Jak Severson, managing partner for Madison Road Entertainment, says the goal of product integration, or branded entertainment, is “the audience cannot notice the integration but must remember it.”

30 Rock here, again, bucks the trend and blatantly plugs certain products like Verizon Wireless and Tina Fey even breaks the fourth wall in the latter scene to ask Verizon directly, “can we have our money now”? This implies that she is doing it willingly, but not because she thinks it enhances the integrity of her show, but rather because she is getting paid for it. She is calling out Verizon here as a bankroller and emphasize that the decision to plug Verizon’s products was not a creative one on her behalf, but rather a financial one, in case viewers were disgruntled by the in-your-face tactic.

The Verizon advertisement served as a mutually beneficial deal, as Verizon helped market 30 Rock by producing a co-branded ad in Maxim magazine as well as providing the show with promotional content on Verizonwireless.com, according to Lou Rossi, Director of media and sponsorships at Verizon Wireless. This was crucial because this product placement and subsequent advertising through other media channels occurred during 30 Rock’s first season, when viewership was low and the show was on the verge of getting cancelled.

“You know that saying ‘dance as if no one is watching’? Well, that’s what we were doing. We were dancing with abandon, and no one was watching. Actually, about five and a half million people were watching, but that counts as nothing…we were in jeopardy” (Fey, 171).

*30 Rock also uses product placement with Snapple. Click here to learn more.