Memorability of direct advertising and Product Placement as a way to influence consumer behavior. Product Placement, or effective types of hidden advertising What goals can product placement achieve?

Don't lose it. Subscribe and receive a link to the article in your email.

Every time we watch movies, video clips or, for example, watch advertising on TV, familiar logos catch our eye: “”, “Mercedes”, “Adidas”, “Crystal”, “Marlboro” and many others. It doesn’t take a genius to understand that they are present in these films or videos for a reason. This is done deliberately, and this phenomenon itself is called product placement. What is this?

What is product placement?

The term “product placement” comes from the English “product placement”, which translated means “product placement”. At its core, this is a special hidden technique, which consists in the fact that the props used by the characters of films, television shows, video clips, books, pictures and illustrations have a commercial analogue that exists in reality. As a rule, product placement involves demonstrating the advertised product or its logo, or mentioning it in a positive way.

According to statistics, in all countries of the world, the most popular product placement in movies and television shows when their characters use any product.

According to an expert in the field of marketing, product placement is a technology used by film and TV producers to promote a product. He also discusses two basic methods of such promotion:

• The product or brand may simply appear in the frame
• Products are used by heroes for their intended purpose

However, in general, the following types of so-called product demonstration in television programs and films are distinguished:

• Visual demonstration – simply showing the logo
• Audio-non-verbal demonstration - for example, the sound of a melody that comes with the product
• Audio-verbal demonstration - the hero pronouncing a specific advertising text
• Kinesthetic demonstration – direct demonstration of the product

A number of experts characterize product placement as a method of “guerrilla” marketing or a low-budget advertising tool that allows you to effectively promote a product, arouse interest among potential customers, and with very little investment.

But “product placement” in some popular movie is by no means a cheap pleasure, and not every company can afford it. However, this does not in any way detract from the merits of product placement, because For many companies, this type of advertising is very serious, and they invest enormous amounts of money in it. By the way, the leading position in this area is occupied by the world-famous company Apple, which in 2010 received the award for the best “advertising placement” of the year.

Product placement in Russia

Russian consumers have long been resistant to traditional advertising and have no trust in it, as evidenced by the fact that during television advertising, TV viewers simply change the channel or go away and go about their business. Through product placement, advertisers have the opportunity to reach a wide, and, moreover, quite positive audience. In addition, the authority of the advertising source (movies with favorite actors) significantly increases the authority of the advertised brand itself.

Product placement is highly effective, but, of course, it also has some disadvantages:

• High cost of advertising
• Impossibility of placing emphasis if advertising, for example, is placed in a movie
• The inability to predict the success of the project, calculate the timing of the launch and the effectiveness of advertising and predict its perception by the audience

It is also worth noting that in the Russian media space, product placement is distinguished by one characteristic feature - in fact, it is hidden advertising only in rare cases. Many heroes of series, films and television programs quite openly pronounce the slogans of the promoted brand, and this brand itself or its products are shown in close-up.

In this regard, there was even a sensational case in April 2010, when the TNT TV channel was fined 200 thousand rubles by the FAS (Federal Antimonopoly Service) Office. The cause of the incident was a hidden advertisement on the air of the reality show “Dom-2” for the Nintendo Wii game console.

The actions of the FAS served as the first recognition of the fact that product placement is advertising. But later the FAS order was canceled in court, supporting the decision by the fact that from the evidence that was available in the case file at the time of its consideration, it is not possible to draw an unambiguous conclusion that advertising legislation was violated due to the fact that the time the beginning of the advertising episode and its duration, as well as classifying this episode as “hidden advertising” is impossible.

But, be that as it may, product placement in Russia continues to develop. This can be most clearly seen in such films as “Molodezhka”, “Ranetki”, “Daddy’s Daughters”, “Don’t Be Born Beautiful” and others, as well as in the films: “Gloss”, “Happiness”, “Paragraph 78”, “Features” national hunting”, “Features of national fishing” and a number of others.

By the way, about cinema.

Product placement in cinema

The media company Broadcasting & Cable presented statistics in 2006, from which it became obvious that more than half of all advertisers use product placement, and 80% are television programs. The same company also named the types of product demonstrations that we mentioned at the beginning. However, special attention was paid to the fact that the advertised brand should be presented competently and methodically, and not be imposed (let us immediately remember the peculiarities of product placement in Russia).

An excellent example of effective and strategic product placement in 2006 was the advertisement in the movie “Anna Karenina” for jewelry from the fashion house “Chanel”, namely products from the “Joaillerie” line. The film featured only the symbol of a brand known throughout the world, and nothing more. But even this was enough for Chanel products to become in high demand after the film’s premiere.

Not so long ago, Yale University conducted an experiment that showed that the brands that are best imprinted in people’s memories are those that are not just flashing in the background, but are actively used by movie characters and are also related to the plot. For example, after watching a film, viewers buy in cinemas those drinks that they could see in the film they just watched. The results of the experiment also confirmed that mobile phones from Samsung, which were used by the characters in the film “Peter FM” and were associated with the storyline.

Remember such films as “Ocean’s 11”, “Legally Blonde”, “Sex and the City”, “Nobel’s Last Testament”, etc. What unobtrusively caught your eye while watching? Of course, these were tablets or computers from Apple. How many people in the world use Apple products?

The effectiveness of product placement

Despite the fact that the effectiveness of product placement is very high, its effect in films or television programs is not always what the customer expects. For this reason, when selecting a platform for advertising, even at the stage of working with the script, you need to try to evaluate the television product in terms of its quality. And it is the experts who should do this.

