Monday 3 February 2014

Product Placement: Entertainment with advertising


Marketers and advertisers are always on the quest for innovative ways to reach their target audience in the most effective way. The concept of product placement(also known as In-film advertising) deals with the placement of a specific product/brand in a movie in order to attract and persuade the target audience. This strategy has been gaining momentum not only in Hollywood but also in Bollywood and Tollywood. Cut-throat competition and increasing consumerism is encouraging advertisers to find more creative ways to communicate with audience in order to win the market.

In-film advertising helps advertisers and brand owners, to penetrate this clutter in order to receive the utmost attention of the target audience. The product/brand should be placed in the movie, in such a way, that the audience feel it is natural and tend to develop a positive opinion towards that brand. This is one of the innovative and best way of advertising, since it gets viewer's attention when they are in a relaxed mood.

Why this mode of marketing communication is more profitable for a company over other modes of communication?
  1. Product placement allows advertisers to place the company's offerings along with the movie stars, as a result it gets instant brand visibility and that too at a price cheaper than the celebrity endorsement.
  2. This strategy gives an additional push to the brand, even though the star do not directly endorse the product.
  3. Products/brands, if placed effectively or as per situations in the film ensures high brand recall.
  4. Helps in fast market penetration and customers mind too.

Bourvita brand in Krrish movie
Bournvita brand in Krrish movie

The movie 'Krrish' came recently in movie theaters. The film featured Hrithik Roshan in a lead role and was playing a character of superhero. As you can see in the movie, in starting few minutes only you can find a Bournvita ad in the movie. The Bournvita company realizes the motive of the film and placed their brand to get visible among their target audience.

Shahrukh Khan promoted Nokia Lumia in chennai express
Shahrukh Khan promoted Nokia Lumia in chennai express

Another one is in movie 'Chennai express'. Here Shahrukh khan has promoted the Nokia brand. While conversation with Deepika in the movie, he enumerated the features of Nokia Lumia. This concept of product placement is not new but it has given a remarkable results to the companies.

Indian women's hockey team with Ultra Tech t-shirt in Chak De
Indian women's hockey team with Ultra Tech t-shirt in Chak De(image courtesy: Indiafm.com)

The movie 'Chak De! India' came on the floor in 2001 and was again featured by Shahrukh khan. This movie placed many brands like McDonald's, Puma, Bisleri and even Ultra-tech Cement. The Ultra-tech brand was shown as the official sponsor of the Indian women's hockey team in the movie. It is not about big or small company, everyone is incorporating this strategy to get maximum profits out of it.

According to Chuck Blore, "Advertising is the art of arresting the human intelligence just long enough to get money from it". Marketers have realized that the attention span towards a brand is becoming small day by day. Hence movies have become an integral part of our life and marketers have discovered this concept of In-film advertising to get long term success in this cut-throat competition.

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