Increased Tablet Sales Spark Need for Innovative Advertising

May 07

iPads and other tablet devices have shot up in popularity over the last couple of years, thanks to their flexibility and interactivity over a laptop or mobile phone.

Brands have, as a result, found themselves having to consider innovative marketing techniques to target this new demographic which, according to research, is likely to engage more actively across multiple media platforms than the average consumer, including with product advertising.

Tablet Owners Shown To Spend More Online

A study by Total Media found the average UK tablet user spent £97 online over a period of three months, compared with the national average of £79. Because tablet users are more likely to watch video clips, catch-up TV and films, there is huge scope for brands to boost attention by way of product placement.

Product Placement: Seamless Advertising for the Digital Age

The majority of consumers who own smart phones and tablet devices will not respond well to advertising in the traditional sense. However, over in the USA, the spend in mobile ads is set to go up to a whopping $20.6 billion this year. This is due to an increase in interactive ads which engage the user. Banner ads are seen as a nuisance for most tablet owners, however ‘ad-like objects’ which act as natural pieces of content are providing the same promotion without disrupting the user experience. This is precisely why product placement is set to move forward at a rapid pace in line with the boost in tablet use.

70% of Tablet Owners Shop While They Watch

Tablet owners tend to shop as they watch TV, and, according to research by Shopzilla, 70% of USA-based consumers who own tablet devices do this. A recent Nielson report revealed that 42% of American tablet owners use their tablets while watching TV, with 29% looking up specific information relating to the TV programme they are watching at the time. With tablet ownership numbers in the UK rising all the time, this opens up some huge opportunities for brands to engage with product placement as the most effective means of getting in front of their audiences.

UK Tablet Sales Rise 23% in Four Months

According to Google’s EMEA mobile sales chief Ian Carrington, sales of tablet devices could overtake desktop computers by as early as 2015. Since Christmas 2011, sales have surged a massive 23% with 38% of tablet owners stating that they use their device more than their TV – making it their primary method of media consumption. “When people search on tablets, they are more likely to buy than on desktop because the experience is so much better [when sites are optimised for such devices],” said Carrington.

With stats like these and many UK consumers already engaging with tablet technology, advertising within media content simply has to provide a successful new marketing match with these technological advances.

Physical vs Digital: Product Placement Moves On

Apr 07

Product placement has given brands the chance to integrate into popular films and TV shows for decades. It’s an innovative and highly successful advertising medium, although traditionally it’s meant agencies liaising with directors and producers to secure adequate representation in broadcasts. A time consuming affair, and one that calls for quite some investment – and patience.

Smaller brand owners have been forced to forgo this method of promoting their products because of the cost and time involved in realising a return. But, thankfully for the advertising underdog, things are changing.

Digital product placement is making an impactful debut. Thanks to new technologies, brands can be placed seamlessly within broadcast content retrospectively – and there are many benefits.

It’s all in the Timing

Through digital insertion, brands can be embedded within existing content, rather than having to be physically included at script or production stage.

It can be anything from three to nine months before a TV programme is aired, and much longer for films.

In terms of products, trends and real-world events, this period of time is very significant and the impact of a particular brand name on its chosen audience may be lessened as a result. Digital insertion makes it possible for advertisers to use timing to great effect when choosing how to promote their products. Lexus – an official partner of the Melbourne Cup Carnival in 2011 – provided an example of this by superimposing an image of its logo on a railing in a scene from Winners & Losers, where the characters were at the races.

An Open Market

As digital insertion can be completed within a matter of days, greater flexibility and choice is given to the advertiser who is free to make last-minute decisions regarding product placement. There is also a reduced need for a particular programme to have only one or two long-term sponsors, as digital product placement can open up any number of revenues for other brands that may not want to commit to a 13-week series. This opens up the market to smaller companies with tighter marketing budgets, who will be able to get involved with a more flexible form of product placement advertising which was not previously accessible.

Making the Impossible Possible

Flexibility is a huge benefit of digital product placement advertising, as networks will now be able to sell in-programme ad placement to several different advertisers based on location. Advanced video technology can be used to seamlessly replace any product being used in a movie or TV show, including items being held or worn, even as the actor is moving. This opens up any number of possibilities for advertisers to market their products to different audiences, and networks will even be able to ‘resell’ product spots in their TV shows to different brands after the show has aired for their online catch-up services.

As the popularity of digital insertion grows, it won’t be long before Hollywood et al produces its films with product placement in mind from the earliest stages. Films will be designed specifically to support digital post-production product placement, by providing the actors with items (such as soft drink cans) in solid colours, making it a simple process to overdub a brand later on.

