Link: http://www.productplacement.biz/200901132911/News/ProductPlacement/product-placement-going-strong-in-bollywood.

html
Date: 05.01.2010

Product Placement going strong in Bollywood

January 12, 2009 PPN Staff
According to research, a subtle product placement in Bollywood films and television soaps will
provide the best returns for investment for advertisers in India. This was based on a research
paper presented during the IIM-Ahmedabad conference on Marketing Paradigms for Emerging
Economies.
The statistics conclude that about 71 percent of Indian consumers think that product placement is
a good way of being informed about products and services. 85 percent of the consumers
understood product placement as a way to generate revenue for the film maker and 50 percent of
them said that placements were overused and unrealistic.
Those in the age group of 16-24 and those over 60 years of age were more positive to the
information provided by product placements compared to others, said the researcher of the
paper. Again, men were more tolerant to product placements as compared to women. For
advertisers, the product placement provides cleaner and clutter free advertising.
We need to understand this medium and the branding and marketing needs in India in a different
context. It could be more important (in brand building) in India as compared to the developed
economies, added Raghuram, a professor from IIM-A.
During the conference, there were comparisons at how product placements were used in
developed and developing economies. In the developed economies, brand building has
concentrated on the emotional and the experience aspects. In emerging economies like India, the
functional value of the brand might be more important, commented Dr. Rajeev Batra from the
Ross School of Business, University of Michigan.
The benefits of product placement are something Bollywood producers can draw from.
Bollywood movies transcend socioeconomic barriers and offers brand association with big stars
at a relatively low cost.

Link: http://www.productplacement.biz/News/Product-Placement/
Date: 05.01.2010
TV product placement draws concern
January 04, 2010 UKPA

Doctors' leaders have become the latest in a series of groups to express concerns over plans for
US-style product placement on UK television, it has emerged.
The British Medical Association (BMA) has warned that allowing alcohol, gambling and
unhealthy foods to be advertised through product placement will fuel obesity and alcohol abuse.
"The BMA is deeply concerned about the decision to allow any form of product placement in
relation to alcohol, gambling and foods high in fat, sugar or salt as this will reduce the protection
of young people from harmful marketing influences and adversely impact on public health," the
BMA said in a submission to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) on the plan.
"By its nature, product placement allows marketing to be integrated into programmes, blurring
the distinction between advertising and editorial, and is not always recognisable.
"Studies show that children are particularly susceptible to embedded brand messages and these
operate at a subconscious level."
The BMA submission has been echoed by Professor Steve Field, chairman of the Royal College
of General Practitioners (RCGP).
He said: "I am particularly worried about alcohol and unhealthy foods, not just for children but
for adults as well. The role modelling on sitcoms and soaps is so important."
The BMA intervention comes as a Government consultation to examine how product placement
could work on UK television was due to close on Friday.
Culture Secretary Ben Bradshaw has said a partial lifting of the ban might help commercial
broadcasters suffering from a sharp fall in advertising revenue.
A spokeswoman for the DCMS said: "As Ben Bradshaw has made clear, the Government's initial
preference is to allow product placement on television."

Link: http://blogs.widescreenjournal.org/?p=164
Date: 05.01.2010

Product placements in Hindi films

February 6, 2007 | by Kishore Budha
The lines between advertising and content are constantly thinning, partly thanks to new
distribution technologies such as internet, browsers, mobile digital video and audio players etc.
Think of all the viral marketing campaigns (Burger Kings Subservient Chicken, Halo 2s I Love
Bees, Sunsilks Bride has massive hair wig out etc). But to give credit to new technologies alone
would be intellectual laziness.
n 2006, product cameos in Hindi films have been estimated at Rs 80 crore (Rs 800 mn). This
year, they are expected to touch Rs 200 crore (or Rs 2 bn, i.e. $45 million), which if true should
place the industry amongst the leaders after the US. The US is currently the worlds biggest
market for product placement, valued at $1.5bn (800m) in 2005. Of that figure, $941m
(496m) was spent on television, and $500m (264m) on film. Brazil and Australia are the
next biggest markets, owing to fewer regulatory controls, with $285m (150m) and $104m
(55m) spent respectively. France is ranked fourth at $57m (30m) because of product
placement in its films, and Japan completes the top five at $53m (28m). EU countries lag
behind the rest of the world because of strict rules regarding advertising on television. However,
EU regulations have been relaxed and one should see changes.
Films and product inserts share multi-layered relationships. On one hand, film texts cannot
escape the afilmic reality. Thus the relationship between the plot/theme of a film and the product
inserts is pre-determined by the real and ordinary world from which they are derived. However,
at the consumption level of the spectator we can theorize two separate phenomenons, a) the film
being sought as yet another good, and b) the product cameos as further information about other
goods. However, the product cameos do not appear as disjunctures in the narrative but as natural
habitants of the diegesis. Clearly, product cameos should not be viewed through the lens of
advertising. In the examples listed below, the plot/themes of the films are fantasies of real,
imagined, and filmic worlds.
Guru
Hero Cycles
Don
Tag Heuer, Motorola, Garnier, Citibank, Oakley, Louis Philippe

