By Barry Walsh
U.S. broadcast network NBC is teaming with one of its key talents – Tonight Show host Jimmy Fallon – to launch an unscripted competition series that will have considerable on-camera involvement from assorted brands.
Debuting later this year, On Brand with Jimmy Fallon, which is created by the actor and comedian, sees Fallon heading up a marketing agency – dubbed On Brand – that will be staffed by the “most creative, clever, and competitive go-getters he can find,” according to the network. Bozoma Saint John, a former chief marketing officer for Netflix and former head of music and entertainment marketing at Pepsico, will serve as CMO for the agency and as a mentor for the competitors.
The budding creatives will be tasked with developing comprehensive campaigns for brands featured in the program, with such names as Captain Morgan, Dunkin’, KitchenAid, Marshalls, Pillsbury, Samsung, SONIC Drive-In, Southwest Airlines and Therabody already on board. From earworm jingles to innovative activations, and from must-have merch lines to quotable, catchy commercials, the winning creatives will “have the opportunity to see their campaign brought to life on the national stage after each episode.” The winner of the series’ final assignment will receive a cash prize and, in the words of NBC, “the experience of changing the cultural landscape.”
“I love branding, I love marketing, I love the world of advertising, and I think there are a lot of people out there who do as well,” said Fallon in a statement. “This show lets the audience and our contestants get a peek behind the curtain of how campaigns for some of the biggest brands come together and what goes into making them.”
On Brand with Jimmy Fallon is produced by B17 Entertainment (a part of Sony Pictures Television) and Universal Television Alternative Studio, a division of Universal Studio Group, in association with Fallon’s shingle, Electric Hot Dog. Executive producers are Jimmy Fallon, Brien Meagher, Rhett Bachner, Pip Wells and Kelly Powers. Creative Artists Agency’s (CAA) Media & Entertainment Partnerships division is working with NBCUniversal to bring leading brands to the show.
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