Multimedia Product Placement
Multimedia Product Placement refers to the strategic integration of products into various forms of media, such as television, movies, video games, and online platforms, to enhance brand visibility and consumer engagement. With advancements in technology, advertisers have moved beyond traditional marketing techniques to utilize multimedia as a more interactive and immersive means of reaching audiences. This approach allows consumers to engage with brands through layered communication, including text, sound, and visuals, often in real-time.
In recent years, platforms like video games and viral video websites have become increasingly popular vehicles for product placement. In video games, brands are often incorporated into the gameplay, providing a realistic context that resonates with players. Similarly, viral videos can serve as a medium for advertisements, capitalizing on their shareable nature to spread marketing messages organically among viewers.
The rise of mobile technology has also paved the way for application-based marketing, where advertisers can promote products through downloadable apps. This evolution in multimedia product placement not only allows for a more personalized marketing approach but also offers cost-effective solutions for brands seeking to connect with target demographics, especially during economically challenging times.
Multimedia Product Placement
The dawn of the 21st century has brought many new technological advances and with them more opportunities for entrepreneurs to market their products. Rather than developing a simple slogan or commercial jingle, advertisers are using various forms of media to engage the consumer on a number of levels, enabling them to learn more information about the product, compare it against competitors, and obtain trial usage or samples. There are a number of vehicles through which product placement takes place, including television, movies, and the Internet.
This paper will explore the growing trend of using multimedia resources for advertising products.
Keywords: Application Software; In-Game Advertisements; Multimedia; Product Placement; Viral Video
Overview
In 1968, Arthur C. Clarke's science fiction epic, 2001, A Space Odyssey, came to the big screen in unique fashion, thanks to the visionary director, Stanley Kubrick. Like many films, 2001 is filled with product brands that were prevalent at the time. However, Kubrick's vision of the future was ill-fated, at least in terms of those household names he believed would last into the 21st century. A video telephone call placed by one of the characters is made on a telecommunications system allegedly operated by Bell Telephone, a company that was completely divested in the early 1980s. Additionally, that same character flies into Earth's orbit on a commercial spacecraft run by Pan American airlines, which entered bankruptcy long before the millennium.
Advertising appears in many forms and in every media. Over the course of history, printed advertisements have been joined by radio and television commercials, billboards, banners and premiums, among other traditional vehicles. Feature films and television shows have increasingly been used for subtle advertising. However, in the 21st century, such media has become limited in terms of reach, especially given the fact that so much new technology meant people in every corner of the globe were connected. The Internet and mobile technologies have greatly increased opportunities for entrepreneurs to market their products.
The New Technology for the 21st Century
No one in the late 19th century could have predicted the technologies that brought moving pictures and radio, nor could the people of the early 20th century envision a television in every home. In the modern age, people in every corner of the world are able to communicate via a hand-held mobile phones. Technology has made the world a smaller and vastly more interconnected place.
As technological advancements (especially those involving communication and information) continue to evolve, product and service providers in the world marketplace consistently adapt to new developments. For decades, advertisers have used roadside billboards to attract the attention of consumers as well as radio, film, and television to solicit the business of captive audiences. The manner by which these resources are employed for the purposes of product placement and marketing is simple — the viewer or passer-by would be captivated by message and inspired to purchase the product.
Multimedia
Multimedia marketing employs multiple layers of communication. There are two major characteristics of multimedia. First, multimedia employs a number of different types of imagery and sound, layering text, sound, animation, still photos, video—and multiple displays and combinations thereof. Second, unlike traditional marketing methods, multimedia is often interactive — the user can control the information using a mouse, voice controls and touch-screen devices. Consumers regularly engage in real-time conversation and events and participate with other parties—in person or remotely (Teow, 1999).
Advertisers are turning to this developing form of information exchange and presentation to call attention to their products. Rather than developing a simple slogan or commercial jingle, advertisers are using multimedia to engage the consumer on a number of levels, enabling him or her to learn more information about the product, compare it against competitors and even obtain trial usage or samples. There are a number of vehicles by which product placement is increasingly taking place using multimedia.
