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Hey Marketing Bestie,

Welcome to Marketing Classics 411, a new kind of ancient history. 

In place of hieroglyphs, expect to decipher the campaigns of yesteryear. 

Professor Millennial teaches every Tuesday (remotely), via electronic mail. 

Class is now in session. 🍦

Was this email forwarded to you?

AS SEEN ON TV

Exactly. 

83% of U.S. adults stream. Almost half watch ad-supported tiers.

But we’re all better than ever at avoiding commercials. Either by skipping them, taking a snack break, or paying the premium so they disappear forever. 

So brands had to get smarter…and they ran back an old tactic: hiding ads in plain sight. 

Right in the middle of the shows we can’t stop binging.

This is the story of… how streaming TV changed ads.

It’s now on Season 5 on Hulu. (Not sponsored. Just obsessed.)

If you’ve been living under a rock without wifi, OMITB is a murder-mystery-comedy about a cross-generational trio of NYC neighbors who start a true crime podcast after a murder in their NYC apartment building. 

It’s got everything. Fancy guest stars like Meryl Streep, Paul Rudd, and Tina Fey. Millennial-Boomer crossover chaos in the group chat. 

But what really caught my attention: all the BRANDS. 

No (unbranded) spoilers ahead: Keep reading.

No brand integrations here, but just wait… (via Instagram) 

In every episode of OMITB, the 3 protagonists use Apple products. The real shocker would be if one of the old guys had an Android. (More on that later.) 

Apple’s at the center of the action, literally. (via Geek Girl Authority)

On the 4th episode of season 5 alone…

→ Mabel walks around with pillows, and mentions they’re vintage Missoni.

→ Charles carries a Zabar’s bag. 

→ Oliver prepares to host guests with not nearly enough Godiva chocolates. Mentioned by name, obviously.

→ A suspect brings a case of Pabst Blue Ribbon to the same party.

Super subtle. (via Laughing Place)

What’s going on? 

Good, old-fashioned product placement. But with a streaming twist. 

Product placement isn’t new.

It started in 1896, with Auguste & Louis Lumière. Yep, film isn’t the only thing they pioneered.

The Lumières were hired by Lever Brothers to put Sunlight Soap in a 40-second film called Washing Day in Switzerland. 

(Fun fact: Sunlight Soap is now part of Unilever. Coincidence???)

The first TV commercial wouldn’t air for another half-century. 

A few decades later, Hollywood entered its product placement era.

It started with expensive items, like cars and jewelry. 

Eventually, all sorts of brands were getting big results on the big screen.

After M&Ms turned them down, Reese’s Pieces was featured in E.T.

E.T. was a blockbuster, and Reese’s went from teetering on the brink to being one of America’s top candy brands. 

(Free Marketing lesson: don’t ghost Spielberg.)

M&M’s will never live this one down. (via Mashed)

Ray-Ban went from a struggling eyewear brand to a household name when Tom Cruise wore Wayfarers in Risky Business and then Aviators in both Top Gun movies. 

Both of them are still their top sellers today.

Eyewearrrrr for the danger zone! (via Pret A Voir)

In Castaway, Wilson wasn’t just a volleyball (brand). It (he?) was Tom Hanks’s co-star.

And the Oscar for Best Supporting Product Placement goes to… (via IMDB)

I could go on and on.

So, Hollywood was on board. But TV was a different story for years. 

TV was the less-cool cousin of the movies. 

Less prestigious. Lower budgets. Very few brand cameos. 

Pizza boxes and soda cans were just blank props.

Brands lived STRICTLY in commercial breaks, not the actual show. 

Until Seinfeld. 

Brands popped up all over Seinfeld, written in organically. Because they made sense, not because they were sponsored. 

Like the Cheerios in Jerry’s kitchen. Seinfeld, a breakfast cereal aficionado, did it for free! 

Some brands have all the luck. (via Reddit)

Seinfeld worked in dozens of brands, with and without sponsorships.

Glen Padnick, president of the studio that made Seinfeld, said "It always bothered me when Archie Bunker reached for his can of beer and it was some non-brand. For a second it took you out of the show."

The point: brands are all around us. Sometimes it’s more noticeable when you DON’T have any products showing up in the background. Seinfeld opened the door.

But then…EVERYTHING about TV changed.

Because DVRs hit in 1999. 

In the new century, we started skipping commercials faster than Kramer crashing through Jerry’s front door. 

Suddenly, wee could watch our shows whenever we wanted. 

The DVR-ocalypse arrived with the “prestige TV” era in the 2000s. 

The Sopranos. Mad Men. Breaking Bad. 

But then…streaming hits.

Less ad inventory than traditional TV. It CRATERED our exposure to commercials.

These days, people are more and more indifferent to commercials, anyway. Even during the Super Bowl. 

With less inventory and less attention, Marketers had to adapt.

TV advertising didn’t go extinct. It evolved. 

In the streaming era, brand integrations are booming. 

