Have you seen the recent reality shows with excessive product placements & endorsements? Coke dominates American Idol & Ford paid the show to make sure the logo looked the same - it's amazing how marketers have found a way to get so blatantly integrated into TV shows that I wonder why we need any commercial breaks at all.
Where I do believe they've missed the point is that just seeing your brand's logo or product as a prop doesn't necessarily engage me as a potential customer. There's no real expectation by the viewer and nothing of promise is stated by the brand... we're not stupid, we've figured out it's a business deal and that's where it fails.
James Bond can wear an Omega watch, drive a BMW (they came on board for a bit) or even hold a preferred brand mobile phone, but you can't make me buy one just because of that.
Imagine this: Coca Cola sponsors a charity drive for a famine struck country in Africa. Two cents from every drink sold goes towards this charity & they build 100 wells for clean drinking water... would you buy a coke?
I bet you would and American Idol would be a lot more fun to watch.
1 comment:
Branding in this instance is about recognition. If people see something enough they recognize it. Product placement isn't a necessarily a sales tool, just a brand equity building exercise, so I think your point about sales is missing the point.
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