Introduction: Product placement and its might
The most famous theory of marketing management is that of 4P’s where each P represents a unique aspect of marketing the product such as Product, Price, Place, and Promotion. Out of these 4 notions, Promotion stands out as a form of communication for placing the brand into the minds of its target customers. The brand and the product are supposed to be successful in today’s world only if they are efficient enough in communicating their presence to their target customers. Hence, product placements are generally planned to provide a multimedia driven exposure for their brands by using the commercial advertisements in feature films and television programs. The product placement is executed by an involvement of the media owner and the product or brand marketers who have the sole purpose of targeting their customers via these well structured communications which are exposed to the audience in a subtle way. The most efficient use of product placement via multimedia is in case of movies and TV series but it is also extended to other forms like theatre dramas, digital multimedia, video games, video songs, etc.
An effective product placement can result in a communicated reach for the product to a very large chunk of customers and target audience. The association of subtly placed products with leading celebrities and actors in feature films often results in creating a thorough familiarity of the brand with the customers. Usually, the product which is placed gets displayed in movies and television series as a product used by the characters and stands out as a part of the screenplay. There are some excellent examples of how a neatly schematized product placement resulted in boosting the sales of a product to a large extent.
This essay tends to explore the earlier set examples of best and worst product placements and aims to develop an insight over the most optimum use of product placement.
A product placement is usually considered prominent when its presence in the screen is highlighted by virtue of its position, utility, centrality, or core significance mentioned by any prime character (Bressoud and Lehu, 2008, p.3). The product can be placed in a multimedia by using either individually or a combination of the audio-visual modality, cinematographic focus plot insertion, screenplay tweak, and storyline. To understand how these notions are actually implemented in a feature film to gain a successful product placement, the below analysis determines how the effectiveness of product placement can be optimized to benefit the brand.
British movie James Bond-Spectre (released in 2015) stands as an epitome of strategic product placements by using a multimodal approach for promoting a specific model of the Aston Martin Car and Omega watch. The movie utilizes its product placement strategy by explicitly using the brands as a part of various elements of a successful product placement which are as follows:
Plot Insertion: The Aston Martin DB10 car and Omega Sea-maser 300 watch are critical components of James Bond’s accessories which are exclusively meant to be used by him and are rendered to him by his secret agency. The movie’s plot specifically mentions that these two products are customized to meet Mr. Bond’s requirements regarding safety and utility. Thus, brand placement for service excellence of these products has been extremely efficient in this case .
Screenplay insertion: The Car and watch are used by James Bond in the movie in extremely critical circumstances where both of them contribute to better safety and precise accomplishment of his undertaken tasks.
Cinematographic focus: Both, Aston Martin Car and Omega watch are shown with a central focus on the screen as a part of the elite facilities furnished to Mr. Bond in the movie. Chase sequences and extra safety features like built in explosives in both the products are mentioned as an add-on to their extent of customization and to amplify the niche.
Audio-visual modality: The Aston Martin Car is shown in almost all the main chase sequences where its unique product features like high speed, powerful engine, good design, firm grip, and post collision safety are highlighted. Similarly, the sound of the Cars engine and the tick-tick sound for the watch are given prime importance to explain how they add to the brand’s niche association with Mr. Bond.
Inferences drawn for creating an effective product placement
On the basis of inferences drawn from the case mentioned above and scholarly studies conducted in this regard, the following attributes of an effective product placement are deduced:
The product should ideally be promoted by its association with the characters and the plot rather than merely advertising the product (Kaur, 2014, p.56).
More of lifestyle related products can be effectively promoted via feature films as audience generally tends to emulate the lifestyle portrayed by the film characters (Lacroix and Martin, 2013, p.6).
The plot, screenplay, cinematography and the audio-visuals modality should be blended together to enhance the contribution and significance of the placed product to create the most impactful communication which can create an everlasting impression in the minds of audience (Karisik, 2014, p. 258).
Use of creativity in integrating the product to the plot or to a scene so as to enhance the brand value and product utility features can be very crucial in deciding the subtleness of the intended placement (Bressoud and Lehu, 2008, p.3). Overdoing any of the above aspects or merely inserting the product placement in an audio-visual media might result adversely.
An evaluation of effectiveness of product placement in recent examples
Apart from the case specific study mentioned above, there are some other examples where proper product placement is done via usage of multimodal placement strategies and the resultant impact on brand communication was extremely good.
Usage of a car ‘Chevrolet Camaro’ as the protagonist in the Hollywood movie ‘Transformers’ has utilized all the four main modes of placing the product by using the plot integration, screenplay, cinematography, audio-visual modality, etc. The movie has given a significant boost to the overall branding of this particular product and raised its demand in international markets.
