PRODUCT PLACEMENT IN FILM & TV (Types, Research, Tips & Terminology)

PRODUCT PLACEMENT IN FILM & TV (Types, Research, Tips & Terminology)

Bruce Bisbey…please follow us at: https://dumbdogproductionsllc.blogspot.com

PRODUCT PLACEMENT DEFINITION

In laymen's terms, product placement is the promotion of branded goods and services within the context of a show or movie (or even personal videos) rather than as an explicit advertisement.

PRODUCT PLACEMENT: WHAT DOES IT REALLY MEAN? WHAT DOES IT REALLY DO?

When you see a product or service appear in a TV show, or in a motion picture, the company behind it has usually (but not always) paid for their brand to appear on screen or on the radio.

Product placement, also known as embedded marketing, is a marketing technique in which references to specific brands or products are incorporated into another work, such as a film or television program, with a specific intent to promote said product. The practice has been around for decades, but marketers have become much more sophisticated in the ways they use it.

An advertising technique used by companies to subtly promote their products through a non-traditional advertising technique, usually through appearances in film, television, or other media. ... A company will often pay a fee to have their product used, displayed, or significantly featured in a movie or show.

Product placement is the inclusion of a branded product in media, usually without explicit reference to the product. Most commonly, branded products are featured in movies, television shows and video games. Once a very obvious form of sponsorship, product placement can now fly under the radar. You may barely notice that every single car used in the movie or show was from only one automaker. Or that everyone in a TV show drinks the same brand of pop/sodas.

Placement, or product distribution, is the process of making a product or service accessible for use or consumption by a consumer or business user, using direct means, or using indirect means with intermediaries.

While references to brands may be voluntarily incorporated into fictional works in an effort to maintain a feeling of realism or comment upon the brand itself, product placement is the deliberate incorporation of a brand or product into a work in exchange for compensation. Product placements may range from unobtrusive appearances of a brand or product within an environment, to prominent integration and acknowledgement of the product within the work. For example, the producers of a film or television program may be paid to incorporate and present specific brands of automobiles or consumer electronics within, or works produced by vertically integrated conglomerates (such as Sony) may include placements of products from their other divisions as a form of corporate synergy.

In the 21st century, the use of product placement on television has grown, particularly to combat the wider use of digital video recorders that can skip traditional commercial breaks within television programming, and to engage with younger demographics. Digital editing technology has also been used to tailor product placement to specific demographics or markets, and in some cases, add placements after-the-fact to works that did not originally have embedded advertising before, or update existing placements within a work.

"Hey, remember that awesome part where those guys had a conversation in front of a giant corporate logo?" said no one. And yet, product placement has been an accepted way of life for moviemaking, particularly in an age where we’ve struggled to come up with new and innovative ways to push product. On one level, you know that our own lives have product placement: we go to Sears, we drink Pepsi, and we (hopefully watch other people!) go to McDonald’s. But to many, the movies are an escape, and you’re thrust out of the film’s world when you see a familiar brand.

Nonetheless, any film project can chop a good sum off their budgets by offering a chance for a name brand to pop up in their film. In hoping you DO get taken out of the movie, the company gets recognition for their product, and the movie studio saves a buck or two.

TYPES OF PRODUCT PLACEMENT

Placements fall into two categories: those that are donated to reduce production costs and those placed in exchange for compensation. Lotz refers to two classifications within these two categories, what she refers to as "basic" and "advanced". Basic placement is when the logo of an object or a brand name is visible but the characters don't draw attention to the brand. Advanced placement is when the product or brand is mentioned by name by characters in the show or movie.

Barter and service deals (mobile phones provided for crew use, for instance) are also common practices. Content providers may trade product placements for help funding advertisements tied-in with a film's release, a show's new season or other event.

A variant of product placement is advertisement placement. In this case an advertisement for the product (rather than the product itself) is production. Examples include a Lucky Strike cigarette advertisement on a billboard or a truck with a milk advertisement on its trailer.

Product Placement in Social Media

As the advertising landscape has shifted dramatically to social platforms like YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, brands are using these channels for product placement opportunities. For example, YouTubers with millions of followers will happily wear branded clothing, or use branded items, to spread the word about that product to their fan base. TV shows and movies will also tap "social influencers" to grab this new audience through a much different medium than TV and movies.

Overall, product placement it here to stay. If done well, it adds realism to a show or movie, because we all use these products in our daily lives. Covering brand names with duct tape doesn't help. But when it's too obvious, it is also detrimental to the suspension of disbelief with films.

RESEARCH & TERMINOLOGY

PRODUCT PLACEMENT FINANCING.

Income from product placement can be used to supplement the budget of a film. The Bond franchise is notable for its lucrative product placements deals, bringing in millions of dollars. In the film Minority Report, Lexus, Bulgari and American Express reportedly paid a combined $20 million for product placement, a record-high amount. Product placement may also take the form of in-kind contributions to the film, such as free cars or computers (as props or for the production's use). While no money changes hands, the films budget will be lowered by the amount that would have otherwise been spent on such items.

