Crouching audiences, hidden products - Part III

My article as appeared in the Advertising express magazine of February 2010...... continued from part II

The Audience Intolerance Threshold Quadrangle

The above discussion sufficiently makes it clear that when over used, Product placements in TV and Cinema can backfire and be counter productive. In this angle the concept of Audience Intolerance Threshold Quadrangle needs to be visited.

The Audience Intolerance Threshold Quadrangle is an after effect of four elements....

Prominence

Too much of importance to one or two products in a programme

Parade

Clumsy lining up of many products, with no editorial justification

Patter

Long-winded sales talk done by hero & heroine of TV programme, as if it is part of the story..

Partnership

The unholy relation between the media, advertiser, his agencies and the producer of the programme ignoring the TG


These four elements of the Audience intolerance threshold quadrangle need to be analyzed in the changed conditions and the better audiences that watch TV and cinema as compared to the past. Marketers need to understand the reason why not all communication (ads and product placements including) do not work with the market place.

Marketers have to get more realistic about the common sense of the average TV viewer /movie-goer and analyze the four factors before finalizing on a product placement deal next. The audience who grabs the remote on a commercial break cannot be made intolerant by showing long advertisements that pretend to be part of the show/movie which in any case will compromise the artistic quality of the show/movie.

Marketers have to bear the Separation principle, where it is a must to maintain appropriate separation between the programme and the advertising content. How appropriate is appropriate, is a question that marketers have to ask themselves before adventuring with a parade of products and brands, to glare from the story with prominence, to bore the people with patter and to reveal the unholy partnership to the angry target audience. People in countries like ours will not understand that this is a method of revenue generation for the producer of the film and hence tolerate it.

Greedy marketers will have to take care of the prominence part, the brand staying on in the show/movie and irritating the viewer. It is better to pass off and be remembered than remain there and not to be seen at all. Greedy channels will have to avoid parading, (the naked display of brands in an easy route to make money) to avoid people switching off the show and going to other channels. Greedy script writers will have to rethink, next time they pen dialogues that starts and ends with brand names, an easy recipe to disaster. And the greedy who is who in the marketing world- the advertiser, the ad agency, the product placement agency, the TV channel/cinema producer-director-script writer, the sponsors- each one will have to think how fair it is to over do this?

How long will this last?

How much over cooking can you do?

When TV programmes go abroad this ends up in even bigger troubles. For instance the UK media regulation authority Ofcom came heavily on Sony TV and its Indian Idol programme for blatant use of “LG KP199 mobile phone” and its virtues which violated the rules there.(This was when the programme was shown in UK for the people of Indian origin who lives there)

Guidelines for making it better

1. Distinguish between serious involvement and low involvement, whether in TV or in cinema and treat them suitably. Avoid serious programmes.

2. Product integration should be the aim, not some how product insertion which will look artificial.

3. Do not treat product placements as an opportunity to advertise alcohol and cigarettes in surrogate.

4. Use it only when editorially justifiable and to enhance practicality.

5. Try being in the back ground-Remember, passive placements with a trigger, scores more than others.

6. Bring in regulation- self is better, and ASCI can also form guidelines, at the earliest.

7. Measuring the effectiveness of product placements should be more seriously dealt with and care should be taken to make it believable.

8. Be innovative- Like Maruthi Swift which introduced the car for the first time in the film “Bunty aur Bubbly”

9. Be target specific… If you are selling women’s wear ,insert your brand and its message in a “Balika badhu” and not in “the buck stops here”.

10. Look for noticeability . It doesn’t help you being in the parade.


Summary

Product placements are a wonderful opportunity to reach the target audience, who are captive, without transferring to them a feeling of ‘being sold’. Since it is a best tool for passive learning, it can work wonders as seen in this article. It requires co ordination of all the parties involved, proper planning, and a realistic and long term approach to reap the benefits without throwing the audience into intolerance. The rule is simple- reaching more eyeballs and /or staying more time in those eyeballs need not mean more sales.