Applications
The Latest Games
In 1972, Magnavox released its Odyssey home video game console, the first of its kind. Although the games were limited and crude in terms of their graphics, computer game-makers seized upon Magnavox's example, and an immensely profitable industry was born. Today, home video game consoles are commonplace — by the end of 2006, 45.7 million American households had such devices, representing more than 41 percent of all US homes ("Nielsen says," 2007). Video games and the internet have provided advertisers with enormous and creative opportunities to stretch their product placement endeavors.
A major reason for the continuing growth of video game sales is that the games themselves are vastly improved over their predecessors in terms of complexity and graphic quality. 1970s-era games like "Pong" and "Space Invaders" have evolved into "Grand Theft Auto" and "Resident Evil;" games that contain story lines, character development and a level of realism never before seen. As part of this realism, game makers have added consumerism. As the "hero" battles his or her enemy, in the background the player sees a billboard advertisement or a beverage brand. Originally, these products added to the realistic feel of the game but were fictitious. Increasingly, however, advertisers have seen an opportunity in such games. As technologies improve, game makers are not exploring fantastic concepts, but rather are attempting to better mimic real life. As one observer comments, such a strategy creates opportunities for advertisers: "in mimicing that life, they have, rightly or wrongly, created a virtual arena that accommodates for the movement of advertisers and marketers into the framework of games" (Woolfrey, 2009, par. 11).
In-Game Advertising
That open door represents an enormous boon for advertisers. Rather than feature fictional products and services, "in-game advertising" has become more commonplace. Apparel, toiletries and other brand-name goods are readily seen in many of the latest video games. Sometimes, the message can be political; in a game called "Burnout Paradise" (released in early 2008) an automobile drives past a presidential campaign billboard for then-Senator Barack Obama.
According to one 2009 study, in-game advertising will drive spending on such games significantly over a short period of time. In 2009, in-game advertisements generated $100 million — by 2014, the study forecasted, that figure would swell to well over the $1 billion mark. At the core of this development is the fact that video game users continue to grow in numbers.
There are two probable reasons for this exponential growth. First, in an economy that has generated a popular search for inexpensive entertainment, video games (many of which are free, accessed on the Internet) represent a low-cost diversion for consumers. As a result, a larger volume of video game players can be expected as economic issues persist (Knight, 2007). Second, the players themselves seem to embrace the advertisements as part of the realism of the game — with such connections, they may be inspired to purchase the product and/or suggest the products to friends or via on-line reviews and chat rooms ("In-game Advertising," 2009).
In-game advertising remains in its earliest stages, but has seen great returns for advertisers in just a short period. As business models are developed that utilize the full potential of video gaming, it is likely that this practice will continue to surge (GameZine.co.uk, 2009). In other arenas, however, the potential has been fully appreciated and its advertising tactics have already begun to replace, in many ways, traditional television advertising.
The Viral Video Market
In the 1990s, systems like TiVo, a digital recording device, presented viewers with the ability to watch their favorite television shows and skip commercials. Such devices made television viewing more convenient for many viewers, but also created headaches for advertisers and networks alike. As a result, networks found themselves at a marketing crossroads — hang on to the traditional form of commercial television advertisements (during scheduled breaks), integrate advertisements into television shows or seek alternative vehicles for broadcasts.
The latter of these options could be found on the internet. Since the 1990s, the number of websites dedicated to showing brief video clips (known as "viral videos" due to their e-mail-based spread from user to user) has increased significantly. One of the most viewed websites in this arena has consistently been YouTube, but other web giants like Google, Yahoo and MSN have also joined the environment. It is on these viral video sites where many of these former television commercials have found a home. A viewer may click on a preferred video and, as it loads, will be shown a brief commercial. Unlike television viewers using TiVo or other digital recording systems, however, the website user cannot circumvent the advertisement (Ulanoff, 2007).
Marketing products via viral videos is something of an irony in terms of the use of multimedia to advertise goods and services. Multimedia is, after all, by nature an interactive media, which enhances the entertainment experience of the viewer. Then again, while viral video sites enable the viewer to pick and choose the clip he or she wants to see, the clip itself is in such situations a part of the video — the viewer cannot control its running. In fact, such videos are not dissimilar from the moniker they enjoy — like a virus, the clip spreads from computer to computer, and with it the marketing message to which it is linked. The marketing effort is therefore peer-based, generating buzz simply by attaching itself to the video clip ("Marketing News' Digital Handbook," 2009).