Dhoom:2
Coke, Pennzoil, Pepe, Sony, Disney channel, Sugar Free, McDonalds, Speed, Suzuki Zeus
Lage Raho Munnabhai
Worldspace, IOCL, Go Air, MSN, Good Day, Kurkure, Bright Outdoor, Reliance
Communications
Krrish
Singapore Tourism Board, Sony, John Players, Bournvita, Tide, Hero Honda, Boro Plus,
Lifebuoy, HP Power, Acron Rangeela, Hansaplast, Lays
Rang De Basanti
Coca-Cola, Airtel, LG, Berger and Provogue
Historical examples of product placements:
Bobby (Rajdoot Motorcycle), Hero (Yamaha 350), Yaadein (Pass Pass, Hero Cycles, Coke)
So the question is, how do real goods exist in, and interact, with the fantasy worlds of films.
Do they acquire the fantasy-qualities of the film texts to re-enter the realworld with the new
qualities, or do audiences read the falseness of the images cancelling its power? With commodity
exchange being the central organising principle of social relations, things get a little muddled
here. I am guarding against slipping into critical theory arguments as that would be fairly easy.
Instead, I will try to point at some initial observations.
Filmmakers see themselves as practitioners embedded in norms of production that are at the
same time local, hybrid, global, and/or glocal. Cinematography, editing, lighting, set-design all
these are elements of film that, by nature, are similar in their usage. They may be different in
their style/form, but their cognitive goals are similar. Contrary to the completely different film
forms of Hollywood and Hindi cinema, they share structural similarities, for e.g., being made up
of devices, systems, and relations between systems. Thus practitioners closely observe films
from other cinemas to borrow techniques (technical interest), which they either use in entirety or
adapt for local cognitive requirements (practical interests). Consider the usage of western music
in Hindi cinema during the fifties and its gradual assimilation, or the introduction of martial arts
action all such instances are primarily driven by economic ends rather than artistic or
emancipatory needs. When practiced in institutionalised settings, these subtelities are not noticed
as the sociology of production does not permit reflexivity. Only the avant garde filmmakers can
engage in art and are consequently shoved off the mainstream (for e.g., Mani Kaul).
The reason to examine practice is its centrality to the origins of the end text. The practitioners
embraces ideas that are considerered cutting edge, modern, progressive, all associated
with industrial societies. Once filmmaking is subsumed by late capital, product placement is just

one of these practices that make a modern filmmaker. Young filmmakers working in such
modes of production identify with such rational interventions.
Two upcoming projects, UTVs Goal and Adlabs animated feature, which will use kids apparel
label Gini and Jonys mascots as characters, are moving from the ad-hoc background insertions
to a more sophisticated approach. Reebok and Gini and Jony will reportedly advertise the film
and hightlight its association with the film (Walunjkar:2007). On the one hand, this is proof of
the processes by which industrially manufacturered commodities are becoming mainstream. This
is pursuance of progress that will create the other, which will be shoved aside, exploited, or
destroyed.
It appears the Indian scriptwriter has no say in the matter. The only known organisation The Film
Writers Association has not been reported to have raised any concerns or issues.
Clearly, the distinction between reality and fantasy, content and advertising, commodity and
culture is indeed blurred.
Resources
Reverse product placement refers to the release of products from a fictional environment to the
real world (Forward thinkers push reverse product placement, Brandweek, Jan 29, 2007 Pg 5).
For listings of product placements in Hollywood films, visit this Interbrand site
Read this interesting article on product placements (hope you can spot the irony).
References
Walunjkar, Somashukla (2007) Cashing in on brand Bollywood Screen Feb 06 [Online]
Accessed 06 February 2007 Link

Link: http://www.livemint.com/2008/11/06214727/Media-brands-look-to-Bollywood.html
Date: 05.01.2010

Media brands look to Bollywood movies to promote their

product
Dostana could be the beginning of a trend where brands are integrated seamlessly
into a script
Gouri Shah

Mumbai: When Dostana, a Hindi movie by Karan Johar, hits the screens on 14 November, it will
have a real life fashion magazine in a stellar role.
In the film, actress Priyanka Chopra plays a staffer of Verve, a magazine published out of
Mumbai by Indian and Eastern Engineer Co. Pvt. Ltd that also brings out Mans World and
Rolling Stone magazines in India.
The moviealso starring John Abraham and Abhishek Bachchanis set to take
product placement to a new level by weaving a story around a brand that went
through a repositioning exercise recently.

In the footsteps of the 2006 blockbuster, The Devil Wears Prada, that had Meryl Streep playing
an editor of a fashion magazine with Anne Hathaway as her executive assistant, Dostana tries to
recreate the buzz of a real magazine office with detailing such as original design plates, sexed-up
office settings and even coffee mugs with Verve written on them.
However, unlike the Hollywood movie, Dostana goes a step forward and associates with Verve
a fashion and lifestyle magazine that has been around for 13 yearswhich lends authenticity to
the storyline, albeit with the trademark Bollywood exaggeration.
We wanted to work with a real magazine, which brought authenticity to the movie, rather than
with some random, fictitious title like Beauty, says Arun Nair, head of marketing at Dharma
Productions Pvt. Ltd that produced the movie.
Gloss and glamour: Its placement in Dostana could help the Verve magazine to push its
circulation and ad revenues, say experts.

The company approached other magazines,

such as Vogue and Marie Claire, before
zeroing in on Verve.

They had recently undergone a re-branding

exercise and were also looking to launch an
international edition around the time of the films
release in November 2008, says Nair.
This perhaps marks the beginning of a trend
where marketers and film-makers move from
plain vanilla deals that toss brands into a script to ones that are integrated seamlessly into the
story.
The film, through the reach of Bollywood, will be our ambassador abroad, says Verves
editorial director Parmesh Shahani. And in many ways, our ambassador here as well.
The magazine, on its part, has taken the deal a notch further, with its November issue dubbed as
a Dostana special. It has at least 40 pages devoted to the subject, including the magazine cover
inspired by the Karan Johar film, interviews with Chopra, director Tarun Mansukhani, fashion
shoots on film sets in Miami and at Film City in Goregaon, and fashion and beauty features
inspired by the Dostana theme. The film also gets a special mention in the editors column.
No surprise then that a number of media brands are looking to Bollywood to promote their brand
and generate interesting content. The September issue of Vogue features Chopra on the cover,
with an interview on the sets of Madhur Bhandarkars film Fashion.
Our aim is to make the best of international and Indian fashion easily accessible to our readers,
and in that sense Bollywood stars have emerged as a single unifying catalyst, says Priya Tanna,
editor of Vogue India published by Conde Nast India Pvt. Ltd. Their reach and glamour makes
them a great association and fit for any glossy.
Interestingly, the photo shoot with VogueIndia as well as the magazine are featured in the movie,
offering instant recall for the brand.
From the perspective of speciality magazines, you have a particular set of target advertisers,
says Smita Jha, associate director of entertainment and media practice at consultancy firm
PricewaterhouseCoopers. The question, quite simply, is how do you extract funds from these
advertisers.
Jha points out that for niche magazines in India, there is limited differentiation. So, there is a
need to cut across the clutter and be perceived as a good brand to associate with.

