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.

UPDATE!

Blades of Glory, mentioned in my post last week, took the number one spot at the box office over the weekend! That means big exposure for the extreme number of product placements throughout the movie.

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?

Place*Values: new tool from Nielsen

Nielsen, the company that brings you television ratings, has introduced a new tool. This tool, known as Place*Values, helps advertisers analyze product placements in advertising, according to this arcticle by Media Buyer Planner. The tool allows advertisers to evaluate past product placements and new placement opportunities. This evaluation will be based on performance indicators, including brand recognition, brand attitude and purchase interest.

Place*Values sounds really cool. They allow clients to test different ways to place products, including testing the use of brand mentions. I think this tool is going to catch on and really heat up product placements. Users of the tool, so far, include: A&E, Court TV, the Weather Channel, Discovery Networks, CBS, Fox, Magna Global, Mediacom, OMD, PHD, Sprint Nextel, Twentieth TV and Zenith Media.

I think these users really hold an advantage over those that are not users. They may be the trendsetters because I'm sure other will follow in the use of this amazing tool. The tool actually gets it's finding from Nielsen's Product Placement Valuation Study. Nielsen is a company that consumers and advertisers have grown to trust with television ratings and I think it's wonderful that they are expanding and have introduced such an innovative tool.



This is the future of product placement!

Europe and Asia... growing markets for product placement

The United States may be on overload with product placements, but the market is going strong in Europe and Asia. According to this article published on bizreport.com by Kristina Knight, product placement grew 37% in 2006 to $3.36 billion and is expected to grow another 30.3% this year.
The article highlights the fact that traditional advertising is becoming less effective on consumers. Product placement is an attempt to make a more emotional connection with consumers. It reaches them in a non-traditional way and is therefore more effective. As the article states, Patrick Quinn, CEO of PQ Media says, "Media companies are searching for new revenue streams as traditional advertising methods suffer from negative perceptions. As a result, product placement has emerged from a novel marketing tactic just a few years ago to a key marketing strategy worldwide."
America has been a big leader is product placement spending. This spending will probably reach a plateau in the near future. Europe and Asia, primarily in China, are beginning to see growth in product placements. These markets will continue to grow over the next few years.