Product placement(PPL) is a promotional tactic used by marketers in which characters
in a fictional play, feature film, television series, music video, video-game or book use a
real commercial product. Typically either the product and logo is shown or favorable
qualities of the product are mentioned. The product price is not mentioned nor are any
negative features or comparisons to similar products. Very generally, product placement
involves placing a product in highly visible situations. The most common form is movie
and television placements.
In movies, an early example of product placement is the 1949 film Love Happy, in
which Harpo Marx cavorts on a rooftop among various billboards and at one point
escapes from the villains on the old Mobil logo, the "Flying Red Horse".
A later but better-known instance of product placement can be seen in the 1982 film
E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, which helped launch Reese's Pieces from Hershey Foods
Corporation. The film The Truman Show explores the idea of a 24-hour on-air reality
television program funded entirely by product placement.
Product placement companies work to ensure that their clients’ products receive
maximum screen time and exposure - whether it be the Nokia phone that Agent Sydney
Bristow (Jennifer Garner) uses on Alias, the Lacoste polo shirt that Alex Hitchens (Will
Smith) wears in the feature film Hitch or the Rimowa pilot case Gil Grissom (William
L. Petersen) carries as he arrives at crime scenes on CSI.
Product placement can be seen as a modern version of the exhibit displays seen at
world's fairs, concerts, sporting events, or anywhere that large numbers of potential
customers gathered.
Contents [hide]
1 Types of product placement
2 Research Commentary
3 Controversy
4 Spoofs
5 Faux Product Placement
6 The Evolution of Product Placement
7 Glossary of Product Placement Terms
8 See also
9 External links
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Types of product placement
The most basic form of product placement is the inclusion of a product name or logo in
the foreground or background of a scene. Payments are based on exposure, including
the number of times the product is shown or mentioned, the duration of that exposure,
and the degree of inclusion of the product in the story line. If the product is actively
used (such as when a leading character can be clearly seen to take a drink from the
bottle or can), placement fees may be higher.
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Other times, product usage is negotiated rather than paid for. Some placements provide
productions with below-the-line savings, with products such as props, clothes and cars
being loaned for the production’s use, thereby saving them purchase or rental fees.
Barter systems (the director/actor/producer wants one for himself) and service deals
(cellular phones provided for crew use, for instance) are also common practices.
Producers may also seek out companies for product placements as another savings or
revenue stream for the movie, with, for example, products used in exchange for help
funding advertisements tied-in with a film's release, a show's new season or other event.
The most common products to be promoted in this way are automobiles. Frequently, all
the important vehicles in a movie or television serial will be supplied by one
manufacturer. For example, The X-Files used Fords, as do leading characters on 24. The
James Bond films were pioneers of such placement: the 1974 film The Man with the
Golden Gun featured extensive use of AMC cars, even in scenes in Thailand, where
AMC cars were not sold, and had the steering wheel on the wrong side of the vehicle
for the country's roads. Other times, vehicles or other products take on such key roles in
the film it is as if they are another character. Examples of this practice include the
placement of Audi in I, Robot and The Transporter 2 or the Nokia phone in Cellular.
More recently, Apple Computer frequently places its products in films and on
television, where they therefore seem much more common than in most real-world
offices and homes. In a twist on traditional product placement, Hewlett-Packard
computers now appear exclusively as part of photo layouts in the IKEA catalog in
addition to placing plastic models of its computers in IKEA stores—having taken over
Apple's similar position in the Swedish furniture retailer's promotional materials several
years ago.
A variant of product placement is advertisement placement. In this case an
advertisement for the product (rather than the product itself) is seen in the movie or
television series. Examples include a Lucky Strike cigarette advertisement on a
billboard or a truck with a milk advertisement on its trailer.
Product placement is also used in books (particularly novels) and video games—where
sometimes the economics are reversed, and video game makers pay for the rights to use
real sports teams and players.
Quantification methods track brand integrations, with both basic quantitative and more
demonstrative qualitative systems used to determine the cost and effective media value
of a placement. Rating systems measure the type of placement and onscreen exposure is
gauged by audience recall rates. Products might be featured but hardly identifiable,
clearly identifiable, long or recurrent in exposure, associated with a main character,
verbally mentioned and/or they may play a key role in the storyline. Media values are
also weighed over time, depending on a specific product’s degree of presence in the
market.
