Thaindian News

Aug 18 (IBNS) The fans of Mad Men might know that the show is about a fictional 1960s advertising agency Sterling Cooper that names other real-life agencies and brands to achieve some verisimilitude.

But in reality some of those are actual product placements, reports Hollywood Reporter.

The show’s third season, which premiered Sunday, featured placements with London Fog and Stolichnaya vodka that both brands said were engineered.

In the first episode of Season 3, it was shown that London Fog is a client of Sterling Cooper’s, and the father and son running the company appears to be at odds about the direction of the brand. Mad Men’s protagonist, Don Draper (Jon Hamm) is out to dream up a new ad campaign.

Stoli also got a thumbs up from agency head Roger Sterling (John Slattery), who was shown celebrating with the drink and denying upstart Pete Campbell (Vincent Kartheiser) the vodka.

A representative from London Fog confirmed that the brand’s placement in the show was facilitated by the company’s PR agency and but declined to comment whether money changed hands.

Andrey Skurikhin, a partner at SPI Group, which owns the Stoli brand, also said that he didn’t pay for placement. Skurikhin said that AMC contacted him, and he, being a fan of the show, gladly accepted the offer and also gifted them a bottle from 1963 to conform to the show’s historical accuracy.

“It’s one of the great tools of brand awareness,” he said.