LG creates a reality TV show about...appliances?!

You're lost for ideas.

You sell fridges, heat pumps, vacuum cleaners, air purifiers, washing machines...

Things people need, not want. Nothing very sexy. Nothing that's selling super fast.

You're LG Electronics, and you need to make some money.

So what do you do?

You create a reality TV show.

Yup, that's right. LG has thrown caution to the wind and decided, f%&k it.

Instead of pushing for product placement in The Real Housewives or Love Island, they've taken matters into their own hands. And so Estate of Survival was born.

What's Estate of Survival, you ask? Oh, just an appliance-based reality TV show created to make LG's sales dreams come true. <3

So, what's the premise of the show?

In classic reality TV fashion, 8 strangers move into a beautiful home, the 'Estate' boasted of in the show title.

And what does survival look like at the estate? It looks like having to make do in a house devoid of appliances (or furniture).

Think, doing your washing by hand! Using a clothing iron to toast a piece of bread!! Having to open a can of tomatoes with a manual can opener!!!

It's riveting stuff.

To try and escape this hell, contestants compete to win back LG appliances for the home. So they can get back to cooking thin, burnt-looking pizza (according to the trailer).

Oh, and the winner takes home $100,000 USD.

All jokes aside, what is this marketing approach?

While it seems kind of bizarre what LG are doing (to me, at least) it's not a hugely ground-breaking strategy.

All they're doing is identifying a popular entertainment format to leverage their product. (Though they are going about it in a somewhat weird way.)

But, it's no different to businesses using story-based, genuinely funny TikToks to sell their products. Because reality competition shows are popular with people, and therefore consumers. So LG is just tapping into the reality TV craze and using it to showcase their appliances.

Makes sense.

But what happens when you're creating long-form entertainment explicitly to sell product? Will anyone watch it?

Going off the trailer for 'Estate of Survival,' I'd like to say no... But if anyone is like me, then they'd agree there's intrigue in watching a show developed by an appliance company. The premise of this is strange enough to draw me in, but I'm not sure it'd be enough to keep me there until the final episode.

I'm somewhat drawn to the show because of LG’s transparent strategy, too. Centring the show around their products rather than subtle placements feels kind of boss to me.

It's upfront, honest and a little endearingly naïve, too.

And, as The Media Leader puts it, this approach will absolutely attract viewers genuinely interested in smart appliances. (Although, I'd like to learn more about this audience that hunts around for appliance-based content.)

So, should all marketers be brainstorming reality TV concepts?

It's too early to say.

Only two episodes of the series have been released. So we won't know how effective the marketing strategy is for a little while.

But, based off the success of Neutrogena's reality-tv-based campaign (albeit, scripted), if you make something genuinely entertaining, then going all in with selling your product can work really well.

Lastly, if anyone sits down to watch all 6 episodes of Estate of Survival, you are actually obligated to tell me what you thought about it.

I'll be waiting.

-Maggie, Copywriter