Turkey’s regulatory body (RTUK) began allowing branded entertainment in April 2011. Before then, brands had only been allowed to sponsor content or run advertorials. Product placement was also not allowed. Today, brands are allowed to place their products on TV programmes, become part of the scenario of TV series , and create engaging content that features their products or services. The only hindrance is the high cost of these expensive projects compared to regular TV spots or sponsorships. There are also time limitations on how long the product can appear on screen (no more than 5 seconds). Other restrictions include how products or services are presented (no sales messages can be delivered), how many times a product can be placed on a TV show, and the type of programmes that can contain branded entertainment (never on the news or children’s programming). As a new format, convincing brands to adapt to a more subtle way of becoming part of the content, without pushing their message too much and disturbing viewers, has also been a major challenge.

‘Desperate Housewives’ has been a huge hit TV series in Turkey. We were launching mobile company Turkcell’s new tagline and logo ‘Life is beautiful when you share’. Ads would not have been effective, as we needed to bring the idea of ‘sharing’ to life. So we engaged them with a dramatic storyline that not only showed them how to share more but also the dramatic effects it can have on their lives with an exciting plot in their favourite TV drama series.

This episode of ‘Desperate Housewives’ reached 4.2m people. Overall, 33m Turkcell subscribers sent almost 22m MMSs in just 20 days. That’s more than the combined populations of Russia and France sent in 6 months. We generated a 15% hike in post-campaign MMS volumes as subscriber sharing continued.