In addition, there must be a clearly formulated technical specification that clearly reflects the interests of the customer and his goals. And the cooperation agreement should include such points as the customer’s opportunity to take part in the work on the script and the filming process of those scenes where product placement will be used, and the opportunity to view the footage and correct it if necessary.

When using product placement, you need to properly promote the advertised brand through those platforms that are of greatest interest to its consumer. It is important to correctly calculate the timing of advertising, for example, the brand should appear in the film exactly when the viewer is most interested in the plot and its development.

The very fact that a brand “participates” in the film is an excellent informational opportunity. A qualified and highly professional PR campaign conducted during the preparation, pre-show and premiere of a film can significantly affect brand awareness and a jump in sales.

Product placement is an advertising technique in which a product, brand, image that has an analogue of a real commercial product is included in the plot, props of a film, television show, computer game, music video or book. Such hidden advertising demonstrates the advertised product itself, its logo, or mentions its purpose, quality, and method of use.

In Russia, in accordance with the Federal Law “On Advertising” (Article 2, paragraph 9), product placement is not considered as advertising: “This Federal Law does not apply to... mentions of a product, means of its individualization, the manufacturer or about the seller of goods, which are organically integrated into works of science, literature or art and in themselves are not information of an advertising nature."

However, like many things in our legislation, not everything is so simple: According to paragraph 9 of Article 5 of the Federal Law of March 13, 2006 No. 38-FZ “On Advertising”, the use of radio, television, video, audio and film products or in other products and the distribution of hidden advertising is not allowed.

Since the list of methods for such “hidden advertising” in the current Federal Law is not given, when formulating restrictions, one can and is limited only to the well-known “25th frame effect” and double sound recording.

In Russia, product placement has distinctive national features: product placement, in fact, is not hidden from anyone, advertising a product or brand openly. The actors are directly forced to pronounce the slogans of the advertised product, the product or brand is shown large in the frame.

Why is product placement so attractive to advertisers? Modern advertisers' influencers have learned to filter advertising. We mute the sound, switch channels, subconsciously shift our attention when we see advertisements in print media. Experts note that the reasons for this are completely understandable, primarily related to the fact that advertising takes up more and more space in the information space, becomes less effective due to the unprofessionalism of advertising producers and the lack of differentiation of a number of products with similar characteristics, which is reflected in advertising (than in advertising, are creams different from cellulite?). Experts also agree on the fact that the influence of traditional advertising channels of communication with consumers is decreasing. Marketers are forced to look for workarounds to these workarounds of the target audience, trying to ensure recognition and memorability of advertising, setting advertising traps in such a way that it is impossible to avoid them. Today there is an active search for channels and methods of communication, ways to “reach out” to the consumer.

Marketers began to actively use product placement technology, that is, to introduce advertising of goods and brands into the storyline of films, videos, cartoons, talk shows. Judging by the films and television series currently being released, we can safely say that this marketing technology has grown into a real industry, which, in fact, is engaged in adapting media (cinema, video) specifically for brands. This is perhaps a new stage in the development of product placement.

With a slight movement of the hand, the trousers turn... into elegant shorts! We didn't even suspectthat this famous quote from the movie was not just a phrase. And it’s not surprising, because at that time the Soviet citizen had no idea about product placement and what it even was.

By the way, this old movie is just filled with all sorts of marketing tricks. But they can be noticed if you understand the basics of the modern market. The only question is, did Leonid Gaidai (the director of the film) plan the product placement initially, or did it all happen spontaneously?

In the mid-nineties, watching a movie on TV was simply impossible. Every 20 minutes it ended in the very interesting place for a commercial break that could last half an hour.

During this time, you could take a walk outside or eat fresh boiled pasta with sausage, drink tea and return back to the blue screen. Advertising was everywhere in those days.

Suddenly, everything changed...

What is product placement or who calls the tune

Advertising breaks have been reduced to 5-10 minutes. And in general, the number of such breaks has become significantly less than it was before. The viewer breathed a sigh of relief. Now it has become much more comfortable to watch Brazilian TV series.

But the joy was premature, because advertising has not gone away. She simply changed her appearance and entered unnoticed from the front door of every average citizen's home.

Marketers suddenly realized that the consumer had become picky and would no longer fall for Lenya Golubkova. A new approach was needed, and urgently. And he was found literally immediately.

Call me Bond, James Bond

What car did the famous special agent drive in the last film? What watch was given to him as a superweapon? What brand of suit was he wearing? And he still doesn't mix his Martini?

Of course, Ian Fleming, the creator of Bond, in no way intended his film to be a tool for . Although there is no doubt - this reading was written solely for sales. But the fact is that the placement of all kinds of brands in Bond looks quite organic.

Product placement (English: Product placement) is the placement or mention of various brands, trademarks in works of art. These could be books, magazines, films, plays, and so on.

Mainstream, mainstream all around

Yes, marketers paid attention to the “Bond Phenomenon.” Because a friend suddenly formed a crowd of people wanting to buy a Bentley or Aston Martin. Although a few years ago, before the release of the first episodes of the film saga, most of humanity did not even dream of it.

But the audience wants something, but will they buy it? The trick here is that product placement is based on mass following and the mainstream. That is, on what is popular. They show some thing on TV, and suddenly everyone wants to buy it. But one small detail.

Ask any passerby on the street how many Bentleys he wants to have in his garage? Almost everyone will answer that there are at least two. But do they have the money for at least one? That's it!

What is what in product placement

If you think that Product placement is only about cinema, then you are deeply mistaken, although cinema is the main platform for this .

In general, if you have previously noticed the placement of custom brands only in films, then there is nothing surprising. Man is designed in such a way that he notices only what he wants to notice. It all depends on the focus of his attention here and now.

