On 14^th and 15^th of May, five episodes of The Saturdays: What Goes On Tour aired on channel 4, following the girl band around the country as they perform their Headlines tour. Each episode focuses on a group member and gives an all access pass to their backstage antics, rehearsals and performances.

Darryl Collis, Director of Seesaw Media the UK’s leading product placement agency who brokered the sponsorship for the shows, says “this show has a lot to offer fans of The Saturdays as they invite the cameras into their life while on tour.

If you missed the episodes you can catch them on 4OD or watch their concert on Smash Hits on 27^th and 28^th May or on T4 on 5^th June.

SCREENGRAB OF PRODUCT PLACEMENT “P” IN CREDITS AFTER THE BREAK.

SCREEN GRAB OF NESCAFE “DOLCE GUSTO” COFFEE MACHINE ON THIS MORNING!

As the rest of the world wakes up to the results of this year’s Oscars, there is one award that the UK media are particularly interested in…the” Award for the First Product Placement on a UK Television Show”.

…..and the award goes to “Nestle in This Morning”.

With product placement permitted on UK screens from today, ITV are proud to announce that their daytime flagship show “This Morning” will be the first show to feature a brand that has paid to appear on screen.

Nestle is rumoured to have paid £100,000 to have their coffee machine, the Dolce Gusto appear on the screen in the background for 3 months.

The opening credits featured the P logo, albeit very subtly, highlighting to viewers that the programme contains product placement and the P was visible after each commercial break. 

Though, as the logo doesn’t  make reference to the specific brand, it may have left viewers wondering what they were supposed to be looking out for!

Was it the I-Phone that host Philip Schofield holds up to the camera at the start, or the electrical gadgets furnishing The Hub where the viewer’s comments are aired, including 2 x 50inch touch screen monitors, white monitors or even the I-Pad held by Colleen Nolan.

When the coffee machine did make it’s eagerly awaited appearance, it was in the back of shot and only those knowing what to look out would have noticed it…in fact many would have been mistaken for thinking it was the iconic Lea & Perrins Worcester sauce bottle which was far more prominent.

“If Nestle did pay that level of fee – which equates to roughly £1,400 a day to reach an audience of up to 1.6million – then to truly get their money’s worth it’s all about what Nestle can do with their association with the show” says Darryl Collis, Director of Seesaw Media, a UK based product placement agency, who in the past have secured exposure for Nestle products on UK television shows under the prop provision basis.

Having negotiated hundreds of thousands of dollars’ worth of product placement deals for clients, with Darryl’s vast experience in this area, he knows securing the placement is only half of the process “It’s what the brand does with that placement and association that really makes an impact, with “As seen on This Morning” the most obvious way of promoting their association.”

With the current media interest in product placement, there is obviously a benefit being the first to market and more people will be talking about the coffee machine placement now for that exact reason.

Darryl continues “However, now that first place is gone, brands will need to think smarter and more creatively in order to maximise their association within a show.”

Darryl, like everyone else will be watching how this placement unfolds over the coming weeks with great interest, not only for the audience reaction but also whether Nestle have had their money’s worth in terms of media value and sales.