Writing a Thesis on Product Placement?

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TiVo Shmee-Vo. Using product placement to get your brand on the big screen — and in living rooms — could be cheaper and more effective than purchasing ad time. Here’s how the experts maximize coverage in movies and television.

Imagine seeing Peter Parker walking down the street after being bitten by the radioactive spider. He’s starting to feel the effects. Unaware of what’s happening, he steps into the street and is almost hit by a truck … a Terminix truck!

Spiderman nearly splattered by a Terminix truck? You’ve gotta love creative product placement — when it works, that is (but more on that later).

Not long ago, it seemed every soda can or shampoo bottle on TV or in films was generic. Sure, the colors suggested Pepsi or Head & Shoulders, but the brands were always Cola and Shampoo. Using actual products meant getting legal clearance from the brands — something most studios didn’t want to bother with.

Enter product placement. You know, like Head & Shoulders in this summer’s Evolution. Or, better yet, like FedEx and the Wilson volleyball in Castaway — perhaps the greatest example of successful product placement in recent film history. Why? The products and companies were integral parts of the plot. Neither brand was mentioned solely for promotion. Sure, the role of “Wilson” could have been played by Spalding, but come on, and FedEx is such a well-known brand it’s practically a generic term for overnight mail. Nothing less would do.

While product placement might be an advertiser’s dream, it’s also crucial in depicting a realistic environment. “If we’re going to tell stories about contemporary American life, they should absolutely be littered with products and brand names,” says Robert Thompson, professor of media and popular culture at Syracuse University and director of The Center for the Study of Popular Television (http://newhouse.syr.edu/research). “Let’s face it, America is a country that’s got this stuff sprawled all over every place. To disguise it is to present a world that doesn’t exist.” 

Money Talks ... or Does It?

“If you think about it, a 30-second commercial is really very brief,” says Julie Weinhouse, principal, HERO Product Placement (www.heropp.com), whose company was disappointed to hear their Terminix placement in Spiderman (described above) had been cut for budgetary reasons. 

“When the commercial comes on, you go to the fridge and get a soda, or you go to the bathroom, or whatever you do. By the time you come back, someone’s spent about a million bucks [on an ad placement you missed].” 

And that doesn’t even factor in the production and talent costs of the ad itself.  With films, value is based on box office sales and video rentals. Added value comes though association with big-name stars. Measuring the value of a TV placement is far easier.

“Let’s say an exposure on Friends is on screen for 15 seconds,” says Weinhouse. “A 30-second spot on Friends might cost $500,000. If you break that down, 15-seconds worth of exposure would be worth $250,000.” As a placement, that exposure might cost less than $10,000, depending on the particular agency-client agreement.

“[Product placement] offers the advertiser a lot more bang for his buck and the assurance that it’s not going to be edited out by TiVo — because it’s in the actual production,” says Eric E. Dahlquist, president of the Entertainment Resources and Marketing Association (E.R.M.A.; www.erma.org) and president of Vista Group, a product placement company.

Product placement isn’t the shady backroom deal some people imagine. There are professional guidelines set forth by E.R.M.A. and rules enforced by the FCC. “E.R.M.A.’s role, first of all, is to assure the world at large that there’s a code of ethics and a set of standards,” says Dahlquist.

While paid placements are allowable in film, FCC regulations prohibit paid placements on television shows that already sell ad time. TV dramas, sitcoms, and reality shows can’t receive cash for showcasing goods, but they can offset production costs by accepting goods as props, costumes, decor, and the like.


I Need Lara Croft's Watch

Sometimes, it pays to place.

After all, when all else is equal, the studios have to look at who’s offering what. “Are they offering promotional support for the film? Are they going to do a tie-in that would help the back-end as far as promoting the film when it’s released? Are they providing a fee?” asks Weinhouse.