This is important when up to 90% of a fashion or lifestyle magazines revenues come from
advertising. Subscription and circulation account for less than 20% of revenue in most cases.
Verve placement in Dostana could help it push circulation and ad revenues, say experts.
There was a point when socialites would say they only watch English movies. But, things have
changed today. Bollywood has now acquired the cool quotient, says Navin Shah, chief
operating officer of marketing firm P9 Integrated Pvt. Ltd, mapping the transition of traditional
Bollywood productions to ones that dazzle with big brands, high fashion and slick production
quality.
In terms of visibility for the brand, this one film and its stars will do for Verve what five years of
advertising may not be able to achieve.
Its largely a perception game, says Chandradeep Mitra, president of Mudra Max, the
Mumbai-based specialist media arm of the Mudra Group. How do you convince advertisers that
you actually have the size and quality of readership you claim you have, without any certified
figures? How do you justify high ad rates?
Indias Audit Bureau of Circulations does not certify the circulation of fashion and lifestyle
magazines as few brands are willing to put their circulation figures under the scanner.
Moreover, small and niche magazines rarely get covered by the Indian Readership Survey, which
means most media spending in such magazines is based on perception.
Verve claims a print run of 80,000 copies per issue and charges Rs2 lakh for a full page
advertisement. Vogue says its print run in India is 50,000 copies and it charges Rs4 lakh for
premium page ad.
According to Shah, a brand integration such as this would cost between Rs20 lakh and Rs50
lakh. He says it is a win-win situation: The production house gets to monetize an aspect of the
film and add authenticity to the storyline, and the brand gets to reach out to a large target
audience and be associated with Bollywood stars.

Link: http://www.merinews.com/article/product-placement-through-movies-soar/139581.shtml
Date: 05.01.2010
Product placement through movies soars

Using movies to promote brands has assumed significance in India. In fact, the tagline of a product is being integrated with the title of a movie being made by
established producers. But measuring the success of this strategy is tricky.

MARKETING WHIZ kids are now trying to engage consumers with emotional connections.
They are using Bollywood to promote their brands by arranging adequate exposure in films. One
can see celebrities using these brands in the film the camera closes up on the brand name for
the benefit of the viewers. Cinema has a lot of influence on young minds. Cinema represents one
of the faster growing markets in the world and hence marketers are using this vehicle to push
their brand, increase brand recall and convey the brands association with celebrities. This helps
in offsetting costs - costs have been rising steadily these days; costs associated with film
production and marketing have been soaring. Products used by the celebrity-actors become a
topic of debate which is what the marketers want sometimes! But it depends on how the product
is projected in the film. At what point of time of the films on-screen progress it is shown, also
matters. If the product matches the celebritys characteristics, it can really help in increasing the
sale of the product in question. Product placement, regarded just as another marketing tool
hitherto, has now emerged as a key strategy in both Hollywood and Bollywood movies.
Recently, Subaye.com Inc announced that it had bagged a one million USD contract for productplacement advertising in three international movies. Sports goods, digital electronic products and
cars would be advertised in this manner in three of MyStarUs films. Companies like Sony
Ericsson and the manufacturer of Swatch brand wristwatches have used James Bond 007 movies
to promote their brands. Recently, in Bollywood, it was announced that Mountain Dew, from the
PepsiCo stable, would be promoted through the upcoming movie, Mission Istanbul - Darr ke
aagey Jeet hai. The movie is being jointly produced by Balaji Motion Pictures Ltd and Suniel
Shettys Popcorn Motion Pictures Pvt Ltd. According to the arrangement, Mountain Dews tagline will be integrated into the title of the movie. This is the first time that a brands philosophy
and its tag-line have been integrated with a movies title.

Lots of discussions are on to work out the right mechanism to monitor the impact and
effectiveness of product placement in movies. One does hear that in US, agencies are trying to
work out a method to measure the effectiveness of advertising and product placement either by
asking the viewers to fill out surveys on-line after they watch their favourite shows or by
measuring the viewer recall generated by product placement. But this is an area which needs
more research even as the money being spent on it soars!

Link: http://www.brandchannel.com/features_effect.asp?pf_id=231
Date: 05.01.2010

Title: Brandsploitation: a new genre in Film (By- Abraham sauer)

Everyone talking about it. Some say its the future of brand promotion. A few even say its
revolution. As brandchannel launches its new section brandcameo, we shed some light on
product placement-the hot new thing thats got the branding world buzzing.

FADE IN: What came before

In many ways this article is a sequel; call it 2 or The Return or Product
Placement Redux or Placementer. It follows others in examining the product
placement phenomenon in film. Some of the available coverage is insightful, most
of it is monotonous, and too much of it uses a plot device involving E.T. and
Reeses.

