In-show advertising is as old as late-night itself, but as shows face declining ratings and shrinking budgets, sponsored content (or “brand activations,” as they’re called in marketing circles) has become increasingly common and, at times, more elaborate than ever before. In this recurring feature, we keep tabs on how late-night shows are working to wed commerce with comedy.
Jimmy Fallon extended a partnership with one of his clients from the On Brand Agency, giving them in-show ad time on The Tonight Show.
Fallon led a sponsored segment for KitchenAid Go cordless appliances on Wednesday night’s program, appearing in a Halloween-inspired pre-taped skit with The Roots’ Questlove and Tariq Trotter.
“Halloween’s almost here, and that reminded me of something that happened to me, Questlove, and Tariq the other day,” Fallon announced as he tossed to the video. In the skit, the trio are roasting marshmallows around a campfire in the woods when Fallon launches into a scary story.
“There once was a man who was alone in the woods at night, on a night just like tonight,” Fallon began. “And he was very, very angry because he was very, very hungry.”
When he begins describing how the man used a blender, Trotter cuts Fallon off.
“How was he using a blender in the woods? What was he plugged into?” asks Trotter.
“That’s the thing: The blender… It was cordless!” Fallon replies. “It was all part of the KitchenAid Go line of battery-powered cordless appliances.”
The Tonight Show crowd laughed at the reveal that they’ve been watching spon-con the whole time, and the bit earns a chuckle when Fallon’s story reaches its shocking end: “He had breakfast.”
The host throws in a jump-scare for good measure, making a breakfast appear out of thin air and revealing his hand to be a KitchenAid Go vacuum. Back at his desk, Fallon hoists up another hand vac while thunder and lightning overtake the studio.
The ad’s timing comes down to more than just Halloween. KitchenAid was the key sponsor for the most recent episode of Fallon’s marketing competition series On Brand with Jimmy Fallon. The episode put two teams head-to-head to create a viral digital series that showcased the brand’s line of KitchenAid Go products—and all of the features that Fallon made sure to display in his own bit. The product line offers a portable juicer, hand mixer, blender, chopper, coffee grinder, and hand vacuum that all operate off of the same interchangeable battery.
