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This site is not a commercial site.
Pros
and Cons of Product Placement
By Nila Nahadi
What ticks me off is when product placement is so blatant like in "Waynes World" or "Austin Powers." It seems that at one time it was to defer the costs of productions however as product placement gets more attention the fees get higher and higher.
Some companies pay millions of dollars while others like The Coffee Beanery in "Deep Impact" it cost the Beanery 20 empty cups. I personally feel product placement could be good when showing real products instead of Beer cans that simply say Beer. Look carefully in TV it looks like Coors but says Beer in the Coors Font or even Coke looks like Coke yet it says Cola in the Coke fonts. If you remember the old days everything was Acme. Acme Plumbing, Acme Tow .
So what's the pros and cons?
Pro's
Everybody wins: The product company wins because the can get their product seen by millions of people even in a bad film. The Production wins because they get product, which they would have bought for the crew anyway. Sometimes the crew gets what is called a second meal. So a company like Popeyes Chicken could get in the film for simply providing a meal. Sometimes for 80 people (like in TV) or as many as 1000 ( large crew with lots of extras) . This means that the production company would have saved \$ 35-$40,000 now that is a saving.
Another pro is a sales surge from a very positive placement like Reesess in ET . There are several stories how that happened. Some say reesess paid a fortune for that spot. Well that's not true. It was a simple placement that did great.
Cons
In some cases that meal that production saved $40,000 on was cut out of film. Depends on the contract sometimes they get a refund sometimes they don't.
Negative Placements: This is a very bad situation and that is lets say they actor in the scene takes a drink of soda which has a brand name and the actor says" yuck this tastes real bad. That could be devastating to a company a guarantee to lose business.
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From Marketing News...
"The word that comes up a lot in our work is seamless, that’s the way
placements have to function to be successful, most people prefer to see a
can of Pepsi or other familiar brand rather than one that says ‘soda’". (about
the film Apollo 13). "When Kevin Bacon’s character is at a party to watch
Apollo 11, he is holding a bottle of Budweiser and is explaining the docking
procedure to a woman, using a little sexual innuendo. It’s a perfect scene
because he’s laughing, she’s laughing, the audience is laughing and just the
right amount of attention is brought to the bottle".
Dean Ayers; Anheuser-Bush
"Creativity is the key to the consumer's psyche. You can sell anything to
anyone using creativity. Creative product positioning is everything especially
where Product Placement is concerned. The creative process is the most
important key to a successful placement".
Mark Hawkins; Mars Advertising
"We never want to hit the movie goers over the head with product exposure,
the best placements are natural and seamless";
Steve Ross; 20th Century Fox
"Non competing industries can join with one theme that’s fun to be
associated with in a popular culture".
Phil Bowman; Pizza Hut Inc.
"When a Star uses a recognizable product, people in the audience will pat
themselves on the back and say ‘look how smart I am, I’m using the same
thing as the hero in the movie’. It’s the most inexpensive way to get visibility
and sales power".
Gisela Dawson; The Catalyst Group
"A lot of benefit is for your own employees, seeing the brand on screen
makes them feel good".
Maryann
Seduski; ATT Lucent Technologies
______________
University of West Virginia research on 304 cinema-goers viewing
six films with 30 placements, found that using a product on screen,
such as Bond`s use of the Cagiva in GoldenEye was most effective.
"ET" increased sales of Reese’s Pieces by 70%
"The Firm" increased Red Strip beer sales
53%
James’ Bonds "Golden Eye" sold 3600 BMW Z3 roadsters in Atlantic
Blue 3 weeks before the film opened and the car was back ordered by 8000
units
"Risky Business" tripled Ray-Ban Wayfarer sales from 18,000 to
360,000 in the first year to 720,000 the next year. The company was able to
increase the price from \\$30 to $50.
"The Firm" increased Red Strip beer sales
53%
"Days of Thunder" increased sales of Mello Yello to \\$154 million
dollars
"Jurassic Park" dramatically increased the sales of the Ford Explorer
according to Ford
If you are looking for a Product Placement Agency use the ERMA link. That has all the agencies listed or go to here for my top ten