It is the proverbial golden goose, this whole business of product placements in the content, but greed should not kill it like the one in fables.

Invading the content ...(Part 8)

continued from part 7>>>>>>>>>

Partnership

Partnership is an unholy alliance as perceived by the TG, between the advertiser and the broadcaster. In effect it is the cumulative effect of too much of importance to products placed in programmes, too many products moving in and out of scenes and frames, and products engaging in sales talk amidst the programme. Partnership leads to what the TG thinks as surreptitious advertising, which is “the representation in words or pictures of goods, services, the name, the trademark or the activities of a producers of goods or a provider of services”. Cinema researchers have found this to be compromising the artistic integrity of movies accusing them of being ‘just long advertisements’ . Based on the level of Integration and the level of explicitness product placement on the silver screen can be split into three--Implicit, non integrated explicit and integrated explicit . The more explicit it is, the more will be the partnership visible and in television, unlike cinema, it is visible promptly.

The audience intolerance threshold appears when the TG can clearly foretaste a partnership where the thin line between obvious advertising and subtle product placement vanishes and both become one and the same. Here the TG can glimpse that it is done to serve advertising, the broadcaster intends it, and it is capable of misleading the public.

The solution

Programme sponsorship is the least disliked of today’s funding mechanisms, and even
Advertising is reluctantly accepted. While TG has differing opinion as per the different secondary data available, one thing is understood- the audience intolerance will be more severe in its after effects in case of excessive product placements in TV. This study leaves enough scope for further research in that aspect. To conclude the observations of this paper, let me suggest some solutions to avoid the TG entering the Intolerance Threshold.

Avoid relating to children

Keeping children from the influence of advertising and parents from the influence of advertising on children. Remember that Children have limited capability to make a distinction between advertising and editorial content.

Avoid surrogate acts

Viewers accept product placements generally and if it is sublime. But when products, which cannot be advertised, otherwise (Alcohol, Cigarettes etc) appear as product placements – underplayed or out in the open, it will be counter productive. Researchers have found this to be true .

Stay away from news / current affairs, religion and children’s content

They are serious involvement programmes and it is better not to be very significantly present in such programmes to avoid the risk of audience intolerance. Asianet news time on prime time used the idea mobile jingle on air when the final wrap up of news occurs at the end of the half an hour programme.

Stay in Game shows and sports film, entertainment and drama

These genres are generally of less involvement type and of commercialized nature and the TG generally accepts product placements. Parading and prominence are tolerated but patter and partnership will be despised. Programmes that look like, they have been conceived to sell the sponsors products will be a flop. The example of the Hindi film ‘Yadein’ with its outrageous product placement done for ‘Pass Pass’ is a much-discussed one.

Use it to enhance realism

Product placement is generally well received when it enhances the realism of a programme, and when it is relevant to the script in what can be called as ‘Editorially justifiable’ and is not too prominent. Advertisers having too much editorial control will not be accepted by learned societies.

Use it in the background

Background product placement is considered as the best. Products that you do not actually notice may work better than the ones you do.

Practice self-regulation

This is a wonderful tool of subtly communicating to the TG, virtues of products and brands without putting them into displeasure is used optimally. But before the golden goose is slaughtered, the Indian advertising industry should evolve some code of conduct for the advertisers, media houses and the programme producers to make sure that the fate of spot advertising and sponsorships doesn’t repeat here too.

