Synergy

It's no secret that I'm a big fan of the Office. While the show is entertaining (and a clever satire of life in corporate america), it is also often at the forefront of the latest media trends.

With the growing popularity of Tivo/DVR, advertisers being forced to find unique ways to connect messages to their targets. Viewers can now forward through the commercials with just a few clicks on the remote. And while not new, product placement is one of the best ways right now to tivo-proof messages and connect their product/service with a show/character that the audience already knows/loves. (I'm beginning to sound like a marketing class. Dr. Swenson would be proud.)

So...back to the Office. This week's episode "Money" featured Dwight's beet-farm-turned-bed-&-breakfast. And Dwight is worried about its ratings on a little travel review Web site called...what was that again?...TripAdvisor.com.

Yep, that's right, in case you missed it...that was the product placement. Pretty clever really. Because Office viewers are smart (yep, that's me), they are going see right through any attempt to push products on the show...so they promote them with a little *nudge, nudge*wink, wink.

And here's the best part. My friend Dave Dickson has a blackberry, so during the show he surfed on in to TripAdvisor's page about Schrute Farms Bed & Breakfast. There were already details about the (fictional) b&b and even reviews.

Synergy at its best. Genius.