MUMBAI: One advertising method that is growing in the US is that of product placement in both film and television. How effective is it?
That is the question Nielsen Media Research and Nielsen Entertainment in the US will seek to answer. They will conduct a study which will, for the first time, provide an assessment of the factors impacting product placement effectiveness.
At a time when there has been an intense focus on ROI for advertising generally, the spotlight on brand
integration has spawned several tracking and evaluation services. No one else however, has attempted to provide insight on the contributing factors of behavioural response on empirical findings.
The study's initial participants include CBS/UPN, Discovery, Magna Global, Mediacom, OMD, PHD, Sprint, The Weather Channel, and Zenith Optimedia. Nielsen has been tracking the physical characteristics of product placement since the beginning of the 2003-2004 broadcast season. The objective of this extensive study is to look beyond the on-screen appearances
and determine how the context of a placement's execution can impact consumer response. The relationship viewers have with a specific programme, as well as their familiarity with the brand and product category featured, as related to the effectiveness of placements, will be analysed in this research.
VNU media measurement and information group Senior VP strategy and alliances Dave Harkness says, "Product placement has gained significant attention and investment in recent years. This research study continues with Nielsen's commitment to provide our clients with quality information to make more effective business and marketing decisions." Nielsen Entertainment has also been testing the effectiveness of product placement in television, and beginning in 2006 in film as well.
Nielsen Entertainment president and CEO Andy Wing said, "We expect that the existing services from Nielsen combined with the results of our study to deliver findings that can lead to more actionable information which can be used to make brand integration a more measurable and effective selling tool."
Magna Global director of Audience Analysis Steve Sternberg said, "Numerous advertisers are increasing their commitments in the product integration arena, while there continues to be precious little industry research to guide executives with crucial business decisions. This study is an essential first step towards more advanced and customised research analyses in predicting the relative impact of differing levels and types of product integration. As a charter subscriber, we are excited to be involved from the onset of the research and provide valuable input into this important research."