They are: -

A)-The genres of programming in which product placement should be permitted should be decided and a consensus should be arrived.
B)-The challenge the four p’s of audience intolerance threshold poses to the whole idea of product placements in TV programmes should be taken head on.
C)-The measures needed to ensure viewer transparency and their trust in editorial integrity should be listed out and regular check has to be maintained
D)-The role of the Advertising Standards Council of India in the whole self regulation frame work should be decided and a mechanism for complaints if any should be activated
E)- Measuring of effectiveness of product placements would be made more beleivable and authentic, for all the parties to effectively use them without dispute and desperation.

the final say :-

Product placements in TV is defenitely growing ,on par with if not over and above cinema.TV programmes have more advantages like low shelf space as compared to cinema , which all the parties- practitioners of product/brand placement, including clients, ad agencies ,PR firms,production firms, and independent agents -all of them will have to listen. Product integration should be the aim, not merely product placements. If this formula is kept in mind, the production costs can be shared, more captive audiences could be reached, and with more impact than spot advertising or sponsorship, demonstrate brand usage in natural settings, make the programme more realistic and authentic, be cost efficient and yet remain liked and not hated.
‘together,the advertising world should remain committed to save this golden goose and not succumb to the vampire - named greed’.

************************************************************
THE END !!!

Invading the content ...(Part 7)

Continued from part 6..>>>>>

Parade

Too many products finding a place in, is more dangerous than prominence to one or a few products, which appear in a programme. Parading of brands in a programme, is making brands appear one by one in a given programme- be it a game show or a teleserial. If this happens, it is due to the producer’s/ broadcaster’s/ advertiser’s insatiability to make quick money. The brands necessity to appear in a frame as the hero’s pen or the heroine’s fairness cream or the game show host’s cheque book should look natural and should go along with the script. However in some cases it is the brands ability to spare a big sum of money rather than its inevitability in the script decides on its presence in the silver screen. Here again, it is the type and nature of the programme, which decides on how soon the TG will enter the threshold intolerance point. Feelings like “it didn’t need to be there”, “ so many of them” etc among the TG will give them a feel that they are sold for a bargain.

In a game show like ‘Khul Ja Sim Sim’, parading was done without much of audience frustration and they stepping into intolerance, whereas in a teleserial like ‘Kyonki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi’ it may look anomalous that the heroine’s cosmetic brands and the hero’s apparel brands are paraded in an audacious display of deceit. A situation where such parading swallows the main story line is a ‘phagocytosis’, where the intolerance threshold point starts. Reality shows but, as i observe them is careful in this aspect. Not that they dont allow parading but are cautious to make sure that Passive learning happens without the intolerance creeping in...

Patter

Patter is defined as a beguiling attempt at persuasion, a long-winded or slick sales talk. It is tedious for the audience members when, for instance a heroine of a popular serial laments that her ‘particular’ brand of hair oil (the name is carefully repeated during her cry) is not to be seen and as a result, all her hair is going to fall in no time, it is an enticing way to bamboozle and sell.
If ads in normal commercial breaks do irritate people when facts are not presented straight and unambiguous, product placements then definitely make the TG intolerant if it engages in patter.
The logic applying here is simply that during an ad break, the TG is aware and even expects the presence of glossy and astute messages which may have to be taken with a pinch of salt but not during a television programme. In product placement however, the heavier the brands purse is, the more are chances that the script and dialogues get swayed like a coconut tree in blowing wind. Here then, it will look artificial and arousal levels will be zero and it will produce no recall as research with movies have established .Advertisers should get clue from research findings, which state that not all product placements are effective. When such sales talk happens in a programme, in which the TG is engrossed, it leads them to audience intolerance threshold.

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 >>>>>>>>

Invading the content ...(Part 5)

Continued from part 4

The Audience Intolerance .....

Product placement can be active or passive or in other terms obvious or subdued. Not withstanding the sponsor’s (the product owner) pride on his product and his desire to see and hear his brand again and again in the programme and prominently, too much of use of product placements will see a slope in audience attitude to the whole idea. When audience feels that products are infringing on their pleasure of watching TV, it can be termed as the Audience Intolerance Threshold Point, where the TG steps into a zone of intolerance to not only the products so placed but also the programmes in which they are placed. They start abhorring the programme itself, in a typical case of spontaneous trait transference. Research has proven that many consumer groups have felt that product placements is a form of deceptive advertising which will cause purchase intention in movie goers, who are unaware of the persuasive intent of brand placement .

