Does product placement in movies still work?

By Alina Popescu on March 12th, 2010 in PR & Marketing

Yes, lots of Coca-Cola going on in movies and series, as well as drinks, fashion brands and anything you’d ever think of. I am sure you all remember the Bridget Jones cheering on a huge screen. Or the Apple computers in Zoolander. But does product placement still work for popular movies and TV series?

I have to say I’ve started to overlook a lot of it. From clothes, to what they’re drinking or some of the gadgets they’re using. Then again, it also depends on how much the brand is shown off! If someone types behind a laptop for over 3 minutes, I might notice the brand. Or if you keep showing the computer game box each time you show the kid’s room, I might see it’s Heroes V :) Especially if I was a fan of Heroes III and IV :P

But other than that, do you buy something just because it’s shown on a TV screen but not during advertisement breaks? Is it a more effective advertising method? I mean, really, would you switch to the Head & Shoulders shampoo just because it was used to kill aliens in a rather silly movie?

I for one think it happens as it happens to all advertising: we learn to ignore it and it’s just wasted money. Are there any successful campaigns? Do you know of any and have you ever bought something just because you saw it in a movie?

Popularity: 3% [?]

Tags: , , , , ,

Recommended Posts

Most Popular Posts

This post has 7 comments

  • Andrew Heaton
    March 12th, 2010

    Alina,

    I can’t think of too many times where I personally have made purchases solely on the basis of brands being displayed in movies.

    But that does not mean that the technique does not work. What I think that marketers are aiming for here is not so much to stimulate us into conscious purchasing decisions, but rather to influence our sub-conscious mind. We may not consciously focus on the brand of clothing that our super-hero is wearing, but that information may still be seeping into our sub-conscious mind, and the more we see our superheroes in a particular brand, the stronger the association becomes between the person (and situation) and the brand – regardless of whether or not we are consciously aware of it.
    .-= Andrew Heaton´s last blog ..You Tube: Google should not have to screen every video =-.

  • Brad Shorr
    March 12th, 2010

    Alina, A personal story, for whatever it’s worth. A TV program noted for its use of product placements, Seinfeld, happens to be my favorite show of all time. In all the years I’ve watched it, rerun after rerun, I’ve never once been tempted to purchase one of the products featured in the show.
    .-= Brad Shorr´s last blog ..For B2B Twitter Content Ideas, Start with Customers and Work Back =-.

  • Alina Popescu
    March 12th, 2010

    Thanks for sharing that, Brad! To be honest, the only period in my life where products in movies (real or not) tempted me was when I was a child and everything seemed so cool :)

  • Alina Popescu
    March 18th, 2010

    Andrew, first of all sorry for approving your comment with such delay :(

    I think you are partially right. But we’re not talking subliminal messages, but obvious one, which our mind can be trained to ignore. As for our subconscious, I don’t know how exactly it works. I think it only helps if you are already somewhat interested in the brand. It can build on something, not create something from scratch. If you have a negative view, the placement might not help at all.

    On the other hand, this works for a brand in general. Like Coca Cola or Dell. But when you target a specific product, a game, not a game developer, or Coca Cola Zero :) , I believe the vendor expects a reaction from the public, not to get them accustomed with the game brand.

  • Bine
    August 25th, 2010

    I guess, in the first instance product placement aimes for a stronger brand and less for more sales. Of course the long-term ambition ist to increase sales, because a strong brand is able to convince customers to buy your product. To my mind, product placement is a meaningful marketing instrument which is able to appeal people´s subconscious.

  • Marie
    September 8th, 2010

    Hey Alina,

    thx for the great post, bust – sorry – i absolutely disagree with your point of view. You´ve said that ´we learn to ignore it and it’s just wasted money´, but I guess that we think that we can ignore it but we often forget that we aren´t able to influence our sobconscious. To my mind we perceive things without being aware of it. Therefore in my opinion, pp is a great opportunity to influence customer & to increase sales.
    Marie´s last [type] ..Mooiste plekjes in de Midi

  • Alina Popescu
    September 14th, 2010

    Marie, some buying decisions are not made on impulse. laptops and computers usually pop up a lot in movies. But most people buy them after quite some research and based on some charactersitics they need. I think influencing the subconscious can work for so long. Even that part of our mind is used by know to seeing Coca Cola ads everywhere! That does not mean some people no longer make the conscious decision to drink healthier beverages, nor that long time Coca Cola fans will switch to Pepsi because of pp…

Add a comment




CommentLuv badge