Terminator Tough*

Magnet #238 - SoapNet Soap

Soap operas got their name because they were dramas that were sponsored by companies who made soap. So there's a time-honored tradition of advertisers sponsoring whole television series.

They're going through a renaissance of sorts in recent years. Some of the cable netlets make their money by selling advertisers whole evenings of programming. But, it's probably easier and cheaper for advertisers to buy sponsorships for whole episodes instead - it makes for shorter, less likely to be FF'd commercial breaks and some product integration as well.

My favorite of late was last week's Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles (click here for GoldenGait's review of the actual show), provided with limited commercial breaks sponsored by the All-New Dodge Ram. There were four commercial breaks, all of them were Ram Challenge trailers, brought to you by the All-New Dodge Ram Challenge and Tony freakin' Scott. And, then within the show, somehow, John Connor's protective detail are suddenly driving a veritable fleet of Dodge vehicles.

Even with the requisite in-your-face, seconds-long close-up of the truck logo, they actually did a pretty good job with integrating product into the program. They had John and hot uncle Derek (BAG, my word, have you come a long way from 90210) leaving for the military academy and they were packing a million supplies into the flatbed of the truck. Nice product demo, that. The covered back of the truck, sliding in the giant boxes into the back, stuffing guns into the side storage space, and then, the cuteboys climbing into it. And then of course, the beauty shots of it rolling into the parking lot, or during the car chases, etc.

But for this episode, there were the trailers for the actual Ram Challenge web series, which directed you to the superfun to play on ramchallenge.com website.

Who went to that site? I certainly did. Who is gonna watch when it launches on October 19? I certainly am.

It's eight Ram Tough guys on four Ram Tough teams - the Cowboys, the Firefighters, the Contractors and the Military. They have to put the Ram Tough Dodge Ram through four big Ram Tough race challenges. The boys are kinda hot with their cowboy hats and tight jeans, and adorable, with their regional accents and their "love" for Dodge. Plus seriously? It's Tony freakin' Scott, you know the footage is gonna rock hard.

Now. Am I the target demo? No. Am I gonna buy a Dodge Ram when I live in NYC and have no need for one? Obviously not.

Nevertheless, I am the biggest sucker for marketing. Well. Marketing...and pretty boys.

So what did this Connor Chronicles sponsorship get Dodge? Well, according to Advertising Age, they were 10th on the Most-Recalled In-Program Product Placement list for that week. We could talk about this list til the cows come home - how great was that pretty boy interaction when Dean ripped out Sam's damnable iPod from his classic car on Supernatural, or what the hell was Boeing thinking, letting the The Unit (pretty boys again - I said I was a sucker) use their name in a plane hijacking story. But I digress.

And from me, well, I must have spent a good half-hour on the Ram Challenge site, I raved about it to everyone on my FB status and on a messageboard, and now I'm telling ya'll.

I'm like a Word-of-Mouth T-800. Well done, Dodge, well done.

*Mind you, I don't think Dodge Ram's using the Ram Tough external marketing tagline anymore, but somewhere on internal strategy documents, they have to be using it as a brand personality trait. Don't you think?