The after effects of the TG entering the intolerance threshold can be diverse and manifold. Of course the audience apathy to the programme as well as the product(s) in question is the most apparent one, but other effects like inflicted damage to the editorial integrity of the programme, and the collapse of the perceived trustworthiness of the media may also result.The causes for such intolerance are summarised in the figure below



The four P's of audience intolerance ,as I would call it, in a summary ...............

to be continued.....>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Invading the content (Part 2)

Continued from part 1

The evolution of product placements in Advertising.......

Three evolution phases...

Spot advertising

It all started as simple commercial breaks in Television. Doordarshan monopolised the Indian skies and they had fixed timings as to how many minutes of a half an hour programme could be earmarked for commercial advertising. When the skies opened up, the whole scenario changed in favour of TRP ratings and Day parts.

In their unquenchable quest for making money, channels and programmes filled the airspace with ads and more ads. In the whole process all the parties – the advertiser, the media, and the advertising agencies- had smiles all the way but the audience started despising the whole thing. Spot advertising as the common commercial break advertising is called has clearly lost its charm when it comes to ROI.

Sponsorship

The sponsorship culture, evolved where prominent marketers- only the big ones could afford- got associated with popular programmes in media or with events like, Olympics and capitalized on the popularity of the programmes. Close Up Anthakshari in the north and Pepsi Ungal Choice in the south were such programmes, which rode on this ‘symbiosis model’. This model was the best for enabling passive learning to the target group (TG), where the advertiser was not blaring his horn from the rooftop. More over it is established by research that the virtues of a popular programme gets transferred to the sponsor and that up to an extent justifies the high spends. But they are prohibitively costly and could be afforded only by the juggernauts and it turned out to be a mutually deceiving exercise for the corporates and the sellers, about which Sergio Zyman has sarcastically commented-“Traditionally, the goal of sponsorship selling has been to find the biggest fool in the market". The next phase of the evolution, thus was just waiting to happen.

Product placements

Product placements have evolved as serendipity, as academic researchers vouch. The practice of using branded props in movies started as a casual process. Branded items were simply donated loaned or purchased for particular movie scenes to enhance their artistic qualities .But the growth to a fully commercial one was gradual. James Bond and the Austin Martin are famous among the examples of product placements in western cinema but it took time for advertisers to fully capitalise on the new opportunity, particularly in TV. Indian advertisers clearly took time to understand what really was happening. Unlike Advertising in commercial breaks and sponsorships, product placements, particularly subdued placing was able to actively contribute to brand recall and this mesmerized the advertisers. Now advertising agencies are having full fledged product placement divisions like the case of Leo Entertainment, a division of Leo Burnett
, which made the Thums Up placement a ravishing success in the popular Hindi film Kaante.However, all is not fine here either, because for the first time broadcasters and producers of programmes decided whether the heroine would use a Sunsilk or a Head & Shoulders, or for that matter she will take bath or not, in that episode.
This evolution is still happening and the future of product placements is yet to unravel to its full, but one emerging issue is -how far can the invasion of content be accepted without the TG noticing and breaking their silence.

To be continued>>>>>>>>>>>

A lesson from the past...

This is a really old Rocky and Bullwinkle opening clip complete with a General Mills product placement. a good lesson for the agency idiots of today..... I admire how products were made a part of these old shows rather than today's method of somehow sneaking in products and giving us creeps. Hell, we know you can't have a show without
advertisements, you might as well make it blatant but not to try folling us ,the audiences.......

Harry Potter and Bookworms from the Muggle-world

Who will be awake in dark hours of the night, with gold rimmed glasses, reading a book heavier than bible, covering herself, with thick jackets, under a mosquito net? Definitely, not my sister, I thought. The girl who would throw the broom stick and walk away has started giving it due respects. The fairy tale had given an added zing to everything she does now.

