Grimm, the NBC series filmed in Portland has made the metro area a focal point of the show from its incarnation. They made use of local landmarks as backdrops. They also bought locally made products for on-screen use by the cast of the show.
Several businesses in Portland have benefited because their products and brand names were put in front of over 4 million viewers a week. Four custom bike builders whose bikes were included in the bicycle themed episode are the latest benefactors of the show. This episode is scheduled to air on the next episode of Grimm.
One of the four bicycle builders whose bikes were used for the bicycle themed episode in Grimm was Portland’s Circa Cycles. This builder will host a viewing party on the night wherein the episode will debut.
According to Todd Ellis, property master Grimm, the shows favours locally made items to avoid the possibility of clashing with a national brand promoted during commercial breaks. A big brand which is marketing to a larger audience would most likely not take a locally made product to be a direct competitor.
In the next episode of Grimm, fans may notice that the bicycle labels on the bikes are not visible. The bikes used then are by brands that sell in shops across the country and their labels were deliberately covered. However, the labels for the four Portland bike builders, namely Circa Cycles, Breadwinner, Tonic Fabrication and Cycles J. Bryant, all were not covered during the filming of the episode.
“It gives the show a much more realistic look than what would normally be very generic,” said Ellis, an independent outworker who has been in the props trade for 27 years and whose production is based in Ashland.
According to Maureen O’Conner, the director of Portland State University advertising program, free product placement can disburse unanticipated dividend.
According to research, after consumers notice a product on a TV show or movie, they are “much more aware when they see a website or collateral piece or pass by the store sometime,” O’Connor said.
According to Jonathan Maus, editor and publisher of BikePortland.org, the spotlight in Friday night’s bike-themed episode can only assist improve Portland’s bicycling standing, as well as grant a possible boost for the four bike builders,.
The city is home to about 40 builders. Most of these are one-person shops with waiting lists of up to two years, Maus said.
“You can only build so many bikes with just one person,” Maus said.
The four builders whose bikes are utilized in the filming of Grimm episode are undersized shops, mainly reliant on word-of-mouth advertising. Or perhaps the providence of having their frame label seen on a nationally televised program.
“This is how these guys survive – with the Web,” Maus said. “You could see something that catches your eye on Grimm. You’ve got your iPad on the couch with you and all of a sudden you’re on that person’s website and you’re looking.”