In addition to their attaching commercials to existing viral videos, advertisers are increasingly producing their own viral videos, with advertisements embedded therein. For example, Ford Motor Company recently created a marketing campaign wherein owners of the company's Fiesta brand urged viewers who had purchased the vehicles to document their experiences via video. These videos were clearly advertisements, thinly veiled as personal videos. Sites like YouTube, Facebook, Google and others added these entertaining videos, without a single charge to the company behind them.
The Fiesta marketing campaign raises an interesting point about the convergence of multimedia advertising with popular internet video websites. Traditional product placement campaigns involve the purchase of air time on the media in question. However, multimedia (specifically, web-based) advertising is not as clear-cut. Google, YouTube and others do not receive any money from such campaigns as the Fiesta effort since they do not require members to pay in kind. In economically challenging times, such conditions greatly benefit the corporations but not necessarily the site that broadcasts their advertisements ("Why free-ride," 2009). In response, many such providers are entering into arrangements with many large corporations in order to ensure their financial viability.
Cellular Technology
Since its introduction in the late 1980s, cellular technology has undergone an extraordinarily quick evolution. Devices shrank in size while ranges of coverage increased rapidly. As the technology grew in capability and popularity, so too did the consumer's need for its continuing evolution. Soon, cell phones became integrated mobile offices of sorts, combining telephone, internet, e-mail and schedules. Even videos, music, cameras, global positioning systems and other systems have become increasingly commonplace in the device whose original purpose was simply to make mobile calls possible without the use of a telephone booth.
That evolution has intensified with the introduction new mobile technologies. Traditional cellular technology has been rendered obsolete by digital mobile devices and advanced digital networks. Again, advertisers are evolving with such technological advances, looking to take advantage of the growing number smartphone users to market their own products. Application software (programs that enable the user to access e-mail, obtain traveling directions, search the web and other activities) has become another arena in which companies are seeking to market their products and services.
Applications Software
That advertisers and marketers are looking to this multimedia area is understandable in light of the enormous potential it represents. Associated Press and Bloomberg News Service, for example, immediately took advantage of the growing market for applications by introducing downloadable links to their news services. Meanwhile, another media leader, British company Thomson Reuters, found itself lagging far behind its competitors, especially after a series of cost-cutting measures that immediately followed the start of the economic downturn in mid- to late-2008. Although Reuters did see appreciable profits during the first quarter of 2009, it still struggled to generate revenues through its usual endeavors. With an economy that showed little sign of recovery, it was imperative that Reuters diversify. The company pledged to invest $1 billion to build up its multimedia capabilities, including the introduction of Blackberry and iPhone applications (Kaplan, 2009).
While applications represent a relatively new medium in which advertisers and marketers are working, the potential returns are evident. Additionally, many are using this medium to sell their wares at minimal cost, making the value of application-based marketing more enticing. One approach is akin to offering free samples of a new food at the grocery store. The multimedia user is offered a free application, which is a stripped-down version of the larger product. The company looks to use these basic "samples" to entice users to purchase the "paid" version. Software maker Adobe, for example, offers via iPhone applications a basic version of its Photoshop suite (O'Brien, 2009), which helps users modify and store digital images.
Applications remain enormously popular and vendors clearly see the potential returns. In 2012, Apple’s App Store registered 20 billion downloads from approximately 500 million active accounts. While many of these downloaded applications are games or simple aesthetically pleasing programs, they remain important marketing vehicles. For example, one application simply shows a container of the popular mint Tic-Tacs on the screen — as the consumer walks with the iPhone, the sound of the mints rattling inside the container can be heard. Although this application is seemingly trivial, it is part of a larger marketing campaign by the parent company, FMCG, with considerable success — in one week, that application was downloaded 57,000 times (Milman, 2009). With 70 percent of iPhone users in FMCG's targeted 20-29 year-old demographic, the application campaign was considered a major success.