But ten years ago, a lady sat, gloomy and focused, along with her daughter at Nicholson's café at Edinburgh, and was busy scribbling in her notebook, whenever a spurt of creative imagination entered her mind.

In her own words,

"The feeling of who I was badly damaged by suddenly finding myself a single parent on benefits". "So I wrote to protect my sanity. I have always written and so it was a way of continuing to be me, despite all the ghastly circumstances."

Joanne Rowling and her daughter Jessica became regulars in the café. It was difficult for her to get the first copy of the book printed and published. Now, when the record-books swell, counting the numbers, of Harry Potter books sold, the smile never fades, from her face.

The "Harry Potter" fans where waiting for a climax between Lord Voldemort and him. The loose threads in the story slowly began to entangle themselves in the web, when the 4th book in the series came out.

The magical characters in the book became characters in reel and the films became Hollywood money grossers. Jo, as J.K Rowling is often called, was basking in the warmth of fans, and had already been a billionaire. But the plot was already laid in the spoiled curse. A speculation was created before the launch of the penultimate book that Harry would die! - How clever was the publishers! It raised the anxiety level and curiosity of Potter fans.

The 7th and penultimate book in the "Potter series" was selling at the rate of 220 copies a minute, during the first 24 hours of its launch in Tesco stalls in UK. All the other books in the series had been in best sellers' list, with more than 300 million copies being sold. they were also translated into more than 60 languages. Out of 13 million printed copies of " Deathly Hallows", more than 2 million copies are now in the possession of the book fans.

The launch of " Harry Potter" books were often backed with promotional campaigns. A host of celebrations ( 300 events in Canada alone ) were also conducted to promote the books. The fans have also become crazy about "Hogwarts School" apparatus, that many toys were also made on the basis of story line. Being sceptical about the fame, it was also alleged to be promoting witchcraft.

Chrysler, which was finding it quite interesting had launched a combined promotion in 2001. Coke, which did not want fall behind came out with "Live the Magic" campaign with Harry, which attracted criticism. Gary Ruskin, executive director at advertising monitor Commercial Alert, remarked "Coke has transformed Harry Potter into a marketing wizard."

All said and done, what is in it for us to learn?

We have to believe in our inner talents. Our imagination is worth our life. If it isn't a book, it can be a popular advertising campaign. A word from mouth! - Yes, word of mouth marketing has to be taken seriously. Understand the senses, if it gives you, hardly any vibration, it is neither likely to influence others. Go forward to meet your customers (Rowling set an example by reaching out to the kids, making them happy); they are the best friends. Will media, won't media? If you are runaway success, media is likely to follow you!

And what else like "Sherlock Holmes" of Arthur Conan Doyle, is "Harry" likely to be reborn?

Brand Rajini-" Naan Correct-Aga Varuven"!

Rajni had been the talk of the town for the last two weeks. Our friend "Guru Ranganathan" unravelled him for us and we added some finishing touches.

"Naan eppa varuven, eppadi varuvennu yarukkum theriyadhu, aana varavendiya neratthil correct-aga varuven." ("When I will arrive, or how I will arrive, nobody will know, but I will arrive when I ought to." ) - is one of Tamil Superstar Rajni's dialogue.

True to this dialogue, its so convincing that his fans, media and film critics are dumbstruck with inspiration about his new film "Shivaji"- not sparing any words in the vocabulary. Film industry is quite 'queer'- some hyped up films will end up with huge losses, where as an unlikely film sans superstars would gross decently well....

Analyst report says that only one out of 671 new product ideas ever makes it to the market and hits it sale and profit target!.
But here is a paradox!!!! as soon as the customer hears that his favorite brand is coming up with a new product he has booked it in advance with out even knowing what the product is!!!

