Product Placement is formally defined as - "any form of audio-visual commercial communication consisting of the inclusion of or reference to a product, a service or the trade mark thereof so that it is featured within a programme..". Its about time we change the "..featured within programme" part in that definition, as the product is not placed far away in a movie reel anymore, it is within its actual intended customer's reach, and sometimes literally in his hands!
From FedEx in Cast Away to Coke in Taal and
from modern family's apple ipad show to the Safari Storme's presence in the
Indian TV series 24, the product placement was pretty much a vicarious
experience, with its relevance preserved and communication cascaded through the
scene's. The TG not only related with the product through the associated actor
and story line, but also the brand message was succinctly absorbed. But the tactic soon started to be overused
to an extent that the two essential component for product placement's success,
relevance and integration were given a back seat and mindless visibility drove
the fad. Soon, more often than not, the placements started to be first
ridiculed and then conveniently ignored by the audience.
This trend was slightly arrested by
bringing a higher credibility to the product's relevance and its integration
with a real-life situation (instead of story line), by taking products a little
closer to 'reality'. The wave of product placement in the so-called
"Reality Shows" struck and we started seeing bottled beverages
consumed by the judges' and motorbikes being ridden by the contestants. Since,
the audience generally believed that the reality shows are for real (yes, it
did then and it still does!), the products were brought closer to the real
target audience with much ease, piggybacking on the credibility and
fan-following of judges and contestants of these shows.
Parallel to this, another wave of product
placements brought this marketing tactic even closer to its audience by the
means of enhancing the 'reality' content to highest level thus far. It must be
noted that the product placement in sports has been there for a long time, but
never been given so much prominence, as it is been given now. The strongest
argument in favour of product placement in sports is that it is as real as it gets
(fingers crossed!) and hence the audience is able to relate to the product
communication and promise in an empowered way, as the customer attributes the
purchase decision to a strong and credible show of trustworthiness by the
product/brand through sports ambassadors in a real sporting event.
While, many would have thought that this is
as closer as the product placement can get to its customer, i recently came across two on-field
executions where the product is placed
further closer to its target audience(literally in audience's hands!).
Relevance and Seamless Integration - the two basic pillars for a successful
product placement strategy are excellently preserved.
The first one was Ms Hema Malini promoting "The World's Best RO Purifier"(What?) at 30000 fts, while the very welcomed 'complimentary' paper cup with water (assuming RO purified!) is served (How?) in an Indigo flight (Where?). A simple cup of water served with an ad by an aggressive and innovative water purifier company, in a set-up where everyone has lots of time to notice, watch and analyse (When?), a sweet spot is hit.
The second execution was of mindfully
placed 'Tempo' hand sanitizers on each table at a McDonalds restaurant. A
beautiful multi-pronged placement strategy -- Promoting an easy to use hand sanitizer with a pleasant fragrance (What?)
- Invoking hygiene and health concerns when people are about to eat food (When?)
- Making the product available at arm's reach on the same table where the food is placed (Where?)
- Allowing customers to try the product for free (How?)
- Gain customer mind-share, especially with a very dominant player present in the segment
The above two product placement (&
collaboration) strategies with their multi-pronged targeting demonstrates a never
ending world of opportunities to market product and brands with placement anc collaboration strategies.
Also, these executions open hosts of other
avenues for product placements/collaboration well beyond the traditional
audio-visual commercial avenues that forms the basis of the widely accepted
definition of product placement.
Certainly, the product placement as a
marketing strategy has brought the products once marketed by TV actors in the
movies and vicariously experienced by the audience, to the very hands of its
target customers where the story line is not just real, but is also personal and tha too, to each one!
Cheers,.
No comments:
Post a Comment