“Playboy figure, lingerie - Coco Chanel

And if it’s not a girl, it’s just a new model.”

Ilya Lagutenko (Mumiy Troll)

I’m sure that after this article you will have many more occasions to tell your friends: “Oh, look, there’s product placement here too!” First, let's look at the main types of such “hidden” advertising.

Visual

The brand appears in the frame, but no attention is paid to it. A typical example is placing a MacBook in various films. By the way, if you didn't know, Apple even won an award for the best brand placement in 2010.

All in all, main character of a work of art interacts in one way or another with the object on which one or another is placed brand . And celebrities are willing to pay for such an appearance in a scene, even if the branded item is not used in any way according to the script.

Verbal

Product placement in this form is based on mention in oral speech trademark. The trick is that you can place a stronger emphasis on the product than on the visuals. One form of verbal appearance is the use of brands in music and lyrics.

It’s quite easy for the hero to say something about Walmart’s seasonal sale or talk about a new line women's perfumes. Some verbal product placements are much more expensive for their advertisers than visual ones.

Mixed

It's simple here. We take a visual image and add non-verbal language to it. It turns out something like a double blow to the subconscious of consumers. It’s not enough to show the product; you also need to focus on it, or highlight it in some way. This technique is also called marking.

For example, a taxi service billboard appears in the frame, and the main character points to it with his hand or other organ of his body without saying the name. Or at the table, guests ask the hostess for mayonnaise and she brings her “favorite” brand and puts it on the table.

As we can see, this type of advertising does not yet use another channel for human perception of information. It's about about kinesthetics, that is, about what can be touched, tasted and smelled. I am sure that in the future, with the development of technology, marketers will also use sensors for product placement.

The rich cry too

The haters of placing branded products in movies are a thousand times right. Not only do you no longer know where to get away from advertising, but they also shove it into the last outlet - in films and TV series. Moreover, most viewers of this type there is no money to buy cool branded items.

Simply put, the rich have the opportunity to offer and pay, while the poor do not even have the chance to touch, let alone buy. It turns out that this type of advertising is not as effective as it seems at first glance?

Efficiency or death

It's not that simple. Long gone are the days when direct marketing and front-line sales worked well. Marketers have to invent things like two-step sales, three-step marketing and product placement in order to somehow promote their product.

The first from the list above is a technology in which the consumer first buys some product at cost or at a price significantly lower. A kind of bait with which you can attract a client. After a trusting relationship is established with the buyer, he is offered to buy the product at a much higher price.

This second step is where the seller’s main profit is generated. The main idea is that from the first sale we go into a minus, and from the second we go into a plus, which covers previous losses. It’s easy to guess that three-step marketing is the same technology, but with the addition of sales of one more product at or below cost. In other words, the seller makes a profit not from the second sale, but from the third.

The longer the better

As for product placement, this is an even longer game. Several decades ago, Toyota companies foresaw that it would be easy to sell cars by competing through quality and basic technical specifications, it won't work anymore.

Competitors began to produce a product almost similar, and in no way inferior in additional parameters. The automotive industry has moved into an era of competition between brands. The client began to buy the brand, and not the car itself.

Therefore, the decision was made not to sell, but to educate. New clients. This is how the Toyota club system was launched. It organized various events, traditional holidays, gave huge discounts on gas stations, and held various promotions.

After several generations, Toyota owners grew up with children. They became the main target of marketers. Can you imagine how long we had to wait? company owners?

So yes, the rich cry too. But not for long, because if marketing strategy was carried out successfully, then all efforts ultimately bring in much more profit than if you continue to advertise the product directly.

The main contradictions in product placement

If you think about it, placing brands on art products is a thankless task. On the one hand, this , like any other, there is one goal - sales. But its too intrusive nature can cause the opposite effect on the consumer.

Why, your humble servant waited a long time for this to happen to Apple, because the number of MacBooks that were featured in the movie “Sex and the City” exceeded all reasonable limits. Although, on the other hand, this entire series is one continuous product placement, so against this background of an abundance of brands, Apple looked like a kind of black sheep.

On the other hand, if you place the brand in the frame unobtrusively, beautifully and natively, that is high probability that there will be no effect from such advertising at all. The viewer simply will not notice the presence of the advertised object in the frame.

So marketers have to work out so that the advertising is noticeable, but not too “pulling the blanket over itself.” There are not many such examples when product placement successfully interacts with the film script. Right now, the only thing that comes to mind is Keanu Reeves from “The Matrix” with his now famous Nokia.

By the way, all free lessons are now in one place. Here - ! Now you can watch everything at once! But remember that knowledge is not power, but strength.

On the other side of the barricades

So it turns out that despite all the success of the idea of ​​product placement, only those who place the product make money from it, and not those who call the tune. And in most cases this is true.

Because using this type of advertising, none of the marketers can say exactly what it will be , what to expect from the conversion, and in general how to find out that the next jump in Aston Martin sales is associated precisely with the release new series Bonds?

And one more small detail. Product placement was initially created as a kind of additional motivator to influence . For example, in the film, according to the script, the main characters use various gadgets in one way or another.

And since they are already present in the plot, does it matter what brand will appear there? By placing a trademark in this way, you can earn extra money and save the film from failure at the box office. In general, reduce financial markets in case of failure.

Far Side of the Moon

Another situation is when lately films are made exclusively for product placement, and only then they think through the script, direction and casting of actors. This is the case with , when movies are made to sell brands and not for aesthetic pleasure.

And it's sad. Such a plan does not increase sales, and the plot of the film does not become more interesting and suffers from an abundance of advertising. In fact, we get a 1.5-2 hour commercial, packaged in a movie.

