Product Placement

Question 1

Product Placement: Definition

Answer 1

The inclusion of branded items in film 
(or television) in return for :
- payment
- free supply
- cross- promotion
- Films :  deregulated  
- big business for the film industry
- attractive for product suppliers
- a potentially powerful communications tool
- Part of the content/ not screened out
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VDsqySu0vMA   ( 4 mins)

• TV : highly regulated in UK …until 2011
  (Ofcom lifted UK ban in 2011 except children’s, religious, news programmes )

Question 2

Advantages for film-makers

Answer 2

• Free ‘prop’ supply = 1/2 the placement deals
  realism of brands not generics eg box labeled‘detergent’or turned away from camera
  props could cost film thousands eg cars, locations
  substantial cost savings
• Apple products appeared in ¼ of US films in 2014
  Payment of fee =approx. 10% of films
  single placement generate from £2K to £30 million ( James Bond- Heineken)
  Cross- promotion or back-end promotion
  =30-40% of films
  cost of marketing a film can be £10 million +
  brand undertakes joint promotion , contributes to marketing of film

eg Burger King cross- promotion for Iron Man 2:
TV adverts ; in-store displays ; giveaways

Question 3

Disadvantages of Product Placement for Film Makers

Answer 3

• over commercialisation
• interference on set
• loss of flexibility with scene cutting
• potential law suits

Question 4

Disadvantages of Product Placement for Marketers

Answer 4

• Unable to predict box office success
• Little control over audience
• Little control over / message / content
• Audience may not notice the brand
• Minority of audience complain

Question 5

Channel 4 Research into how Product Placement works

Answer 5

• If we see characters using brands that don’t fit, it feels weird. If the brand fits, it can reinforce opinions of brands, or for new brands, can build brand associations.
• What we know about one thing informs our view of another. So a known character using a brand will inform our knowledge of that brand and this effect is increased when the association is repeated over time.
• Product Placement helps normalise brands. TV often reflects the real world, so seeing brands exist in a ‘real life’ context helps them look like a normal part of life, particularly if we often and consistently see it in a programme.
• Product placement provides an implicit route to learning. Non-verbal cues can be stronger in shaping opinion because, put simply, they are ‘felt’ rather than ‘thought’. Once a brand has built up a set of associations, simply seeing the brand again can trigger and reinforce these associations.
• Product placement doesn’t prime consumers in the way that traditional ads do. By placing brands in a natural context, product placement equalises the consumer/ brand relationship.