THE USE & EFFECTIVENESS OF BRANDING OR PRODUCT PLACEMENT USING

MEDIA AS A VEHICLE

 BRIEF OVERVIEW:

Product placement, also known as embedded marketing is a form of advertisement, where

branded goods, services, signage or other trademark merchandise are placed in a context usually
devoid of ads, such as movies, the story line of television shows, news programs or other media
vehicles for increasing the memorability of the brand and for instant recognition at the point of
purchase.

Product placements are commercial insertions within a particular media program intended to
heighten the visibility of a brand, type of product or service. These insertions are not meant to be
commercial break ups rather an integral part of the medium so that the visibility of the brand
increases. Attempts are made for the viewer to read the product or the brand as a quality of the
characters using and approving it. For marketers, the availability of a captive audience with
greater reach than traditional advertisements, and the advantage of showing brands in their
natural environment provide motivation for product placements.

 HISTORY OF BRAND PLACEMENT IN MOTION PICTURES:

Starting with DeBeers draping divas in sparkling diamonds in the early 1940s, product
placement in movies has always been a subtle art - the art of inconspicuously piggybacking on
the story thread and connecting with the audience’s mind. It still is an art – but no longer subtle.
From cars and cell phones, to mouth fresheners and branded tea – our heroes and heroines are the
ultimate consumers.

Till about the 1970s most people believed that product placement was unethical, but the
realities of advertising and movie-making has spurred Hollywood, and now Bollywood, into
Product placement. Demolition Man featured dialogues to the effect that Taco Bell is the only
restaurant chain left in the world in the 21st century. And they changed it to Pizza Hut – for
Pepsi – in the Japanese release. And its not just cola and pizza that are being placed.

 EMERGENGENCE OF PRODUCT PLACEMENT AS A POWERFUL MEANS OF

COMMUNICATION:

Research has shown that viewers like product placements because they enhance realism, aid
in character development, create historical subtext, and provide a sense of familiarity. Product
placements are different than the celebrity endorsement advertisements. The celebrities endorse
products and brands with commercial reasons, which normally come in the breaks in television
programs or in cinema halls. Furthermore commercials on cinema halls are found to be of low
involvement as the audience takes them as blocks between the reasons of visiting the cinema hall
and the time available to them for entertainment. Brand placement therefore provides an
opportunity where the involved audience gets exposure to the brands and products during the
natural process of narration of the movie or television commercial.

Brands are increasingly being associated with films and companies are seeing big business in
being associated with films. They feel that their brands connect on a more emotional level with
the audience if placed in a film. Moreover the phenomenon of zipping and change in the
television usage behaviour due to surfing during commercial breaks has reduced the
effectiveness of the television commercials.

In addition to this, at a home setting the audience can undertake multitude of working while
watching a television program and hence can reduce the effectiveness of the medium for
enhancing brand memory, whereas in case of movies, the audience makes a voluntary choice for
getting exposed to a message (embedded within), at a cost may it be time cost or opportunity cost
for the purpose of entertainment and hence is more receptive to information provided to him in
the movie. High level of media clutter, similarity of programming across channels, channel
switching behaviour are the factors responsible to generate sufficient level of research interest
among researchers at the practice of brand placements in movies.

 BRAND PLACEMENT & MOVIES, SOME EXAMPLES:

Products or more specifically brands actually – make a movie more realistic. It is that much
easier to bond with the stranded actors when Hrithik Roshan mentions McDonald’s burger.
Because that is probably what we’d say ourselves! Like Dil Chahta Hai, movies are getting as
close to real life as possible. Getting huge sponsorships is another benefit. Bollywood Industry
sources have it that Mr. Subhash Ghai made 20% of the Taal production budget just from Coca-
cola.

Brand placement provides an opportunity where the involved audience gets exposure to the
brands and products during the natural process of narration of the movie or television
commercial. Advertisers and marketers favor brand placement because it offers a Win-Win
situation for both advertisers and producers. No marketers, no advertiser, and no movie mogul
would deny the truth that product placement promises good business deals. Manufacturers are
investing millions of dollars not for nothing, but for more and more dollars. If it doesn’t work, it
won’t prosper. If it does prosper then it means it offers excellent return on investment.
 The top promotion of 1995, as designated by the Promotional Marketing Association of
America, was BMW's tie-in with Golden eye. And one of the great strengths of this promotion
was to involve and entice the company's retail network to take part as much as was possible.
BMW dealers have embraced the association with Golden eye, and, more recently, Tomorrow
Never Dies, helping BMW to get maximum leverage from the deal. Again, note that the
company did not just stop with making Bond drive BMW, but went ahead to complete the circle
and derive the maximum benefit.

