By Gail Schiller
June 01, 2005
The Hollywood Reporter

Call it a tale of two series. "The Apprentice" and "The Contender," two reality shows loaded with product integrations this past season, had very different outcomes for advertisers who paid record fees for their products to be featured in the programs executive produced by Mark Burnett, widely considered to be the king of reality TV and brand integration.

Despite a double-digit decline in ratings for "The Apprentice" in its second year on the air, representatives for many of the brands integrated in the series at a cost of $1 million-$4 million per episode say they had some of the most astounding marketing successes to date that could be directly tied to branded entertainment. The brands featured in "The Contender" had more of an uphill climb in reaching a broad audience given the show's weaker-than-expected ratings, but it turns out that at least some of "Contender's" integration sponsors had a safety net built into their deals that is quite unusual in the branded entertainment realm.

" 'The Apprentice' is the best platform on television today for brands," said Keith Ferrazzi, CEO of marketing consulting firm Ferrazzi Greenlight and author of the New York Times best-seller "Never Eat Alone." "What they've done is made brand watching good entertainment. It's fully integrated, and at the same time the brand gets a full hour to do their infomercial."