It’s no accident that Paula, Randy and Simon constantly have Coke cups in hand on “American Idol,” just as it was not a coincidence that every time Carrie wrote her column on “Sex and the City” the Apple logo was shown on her laptop. This is the world of product placement. And it’s all the rage for advertisers.
In this age of TiVo, advertisers are finding it harder to get people to tune in for commercials. So they’ve implanted their products into non-commercial time in your favorite sitcom, reality show and video game. And the best part is that this form of advertising isn’t limited to big corporations. The small business owner can get national exposure too. Product placement can benefit your brand because:
1. It exposes your brand or product to a large nationwide audience.
2. It is a cost-effective way to get the product seen without a huge advertising budget.
3. It allows you to target your brand to an audience that your product will appeal to.
Get the word out
The key to product placement is to let production companies know that your brand exists. One of the easiest ways to introduce your product for potential placement is to send a press kit about the product, along with samples to production companies that produce the shows that best fit your audience. By offering to provide free products in exchange for placement in the show, you may be able to trade out the service without spending a dime, but be prepared to shell out multiple samples during the production.
I recommend: Put together your press kit by following the easy instructions in our
Guide to Creating a Media Kit. Decide which TV shows appeal to your market by checking out all the details about them at
EW.com. Find out which films are currently in production and which production company to contact at
Variety.com. For more in-depth research into films and television productions, keep an eye on both Variety and
The Hollywood Reporter for entertainment business insider news. To find specific production companies for your favorite show,
IMDBPro.com has listings on most production companies, contact details and production schedules. The service costs $12.95 per month.
Put your brand out there
Another way to get your brand or product seen by producers who make decisions in product placement is to hire an agency to court them rather than doing the legwork yourself. There are also several go-betweens that perform the service for a monthly fee. The way they work is that you add your product to their website and qualified producers go online to shop for brands to place in their productions.
I recommend: Find a media placement agency by searching the roster of members of
Entertainment Resources & Marketing Association.
MoviePlacement.com is a full-service agency that provides cross-branding services, sponsorships, endorsements and product placement services. If you aren’t sure that an agency is in your budget, you can still use a middleman to target producers who are looking for products to use in their productions. For a monthly usage fee, qualified producers will be able connect directly to you and your product at
MediaMatchmaker.com.
Think beyond television and movies
Some of the most loyal audiences and captive audiences are video game enthusiasts. This genre also allows brands to use product placement as a branding and advertising tool.
I recommend: Learn more about why video-gamers may be the best audience to target at
BrandChannel.com.
Game Diamond is a game marketing agency that does all of the research and implementation for your brand from start to finish. One of the most popular game developers,
Electronic Arts, deals directly with companies to place products in games.
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