Public Relations and Product Placement
After thinking a long time about the trend that I shall talk about, finally, I chose the “branded entertainment” or in other words, product placement in film, magazines, games or other medium. And the one who inspired me is Bond… James Bond! Indeed, on the Boxing Day, his famous “Tomorrow Never Die” with his BMW 750i and BMW RC1200 motorcycle was broadcasted on TV and this time, I could imagine the success of this “deal”, but especially that it is a growing trend and could be an interesting subject for my blog.
Product placementOne definition of product placement given by
Karrh in 1998 is “a paid inclusion of branded products or brand identifiers, through audio and/or video means, within mass media programming” . However, the communication field is evolving with breathtaking speed, that the technique of brand placement is extended to much more media: books, magazines, videogames and so on. Product placement really started to be famous with the success of the Reese’s Pieces candy after being introduced in the movie “E.T” in 1982. The movie is known worldwide and the candy’s
sale increased by 65%.
Bond and his BMW” are also well-known. And the product placement in movie does not stop to increase. About TV show, a new level in product placement was reached in September 2004: Oprah Winfrey gave all her audience members a brand-new Pontiac G-6 new car to celebrate the premiere of her show's 19th season.
Lucky guys!. We can find many products and brands introduced in TV shows and movies, but also in novel: British author Fay Weldon's latest novel "The Bulgari Connection” and the Bulgari jewelry
(New York Times, September 3, 2001), videogames and other communication channels (magazines, internet, music, radio …). ISM's McQueen estimates that hundreds of brand-name products – clothing, jewelry, cars, airlines, liquor, breakfast cereals, cigarettes and so on – now are placed in movies and TV shows each year. The product placement itself is a media buzz word, “getting mentioned in the Western press over 500 times in January 2005 alone”
(Brandchannel).
I talked about these facts to show that product placement is actually a trend, but the product placement in general is too broad, so for the purpose of this blog, I shall focus on product placement in movies and magazines.
Why is the product placement increasingly used in films and magazines?First, because the entertainment is increasingly important in our consumer society. The audience of a movie, a magazine or a TV show can be over millions of people. Films reach more than $300 000 000 in the
box office, magazines sell millions of copy per week (Entertainment Weekly 1.7m copies per week). Moreover, due to the high competition among TV ,
channels, the audience share for programs decreased and few people look at the same program at the same time. This is not the case with films because we can have many opportunities to look at the same movie: at cinemas, on DVD and on TV.
Then, the increase of regulations and restrictions in some products advertisement makes the product placement a good way to reach the consumer. I am sure that you know what I am talking about:
cigarettes, alcohol, pharmaceutical products...; and these times, fast food regulation is a growing issue. Indeed, these products are part of the everyday life and looking for people smoking or drinking or eating a fast-food in a movie is normal. These products are also more and more introduced in magazines. It’s not rare to read a brand name and information about product (pharmaceutical, cosmetics…) in editorials or articles on beauty, health, diet and so on. This technique is explained by Shirley Harrison (2000; 5) in her book “Public Relation- An Introduction “ as information leading to positive coverage in the press. The most obvious benefit of the product placement in print media is the credibility, people tend to trust the journalists and think that what is said in the press is true. Indeed, “no one has the right to expect the media to print or broadcast anything” (Jefkins, 1992; 86). And the journalist or editors should find the product newsworthy to be covered in his feature.
Finally, the reason why PR practitioners resort to product placement is because it’s a subtle way to communicate. It’s less apparent than an advertising because the product is blended with the story. For
the Washington Post : “It's a commercial of sorts – without the obvious hard sell of a commercial”. Moreover, people can leap an ad on TV or in a magazine, but they cannot do the same with a movie or a feature.
The objective of the product placement:The first objective is to make the public aware of the product. This is ideal as part of a launching campaign. Many companies have used this technique in movie: General Motors with the Pontiac in Oprah Winfrey show, Audi in “I, Robot”, Motorola on “The Sopranos” and many others. However, for the success of this technique, the product should be part of the script. The result may be not as sensational for placement in magazine, but the advantage is that the editor can give information and explanation about the product. And when the placement is really well-done, the buzz following the campaign is an obvious way to measure the success and the result. In 2004, "I, Robot" and Audi appealed over 37,000 Google hits, almost double any other major placement. It makes me think that the buzz is the real aim but if it is not reached, the awareness is not so bad.
For existing brand, the objective is more to
repositionor to
reinforce the brand. It is the case for hundred of products such as soft drink, computers, breakfast cereals, cloths, cosmetics, wine, whiskeys. Here, it’s more difficult to evaluate the result but the fact that the brand is seen in a movie may have an impact on the public because it can be understood as an “everyday life” brand. And another placement comes into my mind: behaviour. The way people behave in a movie can be taken as a standard for the public and it can be a good way to reinforce messages such as cleaning hands, donation. NGOs and Charity organizations are increasingly make use of this technique to communicate to his target audience.
