How using versus showing interaction between characters and products boosts product placement effectiveness

Placements in movies increase brand awareness. Whether they are effective beyond memory, (e.g. in terms of brand attitudes) is a contested issue. This paper argues and shows that a specific type of placement, character–product interaction (CPI), is able to achieve effectiveness across measures of placement success. A comparison of three experimental versions of the same movie demonstrates the consistent advantage of CPI placements over static prominent placements. Additional exploratory analyses suggest that placement effectiveness may also depend on characteristics of the placed product.     

When Product Placement Goes Wrong: The Effects of Program Liking and Placement Prominence

Previous research has found a positive shift in brand attitude after exposure to product placements. The study presented here investigates conditions under which product placements may cause a negative shift in brand attitude. The results reveal that prominent placements can negatively impact brand attitudes of viewers who report high levels of program liking. Conversely, viewers reporting lower levels of program liking shift brand attitude in a positive direction after exposure to a prominent placement. However, the positive shift in brand attitude for participants with lower program liking disappears when a persuasive-intent prime precedes exposure to the placement. Subtle placements are less likely to result in negative shifts in brand attitude. The Persuasion Knowledge Model (Friestad and Wright 1994) is used to explain the results.     

Adolescent brand consciousness and product placements: awareness,liking and perceived effects on self and others

Product placements in entertainment media are increasing, particularly in content targeted to adolescents. This marketing communication tactic is examined in the context of media socialization and individual differences in brand consciousness. The relative influence of commercial media (TV, radio, movies, online) and perceived peer and parent brand consciousness on US adolescent brand consciousness is assessed, as well as differences in how low and high brand‐conscious adolescents view product placements. Awareness, liking and perceived effects of product placements on self and others (third‐person perception) were measured. Results of hierarchical multiple regression analyses show that movies and perceived parent and peer brand consciousness were positively related to adolescent brand consciousness. Those adolescents considered to be highly brand‐conscious were also those who were most aware of and favourable towards product placements. All adolescents demonstrated third‐person perception of media effects in that they considered others to be more influenced by product placements than themselves, with peers influenced more than friends. Highly brand‐conscious teens perceived the greatest effects of product placements on their own and others’ buying behaviours, yet low brand‐conscious teens revealed the largest gap in perceptions of impact on self vs. peers. The results are discussed in view of media effects; ramifications for marketers and public policy makers are also appraised.     

Brand Placement in Movies: The Effect of Film Genre on Viewer Recognition

This study investigates viewer recognition of brands placed in films, according to film genre, gender, and previous viewing experience. A sample of 137 moviegoers watched 12 film clips representing three popular genres (action, comedy, and drama) and reported their recognition of brand placements. Results suggest that brand recognition is more common in drama films. Previous viewing experience and gender did not make significant differences in brand recognition. It is suggested that brand placements require more public relations research.     

Enhancing digital entertainment through personalization: The evolving role of product placements

This research tests a model of the effects of personalized product placements on consumer preference, both for the embedded brand and the digital entertainment product in which that brand is embedded. The latter has yet to be examined in the traditional product placements literature. The results of two studies conducted in the domain of eBooks are presented. Evidence suggests that when pre-existing rankings of brands were systematically collected and used to design personalized product embeds, participants were willing to pay more for the eBook when it contained a favourably (vs. unfavourably) ranked brand, but only when the brand embed was subtle (as opposed to obvious). Study 2 also finds that personalized product placements enhanced consumers’ recall of, and probability of choosing the embedded brand. Results suggest that both the digital entertainment product and the embedded brand can benefit from the strategic use of personalized product placements.     

More than meets the eye

A growing research literature suggests that visual brand placements need not be recalled in order to have an impact on brand attitudes. In an experimental study working with an authentic television broadcast, the authors investigated the influence of frequency of placement exposure, viewers’ involvement and viewers’ persuasion knowledge on the attitudes towards the brand and brand recall. Results clearly indicate a mere exposure effect. A frequently presented brand placement can have a positive effect on brand evaluations although viewers do not recall the brand. However, this effect can only be found when there is a high involvement in the programme and low persuasion knowledge. In contrast, when persuasion knowledge is high and involvement is low, frequently presented placements lead to a deterioration of brand attitudes.     

Brand Placement Recognition

Abstract

This study examines the impact of adding an audible reference to a visually prominent brand placement on recognition of the brand placed. Facilitated recognition scores were used to control for the effects of brand familiarity on brand placement recognition. Subjects exposed to one of two complete movies were asked to indicate recognition of brands that were or were not placed in their movie. Results indicate that brand placement recognition levels achieved by audio-visual prominent placements exceed the recognition rates achieved by visual-only prominent placements. Additionally, familiar brands achieve higher levels of recognition than unfamiliar brands, even when the recognition scores for familiar brands are adjusted for the guessing and constructive recognition that may result from inferences associated with familiar brands.     

