As TiVO and other digital recording services redefine TV viewership, many marketers are paying more attention to product integration through placement. Producers of reality shows such as Extreme Makeover: Home Edition, Monster Garage and even talk shows like Oprah use placement to build revenues for a show and secure bartered products for the program (such as appliances for a home makeover). Since placements seem less like advertising and more like a thread within creative, brands find such integrations allow a softer sell to customers, plus an inferred celebrity or expert endorsement.
Nice, but brands weighing their placement options should be wary of its pitfalls, namely consumer backlash and vague ROI.
Viewers are savvy, and resent being oversold when experiencing their entertainment. If the placement is unnatural, too frequent or is within a group of too many other placements (see WB’s Space Jam), marketers risk negatively impacting their brands. Fit is critical, so marketers must read scripts and ask the right questions. At the same time, entertainment content providers (producers, writers) should protect brands’ interests. A brand that’s burned in terms of response or placement cost won’t return.
Then there’s ROI. Ask the ultimate “end of the day” marketing question: Did the placement help you motivate customers to take a specific action? Borrowed equity and celebrity endorsement. can help build emotional attachments between brand and target audience. But how does that “feeling” weigh against the cost? Long past are the days when advertising and marketing budgets didn’t insist on measurable results. Now, the key buzzwords are “financial efficiencies” and “quantifiable customer impact (QCI).”
To get a truly effective product placement, aggressively exploit tactics that not only endear customers, but motivate them to take immediate action. Product placement tied to smart promotional strategies closes the loop, and delivers quantifiable results that help determine ROI. Placements that don’t include promotional extensions are incomplete.
Pontiac got great exposure last year when Oprah Winfrey gave away its cars to her audience. But the program would have been much stronger if it closed the loop with a promotional overlay to Pontiac dealerships. What if everyone who took a test drive received Oprah’s latest Book Club selection? What if, for every test drive taken during the promotional period, Pontiac made a donation to Oprah’s Angel Network? What if everyone who took a test drive registered to win a dream trip to Harpo Studios, lunch with Oprah and her very own Pontiac? Brand awareness is nice, but getting consumers to act (in this case, take test drives) can be a natural and lucrative extension.
Take care when assigning the bookend roles of placement and promotion planner. It’s not the primary responsibility of a media buying company to design your promotions. Even a “product placement agency” may not be right if they don’t think promotionally. Promotional marketing agencies with proven track records executing entertainment partnerships are good places to start.
Most marketing pundits agree that product placement will play a much larger role in years to come. By closing the loop via strategic promotional executions that deliver quantifiable results, marketers will reach and surpass product placement expectations and program goals.
Sarah O’Leary is president/chief strategist of Methods & Madness, a full-service promotion agency based in Marina del Rey, CA. She can be reached at [email protected].
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