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 »
An £8 million (U.S. $14.5 million) campaign by Switch/Maestro that features a pair of adventurous penguins on holiday in Venice and Paris has helped to drive a massive upsurge in the number of consumers using their Switch-branded bank cards overseas
more »
Microsoft officials launched a last-minute reminder to Windows users Monday afternoon to prevent the spread of the MyDoom
more »
search.lt presents newest links
more »
Communicating Visions - Exhibition and Symposium
more »
Diebold, Incorporated has earned the Central Station Alarm Association's (CSAA) "Five Diamond 100 percent Operator Certified Central Station" designation
more »
Sun Microsystems Inc. says its Jxta technology for peer-to-peer computing is gathering steam and may soon make its way into some of its own products
more »
search.lt presents newest links
more »
Ten years ago when the first ATMs appeared in Lithuania maybe someone was intimidated with the bank’s payment card. Today a small piece of plastic gives a consumer the unlimited possibilities. What are they?
more »
search.lt presents newest links
more »
Police find 3,000 forged copies of XP Pro along with forged certificates of authentication
more »