I’ve never been a big fan of product placement agencies, but my hat is off to whoever’s responsible for placing the Porsche Cayenne on Sunday night’s season premier of the Sopranos.
Carmela’s car definitely got my attention when Tony first presented it to her. But, it was pure 
marketing genius for the Porsche people (or their surrogates) to have "Carm" scripted to say, "It’s called Cayenne, just like the pepper." Talk about reaching me in an uncluttered competitive environment. Wow!
I’ve always believed word-of-mouth is the single most effective way of promoting a new product or service (with public relations running a very close second). Done in the right way, however, I have to admit that product placement can be a compelling attention grabber as well. Now, if I can only convince my wife to let me look at a Cayenne when my current lease ends I’ll be all set.
It is funny that I was talking about this the other day but instead it was about the Maserati Quattroporte. As far as the shows I watch, it seems to be popping up everywhere. First, it was the car that Johnny Sach bought himself in Sopranos. Then it was the car Vincent Chase got as a gift in Entourage. Just last week, it was the car where explicit activity was going on between two parents in The OC. Maserati is a company that you do not see many commercials for but they are definitely getting their name out due to great product placement.