The Apprentice as a marketing vehicle

Mark Carlson says:

Midway through [The Apprentice] I realize, this is an hour long commercial for Levis. And I like it.

Now my mind shifts from the narrative, to the real story – this is a moment of business genius. How often can a marketer engage even a single customer so deeply?

Does The Apprentice point to a business model for more modest media, like blogging or Podcasting?

I was talking about Mark's thoughts with an INSEAD professor. Now, I was really impressed by this idea so I was talking quite excitedly about this. I got a fairly simple and direct question in response: "How much does it cost to do this (get your brand on The Apprentice)?"

I'd never thought of that. I should have been talking about this to a marketing professor instead of a professor of accounting!

But seriously, how do the Levis, Procter and Gambles and Burger Kings of the world measure RoI for this sort of publicity exercise?

Link: Indexed Forever ? When a Business Model Fits Like Your Favorite Pair of … Headphones?