Robinson Crusoe of our days

Haters of product placement in cinema can be understood; the dominance of brands is the thing that makes it difficult to focus on the fate of on-screen characters, understand their motivations and reasons for their actions, and, in the end, empathize.

But on the other hand, what's the difference? All these beautiful wrappers and logos have long been firmly established in our lives. And if there are no advertisements on the screen at all, then it will no longer look believable.

If Robinson Crusoe ended up on a desert island in our time, he would have a story similar to the plot of the movie “Cast Away” with Tom Hanks. At the same time, the number and quality of references to FedEx and Wilson in the script do not in any way affect the essence of what is happening and, to some extent, makes you sympathize with the hero, cut off from modern civilization.

Brands in this film are certain threads that until the end remained the only connection between the main character and outside world, not letting him lose heart and forcing him to fight to the bitter end. Although evil tongues say that Robert Zemeckis, the director of the film, was never paid by any of the brands for “placement.”

Chief specialist in cinema

If we talk about those who professionally engage in product placement in cinema, then you won’t find a better specialist than Timur Bekmambetov. It is not surprising if we remember that he began his directorial career by filming advertisements for Baltimore ketchup and the Imperial Bank.

But what this comrade is doing now deserves special praise. And here it’s not even a matter of poorly disguised advertising in the Night and Day Watch. And not even the teeming mass of brands in the film “Irony of Fate 2”.

But the fact is that this “marketer” manages to recoup the film’s budget even before filming begins! This happened with almost all parts of the film epic “Yolki”. It's no surprise that each installment of this series gets worse and worse.

It is softer and tastier...

But such trash existed in Russian cinema much earlier. Remember the series about Larin and Dukalis? The one about the cops? In one of the seasons, these brave guys drank only one vodka. Moreover, the Ukrainian manufacturer “Myagkov”.

It even got to the point that while on a business trip in Tallinn, they winced when they were offered to drink Vana Tallinn liqueur. And immediately seeing a bottle of “Myagkov”, they began to drink it.

Well, the inappropriateness that happened over several seasons of the TV series “Daddy’s Daughters” with chocolate egg Kinder surprise, it doesn’t fit into any gates at all. In each episode, the youngest daughter devoured this miracle of the Italian confectionery industry by both cheeks.

Marketing, marketing everywhere...

The situation is the same on television. Manufacturers of all kinds of unnecessary goods suddenly realized that advertising on TV no longer works just like that. And we decided to approach the issue of product sales from a different angle.

This is how the production of custom-made television programs began, in which the products of the desired brand were used in one way or another. We owe the appearance of such television products as “Test Drive”, “Housing Problem” and the like to product placement.

And even here there is product placement

Okay TV, everything is clear with him. This has always been a platform for advertising. But how can we explain books whose sole purpose was product placement? Here we include the book “Generation P”, by a deeply revered author, Viktor Pelevin. By the way, I seriously consider almost all of his work as a good basis for upgrading marketing skills.

But I must admit that Pelevin, in his works, makes product placement with a presentation worthy of respect. The same cannot be said about such heroes of our time as Sergei Lukyanenko or Daria Dontsova.

These guys, in pursuit of additional profit, went into chaos. Just look at “Golden Cockerel Fillet” by the last of those listed. Although some experts still call this work the “first civilized” product placement in the vastness of the former USSR.

Well, okay books, TV series, shows. But the fact that the placement of brands on order will be noticed in the porn industry is already beyond good and evil. This happens because this genre is suffering increasing losses from year to year.

So representatives of this industry have to get out. Rumor has it that this is almost the last source of profit in this type of cinema.

What did you end up with?

Product placement, like any other marketing technology, is not something completely new. The medieval celebrities who posed for the artists were holding in their hands anything but ordinary things from the street.

There are rumors that many jewelers of that time were ready to give up half of their property, just so that Rembrandt would paint a picture of another beauty wearing jewelry made by his workshop.

I almost forgot. Even more useful tips on business and internet marketing in our Telegram channel. Follow THIS LINK . Each subscriber gets a BONUS: “7 ways make quick money on the Internet"

Product placement, like other marketing tools, changes and evolves. Today, this technology is part of a phenomenon called native advertising, when, when watching a program, the author, usingadvertises a product.

Who can I order product placement from?

Yuru Dudya can be considered one of the coolest specialists in this genre. If you are or just starting out mine , then don't listen to his interview. Better pay attention to how he smoothly leads the viewer to the presentation of a specific product.

Not a single advertisement in the program in Dud looks intrusive. It’s not difficult to guess that this program lives solely thanks to product placement. It’s no wonder that it’s in the advertising part that you can feel a masterfully choreographed script. Interview and content - exclusively improvisation by the author and hero of the program.

But lately Yuri has had a worthy competitor. His name is Leonid Parfenov with the new-old project “Namedni”. Sometimes, while browsing another episode of this product, you notice direct advertising only after 5 minutes of viewing it, as soon as the call to action sounds.

What is the feature of the new format?

This is the main secret of the popularity of such advertising among advertisers, forgive the tautology. If in cinema, music, literature and painting product placement is limited, then in the program format on The authors have one important advantage.

They can make a direct call to action! It has been proven that even a not very good call to action gives an additional increase in attention, not to mention well thought out.

Moreover, this format lends itself to analytics. Using UTM tags, you can quickly calculate where the visitor came from, for what key request, and also quickly calculate reach, involvement and conversion.

What was previously impossible to measure can now be analyzed and predicted. Advertisers are seriously investing in product placement for YouTube bloggers. Therefore, it’s time to take care of starting your own channel on . And yes, there was just the same product placement).

