Let’s Make A Deal Celebrated its 1001th episode in May.

This is definitely our favorite game show on television today. I can’t help stopping what I am doing every morning between 9am and 10am to see what is coming next.

Recently, CBS Television created a milestone for the 1001st episode Why a milestone for the 1001st episode? — they wanted to be different.

Here is a video of the “Making of the 1001st Episode” with some behind the scenes look. Behind the scenes is of course my favorite part. Check out the video here Lets Make A Deal on CBS. The video is posted on CBS’s web site.

Game Show Gurus produces and presents TV like game shows for corporate events, colleges, promotions, casinos, and event marketing.  We have  a high end risk reward game show called Gigantic Game Show Give Away   which invites up to 60 people per hour to play games of chance or minimal skill.

While we can design a show that is closer to the style of Let’s Make A Deal (with the concept of offering one prize for another), it is to be noted that the presenter/client must have a significant amount of prizes to trade and thus this isn’t always the best show for stage use.

The excitement of tv game shows like LMAD is that there is a potential for high value prizes.  TV game shows use “prize producers” whose sole job is to secure prizes. Many times these prize sponsors  not only provide a prize but give the TV producer a fee — all in the forms of advertising. This is called Product Placement.  They do this because TV game shows have huge audiences and that justifies the expense for the sponsor. That’s why, in the case of Let’s Make A Deal, you hear Jonathan give a 30 second commercial and see Tiffany look excited about the product. It’s all part of the promotion process.  There is even a company that is dedicated to securing prizes for these shows  — www.gameshowprizes.com. Gameshowprizes.com  normally only works with TV producers so they probably can’t help you with a private event.

However, you can use this model to collect prizes for your game show but it takes a little footwork and guarantee an audience to the sponsor.  But, with some effort, you may be able to get “in kind” sponsorships in trade for advertising on display boards, newsletters, or media buys. Of course we can help you by adding sponsors to the game show presentation, signage on stage, and of course plugging their product.

At the end of the day, the most important thing is the “perceived value” – the value an audience places on the item may be higher than the actual cost of the item. T-Shirts usually have a high perceived value but are inexpensive to make.  Vacations can have a high perceived value but we have sources that are “giving” them away (some restrictions and fees apply).

Private events don’t usually have large sponsors. Some promotional events might have sponsors and be able to give away prizes like a car. But that takes a lot of work from the organization to obtain those.

In light of this, many times, a huge or high value prize may not be needed. The once exception for the need for high value or insured prizes would be for casino type or lottery promotions to incentivize people to come to an event. In that case, prizes of that value can be insured so, for example if $100,000 is a possible prize, that the presenter just pays a fee to an insurance company — if certain conditions are met — such as picking three envelopes that add up to $1000, the player gets $100,000, the insurance company pays.  This doesn’t happen too often.

We refer you back to our Gigantic Game Show Give Away  which eliminates the need for excessive value prizes but still contains an element of risks and rewards or should you stay or keep going.  Our Give Away show can also use other “qualifiers” to get people on stage to get more people involved (such as trivia on their smart phone or random name generators).

For more information on how we can create an exciting game show program for you, please call us at 847-781-7033 or see www.gameshowgurus.com.

As a reminder:  Let’s Make A Deal is a trade mark of Fremantle Media. Game Show Gurus is in no way associated with the TV production of Let’s Make A Deal, CBS, Television, or Fremantle Media. GameShowprizes.com is a trademark / division of Bruce Media.  This web blog  post is a celebration of our favorite game show, game show production,  event marketing, and the process of product placement for game shows.