As companies continue to spar over dominance in the "next generation of cellular technology" arena, pursuit of marketing and advertising vehicles within this multimedia technology will likely continue until such systems become obsolete.
Conclusions
New multimedia vehicles meant that advertisers could market their products in a far more personalized manner than ever before ("Technology is changing," 2001).
Multimedia has helped advertisers place their products in the public eye in newer and more cost-effective ways. Through product placements found in video and online computer games, viral videos and the latest in cellular technologies, marketers are reaching their targeted consumers on levels that television, print and radio media have never reached.
Because it helps advertisers directly interact with their preferred demographics, multimedia product placement has also proven to be a cost-effective vehicle. In times of recession and economic uncertainty such as that which enveloped the global economy in 2008, this benefit has become even more salient for companies looking to weather the storm and is illustrative of the long-connected relationship between technology and efficient product placement.
Terms & Concepts
Application Software: Downloadable programs offered for Apple iPhone © devices.
In-Game Advertisements: Product placement found embedded in video and/or computer games
Multimedia: A form of presentation medium that employs multiple layers of communication and imagery.
Product Placement: Form of paid advertising in which real products are either used or promoted within a given media.
Viral Video: Internet-based video clips that are spread from user to user via instant messaging, e-mail or other forms of internet sharing.
Bibliography
Beyoncé signs up with PepsiCo. (2013). Chain Drug Review, 35, 45. Retrieved November 19, 2013 from EBSCO online database Business Source Complete with Full Text. http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=bth&AN=84964540&site=ehost-live
Cooper, L. (2013). IT'S BUSINESS NOT AS USUAL IN NEW ERA OF CONTENT. Marketing Week (01419285), 29-32. Retrieved November 19, 2013 from EBSCO online database Business Source Complete with Full Text. http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=bth&AN=88033277&site=ehost-live
Diehl, M. (2013). Extra Justin: Just What The Fans Ordered. Billboard, 125, 4-6. Retrieved November 19, 2013 from EBSCO online database Business Source Complete with Full Text. http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=bth&AN=86534977&site=ehost-live
HAIMING, H. (2014). Brand-Placement Effectiveness and Competitive Interference in Entertainment Media. Journal of Advertising Research, 54, 192–99. Retrieved December 1, 2014, from EBSCO Online Database Business Source Complete. http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=bth&AN=96555747
In-game advertising to become billion dollar business. (2009, May 26). Retrieved June 4, 2009 from GameZine.co.uk. http://www.gamezine.co.uk/news/in-game-advertising-become-billion-dollar-business-$1298511.html.
In-game advertising is a massive market. (2009, May 12). Retrieved June 5, 2009 from http://www.telegraph.co.uk/scienceandtechnology/technology/technologynews/5312188/In-game-advertising-is-a-massive-market.html.
Internet Movie Database. (2009). 2001: A Space Odyssey. Retrieved June 1, 2009 from http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0062622/trivia
Kaplan, D. (2009, May 10). Thomson Reuters launches BlackBerry, iPhone apps; first big step in $1 billion multimedia investment. Retrieved June 5, 2009 from PaidContent.org. http://www.paidcontent.org/entry/419-thomson-reuters-launches-blackberry-iphone-apps-first-big-step-in-1-bil/.
Knight, K. (2009, May 27). ScreenDigest: In-game ads to reach $1 billion by 2014. BizReport: Advertising. Retrieved June 5, 2009 from BizReport.com http://www.bizreport.com/2009/05/screendigest%5Fin-game%5Fads%5Fto%5Freach%5F1%5Fbillion%5Fby%5F2014.html.
Marketing news' digital handbook. (2009). Marketing News 43 , 9-18. Retrieved June 5, 2009 from EBSCO Online Database Business Source Complete. http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=bth&AN=37697708&site=ehost-live
Milian, M., & White, M. (2012). Sony's Scene-Stealing Product Placements. Bloomberg Businessweek, (4288), 19-20. Retrieved December 1, 2014, from EBSCO Online Database Business Source Complete. http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=bth&AN=77732020&site=ehost-live
Milman, O. (2009). The case for iPhone apps. B&T Magazine, 59 (2691), 10. Retrieved June 8, 2009 from EBSCO Online Database Business Source Complete. http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=bth&AN=39781620&site=ehost-live
Nielsen says video game penetration in US TV households grew 18% during the past two years. (2007, March 5). [Press release]. Retrieved June 4, 2009 from Nielsen Media Research. http://www.nielsenmedia.com/nc/portal/site/Public/menuitem.55dc65b4a7d5adff3f65936147a062a0/?vgnextoid=998a30a34c121110VgnVCM100000ac0a260aRCRD.