But that's not all...

Exodus is around the corner or winter is coming

Placement of brands in art is a hot topic for contemporary artists. Some of the popular ones have declared a real war on product placement. Among them is Quentin Tarantino.

Loner heroes

Have you ever wondered what kind of hamburger is that from the Big Kahuna chain in the movie Pulp Fiction? Or Red Apple cigarettes? I've spent half my life finding these products in the real world.

Until suddenly it was discovered that this was it. The director was not at all lazy to come up with his own brands, just so as not to advertise real brands. By the way, old Quentin is not so alone in his endeavors.

After all, sometimes what is considered product placement is not. Often in Soviet films you can see Western brands used by movie characters. This can hardly be called direct advertising.

In those years, it was possible to buy a pack of Marlboro or Coco Chanel perfume by going to a regular store in the city, but extremely unlikely.

Have you noticed that almost purely by chance, we started the article with Soviet cinema, and we end with it)? Therefore, I wish you to treat any appearance of a brand in objects of art calmly.

Epic failure from HBO

In the wake of hysteria over the release of the new season of Game of Thrones, I couldn’t ignore the product placement from these guys. You can consider this a normal update.

I am sure that someone at this studio was fired immediately after the release of the new series without severance pay. But if the prop master was paid for placement, then perhaps the game was worth the candle? What do you think? Write in the comments.

Everything can be completely random

You never know, but perhaps, thanks to a well-placed brand, a film was made, a book was written, or a TV show was invented. Therefore, accept with gratitude everything that other people do and do not stand still and develop yourself.

To summarize: product placement solves such an important problem as finding customers. But since this method is quite expensive, I recommend downloading my

Friends!
We never tire of delighting you with useful articles. And today - another delicious offer from TurboBloga. This time we bring to your attention material from a guest author - Olga Vysotskaya, independent PR consultant. In her first work for our blog, Olga shared her knowledge about such an interesting phenomenon in the advertising world as Product Placement.
We read, record important thoughts and ask Olga questions. Happy reading.

“Effective advertising is rational arguments in a rational envelope. People first react to the envelope, and only then read the letter, listen to the arguments that encourage them to purchase this particular product.”
John F. Jones, interview with Consultant magazine

Product Placement(abbreviated as PP) is a hidden advertising technology, a technology for communicating brands and end consumers as unobtrusively as possible. Product placement is possible on a screen (TV, cinema or, what is most interesting to us, a computer), it is possible on racks with holiday cards in a restaurant, it is possible in art book or a computer game. The main content of the dialogue is that we do not impose anything. You decide everything yourself. You just watch our story because it is interesting, and everything that the heroes of our story use, what they eat, what they drink, what they brush their teeth with, what they drive, what they wear, what they put to their ears and when they raise what flag stand up - it's unobtrusive. This is the second plan. And the more unobtrusive, the more effective. Because it happens within entertainment, pleasure. PP does not irritate viewers like traditional advertising, because PP does not interrupt the flow of the plot and is therefore perceived loyally.

If the consumer has a positive attitude towards the hero (the advertising medium), he also has a positive attitude towards the advertised product itself.

Accident or planned campaign? Cinema is considered to be the birthplace of Product Placement. And to be completely precise, this type of cinematic art is animation. Exactly cartoon character- Popeye the Sailor - credited with the hidden promotion of spinach, which is the first mention of an advertising campaign in the Product Placement format. You can also often find allegations that the US Department of Health was the customer of such advertising:

Considering the fact that the need for spinach as a kind of doping is a feature that appeared in Popeye exclusively in cartoons (in the comics, where Popeye himself, in turn, comes from, he was strong enough without it), this information looks quite convincing. However, there are many sources indicating that the spinach theme in the cartoon epic of Popeye owes its appearance to Dr. Evon Wolf, who published a number of studies in 1870. According to his data, as a result of a typo, the iron content in spinach was indicated as ten times higher than the real value. This error was discovered only in 1937, but information about this discovery was made public only in the 80s. The high popularity of Popeye among teenagers and children made it possible to popularize the consumption of vegetables and, in fact, spinach itself. And therefore, even the publication of this information for spinach producers no longer had the slightest significance. Regardless of the data on this matter, the audience has already associated their favorite character with spinach, and, as a result, the strength and health that it gives. The established association is still alive today. A number of American spinach producers have even erected memorial monuments to Popeye to commemorate his contributions to the spinach industry.

This trend of unplanned placement can be observed throughout the history of RR. For example, authors of books and songs often include this or that product in their plot according to their personal discretion and passion.

Thus, it is quite difficult to draw clear conclusions about the origin of PP. This technology was able to achieve further development only in the 80s. The first planned Product Placement is considered to be Steven Spielberg's film "E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial" (1982), where the main character non-stop devoured Reese's Pieces chocolate bars. After the announcement of a 60 percent increase in quarterly sales of Reese's Pieces, marketing managers of other companies took note this marketing tool. And by the beginning of the 90s, all major Western film studios had already organized departments that specialized exclusively in Product Placement. By the way, the matter was not limited to one film. Subsequently, a huge number of products with the symbolism of the picture were released (toys, sweets, games, books):


Thus, product placement in feature films has become widely accepted as viable and extremely effective way promotion of goods. Since then, interest in PR has been growing both from theorists and from marketing professionals and representatives of the media. Today, in the conditions of oversaturation of the modern market with traditional, annoying advertising, the development and use of new, effective and comparable to the budgets of domestic clients is a necessity.

In my opinion, PP is just such a tool. And in order to apply it in practice, you need to understand the basics of this advertising technology.

