With online streaming and the ability to ‘pause live TV’, consumers have more ways than ever to avoid television ads. But one form of television advertising that isn’t going anywhere is product placement. It’s certainly not a new form of advertising but now more than ever businesses are seeing the results of product placement marketing.
Product placement can be a cost-effective marketing strategy. Apple, for example, were ranked #1 for the number of product placements in movies in 2011, but they claim to have never paid for a single product placement. Instead they simply offer their devices for set dressing.
Sometimes the products themselves are used as a plot device – like the PEZ dispenser episode of Seinfeld, or the use of Google in the movie ‘The Internship’ – while many others appear without reference.
Though it is possible to go overboard! Transformers: Dark of the Moon featured an astonishing 71 different brands!
Here are 5 of our favourite (not-so-subtle) product placement examples:
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles – Domino’s Pizza
Castaway – FedEx
The Italian Job – Mini Cooper
The Thomas Crown Affair – Pepsi One
127 Hours – Capital One
Image source: http://www.complex.com/pop-culture/2013/03/25-hilariously-obvious-product-placements-in-movies/