There are number of other examples of how the product’s appearance in a movie resulted in
an increase in brand performance in Hollywood movies. When agent James Bond made top
secret calls on an Ericsson mobile phone in 1997 in the movie Tomorrow Never Dies, the
Ericsson trademark got a real upward boost in visibility and market share.

 PRODUCT PLACEMENT- IMPACT ON BRAND OWNERS (CORPORATIONS):

Product placement gives marketers an alternative means for gaining product exposure
through a media context where targeted audiences may be particularly receptive. This audience
receptivity means the difference between reaching sales and profitability objectives or falling
short of them entirely. Increase in product placements and institutionalization of the industry
indicate that advertisers are using the technique to sway consumer’s brand attitudes.
 Another factor the marketers’ bank on is the powerful influence of the medium. Movies have
been typically blamed for most sins of society - violence, sexual abuse, drugs, smoking - you
name it, we have a politician who can link it to the movies.

By subtly weaving a product into a scene, marketers hope audiences will connect their brand
with the glamorous stars or story they're seeing on the screen. It's a commercial of sorts –
without the obvious hard sell of a commercial. It might not sound very nice – but quite
obviously, the aim is to catch the consumer unawares, to sneak into her memory in her moment
of vulnerability.

 PRODUCT PLACEMENT- IMPACT ON CREATIVE ASPECT OF MOVIE MAKING:

Could CASTAWAY plot and setting be the same if there were no FedEx and Wilson Sports
placement? In the movie, the main actor, Tom Hanks, played the role of an executive from
FedEx who was stranded in an island by himself—with only “Wilson” to talk to. Wilson is the
name of the volleyball which is also the brand name of the makers of volleyball itself.

The film did not only heighten brand awareness for FedEx, but also increased the reputation or
image for the featured brand since it was associated with the drama and reality that transpired in
the movie. Definitely, the real executives from FedEx knew exactly where the film would lead
them.

 ADVANTAGES OF PRODUCT PLACEMENT:

Exposure

Frequency

Recall

Support for the Media

Source Association

Cost

Acceptance

Targeting
Exposure: With product placement in movies, the product can reach a large number of people
over a long period of time. An average film which is estimated a life span of 3 1/2 years would
actually yield 75million exposures. This exposure is strengthened by the fact that moviegoers are
captive audience members. As such, they went to the movie house with the anticipation that they
are expected to exert effort in decoding messages they see on screen. Making it more interesting
is that fact that the movie houses or theaters are designed to make viewers focused- the dark
environment, the almost deafening sound and the way chairs are arranged-all contribute to the
atmosphere allowing the viewers to pay special attention to the movie. Even when the viewers
watch the film of DVDs, they are still considered as captive audience who pays attention to the
movie, considering that they bought or rented deliberately for viewing. All these factors make
the product placement favorable for the manufacturer.

Frequency: Normally people watch a movie more than once; this gives product more exposure
to one viewer. The number of time the viewer sees the product is even multiplied by the number
of times a product appears in the movie.

Support of Media: Product placement at times is supported by other media. The tie-ins between
the producer and the product manufacturer include promoting the product and the movie in
different media venues. Again this allows more chances for the product to reach the target
market.

Source Association: This happens when a particular brand is seen used by a celebrity. For some
reasons there are viewers who get affected by the personality of the celebrity using or even just
holding the product.

Eg: Kids can associate Domino’s pizza with Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.

Cost: If the volume of the exposure would be considered then product placement promised low
CPM or cost per thousand. For marketers and manufacturers, t he lower the CPM, the better is
the business.

Recall: Product placement due to wide coverage and multiple exposures per persons; promise
better recall, as opposed with products which are advertised on television. With the
advertisement clutter on TV, the movie product placement seems to be more promising.

By passing Regulation: Product placement in a way is capable of bypassing some laws which
apply to traditional advertising. For example Liquor and Cigarettes have opportunities to be
promoted without the manufacturers getting penalized. If done of prime time television, this is
the clear violation of FFC rules.

Targeting: Media Technologies like DVDs or any other digital video recorder allow the viewers
to avoid commercials more than they ever do. Advertisers are aware of this so they have to find
another niche where they could actually communicate the message to the target consumers
without the fear of being ignored or avoided. With product placement the choice of movie can
already guarantee effective reach potential because definitely, the marketers would only place
product placement scenes in movies targeting the potential customers.

