The right and wrong of product placement is inseparable from wisdom and planning

Product placement causes trouble

How much trouble has advertising caused in China? The emergence of every new thing has been criticized.

On January 28, 1979, Shanghai TV Station broadcast the first commercial TV advertisement in mainland China. Public opinion at the time accused it of being bragging and a capitalist business experience.

On March 15 of the same year, Shanghai TV broadcast an advertisement for the foreign brand Swiss Radar Watch. People labeled it as selling sovereignty and humiliating the country.

On January 8, 1981, Market News, sponsored by the People's Daily, published the first marriage notice in New China, which attracted criticism for undermining socialist civilization and polluting socialist atmosphere.

On February 13, 2010, CCTV's Spring Festival Gala of the Year of the Tiger placed multiple advertisements into the program, which attracted public criticism. Among them, Zhao Benshan's sketch "Donation" received the most criticism. It is undeniable that in "Donation", overly eye-catching product placement advertising has affected the logic and consistency of the work itself, and ultimately ignited people's controversy over product placement advertising.

However, just as the fallout from the controversy over product placement advertisements at the CCTV Spring Festival Gala in the Year of the Tiger was still in the middle of the ocean, the 82nd Academy Awards Ceremony was held in a lively manner."The World of Trademarks" won the Best Animated Short Film Award. More than 3000 trademarks, including Uncle Pringles, Uncle McDonald's, Michelin Police, MSN Butterfly, Linux Penguin, MGM Lion, and Pedestrian M Bean, told a ridiculous story of justice versus evil in just 17 minutes. Many netizens spoke highly of it and did not dislike the influx of corporate brands.

Product placement is still a new thing in China and has long been widely accepted abroad. The birth of product placement advertising can be regarded as an evolution and upgrade of traditional hard advertising to a certain extent. It is to allow people to unknowingly perceive brand demands and accept the influence of advertising, so that hard advertising can provide audiences with a defense mechanism. The rise of product placement advertising is to put an invisible cloak on traditional hard advertising. Through a high degree of integration with the appropriate acceptance environment, it can resolve its defenses and penetrate its minds without disturbing the audience. Due to its unique advantages, product placement has become and will continue to be one of the trends in advertising development.

Industry experts pointed out that the public's response to product placement, from resistance to acceptance, is an inevitable stage in the development of new things. The controversy over product placement actually reflects society's attention to this new thing. Only when disputes and collisions exist will the advertising industry's thinking and research on product placement be promoted, so that it can develop healthily. Just as people gradually accept advertising in daily life and no longer regard them as dissidents, over time, people will eventually rationally accept product placement advertising.

Product placement is inseparable from wisdom and planning

When it comes to product placement advertising in China's film and television industry, famous director Feng Xiaogang is a person who cannot get around. It can even be said that Feng Xiaogang was an enlightener and preacher who made China's film and television industry understand the value of product placement advertising and accept product placement advertising forms. From "Big Shot","Mobile Phone","No Thieves in the World" to "If You Are the One", Feng Xiaogang, who has been commercialized, has been able to skillfully connect the plot with products and brands. Even "If You Are the One" has finally set off a tourism craze in Hokkaido, Japan. A movie has influenced many aspects of Hokkaido and spawned many businesses.

However, what people don't know is that according to anecdotal rumors, when Feng Xiaogang first came into contact with the new thing of product placement advertising, he, who was already a famous director at that time, was resistant to it, just like some viewers who want to kill this form of advertising because of the use of product placement advertising at the Spring Festival Gala of the Year of the Tiger

Feng Xiaogang finally relied on his own efforts and talents to achieve seamless integration of advertising placement, appropriately integrated the brand into the development process of the plot, and gained huge commercial value without damaging the content. Take "If You Are the One" as an example. Jiang Nanchun, the behind-the-scenes operator of its advertising placement, once decrypted: Before filming, we collect all the advertisements first. The advertising fee is the production fee, and we shoot as many movies as there are advertisements. In this way, we will never lose money. "If You Are the One" was done according to this logic. It made 14 product placement advertisements and put up 10 patch advertisements, with a total revenue of more than 50 million yuan. rdquo; At the same time, Feng Xiaogang's New Year film not only did not attract criticism, but also generated extremely high box office revenue, which verified the vitality of product placement advertising from a market perspective.