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Research Commentary
Product Placement Frequency Does Not Equal Engagement by Dr. Raymond Pettit
Director of Research at iTVX
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Recently, research about the frequency of product placements appearing in TV shows
has made news--in particular, the number of product placements in reality shows, such
as "The Contender," which distinguished itself with an average of 500 individual
occurrences for the Everlast brand.
Yet new research forthcoming in the Journal of Advertising Research suggests that
there is more to the picture than just counting occurrences. The traditional "frequencybased" approach works on the assumption that each "occurrence" is equal. In fact, there
are a number of other dynamic and important elements at work.
In TV shows or sporting events where there may be continuous, static, or repetitive
occurrences of a brand, logo, or product, a viewer's attention, awareness, and
engagement to that stimulus gradually decays over time. This is a well-known fact
confirmed in perception (aural and visual) and attention studies. Advertisers have
borrowed from this and apply a "decay rate," called a half-life, to account for the
diminishing influence advertising has over time.
In addition, the "frequency" approach (counting occurrences as if they are all equal)
misses the entire dimension of "engagement": how people actually view, make sense of,
and respond to the brand in content and attend to a show, storyline, or episode. If we
take the Everlast brand in "The Contender" as an example, as the involvement and
interest in the show increases, the decay rate (recall/recognition of the brand) kicks in.
After a certain amount of time, attention to the Everlast brand fades away as people
become more involved in the content, action, or story being presented in the show. A
"crossover dynamic" occurs that mitigates the frequency effect. Another example is the
red Coca-Cola cup on "American Idol"--while awareness may be high at the beginning
of the show, by the end, it becomes as black as Simon's shirt.
It is the context of the placement--its quality, relevance, ability to engage, involve, and
hold attention--that matters. Judgments based on frequency counts alone can be
distorted. The Advertising Research Foundation's MI4 project on engagement is on the
right track: let's get beyond counting to the elements that recognize the power of the
brand idea. Only then can we determine what works, what doesn't, and why, in the
important emerging new media and product placement integration industry.
Controversy
The James Bond film Licence to Kill featured use of the Lark brand of cigarette, and the
producers accepted payment for that product placement. The studio's executives
apparently believed that the placement triggered the American warning notice
requirement for cigarette advertisements and thus the picture carried the Surgeon
General's Warning at the end credits of the film. This brought forth calls for banning
such cigarette advertisements in future films.
Some believe product placement is out of control and has become too pervasive in
today's society. One group known as Commercial Alert asks for full disclosure of all
product placement arrangements. They feel that most product placements are deceptive
and are not fully or clearly disclosed, advocating notification of embedded
advertisements before and during a television program. One justification for this is that
it allows greater parental control for children, who are said to be influenced greatly by
product placement.
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The film Minority Report, loosely based on the Philip K. Dick short story of the same
name, makes heavy use of product placement including Coca-Cola, Nokia, Gap and
Lexus. Director Steven Spielberg also uses one scene to apparently criticize advertising:
the main character (Tom Cruise) is harrassed by personalised advertisements calling out
his own name. However it is arguable that the negative portrayal of these ads is
cancelled out since they are in fact still paid-for product placements within the film.
Spoofs
The concept of product placement has been spoofed many times. Notable examples
include:
Douglas Coupland's second novel, Shampoo Planet, satirizes product placement by
mentioning invented brand names (including their trademark symbols) for a wide
variety of products throughout the text.
David Foster Wallace's novel Infinite Jest, set in the near future, years are not known by
numbers but by a brand name such as "Year of the Depend Adult Undergarment". This
is known as "Subsidized time".
The movie Wayne's World has a scene where Wayne and Garth spoof common
commercials of the early '90s in the actual film in a way that parodies the way that
corporate sponsorship affects television programs (the context of the scene is that they
don't want a local arcade to sponsor their public-access cable show). This scene, due to
its blatant use of different products (Pizza Hut, Pepsi, Nuprin), is commonly edited out
of rebroadcasts of the film.
