Making product placement work…?

Looking for the dress you saw on a hit television show or the jerseys worn during a football game or soccer match? An iPad app aims to help viewers shop while watching TV. Unlike television shopping channels, Watch with Ebay is a new feature in eBay's iPad app that lets users buy items related to the program they're currently viewing.

After entering the network provider and channel, items related to the TV show, the actors, guests or teams in a sporting event surface within the app, triggered by appropriate video-frame tags...

A recent US study by Nielsen found that 40 percent of smartphone and tablet owners use the devices while watching TV and 29 percent of them are searching for information related to the show.

With clothing just the start, this has to be an opportunity for mealtime dish-ingredients, and even via lingering shots of an open fridge, artistic integrity permitting, of course…

Turning Product Placement on its head?

Loblaw has revealed an innovative move for its own label food range, the development of ready-meals based on recipes from reality TV show ‘Recipes to Riches’

The show features 21 contestants cooking up recipes which are voted upon by industry experts as well as home audiences. Loblaw said the winning recipes from each of 7 categories – from appetisers and entrees to desserts – will be offered as samples at its outlets across Canada. Once the winners of all the categories are declared on the show, they will then be turned into ‘President’s Choice’ own label products. The Canadian public will then vote for their favorite among the category winners and that person will take home the $250,000 grand prize.

An innovative application of an old Lateral Thing tool ‘what is the opposite of (product placement)?’

Application to the UK retail?

It would probably need an ex-Loblaws COO wanting to try something really innovative in a well-established No3 Grocer, ideally based in Bradford..(come-on folks, need I say more?)

Watch this ( TV ) space….