Catchy tune holds product placement

My sister, being a teenage high school student, is on top of all the latest trends. She mentioned that I should seach for a song and watch the video. So I did, and now I'm passing it along to you. The song is "My lipgloss is poppin" by Lil Mama. After listening to it the first time, I decided it has more than appropriate for my blog on product placement.

A verse of the lyrics is as follows:
Mac Mac L'Oreal yep 'cause I'm worth it
Love the way I put it on so perfect
Wipe the corners of my mouth so I work it
When I walk down the hallway they can't say nothing
Oh oh oh my lips so luscious
The way I spice it up with the Mac Mac brushes
L'Oreal got the most watermelon crushes
That's probably is the why these boys got crushes…

It's the lipgloss song so obviously it features some name brand cosmetic products. It's free promotion for Mac and L'Oreal. The song specifically targets high schoolers. They are a great target because they are on top off all the latest trends and styles, especially in music and are very influential among their friends. If you can get them to try a product, then they will tell their friends who will want it.
Yet another product placement spotted... where will you find the next?

If the show fits...

This week on America's Next Top Model... Keds. The show with Tyra Banks, is infamous for product placements. Each week this season, the show features CoverGirl cosmetics and Seventeen magazine as regular product placements. The extra thrown in this week is Keds shoes. The winner of the model challenge was Dionne, who picked Jaslene and Whitney to share her prize. The prize: modelling in a Keds ad to be placed in the June issue of Seventeen magazine. Keds is trying to renew their popularity with placements in a show that is so popular with young girls.

And this is not the first time Keds have been featured as a product placement in a popular show or movie. They have also been spotted on television shows like Alias and The O.C., and movies including Little Miss Sunshine, The Aviator and Akeelah and the Bee. The Aviator was actually the moving that helping bring back and rejuvinate the mens line of Keds. Check out the Keds website to get your own!

playmates wear Heelys

I was recently watching an episode of Girls Next Door on E!. The television program is about the lives of Hugh Hefner's three girlfriends that live in the Playboy Mansion. This specific episode highlighted what each of the girls was doing as far as a job and career path. Hefner's main girlfriend, Holly, was learning about working at the studio and doing photo shoots. While in the process, she mentions that one of the other girls "bought her these really cool shoes called Heelys" and is seen wheeling down the hallway.

Of course, she's wearing the ones pictured above because they're pink. The mention and demonstration of the Heelys product can be considered a product placement and I think will boost the image among an older crowd. The audience for Heelys right now consists of mainly young kids, approximately 8 - 12. Heelys are sneakers, obviously from the picture, but they feature a single stealth wheel in the heel of the shoe allowing the wearer to transition to a roll at any desired moment. Heelys aren't just for "skater punks" anymore, they're for Playboy Playmates, and common folk alike.

More big screen product placements

Brandweek has published an article highlighting Orbitz as a product placement in Blades of Glory. The movie stars Will Ferrell and Jon Heder as rival figure skaters that are banned from the sport of singles' figure skating. They discover a loophole in which the two set aside their hatred of each other and become the first male/male figure skating pair in history.

Orbitz is featured as the sponsor of the Montreal Winter Sports Games. The online travel agency gets camera time during the "telecast" of the games and also receives a mention from one of the anchors.

But Orbitz isn't the only product placement throughout the movie. Blades of Glory features more product placements than I can count on my fingers and toes. If you happen to see the movie, opening this weekend, see how many product placements you can catch out of the following brands: Orbitz, Skittles, Capri Sun, Captain Morgan rum, XBox360, Subway, Crest, Verizon, Trim Spa, Foot Locker, Nationwide, Robeks, Philips, Puma, adidas, Dunkin Donuts, Kellogg's, 7-Eleven, Google, Trojan and Posturepedic.

It'll be a challenge, but see how many you can spot!

I think this movie has gone a little far. People are going to start getting annoyed with the way marketers are shoving their brands in their faces. Movies are supposed to be a way to escape the outside world, but product placements bring that world and all the pressures of the media back in. I think it'll be fine as long as movies don't get carried away as Blades of Glory may have done.