Acceptance: Unlike television advertisement that makes aping possible, product placement
provides a scenario which the viewers won’t be able to avoid exposure to happen. Therefore the
inevitability of product placement is one its strengths

E.g.: In Armageddon romantic scene, a branded animal cracker which was being held by the
actor in the scene. It also showed the box of the branded animal cracker strategically place
besides the pair of shoes of the actor.

The advantages cited give the industry to set its eyes on the movie industry as the most
responsive and most viable method of reaching the target market without the hassle of aping, and
clutter an unavoidable negative perception of the viewers of the traditional methods of
advertising. However this method of product placement does not always offers perfection.

 LIMITATIONS OF PRODUCT PLACEMENT:

There are several limitations of product placement as well which are discussed below:

High Absolute Cost

Time of Exposure

Limited Appeal

Lack of Control

Public Reaction

Competition

Negative Placement

Clutter
Absolute Cost is high due to involved cross promotions.

Limited Appeal There is a possibility that the viewer will not even notice the product, unless
the camera comes in on the brand name or perhaps unless the main characters plus the products.

Example: Movie: Rehna ha tere Dil mein , Song “Such keh raha ha Deewana”. The song
starts with a range of Champaign bottles kept on the table and in actor’s hand, however the brand
name is not visible at all, so all viewers know is that it SOME Champaign.

Lack of Control There are certain factors which are not in the control of manufacturer and
marketer of the product when it comes to placing it in a movie.

Example: Brut Cologne was placed in a movie which was expected to be out by December but
was delayed to February. This could definitely be a setback for the product promotion if time
constraint is an important factor.

Public Relations Product placement created public reactions, and many of those are often not
favorable to the movie industry. The producer and the brand owner must be ready to answer the
opposing and challenging societal concerns arising from the product placement which is
becoming more apparent in today’s films.

E.g.: Film: Dabang, Song “Munni Budnaam Hui”

“Jhandu balm”

Competition With the sky rocketing number of movies injecting brands in their content,
competition may make it tough or tougher for marketers to penetrate the movie that they select to
carry their product.

Negative Placement Negative placement can also hinder the product’s positioning and brand
name.

Example: In the movie “MISSING “ which was produced by Columbia Pictures, which is also
owned by Coca-Cola, negative placement was seen. In the movie, which is about a murder case,
the logo of Pepsi was noticeably used as background in the scene that showed “the bad guys”.
On the other hand, Coca-Cola was strategically placed on scenes that showed the Americans, the
so called “good guys” in the film. This negative placement can have much impact on how
consumers perceive Pepsi and Coca-Cola.

Clutter Tie-ins between the movie industry and the for-profit sectors could create clutter,
which can soon make product a sore in the eyes of the viewers.

 THE ECONOMIC IMPACT OF PRODUCT PLACEMENT...IS IT WORTH ITS

WORTH??
 It is no accident that brands placed, on movies, of course. It involves mutually beneficial
businesses that promote the brand while offering realistic atmosphere. Advertisers are losing
faith on the traditional 30 sec ad. Advertisers and marketers set eyes on films as the newest
venue for selling. Precisely, product placement is selling.

In an article authored by Neuborn what’s Your worth?, it was revealed that manufacturers pay a
great deal, though not as great as he 30-second airtime in terms of reach, just to penetrate TV
shows and movies, here are few examples:
 While it is well-publicized that many producers get the best deals in terms of dollars and
other perks through product placement, there is also instances when the producers of a program
featured a brand on the movie but did not demand for any dollar-based-tie-ins.

 CONCLUSION:

Product placements are emerging as useful additional form of marketing communication.

They score over traditional television advertising for three reasons viz: goodwill gains by
associating with a popular program, purchase of large portion of commercial time within the
program prevents communication interference from competition and integration with program
reduces likelihood of zapping.

Placing captures the essence of a new kind of selfhood. The idea is that the era of
Branding is passé. Now is the dawn of Placing. People live with brands, brands that are a part of
their day-to-day life. If they don’t, it’s up to you, the marketer to place your brand in their life…
to twine it in so cleverly that they’ll never know.
 No doubt it’s a powerful idea. But powerful ideas are like stem cells. They need to be
grown and nurtured if you want to make something of them. Product placement has to go beyond
a mere 10-second shot or even a 5-minute exposure on the silver screen. It is no longer enough to
see a brand on 70mm. Marketers need to take it beyond that. Also, marketers would do well not
to shoot in the dark, and place their brand in some flick as a kind of me-too thing without a
definite strategy and without knowing what exactly the association can do for them.