The promo for Zoya Akhtar?s latest flick Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara shows one of the protagonists Farhan Akhtar taking a swig of Mountain Dew as he attempts to undertake some gravity-defying adventure sports. Why Mountain Dew? Because the tagline of the brand?Darr Ke Aage Jeet Hai is their own motto in life as in the film they decide to undertake a fun vacation during which they explore, unwind and attempt ultimate adventure sports. In yet another recent film, Chalo Dilli, breakfast cereal brand Kellogg?s is a lead character and is often seen on the screen as as its lead actor Lara Dutta plays the brand ambassador for the brand in the film.
Product placements are not really a new phenomenon in India. One of the most successful instances of product placement was Raj Kapoor?s iconic film Bobby in which protagonist Rishi Kapoor is seen riding a Rajdoot motor cycle in several crucial scenes. However, in the last few years, product placement has evolved in India like never before, with the placement becoming more subtle and nuanced.
No more do brands passively sit on the screen, they are increasingly part of the storyline and have as much a role to play as any other character in the script be it of a film, a television serial or a reality show. The advent of niche channels on television has also helped this marketing channel a great deal. A report released by consultancy firm PricewaterhouseCoopers in 2010 says that ?product placement market in India is around Rs 1000 crore and gaining importance?.
?Brand integration with content (BIC) is coming of age in India . From just mere passive saliency driven approach in the past, it has now moved into active or hyper active audience engagement mode,? says Rajeev Berry, general manager?content and entertainment, GroupM ESP a special division of media buying house Group M that explores and manages opportunities of brands? marriage with content.
Gone are the days of jarring, in-your-face or in-aesthetic integrations of brands into films or other shows, say market players. Today, the integrations are creatively weaved in the story line in a manner to not only further the brand objective but also to move the story forward, says Berry. ?Over the period of time, both the marketer and the content owners have realised the benefits of these associations and are going an extra mile to realise the full potential.?
Product placement, in fact, has become a full-fledged service provided by advertising agencies. Earlier, there were just a handful of agencies that managed product placement function, now there are various dedicated divisions as well as some independent companies that have developed expertise in this medium. Among the established players in the space are P9, part of the Percept Group, Limelight part of Lintas, Mates of Madison, Group M?s ESP, Mudra Max from Mudra, Showdiff Worldwide that belongs to Rediffusion Y&R, Ogilvy Live from Ogilvy India and Leo Entertainment from the house of Leo Burnett.
Last year , embedded advertising specialist MirriAd, and television production company Endemol, launched a joint venture to exploit opportunities of embedding brands into television serials and shows. Other independent agencies dedicated only to this practice include Bling! Entertainment Solutions and EMC Solutions Worldwide.
Co-branded promotions got an unexpected fillip last year when hit movie Dabangg made Emami?s Zandu Balm a star overnight. A song ( Munni Badnam Hui) in the film Dabangg mentioning the pain relief brand, became a raging hit and talk of the town. Initially, the company sued the producer of the film (Arbaaz Khan) but then the case was settled out of court and the brand actually rode on the popularity of the song. ?At one end not only has Zandu Balm in Munni (Dabangg) sort of created a new opportunity stream for the business, brands have an interesting medium to get themselves integrated through a song. And once in the song lyrics, the branded song is treated like any other film song which gets free plays and also goes in music CDs,? points out Pritie Jadhav, chief operations officer (COO), P9 Integrated. The agency recently struck a deal for Emami and a Bhojpuri film Jung for placing the former?s Himani Navratna extra thanda hair oil brand in a song.
?Earlier, brands were placed passively in a song with the brand sponsored event as a film sequence. However, now brands are looking to engage themselves even more actively not only in film scripts alone but also in song lyrics too,? she says.
With various niche channels and shows on lifestyle, food, adventure, technology, etc., debuting on Indian television, product placement has taken a completely new meaning. For example, cookery show Knorr Kitchen Champion on general entertainment channel (GEC) Colors ensured sponsor Knorr high brand recall among television audiences, as contestants had to come up with tasty dishes using Knorr ready-to-eat packets.
It was the same for the show Pressure Cooker sponsored by kitchen appliances brand Veneta Cucine, where the brand automatically became an integral part of the show on NDTV Good Times. Again, reality show Big Boss 3 had a tie-up with Vodafone, the title sponsor, and thus Vodafone could place its logo inside the pool or the store room in the Bigg Boss house.
Another more recent example is Simi Garewal?s India?s Most Desirable chat show on Star World which had an insertion of skincare brand Neutrogena?s strap ad when Bollywood actor Deepika Padukone credited Neutrogena for her good skin.
Jadhav sees these mediums as a way to introduce innovative concepts in the product placement category. ?Brands and content owners are constantly on the lookout to connect with the customers/audiences in an engaging fashion. And more innovative the concepts, it?s more beneficial for all.?
Agrees Kaacon Sethi, president of Lintas? media solutions division, Limelight, ?We are looking at brand experience and that is what we want to heighten. It has definitely become nuanced with the various niche channels and shows. For example, we are doing a show where the crux of the show is the experience line that the brand uses. Today, the key aspect is how to integrate the brand proposition in the show.?
However, some media experts feel that niche channels can be restrictive. Says Berry , ?To my mind, the opportunities on niche channels are restrictive as the content is primarily canned. Bigger opportunities lie in films and GECs as they offer more scope in terms of quality, scalability of integration and ROI (return on investment).?