TV product placement has a few big advantages over movies:

• Faster production. Brand integrations feel more current. 
• A story-driven integration, like all the OMITB protagonists using Apple products, can live across several episodes and multiple seasons. 
• Scale & Reach: Streaming TV draws more viewers than movies. 

A show might start on Netflix, but end up on Disney+. 

There are more opportunities for the same brand to show up, and live on: across episodes, seasons, and meme cycles. 

You never know: Dexter premiered 20 years ago but Doakes memes are everywhere in 2025. 

PUT IT IN PRACTICE

Here’s your homework:

As tech changes, consumer behavior changes. And vice-versa.

Sometimes the best way to grab attention is a modern twist on an old-fashioned idea. 

So brainstorm a new way—or new retro way—your brand can SHOW UP in the world.

Extra credit, figure out a moonshot brand integration with a streaming series. Even just for fun.

OMITB might be down.

Brand integrations on streaming TV can come to life in a few ways.

👜: Verbal mentions

🍾: Product integrations

👩‍💻: Story-driven integrations

🎤: Other tie-in sponsorships (on the OMITB podcast, for example)

OMITB is a perfect storm of brand opportunities. Not just because it has cross-generational appeal. And not just because it gets to ride the coattails of the true crime craze while staying scripted and funny (aka, brand safe).

Season 3 of OMITB included 17 different brand partners.

Hulu ad breaks have featured Wells Fargo commercials starring Steve Martin and Martin Short. They’re not OFFICIALLY in-character, but we all know what’s up. 

ADT and State Farm created 360° campaigns with social and other digital media extensions. 

Characters show up in the commercials. Products show up in the show. Consistency is contagious.

As of 2022, product placement was a $23B industry.  

But here’s the twist: most of it is UNPAID. 

Brands ship products free hoping for a cameo. Sometimes it pays off big. Example: sales of Eggo waffles spiked 14% after Stranger Things premiered.

Legg’integrate my Eggo! (via Pop Icon)

But if a brand wants more control over how their products are used, or deeper story integration, they pay.

Season 4 of OMITB included both Johnnie Walker and Bulleit product placements. 

That means: neither one had category exclusivity, but they may have had episode exclusivity. (Scotch v Bourbon people, don’t come at me for putting them in the same category, LOL)

Plus, it’s not just about WHERE brands appear, but HOW they’re used in the show.

OMITB’s protagonists only use Apple laptops and phones. Apple is ONLY for the good guys solving murders. It’s literally Apple policy: heroes only.

Other characters, including some villains, use other tech brands. The rival played by Tina Fey used an Android. First red flag.

An OMITB character with an Android? SUS. (via Reddit)

There are whole agencies just to broker these deals, connecting brands with writers, set designers, prop masters, etc. And they do it before the creative is even final. 

Reese’s Pieces signed on to E.T. without even having a script - part of why M&Ms/Mars passed. 

What’s next for on-screen plugs? 

Right now, AI is exploding the possibilities of product placement. 

Soon, it might work more like traditional ad inventory. 

Multiple brands could invest in the same spot, with different products shown to different regions. 

Soon, the same scene might show New York viewers a character drinking Coke, but Pepsi in Atlanta.  Same show. Custom product feed.

Ah, the telltale awkward product placement grip. OMITB would never.                          (via Cinemablend)

Or maybe the placement is swapped out over time, since streaming shows have a longer tail than traditional TV. 

AI could also even enable virtual product placement, with branded products being inserted AFTER filming. 

Infinite ad inventory. Sounds amazing. Until it isn’t. 

Because once it feels like a commercial again, we’ll all tune out. 

2 things we know for sure: Tech is going to keep changing. And Marketers will adapt.

HATS FOR MY MARKETING BESTIES

I love a free hat. Bonus if it’s actually something I’d wear. Like this Marketingland hat. Which I do.

We’re giving away 100 of these bad boys. Just sign up for Marketingland before Friday, Oct 10 and you’ll be entered to win one.

Is this a marketing hack? Sure is. Don’t you want the free hat anyway? Imma say yes.

MARKETING CHEAT SHEET (WHAT TO LEARN FROM THIS STORY):

1️⃣. Old techniques, new solutions

When DVRs and streaming killed 30 second spots, brands went back to basics. WAY back.

Product placement wasn’t new, but TV made it into an art. 

Sometimes the future hides in the past.

2️⃣. Interwoven is better than interrupted

Commercials interrupt. Integrations belong. 

Brand integrations put real products and services inside the show, so they’re harder to miss, not as disruptive as a commercial, and live longer than 1 episode.

And less likely to turn into a snack & scroll break. 

3️⃣. Entertaining wins every time.

How do you interweave successfully? Make it entertaining, not salesy.

Once it feels like an ad, viewers are OVER IT.

It should feel so organic, you don’t even catch all of the plugs. 

Unless you’re a Marketer. In which case, we see them. Everywhere.

Ahh, the bell has rung. Please be sure to do the reading (follow The Marketing Millennials on LinkedIn and me, Professor Millennial, on X).

Off you go, passing period is only 11 minutes and there’s already a line at the vending machine that sells prominently branded red herrings.

Until next time,

Professor Millennial

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