New marketing approach boosts sales. (2011). Cabinet Maker, (5726), 8. Retrieved November 19, 2013 from EBSCO online database Business Source Complete with Full Text. http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=bth&AN=59151029&site=ehost-live
O'Brien, K. (2009). Marketing focused on premium products provides the best value. PR Week, 12 , 9. Retrieved June 8, 2009 from EBSCO Online Database Business Source Complete. http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=bth&AN=37930970&site=ehost-live.
Reager, S. (2012). Blast Heard Round the Globe. Speech Technology Magazine, 17, 33. Retrieved November 19, 2013 from EBSCO online database Business Source Complete with Full Text. http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=bth&AN=75358824&site=ehost-live
Technology is changing the advertising business. (2001, Jan. 31). Retrieved June 8, 2009 from Knowledge @ Wharton, University of Pennsylvania. http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article.cfm?articleid=303
Teow, P. (1999, November 17). Multimedia. SOA Management. Retrieved June 2, 2009 from SearchSOA.com. http://searchsoa.techtarget.com/sDefinition/0,,sid26%5Fgci212612,00.html
Ulanoff, L. (2007). Commercials reborn. PC Magazine, 26 (7/8), 56. Retrieved June 5, 2009 from EBSCO Online Database Business Source Complete. http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=a9h&AN=24341241&site=ehost-live
Why free-ride YouTube is finally winning ad dollars. (2009, April 22). Retrieved June 6, 2009 from Advertising News weblog. http://advertisingnews.wordpress.com/2009/04/22/why-free-ride-youtube-is-finally-winning-ad-dollars/.
Woolfrey, C. (2009, June 2). Advertising in games: An unwanted invasion. Video & Online Games. Retrieved June 4, 2009 from Suite101.com. http://videoonlinegames.suite101.com/article.cfm/advertising%5Fin%5Fgames%5Fan%5Funwanted%5Finvasion.
Suggested Reading
Grosso, F. (2008, Sept.). Harness power of viral video. Brand Strategy, , 50-51. Retrieved June 8, 2009 from EBSCO Online Database Business Source Complete. http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=bth&AN=34738648&site=ehost-live
Hui-Fei, L. (2014). The effect of product placement on persuasion for mobile phone games. International Journal of Advertising, 33, 37-60. Retrieved December 1, 2014, from EBSCO Online Database Business Source Complete. http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=bth&AN=94699155
Kirk, J. (2009). Vendors see iPhone for business. CIO, 22 , 12. Retrieved June 8, 2009 from EBSCO Online Database Business Source Complete. http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=bth&AN=38698741&site=ehost-live.
Liesse, J. (2008). Media explore content opps. Advertising Age, 79 , M5-M25. Retrieved June 8, 2009 from EBSCO Online Database Business Source Complete. http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=a9h&AN=35868487&site=ehost-live
Ritson, M. (2006, April 20). Interactivity means potential mauling. Marketing, 17. Retrieved June 8, 2009 from EBSCO Online Database Business Source Complete. http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=bth&AN=21207364&site=ehost-live.
Ross, C., Johnson, B. & Hodges, J. (1997). Sky's the limit for Sony's ambitious Station plans. Advertising Age, 68 , 40. Retrieved June 8, 2009 from EBSCO Online Database Business Source Complete. http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=a9h&AN=9702140579&site=ehost-live.
Winkler, T. & Buckner, K. (2006). Receptiveness of gamers to embedded brand messages in advergames: Attitudes towards product placement. Journal of Interactive Advertising, 7 , 37-46. Retrieved June 8, 2009 from EBSCO Online Database Business Source Complete. http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=bth&AN=23266234&site=ehost-live.