Creating and placing the right ads online
Gary Arlen
NBC-TV's much-lauded satiric sitcom, 30 Rock, recently included a landmark product placement. After the leading characters have spent several lines of dialogue extolling Verizon's mobile phone and network, Tina Fey, the show's star and producer, breaks the 'fourth wall' and looks directly into the camera to say (presumably to Verizon's marketing honchos), 'Can we have our money now?' (1).
It does not take much media savvy to recognise the deal between the TV network and the wireless phone company. Some viewers may have even noticed the paid Verizon commercial...