Product Placement Basics
Product placement is a promotional tactic where a real commercial product is used in fictional or non-fictional media to increase consumer interest in the product. There are three ways product placement can occur:
1. It simply happens.
2. It’s arranged, and a certain amount of the product serves as compensation.
3. It’s arranged and there is financial compensation for placement or integration.
The goals of product placements are:
– Image recognition – make the product known.
– Functionality – placement should be implemented in a way that shows what the product does and how it can be used.
– Emotional attachment – the use of a product should illicit a positive emotional response from the audience.
Food, cleaning and beauty products as well as electronics generally do well with product placements. Beauty products, apparel, small electronics and cars are often the best product placement performers because they are purchased for social validation.
The most common types of product placement are:
Product placement in movies
If done correctly, product placement in movies can actually add the sense of reality to a movie that the use of non-branded product simply can not achieve. The best examples of product placement are seamlessly woven into the narrative. Two of the now-famous product placements are Ray-Ban sunglasses in Risky Business and America Online in You’ve Got Mail. The most successful product placements include a tie-in advertising campaign linking the product with the film and announcing the association before the movie’s release. On the other hand, poor use of product placement can seem forced and obvious, detract from the credibility and quality of the experience, and compromise the integrity of the story.
Product placement on TV
Product placement is not as widespread on TV as it is in the movies, but it is a rapidly growing industry. More commonly referred to as “product integration” in this medium, this process has to share its advertising space with traditional advertising unit — the 30-second spot. On American Idol, product placement is renewed year after year by AT&T Wireless, Coca-Cola and Ford. Unconfirmed compensation to American Idol by each of the three companies is said to be around $26 million.
In-game product placement
Gamers are an extremely attractive advertising target. They have above-average household incomes. Game consoles are becoming “digital hubs” in the living room, resulting in greater advertising exposure for all members of the household. Finally, gamers respond positively to product placement. In one study, 70% of gamers considered product placement a positive feature that added to the reality of the game. Studies have also shown that short-term recall rate of brand names in video games is upwards of 40%, with sports games taking the lead with a 54% brand recall rate. This makes video game product placement one of the most effective ways to create consumer awareness. Product placement in video games can range in degree of interactivity. Game streetscapes can contain billboards with advertisements for products. Products can also be woven into the story of a game.
Reverse product placement
While traditional product placement refers to integrating a real brand into a fictional environment, reverse product placement refers to creating a fictional brand in a fictional environment and then releasing it into the real world. In an early example of reverse product placement, the restaurant chain Bubba Gump Shrimp Co. was brought to life through its association with the film Forrest Gump. In this example, fictional product was so popular with viewers that a company decided to create a real-life version. Reverse product placement can also be used to generate buzz about a product before its launch. American Apparel launched a line of jeans in the virtual world Second Life several months before launching them in its real-world stores. Since it is often much less expensive to release a fictional product than to manufacture an actual product, reverse product placement can be used to gauge the public’s interest in a proposed new product.
One of the most important advantages of product placement as an advertising tactic is that it can not be bypassed because it is integrated into the media. Products have already found their way into movies, television, video games, music and books, but with digital technology continuing to skyrocket in both form and function, there’s a seemingly endless stream of new and innovative ways to put products in front of potential consumers.
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Monday, July 26th 2010 at 12:11 am |
Do you mean the last part about reverse product placement? If so, you’re basically advertising a product that has yet to be produced/manufactured in order to assess consumer interest since it is often less expensive to release a fictional product first, before producing the actual product. If that’s not it, let me know what you are referring to and I’ll try to demystify!
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