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When was the last time you saw your favorite brand while binge-watching a series on Netflix? The answer is probably the last time you sat down to watch TV. Product placement has been a staple in marketing, especially for household name CPG (consumer packaged goods) brands, since the birth of film. One of the earliest examples, Wings, a silent film from 1927, featured a Hershey’s chocolate bar. Fast forward to 2019, and brands are still fighting for screen time in the hopes of capturing consumer attention. Product placement is one of the most organic ways to grab that attention — and it’s easier than most marketers think.
In some instances, product placement might be the only effective medium for brand awareness. Take the CBD industry, for example. Most of the major social media and display ad platforms have cracked down on marketing in the cannabis space, including hemp and CBD. TV and film don’t have these restrictions.
Capturing Without Distracting
People pay attention to their favorite TV shows and movies. Period. By integrating products, brands can capture attention without distracting from the entertainment. Consumers can’t swipe away or block and usually don’t fast forward product placements. This is why it’s one of the most organic and influential ways to reach consumers in 2020. If Will Smith rides a Super73 Electric Motorbike or Christina Applegate drinks Empathy wine, the audience subconsciously has more trust for those brands and is more influenced to purchase from them.
Without a doubt, over-the-top (OTT) media platforms, such as Netflix, Hulu and Amazon, have people’s attention. Netflix currently boasts more than 158 million subscribers. That number alone speaks volumes to the potential power of in-media marketing.
Integrating product placement in a CPG brand’s marketing strategy is a simple and cost-efficient way to reach the masses and increase brand awareness. Coca-Cola makes a compelling case study for the concept. The powerhouse brand has spent more than 70 years placing its products, logos and merchandise on the big screen. The Coca-Cola brand can be found in everything from 1946’s It’s a Wonderful Life to 2019’s Stranger Things. When it comes to brand awareness, you can’t argue that Coca-Cola’s product placement efforts haven’t moved the needle.
Organic Versus Paid Product Placement
There are essentially two ways for a brand to make its debut appearance on the big (or small) screen: organic and paid. For a paid placement, the brand usually works directly with the network, as opposed to working with the creators. The network sets a price, a contract is executed and scripting or product usage is agreed upon and guaranteed upfront. The price tag for this type of placement can range from a few thousand dollars to a few million dollars. While this can be on the expensive side of in-media entertainment, it’s still a lot cheaper than most traditional marketing mediums. Paid placements come with guarantees, which can’t be found with organic placements.
An organic product placement comes without the price tag, but there’s also less control and there are no guarantees. Organic placements are typically negotiated directly with the creators — set decorators, prop masters, costume designers, etc. Brands get their leverage by offering free products, which in turn saves on production costs for the creative teams. If the product adds value to the production and it’s a creative fit, the creators will usually be happy to include it. Research is important, however. It’s easy to waste time and money if the product isn’t a creative fit for the show, as it will ultimately never make it to air. It’s just as important for the brand as it is for the production to integrate with the story and not disrupt it.
In-House Versus Agency
Established brands with high-value products should consider having an in-house team or team member dedicated to pursuing product placement opportunities. Brands that have high enough buying and negotiating power are able to seek paid or organic opportunities internally on a regular basis.
But not every brand can dedicate a full-time team, let alone a single team member, to aggressively pursue organic or paid product placement opportunities. More importantly, brands in the CPG space might run into difficulties in leveraging their product or brand because of the low cost of their product. For example, a free vehicle will lower the production costs significantly more than a free case of soda. The CPG space is also more competitive than many other spaces, lowering negotiating powers even more.
An agency can work with both high- and low-cost products on a single production or various productions over time with the same creator, giving them significant leverage when negotiating with a production. CMOs and brand managers should look at employee resources, product value and experience in product placement in order to evaluate whether or not to hire an outside agency.
All CPG brands can get the same visibility in entertainment as household name brands. And if done strategically, they can do it at a fraction of the cost. Businesses can either run product placement initiatives in-house or solicit help from an outside agency, but one thing’s for sure — every CPG brand should put product placement at the top of their brand awareness strategy.