It can be seen that if handled properly, product placement advertising can achieve a win-win situation for all parties: the producer receives advertising revenue, has sufficient funds, and has no worries when shooting film and television works, which helps to shoot high-quality film and television works; The brand party invests funds, obtains unique brand display opportunities, and enhances brand reputation in a quiet way; ordinary audiences avoid the perception rupture caused by rigid advertising interruptions, and have the opportunity to watch more high-quality film and television works to improve viewing quality and experience.

In response to the criticism triggered by product placement advertisements at the Spring Festival Gala of the Year of the Tiger, Yu Guoming, deputy dean and professor of the School of Journalism and Communication at Renmin University of China, believes that excessive criticism of CCTV actually reflects the audience's high expectations for CCTV and the Spring Festival Gala. As the saying goes, deep love means severe responsibility. Yin Hong, deputy dean and professor of the School of Journalism and Communication at Tsinghua University, believes that product placement itself is not wrong. He said: Hard advertisements directly interrupt programs and forcibly interrupt viewers 'viewing, while product placement advertisements are integrated into programs to ensure that viewers continue to watch programs while completing the company's brand and product promotion. rdquo;

However, how to grasp the exposure scale of product placement advertising is a difficult problem. Because product placement is softer and less likely to be discovered. Using product placement advertising requires higher skills. If it is not used properly, the brand will be burdened by it.

Implant placement means wisdom and planning. It is by no means simple placement and collage. This is why in recent years, we have increasingly used the word implant to replace the word implant we used to use. It is too extensive, and the planting method is exquisite. If you want to plant well, you must find, have and even cultivate soil that can be planted. It's not that audiences can't accept product placement, but that advertisements are too crude.& rdquo; Yu Guoming said.

In fact, industry insiders assert that product placement advertising will surely usher in a blowout period. More and more companies are gradually realizing the advantages of product placement advertising and joining the ranks of using product placement advertising. However, at present in China, product placement advertising can only be said to be in its infancy. The lack of a unified and complete evaluation system has become a major obstacle to the development of product placement advertising, which has also increased the risk for advertisers when placing product placement advertisements. It is understood that the industry still uses the original practices used to evaluate the effectiveness of hard advertising, such as ratings, product appearance frequency and duration, when evaluating the effectiveness of product placement advertisements.

Eliminate salience from product placement

How should business be grafted with art?

This year, CCTV's Spring Festival Gala's product placement was criticized for failing to properly handle the integration of programs and product placement. When the work itself does not attract the audience's attention, product placement becomes obtrusive and becomes a target for criticism.

At the 2009 Spring Festival Gala, product placement advertisements also appeared in Zhao Benshan's sketch "Not Bad Money". However, because this sketch was extremely humorous, the audience's attention was completely focused on the sketch and the performances of actors such as Xiao Shenyang. The Sohu product placement advertisements made in the program did not attract criticism. Instead, they received good publicity results because they were close to the plot and life.

Tian Tao, vice president of market research at CTR, believes that there are two keys to successful product placement, namely plot and integration. This means that product placement is a form of implicit advertising that is attached to the plot content, and the brand of product placement must be brought into the script creation process. If we simply forcibly superimpose the brand on the already formed content and conduct a straightforward hard sales promotion, the audience will not have a favorable impression on it except for being forcibly indoctrinated with a brand vocabulary." rdquo;

Faced with audience criticism and doubts about product placement, media and enterprises should study the laws and art of product placement in a down-to-earth manner, in line with people's viewing mentality, and make product placement an art form and advertising form that the audience likes to see.& rdquo; Yu Guoming said.

Yin Hong pointed out: It is not a question of whether TV should broadcast advertisements or whether advertisements should be implanted, but a question of how to broadcast advertisements and how to implant advertisements, or how to grasp the relationship and balance between advertisements, audience acceptance and the nature of programs. We need to study on a larger scale: how to connect advertisements and program content more seamlessly to eliminate the prominence of product placement; what kind of methods should be used in the face of this new form of product placement advertising. Conduct agreements and constraints to ensure that the interests and feelings of TV viewers are not harmed. In fact, China's television has gradually developed amidst various voices of the audience. It's just that we don't splash the baby out when we splash dirty water.& rdquo;