Wrap up of Product Placement

Product Placement is the integration of a brand into a form of media. This form could be a television show, a full length movie, an interactive video game, a song, or virtually any form of media. However, most people think of movies and television when they hear "product placement" and it is these types of placement that recieve the most media coverage and the most buzz from consumers, analyists and critics.

Due to changes in technology such as TiVo, the 30 television second commercial is losing it's effectiveness and therefore it's popularity with advertisers. Product placement is just one of many alternative forms of marketing on the rise due to the falling out of the 30 second commercial. Also, products can now be digitally placed into shows, another way in which technology is aiding the rise of product placement. There have even been websites created such as brandcameo.com and Affina that document and evaluate placements.

Not all placements are paid for. In fact, screenwriters will sometimes request to have a product used in the final production. Many advertisers feel that placements are more natural and therefore more effective when the writer takes the initiative to include a product, instead of being forced to include it under specific stipulations. However, many advertisers want to have control of how their brand will be presented and ensure that it will not be eliminated in editing rooms. They are therefore willing to pay the money it takes to get what they want.

Some groups are angry about the growth in the number of product placements. Consumers feel that their favorite shows are being turned into commercials. Other groups that are upset are the actors and screenwriters. They feel that their creativity is limited by paid for product placements and that they should have a say in the extent of product integration in creative media forms. They have even created a website making fun of the number of placements called "Product Invasion". Others have even gone so far as to regulate product placement. For instance, the Olympic Games Committee regulated logos worn by athletes in this February's winter games.

The most important thing for advertisers to keep in mind when making the decision to place their product is to match the product to content. In order for a placement to be truly successful the product must be relevant to the media it is in. Producers and screenwriters need to keep in mind that there is a limit to the number of placements that media consumers will tolerate. If media becomes overly saturated with advertisements then consumers will tune out and advertisers will not pay to have their products integrated. It is a fine line and consumers and advertisers will help keep each other in balance.

Product placement is contributing to the replacement of the 30 second commercial. While methods of calculating effectiveness for product placement are not as developed as those for traditional media, advertisers are obviously confident enough to shell out millions of dollars for placements in television and movies.

product invasion

Some people are very upset at how much product placement has increased in the past few years. The Writers Guild of America, West Coast Division, is so upset that they launced an anti-placement website called "Product Invasion". The site has many pages with interesting videos, activities and facts.

The "Behind the Scenes" page gives some shocking and extremely interesting facts about what goes on in the product placement/showbiz world. For example, on the MTV show "Real World/Road Rules Challenge" cast members were paid to talk about T-Mobile phones and had to say lines over and over again until the rep from T-Mobile would ask them to say it again. Also the cast wasn't enthusiastic enough about some of it's placed prizes and their reactions had to be shot over, with them looking more excited the second time around.

Another page is a spoof on Burger King's viral "Subservient Chicken" campaign. Product Invasion has it's very own "Subservient Donald". In this version, Donald Trump will say anything you type, playing on the fact that his show "The Apprentice" is known for it's extensive and often extremely obvious product placements.

Also, the site provides a pre-made nasty message to send to advertising executives and production companies. The highly sarcastic and witty messages can actually be sent to executives but are effective in getting the Guild's point across just by having a website visitor read them.

Overall, the Product Invasion site is funny, entertaining, and is sure to create some buzz of it's own. Although writers have so far been uneffective in getting their qualms about product placement heard, maybe this website will drum up some support from viewers. But hey, even if it doesn't do that, it still will create a buzz.

how to get free placement and why you might not want it

Product placement is a highly sought after form of promotion and marketing, especially free product placement. Who wouldn't want free advertising? However, the increased demand for product placement has made it more and more expensive to place your product, and extremely difficult to to get a free placement. So how, you ask are companies such as Apple getting 250 placements on 38 different primetime network shows in the last 4 months?

According to a Wall Street journal article the answer is- Apple is cool. Products that have an upscale, trendy image often do not have to pay to be used or even featured in shows. According to the article Apple isn't the only one getting free airtime. Products get free placements because placement desicions are still driven creatively rather than financially, production companies can save money by getting the product for free if they plan on integrating it, and also there are many changes in props or sets during filming and producers do not always want to spend the time and money it takes to ensure that placement deals are fulfilled.

Free placement is typically not "free" for the company however. Companies often provide thousands of dollars of product with no compensation. Apple, for example, estimates that it has spent millions of dollars providing Macs to Hollywood. However, this investment has obviously paid off. The word of mouth buzz that movies and tv shows create is one of the most effective forms of marketing.

Another negative of "free" placement is that the company has no control over how the product will be used, the level of integration, or whether the product will make the cut and be shown on the final show.

