The product placement as artistic or technical choice is for sure the best, being more credible, effective and often quite unexpensive. The World Cup players in South Africa for example are good testimonials for clothing and sports accessories. Sometimes they have got an agreement and are well paid, sometimes no. Not all the players get money for wearing shoes, legwarmers, gloves, hats, etc. The Companies interested by such an important event have been preparing for long time. Lots of new models have been presented on the market just at the beginning of the World Cup, and they are so visible and evident thanks to strong colors and special shapes, such as orange and gold, even for the soles and the studs, or brilliant yellow with huge brands on it. More or less the same happens with the T-shirts, where the “three stripes” of a famous German brand are present on the shoulders of almost half of the teams present. The lesson we can read is easy. To exploit such a visible and important event, it is necessary to plan in advance the placement, with well-known products, with great esthetical and/or technical content, so to make them essential for the players. Among the players who would not get the last technological shoes, or among the music stars the new guitar with vocal control pick up for his/her performance at the MTV Music Awards?

On June the 27^th in Las Vegas it will be the “Daytime Emmy Award”, that will give a prize to the best main characters of the daily TV (that is morning and afternoon programs), different from the “Emmy Award” that give prizes to the best actors and anchormen at prime time. Late in August there will be even the “Late Emmy Award” dedicated to the best characters of the night programs.

All these prizes are always assigned by the “National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences” from New York and Los Angeles.

The night in Las Vegas is a nice and rich kermesse organised with great attention and programmed alldaylong with interviews, backstages, the red carpets and the final ceremony. The event will be broadcasted on the national channel CBS that last year obtained more than 8 millions of viewers with a 11% of share. To such a result it should be added the many web videos, about different millions.

A few days ago the nominees were announced, and here they are. We have had the chance to talk about many of them and with pleasure we are following their success.

 2010 Daytime Emmy Award Nominees

 Outstanding Drama Series
All My Children (ABC)
The Bold and The Beautiful (CBS)
General Hospital (ABC)
The Young and the Restless (CBS)

Outstanding Lead Actor
Peter Bergman as Jack Abbott on The Young and the Restless
Doug Davidson as Paul Williams on The Young and the Restless
Jon Lindstrom as Craig Montgomery on As the World Turns
Michael Park as Jack Snyder on As the World Turns
James Scott as E.J. DiMera on Days of Our Lives

Outstanding Lead Actress
Sarah Brown as Claudia Zacchara on General Hospital
Crystal Chappell as Olivia Spencer on Guiding Light
Bobbie Eakes as Krystal Carey on All My Children
Michelle Stafford as Phyllis Newman on The Young and the Restless
Maura West as Carly Tenney on As the World Turns

Outstanding Supporting Actress
Beth Chamberlin, as Beth Raines Spaulding in Guiding Light
Julie Pinson as Janet Synder in As The World Turns
Carolyn Hennesy as Diane Miller in General Hospital
Arianne Zucker as Nicole Walker in Days Of Our Lives
Bree Williamson, as Jessica Brennan in One Life To Live

Outstanding Supporting Actor
Billy Miller, as Billy Abbott in The Young And The Restless
Bradford Anderson as Damien Spinelli in General Hospital
Jonathan Jackson as Lucky Spencer in General Hospital
Ricky Paull Goldin as Jake Martin in All My Children
Brian Kerwin as Charlie Banks in One Life To Live

Outstanding Younger Actress
Christel Khalil as Lily Winters in The Young And The Restless
Marnie Schulenburg as Alison Stewart in As The World Turns
Molly Burnett as Melanie Layton in Days Of Our Lives
Shelley Hennig as Stephanie Johnson in Days Of Our Lives
Julie Berman as Lulu Spencer in General Hospital

Outstanding Younger Actor
Drew Tyler Bell as Thomas Forrester in The Bold And The Beautiful
Drew Garrett as Michael Corinthos, Jr. in General Hospital
Dylan Patton as Will Horton in Days Of Our Lives
Scott Clifton as Schuyler Joplin in One Life To Live
Zack Conroy as James Spaulding in Guiding Light

