The wave of the future

Product placement is becoming more and more popular. If there is one thing I learned from blogging on product placement this semester is that it is EVERYWHERE! You can find products strategically placed in movies, television shows, books, video games, and even on garbage trucks.

Since recent technologies such as TiVo and DVR allow audiences to fast forward through commericals, many companies have been focusing their efforts on placing their products within the actual television show. Some companies have even been able to have the show revolve around their product, as was seen with Applebee's in the new show Friday Night Lights. Another popular trend is to place a product in a television show and have a commerical for that product directly after, which Herbal Essense did on What I Like About You. This methods has acutally proven to increase brand awarness by 20 percent.

Although current technology is making it more and more difficult for advertisers, future technology will hopefully allow for endless possibilities. For example, currently many websites are being used to sell certain products that are seen on numerous television shows. Eventually, television will act as an ordering catalog and allow viewers to purchase the products that they see with the click of a remote. And with new things such as video iPods, products can be placed to appear at the beginning of songs, pod-casts, music videos, etc.

Product placement is traditionally placed in movies and on television, but now companies are branching out. Authors are talking about products in extensive details in their books and video games are using real products to help make the virital reality seem more like reality. Products are even being placed on garabage trucks to promote Glad bags and keeping NYC clean.

Through my audience research class I learned different places you can advertise and how to commute the costs. Most media are extremely expensive and companies do not always have big enough budgets. Many products are placed just on reputation, such as the Zune on Ellen, and therefore serve as free advertisements and something every company should look into.

Audience research has also taught me the importnace of knowing your target audience and catering to what they want and need. This is not just necassary for traditional advertising, but product placement as well. When placing a product in a movie, tv show, etc, you need to know about the typical viewer of the program. If you are trying to place a Big Mac and the typical viewer is extremely health concious, that may not be the best placement. However, if you are a musical instrument company and you are trying to attract teens who are interested in music, the video game Guitar Hero is a perfect match.

With the 30 second commerical on the verge of extinction, advertising agencies have to get more creative. Product Placement is already extremely popular and its appearance in traditional and non-traditional media is just going to keep increasing throughout the years.

Product Placement increases brand awareness

According to a recent Nielson Media research study, product placement increases brand recognition by 20 percent.

58 percent of viewers recognized a brand when viewing product placement along with a commerical compared to the 47 percent of viewers who recognized a brand after just viewing the commerical.

Although brand recognition is increased, that doesn't necassarily mean that sales increase as well. Also, viewers' awareness, attitudes, and purchase interest were found to be correlated to the level of familarity the viewer had with the brand, program's genre and loyalty, and the nature of the product placement.

I'm curious how much brand awareness increasing from viewers just seeing a product placement and not a commerical. Since many viewers are now able to fast forward or skip commericals all together, product placement is becoming more and more significant and those awarness numbers would be useful to know.

Product placement is starting to make its appearance in novels. The latest James Patterson novel, "Cross," talks about Mercedes-Benz in great detail. In fact, an entire chapter of the book describes the main character's trip to a Mercedes-Benz dealership.

“So we stopped at the Mercedes dealer…Jannie and Damon ogled a silver CLK500 Cabriolet convertible, while Ali and I tested out the spacious front seat of an R350. I was thinking family car — safety, beauty, resale value. Intellect and emotion.”

The main character later purchases a R350 and drives it to clear his mind. Each time he drives it he describes what he likes about the car.

This product placement is so obvious and forced that it becomes annoying. If James Patterson just had the character have the car and mention it once or twice readers would not even notice. However, he goes overboard and spends a whole chapter talking about the dealership and keeps mentioning the car throughout the novel.

Seen On!

I came across the ultimate product placement website called SeenOn. It allows people to post different products that they have seen in television shows and movies and allows others to confirm them. There is also a blog that is based around the latest fashions and technology placements that are occuring in the most popular television shows and movies. In addition to this, it allows users to purchase various products that were seen on select movies and television shows.

This shows that people are obviously paying attention to product placement and want a good portion of the products they are seeing. Who knows, maybe someday stores will open up in malls that just feature products that were seen on television and in movies.

Who said nothing in life is free?

This Friday the movie "A Good Year" will be released in theaters. It stars Russell Crowe who plays an investment banker from London who winds up in Provence attending to a small vineyard he inherited.

One of Crowe's main gadgets is the Palm Inc's Treo Smart Phone. This phone is not just used for calling people, but taking pictures, having video conferences, e-mailing, and even helps Crowe with some wine selections, all of which the Treo can do in real life.

For a placement this big companies usually pay thousands of dollars, however Palm Inc did not pay anything. The Treo got placed based on its reputation alone. Im curious if the script writers were given Treo phones to influence their decision or if this placement was done without any influence from Palm Inc what-so-ever. Either way, Palm Inc is receiving about 2 hours of a free commerical and word of mouth advertising. It doesn't get any better than that!

Glad to help

Throughout New York City, the logo of the Glad products Co is being placed on 2,220 sanitation trucks and 450 mechanical brooms. These 22 by 28 inch signs are more of a public service announcement than an actual ad reading "Glad: New York City Tough. Keep NYC Clean."

This placement was actual done to thank Glad for their generous donation of 125,000 white 30 gallon trash bags and $7,500 to Keep American Beautiful, the national nonprofit organization dedicated to litter prevention and beautification, which will be used to help keep NYC clean.

Glad ambassadors will even get a chance to travel with the sanitation trucks at the end of the Macy's Thanksgiving day parade.

This is not only a great product placement for Glad trash bags, but it is also great PR for them as well. They donated money to help make NYC clean and their advertisement was not just about themselves, but the beautification of NYC as well. If these PSA's actually do work, Glad will be associated with the success and their sales will most likely skyrocket. Maybe they will even extend the program to other cities such as Los Angeles and Chicago.

Virtual reality or just plan reality?

In order to add an extra element of realism, RedOctane has decided to place real music products in their new game, Guitar Hero II. These will include Boss Effectors, DW Drums, Eden Bass Amplication, EMG, Epiphone, Ernie Ball Strings, Gibson Guitar, Guitar Center, Hofner, Kramer, Krank, Line 6, Mesa Boogie, MusicMan Basses, Orange, Randall Amplifiers, Roland, Vans and the Vans Warped Tour, VHT, and Zildjian.

According to Dutsy Welch the head publisher of RedOctane, these placements allow players to be "immersed into the rock star culture, utilizing the authentic tools of musicians worldwide including an extensive array of amps, strings, pedals, cymbals, music stores and venues."

This is a perfect example of how product placement benefits both parties involved. The brands will increase their awareness as gamers conquer level after level on these virtual instruments. Guitar Hero II is able to use real products to make the game seem more of a reality as apposed to the virtual reality that it is.