What NBC's Heroes Got Out of Product Integration: Marketing, Not Money
If you've watched any TV at all over the last decade, you've noticed that product placement is now rampant, be it the prominent display of Coke cups on American Idol, or the far more subtle ways that products are worked into dramas. So, when I had the opportunity to interview Tim Kring, the creator, producer and director of Heroes, last week at Digitas' Digital Content Newfront, I asked him what any media business wonk would: how all of a series' efforts to integrate other media channels and advertiser products into the program pay off for its bottom line. The short answer is: they don't.
If you're not familiar with Heroes, which just wrapped up its last season on NBC, the show was particularly creative in how it worked products into plotlines, and in how it extended the series into other places, like graphic novels. It was even known to introduce characters somewhere other than the TV show, before eventually having them show up on TV.
One example Kring talked about on stage at the event was its work with Nissan. The Heroes Wiki has an entire page devoted to how the writers worked a Nissan Rogue into the story. Originally given to the character Claire Bennet by her father (pictured here), the car was eventually stolen and toured Mexico. It takes no small amount of imagination to treat a product like a character, and interweave it seamlessly into the plot; this isn't exactly like the aforementioned Coke cups.
While it was clear that Kring relished the creative challenge and was willing to bend over backward to please the show's placement advertisers, he also seemed chagrined to admit that "none of that trickled down to the show," given the way network TV's business model works. The same goes for all of the work involved in building the series out onto other platforms. They were seen as part of the show's marketing -- not as a way for it to make money.
Which begs the question, what did Heroes get out of all this extra work, besides a reputation for being an innovative, cross-platform entertainment brand? Basically, a better image within the corporate framework -- something that Kring viewed as particularly important because of the series' high production costs. "At the end of the season, you hope the network shines a little brighter on you," he explained. And that's all.
Previous coverage of network TV at BNET Media:
- Other Broadcast Nets to Fox: You Just Ruined It -- I.e., Upfront Ad Sales -- for Everybody!
- Fox, a Poster Boy for Network TV's Irrational Exuberance in the Upfront Market
- Network TV: Where the Money Is, But the Young Viewers Aren't
- CBS' Big Bang Theory: Better to Shake Up the Network Schedule Than Stand Still
- Charlie Sheen's $2M Payday, or Why Much Less Is More in Network TV
- Network TV Upfront: Despite Appearances, Happy Days Aren't Here Again