Archive for December, 2011

All I Want for Christmas is … Justin Bieber to Promote my Brand

Everyone knows Justin Bieber has the marketing ‘Midas Touch’: glue him to a brand and stand back as the sales rush takes your breath away.

Enter Nintendo. Pushing their next generation 3DS out to Bieber’s throng of fans courtesy of product placement in his latest video – a Christmas duet with Mariah Carey – has got to be the advertising scoop of 2011, shooting straight from the hip at the youth market.

The video is shot at Macy’s Department Store in New York. Bieber is merrily Christmas shopping (in full voice) when his friends present him with the very latest in handheld gaming; awe-struck at the look of this seriously awesome piece of gaming genius that’s about to change his life, he fills his shopping trolley with Nintendo-branded boxes.

Much of the Nintendo DS market was young females so this video, and Nintendo’s product placement advertising, is sure to work wonders for their latest innovation: if The Bieber is buying it, surely teens across the world will be saying all they want for Christmas, is a Nintendo 3DS?

Here’s the video in its full glory: skip to about 1:58 – unless of course you’re a closet fan …

Embedded Brands in UK TV Exports Double Communication Value

A great deal of UK television programmes are exported, and quite widely. But once they arrive overseas, sponsorship rights can change, as can the content of advertising breaks, which stunts the reach of the advertiser. But if brands are actually embedded in a programme, they will remain a permanent feature, with guaranteed lifetime exposure to the overseas audience every time they’re aired.

Research has shown that the value of UK television drama product placement will double when programmes are exported.

NMG Product Placement, Essential Television Statistics and Madigan Cluff have investigated the additional value created when international brands are placed into UK TV programmes.

By combining NMG’s Tracker™ database which details the brands that have appeared in specified episodes of programmes, with the ETS database which tracks episode plays in over 40 countries, and the Madigan Cluff database which values each transmission overseas, it has been demonstrated that advertisers often realise the same value from overseas exports as they do from the original airing in the UK.

Here’s what the people behind the research have to say:

Michael Cluff: Partner, Madigan Cluff

“We continue to believe that product placement in programmes is one of the worlds best kept value secrets for advertisers. Raising the profile of placement has to mean allowing advertisers to have accountability and see the full impact of their investment – not just in the home market but also as the programme and everything it contains gets viewed around the world. This service will allow advertisers to track activity with precision.”

John Barnard: Chairman, NMG

“Since 1987 NMG has evaluatedUKproduct placement brand exposure to provide clear client accountability. We are proud to be part of this first ever study of overseas product placement export values. NMG represents many major global brands and as the branded content market becomes more fluid it is vital to understand the results of our work on this broader basis. This study, and the potential to extend measurement to overseas markets, creates a new service which allows advertisers to see the complete return which their commitment to placement receives”

Jonathan Bailey: Managing Director, ETS

“We have been extending our tracking of exported programmes to cover new countries and channels, as well as increasing the time we spend identifying the particular seasons and episodes of series. This has benefitted our core client base of rights owners and collection societies and it is interesting to see how this can also aid tracking where brands impact consumers.” 

China TV Drama Advert Ban: Brands to Re-Think Ad Strategies

Advertising during TV dramas interrupts plot flow and visual continuity, according to the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television (SARFT), China’s broadcasting regulator.

The SARFT, China’s version of Crown Castle in Australia and the US, and TDF Group in France, feels so strongly about bowing to audience wishes, it has placed a nationwide ban on mid-TV drama ads as of 2012.

Current advertising laws in place since 2009 permit two 90-second ad breaks during the majority of 45-minute TV dramas, and prime time dramas are allowed a single, minute-long break.

SARFT: Busy with New Regulations

The SARFT has been busy of late; just last month they issued new regulations to limit the amount, duration and frequency of entertainment shows. They said television was an important propaganda tool which should be used to spread culture and guide and educate people. “Banning advertising during TV dramas would enhance the plot flow and viewing continuity for audiences, which echoes audiences’ wishes”, they added.

Advertising Strategy Review

Worried Professor Huang Shengmin, dean of the Communication University at China’s School of Advertising, said the changes may shave billions of Yuan from China’s television advertising market, worth 100 billion Yuan a year.

However, opinions are split and a re-think of advertising strategies will surely follow, with brand owners, we believe, likely to opt for alternatives such as product placement advertising during TV dramas.