Idea:

Introduce the Busse Combat Knife brand to a new generation of consumers in a fashion consistent with brand image through the use of product placement within a relevant and demographically appropriate TV drama.

Execution:

Marked Entertainment identified Dexter as a show with mass audience appeal whose content and demographics would provide an appropriate placement opportunity for Busse Combat knives. While working with the production, scenes were selected that would showcase Busse Combat Knives in an organic fashion while simultaneously having fun with brand image and appealing to both new and existing consumers alike.

Synopsis:

Back for its sixth season on Showtime, this psychological drama centers on Dexter Morgan (Michael C. Hall, Paycheck), a bloodstain pattern analyst for the Miami Metro Police Department who moonlights as a serial killer. Dexter structures his killings around "Harry's Code," a body of ethics and procedures devised by his adoptive father Harry Morgan, to make sure that Dexter never gets caught and to ensure that he kills only morally wrong people.

Exposure:

Season 6, Episode 1: "Those Kinds of Things"

Busse receives hands-on exposure with Dexter in the opening sequence of the premiere episode (October 2, 2011) of season six. Dexter stumbles into the frame, out of breath. He is holding the Busse Warden Steel Knife. He stops, looks around and drops the knife. Dexter places a call to 911 to falsely report that he has been stabbed. Moments later, the police arrive on the scene to find a body lying on the ground.

Season 6, Episode 7: "Nebraska"

In the seventh episode (November 13, 2011), a Busse Steel Bushwhacker is sticking out of an alligator that Professor Gellar, the Doomsday Killer (Edward James Olmos, Blade Runner) is butchering. He is preparing to stage "The Whore of Babylon" in another one of his elaborate murders that is based on the bible.

Results:

The sixth season's premiere episode of the Emmy and Golden Globe-winning show scored 2.2 million viewers in the initial telecast – a series high for a premiere episode, and 24% higher from the previous year. The seventh episode reached approximately 2 million viewers, resulting in a combined viewership of 4.2 million viewers. These combined exposures allowed Busse Combat Knives to showcase their products in a relevant fashion to their core consumers on a mass market level and increase market share.