Does it or does it not?

“Vodka Martini, shaken, not stirred”, this is probably the most known product placement around now, but have you ever wondered if this alternative way of advertising gets his things done?
Maybe you didn’t but a large group of marketing managers did and so did professor of marketing Michael A. Wiles.
He and his team launched a study of 126 product placements in successful films in 2002. They compared the related firm’s stock price movement after the movie came out and the expected stock price movement. The results revealed that these firms made an average return of almost 1% specifically related to there product placement.
Furthermore this study offers insight on how execution factors can affect placement worth. The film’s audience size, audio or only visual placement and the status of the product itself known a noticeable positive influence on the placement worth. On the other hand the results show a more negatively influence when the film is to violent or critically acclaimed and when more products get a role in the same film.

Owing to this study a certain amount of the uncertainty always linked with investments in this alternative way of advertising belongs is gone with the wind.

Toon Boermans
www.marketingpower.com

And the winner is… Apple!

After four years Apple is likely to throw Ford from its leading position in the brandcameo listing. This list counts the appearances of brands in the top films of the last year. Since 2005 the golden necklace shimmered on Ford’s body work, while apple had to satisfy itself with the inferior podium places. But with the current figures (appearances for Apple 18 , Ford 12 and Budweiser 11) and just one month of 2009 ahead, there is little chance that Apple is going to slip his lead.

The films in which the most famous apple on the planet stole the spotlight are spread over an wide range of styles. From the teenage movies 17 again and Hannah Montana the movie, to fiction pictures such as Watchman or The transformers to end up even in Walt-Disney’s G-force.

Let’s hope for them that the annual sales numbers are as representative as the numbers here.

Toon Boermans
www.brandchannel.com

Such a thing as product displacement

These days it has become more rule than exception that big companies and filmmakers close millions worth deals to get a glimpse of their brands in a movie. But Danny Boyle, the director of the eight Oscar winning picture Slumdog Millionaire, found out that it can be the other way around. He had to spend ten thousand of pounds to paint out symbols of Mercedez-Benz and Coca Cola. Both companies were afraid that there brand would be blemished if linked with the slum life. Remarkable is that later on in the movie, when the a Mercedez is parked outside a pompous villa, at once it does not seem necessary anymore to cover the car’s logo.

The Trainspotting director showed his discontent with this powerful words: “We ended up paying tens of thousands of pounds painting out these symbols, which are meant to unite the world, aren’t they?”

Toon Boermans
http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk

Corporations self-destruct in order to thrive.

Corporations today don’t mind if their product is used in a negative or even self-destructive way as long as it is part of a bigger plan.
Big companies can prefer it this way in the stead of the obvious “let’s put a big refrigerator full of coke in the movie”. An other reason for this kind of advertising is the power to differentiate them from the mainstream competitors.
In the ways mentioned above the advertisers try to get a message across to their viewers but this isn't always the case, sometimes their only goal is simply to let their product be seen by the audience.

Product placement a booming business.

The rising marketing costs and the economic crisis are causing a real revolution in the land of product placement. In the past brands could get exposure time in blockbuster movies by simply rendering services and goods in return. Nowadays with exposure time becoming more and more expensive the old methods aren’t enough to reimburse the producers for their “troubles”.

To make sure the service reflects the price a new method called marketing support was needed. A brand promotes the movie and by doing so they save the producers a lot of money, which evens out the equation and renders both sides satisfied.

Philippe Blancquaert

A lead role for product placement.

The importance a certain product has in the storyline of a movie makes a difference in it’s recognizability. Therefore it’s necessary you adjust your product placement to the needs of your company.

When a product is important to the story, used by a character or important to the plot, the viewer will specifically remember the brand thus creating awareness. The background role is more subtle, the audience doesn’t actively remember the product but still they are more likely to buy it.

Small companies trying to create brand awareness should give their product the biggest and also most expensive role possible. The already well-known brands are best of with the smaller less expensive background roles.

Philippe Blancquaert

Product placement in an 'exciting' new way

Although millions of dollars are spent every year on finding new marketing opportunities, an obvious place for product placement has only been discovered recently. The porn industry is making even more money now that clothing brands decided to try a new and naughty way of advertising. In a time when scientific research is sabotaged because too many men have watched porn, this seems like a logical evolution. When a girl is taking off her H&M clothes , the durex pack of condoms on the night table might not be the thing that turns you on, but marketers can be quite sure you paid attention to every detail on the screen.

Source 1: http://www.utne.com/2000-08-01/PorntoSellProductPlacementMeetsPornMovies.aspx
Source 2: http://www.standaard.be/artikel/detail.aspx?artikelid=DMF20091203_075