Question

Topic: Advertising/PR

Television Opp Or Not?

Posted by Anonymous on 5/30/2008 at 8:48 AM ET 300 Points
I received a call yesterday from the show "World's Greatest" which currently has a show in the works in which they would like to highlight the 'World's Greatest Moving Company.' After a lengthy discussion with the Producer, I was told that a contract would be coming my way in which we would need to execute before we were even considered and if chosen, all terms contained within are valid.

My question is this: the contract includes an 'affiliation fee of $9000 to be paid.' Is this standard procedure?

We actually turned down the offer do to this factor - just appreciate your thoughts since this seemed like a pretty marketable exercise to me.

Thanks in advance everyone!
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RESPONSES

  • Posted on 5/30/2008 at 10:15 AM Accepted
    I've seen this tactic used many times. I would not advise it. It's a spin-off of some Invention Marketing and so called Infomercial companies. i.e. "We love your product and want to make an infomercial for it and make you a millionaire, we're going to do...blah blah blah and it's going to be great...oh, by the way, to get you going we just need $10,000"

    Or, "We have all the contacts and expertise to introduce your HOT product to all sorts of buyers from big retailers...etc., oh by the way, we need $8,000 to cover part of the marketing costs, but that's nothing compared to all the royalties you're going to make."

    As Randall says, you have to be very careful, I personally don't trust anyone that uses the "Build'em up...and hit them with charges at the end sales tactics.
  • Posted on 5/30/2008 at 11:06 AM Accepted
    I agree with the others. This is just like those work at home ads and envelope ads only on a much bigger scale. If they were a REAL production company with REAL plans of success they would have money behind them and then recoup and make their profit when they sell to the networks. I'm sure with all the problems that have went on with the writer's strike that most anything would be able to sell. So why ask for money up front!

    covertenteprise
  • Posted on 5/30/2008 at 11:57 AM Accepted
    I agree with the above responses. Something does not sound right.

    Generally, when something like this comes up I tend to look at the hard facts.
    - How many shows have they run?
    - Contact the network to verify.
    - How many viewers and how is that data collected and verified?
    - Can I get tapes of some of the shows to watch?
    - Who have they featured in the past?
    - Can I contact those customers to see how the experience was, and the consumer response they got?
    - What made them contact my company as "The World's Greatest?"

    All of these questions will help you to verify the legitimacy of the offer. And as the others said, MANY producers fail miserably, and the good ones generally make their money by selling the show to the network, not on the people featured on the show.

    Hope this helps,
    Zack Pike
  • Posted by Jay Hamilton-Roth on 5/31/2008 at 8:57 AM Member
    I would've asked to talk to a range of recently featured companies. Was it worth it to them? Was the commercial an ego piece or did it generate measurable revenue.
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