So it's up to the company to weigh the benefits and negatives, however one thing is certain-product placement is on the rise and it isn't going anywhere.

music placement

We hear popular songs in advertisements, movies and television shows so often that I forgot that this was a type of product placement. Musicians are very protective of their product and writers and producers will often have to pay big bucks to use a song in their show, ad or movie. One company has been created specifically for the purpose of selling the rights to music to the film, video, advertising and radio industry. Alazia has provided music that has been used incommercial advertisements, web pages, cable and network television, corporate instructional video, piolet shows, motion pictures, documentaries and more. They have a catalog of over 2000 songs that have been pre cleared for "most purposes".

Their music catalog can be searched online by genre, mood, vocals, instruments or tempo and tracks can be previewed using real player. Prices are determined by the type of production the customer wants to use the music in. Alazia has placed music in shows such as "The OC", "CSI Miami", "Reba" and more.

While most people are aware that consumer products are being placed in tv shows and movies, many people do not think about the fact that music is being placed in these productions as well. The difference of course is that most of the time producers have to pay to have music in their shows, whereas companies will pay the production to place their product in it. However, by playing a song on shows such as "The OC" and MTV's "The Real World" the artist benefits just as much as the show does. I know I have heard a song on a show that I liked, and then downloaded it on itunes. In fact, the popular MTV show "Laguna Beach" has a section on their website that has a featured artist for the week. Each week a different artist would be featured and during the show their songs would be played and links to their videos would be on the website.

Music placement may be more subtle than consumer product placement but it provides benefits to the artists in the same way an advertisement would. Music is less controversial because most of the time we don't even think about it being publicity for the artist.

technology allows flexibility

In a Wall Street Journal article titled "Dubbing in Product Plugs" (found on ProQuest) the author discusses the technology that allows movie and television producers to remove or change product placements. For example, in Spider Man 2 Dr. Pepper is featured on a soda machine where Peter Parker works. Through digital technology the brand name was changed to Mirinda, a soda brand sold outside of the US. The version with Mirinda would be distributed overseas.

Movie makers are able to improve their profit making ability because they can easily tailor a product placement to different markets. Advertisers benefit because they can tailor their messages to different target audiences. For now, dubbed products as they are called are only capable with still shots. It is still too complicated for products to be moved around in the scene- to be used by characters for example. However, technology is constantly improving and this technology will most likely be upon us soon.

Dubbing product placements is just one more way that technology is making it easier for advertisers to market their brands.

sopranos

I mentioned in a past post that not all product placement is paid for. A Chicago Trib une article called "Sopranos song: can't pay us to show products" gives an example of just that. The March 15 article discusses a recent episode of HBO's "The Sopranos", where Carmela Soprano recieves a Porche Cayenne Turbo as a gift from her husband. Carmela exclaims repeatedly over the car and talks about its attributes throughout the episode. Suprisingly, Porche did not pay a cent for this excellent advertising. Actually HBO and Porche do not take part in paid-for product placement at all. HBO claims that when you see a product in their shows it is stictly character driven and plot driven, nothing is paid for. Porche method is to just donate the car to the show and let them use it how they choose. They feel it creates a more natural placement.

I think Porche and HBO are on to something. If companies refuse to take money for placement then they are ensuring that real life brand names are only being used when it enhances the value of the show, not the bank account of the company. And it does seem that if a writer is writing a product in because they choose to, not because they have to, that the placement will be more natural. A natural placement that enhances a show would be more likely to be accepted positively by consumers. However, there is one problem- consumers are so cynical about advertising today that they just assume that every product placement is paid for. Regardless of whether or not a placement is paid for there is one rule that advertisers should keep in the top of their minds- if they placement isn't a good fit then it shouldn't be there.

video game placement

A New York Post article published on March 14, 2006 discussed an interesting aspect of product placement: placement in video games. Visa has teamed up with the makers of the game CSI 3:Dimensions of Murder. In addition to it's logo being placed on billboards in the game Visa has also gotten its product into part of the action of the game. In the game, Visa's fraud monitoring system flags spending on a victim's account which prompts CSI detectives to investigate. In this way Visa not only gets to be a logo displayed but the brand becomes a part of the game and a part of the action. This is valuable because consumers are usually more receptive to this type of advertising message. The vice-president of Visa's advertising sums it up this way, "It's not just an ad in a game. It allows the consumer to understand our product."

Visa isn't the only company placing their products in games. Sony, Puma, Nike, and Coca-Cola have all jumped on the video game product placement bandwagon.

The main issue here is how much placement gamers will tolerate. If there are too many ads in the game, gamers will not enjoy the game and it will not sell. So far, advertisers have not reached the limit of what gamers will tolerate but they will continue to push the limits. Visas integration is proof of that.

print placement

So far I have mainly discussed product placement on television and in movies. However, product placement also appears in print media. An article by Gregory Lamb in the Christian Science Monitor discusses this. Revenue for product placement in magazines was expected to rise 17.5% to $160.9 million and 16.9% to $65 million for newspapers in 2005. This data was reported by PQ media, a company that has been tracking product placement since 1975. A print product placement is when the product in integrated into a magazine or newspaper's editorial copy (the stories or the photographs). Becuase of declining profits, product placement will most likely become more and more popular in print as a way to raise funds.

