Adventures in Product Placement: 'Trust Me'

In a previous post I took a look at TNT's new drama "Trust Me," premiering this Monday night (1/26). This is the drama about two friends working in a fast-paced (fictional) ad agency Rothman, Greene & Mohr.

Although set in a fictional agency, the clients they take on will be very real. 'Trust me' will be writing actual products into their scripts, including products that are actual sponsors of the program. SEAMLESS PRODUCT INTEGRATION ACHIEVED (in theory)!!

One such sponsor is Unilever, which will be promoting their line of Dove hair care products. The product placement will go so far as to provide an on-screen cameo for a real-life Dove brand manager, as well as a Dove-sponsored online game where the user, playing as a Rothman creative director, will develop a campaign for Dove. That's so meta I feel I should be receiving a paycheck from someone just for playing the game.

Due to its setting, 'Trust Me' has the ability to integrate nearly any product into their surroundings: just make them a client. The first few episodes feature many different brands, including: Apple, Chris-Craft boats, Effen vodka, Green Giant, Hallmark, Kellogg’s cereal, Nike, Pillsbury, Potbelly Sandwich Works and Starbucks.

The executive producers of the show, who also happen to be former Madison Ave ad men, claim that the product integration is done because it gives the audience a better depth of knowledge of the show's environment. In other words, the audience will be able to form a stronger bond with the characters if they drink Starbucks coffee rather than a fictional Skybucks coffee. I see the point, but let's be honest, the product integration is done to ease the production costs of a show that is probably pretty costly for a TNT series, not to create a fully realized environment.

I have no idea if this will work or not. If the brands are honestly used to further define the agency's environment and only plays a minor supporting role in that sense, then we're cool. If, however, the brands end up driving the plot for each episode, then the audience may realize they are simply watching a glorified infomercial. Both the sponsors and the producers of the series should (and hopefully do) realize that.

I'll check the show out on Monday night, but for the stories, not the products. Will you?

In ‘Trust Me,’ a Fake Agency Really Promotes