Monday, May 21st, 2012
Product placements are common in television shows and movies. But are they just as effective in books?
With e-books getting more and more attention, it’s only logical that advertisers invade that platform as well. If there’s people reading, then exposure and brand recall have a good chance.
Compared to movies and television shows, books are less visual—which is a big disadvantage. However, published works are more visceral. Whenever a brand is written on a page, the reader internally visualizes its logo making the recall factor much more memorable.
The benefits on the advertiser side are easy to see, but what about the author? Think about this: most of the profits from book sales (online or not) are taken by the publishers. Dealing with the advertisers directly will get the artists a chunk of the profit before the publishers get their hands on their manuscripts.
Book product placements will not only help established authors, they can also help rising ones.
On the flip side, some readers may not respond well to these advertisements. Some people don’t want advertisements in every aspect of their life, and product placements in books will—more or likely—create negative feedback for these consumers. But we’ll never know until we try.
