Product Placements

o Television advertising is becoming more creative:

o Product Placement: purposeful incorporation of commercial content into noncommercial settings o Companies pay to have their product, brand or service “Placed” in television shows, movies, music video, or video games as props

o Movies o TV o Radio o Video Games o Music Videos o Books

1. To achieve prominent audience exposure, visibility, attention, and interest o The more successful the program, the longer shelf life of the product placement o products should be visible within a scene, but not the focus o product needs to fit, almost seamlessly (almost being the key word here) into the shot 2. To increase consumer memory and recall of the brand or product o Research shows raises brand awareness by 20% o brands placed in movie scenes enjoy higher brand recall than those that are not

3. Show your product in a real-life scenario o can call attention to several features of a product that a short commercial spot can’t – shows how used o Doesn’t look like a commercial – “Stealth advertising” 4. Hundreds of new television stations - no telling what your target market is watching o Advertising dollars are often wasted on expensive commercials that used to reach millions 5. The popularity of TiVo and similar digital video recorders allows viewers to skip the commercials

One of the first instances of successful product placement Sales increased by 65% following movie release

o Time Magazine Monday, July 26, 1982 Monday, July 26, 1982 o The folks at Hershey Foods Corp. are feeling very happy these days. Reese's Pieces, a steady but unspectacular-selling brand of candy, has blossomed into an unexpected summer hit. Sales of the peanut butter- flavored candy shot up 65% in June after the release of E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial, which is filling movie theaters at a record clip. In the film, E.T., an endearing space creature, is lured out of hiding by a boy who scatters pieces of the candy in his path.

o Hershey’s agreed to promote E.T. for $1 million in advertising; and Hershey could use E.T. in its ads o Sales jumped 65% within 2 weeks o This movie tie-in all but fell into the lap of Hershey, which sold some $35 million worth of Reese's Pieces last year....

Product Placement was satirized (to criticize) in the 1992 movie Wayne’s World

Product placement has become prevalent since the 1980’s o “90% of people with digital video recorders skip TV ads. o Research shows product placement in content boosts brand awareness, raises brand affinity and encourages prospective purchasers o 60% of viewers felt more positive about brands they recognized in a placement o 45% said they would be more likely to make a purchase.”

o Coke, Ford and AT&T have product placements on American Idol

o How can viewers know if a product is used for artistic reasons or if it is shown as an advertisement? o Is it ethical for a company to use this kind of hidden advertising? o Should movies and television shows be required to disclose all placements at the end during the credits?

Seinfeld “The Junior Mint” episode Great example of product placement on television

o The 2007 film Transformers is said to include over 70 different product placements o In this activity, we will watch the movie Transformers and list all of the different products/brands/companies that you see during the film

o Which placements in the movie were the most effective and least effective? o What seems to separate a good, “sticky” placement from a poor, forgettable one? o Have you purchased a product after seeing it on a movie or television?

o In this final activity, you will be determining where to and how to place your product o The class will be divided into teams, with each team given a product o The teams will determine a show to place their product in as well as develop suggestions for how the product could be incorporated into the storyline

o ube.com/watch? v=4LFQIoc49ZM – Shows some of the answers. ube.com/watch? v=4LFQIoc49ZM