Act I, Scene 1: The part about defining what were talking about
Product placement, brand integration, whatever you want to call it. Its still product placement.
Thats Frank Zazza, CEO of product placement valuation company ITVX. Franks been around
since the E.T. and Reeses thing and in researching product placement, youll consistently
come across his name.
Now you have an ad agency come in and they cant charge 1,000 dollars a month for a huge
client, so what do they do? They change the name. Oh, we dont do product placement, we do
brand integration. Oh, we dont do brand integration, we do advertainment. Oh, we dont do
advertainment, we do whatever-you-call-it. Whats the difference between a commercial kitchen
and a professional kitchen? The word professional means youre charging 30 percent more.

To cut through the hype, were going to call it product placement.

Act I, Scene 2: Introducing the hero

Film is quite possibly the most powerful medium for communication in the world today. One
reason for this is its importance as a cultural force. While television is the most pervasive form of

electric entertainment, it is not the most popular. Its easy to find a curmudgeon who believes that
television is second only to heroin in terms of being a destructive influence. However, outside of
fringe extremist groups, it is nearly impossible to find somebody who will similarly damn the
medium of film. Sure, many would rather experience explosive diarrhea than see the latest Ben
Affleck vehicle, but thats just a genre choice, not a condemnation of the whole medium. Simply
put, we like television, but we love film.

From India to Indiana, going to and seeing and knowing about movies has
become so woven into the social fabric that to not participate is to risk being
culturally out of touch. Acknowledging this is an excerpt from a call-to-arms
speech by industry expert Steven Heyer from Scott Donatons recent book on
product placement, Madison & Vine: [There is] the emergence of an
experience-based economy, where cultural production is more important than
physical production.

Film is also able to reach out and touch a global audience in a way that TV programming is
just too provincial to accomplish. Titanic was a global phenomenon with screaming fans
lining up multiple times. Its a connection that TV show Friends, though broadcast in
many nations, just cannot trigger. Film content is immediately global in nature where
[with] television you have to sell the formats and sometimes things dont translate as well.
For clients that are global brands, [film placement] can have much more impact. Thats
Tera Hanks, president of product placement agency Davie-Brown Entertainment. The back
story on Hanks is that shes a bit of a product placement legend (Madison & Vine has a
whole chapter on her) and was responsible for MINIs placement coup in The Italian Job.
Act I, Scene 3: The plot
All in branding probably know at least one legend about film product placement. There are
many: BMW Z3 sales after James Bond; Red Stripe beer sales increasing 50 percent after
The Firm; Toy Story increasing Etch-a-Sketch sales by over 4,000 percent and actually
putting the Slinky maker back in business.
But not every starlet who shows up in Hollywood becomes Julia Roberts, and not every
brand that shows up with Brad Pitt becomes Reeses Pieces. From the Wall Street Journal:
The product placement field itself has become one giant chase scene, complete with
screeching collisions and general chaos (2 September 2004), to the Financial Times: a
rough-and-ready art (22 June 2004), everyone agrees that the ground is less than firm. But
there are a few rules and some advice.
Act II, Scene 1: High concepts and a paradox

The Hands-On Rule: A brand or product used in a film is better than a brand or product
advertised in a film. Many product placements are largely benign (not in a good way for the
brand owner) because they are actually just advertisements in the background. A Pepsi ad
on a subway is something we all see every day and is probably not going to have the same
effect as if Spider-man drinks that Pepsi.
The Show Dont Tell Rule: The features of products or brands that require more than a
visual identity will benefit less from product placement. A sports car is a highly visual
product and its performance benefits can be seamlessly incorporated in a film sequence
(more on seamlessness later). A laundry detergent, on the other hand, requires a vocal
endorsement on why it cleans better, and that will probably be a hard fit in a plot.
The Lighten Up Rule: Captain Goodguy shouldnt be your only option. Boba Fett is one
of Star Wars most popular characters, and hes a murderous bounty hunter. The Italian
Job s MINIs were driven by crooks robbing other crooks. Loveable loser is a clich for
a reason and a rakes progress can sometimes be your own.
The Coolness Rule: Because identifying with a film is personal and therefore highly
selfish, basic needs commodities such as drain cleaners will benefit less than lifestyle
products such as sunglasses. I want to dress, drink and drive like Bond, not have clean
bathroom pipes like Bond. That said
The Brandsploitation Rule: A logos got to show. The audience has to identify the brand.
You may love the skirt Nicole Kidman is wearing but if you dont know its Gucci then it
doesnt matter. The Financial Times reported that the Ray-Ban sunglasses worn by Arnold
Schwarzenegger in Terminator 3 had a very successful screen exposure time of four
minutes and a product placement value of zero because they bore no discernable brand
(22 June 2004). This doesnt mean that a few motivated fans didnt search them out, but it
does make success harder by putting the burden on the consumer.
The Location Rule: Product is wide-ranging. Think high concept. Some of the products
that best benefit from film placement are geographic. Every movie has to take place
somewhere, and as long as its not outer space, why shouldnt it be Seoul or Johannesburg?
Think Notting Hill or Braveheart. Nearly every young American I talked to who saw
last years Lost in Translation now wants to go to Tokyo.
Placement is also wide-ranging. Some of the best places for products arent made in
Hollywood. Bollywood makes hundreds of big films a year with enormous, increasingly
prosperous audiences. The hit Indian film Kaho Na Pyar Hai is reportedly responsible for
almost doubling Indian tourism to New Zealand. And Scotland has benefited from Indian
tourists desire to see film locations, such as the highlands used in Kuch Kuch Hota Hai.

