Place this product!

Today I’m going to skip down the magical path of a type of marketing called product placement. This is the idea that products are placed in videos that wouldn’t normally include advertisements, like a music video, TV show, or movie. This trend became popular in the ’90s, I continue to see it today.

One of the reasons product placement is used in a music video, tv show, or movie is due to the sponsors. A good example of this is how coke sponsors American Idol and the judges are always drinking out of a Coke cup (not sure if they’re actually drinking that syrup waste), needless to say, the viewers are constantly seeing the Coke logo throughout the show.

American Idol judges drinking out of their classic Coke cups. A prime example of product placement.

Mr. Mike, a fellow blogger, expressed how he saved up Coke points to get the original Coke cup so he could drink out of it while he and his family watched American Idol. Check out his blog here: http://munrohouse.wordpress.com/2009/03/07/american-idol-coca-cola-judges-glasses/.

This is a prime example of how product placement IS working. Viewers see people they admire doing something, and they imitate. Coke has done a fantastic job with product placement, making viewers of American Idol crave their product.

Another example of product placement is in music videos. This recent popularity to insert a product in a music video or mention a product in the lyrics of a song can be credited to the Kluger Agency. This agency is responsible for fifty five brands and their partnerships with artists. The Kluger Agency calls this “Brand Partnerships” rather than product placement.

One of the great examples of obvious product placement is in Britney Spears’s ‘Hold it Against Me’ music video. Within the first 40 seconds she is spraying herself with her perfume Radiance and showing the label to the camera. Then, no more than 7 seconds later, she flashes the lid of Make Up For Ever eyeshadow and proceeds to apply it, during what it seems like a dance shoot (kind of awkward if you ask me). Throughout the rest of the music video various brand logos like Sony are flashed on the screen. Here, I’ll let you see the ridiculously obvious product placement yourself.

Would you run to the mall after watching this music video and buy Britney’s perfume, eye shadow and a  Sony TV? You’re call.