedicated to raising cancer awareness.”
Networks have long talked about doing actual selling of items seen on shows as a way to generate revenues outside of conventional advertising, but there have been few serious attempts at making a real business out of it. NBC insisted the Polo.com promo was not a way to test the waters for future e-commerce tie-ins, and emphasized the charitable aspect of the offer. After the show aired, traffic on the site doubled from its previous high — NBC didn’t disclose an exact number — and 3,000 pink pony T-shirts
had been ordered by midday Friday. It’s likely that some of those online users purchased other items as well.
Šaltinis:
msnbc.com
Copying, publishing, announcing any information from the News.lt portal without written permission of News.lt editorial office is prohibited.
The most popular articles
Software company announced new structure_ of it_s business.
more »
Networking sites like Facebook and YouTube are changing politics.
more »
Vendor to service almost 4,000 existing ATMs and supply another 450.
more »
The advent of deposit automation, facilitated in many ways by the implementation of Check 21, is not only improving check-handling processes at the self-service terminal – it also is improving handling within the bank branch itself.
more »
The Moroccan Post Office, Barid Al-Maghrib, has selected Bull to act as project manager on the automation project for its International Mail Center in Casablanca.
more »
Gemalto has taken home one of the most coveted technology prizes in Austin with its Smart Enterprise Guardian (SEG).
more »
Banks in Australia are rushing to install gas detectors into their ATMs, as gas-explosive attacks on ATMs in the country continue to climb.
more »
EMC CEO Joe Tucci and Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer showcase deep technology collaboration at New York CIO Summit.
more »
India-based mChek looks to offer its secured SIM-card-based mobile applications through partnership with Gemalto.
more »
Nearly one week after news emerged of the big data breach at Princeton, N.J.-based merchant acquirer Heartland Payment Systems Inc., it remains unclear how much damage actually happened and who did it.
more »
Wincor Nixdorf AG has announced the release of an enhanced security product for bank branches called ProTect.
more »