The interactive fiction game Coke Is It! consists of excerpts from classic text adventure
games (such as Adventure) with humorously exaggerated product placement by The
Coca-Cola Company.
A product non-placement spoof was done in the film Repo Man, in which cans of beer
would be labeled simply "BEER", and food containers would be labeled "FOOD", in the
style used for generic brands in the 1980's.
Faux Product Placement
Some filmmakers have responded to product placement by creating false products that
frequently appear in the movies they make. Some examples:
Kevin Smith - Nails Cigarettes, Mooby Corporation, Chewlees Gum, Discreeto Burritos
Quentin Tarantino - Red Apple Cigarettes, Big Kahuna Burger, Jack Rabbit Slim's
Resturants.
Robert Rodriguez - Chango Beer.
The Evolution of Product Placement
From E.T. to iTVX
Many people believed that Product Placement started with the placement of Reeses
Pieces in "E.T" as sales of the candy soared up 80%. The fact of the matter is that the
first recognizable Product Placement having a direct impact on sales was both
unintentional and negative for the undershirt industry. In the 1938, Feature Film "It
Happened One Night" Clark Gable took his shirt off in front of Claudette Colbert and
stood bare-chested: the result was the plummeting of undershirt sales in the United
States. It was not until the 50s when James Dean and Marlon Brando rode their Harleys
in T-shirts that undershirt sales began to rise.
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The 60's and the early 70's were the quiet years for Product Placement. The Tobacco
and Liquor industry took full advantage making sure that actors would use their brand
on the Silver Screen. Cases of liquors and cigarettes were sent to numerous productions
for cast and crew, along with some hefty cash for directors and producers. Brand
awareness and a high "product recall recognition" by moviegoers caught the eyes of
advertisers in corporate America. Soon product placement agencies specializing in
getting your product in movies started flourishing: Norm Marshall, Unique Product
Placement, Associated Film Promotions in California, and AIM (Advertising In
Movies) in New York, pioneered the industry.
The race to get a starring role for products became a reality for advertisers as sales of
"Reeses Pieces" increased 80% when the friendly alien "E.T." handed the candy back to
Elliot. M&M's turned down the placement, and rightfully so - after all Spielberg did
also make "Jaws", a not so friendly creature, and M&M's were Mars' flagship product
(which had more to lose than gain with any negative product placement). Hershey's,
initially turning down the placement for its flagship "Kisses," instead offered a
promotion with "Reeses Pieces". The product (similar to M&Ms) was just introduced as
an offshoot of their Peanut Butter Cups; their strategy was to capture part of the M&Ms
market. It is reasonable to say that M&M's sales would have only grown a fraction of a
percent if they participated in the film. In retrospect, Product Placement is a sword that
cuts both ways. Clients wanted major stars such as Sylvester Stallone endorsing their
product on the Silver Screen - however - they were specific about details: i.e. making
sure it would be "Rocky" not "Rambo" who would be eating the "Wheaties" and
wearing "Hugo Boss".
The product placement agencies flourished in the early 80's as the "E.T." scenario was
pitched to every product brand manager. Soon major products like Coke, Budweiser and
AT&T were doing product placements in-house. Some agencies specialized in placing
products on TV sitcoms. Advertisers favored these placements because they somewhat
justified the minimal advertising expenditure compared with the commercial costs.
They also could see results in their home within 4 to 6 weeks as compared to 12 to 16
months for a movie release.
There were also some "bugs" to be worked out. Advertisers who paid upfront for
placements were soured as their placement ended up on the cutting room floor. "MakeGood" placements were offered in lieu of reimbursement as some agencies spent the
advertiser's money. The industry became skeptical; contracts were negotiated on resultsand not just effort- basis. Few agencies withstood the test of time and many folded.
By the early 90s Major Studios established in-house divisions for product placement
called "Production Resources," enabling studios to contact manufacturers directly.
Advertisers felt a sense of security in dealing directly with the studios, however fees
were much higher and a promotional tie-in with the film was most of the time part of
the package. "McDonalds," "Taco Bell," "Coke," and "Burger King," were prepared others had to pass. In addition, by this time most major brands worked with or had an
agency of record and were confused as various vendors offered the same product
placement opportunity.
