Wednesday, May 23rd, 2012
Smaller companies are starting to recognize the value of product placement.
For instance, product placements in online platforms are a great way to create a buzz around a product. Placing a product on Twitter or Facebook has proven to be a cost-efficient method to advertise a product.
Rob Johnson of The Wall Street Journal presented a fine example of how product placement can benefit small or start-up companies.
Johnson cited the story of Eileen Shields, a New York designer. Shields was fortunate enough to get a product integration of her designer shoes in the film version of ?Sex and the City?. According to Shields, soon after the film?s release, mentions of her shoes were rampant in online platforms (like blogs). This led to a surge in demand.
?There was a surge in sales because of the movie,? commented Shields. ?Stores wanted to be part of it.?
If you scale product placement against traditional ad mediums (like TV commercials), you will find many advantages on the former than the latter, especially if you?re working on a tight budget (which is more relevant to advertisers today due to the recession).
One of the best advantages of product placements is that viewers don?t skip watching it. Studies claim that consumers have a tendency to skip channels whenever TV commercial segments are aired.
Product placement avoids this by tying the product with the production. So, if you?re a small company, one well-placed product placement could make your company a big household name.
Source: The Wall Street Journal
