Over at Jamie's place(ment)

JAMIE OLIVER’S new cookery series will, for the first time, feature product placement. In his new Jamie’s 15-Minute Meals series – a 40-part production for Channel 4 – he’ll be incorporating Uncle Ben’s and Yeo Valley products into his recipes.

We’ll have to wait until the autumn to see exactly how many times he’ll reach for a box of Uncle Ben’s rice or scoop some Yeo Valley yoghurt into his pukka meals – but getting the balance right is going to be crucial if Oliver’s mockney cool image is to remain intact.

The association is a win for the brands though, given its decidedly strong street cred.

The brands are also the series sponsors and Yeo Valley and Mars, which owns Uncle Bens, will be hoping for the famous “Delia effect”. In 1998, the doyenne of the TV kitchen, Delia Smith, showed in step-by-step detail how to boil an egg. An extra 54 million eggs were sold in Britain that week.

If Uncle Ben’s and Yeo Valley experience anything like that lift, it could be the start of widespread product placement in cookery shows.

It will be interesting, though, to see how that will play with Oliver’s loyal viewers, more used to being been given pleasantly generic instructions on the lines of “drizzle some extra virgin olive oil”.

Product placement is becoming increasingly popular on television due to an EU-initiated relaxation of the rules.

Nestlé paid £100,000 to have one of its coffees featured on ITV’s This Morning, and Nokia Lumia phones appear in the soap Hollyoaks.

Fair City fans will know that Christy’s corner shop, once a hole-in-the wall affair that appeared to sell nothing more than the occasional newspaper, is now a fancy branded Spar with all the instantly recognisable signage and layout.

It’s the first product placement in an RTÉ drama and part of a €900,000 sponsorship and marketing investment by BWG operators, of the Spar brand.

On TV3, presenters on the popular Morning Show and Midday are rarely seen without a large mug with the Kenco brand emblazoned on it – it’s product placement and part of a larger, €250,000 12-month advertising and sponsorship deal between the station and Kraft, makers of the coffee.