Product Placement History
Oh, those beautiful custom barn doors, the Audi vehicles, and the Apple computer shown in the Fifty Shades of Gray and succeeding Gray films. Did you also notice them? These products and more are deliberate product placement advertising.
Product placement in movies has been occurring in movies since the early 1900s. Did it sell items or make money for production companies? It is unknown. Modern methods of placing brand named items in a movie become part of the film.
This, in turn, allows brands and film companies to contribute to the movie’s narrative. Brand items in films also create an environment of brand awareness, introducing it to you directly without shoving it your face.
Product Placement Methodology
Manufacturers are always looking for another way to introduce their brand product to consumers and ultimately improve their brand equity. Consumers today are more conscious about what they like and don’t like, plus younger consumers are very demanding.
Next time you look at Jurassic World, see if you notice the many brands subtly introduced. To help you note product placement brands, you should see Mercedes Benz modeled vehicles, Samsung products, Converse/Nike sneakers, headphones by Dr. Dre Beats, Coco-Cola, and Verizon.
For this reason, cleverly placing products into a movie setting is proving to be one of the most rewarding and unconventional marketing tools. Product brands identified in movies tell the audience that this brand is the most authentic.
The movie-going audience members then relate that brand or product to the real world, thus gaining their confidence and introducing their items to future potential buyers. Subliminal advertising is a form of advertisement where product brands are placed in various scenes.
The Gain
The movie company receives payment from that brand industry. The brand gets marketing through the movie for as long as it is shown. Plus, the movie gets some of its costs to help cover production costs. For example, if an actor is drinking a well-known brand of soft drink, the audience can relate to this product. The audience is drawn into the movie content without realizing how. Subtly after the movie is over, you feel like buying that brand.
Branding partnerships and film companies have long enjoyed a financially rewarding experience. For example, a movie can gross 40 million dollars in ticket sales. If they have also made a deal with a product manufacturer, the film could add another 25 percent on top of that.
Help Sell Items With Product Placement
How does product placement in movies help sell items? Brand-named items can get an audience to associate with a movie lifestyle. For example, Sex in the City films identify designers like Manolo Blahnik where Carrie must have his shoes.
This type of product placement is designed to capitalize on the lifestyle of hardworking women who enjoy the good life. Therefore, why not the movie’s audience, where the message is that you too can have the good life.
With products introduced by movie production houses into movie scenes, manufacturing companies are banking on positive attitudes towards product placements. The brand-named items shown in movies is to elicit three outcomes: (1) their product will be received more favorably when an actor is highlighting it; (2) when the product placement is made part of the scene; and (3) when the product brand was purposely identified.
Ray-Ban glasses worn by Tom Cruise in Risky Business and his aviator shades in recent films are a hit in retail stores. For this reason, product placement manufacturers center their items around a movie’s intended audience. A female-dominated movie will feature products about cosmetics, fashion, and female empowerment products, etc. Movie marketing is successful when it targets the right audience with the right creative material. Movies and produce placement partners will buy multiple advertisement rights.
Movie Product Placement – Good or Bad With Audiences
How do audiences feel about brand products as a form of advertisement in a movie they wish to see? Since movie audiences are a captive environment, introducing product placement brands in scenes is a natural and familiar item to consumers.
Yes, moviegoers see brands in scenes but consciously, the brain sends messages of emotions and relatability to product placement items. Brand advertising is more highly effective with movie fans. Whether the product is well-known or a new item on the market, moviegoers will remember its name and look. After all, the big screen has a powerful impact on everyone, including product placement manufacturers.