Playing with Products

In recent years major companies have branched into the wonderful yet annoying world of product placement, mainly within the movie and television industry. For example, Starbucks products dominated the big screen in the movie Fight Club. There isn’t a scene in the movie without a Starbucks logo or coffee cup present. Apple Inc. began product placing early with movies like Legally Blonde and television shows like the Office, Modern Family, and 24. Many of these large companies have perfected the art of product placement, and have been able to create advertisements seamlessly within television episodes and movies that span two hours. But how can companies place products within music videos that only last 3 to 5 minutes long?

Since the decline of MTV (where product placement wasn’t prominent), companies like Vevo and YouTube have been able to push music video producers and artists to consider product placement. For companies like Vevo, it’s all about the money. Since YouTube has partnered up with Vevo, product placement has skyrocketed. The Online Video Insider states, “Patrick Quinn, chief executive of research firm PQ Media, reported that product placement in music videos grew from $15 million to $20 million last year; meanwhile overall paid product placement declined 2.8% to $3.6 billion.” Vevo is one of the leading distributors for music videos and collaborates with large music companies (like Virgin Mobile) and their branding divisions. These collaborations are reflected within certain music videos, such as Lady Gaga’s video for Telephone.

Lady Gaga’s, Telephone, presents several different brands/products throughout the entire video including, Virgin Mobile, Coca Cola, Plenty of Fish, and Miracle Whip. Both Coca Cola and Miracle Whip are used seamlessly within the video. Diet Coke cans are used as Lady Gaga’s hair rollers in the jail cell scene. Most viewers wouldn’t see this product placement because only the “Diet” can be seen through Gaga’s hair, however the brand is still recognized by the silver can and Coca Cola font. So although it isn’t obvious placement, our mind recognizes this as a Coca Cola product, which adheres to product placement. I even had to re-watch the video to pick up on this product placement.

Companies have really utilized music videos as the new form of product placement. Because attention spans have become shorter, music videos are the perfect outlet for advertising a product affectively. Music videos are about the same length of a commercial and are able to grab the attention of a viewer based on their specific interests. Music videos also deliver qualitative results for a large company’s product or brand based on how many views a video generates on YouTube. Based off of Lady Gaga’s, Telephone views, the Coca Cola, Virgin Mobile, Miracle Whip, and Plenty of Fish brands have imprinted over 148 million times. If done correctly through music videos, companies can impact generations of fans through quick product placement. I think product placement is a combination of commerciality and like ability that companies should capitalize on (with Youtube or Vevo) before music videos becoming a dying outlet.

Since the new season of X Factor started today, I thought I would give a little reference to Britney Spears. Another example of excellent product placement comes from her video Hold it Against Me, which uses Sony electronics, Plenty of Fish, and Britney’s very own fragrance, Radiance. Take a look at how each product is displayed. It’s interesting because there is an obvious distinction between integrated product placement (Sony electronics) and apparent product placement (Radiance fragrance). Without knowing it, every electronic used in the video is from Sony, however is not obviously presented like Britney’s fragrance, Radiance. The Radiance fragrance is shot up close and personal. The brand has about a five second spot which doesn’t fit into the theme of the video at all, whereas the Sony electronics make up the entire video as well as the background shots.

As an avid fan for music videos and a hater of commercials, I actually don’t mind product placement. I hope in the future companies can perfect the use of seamless product placement where it doesn’t affect my mind consciously, only subconsciously. I understand product placement as a profitable outlet, I just hope it doesn’t become over saturated within the music video industry. I want to be able to watch videos in peace without seeing a Diet Coke can every 5 seconds.