Watch any prime time TV series and I bet you will find some sort of product placement. TV shows are using product placement in order to supplement commercials, where the revenue has been declining over the last few years.
With the invention of the DVR and sites such as Hulu, viewers no longer feel the need to spend their precious time on commercials. Those who do not use DVRs take commercial breaks as time to go to the bathroom, catch up on Twitter or make something to eat.
Advertisers needed to get creative in order for their products to be seen. The solution…camouflage their products in almost every show, and most people do not even realize it happens.
Can a TV show in this day and age have an episode, much less a series without product placement? Any phone call, car ride or dinner table scene has the potential for product placement. Producers attempt to disguise the product logos, not for the purpose of hiding the product, but rather to make what they are doing less obvious. This can manifest itself by putting a pear instead of an apple for a Mac, or tweaking a car emblem. In reality though, most Americans will realize which products are being placed, but not feel ambushed with an advertisement during their favorite TV show.
The natural first question is does it actually work? Does having a product featured on a TV show really increase revenue?
After doing some digging I came to the realization that no one really knows if it works. The growth of product placement is still occurring, and there has not been enough time for (accurate) data to be collected and processed. If marketers know how well it works, they are not sharing.
Some obvious points can be related back to McLuhan, “the medium is the message.”
If you place a laptop on a children’s TV show or a kid’s toy on a teenage soap opera you will not see a good ROI. Logic tells us this. Only time will tell if a properly placed product is an effective tool for boosting revenue.
Sources
http://www.mediaite.com/online/ipad-product-placement-on-modern-family-actually-wasnt-still-angered-fans/
http://www.mushon.com/fall08/nmrs/10/27/traveling-in-product-placement-land/
http://scienceblogs.com/cognitivedaily/2009/10/product_placements_in_movies_w.php
I think we're so used to advertisements that TV product placements really don't phase us anymore. To a certain extent, however, they can be affective. For example, I used to love watching the Girls Next Door with Holly, Kendra and Bridget. One day Holly test drove a Prius and I have to admit it kind of made me want one. Part of that is probably the whole idea of imitating celebrities but I can't help but wonder if I would feel the same way if it has been a different car. (Like a car that wasn't "green," safe and what I consider to be reasonably priced for a new car.)
ReplyDeleteInteresting perspective!