mad men

Not Every Piece of Mad Men Product Placement Comes Complete With a Fee to AMC, You Know

In the first episode of the third season of Mad Men, Ken Cosgrove told his new British boss Lane Pryce that “I wouldn’t be much of an account man if I didn’t ask how much it paid” upon learning that he would be made (co-)head of accounts. Well, someone ought to fly that same piece of wisdom past the people at AMC who are in charge of product placement on the show. According to Brandweek, one of this past week’s pieces of product placement on the show didn’t generate a single dime of revenue for the network: “Andrey Skurikhin, a partner at SPI Group, which owns the Stoli brand, said that he didn’t pay for placement. Skurikhin said AMC contacted him and, he, being a fan of the show, gladly acquiesced, even producing a bottle from 1963 to conform to the show’s historical accuracy.” And although it is unclear at this time whether London Fog paid for their inclusion in this week’s episode, AMC president Charlie Collier went on record as saying that “We absolutely have product integration on the show, but you shouldn’t know which ones are paid and which ones aren’t.” Interesting strategy! Maybe if they would’ve secured some actual money from companies in exchange for placing products, our DVR wouldn’t be cutting off the last two minutes of the show!

Mad Men’s Secret Product Placements [Brandweek]

Not Every Piece of Mad Men Product Placement Comes Complete With a Fee to AMC, You Know