Why hasn’t in-film placement taken off?

Brand integration has not really taken off in the Indian film industry. afaqs! talks to a few industry professionals to find out why

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

People have not used the medium well. In fact, Hollywood does a far better job by giving the product its due importance and adding value to the brand. The problem is with agencies that don't do their homework properly.

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)

If we talk about in-film advertising, there is no fixed number for the industry but the audience is growing everyday.

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

In-film placement is really a case of how you portray your product. A good example is the Omega watch in a James Bond film.

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

A well-integrated, high-impact placement can catapult sales of companies. Even a passive placement, where the product is not an integral part of the storyline, can help promote it.

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.