Title Author

Product Placement in Films: The new age branding mantra Mahima Kapoor Rohit Bhatt

Source Reference

Insights Inside 1) Balasubramanian (1994), "Beyond Advertising and Publicity: Hybrid Messages and Public Policy Issues", Journal of Advertising 23 (Fall), 2946 2) Karrh (1998), "Brand Placement: A Review," Journal of Current Issues and Research in Advertising, 20 (November), 31-49 3) Wikipedia 4) Babin, L. & Carder, S. (1996), Viewers' recognition of brand placed within film, International Journal of Advertising, 15(2), pp.140-151. 5) Kotler, P., Armstrong, G., Saunders, J., & Wong, V. (2002). Principles of Marketing (3rd Europeaned.). England: Pearson Education Limited.
6) Wikipedia. (2005a). Advertainment. Retreived 2005-04-14, from

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_portmanteaux Document Type Secondary Research Paper Subject Date Abstract With increasing spends on conventional advertising yielding lesser returns for marketers, newer avenues like placement of products in films and television are being sought. This paper studies the phenomenon of product placement in movies in detail and examines its nature and scope. The article discusses recent promotions in films and their impact on the top line sales. Marketing November, 2006

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Exposition: Executive Summary With increasing spends on conventional advertising yielding lesser returns for marketers, newer avenues like placement of products in films and television are being sought.

This paper studies the phenomenon of product placement in detail and to understand its nature and scope. This study has been done keeping in mind the growing popularity of this medium of promotion.

There has been equal focus on both Hollywood as well Bollywood movies and we have attempted to elaborate a comprehensive history and listing of movies and the products featured in them. The study has been more on the qualitative side with focus on the product placement process and its effects, advantages and disadvantages. The results from the study have been tabulated to provide easy access to information at a glance.

A few recent examples from Bollywood have been taken up to demonstrate the changing nature and scope of product placement in commercial Hindi cinema.

This paper aims to serve as a comprehensive source of information for anyone looking for information about product placement, its origin, the process involved, its effectiveness and advantages.

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Introduction David Lubars, a senior ad executive in the Omnicom Group, explains the industry's guiding principle with more candor than most. "Consumers," he says "are like cockroaches - you spray them and spray them and they get immune after a while." Wall Street Journal May 30, 1997 The advertising and marketing industry worldwide is in the throes of a serious problem. It is becoming increasingly difficult to grab eyeballs and break through the clutter. The average consumer is bombarded with messages every second which have led to him becoming immune to any sort of communication attempt being made by marketers.

The resistance shown by the consumers has forced advertisers and marketers to think beyond conventional means of advertising. This is where product placement comes into the picture.

Product Placement Demystified - Some definitions Product Placement is not a new phenomenon, however, it has gained the attention of researchers only in recent times. Several definitions have emerged over the years and we mention a few below.

1) A paid product message aimed at influencing movie (or television) audiences via the planned and unobtrusive entry of a branded product into a movie or television program (Balasubramanian, 1994) 2) Paid inclusion of branded products or brand identifiers, through audio and/or video means, within mass media programming (Karrh, 1998). 3) Product placement is a promotional tactic used by marketers in which a real commercial product is used in fictional or non-fictional media, and the presence

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of the product is a result of an economic exchange. When featuring a product is not part of an economic exchange, it is called a product plug. Product placement appears in plays, film, television series, music videos, video games and books, and is a relatively new idea (first appearing in the 1980's). Product placement occurs with the inclusion of a brand's logo, or a favorable mention or appearance of a product. This is done without disclosure, and under the premise that it is a natural part of the work. Most major movie releases today contain product placements. The most common form is movie and television placements and more recently video games. (Wikipedia)

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Exhibit I Product Placement in Hollywood Brief Overview over the years

Movie Scarface (1932) Dinner at Eight (1933) Youll never get rich (1941) The African Queen (Early 1950s) Superman II (1979) E.T. (1982) Never say never again (1982) Risky Business (1983) Bull Durham (1988) License to Kill (1988)

