Branding Backstab: NBC informs media buyers of gift values
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NBC is screwing the industry, and not with For Love or Money 3. The TV giant began notifying media buyers of the actual value of the junket it sends as a “thank you for buying” – a faux pas in an industry whose lifeblood are those gifts.
Advertising and marketing firms are accustomed to receiving the goodie bags, but without mention of what they’re worth. But NBC started informing the firms purchasing airtime during the Olympics of the dollar figure, which could subject the gift receivers to personal income taxes.
In the cast of NBC’s Olympic hospitality packages, for example, the network has assigned a value of $12,000 for travel, accommodations, hospitality and attendance to events for a guest and spouse to the Athens Games. NBC valued an alternative package to Bermuda, for Olympic advertisers interested at staying closer to home, at $7,000 per couple.
Not only is NBC harming its advertisers with the liability of accepting the gifts, but it’s spoiling the entire industry’s fun.
Jossip