EFFECTIVENESS

As with most marketing tactics, product placement leads to explicit as well as implicit advertising effects. Explicit effects can be observed directly and are usually visible by higher recall scores. They are highly connected to the conscious mind. Implicit effects can be observed by a change in behavior – like a higher purchase intention. They are fully based on the subconscious mind. Implicit effects are more relevant for purchase decisions and therefore more valuable than explicit reactions.

RECALL

Recall describes whether people can name a product after seeing it within the content. Research showed that there is a significant relationship between product placement and recall.

ATTITUDE

Product placement also leads to changes in attitude towards the product or brand.

PURCHASE INTENTION

A lot of research has shown a higher purchase intention as a result of product placement.

SUBCONSCIOUS EFFECTS

Product placement affects the audience on a conscious, but also subconscious level. Science showed that there does not even need to be an explicit, conscious effect to activate subconscious effects. For example, product placement can lead to an exclusion of competing brands from the consideration set of the audience – subconsciously. It is also hoped to bypass advertising defense reactions of consumers by focusing on the subconscious character of product placement.

NEGATIVE EFFECTS

Under specific circumstances, product placement can lead to no or even negative effects. This usually happens if the product placement is too obvious, while the audience also feels to be manipulated.

CONGRUENCE

The better the product placement fits the surrounding content, the better the implicit effectiveness (like attitude or purchase-intention) will be.

AUDIO VS VISUAL

After viewing a Seinfeld episode with visual, auditory and audiovisual product placements, a recall task indicated that audiovisual product placements were recalled the best, visual product placements somewhat less and audio placements least. In a recognition test audiovisual was still remembered the best but audio placements were remembered second best and visual placements were remembered third best. As indicated, the type of placement that is most effective seems to vary depending on task, but audiovisual placements seem to be often the most effective. However, audiovisual product placements are not remembered best when there are more than one audiovisual placement at once, making it hard to remember each one. In case the placement is only on the audio level, one should make sure it is very prominent to get any effect at all.

CHARACTER ATTRACTIVENESS

People tended to like brand names that were paired with attractive faces more than those paired with unattractive faces. The more times a brand was paired with an attractive face, the more people liked it.

PRODUCT PROMINENCE

Product placement perceived to disrupt a movie, especially when repeated, were found in one study to be counterproductive. Moderate repetition of subtle product placements did not increase people’s feelings on distraction.

Products that are integrated within the plot of a movie are better recall, although not if more than one product is shown at a time. In one study placements connected to the story were recognized most often, products used by the main character were remembered less often and products in the background were remembered least often.

Placements were found more effective on a larger screen compared to on a smaller one. Also, products placed in the first half of a movie tend to be remembered better than products in the second half of a movie, which demonstrates the primacy effect.

LEVEL OF INVOLVEMENT

High involvement with the program makes it easier for people to recognize the product placement. This can lead to positive effects, but might also lead to negative reactions. The same applies for high product category involvement.

AUDIENCE DEMOGRAPHICS

CULTURAL ATTRIBUTES

Older research cited a difference between different cultural areas. For example, Australians, Austrians, and Germans tended to evaluate product placement more critical and show less positive reactions than Americans or people from certain Asian countries such as India.

AGE

Children are usually easier influenced than adults.

SEX

If the product is endorsed by a person, there are stronger priming effects if the audience has the same sex.  Women tend to get influenced a little easier, but show more negative reactions when the product can be described as ethically questionable (e.g. alcohol).

MEASUREMENT

To measure the success of product placement, one first tracks the parameters of the placement itself, like the ease of identification, screen time, number of exposure(s), or association with a main character. That information is also often used to determine the price of a specific placement. Secondly, the effectiveness is measured using direct (for explicit memory effects) as well as indirect (for implicit memory effects) measurements.

MEASUREMENT OF THE EXPLICIT MEMORY

Explicit effects are measured by recall or recognition tests. Subjects are asked to name the products that he or she noticed (free recall). This survey can be also aided by giving additional information like a specific product category. At recognition tests, a selection of products is shown to the interviewed person, who then needs to select the ones that he has seen before.

MEASUREMENT OF THE IMPLICIT MEMORY

Implicit effects are measured in an indirect way by observing a change in behavior. This can be done by tracking the consideration set and buying behavior of people, measuring brain activities or using abstract indirect test settings like the word fragment or word stem completion test. The implicit association test (IAT) is also an applicable measurement tool.

ETHICS

Many argue that product placement is ethically questionable, because it manipulates them against their will. A contrary view is, even if product placement is only perceived unconsciously, it is still evaluated by our mind. It cannot make people act against their beliefs. Most people also appreciate the fact, that movies look more realistic with real brands and do not feel disturbed by the placements. Additionally, further research argues that product placement is not any different from other marketing tactics when it comes to ethics.

DID YOU KNOW?

The top amount ever paid for product placement, so far.

It featured 39 different brands. And the award for Product Placement Production went to Smurfs 2 – the film covered the entire cost of its $105 million dollar budget with $150 million worth of product placement deals.

Sources, References & Credits: Google, Wikipedia, Pinterest, IMDB, Linked In, Indie Wire, Cinema Blend, Variety, Creative Skill Set, WARC, Research Gate, Reddit, Business Dictionary, Cambridge Dictionary, The Balance, Collins English Dictionary, Investopedia, Study, English Oxford Dictionaries

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