Product Placement Papers I

Evolving Views on Product Placement Effectiveness -
James A.Karrh, Kathy Brittain McKee, Carol J. Pardun

"What was once a sporadic barter arrangement for lowering film and television production costs is now a vehicle for multimillion-dollar integrated promotional campaigns. In the near future, product placement will likely become an important revenue source for broadcast television networks" (Schneider, 2002)

Questions raised in the paper includes 'Have practitioners changed their views concerning product placement?'

They began by explaining the product placement industry, stating that it is a 'paid, strategic marketing tool, began to receive greater attention...during the 1980s following the E.T. placement success'

They also began to view a trend whereby more recent product placements are relatively much larger than previously had been and the marketers are now moving in a much bolder manner looking for new ways to advertise within feature films.

It is also discussed that due to the mass injection of fund, it is no suprise that sponsor companies has, to an extent, a bigger control over the context/content in which their brand is presented - and because the producers and the marketers aims at different goals there are times whereby the marketers does not get what they want as final outcome of the feature always rest with the editor.
Audiences are also becoming increasingly aware of the blur between the informing and persuading aspects of mass media.

Surveys are also included as part of the study, results shows that 'practitioners are more confident about the future growth of placement...however, still maintain some reservation'

It is suggested by brand placement researchers that 'Practitioners...would be wise to commit quickly to research programs designed to explore, describe, and explain the relationships among brand prop exposure, audience reactions and interpretations, movieviewing contexts, and brand placement practices"
(DeLorme and Reid, 1999, P87)

They have also made predictions as to how product placement could (and sort of already has as this paper was written in 2003) take us in the future -

"In a near-future world of more interactive TV, the time lag between brand exposure and purchase opportunity could shrink to nearly zero; viewers will likely be able to 'point, click, and get more data on a product or purchasing clothing, housewares, or even a vacation right off the show'" (Ebenkamp, 2001)