Follow the yellow brick… trend?

It seems like no matter where we look, product placement is everywhere! Movies and television shows are no strangers to embedded marketing – one scene from a 2013 episode of “House of Cards” went so far as to feature 9 apple products! The fact that it has become so commonplace is forcing brands to try and be a little more creative.

 

Creative Culture takes a look at some brands that have done it right locally – because countries don’t always respond to the same (subliminal) messages!  

Home, sweet home

Last year, Swedish brand IKEA teamed up with the Israeli version of Big Brother to promote their products. In a twist from previous seasons, the show’s participants arrived in their new house to find it filled with boxes. Through social media platforms like Twitter, viewers reacted in real-time as the contestants built their furniture.

 

Viewers were given a first-hand demonstration of the “easy set-up” for which IKEA furniture is known. The brand then featured re-creations of the Big Brother house in their showrooms – and it’s no surprise that a lot of the items featured on the show quickly sold out!
 

Ani-mega platform

Anime is a Japanese animated film and television format that it hugely popular the world over. So it’s no surprise that some brands have seized this channel as an opportunity to promote their products. In the show Tiger & Bunny, characters are actually “sponsored” by brands, whose logos appear directly on the characters’ armour.

 

In 2015, the film version of the show actually put out an advertisement for sponsors, and 17 brands (including Pepsi, Amazon Japan and Softbank) responded. Unlike other platforms where product placement may be seen as over-bearing, anime’s fast pace actually makes it quite difficult to spot many of the sponsors, and the product placement almost acts subliminally. How many brands can you spot?
 

Riding the K-wave

In recent years, Korean drama and Korean pop, known more commonly as K-drama and K-pop, have been taking the international world by storm – and nowhere more so than in China. In 2010, the South Korean government loosened its rules around product placement in shows in an effort to increase exposure to Korean products. While overt product placement tactics are certainly put to use, it’s the more subtle approaches that have seen the most success.

 

Fans of the K-drama series My Love from the Star pay close attention to the clothing and make-up choices of the main character, Cheon Song-yi. South Korean cosmetics company Amorepacific saw a significant spike in the sales (domestic and international) of products that were featured on the show. International luxury brands like Mercedes Benz are also joining in. 
 

Let’s hear it for the Girls

Americans love their awards shows… and their product placement. For the Oscars, the biggest awards show of the season, comedians are generally slated to host. Although it’s a prestigious event, attendees and viewers also expect to be entertained. This year, similar to Ellen Degeneres’ 2014 Oscars stunt, Chris Rock took his hosting gig as an opportunity to promote a brand.

 

Unlike Degeneres, he chose one of the biggest in America. Under the guise of helping his daughter win the prize of most cookies sold, Rock offered celebs the opportunity to buy Girl Scout Cookies. Every American looks forward to that time of year, and the spotlight is sure to get viewer’s tummies grumbling.
 

A step in the right direction

Last year, Shell and Pavegen teamed up to do their bit for the community. In a combination of CSR and genius product placement, the brands tapped in to Brazil’s most popular past time – football. The move, which aimed to improve Shell’s brand image while simultaneously promoting alternative energy sources, saw local football pitches converted into motion-sensor, light generating fields.

 

By simply playing soccer, people were automatically participating in the campaign – the weight of their footsteps on top of the motion-sensor panels generates enough alternative energy to light the pitches well into the night.
 

Not all product placement attempts are successful. During the December 2015 TVB awards in Hong Kong, KFC was brought out to guests during the ceremony. While the audience seemed to be enjoying themselves, many viewers saw it as distasteful.

 

The lesson? Some mediums, like television shows, can allow for more blatant strategies but the line between just enough and too much can be a thin one. It’s up to brands to know the current trends in their markets, and to adjust their strategies according to the habits and tastes of the consumers. 

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