Product (s) White Owl Cigars Coca Cola

Chesterfield cigarettes Gordons Gin

Remarks $250,000 worth of advertising Pictures of Jean Harlow and other glamorous stars swigging soda pop Starring Fred Astaire Product thrown overboard by Katherine Hepburns character in the movie Sales up 65% Sean Connery and others shown smoking these brands

Marlboro Reeses Pieces Winston and Camel cigarettes

Ray-Ban Sunglasses Jim Beam Whiskey Lincoln, Larks

Aston Martin replaced by Lincoln Continental Mark VII; free cars donated for the film

Home Alone (1990) Groundhog Day (1993) The Firm (1993) Strictly Ballroom (1993) Pulp Fiction (1994) Goldeneye (1995) Jerry Maguire (1996)

Budget Rent-a-Truck Jim Beam Whiskey Stripe Beer Coca Cola McDonalds & Burger King BMW Z-3 Reebok A lengthy conversation about the two brands One of the most successful new-car launches ever Backfired, company badmouthed in movie by Cuba Gooding Jr. Product placement in an animated movie; Chanel did Sales increased by more than 50%

Anastasia (1997)

Chanel perfume

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Men in Black (1997) Tomorrow Never Dies (1997)

Armageddon (1998) Small Soldiers (1998)

Ray-Ban sunglasses Visa card, Avis car rentals, BMW cars and motorcycles, Smirnoff vodka, Heineken beer, Omega watches, Ericsson cell phones, L'Oreal makeup Ray-Ban Sunglasses Hasbro action toys

not pay for the visibility, though Worn by Will Smith Reckless use of products throughout the movie; Over $100 million placement deal

Where the heart is (2000) I am Sam (2001) The Italian Job (2003) Shrek 2 (2004)

Wal-Mart Starbucks, Nike Mini Coopers Baskin-Robbins ice cream

Movie based on action toys; script revolved around these toys made by Hasbro Character lives in the store Sean Penn shown as an employee of Starbucks Shrek & Fiona drive through a town that has a Baskin-Robbins store; three new flavors tied to the movie created in real life Negative placement for Coke as Coke bottles shown as being used as blood containers, while characters sipped Pepsi sodas Cast given outfits from the Tommy Hilfiger Jeans line in exchange for appearing in an ad In the future, everything is Taco Bell.

Pearl Harbor

Pepsi (Coke)

The Faculty

Tommy Hilfiger

Back to the Future Demolition Man Youve Got Mail Austin Powers Cast Away (2000) Men in Black II Waynes World Josie and the Pussycats

Pepsi products Taco Bell AOL, Apple, IBM and Starbucks Pepsi and Starbucks FedEx and Wilson Mercedes Benz, Ray-Ban sunglasses, Sprint, Burger King Nuprin, Pepsi, Pizza Hut, Reebok America Online, American Express, Bebe, Billboard Magazine, Bugles, Campbell's Soup, Coke, Entertainment

Characters shown hawking these products

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Weekly Magazine, Evian, Ford, Gatorade, Kodak, Krispy Kreme, McDonald's, Milky Way, Motorola, Pepperidge Farm Cookies, Pizza Hut, Pringles, Puma, Ray-Ban, Sega, Starbucks, Steve Madden, Target, and T.J. Maxx Herbie, The Love Bug Volkswagen Beetle RoboCop Ford Taurus Back to the Future DeLorean Smokey and the Pontiac Trans Am Bandit The world is not BMW Z8 enough Lara Croft : Tomb Jeep Wrangler Rubicon Raider I, Robot (2004) Audi RSQ concept car The Matrix (1999) Beauty Shop What Women want Panic Room My Big Fat Greek Wedding Youve Got Mail Duracell batteries Fiji Water Nike Evian Windex AOL, Starbucks, New York Times

Audi created the concept car for the movie

Films title changed from You have mail to Youve got mail to match the AOL phrase exactly

Jurassic Park Jurassic Park 2 Rocky Max Keebles Big Move How High O Bandits The One Hardball Hearts in Atlantis Life as a house Serendipity Glass House

