More products get roles in shows, and marketers wonder if they're getting their money's worth

As branded entertainment becomes an increasingly popular marketing strategy, advertisers and agencies are pondering how to handle problems that could potentially slow what, until now, has been robust growth.

Branded entertainment involves embedding advertising inside the content of television and radio programs and movies by placing products in important scenes or making brands intrinsic elements of plot lines.

The goal of such ploys, on display in TV series like "American Idol" and "The Apprentice," is to regain the attention of consumers who can avoid advertising by using digital video recorders, satellite radio and digital juke boxes.

In the last week alone, there was word of deals in branded entertainment from Energizer, Home Depot, McDonald's and Volkswagen. Actually, Home Depot had two - one on an English-language network, NBC, and one on a Spanish-language network, Telemundo.

"You don't want to be the last one in," said Peter Gardiner, partner and chief media officer at Deutsch in New York, part of the Interpublic Group of Companies. "But because we're in the early stages, it's so confusing."

"What you're seeing right now is the same kind of fuzzy marketplace we saw 8 or 10 years ago, when people were trying to figure out how the Internet would work for marketing," said Mr. Gardiner, whose agency opened Media Bridge Entertainment, specializing in branded entertainment, last year under his aegis.

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