How To Merchandise a Primetime TV Show

I think I can safely make the claim that How I Met Your Mother is the best-merchandised show on television. The producers have brilliantly sustained a tradition of transforming in-show jokes into real-life merchandising opportunities.

Take, for instance, the recent episode in which Barney Stinson (played by Neil Patrick Harris — and yes, his character has his own blog, as referenced frequently in the show) creates a new holiday called Not A Father’s Day. Before the episode aired, the producers made sure to launch the respective minisite, from which you could buy gear and apparel to show your not-a-fatherhood pride (such as the following mug which I purchased):

(After all, why should Dads get all the tacky coffee mugs?)

Or, for instance, the recently published Bro Code, which I discovered in a bookstore last week – allegedly written by Barney Stinson himself:

And that’s only the beginning. In addition to these merchandising opportunities, CBS also launched a minisite based on an in-show reference at LilyAndMarshallSellTheirStuff.com, which featured an auction of clothes worn by the actors (the proceeds of which went to Children’s Hospital Los Angeles).

The list of in-show jokes with parallel real-life sites goes on. Check out:

Of course, all of these site and product tie-ins are completely unnecessary. These off-air properties don’t make the show one bit funnier. And the revenue from coffee mug sales has probably proven to be pretty minimal. But this tradition has provided an opportunity for die-hard fans of the show to engage just a little bit deeper with the stories, the characters, and the cast. What TV producers wouldn’t want to give their fans that opportunity?

January 20, 2009 | Filed Under Advertising, Business, TV, Print, Outdoor | Leave a Comment 

Take the High Road

Just something to noodle on over the weekend. This is from a study (Feltovich, Harbaugh, and To) cited in The Art of Strategy, which I’m finally almost finished with. (Great read if you like game theory, but especially if you know nothing about game theory.)

The nouveau riche flaunt their wealth, but the old rich scorn such gauche displays. Minor officials prove their status with petty displays of authority, while the truly powerful show their strength through gestures of magnanimity. People of average education show off the studied regularity of their script, but the well educated often scribble illegibly. Mediocre students answer a teacher’s easy questions, but the best students are embarrassed to prove their knowledge of trivial points. Acquaintances show their good intentions by politely ignoring one’s flaws, while close friends show intimacy by teasingly highlighting them. People of moderate ability seek formal credentials to impress employers and society, but the talented often downplay their credentials even if they have bothered to obtain them. A person of average reputation defensively refutes accusations against his character, while a highly respected person finds it demeaning to dignify accusations with a response. 

Seemingly obvious observations, but I think about the last sentence in particular within the context of a recent post about defending your brand online.

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January 17, 2009 | Filed Under Advertising, Books, Social Media | Leave a Comment 

Topics on Fire Podcast: New Year, New You

On January 4th I had the pleasure of joining Scott Monty, Dmitri Gunn and Thomas Edwards on Leslie Poston‘s bi-weekly live podcast, Topics on Fire. It was a blast — the topic of the evening was men’s style, and both the live discussion and realtime chat were lively with dialogue and debate.

You can listen to the entire podcast here:

 

You can also find a recap of the discussions going on in the live chat during the recording. Thanks to Leslie and all those who came out for the live discussion!

January 13, 2009 | Filed Under Just For Fun | Leave a Comment 

Facebook Encourages “Live-Tweeting”… But Will Your Friends Appreciate It?

I was intrigued to see this sponsored poll (with rotating copy) on the Facebook Home page this afternoon. Facebook has been running sponsored polls in this slot on the right sidebar for a few months, but what’s notable about this is the call to action to update your status in real time in response to the presidential inauguration (in Twitter-speak, this would be considered “live-tweeting” the event).

Facebook Poll

Facebook Poll 2

A few obvious questions come to mind: Will anyone even pick up on this subtle suggestion? If they do, will Facebook users readily adopt this new pattern of behavior with regard to status usage? And will those who do try it piss off their friends so much that they are immediately de-friended at the altar of Whopper Sacrifice?

What do you think?

January 9, 2009 | Filed Under Advertising, Social Networks | 5 Comments 

Brand Association: Burger King = Virgin Sacrifice?

Burger King has two interesting promotions running right now that are garnering a ton of buzz:

Individually, both are novel and edgy promotions. I was just discussing the latter with a colleague and realized that when rolled out back to back, as BK has done, the Whopper is suddenly associated with virgins and sacrifice.

Is this intentional, or just a freak coincidence? I can’t see how this does much to build the BK brand.

January 9, 2009 | Filed Under Advertising | Leave a Comment 

…And He’s Back!

Some folks may have noticed that I’ve been MIA (or more appropriately, AFK) for quite a while now. I’ve left the blog unattended for a few weeks, but am psyched to get back to it — a lot has happened (and is happening) that I’ve been meaning to write about.

But first, an explanation of the hiatus: the holidays and a vacation had something to do with it, but more importantly I joined the interactive strategy team at Hill Holliday on December 29th and my first few days have been awesomely busy. Tempting as it is, I’ll avoid gushing about the people I’ll be working with and just say that I’m absolutely thrilled to be here (and not just because my commute is 10 minutes shorter each morning).

Now that all this boring personal business is out of the way, we can get back to blog-as-usual. Thanks for hanging in there through my absence!

January 9, 2009 | Filed Under Advertising, General | Leave a Comment