Outstanding Talk Show: Entertainment
The Ellen Degeneres Show
Rachel Ray
Live with Regis and Kelly

Outstanding Talk Show Host
Bonnie Hunt on The Bonnie Hunt Show
Regis Philbin and Kelly Ripa on Live with Regis and Kelly
Rachel Ray on Rachel Ray
Dr. Mehmet Oz on The Dr. Oz Show
Whoopi Goldberg, Elisabeth Hasselbeck, Joy Behar, Sherri Shepherd, and Barbara Walters on The View

Outstanding Children’s Animated Program
Wordgirl (PBS)
The Backyardigans (Nickelodeon)
Curious George (PBS)
Sid The Science Kid (PBS)

Outstanding Children’s Series
Fetch! With Ruff Ruffman (PBS)
Design Squad (PBS)
The Electric Company (PBS)

Outstanding Game/Audience Participation Show
Wheel Of Fortune
Jeopardy!
Cash Cab
The Price Is Right
Are You Smarter Than A 5th Grader?

Outstanding Legal/Courtroom Program
The People’s Court
Judge Judy
Cristina’s Court
Judge Pirro
Caso Cerrado

Outstanding Lifestyle Program
This Old House (PBS)
Clean House (The Style Network)
How Do I Look? (The Style Network)
Make: (PBS)
The Martha Stewart Show (Syndicated)

Outstanding Morning Program

Good Morning America (ABC)
Today Show (NBC)
CNN/American Morning (CNN)

Outstanding Talk Show / Informative
Dr. Phil
The Doctors
The Dr. Oz Show

Outstanding Game Show Host
Pat Sajak, Wheel Of Fortune
Alex Trebek, Jeopardy!
Ben Bailey, Cash Cab
Wayne Brady, Let’s Make A Deal
Carnie Wilson, The Newlywed Game

Outstanding Culinary Program
America’s Test Kitchen (PBS)
Gourmet’s Adventures With Ruth (PBS)
Giada At Home (Food)
Tyler’s Ultimate (Food)

Outstanding Lifestyle/Culinary Host
Bobby Flay, Grill It! With Bobby Flay
Ina Garten, Barefoot Contessa: Back To Basics
Paula Deen, Paula’s Best Dishes
Martha Stewart, The Martha Stewart Show
Giada De Laurentiis, Giada at Home

From August the 6^th to August the 8^th it will be great fun at the Grant Park of Chicago. It’s the turn of Lollapalooza !!! The most beautiful, different and intelligent rock Festival… Beautiful as it is organised at the Grant Park … adn Chicago is really fond of its parks!! Beautiful even for its “line-up”: Green Day, Soundgarden, Lady Gaga, The Strokes, Phoenix, Jimmy Cliff and one hundred more of singers famous and not.

Beautiful as it is a festival full of young people but even, during the day, of families, friends who make barbecues, old 50s and 60s rockers and never a problem in all these years.

Different as it’s normal that after a famous band it’s the turn of a geek trio arrived with the parents… and it’s normal that at the end the two groups play together. Different as it is a festival organised with the aim to finance the maintenance of the town parks. Usually, the great and important festivals are a business, or sometimes a help for any human emergency. But since the beginning this festival has always appealed the most famous, innovative, shocking and well-known singers and all agree with pleasure to play for the town parks….. Isn’t it fantastic? Lollapalloza is even intelligent as it exploits the cause of the parks to talk about something else: for ex. the environment education, art contests, children entertainements..

Then the business that is however inteligent; Honda for example gives as gift for the winner of the “Rock & Recycled” competition, an Insight, an hybrid model.

This fomula works so well that Toyota has decided to become main sponsor. And many other brands such as Adidas, Sony, Budweiser etc. The same could be done by Italian brands interested in proposing themselves and become part of product placement projects connected with music, young people and the environment.

As in other cases, the ways to be present with ones’ own brands are different. Considering the format of the event, the realities more interested can be those about products and brands of higher level that have the capacity and structure to develop supporting actions (before and after), with the aim to value at the best this operation beside real outsiders.

Nice place, nice event, nice products: the “rule of number three” has been respected.