Anatomy Strategy
Last night, the impossible happened. There I was, fast-forwarding through the commercial break of the Grey’s Anatomy finale, and I saw it. It made me stop, rewind, and purposefully watch the commercial. Amazing.
Why? Because – for those of you who are not hooked on the lives and times of the traumatized doctors at Seattle Grace – there was a guy in the Honda commercial who was trapped in a big blob of cement. Ok, this in and of itself is not strange, but the main storyline of the Grey’s finale was about a guy who was…well trapped in a big blob of cement.
Now the Honda commercial looked thrown together and rather oddly thought out. It looked to me like they had done a few back flips to figure out how the guy-stuck-in-a-blob-of-cement storyline might somehow vaguely fit into a product benefit (they went with gas mileage).
So my question is this – is this all just a coincidence, or is this part of a new TiVo busting strategy to build ads that link to storylines in the most recordable shows? Any conspiracy theorists out there?
May 27th, 2008 at 3:14 pm
If it IS a strategy, its a good one. I must admit I see far fewer commercials than I used to because of Tivo. However, I think that my commercial deprivation actually makes me notice product placements MORE. Most likely because anything that says ‘brand’ stands out to me much more given i’m not being bombarded by commercials.
May 28th, 2008 at 10:19 am
I did the very same thing. I hit rewind because I thought I was back in the show and there was the Honda commercial. Clever.
May 30th, 2008 at 2:02 pm
Well, an official ruling courtesy my good friend Julie. Honda is denying the conspiracy:
NO ‘CONCRETE’ PROOF OF AD TIE-IN FOR ABC
http://www.nypost.com/seven/05282008/business/no_concrete_proof_of_ad_tie_in_for_abc_112846.htm
But I still think the truth is out there.