Getting Oprah to shill your goods is "the gold standard" in marketing and PR. So how come an industry built on busting through the clutter of consumer pitches doesn't quite understand the Oprah machine? That's the only reason we could find for AdAge's expose on the matter. Or maybe top-ranking publicists do get the Oprah/Harpo juggernaut, and this primer on landing your book, lotion, or motor vehicle on her talk show, magazine, or satellite radio program is a waste of copy. But perhaps not. The Oprah is, like choosing a Democratic nominee, not an exact science. You can throw money at her, in the form of ad spends, but that does not guarantee you that Oprah will plug your product on the show outside of a 30-second commercial spot. Or you can give her company exactly $0, and she'll send your revenues to the heavens.

Consider that a mere rerun of an "Oprah" show in which Dolly Parton appeared in December 2003 boosted sales of her CD 70% and pushed it up nine slots to No. 4 on the Billboard charts.

Boudreaux's Butt Paste got mentions and features on a lot of shows in 2004, including NBC's "Tonight Show" with Jay Leno and ESPN, but it was an appearance by founder George Boudreaux on a "Quirky Ways People Have Gotten Rich"

But one thing is clear: No matter how much you spend with The Oprah, or how much The Oprah likes your product or celebrity spokesperson, do not break The Oprah's rules. That is: Do not violate a press embargo on an upcoming appearance, and do not tie your brand to Oprah's endorsement in a way she does not like.

With the potential for serious money changing hands even in "unpaid" placements, the rules for "The Oprah Winfrey Show" about how an appearance can be marketed could get tougher to swallow.

Though P&G executives were extremely pleased with an April appearance on "Oprah" by Salma Hayek, spokeswoman for Pampers' "One pack equals one vaccine" UNICEF promotion, it had been a little tougher two nights before. A story on AdAge.com about the appearance included a reference to giveaways of vaccines on behalf of audience members — a no-no under Harpo ground rules prohibiting release of details, prompting hurried Sunday-night requests to take the story down until the show aired the next morning.

Harpo also wasn't pleased with a perceived implication that Oprah was endorsing Pampers or its program, prompting an e-mail from P&G that said, "We were so happy that Oprah provided us with an editorial platform upon which to launch this life-saving program," but "Oprah is in no way a spokesperson or endorser of our program." [...]

Unlike appearances on some other shows, such as "The Ellen DeGeneres Show," advance news of "Oprah" appearances generally needs to be embargoed and publicity plans cleared through Harpo, according to PR reps.

By contrast, when P&G's Tide Coldwater ran a promotion providing money to turn on the holiday lights in New Orleans in 2006, Ms. DeGeneres flipped the switch at the event, and details of the show in which it appeared were widely released in advance.

[AdAge]