Which Product Placement Works Best?

When I watch TV on any given night, I'll see a variety of product placements (I'm watching for them, and, trust me, they're everywhere). Some are blatant (Coke cups on American Idol), some better hidden (a character's choice of toothpaste, for example), and some that show goodwill (Extreme Makeover: Home Edition).

Extreme Makeover: Home Edition is an example of how product placement can serve both advertising and public relation functions. Sears donates a budgeted amount of materials to the show to help rebuild a deserving family's home from the ground up. Other donors include Sony, Panasonic, and Ford. Families receive all new appliances, furniture, and bonuses like new cars, college educations, or having their mortages paid off. Throughout the show, viewers are shown clips from the family's plea for help and video from their trip to (where else?) Disney World. Designers take shopping trips to Sears and watch as trucks drive up bearing Lumber Liquidators logos.

What's fascinating about this type of product placement is how wise it is for advertisers. Not only do they get exposure through the purchase and use of their products, but the exposure is shown in a positive light. Their donations to goodwill are highlighted without any extra work from PR staffs and news releases. Viewers are much more open to these messages because of the context they are shown in.

Sears ties this product placement into advertisements that run during the show. These commercials show the products that were used and then say "Welcome home, _________ family". In the end, a family gets a new home, new appliances, and a new life, and the sponsors get a new way into consumers' hearts.

For more info visit:
Extreme Home Makeover Website


Photo from www.upack.com (ABF company website)