The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles chomp down on a freshly ordered domino’s pizza. Daniel Craig drives a brand new Aston Martin as James Bond. Tom Hanks manages to deliver a Fed Ex package after being stranded for four years on a remote island. There’s a list of some of the more obvious forms of product placement here.
Product placement is not a new phenomenon, but it is one that has become more and more frequent as advertisers find it harder and harder to reach consumers. Due to the explosion of popularity of DVR, streaming sites like Netflix, and downloading shows online ,the normal ad space on TV is becoming less and less important as fewer people watch regular TV as it airs live. Marketers are struggling to find new means of advertising their products in a way that can reach reach consumers in the way that commercials once did. And that lies in product placement.
Take the three examples I’ve provided above. Children watching the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles eating Dominos pizza will want some themselves. If James Bond drives an Aston Martin, it must be an incredibly classy vehicle. And how fantastic is Fed Ex’s service if a courier stranded on an island for four years still manages to deliver a package?
Product placement is a far more subtle, and likely more effective means of advertising a product. A product can be showcased in action, with a connotation of how cool, classy, or effective it is. While some people may find it obtrusive and annoying, in reality product placement, unless painfully obvious, does nothing to detract from the medium it lies in. It almost feels unnatural to watch a movie or TV show where none of the products that are so prevalent in our society are present. In many ways, it acts as a form of immersion, creating a more realistic feel to the environment of the movie or show.
Product placement is a very interesting, and far more subtle way of advertising a product. As marketers find it harder and harder to reach their consumer bases, it likely will become far more frequent in the entertainment we watch.