Why product placement is the next best thing

Before debunking the weapon of product placement, it is important to understand what product placement is. Product placement is not a new marketing technique and has in fact been around for a long time. For example, a company will pay a production company of a movie to feature their services and products in the movie. As time has gone on, product placement has became even more popular. In fact, it was reported that in 2021 agreements between companies and TV/film programs were worth over $20 billion. 

As we know there are product placements that are paid for but a large majority of them are not paid. Essentially, when you have an unpaid product placement the company will loan the production the product and service and therefore the production won't have to spend extra costs. One common category of product placement is product displacement. This is where companies will mimic a specific product from a brand but are not allowed to use the brand because the company hasn't authorized it due to the fact it may have negative connotations. 

Some of the most common products used in this marketing technique are cars, accessories, electronics and food. One infamous use of product placement is how Marvel integrate Audi cars in their movies. Since the start of the Iron Man films, Robert Downey Jr. has been seen rocking an Audi R8 throughout the films and aa technology has advanced, so have the car models. One of the most memorable cars of the iconic German manufacturer was the car used in Avengers: Endgame which is the Audi e-Tron GT and the e-Tron Sportback. It is so iconic that Robert Downey Jr. pulled up to the premiere with the GT. Audi made a ton of money just from the features in the movies and earned themselves a cementation in pop culture and Marvel culture. It is also fair to say that Audi sales were impacted positively because of this. 

Similarly, the cult classic film Top Gun made elevated aviator sunglasses to become a household name especially the brand Ray-Bans. The Top Gun producers knew how to incorporate the shades for successful selling because who wouldn't want sunglasses used to fly jets and ride motorbikes? Because of all this, Ray-Ban saw a 40% increase in their aviator sales during the seven months after the movies release. 

So as we can see, product placement works as an effective marketing technique. It has influenced buyer decisions as they are likely to purchase a product that they have seen in a production. Depending on the situation, product placement can have a negative success because perhaps the audience don't like how the product was incorporated into the production. 


By Lydia Ferzoli




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Comments

  1. Anonymous24 February 2023 at 04:15

    this is interesting!! of course the company need to approve any use of their products and there will be contracts and stuff but it all contributes towards the company receiving success!!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Anonymous24 February 2023 at 04:17

    Indeed Top Gun helped elevate Ray-Bans aviator glasses and to this day they have become some of the most iconic sunglasses!!

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  3. Anonymous24 February 2023 at 04:20

    This just shows that big movie productions like Marvel collaborating with famous car manufacturers like Audi are only deemed for success for both.

    ReplyDelete

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