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Colbert Puts Wheat Thins on Notice

By: Dwayne W. Waite Jr.

When television spots aren't enough, brands naturally find ways to become part of the show in order to get that extra placement. American Idol has made headlines for how many product placement spots it can cram in an hour to the point that there are so many, one would think it takes away from the actual show.

This past week, Stephen Colbert of the The Colbert Report gave Wheat Thins a chance to cash in on his "Sponsortunity." He has done this with several brands, with Doritos being the previous sponsor.

How did the Wheat Thins marketing group, led by Nabisco, do? Does the term, "crash and burn" do it justice?

Yikes. One could hope that the Wheat Thins team tried to provide a laugh, but as Colbert goes through the memo that instructed how the brand should be represented on the show, it is hard to doubt that memo was a fake one.

"This feels right."

The past couple of posts on Beyond Madison Avenue have focused on "marketingspeak," the jargon-filled, nonsensical language that AdLand understands by the public couldn't care less, or doesn't understand. Sending that memo to the marketing folks of The Colbert Report could have been fine, unless they were the ones who wanted to shed some light on the ridiculous banter that we all regularly engage in.

Examples like this give the public fodder that the industry doesn't need. As we listened to the memo, we understood where Wheat Thins was coming from, but a little research would have dissuaded the marketing team to send that kind of memo to that kind of satirical show, with an audience that will poke fun at your brand with the host. Yes, Colbert has an audience that snack brands would love to promote to (males, age 18–30), but there comes a point where positioning your brand by telling the show that a "crusader or rebel" isn't the type to have a box of Wheat Thins is a little too much.

Colbert just put Nabisco and Wheat Thins on notice. Let's either keep the marketingspeak inside, or abolish it. And just tell businesses how your brand will connect.

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About the Author

Dwayne W. Waite Jr. is partner and principal at JDW: The Charlotte Agency, a marketing and advertising shop in Charlotte, NC. He enjoys consumer behavior, economics, and football.

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