Product Placement

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Product Placement

• Dr. Niann-Chung Tsai
• Professor and Director,
• Digital AV Web Learning Center
• Shih Hsin University

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• Topic Issues

• Definition of Product Placement
• Product Placements in Television and Film
• Product Placement VS. Concept Placement
• What kind of communication effect does product
  (concept) placement have?
• What do viewers really think about product
  (concept) placement?

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Definition of Product Placement

• Product placement is a promotional tactic used by
  marketers in which characters in a fictional
  play, movie, television series, or book use a
  real commercial product. Typically either the
  product or logo is shown or favourable qualities
  of the product are mentioned.

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• Generally, product placement involves placing a
  product in highly visible situations. The most
  common form is movie and television placements.

Fedex in Cast Away
Apple PowerBook in 24 Hours
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Product Placements in Television and Film

• While watching television, do you often ignore
  your television or zap the commercials during
  commercial breaks to avoid advertisements? If you
  are one of the millions of viewers who purposely
  avoid advertisements. The placement designers are
  catching on to you!

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Observations from TV and Film

• You are being influenced by advertisements that
  are so carefully integrated into television shows
  and movies that you are unaware that their
  presence is a form of advertising.

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• Rather than advertising a product in a
  commercial, advertising owners have their
  products incorporated into television programs
  and films
• Advertising owners hope that by placing their
  product within a program or film, they will
  effectively increase the overall awareness of
  their product with the audience targeted by the
  filmmakers and television producers.

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Types of product placement

• There are three main types of product
  placements that are used today which are visual
  placement, auditory placement, and plot
  connection.

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Visual Placement (??????)

• This occurs when a product, service, or logo
  can be simply observed within the setting of a
  television show or film. For example, during a
  television program you may notice that a can of
  Coca-Cola is sitting on a table.

Coke-Cola American Idol
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Effects of Visual Placement

• The effect that the placement has on consumers
  brand attitudes cannot be measured to this day
  but research has shown that the number of
  appearances on the screen may increase
  recognition.
• But most marketers believe that showing a product
  repeatedly during a highly rated program will
  increase consumer recognition of the product.
• This tactic can be a dangerous one because
  overexposure to a product during a program or
  film can lead to the suspicion of whether or not
  the product is being shown for advertising
  reasons.

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Characters of Visual Placement

• Products that are visually presented and not
  discussed, and are not as effective because the
  visual channel is often used to display products
  without discussing them. Sometimes the items are
  used as part of the background scenery and tend
  to go unnoticed by viewers because they are
  listening rather than observing the set.

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• Reeses Pieces in E.T. in 1982 remain one
  of the best examples of product placement,
  Reeses increased sales for years. At that time,
  MMs turned down the placement.

E.T. Reeses Pieces
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Auditory Placement (??????)

• This occurs when a character verbally refers to
  a product or service that is scripted within the
  program. The effect of an auditory placement
  depends on three factors
• The context in which the concept is mentioned
• The frequency that the concept is mentioned
• The emphasis placed on the concept

007 OMEGA
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Characters of Auditory Placement

•   Auditory information has a greater effect than
  visual placement on viewers because they can
  process the information even when they are not
  looking at the television or movie screen. People
  tend to pay more attention to what is being said
  by characters, especially during programs in
  which the viewer is highly involved.

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• 007 is a milestone in the history of
  moviemaking. The films have become a way for
  advertising agencies and corporations to
  associate their product with 007, and so get the
  media attention theyre seeking.

Golden Eye BMW
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Plot Connection (??????)

• This type of placement occurs most often and
  usually has the greatest impact on viewers. Plot
  connection occurs when a brand makes a low or
  high-level contribution to a storyline.

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• For instance, suppose that the cast of Mr.A and
  Mr.B did an episode that involved the purchase of
  a new Honda for one of the characters. The brand
  is integrated into the story because the
  characters will deal with the product throughout
  the episode.
• Plot connection usually involves the physical
  handling of products and can have the greatest
  impact on viewers when the brand is highly
  connected to the plot.

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• The Truman Show's depiction of the way product
  placement is woven into Truman's life is an
  effective satire on the commercialization of our
  own lives.

The Truman Show Chefs Pal Mococa
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• Why is product placement so popular during
  television programs?
• Product placement is not used to replace the
  marketing strategy of a company it is used to
  enhance it.
• Another reason for the rising popularity of
  product placement is due to the fact that many
  marketers see growing technologies as a threat.

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• Today digital recorders make it even easier for
  viewers to zip through commercials or to avoid
  them altogether. With over half a million
  households using personal video recorders such as
  TiVO, viewers tend to skip commercials all the
  time.

TiVO Digital Recorder
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Rethinking onProduct Placement VS. Concept
Placement

• What is the difference between product placement
  and concept placement?
• What is the better way to deal with product and
  concept placement?
• Is it wrong when the government uses of concept
  placement ?

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?????? ??????? Sanlih E-Television
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• What kind of communication effect does product
  (concept) placement have?
• In the past, most marketing researchers tried to
  calculate the success of a product placement
  based upon the length of time that their product
  appeared on the screen and its context within the
  program.
• As a communication researcher, I always emphasize
  the effects of communication no matter how the
  communication take place in different ways.

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• Government may strategically use the popularity
  of TV dramas in appropriate situation, so that
  public policy and announcement can be exposed in
  the drama plot when the populace are viewed

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?????? ????? Formosa Television
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• What do viewers really think about product
  (concept) placement?
• Consumers are much more skeptical today than in
  the past and many find that placing products in
  television shows and movies takes away from the
  entertainment value of the program.
• However, the consumers mostly would be delightful
  to view something new product placement on the
  media if the tactic is smart or delicate.

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• Conclusion
• Product or concept placement is considered as
  one of the persuasive communication skills. For
  different ways of making use of product or
  concept placement, we can not say its way of
  approach is wrong or correct. It would be better
  to consider the product or concept placement as a
  way of information delivery. Therefore, as a way
  of information delivery there is only with
  delicate approach or awkward approach.
• Why are there so many arguments in todays
  product placement on mass media? Most arguments
  are due to political issues since the political
  ideology should not get involved in the product
  or concept placement.