Saab gets burned - product placement news
Gripen’s done a good bit of tracking work today, confirming that Saab have got a sweet little product placement deal with a new TV show called Burn Notice in the US.
Burn Notice is in it’s second season and Gripen tells me it’s pretty good (we don’t get it here in Oz). The main character’s name is Michael Weston and he’s a spy who gets ‘burned’ - fired from his spy job, his identity wiped and his assets frozen. He doesn’t know why and he takes on some freelance work in Miami to fund his private quest to find out why he’s been ‘burned’.
Gripen noted that the show switched it’s automotive stock to GM vehicles halfway through the first season, and in the season finale, Weston’s rescued client offers him the use of his car - a Saab Convertible.
There were Saab Convertible advertisements all through the show and right now at the Burn Notice website, there’s Saab Convertible ads all over the place. Apparently the show’s very good and quite popular, so this could prove to be a very good product placement investment for Saab.
Check out the website and if you get the chance to see it, let us know what you think of the show.
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If you live in the U.S. you can watch the entire episode here. I think I sent a link to Swade from Hulu once before and he told me he can’t watch it because he’s outside of the U.S. I don’t know how they can tell though. There’s got to be a way to “trick” it.
The most interesting part is in the last few minutes when the guy gives Michael Westen the keys to his “Saab convertible”. I’m assuming we’ll actually see Michael driving the car for the first time in next week’s episode.
I think the show has pretty good ratings so this should be good exposure for Saab in the U.S. if Michael Westen’s sunglasses are any indication. The character wears Oliver Peoples Victory sunglasses and they’re sold-out and hard to find everywhere despite costing in excess of USD400 (that’s like 3 Euros!). There’s a link at the Burn Notice website where you can buy the styles the characters wear and it links you to online stores where you can buy the items. The sunglasses link you to an Amazon.com store and it says the sunglasses “are not available”.
I commented about that last week. It’s on USA and they state it after reruns of the old episodes, “brought to you in part by SAAB”. I even took a picture, I couldn’t believe it! It’s a pretty good show!
When I’m driving my Turbo X, the number one people comment about is the wheels. They’re usually loved, sometimes hated, but never go unnoticed.
And that comment was actually meant for the previous article!
Burn Notice was shown here (Australia) on Network Ten earlier this year but was pulled about halfway through its run. Not a bad show at all, I hope it reappears later in the year down here.
Burn Notice is actually a pretty fun show to watch. (I don’t watch much TV, but have my Tivo catch this show when it’s on.) A Saab connection to it would do the brand well.
When the first episode of the second season aired this past week, I was pleasantly surprised by the new Saab recycling ads (the ones features here just a few days) and then definitely took notice when the protagonist was given the Saab keys. I’m hopeful the Saab convertible gets some use rather than being a one time mention. The show does a very good job of being fashionable and pleasing to the eye. In the final episodes of the last season, they used a Cadillac CTS and it looked great. The producers could do wonders with a Saab.
As an aside, the show also features Bruce Campbell, a very entertaining actor and star of such classics as “Evil Dead”, “Army of Darkness”, and “Bubba Ho-Tep”. I wouldn’t be surprised if much of the show’s initial fan base came from him.
(A quick correction to your post Swade - the Saab convertible was mentioned in the first episode of Season 2 rather than the finale of Season 1.)
Haha, yes I’ve been watching that show since last season, and it’s great to see saab get some love. Hopefully we’ll get to see that convertible soon. They’ve been featuring Westin’s partner’s Caddy, I just saw the last episode yester day. Great news for saab enthusiasts and owners like me.
I Believe Burn Notice is shown on Ten’s HD channel here in Oz.
Saab also have a Parchment Silver Aero Convertible placed on Brothers & Sisters
I’m not too much of a fan of product placement on tv shows, as it is often being done embarrassingly obvious (remember Cisco on “24″?). But I’ll surely check out this one.
So, if you like to download the series - check out my favourite place (link below; free account required).
Note: Where I live, downloading tv series is legal - this may be different in your country. Please act accordingly.
http://www.tvtorrents.com/loggedin/show.do?id=244
“Saab Gets Burned”
In another TV coup Saab is the car chosen by the loud-mouthed annoying guy in the new Virgin ad’s. You want to avoid him so badly you purchase seats with more room to stop him from invading your space.
Just buy him a BMW and turn him in to a total dickhead!
I just went to Hulu.com and saw that this episode of Burn Notice is like their most popular TV show right now. I wonder if this is due to all the TS traffic, or just a coincidence?
Half of me hopes it’s TS traffic and the other half not. Because if it’s not, it’s NEW people being exposed to Saab product placement!
I quite like the show myself, though I haven’t seen any Saab ads yet because I only recently started watching…
Thanks for heads up, Gripen!