Friday 21 April 2006

iPods in The Office

Whilst it was yanked from TV schedules in Oz after a mere two episodes, the US version of The Office has gone on to become a sleeper hit, driven by video downloads of the show from the iTunes store.

This has lead to an interesting twist on the concept of product placement, with the show’s boss, played by 40 year old virgin Steve Carrell, giving iPods to staff members as a gift in a recent episode.

Set in a dull stereotypical office environment, where lifeless drones stare at nondescript beige PC monitors, The Office allowed the iPod to shine like a beacon.

Apparently Apple scored somewhere in the region of four minutes of audience exposure during the show. Now imagine how much the equivalent time in paid for media would have cost.