Soap Opera

SOAP OPERA
[SOURCE: Slate, AUTHOR: Seth Stevenson]
[Commentary] You may have no interest in the plot line of a six-month (um, hour) USA network miniseries, by the attendant marketing blitzkrieg deserves some attention. The show has a sole sponsor which will run a ton of ads and a contest. Branded entertainment has been around forever and goes back to the days of the radio soap opera. What's remarkable about this show is how intertwined the marketing effort is with the creative effort. The sponsor's involvement goes beyond mere sponsorships, ads, and contests. It identified the project as a good match early on in its development stage and became an underwriter. In exchange for financing, the sponsor was allowed to put its marketing agents in the room with the show's writers during the scripting process.
http://www.slate.com/id/2167188?nav=tap3