Invading the content ...(Part 6)

Continued from part 5...>>>>

The elements of the audience intolerance threshold quadrangle can be analysed one by one :-

1.Prominence

Prominence to the product(s) as long as it doesn’t question the common sense of the audience would be tolerated but once the prominence crosses the threshold, toleration too does it and clash of interests occurs between the
advertiser and the TG. Undue prominence may be counter productive or at least may be equaled by the TG as another form of advertising which is clandestinely imposed on them. Cristel A Russel, (the author of “Towards a framework of product placement: Theoretical propositions in advances in consumer research”) , has identified three major types of product placements- i.e. screen placements, script placements and plot placements .In TV, all the three can be dangerous if used with undue prominence to the product. It may vary from society to society and from programme to programme and the TG but it surely is a reason for audience intolerance threshold.

Product placements in current affairs programme or a ‘Walk the Talk’ may not be a good idea, especially when too much of prominence is given to the brand to be placed where as in a game show it would be largely over looked. Pepsi, for instance, launched its new product, Pepsi Cafechino, on Sony's ‘Indian Idol’. Its brand ambassadors Kareena Kapoor and Priyanka Chopra appeared on the show wearing the same clothes that they had worn in the ad. This is called as hyperactive placement, as the brand is not just present in the show, but the brand ambassadors also appear and use and refer to the brands and its symbols manifestly.

Some time back, in an agency faq's article,Atul Phadnis of TAM India had described three kinds of product placement in film content – Hyperactive Placements, Active Placements and Passive Placements. Hyperactive Placements when mixed with the additional trigger, lead to a 54 per cent increase in brand awareness, a Passive Placement in a film along with an additional trigger (in the cinema environment) led to a whopping 191 per cent increase in brand awareness. Active Placements, on the other hand, are like showcasing a product to its fullest, such as a man talking about an Audi and later driving away in one. An Active Placement, when coupled with an additional trigger, leads to a 17 per cent increase in brand awareness. This may be by and large applicable to TV product placements as well, but the dissimilarity in cinema environment and TV viewing environment is to be kept in mind. Moreover in the long run when too many such shows use too many such product launches, intolerance threshold point will start appearing.....

to be continued >>>>>>>>