In recent years a lot of research is done on Brand/Product placement in Bollywood films by marketers and advertisers so as to understand the concept and strategies of brand placement in movies. Although not many academic researches can be seen in the field of product placement in Bollywood, the practical usage of the practice of Brand Placement has grown significantly. Lehu in his work defines, “The expression ‘Product Placement' or, ‘Brand Placement' essentially describes the location, or more accurately, the integration of a product or a brand into a film or televised series.” Lehu (2007, pp.1) it can be understood from the work of other scholars like Kalish (1988), Gupta and (Gould 1997) Balasubramanian (1994) that brand placement is planned consolidation of brand with the elements of a feature film in return for money, service, barter, or any other kind of consideration. The research also focuses on the strategies of brand placement in Hollywood as no substantial academic can be found on classification of brands in the Indian cinema. The literature looks and analyzes the Tripartite typology of product placement by Russell (1998) , two dimensional approach to classify brand placement by Gupta and Lord (1998), Classification on the basic on Integration and explicitness by d'Austos and Seguin (1999) and finally Shapiro's (1993) classification of brand placement.
Over the years Advertising has emerged as a key component of integrated Marketing communication. Moreover, it has adjusted with the changing economic environment and consumer behavior. The clutter in the product market and media has made the task challenging for marketers to reach their consumers. Thus both the Media and Advertiser‟s search for innovative advertising techniques led to ‘Covert Advertising’ .Covert Advertising is a medium through which branded products are placed in movies, which is visible to consumers without any distraction. Leveraging on the entertainment value, emotional quotient of the film and its psychological impact on viewers has led the advertisers to utilize this medium. The phenomenon is gaining momentum due to its clutter free feature and advantages of celebrity endorsement for the product or brand in a movie. A few firms get product placement at no cost by supplying their product to the movie company (Nike does not pay to be in movies but often supplies shoes, jackets, bags, etc). Advertising is often not believed because consumers know that the producer or manufacturer of a product or service paid for the advertisement. There is however, a perception with the general public that products in films or broadcast programmes are “for real”. Branded product placements of well-known names contribute to this perception. The placed fashion brands and products represent a time frame in the sequence of events as it enfolds or develops on the screen or in their television programmes. As such it is assumed that these placed products are perceived as credible and true to real life experiences. Movie audiences can be viewed as ready-made target groups, especially if a movie clearly represents a certain genre (e.g. science-fiction, action, comedy, drama etc.), thus providing an opportunity to include some indirect commercial messages into the movie for the audience to be influenced by. These commercial messages are usually included into movies by implementing a promotional method called product placement. People are no longer interested in advertisements be it in any form i.e. radio, television, banners or magazines. They mostly try to skip the commercials. Brand placements are commercial insertions within a particular media program intended to heighten the visibility of a brand, type of product or service. These insertions are not meant. Attempts are made for the viewer to read the product or the brand as a quality of the characters using and approving it. In product placement a product is featured, used, mentioned or seen in a movie in a manner that provides the product with a positive image and role in the movie Product placement may also appeal financially to corporate marketers in addition to the marketing communications aspect as In the current world filled with advertising and other marketing communication messages people are prone to skip through print advertisements or change the channel. Covert advertising is different from celebrity endorsement. The celebrities endorse products and brands with commercial reasons, which normally comes in the breaks in television programmes or cinema halls. Brand placements provide an opportunity where the involved audience get exposure to the brands and products during the natural process of narration of movie.