Ugly Wudi, the Chinese version of hit US show Ugly Betty, will soon launch its third season of comedic drama liberally interspersed with FMCG branding, and pre-production work is under way on a fourth. But as the number of brands involved in the series grows, the question arises of exactly how much product placement Chinese consumers can stand.
With more sponsors than ever - Unilever, Bausch & Lomb, Perfetti van Melle and Chinese toothpaste Zhonghua - season three is at risk of becoming a branding circus.
“Some may wonder how much product placement consumers can accept in a show,” admits Karl Cluck, partner of invention at Mindshare, the agency behind the programme’s development.
Ugly Wudi’s debut last September attracted considerable attention, and generated impressive statistics. The opening night drew 73 million viewers, and the programme maintained a lead position in its time slot throughout the series - quite a feat for Hunan Satellite TV, the broadcaster behind the show. Unilever, which as a sponsor had exclusive product placement rights , boasted a 44 per cent increase in awareness of the Dove brand among its target audience by the season’s end.
In Asia, the show has become a widely cited example of branded content in action. The series is set in an ad agency (unlike the US version, which is set in a publishing house). Storylines revolve around pitches and shoots for actual brands. “We don’t see it as product placement,” says Adrian Toy, regional marketing VP at Bausch & Lomb, whose contact lenses now feature as part of the storyline. “In traditional product placement, the products are just in the background.”
Yet the show’s detractors claim that the product placement has been too heavy-handed. Patrick Xu, GM, content and product placement at China Media Exchange, comments: “In one scene, a character just shows some Clear shampoo and tells the others during dinner that she’s going for a shower. And there is Lipton tea everywhere all the time - for example in a conference room scene, everyone in the meeting is holding a Lipton drink. It’s too obvious; people don’t drink the same things in the office all the time.”
So far, the ratings and sales figures appear to suggest such lack of subtlety can work. One source notes the branded content may be so readily accepted since the target audience for Wudi is predominantly housewives aged 20 to 40, who are “not as cynical” as educated urban consumers, “who could find the branded content too much”.
Arthur Chen, business director and Dove team leader at OgilvyAction Shanghai, also claims that sensibilities to product placement vary between Chinese and Western audiences. He says that although it will be a challenge to maintain excitement and ratings until the end of the initiative (there will be five seasons), Chinese viewers see Wudi as a “phenomenon”, and due to the agency setting, are able to “bear with” the overt branded messaging.
Xu concedes that the programme has lifted Lipton’s sales in lower-tier markets, but notes that certain brands, such as L’Oréal, have dismissed proposals to participate in similar branded initiatives for fear of damaging their premium image.
“The production quality of the show in China is not up to L’Oréal’s standards,” he says, adding that the show holds more appeal for older audiences in lower-tier cities.
The signs are that more brands want to develop their own TV properties. Sony Entertainment, which conducted the sponsor-heavy Sufei’s Diary online TV series last year , is planning to roll the programme out to mainstream satellite TV soon. Trends Publishing’s Cosmopolitan and Esquire, are introducing a TV competition titled Creative China, which will look for talented fashion and interior designers, on CCTV 6.
How subtle should they be? Cluck argues that, for now, agencies and brands can push the boundaries. “China is a great market for innovation as it has fewer rules,” he says. “It is adapting very quickly, but it is not as sophisticated as Europe and the US. This gives agencies opportunities to be entrepreneurial and try new ideas.”
Got a view?
Email [email protected]
With more sponsors than ever - Unilever, Bausch & Lomb, Perfetti van Melle and Chinese toothpaste Zhonghua - season three is at risk of becoming a branding circus.
“Some may wonder how much product placement consumers can accept in a show,” admits Karl Cluck, partner of invention at Mindshare, the agency behind the programme’s development.
Ugly Wudi’s debut last September attracted considerable attention, and generated impressive statistics. The opening night drew 73 million viewers, and the programme maintained a lead position in its time slot throughout the series - quite a feat for Hunan Satellite TV, the broadcaster behind the show. Unilever, which as a sponsor had exclusive product placement rights , boasted a 44 per cent increase in awareness of the Dove brand among its target audience by the season’s end.
In Asia, the show has become a widely cited example of branded content in action. The series is set in an ad agency (unlike the US version, which is set in a publishing house). Storylines revolve around pitches and shoots for actual brands. “We don’t see it as product placement,” says Adrian Toy, regional marketing VP at Bausch & Lomb, whose contact lenses now feature as part of the storyline. “In traditional product placement, the products are just in the background.”
Yet the show’s detractors claim that the product placement has been too heavy-handed. Patrick Xu, GM, content and product placement at China Media Exchange, comments: “In one scene, a character just shows some Clear shampoo and tells the others during dinner that she’s going for a shower. And there is Lipton tea everywhere all the time - for example in a conference room scene, everyone in the meeting is holding a Lipton drink. It’s too obvious; people don’t drink the same things in the office all the time.”
So far, the ratings and sales figures appear to suggest such lack of subtlety can work. One source notes the branded content may be so readily accepted since the target audience for Wudi is predominantly housewives aged 20 to 40, who are “not as cynical” as educated urban consumers, “who could find the branded content too much”.
Arthur Chen, business director and Dove team leader at OgilvyAction Shanghai, also claims that sensibilities to product placement vary between Chinese and Western audiences. He says that although it will be a challenge to maintain excitement and ratings until the end of the initiative (there will be five seasons), Chinese viewers see Wudi as a “phenomenon”, and due to the agency setting, are able to “bear with” the overt branded messaging.
Xu concedes that the programme has lifted Lipton’s sales in lower-tier markets, but notes that certain brands, such as L’Oréal, have dismissed proposals to participate in similar branded initiatives for fear of damaging their premium image.
“The production quality of the show in China is not up to L’Oréal’s standards,” he says, adding that the show holds more appeal for older audiences in lower-tier cities.
The signs are that more brands want to develop their own TV properties. Sony Entertainment, which conducted the sponsor-heavy Sufei’s Diary online TV series last year , is planning to roll the programme out to mainstream satellite TV soon. Trends Publishing’s Cosmopolitan and Esquire, are introducing a TV competition titled Creative China, which will look for talented fashion and interior designers, on CCTV 6.
How subtle should they be? Cluck argues that, for now, agencies and brands can push the boundaries. “China is a great market for innovation as it has fewer rules,” he says. “It is adapting very quickly, but it is not as sophisticated as Europe and the US. This gives agencies opportunities to be entrepreneurial and try new ideas.”
Got a view?
Email [email protected]
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