Aside from online video ads, today there is a great demand for “Product Placement” ads.  This is a form of advertising where the advertiser has an actual product written into a script, or appearing clearly in the media.  Product Placement ads appear on TV, in video games, and even plays, but you may have to think hard to recall having seen it - since these ads are made to be less obvious than other forms of advertising.

Let us take a look at a couple of examples of Product Placement from its historical roots. I believe it was in the late 70’s or 80’s when Chevrolet decided to make a deal with a TV show to only have Chevrolet cars appear in the street scenes.  This was fairly overt, and many people complained about the lack of realism of 100% of the cars on a road being Chevrolet.  This became a textbook case for Product Placement advertisers to learn from and to avoid placement that it too prominent. 

Over the last decade, one of the companies that has learned the lesson and really gained some undeniable value from Product Placement is Apple.  Did you watch any primetime shows over the last 10 years?  The odds are that you saw a show that had teens, artists, or lawyers who chose to use Mac laptops.  The reason why their ads work is that everyone who is watching the show is watching a carefully constructed environment, and that is a VERY safe place (in comparison to video ads on sites like YouTube with user-generated content) to advertise in. 

Now that we have summarily reviewed what Product Placement is, we can discuss the three goals of this form of advertising. They are Image Recognition, Functionality, and Emotional Attachment.  The three goals don’t appear from thin air, they have to do with the purchasing decisions that we all make.

Image Recognition

Have you ever tried buying a product for the first time which you heard about on the radio? Instead of being a shopper, you actually become a novice Sherlock Holmes trying to navigate the maze of the supermarket to find that product.  The first thing you do is try to narrow it down by aisle, which usually can save you a lot of time.  The next step is trying to locate the actual product within that aisle.  This is not as easy as it sounds, with some of our supermarkets stocking over 50,000 products on a daily basis.  So onwards you go, dodging other shoppers’ carts and appearing completely indecisive as you try to find the right name on the right label.  It is during this embarrassing and frustrating experience that you realize something - if you just knew “how it the brand looked” or “what color it was”, you would likely spot it in your visual field in no time flat.

Functionality

Did you know that you can use an empty Listerine Pocket Packs container to store an SD card?  Probably not.  We purchase items to make use of them, obviously, but that doesn’t mean that we always know how to use them, or in what situations.  Any item which has more uses becomes more valuable, right?  That seems logical.  So knowing how to use a product or in what situations it is useful, or even seeing how easy it is to use it, can greatly influence whether or not we buy it.

Emotional Attachment

If your friend asks for help, are you more likely to help him out than a pure stranger? Sure, you wouldn’t leave a pal hanging.  When you think about it though, they are both humans, both likely have friends and family, and both have probably done their share of good and bad over the years.  So what is the only thing that makes you help your friend and not necessarily the stranger? Emotions.  You care about your friend. He makes you laugh. He sticks with you during a difficult time.  This emotional difference is the one that counts.  Sometimes you go to a farther store than you have to, to get a product brand that is only available at the farther store for the sole reason that you happen to like it better. 

Not all Product Placement involves all three of these factors - it is often hard to integrate all three into one situation.  However, for most companies, there are generally one or two factors which work best.  For Campbell’s soup, a well-known brand, it would be best to focus on Emotional Attachment, especially since their target is mothers who want to feed their children.  On a show like 7th Heaven, where the parents are warm and loving, this would be a great placement.  Here’s another example: Apple has come out with the new version of the iPod, and it has several new features.  They could place their product in a TV show which has a high school with some “cool” teens who know how to use these features.  That would cover both an Emotional Attachment (for teens who want to be considered cool), and Functionality (for showing what the product can do).

The last example I’ll bring is from the futuristic movie “I, Robot”, where Will Smith plays a robot-distrusting policeman and wears “old” Converse shoes.  The shoes seem to represent the “good old way” of doing things, and in one scene Will Smith even chases a robot while wearing the Converse shoes.  This is a great form of Emotional Attachment, except for one thing - it’s too darn obvious.  Apparently the movie fans agreed - they ranked it the worst Product Placement movie.

The next time you are watching TV or Movies see if you can catch some Product Placement, and ask yourself which of those three goals it achieves.