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Thursday, Mar 28, 2024

Fireman’s Brew Burning Up Prime Time TV

After appearing on “The Big Bang Theory” and “Mike & Molly” last season, Fireman’s Brew Inc. beer is heading to Showtime’s hit crime drama “Ray Donovan.” The Canoga Park brewery landed these product placements when it signed on with Placed4Success LLC in Chatsworth, which works with set decorators and prop masters. The company’s craft beer first appeared on TV in 2011 in a shot of a beer cooler at a grocery store in “Two and a Half Men, where former star Charlie Sheen was shopping in the show. But the biggest placements came recently when it appeared on multiple episodes of “Mike & Molly” and “The Big Bang Theory” and even snagged product-in-hand shots, which give the company more visibility. Rob Nowaczyk, an active duty fireman and co-founder of Fireman’s Brew, said his company benefits from product placements by exposing it to more customers. It also gives the brand credibility among its distributors, retailers and investors. “Even if we’re not in Texas just yet, when we get there hopefully people will remember us as the beer that they saw on one of their favorite shows,” he said. Placed4Success Owner and Chief Executive John Fluke has worked with product placement for most of his adult life. He said he found a strong brand in Fireman’s Brew, which is one of his 20 current clients that he presents to many of the film and production companies for consideration. “Nowadays people don’t like police so much, but they like firefighters. They’re the heroes. They save you,” he said. “So the product has this universal appeal.” Fluke said he is one of the product placement agencies left who work on a ‘pay-per-play’ basis. For a $1,000 fee, he offers to introduce his clients to a production company, such as Chuck Lorre Productions, so he can gauge the likeliness of making it to air and go from there. If there is interest and product placement, Placed4Success gets an undisclosed fee or cut of the action. Fluke said that many companies charge on a retainer basis that could cost $40,000 to $80,000 upfront with no guarantee of being placed. Nowaczyk would not say how big of an investment his company made to appear on the hit TV shows. But he noted the company has seen a rise in web traffic, online merchandise sales and social media exposure after each of the airings. Over the past three years, Fireman’s Brew has also been featured on “Real Housewives of Beverly Hills” and a few independent movies. The national exposure comes at a time when Fireman’s Brew, founded in 2005 by Nowaczyk and another firefighter, has been rapidly expanding. It just entered its 15th state when it started distributing in Michigan in July. A Little Extra Australian plus-size fashion retailer City Chic is coming to America, and more specifically, the Valley. The chain, popular for its fashionable apparel for women size 14 and up, is arriving in Southern California for its first six U.S. stores. After being available online only in the U.S. for the past few years, the first brick-and-mortar U.S. location opened earlier this month in the Westfield Culver City mall. It is also open in Riverside and Brea. Next, it will make its debut at Northridge Fashion Center in September, followed by Westfield Mission Valley in San Diego next month and Glendale Galleria in November. City Chic’s dresses cost about $70 to $100 and a pair of jeans costs $50 to $60. New York-based Plus Model Magazine held a special event for the Southern California grand opening this month, where it hosted a meet-and-greet and had styling experts on hand to offer wardrobe styling tips for shoppers. “They are the equivalent to what Lane Bryant is in the U.S., except they are in Australia,” said Editor-in-Chief Madeline Jones. “For the retail giant to open its doors in the United States speaks volumes about the type of money that is available to be made in plus-size fashions.” The plus-size fashion sector is an estimated $17 billion industry, with some of the other major players in the U.S. being Ashley Stewart and Torrid. Jones said City Chic should be very competitive in the market. City Chic was founded in 2006, and grew from six to 100 stores across Australia, New Zealand and South Africa, making it the leading global plus size fashion denim, dress and lingerie retailer. “We are proud to open the first-to-market City Chic,” said Brooke Whitebread, senior marketing manager at Northridge Fashion Center, owned by General Growth Properties Inc. of Chicago. “The store’s fun, bold and trendy styles will fit in well with our existing retail line-up and enhance the overall shopping experience at the mall.” Staff Reporter Stephanie Forshee can be reached at (818) 316-3121 or [email protected].

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