October 29th, 2004
Coming Episodes of 'Control Freak' on MTV2 Don't Have Commercials But They Do Pitch Lee Jeans
By Stuart Elliott
New York Times
Here is a riddle from the brave new world of branded entertainment: When is a TV program that is billed as commercial-free not commercial-free? When a six-minute sponsored segment is part of the show.
That is what viewers of ‘’Control Freak’’ on the MTV2 cable network will see when they watch three of its episodes, scheduled to appear at 11:30 p.m. Eastern time this Sunday and on Nov. 14 and Nov. 28. About two-thirds of the way through each seemingly commercial-free episode, the sponsored segment will appear, courtesy of the Lee Dungarees brand of jeans, sold by a division of the VF Corporation.
The segments, titled ‘’Buddy Lee, Guidance Counselor,’’ feature the venerable Lee Dungarees brand character—a doll named Buddy Lee—dispensing droll advice to high schoolers about potential careers like trapeze artist, ventriloquist and acting in steamy, Spanish-language ‘’telenovela’’ soap operas. Viewers will be able to vote for one of three endings for each segment on a Web site, just as during the regular segments of ‘’Control Freak’’ they can vote for one of three music video clips to be shown.
The sponsored segments, created by the longtime Lee agency, Fallon Worldwide in Minneapolis, part of the Publicis Groupe, are the first foray into branded entertainment by Lee and MTV2. (The channel’s big brother, MTV, has tried similar approaches on shows like ‘’The Real World.’’) They are emblematic of the increasing efforts by marketers to produce pitches that will be more difficult for consumers to avoid than standard 30-second commercials, which can be easily zapped, zipped through or ignored. That is particularly true for campaigns aimed at younger consumers, like the males age 17 to 22 prized by Lee Dungarees.
’’How do you get them to pay attention to, and interact with, your brand?’’ asked Liz Cahill, director for advertising and public relations at Lee in Kansas City, Kan. ‘’Sure, you can put commercials out there, or banner ads, but that doesn’t engage them; they’d just tune out.’’
’’These young consumers can spot ‘marketing’ in a second, and we know that,’’ she added. ‘’It has to be entertaining.’’
But such intermingling of entertainment and peddling, as artful as it may be, can confuse, annoy or alienate consumers. The members of Commercial Alert, an advocacy organization, have petitioned the Federal Communications Commission for stricter regulation of branded entertainment, denouncing it as ‘’stealth advertising’’ and demanding that advisories appear during any programs that display products provided by paid sponsors.
Despite the growing complaints, programs that shun conventional commercials for unconventional ones are becoming common. For instance, the Ford Motor Company plans to sponsor a commercial-free episode of the NBC series ‘’American Dreams’’ on Nov. 21 that is to include placements for its Mustang sports car. In a twist, because ‘’American Dreams’’ takes place in the 1960’s, the Mustangs will be from that period rather than the 2005 versions now on display in dealer showrooms.
For networks that run programs with branding mixed in, ‘’you have to respect the audience,’’ said David Cohn, general manager of MTV2 in New York, part of the MTV Networks division of Viacom.
’’If you do it well, it works for both brands,’’ he said, referring to the network and the sponsor. ‘’But if you do it poorly, it doesn’t work for anyone.’’
In this instance, Mr. Cohn said, the segments made sense because ‘’the Buddy Lee character is fun and the integration into the show is seamless,’’ rather than a hard-sell device.
Also, ‘’it’s an interactive video show,’’ he added, ‘’so why shouldn’t the audience pick the way the branded content plays out?’’
MTV2 executives plan to ‘’evaluate this to see if it works well,’’ Mr. Cohn said, looking at factors including how many viewers vote in the sponsored segments compared with the level of audience participation in the voting for the music video clips. Dave Damman, the group creative director at Fallon in charge of ‘’Buddy Lee, Guidance Counselor,’’ said the interactivity of ‘’Control Freak’’ was an important reason to sponsor the show.
’’This audience of 17-to-22-year-old males is a moving target, not just sitting in front of the TV anymore,’’ Mr. Damman said. ‘’They’re watching TV, online, text-messaging, on their cellphones and listening to music, all at the same time.’’
’’We’re trying to get into their world and make this brand personality relevant to them,’’ he added. ‘’It all comes down to whether the content is entertaining enough.’’
’’I don’t feel we’re duping anybody,’’ Mr. Damman said of complaints that branded entertainment blurs the line between content and commercials. ‘’We didn’t take a heavy hand with it, and people know Buddy is the Lee jeans icon.’’
’’And it’s not like Buddy’s hawking jeans the way the Pillsbury Doughboy is hawking baked goods,’’ he added.
Mr. Damman declined to discuss the cost of the sponsored segments, as did Mr. Cohn and Ms. Cahill; she said they were bought separately from the package of traditional commercials Lee has run for many years on MTV and MTV2.
Buddy Lee, in doll form, was originally used by Lee in the 1930’s in retail displays with the theme ‘’Can’t bust ‘em,’’ promoting the durability of the jeans. Fallon rediscovered the character in 1998 and infused it with an ironic postmodern persona. The new Buddy Lee is aimed at younger consumers as a heroic ‘’man of action’’ not unlike an Austin Powers, but the wink-wink joke is that the doll never moves or speaks.
’’This allows us to reintroduce Buddy to a whole new generation coming through’’ since 1998, Ms. Cahill of Lee said. ‘’If they come away with feeling good about the brand, that’s exactly what we want.’’
What may be next for Buddy Lee, avatar of branded entertainment?
’’For my son, who’s 7,’’ Mr. Damman of Fallon said, ‘’I’d love to do a video game.’’