The British Tourism Authority even promotes travel by distributing UK film location maps
in India and the Middle East.
New York City plays a starring role in hundreds of films each year, says Katherine
Oliver, commissioner of the Mayors Office of Film, Theatre and Broadcasting for New
York City. When filmmakers capture the essence of the city on camera, their films become
powerful advertisements for New York City as both a tourist destination and an
international capital of film production. Olivers office offers free filming permits, police
assistance and location advice among other services to encourage the placement of New
Yorks product.
The Budget Indie Rule: Product placement is not all pay for play. ITVXs Zazza:
Approximately 97 percent of all the product placement youve seen in the past was done
by product placement agencies with their relationships, not with ad agencies. And though
this number is falling, the majority of products still end up in films without paying cash.
Instead they provide the crew with loads of product in exchange for placement, or they
supply products free of charge to the producers.
BMW has done this twice with enormous, legendary success, once with its Z3 model in
James Bond and again with the MINI in The Italian Job (some say the latters
placement stole the show). Also, much has been made of the fact that Clos Du Val wine has
somehow made 100 film (and TV) appearances simply by sending directors free cases.
Whether or not these placements directly boost sales is hard to determine, but the winery
has reported 50 percent higher sales over last year.
While less expensive, this method does run the risk of having no agreement in place to
assure beneficial placement. Similarly theres no guarantee your brand wont end up on the
cutting room floor. As product placement becomes more standardized, any really beneficial
placements will probably require cash payments.
Act II, Scene 2: The seamless romantic interlude between product and content
General chaos notwithstanding, one of only two things everyone seems to agree on is the
key factor of good placement: seamlessness. A brand or product must fit naturally in a
scene to be successful and not break an audiences focus. Zazza is especially big on
seamlessness: [Seamlessness] is the key to the future of product placement. Being like a
chef and knowing how to do the right mixtures is more important than actually just doing
product placement. If it is done organically and seamlessly, it will match [the viewers] real
world.
Hanks defines seamlessness as when the heart and soul of a brand is totally aligned with

the heart and soul of content.

But what if a placement fails to do this? Simon Williams, CEO of brand agency Sterling
Group, recently told U.S. Banker magazine that ham-handed embedding trivializes a brand
and erodes trust (2 August 2004). This means James Bond eating at McDonalds is
probably going to register wrong with an audience. It also leads us to the two final rules
and the product placement paradox.
The Starmaking Role Rule: Comparatively speaking, smaller and lesser known brands
have a chance of benefiting most from good product placement. For example, if Tom
Cruise had chugged Budweiser onscreen in The Firm Bud sales probably wouldnt have
increased that dramatically, but Cruise drank the smaller brand Red Stripe and
The A-Lister Rule: Smaller and lesser known brands have a slimmer chance of being
seamlessly placed because audiences dont know them. This is in part because filmmakers
often use brands as character development shorthand. (Good) filmmakers fear exposition
and will take any shortcut they can to avoid explaining a character to the audience.
Example: If Captain Goodguy is shown drinking Budweiser while Dr. Claw sips Dom
Perignon, we know that Goodguy is humble and Dr. Claw is conceited. But if Goodguy
drinks a small, unknown brand it doesnt serve to develop the character to anyone but the
few audience members that recognize the brand.
This brings us to the product placement paradox.
Act II, Scene 3: The paradox
The more recognized a brand is within its product category, the more likely it will be that
the brand will get seamlessly placed, and thus, the more likely it will become more
recognized within its product category.
Example: In the recent Exorcist prequel we are told that the hero is a great Oxford
scholar, and thats it. What the writer has done here is use Oxford instead of explaining
numerous other academic qualifications. If we were told that he was a great Tufts scholar,
the same effect wouldnt be achieved. More than just establishing the heros credentials,
this placement reinforces our idea that Oxford is a great school even though almost none of
us know anything about its religious studies programs.
Think about it in terms of wealth and success. The wealthy get better educations so they go
to better secondary schools, get higher paying jobs, get more wealth, and then start it all
over with their children. All of this isnt to say that the poor cant become wealthy or that
small brands cant be successfully (seamlessly) placed; it just means that it is more of a

challenge.
Act III, Scene 1: ROI plot twist
To understand the return on investment (ROI) of product placement one must first
understand the results oriented integration (also ROI) of product placement.
Results oriented integration is the art of determining actual monetary values for
placements. It is an art, not a science. The subjective factors involved in ascertaining a
dollar value are manybackground, foreground, verbal, hands-on, presence and clarity are
just a start.
Davie-Browns Hanks explains: Counting eyeballs is not enough, because product
placement is so subjective. It is taking a look at the context of how a product is used to
determine the impact on whether a consumer noticed it, whether it changed their perception
of the brand, whether it influenced their decision on whether or not theyd want to purchase
the brand. Those questions havent been asked before."
Zazza says the biggest product placement mistake is when the producer, or whoever is
offering you the deal, asks for all the money up front. Because if you do that without
paying on results, youre not going to get exactly what was said that you were going to
get. Or in sum, he says, everyones happy when youre paying based on results. To this
end Zazzas ITVX has devised a fascinating and complex system to calculate the actual
value of a brands individual placement. On the ITVX site clients can watch their
placements in a program that breaks a host of subjective factors down for each fraction of a
second. There are lists and identifiers and determinants and details and particulars and
blinking lights; there may even have been some whirring. To the dilettante, its as
overwhelming as it is impressive but it does give a dollar amount in the end.
Unfortunately, after seamlessness, the second of the only two things everyone agrees on is
that nobody can agree on a single paradigm or model for ROI or the other ROI.
The absence of standardsin measurement, pricing, even definitionswill be the highest
hurdle to marketers acceptance of branded entertainment as a legitimate marketing tool,
writes Donaton in Madison & Vine. Of the already existing services that try to calculate
ROI, Donaton adds: More complex measurements will be needed, and marketers will also
need legitimate benchmarks and standards. Without [a standard], branded entertainment
will continue to be treated more as a space in which to experiment.
With several organizations doing studies and fine-tuning methodologies that may become
standards for the industry, Hanks says, I think this next year is a really critical year.