What are your opinions? Do you think product placements have gone overboard in the movie?

musical products

I spent a lot of time in the car in the past few days on my way to Florida for Spring Break. During this time, I listened to a lot of radio. I didn't realize how many songs contained product placements as part of their lyrics. These brands are getting major exposure. Here are a few examples from the land of pop music (lyrics from www.azlyrics.com):

"...And I know it sounds so old
But cupid got me in a chokehold
And I'm afraid I might give in
Towels on the mat my white flag is wavin'

I mean she even cooks me pancakes
And Alka Seltzer when my tummy aches
If that ain't love then I don't know what love is

We even got a secret handshake
And she loves the music that my band makes
I know I'm young but if I had to choose her or the sun
I'd be one nocturnal son of a gun..."
-an exerpt from "Cupid's Chokehold" by Gym Class Heroes

"I still go to Taco Bell
Drive through, raw as hell
I don't care, I'm still real
No matter how many records I sell
After the show or after the Grammies
I like to go cool out with the family
Sippin', reminiscing on days when I had a Mustang..."
-an exerpt from "Glamorous" by Fergie

These to songs are great examples of product placements within music. Writing a blog about product placement, I've learned to listen and look for product placements in any medium, but if you aren't looking for them then you're just singing along. People all over are singing along to these songs on the radio, or in clubs. The exposure of these brands is amazing. They're so obvious, yet are going to get to the audience without them really noticing or minding. I think music is an excellent medium for product placements. As long as the products are worked into the song, I think that consumers are going to accept them. This may be the new 'it' medium for product placement.

box office hit equals big brand exposure

Ghost Rider staring Nicholas Cage tops the box office this week. Big success for movies means lots of exposure for those brands that have paid for product placement. This website, brandchannel.com, talks about all of those products that were placed within this movie.

This movie is about a motorcycle stuntman (Nicholas Cage) that sells his soul to save his girlfriend (Eva Mendes). The stuntman, Johnny Blaze, rides a Harley Davidson, a Buell for stunting, and a fictional bike known as the Hellcycle. The Harley Davidson is knows as a motorcycle for serious motorcycle riders. Its style is easily recognizable and got plenty of promotion with this movie. Sony also has quite a bit of product placement throughout the movie. All the televisions were Sony, including the jumbotron at the Sobe dome, according to the article.

These product placements definitely target consumers. The companies want consumers to be the first brand they think of when they are looking to purchase a product, like a motorcycle or television. I think that either consciously or subconsciously, consumers will probably think of Harley Davidson for motorcycles or Sony for televisions. Harley is already ahead of the game in top of mind awareness with consumers. I know when I think motorcycles that Harley Davidson is the first brand to come to my mind. On the other hand, I think Sony televisions may be lacking in the area of top of mind awareness, so it was definitely a good investment to place products within this movie. Top of the box office means that the movie is getting a ton of viewers, which means a ton of potential consumers for Harley Davidson and Sony.

Cover Girl in "Cathy's Book"

An article published in the New York Times by Motoko Rich, entitled "Product Placement Deals Make Leap from Film to Books" discusses how the Cover Girl brand will being making an appearance in a novel called Cathy's Book: If Found Call (650)266-8233.

This is an unusual kind of product placement because the authors are not being paid to promote the brand. Instead, the book is being promoted on Beinggirl.com, a website aimed at adolescent girls, which are the same target market for the book.

The article makes an excellent point: viewers of television programs and movies see products and automatically assume that the appearances are paid for by the companies that manufacture the brands. Produt placements in books is a new thing. Some books do already mention brands, but usually do not have product placement deals made with those brands. On the opposite end of the spectrum some companies have paid authors to write books that feature their brand's name. The good thing about Cathy's Book is that the book had already been written, and the brand was just inserted where appropriate. The book was not totally re-written. Instead, the authors changed "gunmetal grey eyeliner," for example, to "eyecolor in Midnight Metal."

I think the way this book works in the product placements is tasteful and appropriate. It mentions the products without shoving them in your face, and it still maintains the integrity of the book. Books that written because the author has been paid to write the book around the brand, I think may be too obvious. It ruins the author's writing. To write is to be inventive and let the mind flow with whatever may come. I feel that being pressured to incorporate a brand may make the story feel stiff and forced.

It will be interesting to track product placements within books in the future to see which route, as to how the book was written and the placement worked in, the book will take.

product placement goes mobile!

Check out this article from brandweek.com! I think this is really neat. Sprint Nextel subscribers are going to be able to download EA Sports Nascar 07 to their mobile phones starting in March. The game will feature the sponsors for the drivers and their cars. It really wouldn't be Nascar without Jeff Gordon's Dupont or Tony Stewart's Home Depot, would it? Twenty different brands will be represented in total as product placement. This will be the first game by EA games for mobile phones to feature product placement! I think that's quite the achievement. It's said that there is no sign of stopping here. More product placement is definitely on the way for mobile games, especially considering the ways EA games has found to place products in games for consoles, such as Xbox 360, PS3 and Wii.

Product placement has really expanded within the last few years. Not only is it apparent in television and movies, but now obviously with video games for gaming consoles as well as mobile phones. Advertisers are finding new and more creative ways to reach consumers. Where will product placement show up next? Only time and technology can tell.