Products in the Movies..??

Well, Hollywood has been doing it since decades and the Indian film Industry has also started experimenting with it a few years back. The latest trend in advertising is to make it, well, less non-personal. The tendency is to move away from in-your-face ads, where the product is the star, to short-clips or documentary scenes that feature "real-life scenarios" with the product(s) hovering in the background. The most famous product endorsement in Indian cinema done 5 years ago was for the Movie 'krrish', there have been others too. There have been plenty of product endorsements since then and they term it as 'partners'. These so called partners can amount to nearly 75% of production costs not to mention that if it is shot outside India, there are certain kickbacks to the producer making it even more interesting.

Still wondering what I'm blogging on about...see the following movies (which I can remember there are plenty more) and you will notice:
1) Transformers – GM
2) Minority report - Mini Cooper
3) Cast Away – FedEx
4) You've got Mail - AOL, Starbucks
5) The Island - Puma, Speedo, Aquafina and Xbox
6) Mission Impossible 4 – Apple
7) Happy Gilmore – Subway
8) Pepsi- Back to the future
9) Up in the Air - Hilton, travelPro, hertz, American Airlines
10) Phir Bhi dil Hai Hindustani - Santro zip
11) Yaadein - Pass Pass, coca cola
12) krrish - Lays, Complan

To my knowledge, most product placements are done by automobiles, gadget and cola companies. I'll be writing a research paper on the same soon examining various aspects about it. But now advertisers have to be prepared to expose their brands to negative associations in order to grab attention. The motive of placing a product in a movie/ TV serial in India may be different. Sometimes the medium is used to launch a new product, sometimes it can be used to demonstrate the long tradition of a brand, other times it can be used in negatively (by portraying competitors product in a negative context), sometimes the use of a particular product or service in a particular movie reinforces the brand image or restates its positioning.

It works like this - The Marketer pays to the agency that decides and places specific brands strategically in films/TV shows. It is the job of the agency to maintain tie ups with prop suppliers/vendors and with set designers. Suppliers get in touch with the production houses, which also look for props and some extra money as revenue. Subsequently the script is reviewed and necessary changes are made to place the brand appropriately to look like a natural phenomenon in the story. There are three ways product placement can occur:

1) It is unintentional - This placement occurs without any type of formal contractual agreement to place a particular product or brand. The likely scenario in this instance involves some member of the cast or crew selecting a product to use in a scene because it will enhance the scene though the product itself may not be seen or presented in a favorable light.

2) It is just paid for - The placement is arranged and some of the product serves as compensation. This type of placement a particular product is shown in the Movie/ Serial and no extra amount is paid for that. The product itself serves as compensation

3) It is all planned and paid for - The placement is arranged and there is financial compensation - In this type of product placement the company has to pay for the placement apart from the product.

To get a better Idea of what I’m talking about check out Morgan Spurlock’s latest movie-documentary “The greatest movie ever sold’ where the product placement is explained by being sponsors of the movie.