Apple, Saturday Night Live working together on TV commercial - report
Apple has signed a deal with NBC that will see the crew of "Saturday Night Live" create at least one commercial for the iPhone maker, blurring the line between the show and advertising.
The content should appear during the show in a few weeks from now, Variety said on Friday, citing a pair of sources. The material is expected to "look different" from an upcoming ad for Verizon, which features show member Kenan Thompson in a treatment written by "Weekend Update" anchor Colin Jost.
Although such spots may raise concerns, "SNL" creator Lorne Michaels is said to have approached NBCUniversal's ad sales team about the idea, with the hope of cutting down on the overall number of commercials to make watching live more palatable.
"People can DVR and scroll through the commercials and watch it the next morning, but we want them to watch it as an event show," he explained to Variety. "And in exchange for losing three minutes of commercials, which makes the show go much faster, we sort of made an agreement that we would be open to working with advertisers."
The show's producers are said to have approached the idea carefully, selecting the kinds of products and brands that might be appropriate. Last year NBC began offering a variety of related ad opportunities, ranging from using the current cast and writers to having former stars resume old roles.
Linda Yaccarino, chairman of advertising sales and client partnerships at NBCUniversal, told Variety that "SNL" won't be doing ads in large numbers since "the art takes a while."
Apple's marketing strategy has evolved in recent months to focus less on TV and more on digital platforms like Twitter and YouTube. Indeed the company's main ad partner, TBWA\Media Arts Lab, has consolidated and laid off some workers in order to cut costs.
The content should appear during the show in a few weeks from now, Variety said on Friday, citing a pair of sources. The material is expected to "look different" from an upcoming ad for Verizon, which features show member Kenan Thompson in a treatment written by "Weekend Update" anchor Colin Jost.
Although such spots may raise concerns, "SNL" creator Lorne Michaels is said to have approached NBCUniversal's ad sales team about the idea, with the hope of cutting down on the overall number of commercials to make watching live more palatable.
"People can DVR and scroll through the commercials and watch it the next morning, but we want them to watch it as an event show," he explained to Variety. "And in exchange for losing three minutes of commercials, which makes the show go much faster, we sort of made an agreement that we would be open to working with advertisers."
The show's producers are said to have approached the idea carefully, selecting the kinds of products and brands that might be appropriate. Last year NBC began offering a variety of related ad opportunities, ranging from using the current cast and writers to having former stars resume old roles.
Linda Yaccarino, chairman of advertising sales and client partnerships at NBCUniversal, told Variety that "SNL" won't be doing ads in large numbers since "the art takes a while."
Apple's marketing strategy has evolved in recent months to focus less on TV and more on digital platforms like Twitter and YouTube. Indeed the company's main ad partner, TBWA\Media Arts Lab, has consolidated and laid off some workers in order to cut costs.
Comments
Some of the most egregious examples are on Fallon, Colbert and Kimmel where products are up front and center and part of the act. I can't watch any of those people anymore.
If I were Apple I would not associate with SNL. Apples ads show class, sophistication and art. SNL does none of that! Wrong image!
Regarding blending advertisements into a show content I don't see any good coming to this. One of the earliest examples of this goes back to the introduction of the X Box.
An episode of the highly watched Will & Grace had a story line about a teenager that wanted the console really badly and at the end one of the adult characters manages to secure one as a gift. Microsoft was planning a big intro party for X Box the next day in Times Square to take advantage of the weeks long build up.
Will & Grace was on NBC, which is owned in part by Microsoft was able to make their new product the basis of a fictional script.
The biggest danger to the entertainment creating content which must include products or services within the content. It can be done subtly at first, "oh did you get me a latte from Starbucks" to an episode which entirely takes place in a line of people waiting for the next iPhone launch. Broadcast TV is already on the slide and it appears the networks are trying to squeeze a few more dollars out of it until nobody will watch it. Instead of making everything we watch tool to sell us something else how about focusing on content worth watching.