Adding, Oh-five is really the year that it will all come together.
Epilogue: The part with this articles product placement
Brandchannel believes that there is something fascinating to be learned by tracking the
most watched films of the year and documenting all of the brands that appear in them.
From January 2003 to the present, we have attentively watched every weeks Number One
film (as determined by US box office) and recorded every brand appearance: good, bad and
ugly.
Brandcameo is brandchannels new section listing these findings. Each week we will post
the Number One film with all of the brands it featured. Commentary will accompany each
update estimating viewer perception and highlighting the more prominent placements.
Brandcameos running scorecard will track each brands total appearances as well as each
film it appeared in. The archive will cross-reference all of this data alphabetically, by year
and number of appearances in all Number One films going back through 2003. At the end
of the year, brandchannel will present several awards and publish a white paper on our
findings.
Kiss kiss. Bang bang. The end.
FADE OUT
[27-Sep-2004]

Link: http://ideasmarkit.blogspot.com/2009/02/in-film-product-placement-on-rise.html?
utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed
%3A+MarketingAndTechnology+%28Ideasmarkit%29

Date:05.01.2010

In Film Product Placement on the rise during Slowdown

Published by Abhishek on Feb 9, 2009

Product placement is a form of advertisement, where branded goods or

services are placed in a context usually devoid of ads, such as movies, the
story line of television shows, or news programs. The product placement is
often not disclosed at the time that the good or service is featured.
Advantages of Product Placement:
1. In-film product placement can cost anywhere between Rs 5 lakh and Rs
50 lakh, depending upon the level and length of integration of the brand in
the movie, production banner and actor endorsement.
2. It gives brands a good return on investment (ROI). Moreover, the brand
gets celebrity endorsement at zero cost.
3. In-film placement gets brands a better recall value, provided the
communication is aligned well with the theme.
How Product Placement Works
After the movie is released, brands take out the footage in which the brand is
integrated in the movie and make a new commercial out of it These cobranded (brand-movie promotion) commercials are run around the time of
release on behalf of the production house. Advertising spots bought by
production houses are of entertainment nature and the entertainment rates

are three to five times cheaper than commercial rates. A pure brand
commercial (made and run independently by the brand) would have cost
four times more than this.
Slowdown and Product Placement
BS reports that in film product placement is on the rise in times of slowdown
as advertisers look for more cost effective medium, BS also reports some
current product placement happening:
1. UTV has tied up with Motorola for Delhi 6
2. Dev D has tied up 5-6 brands
3. Bum Bum Bole has ties up with Adidas and Horlicks

Link: http://fmcg-marketing.blogspot.com/2007/08/product-placement.html
Date:05.01.2010

Product Placement:
Authors
Prahlad (Peggy) Krishnamurthi
Lavanya Ramji
Organization: ITC Limited
MBA (IB): IIFT Delhi
Product placement is a form of advertisement, where branded goods or services are placed in a
context usually devoid of ads, such as movies, the story line of television shows, or news
programs. The product placement is often not disclosed at the time that the good or service is
featured.

The latest trend in advertising is to make it, well, less advertorial. The tendency is to move away
from inyour-face ads, where the product is the star, to mini-movies or quasidocumentary
vignettes that feature "real-life scenarios" with the product(s) hovering in the background. Some
would argue it's a sort of "art imitating art imitating life" scenario -- where ads are imitating the
practice of product placement.
Basically, there are three ways product placement can occur:

 It simply happens.
It's arranged, and a certain amount of the product serves as compensation.
It's arranged, and there is financial compensation.

BOLLYWOOD AND HOLLYWOOD PROMOTIONAL MANIA

Companies are using movies as a medium to promote their brands regularly in Bollywood. These
types of promotions have been prevalent in Hollywood for quite some time now and Indian
marketers have started testing this innovative mode of promotion. Movies like James Bond have
tie-ups with global brands like BMW and Omega.
The studio and the filmmakers can these days even get selective and specific in terms of the
creative content for tie-ins, feeling they need to be organic to the genius of the writing of the
movie, and not too many partners can pull that off. The task was to announce the movie as an
event and creating an event. It wasn't about lining up as many partners as possible; it was about
having the right partners in the right context and the right message.

Lage Raho Munnabhai is a classic Indian example where the title of the movie was
changed from its initial offering because of the tie-up with Alpenlibe.

Go Air also was prominent in the same movie.

One of the latest movies; ChakDe India has brands like Puma, ESPN, Greyhound etc
being a part of the various others being promoted in the movie. The collaboration made
perfect sense for Puma due to the significance of the Hockey context.

Another international example is Simpsons the Movie. Timex, JetBlue airlines and
various other brands.

Sony Ericsson majorly used Spiderman 3 and James Bond to

position itself further as a model filled with the latest savvy features a mobile can
provide.

Products that can be advertised in this fashion range from cars to soft drinks, clothes to
cigarettes. The cigarettes case is particularly interesting since tobacco advertising is actually
banned in many countries.

Link: http://articles.smashits.com/articles/marketing/128541/is-product-placement-taking-theplace-of-tv-commercials-.html
Date: 05.01.2010

Is product placement taking the place of TV commercials?

