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Except for a few good examples such as Chevrolet in Ta Ra Rum Pum and Spykar in Namastey London, brands have not been able to use the film medium to get their brand messages across intelligently. afaqs! spoke to a few industry professionals to find out what's holding them back.
Sanjay Bhutiani
chief executive officer, BR Films
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Sanjay Bhutiani |
Between 2001-05, we have seen some great examples of in-film placement. There were brands such as Thums Up in Kaante, Castrol in Chalte Chalte and 8 PM in Plan. But now, all media agencies want to do is to make their 15 per cent commission. In-film placements are done just for the sake of it.
The sheer desperation of people selling the idea to marketers has devalued both the concept of in-film placement as well as the products. Today, celebrities are asking for huge sums for brand endorsements, but for implied endorsements in films, the value is really low.
Darshana Bhalla
chief executive officer, MATES (Madison)
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Darshana Bhalla |
For example, we did a placement for Maybelline in Om Shanti Om (OSO) and the movie did very well at the box office. OSO is also being shown on television and will be broadcast a number of times in the future. If you fly to international destinations, you can watch the movie in-flight. You can also watch it on a VCD or DVD. For the multiple windows it provides, in-film placement can’t be a bad medium.
The constraint on the medium is that Hindi films are made on a few stereotyped storylines. Therefore, associating brands in the right context into the film becomes difficult. Till Hindi movies evolve, we will have to live with the limited number of genres and brands will have to be centred around these genres.
Sanjeev Handa
director general, marketing, Maruti Suzuki
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Sanjeev Handa |
However, in certain films, there is an overkill, especially where they try to get as many brands as possible into the film. If you are doing in-film placement, the product should be intrinsic to the story. We did the same for Maruti Swift in the film Bunty Aur Babli. It got us a lot of visibility and it was part of the plot. People could easily recall the orange Swift in the film.
I think in-film placement is promising, but only if the brand gets due diligence and is not used as a prop. The brand has to remain true to the consumer also. For instance, if an Omega watch is shown in a middle class family, the consumer will not relate to it.
Tejaswini Aparanji
assistant vice-president, P9 Integrated
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Tejaswini Aparanji |
Placements in Bollywood have, however, never really taken off. Brands have just about flirted with this medium. The reasons can be many as this is a high risk-high return medium. But if the movie does well, the brand can enjoy all the benefits that stem from doing a placement. Gone are the days when a big star cast and a big banner could save a movie from crashing at the box office. The uncertainty makes brands shy away from this medium.
Another reason is that the time taken (from the brand getting incorporated into the script, to it being featured in the film and the film being released) can stretch to more than a year. Brands, meanwhile, could have changed their entire positioning.
Product placement is effective only if seamlessly woven into the script. Poor placement can result in viewer fatigue.
© 2010 afaqs!From Yatin Bansal, Sun 14 Sep 2008 12:17:54 PM In film placement is being run by non professional and poor ideas people. The concept needs a specialist with the convincing power and a long term view to convince both parties - the producer/director team and the agecny/client, to agree in a spirit of give and take. After all the film is the producer's Big project - and his future depends on it. He can only have a couple of brands in ! The day marketers realise this they will only go into a film if the concept merits it. Not if th eprice is good. Most marketing executives dont have the ability to think deeper than exposure and price. The professional in this business should be able convince the marketer by taking him into the heart and soul of the film.
From daleep, Tue 09 Sep 2008 09:43:34 PM I thnik best in-film placement till date is aston martin cars in James Bond movies. The personality of brand exactly matches the personality of film and pace of it. Worst one i have ever seen is Yaadein - it almost looked as if the actors are reading the lines from a tele-prompter or black board after mugging them up. We still don't have in-film placements happening at the scripting stage but at the shooting stage.
From Nilanjana, Tue 09 Sep 2008 02:04:19 PM In-film placement can be very interesting provided it is done the right way.
The brand has to connect to the sequence and to the overall message of the fim. Unfortunately , most representatives of the film pursue a host of advertisers(they definitely have revenue concerns) and try to justify the film to any brand available. Many advertisers also fall into this trap, so at the end of it the brand and the film sequence look too disconnected to be remembered later.
From ranjit, Tue 09 Sep 2008 12:30:20 PM the EXPESNSE cannot be quantified...firstly the film makers need to play in tandem with advertisers...while filmmakers do not want a hidnerance on creativity (heard any plugs in a mani ratnam film?) the advertisers want all.. a.k.a. COKE in the ill fated Yaadein in 2001, so as to justify the moneys......and u cant blame them...whod' notice if tis subtle..and wjhat if the film bombs with all the subtelity?...and we msut aslo see if it fits ..DOES tide FIT A kKRISH...NO- WELL U HAD IT , that too from a nrewonded mnc marketer like P & G..sow hat gieves? ..so more opinions from those who are NOT into film palcements shd be taken....
From Jack Kerouak, Tue 09 Sep 2008 11:23:22 AM The problem with in-film placement is - and none of the media or the film producers have bothered to establish WHAT VALUE IS BEING DELIVERED.
A film star walking into a restaurant or hotel, is an "in-film" placement for the hotel / restaurant, but do people rush off to make a booking there? Faith is all very well, but there must be a metric that shows that the placement has some value.