How brands appear in children's movies. A systematic content analysis of the past 25 Years

Based on a theoretical framework of product placement characteristics, we present the most comprehensive content analysis of children's movies to date. We analyzed the integration of brands in 250 movies from 1991 to 2015. We found that 64.4% of all movies contained at least one brand placement. Comedies and movies produced in the US contained a higher number of brand placements compared to other genres and non-US movies. Animated movies and movies presenting a nature-, or fantasy-scenery contained a comparatively low number of placements. Brands were inserted mostly visually, and placed in the centre of the screen without explicit evaluation. Placements frequently presented a physical or verbal interaction with a main character. This practice was found to increase over time even though the sole number of brand placements remained stable over the past 25 years. Implications for parents, consumer–advocacy-groups, and advertising researchers are discussed.     

An investigation of brand placement effects on brand attitudes and purchase intentions: Brand placements versus TV commercials

Brand placements are gradually becoming an important part of promotional toolkit of many major companies. However, despite the increasing volume of research on brand placements during the last decade, several important questions still remain unanswered. The purpose of this research is to investigate the effectiveness of brand placements in television sitcoms and contrast it with the effectiveness of 30-second commercials. The authors administer a quasi-natural experiment to a sample of research panel participants to investigate how brand placements in television sitcoms affect their attitudes and purchase intentions. Results of the study suggest that people have a more positive attitude toward brand placements than toward traditional television commercials. Moreover, placements can be more effective than 30-seconds commercials when targeting audiences with low attitude toward advertising. Finally, a combination of a brand placement and a commercial within one program doesn't significantly increase brand attitudes and purchase intentions compared with sole exposure conditions.     

Psychophysiological Responses to Background Brand Placements in Video Games

Researchers have typically employed cognitive and affective measures to study the effectiveness of brand placements in video games. A psychophysiological approach to measuring effectiveness has been sorely lacking and is necessary to help both academics and practitioners further their understanding of how brand placements work. The current study measures individuals’ orienting responses in terms of increased skin conductance and decreased heart rate upon exposure to brands in video games. Results indicate that game players register background advertisements subconsciously even though they may not be able to explicitly recall them later. There were no differences between gamers and nongamers in the recall and recognition of brands from the video game. Furthermore, brands with preexisting favorable attitudes automatically received further processing, suggesting orienting response is an indicator of initial perception rather than further elaboration.     

Priming a Cross‐Category Brand Alliance: The Moderating Role of Attribute Knowledge and Need for Cognition

Firms often enter cross‐category advertising brand alliance strategies with the goal to increase their market share by association with popular but noncompeting brand allies. However, firms are often not aware of the effects of these alliances on consumer perceptions of participating brands. This research explores the factors moderating brand attribute inferences following exposure to a cross‐category advertising brand alliance. It is proposed that attributes of a brand ally may serve as anchors that produce assimilation effects and move perceptions of a target brand toward the ally's attribute value, or as standards of comparison that produce contrast. This work provides evidence that attribute judgments in a cross‐category advertising brand alliance are moderated by attribute knowledge and individual differences in information processing motivation as reflected in self‐reported need for cognition (NFC) ratings.     

Placements as mediators of brand salience within a UK cinema audience

Brand placements have assumed a somewhat mythical reputation as communicators of the advertising message. This reputation seems to be perpetuated by a dearth of empirical research, particularly concerning effects upon brand salience. This paper attempts to address this situation through an exploratory analysis of placement effects within a UK cinema audience. The quantitative approach allows insight into those key mediating variables which impinge upon the process. The results suggest that placements do increase levels of brand salience. Further, these levels may be significantly increased in individuals who like (or attend to) the film and who are high self-monitors. Prior exposure and product category familiarity provided less significant results but, on the whole, the implications for marketers are positive. Methodological issues are considered in the light of these results and directions for future research are suggested.     

The effectiveness of brand placements: A meta-analytic synthesis

Although brand placements are commonplace in promotion strategies, the extant literature lacks a quantitative empirical synthesis of the effect of placements on cognitive, attitudinal, and conative outcomes. The authors report a meta-analysis addressing the extent to which brand placements affect consumers’ brand placement memory, brand salience, consumer attitude toward the placed brand, and purchase intentions or choice. Four hierarchical meta-regression models explore contexts and executional characteristics that contribute to relatively stronger or weaker brand placement effects. Overall, findings suggest strong, positive placement effects on brand placement memory and small or modest, positive placement effects on brand salience, attitude, and conation. Among the factors potentially moderating these effects, brand-plot connection emerges as a key executional characteristic associated with stronger (more positive) cognitive, attitudinal, and conative effects for plot-connected relative to unconnected placements. Moreover, prominent placements enhance brand placement memory effects while not evidencing any significant backlash on persuasive effects. The same pattern emerges for placement disclosure. The findings have significant implications for marketing managers and public policy makers and provide important directions for further research.     