But brand "Rajni" is quite inexplicable- the film was made for Rs.65 crores ( its mentioned in public that Rajni was paid a whooping 17 crores, along with a revenue sharing contract). The film is likely to gross more than 60 crores of rupees. The tickets for the first two weeks were already sold out 5 days before release of the film. Rajni fans have painstakingly stood in queues and paid exhorbitantly ( Rs 500-1000 for single ticket- the first week), for getting a chance to see him on reel. He's quite easily approachable in real as one of the fans remarked " Rajni never acts in real." For something they have not seen, Rajni fans are ready to empty their pockets blindly believing in his skills and style.

After all, How has Rajni done it?

Considered as demi-God of South India, his skills and mannerisms are appreciated, copied. Rajnikanth is popular for his flamboyant dialogue delivery and characteristic mannerisms. Rajnikanth's movies has been mass entertainers. Synonymous to style,when you observe any kid in Tamilnadu ,they use the phrase “Rajni stylu” for any bravo act they do!His USP is his one liners in the films, no other actor uses it in Tamilnadu. His fans in Tamilnadu are crazy about his one liners.

In the 1992 film, Annamalai, he says,"Naan solrathaiyum seiven, sollathathiyum seiven." - I will do what I say, I will also do what I don't say."

His films are also grounded with "good winning over evil" theme , and fall in line with stories of 'local-Robinhoods'. Apart from Tamil, Rajinikanth has acted in over 160 movies, including Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam, Hindi and Bengali. Andha Kaanoon, Hum,Chaalbaaz are some of his HIndi sitints. He also had a brief stint in Hollywood with the movie Bloodstone in 1988.

Rajni- My name is Shivaji...

Born as Shivaji Rao Gaekwad in Karnataka, he also had his humble begininnings. While juggling with different jobs to make a living, he worked as a bus-conductor in state transport corporation in Bangalore. From smaal roles, he has extended his helping hands to people, in his own way. He has widely helped many in film industry, and has plans to open hospital and schools. Although many anticipated that he will enter into politics, he's relatively shy of media and reluctant to be a politician. And more over he is the only big ticket celeb left without being exploited by brands.... he refuses to endorse brands however big they are and maybe because when he sees ,no brand is bigger than him....

He is a good case for the ad guys around as a perfect example of a good brand with consistency and integrated communication !!!

"Naan oru dhadavai sonna nooru dhadavai sonna madhiri." - "If i say it once, I've said it a hundred times." .... he said so and the whole world seems to nod their head....

La La Shakira........ its Money Spinning!

Shakira’s performance was second most expensive show in India, first being that of Michael Jackson’s. The young college going Indians, who didn’t have swelling pockets, had to shell out 2650 or 3650 for the show and these young things were begging literally to find free passes for the show. Over 20000 passes…oh that means around 100 million
rupees from the show. People also crowded around Shakira’s albums for a week at Planet Ms and Music Worlds…

The shows like these often generate huge revenue and fan following. Not only that, it often bring new offers for upcoming artists. When music would also go global, who knows.. We are likely to hear Latin music in hindi albums and movies too.. Choreographer Farah Khan was quite impressed! And even Shakira was so fond of her that, she personally invited Farah to her show. She was also likely to sing in “ Om-Shanthi-Om”, an upcoming bollywood movie.


From her show for the American Idol program, it was believed that it boosted sales of “Oral Fixation vol.2” , from 50000 copies a week to to 81,000 copies a week.. So shows, are one of the best forms of promotion for cassettes and CD companies, for the performers, as it would boost sales, as they come in contact with more people and by the way creating huge fan following. Nokia, Reliance Industries, Kingfisher, Planet M etc were co- sponsors of the event.

Sometimes you may get lucky, bcoz Madonna did, Michael Jackson did, Shakira did, Kylie Minouge did…so why wouldn’t we?

Many companies seems to have fallen in love with the ‘events method’ like Virgin Airlines, Kingfisher and many others. Hey, advertising community, are you listening?