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A sense of conformity of good business practices was established with the formulation
of E.R.M.A. (Entertainment Resources & Marketing Association). Studios, corporations
and agencies joined together to ensure standards of operation in the product placement
industry. The 90s also saw "Seinfeld" episodes launch brand names like "Junior Mints"
"Snapple" "Pez" "Kenny Rogers Chicken" "Snickers" "Twix" "H&H Bagels" and "The
Plaza Hotel". Jerry had the ratings and NBC allowed the product placement to be part of
the show. In some cases, TV Standards & Practices require products to be "greeked" or
altered so that the name is not shown, however the networks are now encouraging
advertisers to help offset the cost of productions by having their products written into
the script.
Today product placement has become a supplemental source for brand awareness.
Alone it will not launch a brand, however as part of the brand advertising and marketing
mix it can be a catalyst in generating enormous amounts of impressions. One of the
most successful product placement and marketing campaign was the James Bond launch
of BMW's Z3. Not only did Mr. Bond drives the Z3 in "The World Is Not Enough" but
BMW dealers invited BMW owners to a private screening of the movie. Outside the
theaters was a BMW Z3; the audience was filled with BMW owners. When Bond was
introduced to his BMW Z3, the audience went wild with applause.
The magnitude and cost to participate and coordinate such promotions in most instances
can be prohibitive. However, the filmmakers, studios and agencies are encouraging
advertisers to promote the film rather than asking for a fee to be in the film. Let's face it
- if "Hershey" did not promote the fact that it was "Reeses Pieces " in E.T.'s hand, the
public (especially the millions of kids who thought of "E.T" as a super pet) would not
ask mom to buy the candy. Many of the kids did just what Elliot did to attract "E.T.":
that was to lay a trail of "Reeses Pieces" for an "E.T." to bring back. One wonders just
how much of the candy was actually ingested and how much was laid down on the lawn
for friendly animals to eat.
In 1994 the entertainment industry held a product placement symposium in California.
One of the studio executives spoke of "The Super Highway" or as we know it today, the
Internet. The overall consensus was that the Internet was at least 5 yrs away from public
acceptance and usage. It's now 2002 and the "Computer Space Odyssey" is taking over
as the future of product placement is about to change with this new media.
TV production companies may utilize virtual props that can be integrated into
production sets, and, for example, may be placed on top of refrigerators, in cabinets,
picture frames, and kitchen sinks. Although this form of product placement may not be
realized in the near future, it is imperative that networks should strive to create loyal
audience appeal. This is achieved by constantly delivering intense quality content with
strategic product placement and cross-promotional opportunities. "American Idol" and
"Survivor" are excellent examples of such. Steven J. Heyer, president and chief
operating officer of Coca-Cola Co.'s "Coca-Cola Ventures", speaking at the AdWatch:
Outlook 2002 said that good, strategic product placement could be more effective than
30-second TV commercials.
New research into the controversial phenomenon of personal video recorders finds
viewers skip commercials up to 72.3% of the time, yet recall strategic product
placements 4 times as much as paid commercial messages. With an increasing number
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of viewers using these ad-skipping devices along with cluttered airwaves and cable
channels, marketers are requesting that their agencies work harder to get their brands in
front of consumers through strategic product placements. In order to meet marketers'
requests, ad agencies are establishing entertainment-marketing divisions, with the more
aggressive agencies purchasing talent, PR and product placement agencies.
However, until now, the advertising and entertainment industries have not developed a
universal standard to scientifically quantify and valuate product placement performance,
and marketers were unable to view and share this information with colleagues in both a
timely and logistically efficient manner. Measured and quantified product placement
reporting is destined to fill the gap between subjective and objective valuations,
bringing performance accountability to the next level. As product placement takes
center stage and enters the mainstream of marketing, a standard method for quantifying
and valuating product placement performance will enable marketers to make spending
decisions based on accurate and reliable information.
Product placement has withstood the test of time by continuously demonstrating its
capabilities to marketers. The once threat to advertisers has become a viable venue,
providing new and better ways to do business with clients. The evolution of product
placement will flourish as informed advertisers and marketers capitalize on the right
entertainment property with the right cross-marketing programs.
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