Paid for Product Placement – 12 months on.
Flash Poll Results: The Gap Between What Advertisers Want and What They Have Seen

Using survey techniques that guaranteed advertisers anonymity Madigan Cluff, authors of the 2011 IHS Screen Digest Report on Product Placement in Europe, NMG Product Placement and top consumer PR agency Grayling PR undertook a flash poll of advertisers.

The views summarized here are based on a small sample of senior marketing decision makers taken at the beginning of March – but from discussions over the last 6 months they reflect feedback from a much wider group of advertisers.

Key Findings:

• Most advertisers will continue to fund placement and 40% intend to increase funding in 2012, although a lot of this funding will be into free prop product placement, rather than paid for placement
• On average respondents were only aware of one or two pieces of paid for placement activity.
• About two thirds of respondents have been approached with a paid for placement proposition, and for each advertiser who has been approached they have seen less than two propositions.
• The two key outlets for propositions appear to be broadcasters and product placement agencies. There are only occasional references to mainstream agencies.
• Most advertisers have discussed paid placement as part of a communications strategy meeting and believe that there are interested in the wide range of opportunities which could result from paid placement including, in order of popularity:
  • Direct usage of the brand within the programme, (i.e. cookery shows)
  • Screen visibility
  • Using the programme for a brand promotion
  • Visibility of the brand on programme websites and other digital media
  • Use of programme or characters in brand advertising and promotion

• Most respondents have experience of product placement evaluation:
  • A report of programmes with duration and time on screen and/or the advertising equivalent value of appearances.
  • A small number evaluate the PR and promotional activity which appeared as a result of the brand being within the programme, or evaluate the type of programme and the situation within which their brand appears
• Respondents listed their Ideal programme genres for product placement in rank order:
  • Soaps
  • Key dramas
  • Leisure programmes
  • Cookery programmes
  • Format shows

Commentary.

We strongly believe that whilst these ideas are based on a limited sample of respondents they do reflect the market as a whole. If the paid for placement market is going to burst into life it needs to show considerably more commitment to making placement a genuine value gain for advertisers.

Part of this may come from grander projects, On 6^th December, in a €900,000 three year deal Ireland’s RTE Fair City now features an entire Spar shop.

Another driver is promoting paid for placement as not just an additional visibility, but planning and executing placement in the wider context of brand promotion – so that it can be accountable to advertisers on the number of cases it shifts.

For more information please contact Michael Cluff – michael@madigancluff.com or Sarah Curran – <Sarah.Curran@newmediagroup.co.uk>