Apart from television, films have always been a great and widely used medium for product placement, which is popularly known as in-film advertising. However, with the box office success of a movie virtually impossible to predict, many brands prefer co-branded promotions to plain-vanilla in-film advertising.
A few years back, when UTV released its film Goal (2007), starring John Abraham and Bipasha Basu, it had claimed to have recovered almost the entire cost of the film (Rs 16 crore) before its release mainly due to its product association and co-branded promotions with Reebok, Gillette and Western Union.
This was perhaps the first time that a movie officially stated its product placement revenues. Another movie which made a public announcement was UTV Films’ Fashion starring Priyanka Chopra. Fashion had about six brand placements ? Kimaya, Reebok, Lenovo laptop, Sunsilk shampoo, Cellucom and LG Electronics. It earned Rs 8.5 crore due to in-film placements and its total budget was about 22 crore. Fashion magazine Verve?s tryst with Dostana is another interesting example as Verve was seamlessly woven into the story as the magazine that the film’s lead Priyanka Chopra works for. Verve, in turn, gave enough and more coverage to the film. The Sonam Kapoor starrer Aisha had in-film advertising and co-branded promotion for L’Oreal. It wasn?t just a coincidence that Sonam Kapoor is the new brand ambassador for L?Oreal along with Aishwarya Rai Bachchan.
A shish Patil, head of Y-Films, the youth film division of Yash Raj Films explains the revenue model for films with co-branded promotions. He says, ?There is usually an ‘x’ amount of cash revenue for the film and a ‘y’ amount of media value. The media value includes promoting the co-branded association. The cash revenue is for the actual placement in the film, the footage the brand receives due to the co-branded commercial, meet and greet with the stars, merchandise, etc.”
Industry experts say that co-branding can help films recover a good chunk of their production money and brands do not suffer much even if the film does not perform well at the box-office. Says Jadhav, ?Co-branded promotions have minimal risks and thus more brands are opting for that and, not just with Hindi films, but with English films too.? She gives the example of the Tata Photon-Fast & Furious co-branded promotion and the Foodles-Kung Fu Panda tie-up.
Talking about the co-branded commercial of Perfetti Van Mele’s brand Mentos and Yash Raj’s film Luv Ka The End, Patil says that co-branding helps amplify the noise around the film, increase its visibility, stretch the marketing dollar, and brings in revenue – which could be sizeable. It also helps a brand partner connect with its shared target audience smartly and seamlessly. Patil, however, cautions that if not done right, co-branding can be intrusive for the audience and can also pitch the film wrongly.
Namita Gupta, marketing manager, Perfetti Van Melle India adds, ?In the case of Mentos and Luv Ka The End where the Mentos proposition was well integrated with the story, the co-branded TVC almost worked like a theme communication for the brand. Moreover, the co-branded TVC allowed Mentos to ride on the buzz surrounding the release of the film and create an impact that would not be possible with the regular level of spends. This dilutes the risk for the brand even if the film does not perform as per expectations at the box office.?
In terms of the film choosing the perfect brand for itself and vice versa, a few things need to be kept in mind. Says Patil, ?Identify the category where there’s a relevant fit/presence in the screenplay – with the narrative, characters, situations, scenes rather than just forcing it in. Make a top three hit-list of brands who are good clients to work with, with people who are marketing savvy, handle good/ premium brands where the presence will not hamper the film’s image. Work out a proposal where you’re able to add value on the basis of their positioning/ marketing objectives and also monetise the proposition smartly. At times, the fit could just be a function of a shared brand ambassador.? Patil says that films with lighter and younger story lines at times lend themselves to blending in such promotions. Agrees Gupta, ?It makes sense to go ahead with such associations only if there is a credible fit between the two and the brand can be integrated into the story without seeming forced. If both the brand and the film have a common TG (target group) the communication works that much harder.?
As of now, brands are stretching their marketing budgets to invest in product placements. Says Sethi of Limelight, ?Marketing budgets for product placement are definitely bigger than earlier. It is approximately up to 10% of the TV spends. It is aggressive now as brands are looking at this aspect seriously and are putting resources behind this activity and aligning their target keeping this activity in mind.? Gupta of Perfetti agrees. ?We typically set aside approximately 10% of the marketing budget for above-the-line innovations ? they could be high impact properties, media innovations or similar co-branded tie-ups.?
Jadhav of P9 laments that product placement is still not considered a mainstream advertising strategy. ?Till date, movie association/product placement is not considered a conventional advertising medium and is used more as a tactical form of advertising. Hence, for a majority of the brands there isn?t a separate budget allocated for these integrations/activities but is considered on the merit of the film/show. However, for brands that do keep aside a budget for this, it has gone up to say 55% from 25-30% earlier. However, brands are still shying away.? According to Berry, there is no set budget for product placements. ?It totally depends on the brand objective (saliency, consumer engagement, etc.,) and available opportunity. While some integrations are tactical in nature and involve lower budgets, some are part of the overall strategy of the brand and therefore take away a major part of campaign budget.?
Currently, product placement is confined to television and films, but in the coming days it is expected to involve other mediums too. Taking a cue from the recent success of some of the associations, Jadhav of P9 says the new trends that we can look forward include ?product placements in lead artists? music videos (currently we have advertiser funded music videos) and video games.?