Brewing Brand Recognition
How a lucky bit of product placement propelled a
regional brand into pop culture. By Aaron Dalton
Actress Mary-Louise Parker frequently
carries It’s A
Grind’s merchandise during her scenes in Showtime Network's show Weeds.
There is a saying that in New York: Strangers
at cocktail parties ask what you do, while in Los Angeles, they ask whom
you know. For quick-serves that want to be famous, the more relevant question
might be, “Who drinks your coffee?”
That’s how It’s A Grind, the Long
Beach, California-based coffeehouse chain ended up
with a starring role on the critically-acclaimed Showtime Networks
hit show Weeds.
In early 2005, Marty Cox, founder and president
of It’s A Grind, got
a call from a prop master at Showtime asking if his company was interested
in being a part of a new Showtime series. It turned out that this original
contact at Showtime had heard about It’s A Grind from her
brother-in-law, an enthusiastic patron of the chain’s Long Beach
stores. Apparently, this brother-in-law’s lavish praise of It’s
A Grind’s atmosphere, coffee, and
customer service convinced the prop master to
contact Cox.
In an age of jaded consumers and ad-zapping TIVOs,
getting your product, brand, or store—better yet, all three—on
a television show, especially a popular television show can generate great
exposure. Weeds actors
not only walk in and out of an It’s A Grind coffeehouse in the
show’s opening sequence, star Mary-Louise Parker frequently carries
the company’s merchandise during her scenes.
In fact, Parker insisted that her character be
a coffee fanatic. It’s A Grind responded by sending her logo-covered
It’s A Grind cups, sleeves, drink carriers, t-shirts, and hats.
Thanks to this bounty of branded merchandise,
numerous Parker scenes feature her carrying an It’s A Grind cup (often the
iced-blended mocha version) or using bags of It’s A Grind whole-bean
coffee.
In addition to exposure on the show itself, It’s
A Grind got a huge benefit by hitching a ride on the Weeds marketing campaign. Showtime
took out full-page ads in Newsweek, People, and TV Guide to promote the show. The ad’s featured photo showed
Parker holding a cardboard cup with the It’s A Grind logo showing
plain as day.
Since Cox and his wife, Louise Montgomery, founded
It’s A Grind back in 1995, the coffeehouse chain has grown
exponentially. Cox plans to add another 75–100 stores to his
95-unit chain by the end of 2006. “Weeds is not necessarily
fueling that growth, but it has been an added bonus by helping to further
validate our brand,” Cox says.
“We have seen an increase in applications, but we don’t know
how much we can attribute to the show versus the brand simply growing and
gaining exposure in other ways.”
In any case, It’s A
Grind CEO Steve Shoeman knows his company got significant value from
being featured on Weeds. “To get this kind of
exposure on a national basis would usually cost $1million–$2 million,” he
says.
The practice of integrating products in television shows goes back to the
early days of television, when companies would sponsor entire shows. There
was nothing subtle about it. Shows with titles like Texaco Star Theater and the Colgate Comedy Hour ruled
the early 1950s ratings game.
Though 30-second commercials later became the dominant mode of
television marketing, several factors have
contributed to the return to prominence of product placement and branded
entertainment.
First, consumers are
inundated with advertising messages, not just
on television, but also at the movie theater, on the internet, while
walking down the street…the list goes on and on. Because of this
overload, people have simply begun to tune out. Ad executives ceaselessly
discuss the challenge of rising above the “noise” or “clutter” of
the advertising landscape.
Second, television itself is changing from a
traditional broadcast model to an on-demand system in which consumers can
fast-forward and rewind through television shows—and
through commercials. One thing TiVo users always mention to their friends
with pride is their ability to “zap” commercials. Though
digital video recorder market penetration is still low, all signs point to
the trend accelerating. And, the consumers who have already switched are
of the young and affluent sort that most marketers would love to reach.
In the face of these intersecting trends, marketers
have shown renewed interest in product placement and branded entertainment.
As it sounds, product placement involves somehow placing a company’s
product into the environment of a television show or movie.
Branded entertainment can go a bit further in
integrating the product into the storyline. One could argue that It’s
A Grind has reached the level of branded entertainment with
Weeds,
thanks to the ubiquity with which the company’s products appear on
the show. The universe the show characters inhabit is filled with It’s
A Grind products.
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