Author:
Jeremy L. Knauff

Probably not, at least not in the near future, but it is beginning to get a lot of attention from the
companies that have the resources to invest in it. With TiVo offering consumers the ability to
eliminate commercials, advertisers have had to resort to more creative ways to reach their target
market. Staples took advantage of this with the desk apprentice, Home Depot has done it on
TLC's Trading Spaces, and the Audi A8 achieved an amazing level of exposure in the
Transporter 2 movie trailer.
So just how new is this idea of product placement? It's not new at all really. It's commonly
known in the industry that the product launch of Hershy's Reeses Pieces was jump started
through product placement in E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, but it goes back even farther than that -Mobil oil used it in a 1949 film featuring Harpo Marx called Love Happy.
Product placement is well outside of the budget of most businesses but if you think creatively,
you can find ways to use small scale product placement in your favor. A sports drink
manufacturer could provide free products to an up and coming athlete, a furniture company
could lend their furniture for the set of an independent film, or a clothing company could offer
their outfits for a music video. What can your business do?
About the author:
Jeremy L. Knauff is the founder & CEO of Wildfire Marketing Group, a full service Marketing +
Advertising Agency specializing in helping small companies compete with larger companies and win!

Link: http://www.mailarchive.com/zestmedia@yahoogroups.com/msg05876.html
Date: 05.01.2010

Posted: Thu, Nov 6 2008. 9:47 PM IST

Marketing and Media

Media brands look to Bollywood movies to promote their product

'Dostana' could be the beginning of a trend where brands are

integrated seamlessly into a script

Gouri Shah

Mumbai: When Dostana, a Hindi movie by Karan Johar, hits the screens on 14 November, it will
have a real life fashion magazine in a stellar role. In the film, actress Priyanka Chopra plays a
staffer of Verve, a magazine published out of Mumbai by Indian and Eastern Engineer Co. Pvt.
Ltd that also brings out Man's World and Rolling Stone magazines in India. Gloss and glamour:
It's placement in "Dostana" could help the Verve magazine to push its circulation and ad
revenues, say experts. The moviealso starring John Abraham and Abhishek Bachchanis set
to take product placement to a new level by weaving a story around a brand that went through a
repositioning exercise recently. In the footsteps of the 2006 blockbuster, The Devil Wears Prada,
that had Meryl Streep playing an editor of a fashion magazine with Anne Hathaway as her
executive assistant, Dostana tries to recreate the buzz of a real magazine office with detailing
such as original design plates, sexed-up office settings and even coffee mugs with Verve written
on them. However, unlike the Hollywood movie, Dostana goes a step forward and associates
with Vervea fashion and lifestyle magazine that has been around for 13 yearswhich lends
authenticity to the storyline, albeit with the trademark Bollywood exaggeration. "We wanted to

work with a real magazine, which brought authenticity to the movie, rather than with some
random, fictitious title like Beauty," says Arun Nair, head of marketing at Dharma Productions
Pvt. Ltd that produced the movie. The company approached other magazines, such as Vogue and
Marie Claire, before zeroing in on Verve. "They had recently undergone a re-branding exercise
and were also looking to launch an international edition around the time of the film's release in
November 2008," says Nair. This perhaps marks the beginning of a trend where marketers and
film-makers move from plain vanilla deals that toss brands into a script to ones that are
integrated seamlessly into the story. "The film, through the reach of Bollywood, will be our
ambassador abroad," says Verve's editorial director Parmesh Shahani. "And in many ways, our
ambassador here as well." The magazine, on its part, has taken the deal a notch further, with its
November issue dubbed as a Dostana special. It has at least 40 pages devoted to the subject,
including the magazine cover inspired by the Karan Johar film, interviews with Chopra, director
Tarun Mansukhani, fashion shoots on film sets in Miami and at Film City in Goregaon, and
fashion and beauty features inspired by the Dostana theme. The film also gets a special mention
in the editor's column. No surprise then that a number of media brands are looking to Bollywood
to promote their brand and generate interesting content. The September issue of Vogue features
Chopra on the cover, with an interview on the sets of Madhur Bhandarkar's film Fashion. "Our
aim is to make the best of international and Indian fashion easily accessible to our readers, and in
that sense Bollywood stars have emerged as a single unifying catalyst," says Priya Tanna, editor
of Vogue India published by Conde Nast India Pvt. Ltd. "Their reach and glamour makes them a
great association and fit for any glossy." Interestingly, the photo shoot with Vogue India as well
as the magazine are featured in the movie, offering instant recall for the brand. "From the
perspective of specialty magazines, you have a particular set of target advertisers," says Smita
Jha, associate director of entertainment and media practice at consultancy firm
PricewaterhouseCoopers. "The question, quite simply, is how you extract funds from these
advertisers." Jha points out that for niche magazines in India, there is limited differentiation. So,
there is a need to cut across the clutter and be perceived as a good brand to associate with. This is
important when up to 90% of a fashion or lifestyle magazine's revenues come from advertising.
Subscription and circulation account for less than 20% of revenue in most cases. Verve
placement in Dostana could help it push circulation and ad revenues, say experts. "There was a
point when socialites would say they only watch English movies. But, things have changed
today. Bollywood has now acquired the cool quotient," says Navin Shah, chief operating officer
of marketing firm P9 Integrated Pvt. Ltd, mapping the transition of traditional Bollywood
productions to ones that dazzle with big brands, high fashion and slick production quality. "In
terms of visibility for the brand, this one film and its stars will do for Verve what five years of
advertising may not be able to achieve." "It's largely a perception game," says Chandradeep
Mitra, president of Mudra Max, the Mumbai-based specialist media arm of the Mudra Group.
"How do you convince advertisers that you actually have the size and quality of readership you
claim you have, without any certified figures? How do you justify high ad rates?" India's Audit
Bureau of Circulations does not certify the circulation of fashion and lifestyle magazines as few
brands are willing to put their circulation figures under the scanner. Moreover, small and niche

magazines rarely get covered by the Indian Readership Survey, which means most media
spending in such magazines is based on perception. Verve claims a print run of 80,000 copies per
issue and charges Rs2 lakh for a full page advertisement. Vogue says its print run in India is
50,000 copies and it charges Rs4 lakh for premium page ad. According to Shah, brand
integration such as this would cost between Rs20 lakh and Rs50 lakh. He says it is a win-win
situation: The production house gets to monetize an aspect of the film and add authenticity to the
storyline, and the brand gets to reach out to a large target audience and be associated with
Bollywood stars.