Fed Ex was prominently marketed and placed in the movie Cast Away which has its protagonist as a worker of Fed Ex and usage of Fed Ex logo has been extensively used in the film for almost half of the total screen time. This is perhaps the best example when a logistics brand was so exclusively placed in a movie because the protagonist got stranded to a lone island with so many boxes from Fed Ex delivery. Hence, there was no scope of any other product or brand occupying the screen presence other than Fed Ex.
The movie ‘Snakes on a plane’ used exclusive product placement for eBay by not only using the brand as a part of the plot but also inserted its name in the dialogues of various characters. Similarly, the protagonist in Mr. Bean’s holiday won a Sony camera to shoot his entire holiday and used this camera in the entire movie to create comic sequences.
The feature films are an effective medium for those product placements which are crafted genuinely by using creative blend of multimodal placement strategies discussed above. However, it is true that since the audience is bound to accept the communication given via feature films but this can be problematic if the placement is not subtly fused into the plot or merely inserted into the screenplay without using a logical connection (Karisik, 2014, p. 259). We will analyze a case of unsuccessful brand placement where too much products were placed and the notion of product placement superimposed over the movie’s plot leading to disastrous results for both, the feature films and the brands.
The American animation movie ‘Foodfight’ (released in 2012) stands as an example of a failure in product placement studies because it has haphazardly fused too many supermarket brand placements in its plot so that the entire movie appears to be a product placement rather than being a feature film. The animation movie was built on a plot where all the brand mascots in a supermarket are in awe of some mysterious brand X which started appearing on the shelves of the supermarket. This plot provided the scope of subtly using the brand and product placement for the producers who went a little above board and used too much brand placements which made the movie look like a jumbled parody of various supermarket brands’ commercials. Consequently, the movie was a big disaster and even the critics named it as an ‘animated product placement film”.
An evaluation of negative impact of product placement in recent examples
On the basis of inferences derived from the improper product placement from the case mentioned above and the scholarly studies conducted in this regard, the negative impacts of an improper product placement observed in recent examples are as follows:
The example of bad product placement due to deliberate inclusion of a brand into an ongoing flow of a multimedia program is in case of the Purell brand in the Television series named Big Bang theory. The lead character, Sheldon Cooper suddenly starts screaming Oh Dear, Purell, Purell” after receiving a notification from his university.
Lack of plot integration is a serious flaw in product placements which involve sudden use of close-up shots of products suddenly in a scene which has no direct requirement of such placements. Superficial use of Apple’s Beats brand speakers which get displayed out of nowhere in the feature film ‘Transformers: Age of extinction” in a scene when one of the characters name Tuci is trying to create something innovative.
Unwanted and unexpressed product placements used by filmmakers to create an environment close to a real time scenario often end up in disaster. The climax of the feature film ‘Transformers: Age of extinction” which was shown to be in China used a backdrop of various Chinese brands like ‘The Black Duck food chain’ and Chongqing Tourism. Both the companies called in unethical and got disappointed with such unauthorized placement.
Recommendations for making a proper product placement
The following recommendations are given as an insight to have proper utilization of product placement in feature films and other multimedia:
A Proper integration of the placement with the plot and screenplay is must for best impact (Bressoud and Lehu, 2008, p.11).
Sudden pop-up type inclusion of brand and product placements should be avoided.
A schematic association of the product with the onscreen utility and its link with lifestyle change should be firmly imposed (Bressoud and Lehu, 2008, p.10).
Adequate use of audio-visual modalities and cinematographic techniques should be deployed to enable the subtlety of implied product placement (Kaur, 2014, p.57).
Conclusion: What should be avoided in product placements?
Product placement in feature films is a growing field in marketing sciences and people should abide by certain operational precautions to avoid the negative impact of product placement. Some of aspects need to be meticulously avoided before placing a product in a feature film. For example, ethical product placements should be encouraged and harmful products should be shunned (Lacroix and Martin, 2013, p.9). Similarly, product placement for a particular brand or multiple brands should not be overdone to create a hazy perception. Finally, distracting messages and false impersonations should not be conveyed via product placements in feature films. If all the elements of a subtle and strategic product placement discussed in this essay are thoroughly applied, a corresponding rise in the brand value and sales of products is definitely inevitable.
Bibliography
Bressoud, E. and Lehu, J. ‘Product placement in movies: questioning the effectiveness according to the spectator's viewing conditions’. New Trends in Advertising Research, Vol. 1(2008): 1-14.
Karisik, J.V. ‘20 Years of Research on Product Placement in Movie, Television and Video Game Media’. Journal of Economic and Social Studies, Vol. 4(2014): 253-270
Kaur, G. ‘Product Placement in Movies: The Bollywood Experience’. Global Journal of Finance and Management, Volume 6 (2014), 53-59.
Lacroix, K. and Martin, N., 2013. How people react to product placement: A comparative study between normal product placement and non-ethical product placement. Halmstad, [online] Available at :< http://hh.diva-portal.org/smash/get/diva2:626162/FULLTEXT01.pdf /> [Accessed 22 March 2016].