I suggest doing this in two stages:
1. The concept of types, types of Product Placement.
2. Channels for distributing the story itself and, as a result, mentioning the product.

I see, I hear, I empathize It is customary to distinguish 3 main types of Product Placement:

1. Visual product placement(visual product placement) - when viewers can simply see a product, service or logo. In a movie, this is usually presented in this way: the heroine walks down the street, her attention is attracted by a bright sign with the logo of a certain company that used this type of PP. An example of this type of PR is an advertisement for Diet Coca-Cola in the diet episode of Mean Girls:


2. Auditory(spoken product placement). This type of RR is divided into 2 subtypes:

Oral (or verbal) - a phrase (dialogue) that advertises a product, service or company when an actor or "voice-over" mentions the advertised product. An excellent example of such placement is Forrest Gump's line from the film of the same name in the episode after his visit to White House: “The best thing about meeting the President was that you could drink Pepper as much as you wanted!”

Not oral (or non-verbal) - a sound that is an integral property (sometimes the USP) of a particular product. Used quite rarely.

As an example of this type of RR, a scene from the movie epic about Indiana Jones is perfect. In several films, the main character used a Zippo lighter, which viewers perceived by its characteristic click:

3. Kinesthetic(usage product placement, interaction of an actor with a product) - this type of placement has always been the most popular, since it is not always easy to create an image using only an image or sound sequence. A clear example of such PP is an Amazon.com advertisement in the beloved TV series “Sex and the City”:

The last type of placement (kinesthetic) includes both visual and auditory types. The kinesthetic type, as a rule, turns out to be the best for brand companies. This is confirmed by data from leading European RAs:


With the help of the types of PR described above, specific advertising tasks are solved, the success of which determines the degree of participation of the product (service) in the film. For convenience, we will call such degrees and forms of manifestation types of Product Placement.

They are like this:
1. Product placement. This type of PR implies advertising of a product of a certain brand in order to confirm its popularity and reputation, as well as the association of the product with a certain image or lifestyle:

2. Corporate placement. It is the placement of advertising in order to maintain and enhance the image of a company or service. In the film "Big Daddy" (1999), the main characters participate in an entire adventure in order to catch breakfast at McDonald's. To begin with, the son of Adam Sandler's character asks his father to take him to fast food. On the way, the father tells his son about the first time he tried breakfast at McDonalds. Then, just before entering the restaurant, the heroes linger against the backdrop of its façade, speaking to the tramp:

After that they go to McDonalds:

And finally, they contact the staff in branded uniforms:

3. Placement of new items. This is the placement of a product that has just appeared (or a launch is planned) in order to create a positive image of the new product. Further participation in the advertising campaign of a film (book, game) is possible. A classic of the genre - the hero of the story uses a car model, a telephone and other products that have just appeared on the market or are planned for mass release:



4. General accommodation. Placing a product or group of products of the same type from different manufacturers in order to confirm the popularity and reputation of a certain group of products. A very interesting type of placement, which is used very rarely in modern competition. However, it can be very effective for promoting government and sponsorship educational, health and other programs. In fact, the pioneer of PP - Popeye the sailor with spinach - refers to this type of placement.

5. Country or region placement. This is an advertisement for tourist resorts, additional benefits and other advantages of a country or region. Used to create a positive image of the country with the possibility of participating in a further advertising campaign. A great example is the use of Phi Phi Ley in Thailand, especially Maya Bay Beach, in the plot of the film “The Beach” with Leonardo DiCaprio. From the moment the film was released worldwide to this day, almost no tourist guide to Thailand is complete without mentioning this fact, and Maya Bay Beach is one of the 5 most popular beaches in the world, where it ranks second:

6. Posting an idea. Practical demonstration of the essence of the idea. Advertising legislative benefits, commercial or political idea using the movie plot as an example. Most often used in the political and ideological spheres, less often in the areas of insurance or other types of commercial activities for the provision of services. For example, we can recall the company MedClub, where the hero of one of the novels by the French writer Michel Houellebecq worked.

7. Neutral placement. Inactive presence of a product or service in a film or television series. Formation of a lifestyle and “binding” to this product or service. This type of PR is used primarily by tobacco companies, since cigarette advertising is prohibited in many countries. In the case of neutral placement, when the hero of the film smokes a certain brand of cigarettes, it is almost impossible to prove the connection of the manufacturer with the filming process.

8. Creative placement. The product (service) is creatively integrated into the plot and becomes an integral part of it. Advertising of specific benefits from using a product (service), constantly repeated mentions of it. A good example is the monologue of the hero Buldakov, as well as some other episodes in the film “Peculiarities of National Fishing” about the vodka “Vrozhay”:

9. Placement of the product image. The plot of the film is entirely dedicated to a product, service or idea. It is an advertisement of an idea, the benefits of a product or an idea throughout the entire plot. It is used in conjunction with further advertising of both the story itself (film, game, book) and the product, which is the basis of the script idea. Books, comics, cartoons about the Barbie doll are an example of such a RR:

Speaking about placement delivery channels, it is worth mentioning not only the film industry. Currently, a lot of shows and competitions are broadcast on radio and television, one name of which (for example, “The Ali G Show”) can already be attributed to Product Placement. Cartoon products, where the characters constantly chew a certain brand of chewing gum, cannot do without Product Placement.

Product Placement is sometimes included in well-known music hits that are periodically listened to by consumers. The famous song "Orbit without Sugar" can be considered as an illustration of this type of PP. Although in some songs there may be no advertising intention, on the contrary, a well-known product that the author loved becomes a guarantor of the song's success.

