Appliances Are Going Hollywood With TV Product Placements

Furniture and home-appliance companies are seeking out celebrity connections and airtime on popular television programs.
By: Cheryl Lu-Lien Tan: The Wall Street Journal Online
The fourth season of NBC's "The Apprentice" with Donald Trump begins tonight, promising more bickering and backstabbing as the latest crop of wannabe bosses elbow their way to the top. But one company is betting that it already has a breakout star on the show: the kitchen cabinetry in the Trump Tower apartment where the contestants live.

Poggenpohl U.S. Inc., the German maker of the red and titanium-gray cabinets, is already aggressively promoting its connection to the hot show. To grab attention, the company is sending out news releases to alert the media that viewers can learn all about its pricey cabinets by visiting the TV show's Web site.

After years of watching fashion and beauty brands shine in the Hollywood spotlight, makers of furniture and appliances are now eager to get in on the product-placement act. Brands from Bosch appliances to Big John Toilet Seat -- maker of a super-wide toilet perch -- are wooing set designers and cozying up to TV and movie stars. Some are also setting up booths at events such as New York's Fashion Week and the Country Music Awards to increase their visibility in the style crowd.

Popular tool company Barbara K. Enterprises Inc. works with a product-placement company to get its female-friendly kits in movie and television scenes. Recently, the tools landed a bit part, alongside Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie, in the summer flick "Mr. and Mrs. Smith."

Blu Dot Design & Manufacturing Inc., meanwhile, was approached by MTV to provide several pieces of furniture for the network's "The Real World." Since the shows aired, sales of the featured chairs and shelving units have risen. But there was another benefit: being a part of the MTV show cast his hip company in an even hipper light, says John Christakos, president of modernist Blu Dot. "All the beds are ours," he says. "And there seems to be a lot of, um, action and footage that happens in bed. I think that's good -- it's in keeping with our brand."

Some old-line home brands have been reluctant to try these nouveau marketing tactics. Whirlpool Corp., for example, is often approached by home-improvement and other TV shows to donate its refrigerators or ranges, but the company is generally reluctant to participate. "You can't tell from 30 feet away whose appliance it is," says Jeffrey Davidoff, marketing director for the company. "It really is only of value to me when we can integrate the product in the storyline or have an interactive experience with it."

But other companies believe that consumers are indeed taking style and decorative cues from items lurking in the background. When Kate Spade launched a tableware line last year, the company promoted its new tableware line by lending dishes and stemware to the set of the Jennifer Lopez romantic comedy "Monster-In-Law."

New Yorker Emily Prawda Weiss homed in on the Spade wineglasses right away, partly because she had registered for them. "It's definitely something that a bride would notice," she says. "I told all my friends to look out for the glasses in the movie. They were so excited."

The deals occur in a number of ways. For placement on TV shows and movies -- the brass ring for many marketers these days -- some companies, like Barbara K., make appeals to set designers and production companies. Others, like Blu Dot, are lucky enough to get approached. Another common route to fame, which home accessories brands are now exploring, is the celebrity gift bag, in which they provide samples of their products as give-aways to influential guests at tony events, in hopes of winning publicity mentions.

At New York's Fashion Week, for example, the theme for one such bag was "Backyard BBQ in a Bag." It featured a coupon good for a $650 Char-Broil grill and a $1,000 Tupperware gift certificate.

Sometimes, prominent product-placement spots can be a mixed blessing. Executives at Delta Faucet Co. were thrilled to hear that one of the company's jetted showerheads was prominently featured in a scene in CBS's "CSI: Miami" -- until they saw the episode. "The girl was taking a shower and then all of a sudden she fell and hit her head on one of the jetted showerheads," says Joao Rodrigues, a Delta spokesman. The character in the scene died -- a delayed reaction to smoke inhalation, it turned out.

Delta decided not to tout its appearance on the show. "Our product didn't cause the negative outcome," he says, "but we didn't want to connect that outcome to our brand."

Makers of other utilitarian products are pleased with the new coverage they have managed to get. Hanging out with Hollywood types is "a great way to break through the clutter," says Dave Manly, vice president of marketing for Keurig, Inc., whose $150 one-cup coffee maker was part of the "talent gift lounge" at a star-studded "Fashion Rocks" event in New York earlier this month. Performers including Heather Graham took home gratis machines.

"So much is driven by which celebrity is doing what," says Mr. Manly. "We're just waiting for Teri Hatcher to be making coffee with a Keurig brewer and for people to go, 'What's that?"'

Mr. Manly is starting to see some results from the buzz he's generating through blanketing Hollywood with his coffeemakers. This spring, the product-placement firm Keurig works with received a call from set designers for "Poseidon," a big-screen remake of 1972's "The Poseidon Adventure" slated to open next year. Mr. Manly says the moviemakers requested coffeemakers and Keurig signage.

Stars are usually happy to be photographed showing off fashion graft, such as a blouse or purse. But when it comes to certain home items, celebrities aren't necessarily flush with public praise.

Big John Toilet Seat, for example, has been actively promoting the list of celebrities it says requested freebies following its participation at a celebrity golf tournament this summer in Lake Tahoe.

Through their publicists, former NFL quarterback Dan Marino and actor John O'Hurley declined to comment on the $168 toilet seats.