Stuart Elliott: Are Advertisers "Game" for Sponsorships Again?

There39s lots of talk this week about potential solutions replete with industry jargon such as branded content creative partnerships integrated marketing and native solutions In looking for answers to modernday problems Madison Avenue would do well to look back into the past and fortunately there39s now an opportunity to do just thatLast month Time Warner Cable in Manhattan added to its lineup on channel 1265 a digital multicast network called Buzzr owned by FremantleMedia North America Buzzr which also has a presence online specializes in reruns of vintage game shows from the FremantleMedia library including quotCard Sharksquot quotFamily Feudquot quotLet39s Make a Dealquot quotMatch Gamequot and quotPress Your LuckquotTo me the gems of the Buzzr lineup are two blocks of golden oldie game shows originally created by GoodsonTodman Productions and broadcast in black and white by CBS The shows usually on Buzzr from 2 to 4 pm and 2 to 6 am ET are quotTo Tell the Truthquot quotWhat39s My Linequot and quotI39ve Got a SecretquotWhat makes the series so relevant to those toiling in the industry nowadays is that Buzzr runs each show for 40 minutes instead of sticking to the usual 30minute time slot That enables Buzzr to include the original commercials from each episode yes the actual ads that audiences saw 50 or 60 years ago as well as selling spots to presentday advertisersThe GSN cable channel has presented those same shows in a programming hour dubbed quotBlack and White Overnightquot but shorn of the original commercials to fit the episodes into 30minute time slots Such scissoring happens almost every time that bygone shows are brought back as was the case in September when TCM revived six and a half hours of live TV dramas from the early 1950s featuring James DeanWhy are the original commercials still embedded in the kinescopes or tapes of the series that Buzzr is resurrecting It39s because the advertisers were not just buying commercial time in each episode they were sponsorsSponsorship was a rarefied status back in the day meaning that advertisers and their agencies had major input into and control over the series to the point where in many instances they owned the programming It39s a far cry from the contemporary practice of selling a show by carving up the commercial time into multiple and seemingly endless 15second or 30second spotsThere wasn39t a need for so many spots back then with a single sponsor paying the freight so as is demonstrated by the Buzzr reruns there were just three or four commercials per episode A sponsor received special billing at the start of a show quotBrought to you by quot If two advertisers shared a sponsorship there39d be a shoutout at the end of an episode along the lines of quotAnd now a word from our alternate sponsorquotSponsorship often came with a perk known as cast commercials meaning that the cast members of the series would deliver or take part in the spots That39s demonstrated in the Buzzr reruns as when during episodes of quotI39ve Got a Secretquot from 1961 and 1962 the host Garry Moore and panelists such as Henry Morgan participated in demonstrations of quotthe new Polaroid 10second Automatic cameraquotamp160Another benefit of sponsorship was a right to weave products into the programming making them intrinsic aspects of each episode For instance sponsors of the classic game shows on Buzzr festooned the sets with brand logos images and other plugsIn episodes of quotWhat39s My Linequot from the mid1950s the desk behind which the panelists sat the blackboard on which guests signed their names and flip cards indicating how much money the guests won promoted products made by two sponsors Remington Rand peddling the Remington electric shaver watch the video at top and Jules Montenier Inc hawking Stopette deodorant quotPoof There goes perspirationquot and Finesse shampoo The modern Finesse haircare brand traces its roots to that FinesseAnd in episodes of quotTo Tell the Truthquot from 1961 the host Bud Collyer told departing guests they would receive quota gift package of fine products from the makers of Anacinquot ie American Home Products a conglomerate of prosaic brands that also owned pantry and medicine chest staples such as Aerowax BiSoDol Dristan Heet SaniFlush and SleepEze quotthe next thing you know it39s morningquotThe next thing you know it39s decades later and sponsorships are coming back into vogue as a method to reduce clutter and make commercials more palatable by making them less annoying For example Facebook is joining with DigitasLBi to create quota brandfriendly live morning showquotAnd a new competitive video gaming initiative ELEAGUE from Turner and WMEIMG has signed three brands Arby39s Buffalo Wild Wings and Credit Karma as quotofficial marketing partnersquot for its first two seasons Among the backtothefuture benefits being promised to the brands according to a Turner news release are quotcustomized contextual brand exposurequot and quotsponsor integrationquot Viewers will get something valuable too quotlimited commercial timequotThere39s also a renewed interest in game shows as evidenced by ABC39s decision to introduce starting June 26 quotSunday Fun ampamp Gamesquot a primetime block of rebooted versions of quotCelebrity Family Feudquot quotThe 100000 Pyramidquot and quotMatch Gamequot They39ll join a revival of quotTo Tell the Truthquot slated for Tuesday nights starting June 14There39s a good chance it seems that the triedandtrue tactics once used to peddle products as demonstrated daily on Buzzr could again be winnrsOops Make that winnersThe opinions and points of view expressed in this commentary are exclusively the views of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of MediaVillagecomMyersBizNet Inc management or associated bloggers amp160amp160

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Stuart Elliott: Are Advertisers "Game" for Sponsorships Again?

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