Present famous people at anniversaries and competitions, including awards from patrons of the arts, participation of sponsors, demonstrative lighting of only a certain type of cigarette, scandalous stories from the lives of popular figures - all this is nothing more than various forms of Product Placement.

Reality shows also actively use this tool. According to various sources, the most successful (from a commercial point of view) reality shows no longer live so much due to advertising in and around the program, like all other segments of the broadcast, but rather due to the so-called “hidden advertising” woven into the fabric of what is happening. The record for income from advertising within the program was received by the show “Dom-2” of the TNT channel, $6.5 million. Second and third places are shared by the projects of the first channel “The Last Hero” and “Star Factory”, which earned $3 million each.

Studios that create computer games and applications for social networks and other platforms also take an active part in the development of Product Placement. According to Double Fusion, brand awareness among gamers increases after PP placement in 60 cases out of 100. 54% of respondents believe that in-game advertising attracts attention, and this is taking into account the fact that visualization is not so important for gamers! One of the latest examples: after the release of “Night Watch,” a game of the same name appeared in stores, where an advertisement for “Alfa Bank” was placed.

Mass literature also did not stand aside. D. Dontsova became one of the flagships of Product Placement. Her book “Golden Cockerel Fillet” contained the Golden Cockerel brand of semi-finished products in the title. The cover featured the logo of this brand, and the book itself contained a story about frozen semi-finished products. According to Moskovsky Komsomolets in St. Petersburg, such an order cost $50 thousand:

Position of PR in the modern media market and its place in marketing communications The specificity of the Product Placement campaign is that it is always carried out on a wide scale and with numerous plots. In most cases, Product Placement is not considered as a separate promotion of a product. If a social gathering was chosen as a format for PP, where branded products are used as gifts, then their brands should already be well known to the consumer. This is explained by the fact that this type of advertising does not provide detailed information about the product, because PP is preceded by primary commercials and projects designed to highlight the product long before Product Placement.

Thus, we can conclude that Product Placement technology can be used to conduct campaigns on an absolute variety of platforms, including the Internet.

Digitall PP in recent years is steadily gaining momentum. Blogs, social networks, branded platforms, email services, online shows and series - all these channels are used to convey a message (story) to the user online. Moreover, it was the digital format that made it possible to obtain new opportunities for using PP with a plot that already existed and was previously popular offline, but already online. This technology in Western markets is called digitall product placement, and the first campaign to use this technology is SeamBi.

One example of DPP (digital product placement) performed by SeamBi is an online campaign for the comedy “My Zoo Boy” (2011) with Kevin James, which was integrated into an episode of season 3 (2007) of the popular series “How I Met Your Mother” (2005-2013):




After the product was technically integrated into the plot (by the SeamBi company), RA got down to business, which disseminated information with the message “Kevin James found a time machine and ended up in an old episode of “How I Met Your Mother” on the network:


It is also worth noting that, despite the rather attractive format of PP impact, in Ukraine (as well as in other post-Soviet countries) there is a tendency among marketers, PR specialists (and especially advertising sales managers), primarily on TV, in print media and the Internet, to sell their clients, under the guise of placement, a fairly aggressive format of sponsorship of certain stories.

This is due to the fact that the majority of Ukrainian specialists do not fully understand the essence of such advertising technology as PP, or underestimate its effectiveness. This fact should be understood both by client companies and companies that build their marketing communications with consumers independently, and by advertising agencies.

This article is material designed to assist specialists in making decisions about conducting an advertising campaign using Product Placement and its format. And finally good selection moments with RR in the chronological order of its appearance in the global media space.

Hidden advertising in cinema

There are several types of hidden advertising. One of the most popular and effective is hidden advertising in cinema: in films, TV series, cartoons, reality shows. TO benefits This area of ​​hidden advertising includes:

• Large audience reach (if the film or series is in demand and popular),
• “Long-term effect” (even after many years, when watching the film, the viewer will “encounter” advertising again and again),
• The ability to show the advertised product in action and associate certain associations with it among viewers,
• Advertising acts unobtrusively (the characters live among things, use them, talk about them - and this is quite natural),
• No additional costs for advertising creation,
• Association of a brand with famous figures of cinema, art, and sports is an effective promotion tool that does not require financial investments in “promotion” of the image and allows you to give the advertisement a certain authority.

Hidden advertising is used in almost all famous films, for example, it permeates all the films about agent 007 James Bond, which are considered classics in the use of hidden advertising. After showing hidden advertising for Jack Daniel's in the film Basic Instinct, sales increased by $6 million. And the well-known company “Apple” is the largest advertiser of product placement in the film industry. Here is an example from the famous TV series "House":

However, product placement in cinema also has some flaws:

• High cost of advertising,
• It is not always possible to place the right accents and “weave” product placement into the plot of the work,
• The difficulty of predicting the success of an advertising campaign and assessing its effectiveness,
• If the brand is unknown to a wide audience, the viewer may not notice the advertisement.

• Visual - demonstration of a product or company logo in the middle ground,
• Verbal - mention of a product or service by heroes,
• Special Scene — product advertising is “integrated” into the plot, the characters actively use it.

The great art is to keep hidden advertising hidden. Otherwise, if the advertisement is overly intrusive and unrelated to the plot, negative feedback from viewers is possible.

For the success of hidden advertising in a particular film, it is necessary not just to demonstrate a product or logo on the screen, but its active use by the characters of the film, the participation of the advertised product in the storyline, so that the audience has the “necessary” associations with the brand and product. There are two successful models of weaving product placement into a story: role-playing model And situational model.

In the case of a role model, the brand must be owned by some character who has those qualities, character and position in society that are attractive to the viewer. The context of consumption is often not important. The main thing is to have a role model bright , i.e. it must be memorable to a potential consumer, and, secondly, the viewer must either recognize himself in this model or strive to imitate it.

