This Magic Moment Brought To You By Pontiac

When Colby won a brand new car on Survivor: The Australian Outback, it was a magic moment - one paid for by Pontiac, manufacturer of the prize Aztec. Inserting a product into a hit television show is merely the beginning of the process by which advertisers profit from associating their brands with Hollywood, according to top producers and industry executives who took part in a panel on integrated advertising.

The panel, held at Barsac restaurant in North Hollywood, was sponsored by the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences and The Hollywood Reporter. The panelists present were: Bob Dowling, Publisher and Editor-in-Chief of The Hollywood Reporter, David Lyel, President of FremantleMedia, H. Mitchell Kanner, a partner in Integrated Entertainment Partners, Jeff Greenfield, Vice President of Sales for 1st Approach, Mark Workman, CEO of First Fireworks Group, and Mark Burnett, executive producer of the CBS reality series Survivor.

A sentiment repeated by several panelists was that the world of television advertising is rapidly changing - the sheer number of channels now offered by cable and satellite outlets has made the medium more fragmented and niche-oriented. And the success of highly visible product placement, such as the well-placed bag of Doritos on Survivor, or voting by AT&T text messaging on American Idol, has increasingly forced the networks to consider less traditional means of selling advertising time. Learn more in the August 2003 issue of emmy magazine, which features excerpts from the panel discussion.