However there is one major issue in print product placement. The operating guidelines for most publications require a clear division between editorial copy and advertisements. This makes paid for placements a violation of the guidelines. However, some placements are included without compensation to the publication.

Ford, American Express and Lexus are three companies who have been named as negotiating to get their products mentioned in stories. Most of the time the publication goes unamed- print publication companies are very reluctant to openly say that they are participating in placement that has been paid for.

There are many ways that brands can be integrated. One example is the "advertorial" which is written like a story but is really advertising copy. Brands can also pay to ensure that a picture of their product is included with a story. Another interesting technique was used by Target in the August 22nd issue of The New Yorker. Target sponsored the magazine- there were no other brands advertised in that issue (See picture). Some types of magazines lend themselves to product placement more than others. For example fashion magazines and food magazines allow products to be included in their articles about new trends and recipes.

brandcameo

Curious about the brands that are placed in your favorite movies? A website is devoted to analyzing recent films and creating lists of the products that are showcased in them. The site is called brandcameo and it references movies starting in 2001 til the present. In order to be counted as a product placement the brand must be mentioned or clearly identifiable by logo or brand name. I was shocked when reading some of the products that were advertised in movies today. It is very interesting to view the products listed right there for you, it makes you realize how much movies are being used to promote products.

Another interesting feature of the site allows you to view different brands and compare the movies that they were placed in. This would be a very effective tool for a media buyer. They could analyze where their competition was placing products and make decisions based on that. For example Philips electronics brand appeared in three top films in 2006: Big Momma's House 2, Madea's Family Reunion, and The Pink Panther.

One of the best aspects of this website is called "your chance!". This feature is for when users think a brand was missed. They can submit the brand to the authors of the site. Then they reanalyze the movie and decide if the brand does need to be listed. Also, the site has a page that tracks the leading brand appearances of the year. As of right now there is an 8 way tie between adidas, channel, coca-cola, motorola, nextel, philips, and toyota.

The website also has what they call the brandchannel Product Placement Awards. This is where the recognize the brands and films that they think had successful product placement. They define successful as a placement that either introduces or reinforces the brand in the audience's mind. Their award for overall product placement in 2005 was Ford and the lifetime acheivement went to Gatorade.

There is a lot of general information about product placement on the website including the history of product placement. I definitely recommend checking this site out. brandcameo

online product placement

Today the internet is extremely popular, so its not suprising that companies have begun to place products on websites. Affina has expanded its company to include a service which places products in the context of web sites. (Affina website can be found here) Affina will pay website owners on a CPM basis and advertisers will pay Affina on a per click basis. Prices will vary from deal to deal and could change based on performance. Affina is able to track click throughs and also determine which users actually complete a transaction. As with all product placement, Affina will work with advertisers and website owners to make the placement as relevant and seamless as possible.

Of course it is natural that product placement should expand from television to the internet, however, it may be difficult to make the placements relevant. While it will probably be less irritating than pop-up ads, consumers may get frustrated with the placements or feel that they create clutter and prevent them from reading the actual website material. However, some may find it helpful. For example, if you are researching different types of digital cameras and connections to the Cannon website come up. The consumer may have been saved time looking for the Cannon website and the link will make it easier for them to do their research. Time will tell what the consumer reaction will be to online product placement.

it takes some planning

When an advertiser wants their product placed in a show, they can't just pick any show. They have to match the show's target audience with their target audience to ensure that they are reaching the right people. If you don't advertise to your target audience you are wasting your money.

Another consideration that advertisers are starting to have to make is what other products are being placed on that show? For example in the two hour season finale of Nip/Tuck the website mySpace was mentioned several times on the show. mySpace is a networking website aimed at the 25 and under crowd and is mainly used by 16-18 year olds. Also integrated into the show was Smirnoff vodka. See the issue? Some viewers (especially parents) might be upset and concerned that a product targeted to 16 year olds is being advertised in conjunction with a product that 16 year olds should not be using.

Advertisers need to be careful that the shows and episodes they choose to place their products on are targeted at their audience and are appropriate for their product and target.

The Nip/Tuck example was found on Jeff Greenfields product placement blog. Check it out!

even product placement

We live in a world where everything is computerized, digitalized and wireless...even product placement. A Detroit Free Press article titled "Advertising: Pop-in products" dicusses a new phenomenon called digital product integration. It's a technology that allows products to be digitally inserted into television shows after they have been filmed. So far, digital product integration has been used to subtley place products into the show, making sure that the product is relevant to what is going on in the show. The technology has been used in many popular shows such as "CSI", "Will and Grace", and "Yes, Dear".

Advertisers like digital product integration because it gives them more control. They can ensure that their product isn't edited out of the show.

Groups that are against product placement fear the digital product integration will make it too easy for products to be inserted and be a facilitator for overcrowding of products on shows. If a company wants its product placed on a television show they will try their hardest to get it there, it doesn't matter if it is done digitally or not.