I wouldn’t call myself a TV Junkie, but there are a few programs on television I don’t miss. True Blood on HBO, The Tudors on Showtime, Mad Men on AMC, and the new advertising focused program Trust Me on TNT.

While I don’t have much in common with vampires, King Arthur, or the 60’s (believe it or not I wasn’t born yet), I connect with Trust Me because it strikes a chord with me on two levels - as a former Chicagoan working long hours in the Loop, and as former advertising agency Account Director.

For anyone who hasn’t been watching, Trust Me stars Eric McCormack and Tom Cavanagh as creative cohorts working at ficticious ad agency Rothman Green & Mohr. While their agency is fictitious, their client roster is anything but.  I couldn’t help but notice that RGM’s client drama - as realistic as I’ve seen in agency land - was building quite a bit of awareness around their “client” brands like Effen Vodka, Bertolli, and most visibly tied to the creative chaos - Dove Hair Care.

What’s interesting about Dove is that it’s not just a brand reference in Trust Me - it has almost become a character in and of itself in the program.  Sarah (played by Monica Potter) is a bitter creative professional who begrudgingly takes on the Dove campaign, only to get immersed in the brand over several episodes.  The viewing audience of Trust Me begins to get more engaged with Dove by watching the program, as well as being exposed to advertising (Unilever is a sponsor of Trust Me).

While Brand Integration isn’t a new phenomenon, Dove and TNT have taken it to the next level by integrating the brand into the program content, creating a storyline around it, surrounding it with program sponsorship and advertising, and creating a social media campaign called “Be The Creative Director”.

In tandem with the program storyline, TNT is promoting bethecreativedirector.com where viewers can be a part of RGM to help produce a new Dove ad. Embedded into the episode was also a “briefing” on Dove by the brand’s very own marketing manager Judy Pomerantz, who emphasized the objectives of the campaign.

So why is all this interesting to me?

As I watched the fictitious RGM brainstorm on “that innovative, online stuff” and chuckled at its reference to social media, I thought about the reality of 360 degree brand awareness… and while the reference seemed a bit off on the program, I do like what I’m seeing with Dove - a great example of weaving the company’s message in content, around content, and in the online communities where their audience lives.