“If it’s the perfect movie, the perfect star, the perfect demographics, and the client feels the exposure is going to be terrific, then, absolutely, I think it’s worth it to offer a fee,” says Anne Iverson, owner, L.A. Dolce Vita, a product placement agency. But money and promotions aren’t typically key factors.

“It’s not about getting money. It’s about getting product and having the legal right to use the product. That’s what we’re looking for 99 percent of the time,” says Bettina O’Mara, president, Bettina O’Mara Production Resources, a company that acts as middleman between studios and agencies, and has overseen product placement in Evolution, Hannibal, One Hour Photo, and America’s Sweethearts.

“Most movie companies would rather not charge anything and wind up with a promotion that’s involved with the placement,” says Dahlquist. “If they get tagged onto a $17-million advertising program, that’s a lot more significant than if they have someone pony up $50,000 to be in a film when there’s no incidental value attached.”

Find Your Place

Getting a studio to consider a product for placement is time-consuming but straightforward. “You work as hard as you can to send as much product out to the right movies because, in all honesty, half of it ends up on the cutting room floor,” says Iverson.
“The more movies I work on, the better chance I have of getting exposure, so I send out as many posters and commercials and things as I can,” says Iverson. “It’s good because the studios know they can come to agencies and get cleared posters and cleared commercials.”

For resort properties like those that Iverson represents, the best placement would be a location shoot. “If there’s not an opportunity for a location shoot, there are many times when you can get a verbal mention or a billboard — which is a highly sought-after placement in a film.”

“Non-Existent” Opportunities

Billboards work for other products, too. When a studio called Weinhouse one Friday asking if she could have a billboard in Vancouver by Monday, she said “Yes” despite the amount of effort it took to produce it so quickly. The film was Liberty Stands Still with Sylvester Stallone and Wesley Snipes.

“This billboard is going to be so prominently seen,” says Weinhouse. “It’s behind the action and probably has several minutes of exposure. … We turned [it] around in a couple of days. My contact didn’t think we could do it. It was pretty phenomenal, and it’s great placement.”

Vending machines make great placement opportunities for beverage makers, even when the vending machines don’t exist.  “We have the only Canada Dry vending machines in the world,” says Weinhouse. “We had them specially made. They’re a lot bigger than a can of soda, so they get great exposure. We’ve had them on Family Law, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and in the film One Hour Photo with Robin Williams. We’ve had some great hits with vending machines.”

Background Action

Other ways of sneaking a product into a production include posters and commercials with cleared footage that can play in the background. Perhaps Iverson’s best placement to date took place in the airport scenes in last year’s big hit Meet the Parents.

“You can read [our client’s] name Atlantis. You don't see much of the resort [on the signage], but the name is recognizable. You can see a few other posters throughout the airport, but ours is the main one. We really got a lot out of that placement because A) It was a huge hit, and B) The camera picked up on it.”

Of course, the best placements of all are when the star or hero actually uses the item. One of Vista’s biggest clients is Mercedes Benz. “On The Sopranos, the car of choice is Mercedes Benz. We’ve got a couple of cars on that show.” In a few episodes, one of the characters even works in a Mercedes Benz dealership, according to Dahlquist.

The Times (and Channels), They Are a-Changin’

There’s a practical aspect to considering product placement as well. “If you look at where technology has been going, interactive technology and things like TiVo are making commercials more and more avoidable,” says Gary Mezzatesta, CEO, UPP Entertainment Marketing.

“There’s going to be a point — if advertising is going to have any kind of an impact — that it’s going to have to be part of the program itself,” says Thompson. Much like the “golden age” of television when sponsors’ names appeared in titles and ads were blatantly integrated into the shows.

“Sooner or later, it’s going to be very easy to interact less with commercials. It’s going to take some time, but smart companies are preparing for that. I think product placements will have increased value over time because of that,” says Mezzatesta.

Technology is changing other mediums as well, and while visual product placement might not work too well on radio, webcams and Web-based films stand to offer yet another means of exposure.