Transcript Class Debate: Advertising

Class Debate: Advertising
By: Howie Pun
Ian Burgess
Matt Burgess
Brian Barrett
In a nutshell:
• In our modern world today, we cannot
escape being drawn to advertising. It is
everywhere – billboards; television,
internet; washrooms, but the worst by-far
is advertising in films. It upsets us
completely that a movie would saturate
most of its scenes with Coca-Cola or Nike.
It doesn’t go well with the overall appeal
and it makes it unnatural and it must stop.
BIRT:
• The Motion: All products placement
and/or advertising in films itself that does
not contribute to the story or film should be
banned.
Basic ideas:
• Arguments for:
• It gives large, rich companies
an unfair advantage over
competition
• It is subliminal advertising
• It wastes time in a business
where time is money
• Annoys audience members
when we feel the product is
being shoved down our throats
• Arguments against:
• It is necessary for the funding
of films
• This gives large production
companies oligopoly over the
film industry
• No Mute Button: Unlike
television commercial, the
product is imbedded in the film
and people’s attention are
drawn to the product without
any influence to buy
• Low cost
• Far Reach (Global) It would be
seen elsewhere
Interesting Thoughts:
Perception is everything... Positive Brand Association:
• The sight of a celebrity handling your product is a powerful
thing. Your placement will communicate feelings and messages
about your brand that cannot be achieved through traditional
advertising. Consumers will recall the implied celebrity
endorsement during purchase - and will make decisions based
upon it.
Runs and Re-Runs... Cost effective
• With Product Placement, you invest once and get numerous
viewings through world-wide theatrical release, VHS & DVD
rentals and sales, television broadcasts and syndication, or
pay-TV. This kind of frequency is unprecedented in the world of
traditional advertising.
Our Thoughts
• What ticks us off is when product placement is so blatant
like in "Waynes World" or "Austin Powers." It seems that
at one time it was to defer the costs of productions
however as product placement gets more attention the
fees get higher and higher.
• Some companies pay millions of dollars while others like
The Coffee Beanery in "Deep Impact" it cost the Beanery
20 empty cups. We personally feel product placement
could be good when showing real products instead of
Beer cans that simply say Beer. Look carefully in TV it
looks like Coors but says Beer in the Coors Font or even
Coke looks like Coke yet it says Cola in the Coke fonts.
If you remember the old days everything was Acme.
Acme Plumbing, Acme Tow .
More Thoughts:
But there is a time when advertising and product placement becomes too
much. It's hard not to find a Starbucks coffee cup somewhere in the
background of almost every movie. And last time we checked, not everyone
in the world drinks Starbucks so why does everyone in the movies?
The goal is still the same: to persuade viewers to buy a product because
their favourite film star is shown using it, and at the same time help ease
production costs for increasingly pricey film projects.
It was hard to miss the Shell logo on the handle of the petrol nozzle in
Roman Polanski's "The Ninth Gate". The camera lingered lovingly on it, no
matter that the woman pumping the gas was the devil's own handmaiden.
Then there was the picture-in-a-picture moment in "Analyze This" when
Robert De Niro's angst-ridden mobster watched a television commercial for
Merrill Lynch investments - and so did the film's audience.
And the ubiquitous pharmaceutical industry must have gotten a lift from the
product placement spot slipped into "The Sixth Sense". Remember when
Bruce Willis' character opened the medicine cabinet to look for clues to his
wife's state of mind and fingered a bottle of Pfizer's antidepressant Zoloft?
Pro's
• Everybody wins: The product company wins because the can get
their product seen by millions of people even in a bad film. The
Production wins because they get product, which they would have
bought for the crew anyway. Sometimes the crew gets what is called
a second meal. So a company like Popeyes Chicken could get in the
film for simply providing a meal. Sometimes for 80 people (like in TV)
or as many as 1000 ( large crew with lots of extras) . This means that
the production company would have saved \$ 35-$40,000 now that is
a saving.
• Another pro is a sales surge from a very positive placement like
Reesess in ET . There are several stories how that happened. Some
say reesess paid a fortune for that spot. Well that's not true. It was a
simple placement that did great.