Finally, the objective can be to boost the image of the product
Missy Baxter, 2005. Indeed, the fact that one celebrity is linked with the brand or uses the product enhances its image. People have the aspiration and the ambition to live, to dress, to drive or to behave like celebrities. This concept is largely used in magazine where we can find many articles about star’s choice brands of cosmetics, diet, accessories or whiskeys. The celebrities are considered as the group that influence people opinion. And it may joins what Stauber and Rampton in 1995 describe as one of Bernays’s favourite techniques for manipulating public opinion: the indirect use of “third party authorities” to plead for his clients’ causes. “If you can influence the leaders, either with or without their conscious cooperations, you automatically influence the group which they scay” p 23. May be Bernays did not think of product placement, but it makes me think that the concept is the same: using a third party to influence the target group’s opinion because there is a good chance that viewers or readers will connect the product with the celebrity. This is especially true when we think that people tend to buy consistent things such as houses, furniture, cars or other “big” things. They pay more and more attention on these products in magazine or in movies. Thus, the celebrities can influence them to buy a specific brand.
The challenges:The effectiveness is one of them. Indeed, it is different for sensational placement such as BMW (James Bond or in
The Italian Job where the product is a part of the script itself. What I am talking about here is the placement products or brands that we see 10 seconds in a movie for example. There is always a risk that viewers do not notice the placement. Here, the subtlety becomes a negative aspect. Apple, for example is the most brand seen onscreen for the last 20 years, however, its market share slightly decreased (less than 2%) in 2004.
The choice of the placement is also a challenge. Nobody can predict the success of a movie and this is a key for the success of the placement. An example is Catwoman: nominated for a Golden Raspberry award for worst film of 2004, the placement will not really serve jaguar in this movie. If Mars knew that E.T will be a worldwide success, they would never reject Spielberg’s request to use M&M candy in the film. "Part of this is intuitive" said
Eric Korsh, chief operating officer at Scout, producer of the Queer Eye shows.
And I think that it is true for every thing in the communication field because it always depends on the target group and they are unpredictable. You can guess, hope or measure, but the decision will be theirs.
Then, the product placement itself is controversial because placing commercial products inside media content contrasts with prior conventions of separation of advertisement and editorial. They are described by some associations as
“hidden advertising” and for the Commercial Alert, it’s an
affront to basic honesty.
And they ask for a regulation which is on the way as, the European Commission announced the new rules about product placement on Television in December 2005. Under the proposed new rules, product placement would be allowed as long as an announcement was made at the start of the programme. It would be banned from children's shows, news programs and documentaries. Tobacco and prescription drugs would be prohibited.
The debate is also hot in print media. Shirley Harrison calls this type of technique: “Advertorial”. She explains it as “a feature laid out and written in editorial style but gives solely favourable information about the products or services or the organisation which has paid for it” and agrees that it a “murky area”. The dilemma is that, because of the competition, marketers are ready to pay more and more money to make their brand named in a feature, eg:
Toyota's Lexus . But this temptation can be dangerous for the credibility of the magazine in the future, because readers will not trust the editorial anymore because they will know that it’s a “paid” article.
The futureWhat I would like to do here is to estimate the future of the product placement in PR industry.
In the past, product placement was led by PR practitioners, especially in print media.Today, it’s more and more used by advertisement companies because of the success of the technique. In addition to that, although advertising is very expensive, the result is not 100% as John Wanamaker said : “50% of the money spent on advertising is wasted, but no one can figure out which 50%”. Moreover, when I wanted to find some figures and research about public perception of advertising and product placement, I was not surprised that I am not the only person who takes the opportunity of ad sequences to do something else. “Viewers skip commercials up to 72.3% of the time, yet recall strategic product placements 4 times as much as paid commercial messages”:
Frank Zazza . On the contrary, brand in entertainment is well-accepted by the public “when it enhanced the realism of a programme, is relevant and is not too prominent”. To look at this report,you can
click here.
Thus, today, product placement becomes more and more a powerful tool in the marketing mix and advertisers and marketers are ready to pay in order to ensure the result of their placement. Robin Steinberg, svp, director of print investment at Publicis Group's MediaVest, agreed that it's changing to where they want to and asked if he needs a “PR buyer” on his team. I agree with this question because it seems that the technique is increasingly used by advertisers. And the blur between these two specialties will grow up alongside. Some
bloggers even think that it (product placement) is another instance of what was formerly a PR activity being taken away.
Despite these facts, it does not mean that PR practitioners will not use this technique anymore. It is and will be for many years, a trend in the public relations field and it works. PQ Media, an advertising research company estimates that spending of product-integration advertising in magazines and newspapers in 2004 was about $193 million, and that is expected to grow about 12 percent annually through 2009 to reach about $342 million and TV product-placement
deals will grow 18 percent to $4.2 billion over the same period.
Product placement has became a predominant part of a communication campaign. The importance of this technique makes me think of another development in the PR world: specialisation. And it is already starting to be a specific job for PR practitioner. Some agencies are already specialised in product placement only and they will continue to grow up as the entertainment industry will not stop to develop.
Bibliography:
- Grunig,James E, et al.
Excellence in Public Relations and Communication Management. (Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Publishers,1992)
-Jenkins, Frank.
Public Relations Fourth Edition (Pitman Publishing, 1992)
- Stauber, John C and Rampton, Sheldon.
Toxic Sludge Is Good For You (Common Courage Press, 1995)
