I was watching Idol tonight with 100 million other people and remembered an article I read in Advertising Age about it’s brand marketing.  I have one question.
What brand is on the judge’s glasses on the table?
I’m sure you all guessed correctly that it’s Coca Cola.
From the article:
The biggest TV success in history, “American Idol,” seemed an obvious place to begin. Season after season, three brands — Coca-Cola, Ford and AT&T (formerly Cingular) — have been the proud sponsors of a show that continues to boast high ratings. The reported $26 million-a-pop sponsorships are arguably some of the most valuable in North America, which explains why the sponsors have been just as loyal as the audience.
But when Simon Cowell sips out of his Coca-Cola cup, Randy Jackson comments on the latest Ford and Paula Abdul encourages everyone to cast a vote using AT&T, does it work? Quantitative and qualitative statistics say it does, but does a couch shaped like a Coke bottle really make people consume more cola? We were able to find the answer in only one way: by understanding what really goes on in our subconscious.
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Not surprisingly, Coca-Cola did well; the brand had clearly increased its equity during “American Idol.” The couch, the red room — the entire setup seemed to fit with the program and thus had a very positive effect on the brand. Cingular (now AT&T) did well too. Its results weren’t as impressive as Coca-Cola’s, yet the fact that the network provider was an integrated part of the show that allowed people to cast their votes seemed to do the job: The brand increased its equity through the sponsorship.
If you get a chance to read the rest, it’s pretty interesting to show why we all remember Coke with Idol, but not for the Olympics in China…Â And why Ford wasted 26 million bucks on Idol.