Ford Explorer Mercedes Benz SUV Wheaties, Hugo Boss Nike, Coca Cola, Apple computers Nike, Adidas, Sam Adams beer Puma Adidas, Pepsi Pepsi Pepsi Pepsi Coca Cola Coca Cola, USA Today newspaper Coca Cola, AOL

Coke being consumed in the cafeteria

Coke shown being consumed at dinner and at

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the movies, main character shown using AOL Rat Race Bubble Boy Kate & Leopold Coca Cola Coca Cola Apple computers, Colgate, Gillette, Hungryman frozen TV dinners Apple computers MSN Kawasaki, Powerade, ESPN Spongebob Squarepants (Nickelodeon cartoon) USA Today newspaper Kodak and Marriott Hotels

Hugh Jackman shown trying to use these products

Slackers Domestic Disturbance Snow Dogs Orange County

An MSN account shown being used by John Travolta This cartoon is popular with kids as well as teenagers and adults Billboards for these products shown in the background

Black Hawk Down Vanilla Sky

The Caretakers Good Will Hunting American Gigolo Boogie Nights Forrest Gump Grease Rocky II Little Shop of Horrors Crocodile Dundee Die Hard Who framed Roger Rabbit Field of Dreams Analyze This

Pepsi Dunkin Donuts Giorgio Armani Fresca, 7-Up, Chevrolet Corvette Dr. Pepper Philip Morris cigarettes Philip Morris cigarettes Philip Morris cigarettes Philip Morris cigarettes Philip Morris cigarettes Philip Morris cigarettes Philip Morris cigarettes Merrill Lynch

References to the mentioned brands Incorporated into the dialogues

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Exhibit 2 Product Placement in Bollywood Brief Overview over the years

Movie Taal

Product (s) Coca-Cola,Thums Up,BMW,Screen Magazine,Sony Cam,Diet Coke,Nescafe,MTV,BPL,Honda

Remarks 20% of the Taal production budget just from Coca-Cola. Rumours also have it that Subash Ghai shot two sets of scenes, one with Pepsi and the other with Coke,

Hum Tum Koi Mil Gaya Prem Diwane Love Ke Liye Kuch Bhi Karega Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge

Times of India Group, Lays Karizmaa. Hero Honda, Prem Diwane Mc Donalds, Canned Stroh's Stroh's is said to have paid Rs 15 lakh to the producers for 15 sec display

Jo Jeeta Wohi Sikandar Hum Saath Saath Hain Chalte Chalte Kuch Na Kaho Baghban

BSA SLR Coca-Cola. Hyundai Santro, Castrol Coca-Cola,Mentos Ford Ikon, ICICI Bank, Tata Tea

Total benefit to the producers from associating with the brands is in the range of Rs 3-4 crore.

Khakee Road An Evening in Paris

Thums Up Tata Safari Coke

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The Process The product placement process is explained below as consisting of three main agents, namely 1) the companies that wish to place their products in a media, 2) the product placement agency that acts as an intermediary 3) the film studio or the production company that want props and the extra revenue for placing products in their production

Source : Sandahl (1998)

The various steps involved in this process are elaborated below 1) The script is sent to the product placement agency at an early stage and accordingly, the script is analysed and broken into scenes where it might be possible to place products in a realistic manner. The placement agency then waits for a written decision that the movie is given the green light from the production company. 2) After a written decision is obtained, the film production crew and the placement agency meet up to discuss the budget, possible products etc. 3) Upon reaching an agreement, the placement agency contacts potential companies and offers them the various possible placement options. 4) If the company is interested, they will discuss all details of the placement and make sure that their marketing strategy is consistent with the target audience of the film. 5) The placement agency and the film production company collaborate closely during the making of the movie and the placement agency ensures that the product(s) are shown in the agreed upon scenes, context and number of times.

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As depicted in the diagram with the help of the dotted arrows, there might be alternate steps in the product placement process. Companies interested in a certain movie may contact the placement agencies themselves to get their products placed.