Brand placements in video games: How local in-game experiences influence brand attitudes

Brand placements are omnipresent in video games, but their overall effect on brand attitudes is small and varies substantially between studies. The present research takes an evaluative conditioning perspective to explain when and how brand placements in video games influence brand attitudes. In two experiments with a 3D first-person video game, we show that only brands encountered during positive in-game experiences benefit from the placement, but not those encountered during negative in-game experiences. Building on the cognitive processes underlying evaluative conditioning, we also show that brand attitudes largely depend on the memory for the pairing of a brand with positive/negative in-game experiences. Pairing memory and thus also evaluative conditioning effects increase when players attend to the pairing of brands and positive/negative experiences, for example, when such pairings are a central part of the game's storyline. Overall, our findings show that evaluative conditioning and its cognitive mechanisms can be utilized to explain and predict advertising effects in applied settings, such as brand placements in video games.     

Can brand image move upwards after Sideways? A strategic approach to brand placements

In today's environment of fragmented mass media and popular technologies, such as DVR and TiVo, it is increasingly challenging for marketers to obtain quality face time with audiences. As more customers try to avoid advertisements, there has been growth in brand placement: the practice of integrating brands into entertainment media, particularly television and film. Brand placement engages the audience, limits viewers’ ability to ignore commercial messages, and even impacts purchase behavior—as evidenced by the surge in Blackstone pinot noir wine sales after the brand's placement in the movie Sideways. Despite the prevalence of this practice, however, the industry often operates in a somewhat unfocused manner. In this article, we draw from academic literature and industry publications, offer insight regarding the growing popularity of brand placements, and suggest a specific set of guidelines to enhance the efficacy of placements in accomplishing a brand's marketing objectives.     

Brand Appearance in Chinese and American Top-Grossing Commercial Movies: A Comparison

The study investigated different visual and audio factors of product placement in American and Chinese movies by analyzing top-grossing movies of the past decade. Forty movies were selected and analyzed. The results indicated major differences of brand appearances in Chinese and American movies. First, with respect to visual-only product placements, brands in Chinese movies were more saliently placed than those in American movies. Second, in relation to audio-only product placements, product attributes were more likely to be mentioned in Chinese movies than in American movies. Third, both leading and supporting characters were more likely to interact with brands in Chinese movies than in American movies. However, leading characters were less likely to mention a brand in Chinese movies than in American movies. Finally, no difference was found regarding supporting characters' mentioning of a brand in Chinese and American movies. Theoretical and practical implications were offered for the varying patterns observed.     

Effects of television brand placement on brand image

A survey as well as an experiment was conducted to study the effects of television brand placement on brand image. The studies showed that the integration of a brand into the editorial content of a program had a significant effect on brand image: As people watched more episodes, the brand image became more in agreement with the program image. These results confirm the applicability of learning and human associative memory theories to brand placement. Another important finding is that brand memory and brand image were not related. Thus, brand image became more positive regardless of viewers' memory of the brand placements, which implies that brand image was implicitly affected. This has important theoretical implications for the understanding of the working of brand placement. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

The Behavioral Effects of Negative Product Placements in Movies

No previous studies have examined how negative brand placements influence consumer behavior. According to this study's theoretical framework and empirical results, the effectiveness of these placements varies with the type of negativity—that is, either intrinsically or extrinsically connected to the brand. Based on the elaboration likelihood model, an intrinsically (extrinsically) negative placement will be very (barely) relevant to the viewers who, having (lacking) enough motivation, will process the information through the central (peripheral) route of persuasion. Under the central route, a careful consideration of the intrinsically negative information will discourage the viewers from consuming the brand, especially when they perceive the movie content as being realistic. Under the peripheral route, the extrinsically negative information will not be strong enough to discourage the brand users from consuming the product but will stimulate the brand nonusers to consume it, especially when these people like the movie and have a positive attitude to advertising. The hypothesized effects were confirmed in an experiment with 1103 moviegoers that viewed the film Good Bye, Lenin! under natural conditions in Santiago, Chile. To isolate the influence of two brand placements (Burger King with intrinsic negativity and Coca‐Cola with extrinsic negativity), the participants were randomly assigned to two groups, each one of which viewed the movie with only one of the two placements (the other had been removed).     

An Exploratory Content Analysis of Product Placement in Top Grossing Films

ABSTRACT

The current study examines the prevalence and characteristics of brand appearances in the top grossing films broadcast in the United Kingdom (U.K.) and Hong Kong (H.K.). An average of 13 brand appearances per film was recorded and similarities and differences in brand execution features were revealed in the two cultural markets. Most of the films registered on the U.K. and H.K. top grossing lists are US production, which demonstrates that product placements are increasingly exported to other cultures. It suggests the importance of examining product placement effectiveness across cultures and provides valuable insights for brand practitioners.