The possibilities for digital insertion are infinitely more open than with physical product placement, making the technology an exciting new move in embedded advertising.

Seven in Ten UK Consumers Aware of Product Placement

Mar 25

Since Ofcom’s decision to allow product placement, perceptions of this marketing method on UK TV have changed. A YouGov poll, taken at the end of February 2011 shortly after the decision was made, found that over one third of respondents had no idea what product placement was. However another poll, taken in July 2011, found that nearly three quarters of respondents (72%) knew what product placement was, with nearly half (46%) stating that real brands placed in TV programmes can make them seem more realistic.

Since February 2011, there have been less than 20 examples of product placement advertising in UK TV programmes. However, despite a slow start, the product placement market in the UK is estimated to be worth up to £120m in the next five years. Adele Gritten, head of media consulting at YouGov, said: “There appears to be a gradual acceptance taking place as people see product placement more and more. We’re all consumers of brands, and as long as placements aren’t too overt, it’s very realistic for us to experience the same household brands in the programmes we watch.”

Big Names Come To UK Living Rooms

Nescafe’s £100,000 deal to feature a Dolce Gusto coffee machine in ITV’s This Morning was the first example of product placement advertising on UK TV in February 2011. Research from Otherlines.tv claims that 40% of viewers said their interest in buying the product increased after the placement was shown.

Not long after, in April 2011, Microsoft’s Kinect Sports featured prominently in the title sequence of Sky One’s sports panel show A League of Their Own. In June 2011, UKTV signed a deal for a factual series with FindMyPast.co.uk, featuring members of the public using the website to find out about their family history – the first factual TV show in the UK to feature product placement advertising.

Product Placement Doesn’t Spoil Viewing, Claims the Public

Of those surveyed by YouGov in July 2011, 59% said they did not have a negative experience of product placement and claimed that it made no difference to their viewing experience. 33% of those polled disagreed that product placement advertising negatively impacts the integrity of a TV programme.

The poll also showed that young audiences, aged 18 to 34, were the most likely to form a positive impression of product placement, with 25% of those aged 18 to 24 stating their brand perception would become more positive if seen in a UK TV Programme.

So despite it being early days for product placement on UK TV, these positive reactions show it could prove very lucrative for brand advertisers.

Vespa, Wrigley’s, and National Geographic: Where Product Placement REALLY Started

Feb 25

Many consider product placement in films and TV shows to be a new phenomenon. You may be surprised to learn then that it actually dates back to around the end of the 19^th century.

We mentioned a few posts back that the first paid-for product placement advertising appeared in a 1919 silent film starring Fatty Arbuckle. But the fact is, the starting point pre-dates even this example.

The Earliest Days of Product Placement

In 1896 French film directors the Lumière brothers collaborated with Swiss businessman François-Henri Lavanchy-Clarke on a short film called ‘Défilé du 8eme Bataillon’ (‘Parade of the 8^th Battallion’). Lavanchy-Clarke agreed to publicise and distribute the film in exchange for advertising space. The logo of one of his products, Sunlight Soap, briefly appears in the film on the side of a wheelbarrow; an example of product placement as old as cinema itself.

As cinema progressed, so did brand placement. In 1931, Fritz Lang’s famously dark offering ‘M’ prominently featured an ad for Wrigley’s PK chewing gum. The ad is in shot for around thirty seconds and stands in sharp contrast to the sinister tones of the picture – although it’s certainly not something any viewer could forget!

National Geographic Profits from Brand Placement

Into the 1940s and It’s a Wonderful Life made history with its life-affirming story, now widely considered to be one of the greatest films ever made. Lesser known is its use of product placement. In a scene where the younger version of Jimmy Stewart’s character talks of wanting to become an explorer, he’s seen holding a copy of National Geographic magazine. The magazine did very well from its placement in the heart-warming and memorable film: a truly great moment in product placement history.

‘New Age’ Product Placement

America’s first full-length cinematic foray into Italy came with 1953’s Roman Holiday, starring Audrey Hepburn having a whale of a time on her Piaggio Vespa scooter. The product placement proved very lucrative for the brand, with 100,000 sales for the Vespa scooter resulting.

But it was the highest grossing film of the 1950s – The Greatest Show on Earth – that really held the front page when it came to brand placement. The film was set entirely within the Ringling Bros and Barnum & Bailey Circus. The use of the circus was pivotal to the plot, with numerous instances of the name cropping up during the film. And this some thirty years before E.T. which many refer to as ‘early’ product placement!

Product placement has blurred the lines between story and advertisement in popular films for over a hundred years. From its beginnings in the earliest examples of cinema, all the way through to modern pictures, the story of embedded advertising continues to this day and will be one to watch to see how it develops into the next decade.