Cons
• In some cases that meal that production saved $40,000 on was cut
out of film. Depends on the contract sometimes they get a refund
sometimes they don't.
• Negative Placements: This is a very bad situation and that is lets say
they actor in the scene takes a drink of soda which has a brand name
and the actor says" yuck this tastes real bad. That could be
devastating to a company a guarantee to lose business.
Pure Examples:
On the right: Tom
Cruise’s get-away car
in Minority Report
Left: Tom Cruise’s
money making pose in
the futuristic Lexus that
is one of MANY ads in
Minority Report.
More Examples:
Above: Here, we clearly see James Bond’s
advertisements ranging from the Rolex watch
(left); the Jaguar (centre); and him endorsing
Cigar smoking (right)
Even more examples:
• Here, on the right, we
have Julia Roberts,
one of the top
actresses in the A-List
category of Hollywood
endorsing smoking
• Also accompanying
her is Sandra Bullock
Hey, guess what?
More Examples:
• On the left top, is
Friends, the most
popular sitcom in
America, here we can
see an Oreo’s Box.
Here, we can see
how advertisers
promote their
product through
the sports
medium
Chart Study for Coke and Heinz
Analysis of Product Placement
Quotes:
"The word that comes up a lot in our work is seamless, that’s the way
placements have to function to be successful, most people prefer to see a
can of Pepsi or other familiar brand rather than one that says ‘soda’". (about
the film Apollo 13). "When Kevin Bacon’s character is at a party to watch
Apollo 11, he is holding a bottle of Budweiser and is explaining the docking
procedure to a woman, using a little sexual innuendo. It’s a perfect scene
because he’s laughing, she’s laughing, the audience is laughing and just the
right amount of attention is brought to the bottle".
Dean Ayers; Anheuser-Bush
"Creativity is the key to the consumer's psyche. You can sell anything to
anyone using creativity. Creative product positioning is everything especially
where Product Placement is concerned. The creative process is the most
important key to a successful placement".
Mark Hawkins; Mars Advertising
More Quotes
"We never want to hit the movie goers over the head with product
exposure,
the best placements are natural and seamless";
Steve Ross; 20th Century Fox
"Non competing industries can join with one theme that’s fun to be
associated with in a popular culture".
Phil Bowman; Pizza Hut Inc.
"When a Star uses a recognizable product, people in the audience will
pat themselves on the back and say ‘look how smart I am, I’m using
the same thing as the hero in the movie’. It’s the most inexpensive way
to get visibility and sales power".
Gisela Dawson; The Catalyst Group
"A lot of benefit is for your own employees, seeing the brand on
screen takes them feel good".
Maryann Seduski; ATT Lucent Technologies
Fun Facts:
•
•
•
University of West Virginia research on 304 cinema-goers viewing
six films with 30 placements, found that using a product on screen,
such as Bond`s use of the Cagiva in GoldenEye was most effective.
"ET" increased sales of Reese’s Pieces by 70%
"The Firm" increased Red Strip beer sales 53%
James’ Bonds "Golden Eye" sold 3600 BMW Z3 roadsters in Atlantic
Blue 3 weeks before the film opened and the car was back ordered by 8000
units
"Risky Business" tripled Ray-Ban Wayfarer sales from 18,000 to
360,000 in the first year to 720,000 the next year. The company was able to
increase the price from \\$30 to $50.
•
"The Firm" increased Red Strip beer sales 53%
"Days of Thunder" increased sales of Mello Yello to \\$154 million dollars
"Jurassic Park" dramatically increased the sales of the Ford Explorer
according to Ford
Additional Info/Links
http://www.productplacement.co.nz/benefits/
http://www.geocities.com/productioninfo/
http://advertising.utexas.edu/research/papers/Turcotte/Toc.html
http://www.geocities.com/productplacementinformation/Articales.html
http://www.kidzworld.com/site/p1886.htm
http://csmweb2.emcweb.com/durable/1999/02/10/p11s1.htm
http://www.featurethis.com/benefits.html
http://mccoyresearch.com/product-placement-in-films.htm