Pick Me: negotiation for Product Placement

Entertainment Business Negotiation and Deal Making

December 19, 2010

One month prior to the release of Apple’s iPad in local stores it was possible for consumers to obtain a demonstration of the functionality of the product itself. This demonstration was available simply by viewing a prime time television sitcom. It became impossible to just watch television without the saturated marketing of the iPad. No one can watch television with seeing a product placed strategically in the show. Both the television and print industries alike seemed to thrive on this campaign. A recent article in Campaigns & Elections, states that these mediums are constantly pretentious and it is evident within the inventory, rates, demographics and geography. Only seasoned professionals can fully understand how to manipulate and maneuver it (Brooks, 2005). Therefore, the question is proposed; has the consumer become overly saturated with ads what are the powers of negotiation associated with these advertisements in various locations? To watch a favored show on television is a pass time, which is, pleasured however the shows are engrossed with product placement and many mini-commercials and advertisements. At one time there was an effort to make for consumers to be able to watch shows lacking placement; case in point the name on a cereal or oatmeal box at the breakfast table was removed of the known label and replaced with a fictitious label. The current state of the economy dictates a higher demand for advertising dollars within networks. To comply with the demand, network head quarters have been compelled to negotiate with peripatetic company advertising executives for the resolve of preeminent product placement within the scheduled programs. Leverage used during said negotiation is that the viewing audience would be drawn to the show by the marketing campaign. Some prime examples are ABC’s season six of their hit show Desperate Housewives was accompanied by a Sprint mini-series before commercial breaks. This mini-series was created with the help and direction of the show creative team. Paralleling this type of show was creative for the hit series 24, the deodorant brand Degree joined forces with shows staff to create another mini-series type of advertising pitch. However the idea was matching the product with the characters that are in the show. In essence this the key parts of this major negotiation had to be taken into consideration for a decision to be made. Both the foundation of the show and the products relevance to had to be taken into a great consideration for the deal to work and make sense to the consumer ultimately. Millions of dollars are made within the film industry for both filmmakers and brands. It is not by coincidence that the main character of a movie may have a craving for a Starbucks coffee. It is not necessarily written in the script initially or because its the actor’s favorite coffee but because Dunkin Donuts did not win the negotiation. The most obvious placement that I have witnessed would be in the movie entitled Talladega Nights- the character Ricky Bobby, near the latter part of the film an Applebee’s commercial was placed in the movie. The run time of this commercial was is at least 30 seconds!! When deals are reached for this type of brand or label positioning the deals are motivated by money. The movie producers need the advertising dollars to complete the movie however, some movies place products without a negotiation or payment for one advertisement, just as creative choice of the filmmakers. For instance, in the movie Cast Away, Chuck Noland calls the volleyball ‘‘Wilson’’ because the volleyball’s brand is in fact a Wilson ( Maynard & Scala 2006). Wilson Sporting Goods did not have the need to participate in a bidding war to have their volleyball become a character in the movie. The reasoning behind the selection of this type of ball is the because the creative team of Hanks, Broyles, and Zemeckis made the executive decision to select a Wilson volleyball for the part in the film. (Maynard, & Scala, 2006). Therefore for this coupling instead of the brand approaching the movie, the movie approached the brand. This is not usual, since the 1980’s brands have got into bidding wars just to place in Blockbuster hits. With this is strange shift in roles inevitably the fact still remains that the brand placement is major exposure for the brand company with out having to pay for anything.

While sitting in the waiting area of a doctor’s office it is believed that the urge to pick up a magazine or a newspaper to helps the wait go by. But it has been scientifically proven that when this occurs there is no reading going on, there is only scanning. The readers main focus becomes the advertisements that take up 90% of the print material. Publishers should focus on hiring ad sales agents since the writers’ voice is truly muted from the overpowering advertisements. Visiting a magazine or newspaper website and viewing their press kit resembles an add phone book. The price to secure the back page of Vogue is almost one million dollars. Though a negotiation is set in place for the print companies, it is honestly one-sided. The publication lays out all their negotiation in their media kit concerning everything the brand would need to know, but some kits clearly state that prices are not negotiable.

In conclusion negotiation in advertisement varies from medium to medium. However the common denominator of all is that the advertising dollars help fund the company’s functionality. Without these monies being present these mediums would not be available to us. For the company to be selected, it is required to have the highest bid within the negotiation. The future in television may be dedicated to full shows or to the sponsoring brand, it is not known as of now. Whether movies will be flooded with brand names or magazine and newspaper companies fire all their writers to give way to ad placement is the nearing question.

Reference:

Brooks, J. (2005). Political Media Buyers Deserve a Place at the Table. Campaigns & Elections, 26(4), 42-43. Retrieved from Academic Search Premier database.

MAYNARD, M., & SCALA, M. (2006). Unpaid Advertising: A Case of Wilson the Volleyball in Cast Away. Journal of Popular Culture, 39(4), 622-638. doi:10.1111/j.1540-5931.2006.00282.x.

Mundy, A. (1998). All Celine, all the time. MediaWeek, 8( 33 ), 17. Retrieved from Communication & Mass Media Complete database.