As an example, we can recall the hidden advertising of BMW in the films “Mission: Impossible” and “Duhless”. We see stylish, charismatic and successful main characters who use cars of this brand. Such a role model allows you to shape the image of the brand itself and demonstrate the new model in a favorable light. Sometimes, just such a demonstration can be more effective than dozens of conventional commercials.

With the situational model, it is not the personality and characteristics of the hero that are important, but the situation in which the heroes find themselves associated with the consumption of the product. This situation must also be clear, unambiguously perceived, familiar and positive. In addition, it is important that the situation is attractive and important to the person, and not indifferent to him. In this case, if the consumption situation is repeated constantly with minor deviations, the consumer also forms his own stereotype regarding the advertised product.

For example, “this is a product for meeting old friends”, “this is a product for a romantic evening”, “they snack on this when there is no time for a full meal”, etc. The choice of situational models is quite large, the main thing is that the context of product placement does not contradict the idea of ​​the brand. In my opinion, the best examples of this model are the McDonald's and Coca-Cola brands, which connect the consumption of their product with family values, friendship and do it very skillfully.

Another tool for displaying hidden advertising is books. For example, already in 1882, Jules Verne used hidden advertising in the novel “Around the World in 80 Days”: all mentions of transport companies used by the main character were paid for. Currently, advertising in books can be found both in works of art and in specialized literature, for example, on marketing. In general, the advantages and disadvantages are the same as advertising in movies. However, there are also differences: such advertising is less expensive, but showing the product on the screen is undoubtedly more effective and memorable than describing it in a book.

Other types of hidden advertising include: product placement on the radio, in print media (newspapers, magazines), computer games, video clips and product placement in everyday life and the Internet. Let's look at the last two types in more detail.

Hidden advertising on the Internet

No one will argue that the Internet is extremely popular these days. There are people there of different ages, social status and interests. In this regard, for any company, the use of this promotion channel is very important, as it allows you to increase sales and attract new customers. Over time, there has become too much regular advertising on the Internet, so hidden advertising methods are now in demand there too. Let's look at them in more detail:

• Maintaining thematic groups (for example, groups on VKontakte). It is important to consider here that many are already tired of “head-on selling” through a group, so it is recommended to create a group with interesting content on a similar topic. For example, if you want to advertise the services of your travel agency, then it would be logical to create a group, say, with the topic “ Beautiful places peace." This way, you will share interesting content and periodically be able to share “hot offers” from the travel agency;
• Advertising from personal pages (for example, Vkontakte, Instagram). This type is an excellent opportunity for using hidden advertising. We all use various goods and services, and from our personal page we simply share our experiences and impressions. If you do it efficiently and interestingly, then advertising will have good effect. This method will be effective if you have a large number of followers and are an authority in a certain field;
• Blog Advertising . Typically, blogs are written by experts in certain fields. Authors will simply be required to include information about your products and services in their releases, make recommendations, and test products. If the blogger is truly a recognized expert and known to a wide audience, then his opinion will be listened to. This will be especially relevant for authors who blog on specialized topics: for example, a review of new gadgets, cars or business topics. Include elements of hidden advertising in your review, in in this case, will not be difficult;
• Advertising on forums. With the emergence of groups in social networks and Wikipedia, this method is becoming a thing of the past, but for some types of goods and services it may still be relevant. Its essence is as follows: “agents of influence” of your company communicate on forums with topics similar to the type of activity of your company, under the guise of ordinary forum participants. Everyone has a certain legend and shares their experience of using a product or service and the subsequent effect of use.
• Creation of viral videos. This method of hidden advertising is also quite effective, given that lately people are more willing to watch videos than read. But creating a video that can hook people and make them share it with people around them is a great art. Even if people start sharing a viral video, it is not a fact that they will then become your clients.

TO benefits Product placement on the Internet includes:

• Low cost of advertising,
• The ability to more accurately select the target audience (gender, age, region, interests),
• The ability to accurately track audience coverage and advertising campaign results,
• The ability to communicate with potential buyers interactively.

As shortcomings It is worth noting the smaller audience coverage with targeted advertising, high competition for advertising certain types of goods and services.

Hidden offline advertising

Another method of hidden advertising is the so-called “life placement” - or placing advertising in everyday life. I would like to immediately note that this method is not common in Russia, and it is quite expensive and difficult to implement. At the same time, no matter how hard you try, the coverage will still be less than in the two previous types. There is also a very high risk of not reaching your target audience. However, if executed correctly, this method can be remembered by consumers for a long time. Life placement methods include:

• Graffiti is an image of an advertised product, event or logo on sidewalks, walls, fences. This method is unlikely to be suitable for large and well-established companies, but for small companies it can be very useful. True, we do not recommend that you abuse these methods, so that you do not get charged with an administrative offense,
• Flash mob - an action with the participation large quantity people who can attract attention to the advertised product or brand,
• “Advertising person” - people who wear special clothes, hold flashy objects with company symbols, or perform actions that can attract the attention of potential buyers.

So, we have seen that many companies actively use hidden advertising methods when promoting their goods and services. Depending on the size of the company, the type of product or service, you can choose the promotion channel that will allow you to get the maximum number of contacts with your target audience. All of the above methods differ in cost and in the ability to assess the effectiveness of advertising. One of the most important indicators of the effectiveness of advertising activities is audience coverage. Product placement on the Internet allows you to calculate it most accurately; in other cases, these will be more approximate values. In any case, the success of product placement is quite difficult to predict and much will depend on the context of the advertisement, the art of its creators and the product or company.