If you are here reading this blog, then you already know what Product Placement & why you need to strategically place your product in the market to reach your target audience.
Product Placement in simple words is a strategic integration of a brand, product, or service within different marketing channels to advertise it directly or indirectly.
Marketing Mediums here can be :
• Cinema
•TV Serials
•Interviews
• Digital Content (OOT, YouTube videos, etc.)
And the list can go on.
Brands are increasingly relying on product placement to reach their intended audience. To improve brand value, brand awareness, and, of course, sales, companies spend a lot of money on product placement.
From movies to vlogs or just a simple post on social media, any form of Audio-Visual content interests us the most.
Product placement has become an important factor for brands to reach their actual Target Audience. Brands are investing a lot into product placement to increase brand value, brand awareness, and of course their sales.
International and National Product Placement Campaigns are expensive, but that doesn’t mean the newbies or small business owners can not set their hands-on product placement.
From big production houses to content creators on youtube are very much interested in paid and unpaid brand collaborations.
Keep in mind that the goal of a product placement campaign can be initially to get your brand in the notice of your target audience.
Now, let us look into the bigger picture, the placements here are not only limited to materialistic things. It doesn’t necessarily have to be a physical object to be placed for advertising.
Basically, Placements can be of many types, Mentioned below are some examples of Product Placements:
1. Brand Placement
It is a type of placement wherein the product might not be shown but the whole brand identity of a product or service is showcased.
In such a case the viewers can see a logo or a brand element that depicts the brand identity and brings recall.
For example Brand Placement of Castrol in Tara Rum Pum
Castrol endorsed its logo on the car racer’s costume.
Tara Rum Pum is a family movie, hence the audience of the movie and TG for the Castrol Oil were similar.
Castrol made a smart move by integrating its logo in the main scene of the movie.
2. Generic Placement
It is a placement where a concept or an important value is conveyed.
In this case, no logo or identity iteration is visible. It is basically a common message or product that the audience should be made aware of.
For example iteration of pads, defining what pads are and why they are important in the movie Padman.
The story plot was taken from real situations, the movie was based on real-life incidence.
The movie gave out a message about what problems women face during their periods & why it is important to use pads and not a regular cotton cloth.
3. Product Placement
Placing an actual product with the logo, & its benefits are also mentioned is called Product Placement.
For example:
Product Placement of Bournvita in the movie Koi Mil Gaya.
In the movie, they didn’t only integrate Bournvita but also had a dialogue where the hero mentioned the product’s benefits & why one should have it every day.
The product is basically for kids to consume and the movie was also more inclined towards kids.
Hence the placement of Bournvita was perfectly done in the movie.
4.Location Placement
To describe in simple language, here the product is a location. Basically, Location Placement means advertising a property or a place to visit. This location can be in the country, outside a country, or it can be a small area like a restaurant or college.
For example Placement of Pizza Hut in the movie Bang-Bang.
Here Pizza Hut wanted to showcase that they are available on the heights where rarely there are any restaurants.
An iconic scene of the movie was shooted at that location.
5. Message Placement
Message Placement is almost similar to Generic Product Placement. It is the placement of a particular message for the world out there.
The message is not related to any product or service; it is a general message which is to be delivered in different forms, like ‘You Only Live Once, ‘Live Healthy’ or ‘Keep Smiling’.
For example, The message ‘Cigarette Smoking is Injurious’ is mentioned in every scene of the movie when an actor is consuming it.
This message helps create awareness to the masses.
6. Script Placement
Script placement literally puts the Brand Name or its product in the dialogues.
For example Integration of the word Pepsi in the movie Back to The Future Part 2. Here, Marty McFly orders a Pepsi at the cafe by literally calling out the product name.
As mentioned above, there are many more great examples of product placement that have been used in Television, Web Series, Movies, and now on Social Media too.
Product Placement is not something new, but not many have smartly explored this opportunity to place their Brand.
Remember, some placements work and others are just downright forced, as a Brand Strategist you need to know the right use of this strategy in your Branding & Marketing
