In-show advertising is as old as late-night itself, but as shows face declining ratings and shrinking budgets, sponsored content (or “brand activations,” as they’re called in marketing circles) has become increasingly common and, at times, more elaborate than ever before. In this recurring feature, we keep tabs on how late-night shows are working to wed commerce with comedy.
What do you get when you cross The Tonight Show, ten puppies, and the Kentucky Derby? A sponsorship opportunity for Ford, of course.
Jimmy Fallon will once again task his Tonight Show puppies with predicting the results of this weekend’s Kentucky Derby, and he’s hyping up the moment with a series of Ford-sponsored segments all week.
While the actual staging of Fallon’s Puppy Predictor won’t go down until Thursday, he’s highlighting a different horse each night—that is, by highlighting a different dog each night. The first dog—er, horse?—to be featured was Journalism, the current favorite to win the Derby. After a pre-taped package featuring the horse’s puppy counterpart, Fallon welcomed the dog onto his guest chair last night, where he had little to say but much to eat.
The segment touted Ford’s Win Ford’s Stable contest, which will award three free Ford vehicles to anyone who can predict the order of the Derby’s top ten finishers.
Thursday night will be far from the first time Fallon has trotted out his puppy predictors, which he’s done throughout his show’s run for Super Bowls, Oscars, and past years of the Kentucky Derby.
While Fallon’s past Kentucky Derby Puppy Predictor segments weren’t sponsored, it only makes sense that Ford would jump on board. That’s because the car manufacturer is the exclusive automotive partner of the derby through 2029, and The Tonight Show maintains a long promotional relationship of its own with the brand.
Fallon most recently appeared in an in-show commercial for the brand’s Ford Mobile Service. But their partnership dates back more than ten years, with the Tonight Show host collaborating with the company on everything from pre-taped sketches to original songs to in-studio games (including a Mustang giveaway for one lucky audience member). In 2014, Fallon teamed up with the automaker for a contest allowing Ford sales consultants the chance to sell him a new F-150 truck. In 2022, he even visited their factory in Dearborn, Michigan.