Link: http://www.accessmylibrary.com/article-1G1-156736058/effectivenessgame-advertising-comparing.html
Date: 05.01.2010

The effectiveness of "in-game" advertising: comparing

college students' explicit and implicit memory for brand
names.
Journal of Advertising
| December 22, 2006 | Yang, Moonhee; Roskos-Ewoldsen, David R.; Dinu, Lucian;
Arpan, Laura M. |

The expansion of the video and computer game industry has made advertisers aware of the
potential of video and computer games as an advertising vehicle (Kelly 2003). The placement of
brands in games is called "in-game advertising." It is reported that one game company alone-Electronic Arts Inc. (EA)--recorded $9 billion in annual sales, which is almost the equivalent of
yearly box-office revenues for the movie industry in the United States (Young 2004). In addition
to the sales of the games, the increasing numbers of game users make video and computer games
an attractive format for brand placements.
According to the Entertainment Software Association (ESA 2005), computer and video game
sales grew to $7.3 billion in 2004, with over 248 million computer and video games sold in the
United States. Indeed, 50% of Americans play video games, and video game players are found
among people of all ages, with 35% of video game players under the age of 18, 43% between the
ages of 18 and 50, and 19% over 50 years old. There were 108 million video game players in
2004. This number is projected to grow to over 126 million players by 2008 (eMarketer 2004). In
2000, the average person played 70 hours of video games, and this was projected to grow to 115
hours by 2005 (Census Bureau 2002). Today, more and more brand names are appearing in
games, although the placement of brand names in games can be traced back to the late 1980s
(Reuters 2002). For the video and computer game industry, the placements of brands in games
can mean additional revenue and enhanced realism of the games. In 2003, $79 million was spent
on in-game advertising, and it is estimated that by 2008 this will increase to over $250 million
(eMarketer 2004). Advertisements were often found to contribute to the perceived realism of the
games, particularly in sports games (Nelson 2002; Nelson, Keum, and Yaros 2004).

Given the increasing practice of in-game advertising and its potential as an alternative
advertising medium, surprisingly little research has been done regarding the effects of in-game
advertising. Little is known about whether in-game advertising influences gamers' memory for
the brand, attitude toward the brand, purchase behavior, and so forth. Clearly, players' awareness
of the brand name is one of the important goals of in-game advertising (Nelson 2002). Therefore,
the current study explored this virtually unresearched area and asked whether in-game
advertising influences the memory of the players for the embedded brands, especially among
college students--one of the groups that most frequently plays video games. In fact, 70% of
college students report playing video games (Jones 2003). Following the practice established in
television and movie research, the current study employed measures of both implicit
(unconscious) memory (with a word-fragment completion test) and explicit (conscious) memory
(with a recognition test) for ads placed in two popular sports games (Law and Braun 2000; Law
and Braun-LaTour 2004; Yang, Roskos-Ewoldsen, and Roskos-Ewoldsen 2004). Testing two
different types of memory for in-game advertising effectiveness is expected to benefit both
scholars and practitioners in this area.
LITERATURE REVIEW
In-Game Advertising Versus Brand Placements in Television Programs and Movies
The similarities between brand placements in television programs and movies and in-game
advertising offer research on brand placement in video games a solid starting point. More
specifically, in-game advertising shares many of the strengths of brand placement in television
programs and movies. First, brand placements in movies are often associated with well-known
actors or actresses, with the result that the placements function as celebrity endorsements (Avery
and Ferraro 2000). In video games, brand placements are aided by consumer identification with
famous sports figures, such as Tiger Woods in Cyber Tiger or Michelle Kwan in Michelle Kwan
Figure Skating (Nelson 2002). In fact, 17.9% of regular video game players consider the
celebrities involved in the games as one of the main reasons for playing them (ESA 2005).
Second, a brand placed in a movie or television program has a longer lifetime than a typical
advertisement (Brennan, Dubas, and Babin 1999; d'Astous and Chartier 2000). The lifetime of
brands placed in video games might also be considerable (Nelson 2002), especially in the case of
heavy game players. Third, research has found that audiences seem to have more positive
attitudes toward brand placements than toward advertisements (Nebenzahl and Secunda 1993).
Moreover, some studies report that audiences indicate that brand placements actually enhance the
viewing experience by increasing the realism of the television show or movie (Avery and Ferraro
2000). Similarly, Nelson (2002) found that the realism of sports games benefited from brand
placements (see also Nelson, Keum, and Yaros 2004). Furthermore, most players do not have a
critical attitude about brand placements in video games and seem not to consider the practice of
brand placements as deceptive (Nelson 2002).

One difference, however, lies in the interactive nature of video games (Vorderer 2000). Unlike
most television shows or movies that are simply watched, video games require players to
respond by manipulating the game controller to progress through the game (Liu and Shrum 2002,
2005). The interactive characteristics of video games could interfere with players' memory for ingame advertising. Indeed, unlike the generally passive audiences of most television shows or
movies, video game players are more active, and their attention is divided between what they are
watching and the game controls (see, e.g., Grodal 2000), which may interfere with memory for
the in-game brand placements (Liu and Shrum 2002, 2005). For example, Shapiro and Krishnan
(2001) found that when people's attention was divided between visually presented
advertisements and listening to a broadcast, their memory for the advertisements was diminished.
Nevertheless, it is not yet clear how the interactivity of video games might influence the effect of
brand placements on memory.