Your Brand Here
June 27th, 2008 by Koren Henderson
Remember when name brand goods were never blatantly shown in movies or on TV? Soda cans simply said “Cola” and looked generic. Those days are long gone.
Over the last twenty years, a major shift in product placement has occurred. Advertisers and media realized how valuable subtle placement and outright endorsements could be. Slowly, brands made their way into movies, TV, and even video games.
Brands pay directly for product placement or they can pay “in kind” where companies hand over free goods/services in exchange for promotion. The producers of Cast Away, basically a glorified FedEx commercial, claim FedEx did not pay directly for inclusion.
Although product placement started subtly, movie-makers are now very comfortable with a “hit-them-over-the-head” approach, as was seen in You’ve Got Mail (AOL) and The Italian Job (MINI Coopers).
TV had still shied away from the shameless plug – the king of all product placements – until recently when TV powerhouse American Idol broke that mold. Simon, Paula and Randy sip from Coke cups and artists (yes, I’m talking to you George Michael) agree to sellout performances to hawk their latest CDs. But what I love about American Idol, is that they are completely open and unapologetic with their sponsorships.
I’ve worked with companies who question the ROI of product placement. I assure them, it works. Here is one startling example:
I was driving my five year old daughter to school the other day and we were playing “I Spy” to pass the time. Typically, we play with school busses, or the cars we own (Sequoia, Prius). This time, my girl throws out “I Spy an American Idol Car.” I looked around quizzically not knowing what she meant. Right in front of us was a Ford truck. She had seen the Ford logo and associated that with the Ford product placements she had seen on American Idol.
Now, all Fords are American Idol cars. Ford has planted their brand into the mind of a five year old and associated themselves with a TV show our family loves and watches together. That is powerful and invalauble. So yes, it does work. Now the challenge for Ford is to continue to reinforce that positive brand associaton for the next ten years until my daughter starts driving and purchasing cars.
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