Effectiveness of Product Placements : A few rules A few rules and pointers to be kept in mind for effective product placements are mentioned below : 1) A product being used by characters in the movie is better than simply advertising the product in the movie. 2) The products may be promoted by being used by other important cast members in the movie and not necessarily the lead actors. 3) Audiences want to identify themselves with certain movies and characters, hence lifestyle products benefit more from product placements rather than daily-use products. 4) The target audience should be aware of the product that is being placed in a movie. If this is not the case, the placement, is rendered useless. 5) It has been observed by several researchers that smaller brands benefit more from effective placements as compared to bigger brands. 6) Tourism Perspective Product placements can really work wonders for countries and areas that want to promote themselves as tourist attractions as every movie has to be based at some place and locales can be seamlessly blended into the storyline.

Advantages Product placements in film and television are gaining importance increasingly because of the several benefits that they offer to all the parties/agents involved in the process. Some of these are :

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1) Efficient placement of products ensures that the audience will notice the products. 2) Audiences have no option but to notice products when they are embedded in a film or television script. 3) Cost of product placement is quite low compared to the above-the-line methods of advertising or endorsement. 4) Unlike advertising, product placement does not interrupt programming and hence is less obtrusive. 5) Products gain greater credibility when popular and respected movie and television stars use them.

The advantages offered by product placement have also been classified into three prominent categories by some researchers : a) Conceptual advantages Product placement is cost-efficient. Even though it is expensive, it still costs less than a normal advertising campaign. Reaches hard to reach markets Demonstrates the product in its natural setting

b) Mechanical advantages Product placement can overcome passive viewer avoidance of TV ads Not subject to channel switching and effects of new technologies like those used in TiVo c) Behavioral advantages Immune to habituation effect and homeostatic processes that are among the biggest constraints to effectiveness of advertising Utilizes context and context learning procedures

Some cases in Bollywood A) Baghban

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Filmmaker B.R. Chopras Baghban, provides perhaps the best example of multiple product placements. The movie not only starred the inimitable Amitabh Bachan & Hema Malini, but also a host of brands that vied for screen space with these veterans.

Some of the brands that were featured in the movie were : ICICI Bank, Ford, Walls & Tata Tea. ICICI is visible for around eight to 10 minutes in the film. Tata Tea has been placed in two to three scenes of approximately 30 seconds each. Ford has been incorporated in a five to six minute-long scene in the film. It is believed that more than 8 brands were featured in the movie. The most important factor that was recognized by the filmmaker was that the various products placed in the movie were carefully woven into the script and events in the movie had these products embedded in them. Also, the credibility of the lead pair ensured that a large number of companies were vying to have their products featured in the movie.

It is estimated that the product placement deal for this movie set the cash registers ringing by about Rs. 3-4 crores.

B) Krrish This movie is being touted as one of the movies that have had the maximum number of product placements in recent years.

It is estimated that more than 12 crores revenue was generated for the filmmakers only through product placements. The marketing rights for this 50 crore venture were awarded to P9 Integrated, a Percept Group company. The movie had more than 10 brands vying for the customers subconscious attention. However, the questions that this movie raises are about the effectiveness of this medium when it is overused.

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Product Placements What do ethics have to do with it? Before this medium emerged as an important revenue channel for filmmakers, producers and placement agencies, product placement was primarily used as a means of surrogate advertising for products that could not be advertised on regular mass media. Tobacco manufacturers have for long been accused of promoting smoking through the portrayal of the macho hero who is depicted brandishing a cigarette and blowing smoke at the villains face.

Many critics still feel that it is a medium for hidden but paid subliminal messages. Their worst fears are that it is the younger generation, generally, that is taken in by the charms of the products being used by their favorite stars and scrupulous marketers who just want to increase their revenues may exploit this. Placement of ethically charged products like cigarettes, arms and ammunitions, alcoholic beverages etc has long been a point of contention between filmmakers and regulatory authorities.

As mentioned earlier, audiences generally have no means of escaping product placements embedded in films or television and hence are subconsciously exposed to certain products that may be harmful for them.

Hence, it is extremely important to have in place regulations that ensure that product placement is used as an effective marketing tool for products and not as a means for surrogate advertising of forbidden products.

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