Monday, May 21st, 2012
[PRWeb press release] — Keppler Entertainment, today announced the launch of As Seen On TV the first scripted “comedic” web series. The show is a parody on product placement and launches on April 20th exclusively on YouTube http://www.youtube.com/comedicwebseries with a new episode to follow monthly for 6 months.
It depicts the daily work life of the employees who work at a fictional Product Placement Agency. However, the products they place are not your typical fare but somewhat outrageous products such Bull-Bar an energy bar with bull semen extract.
“Imagine The Office but at a small West Hollywood agency placing outrageous As Seen On TV products” says Rick Keppler, the producer of the show.
In the pilot episode, an Australian client, played by newcomer Michael G Welch, hires the agency to place its Bull-Bar, a nutrition-bar made with Bull semen extract, in tv shows. The agency owner Reichen Heimlich, played by Groundlings Alum, Chase Ulrich, gets him an immediate placement on one of the top rated television shows. But things don’t go as smoothly as hoped for when one of the actors on the popular TV show chokes on the Bull-Bar.
“The show is a parody on Product Placement,” Rick Keppler says. “It humorously explores Product Placement and how Placement agencies go about their business.” The products featured in each episode, such as Bull-Bar are entirely made up. Other made-up products featured in future episodes are “Handy-Bears” which are handicapped teddybears made by handicapped people, and “Dijon for Dogs”, a dog food spray.
The show is produced by Keppler Entertainment which has been in the Product Placement business for more than 20 years, and has represented major companies such as Nokia, KitchenAid, RadioShack, Johnson & Johson, Crystal Geyser Water, Nabisco, Planter’s and many other companies. Carrie Walsh, VP of Marketing at Keppler Entertainment, says: “This show is a dream for marketers as the whole show is about product placement.”
The show was written and created by comedian and actor Chase Ulrich. The show will debut on YouTube on April 19th, with a new episode to follow every month for 6 months.
Lizzie Kerner, Manager, Original Programming & Development Sundance Channel, calls it “fun and innovative.”
Our goal wasn’t to poke fun of Product Placement but to find the comedy in product placement and to come up with some fun “made-up” products, says Chase Ulrich, the creator of the show. “The first client is Bull-Bar Company that makes a nutrition bar that has bull semen extract as one of the ingredients to give an extra boost. One of the Agency employees finds it disgusting but another one actually loves it. A lot of products we eat have ingredients in them that if we would know the real name we would not be so crazy about them. For example, Gummi Bears are made out of gelatin which is made out of animal bones, so when you are eating gummi bears you are eating in effect recycled animal bones.”
