Branded entertainment: product placement in the entertainment business - Курсовая работа

This is a world in which a brand is able to get closer to its target audience via a film, a television programme or series, a play, a novel, song, or show, indeed even a video game, using lines of communication quite different from those employed to date by the three main families of above the line, below the line and internet marketing. Yet a more meticulous study of the history of communication quickly makes plain that well before the cinema, cabaret and actors of all genres used product placement for brands that also used them occasionally as advertising spokespersons. All of these examples illustrate how placements have always been present in films, but for reasons that are sometimes very different, as we will examine. Televised shows of this type still exist in certain countries, of which the United States is one, since the explosion in available media has generated such competition that profitability dictates that products and brands cannot always be prevented from appearing in the programmes themselves. For both a series and a film, it is also advantageous to be able to use the latest fashionable gadget or to benefit from the latest technological advances, sometimes even before the product has gone on sale, as was the case with the very latest Nokia mobile phone used in David R Ellis’s film Cellular in 2004 or with the telephonic video security systems designed and built by Cisco and visible in the television series [5, p.However, like it or not, brand managers have become the daily administrators of the brand’s life, shrewd managers who direct the stages of the brand’s life cycle one day at a time, permanent visionaries of the architecture of that brand, guarantors of its identity, protectors of its positioning, and orchestra conductors attentive to the sum of the individual publicity actions to which it may lend itself, in order to achieve perfect coordination. If it may seem to some that there is only a single step between product placement and brand integration, nevertheless the whole philosophy of the process must be revised, so that the brand can be inserted into a world of entertainment as naturally as possible, arousing emotions and desires on its own account. Strategic thinking about the brand is therefore even more crucial since the goal, the role and the attraction of a brand integration will also vary widely, according to the communications medium under consideration and the characteristics of the environment in which the operation is envisaged. Either we leave brands, or in any case the majority of them, to complete their metamorphosis into a simple element for designating one good in relation to another, whereupon hundreds, if not thousands of them will disappear; or we decide to curb the impoverishment, to struggle against the suicidal erosion of brand capital and to give the brand back a genuine legitimacy. A brand that rushes too hastily into a branded entertainment strategy, however, without its managers having questioned beforehand what it really is, what its objectives are, what could and should be its message and to whom that message should be delivered, will be wasting its money.

Some advertisers are still doubtful as to the power and the real advantages of staging the brand, and therefore of branded entertainment. Directing is a very difficult job. However, like it or not, brand managers have become the daily administrators of the brand’s life, shrewd managers who direct the stages of the brand’s life cycle one day at a time, permanent visionaries of the architecture of that brand, guarantors of its identity, protectors of its positioning, and orchestra conductors attentive to the sum of the individual publicity actions to which it may lend itself, in order to achieve perfect coordination.

If it may seem to some that there is only a single step between product placement and brand integration, nevertheless the whole philosophy of the process must be revised, so that the brand can be inserted into a world of entertainment as naturally as possible, arousing emotions and desires on its own account. Strategic thinking about the brand is therefore even more crucial since the goal, the role and the attraction of a brand integration will also vary widely, according to the communications medium under consideration and the characteristics of the environment in which the operation is envisaged.

More than a hundred years of traditional above-the-line and below-the-line communication have inevitably left traces of a natural resistance. Even if the elements set out in the previous pages might be thought to provide an objective legitimacy to the argument, however, the economic and social conjunction must also be taken into account. The roles, and even the justifications, of brands are being reappraised by consumers who we know to be more mature, more sophisticated and therefore more demanding. The choice that marketers are presented with seems incredibly simple. Either we leave brands, or in any case the majority of them, to complete their metamorphosis into a simple element for designating one good in relation to another, whereupon hundreds, if not thousands of them will disappear; or we decide to curb the impoverishment, to struggle against the suicidal erosion of brand capital and to give the brand back a genuine legitimacy.

A brand that rushes too hastily into a branded entertainment strategy, however, without its managers having questioned beforehand what it really is, what its objectives are, what could and should be its message and to whom that message should be delivered, will be wasting its money. In this context, we often in a symptomatic manner refer to a brand’s DNA. The analogy is a relevant one, and taking it into consideration is fundamental. Branded entertainment should make it possible to reveal the brand’s DNA, confirming its legitimacy and offering it an emotional dimension. Those who think that it will help them to replace it, quickly and easily, are making a grave mistake. A brand’s DNA cannot simply be changed with a publicity operation.

Care should be taken not to repeat the errors of the past, through urgency and because the promises of brand integration into many and varied programmes of entertainment seem to be within easy reach. The advantages of branded entertainment can only serve the brand if it forms an integral part of its communications strategy. If it is only envisaged as a supplementary ‘tactic’, disconnected from any logic of identity, then it risks rapidly becoming the involuntary instrument of the persistent degradation of the brand’s capital.

Care should be taken not to repeat the errors of the past, through urgency and because the promises of brand integration into many and varied programmes of entertainment seem to be within easy reach. The advantages of branded entertainment can only serve the brand if it forms an integral part of its communications strategy. If it is only envisaged as a supplementary ‘tactic’, disconnected from any logic of identity, then it risks rapidly becoming the involuntary instrument of the persistent degradation of the brand’s capital.

The effects of a branded entertainment action go far beyond the only direct benefit of the integration of the brand into a programme of any kind. It contributes to short-term awareness of the brand, but also to its image and all its constitutive elements in the medium to long term. Yesterday considered a distraction by advertisers in love with cinema, branded entertainment is now a communications medium that is increasingly better defined, more rigorous, and genuinely strategically orchestrated. Paradoxically, at first glance, this professionalization of the process contributes to blurring the lines a little more between what is entertainment, and what flows from brand strategy. This is merely the expression of the success of an accomplished integration. It is difficult then to know whether the advertiser is the brand or in fact the programme that is its medium.

What lessons can we draw from this? Branded entertainment offers exceptional advantages for creating a link with consumers, but it will not do everything. Although a brand leader has the luxury of hesitation, missing such an opportunity could cost a smaller brand dearly.

In the United States, certain rappers, who do not wish to lose part of their potential target audience and above all opportunities for broadcasting on large networks, have been recording different versions of their songs for several years now. Certain versions are classed as explicit, indicating that some of the lyrics might be thought violent and vulgar. Other versions are labelled clean, since their text has been bowdlerized. If product and brand placement is developing uncontrollably, perhaps it will one day be possible to see a film in its explicit version, or in other words full of all kinds of placements, or in its clean version, that is, stripped of any reference to a product or brand. The strategic opportunities of branded entertainment would then be reduced to nothing. Consumers, and particularly the youngest among them, are today able to identify the faintest marketing approach and the smallest sign of advertising. If it seems to them that there is no technical, artistic or simply practical justification for a placement, it is immediately rejected, or in any case sufficiently well identified that it has none of the impact expected by the advertiser. It is quite simply a case of respecting the target audience and consequently potential consumers.

By entering into a film, a brand can contribute to its entertainment. By hijacking the film or even a simple scene to turn it into an advertising spot, it breaks the possible emotional link that a natural integration might have offered it. Whether it is a programme, a novel, a song, a videogame or any other vector, every medium must be the opportunity for a fusional relationship, benefiting both the brand and the medium. It seems a simple rule. It is often still neglected, however, by brands in search of commonsense publicity tactics to cure all their ills, in the very short term. Branded entertainment is not a miracle solution. Respectfully and strategically orchestrated, however, miracles cannot be ruled out.

cinema show television program

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