Retail Product Placement: From the Movies to the Store
Have you ever been watching a movie or television show and felt the sudden urge to eat some high-end ice cream or an ice-cold soft drink, perhaps of the diet variety? This can often be attributable to clever – or not-so-clever – product placement.
What Is Product Placement?
Product placement can work in many ways: subliminally or overtly and abrasively. Some films will seek to place product advertisements passively and in the background, others, such as Michael Bayโs Transformers franchise, are so aggressive in their product placement that it could be argued that advertising – both of the actual toys and other consumer products – takes a higher priority than that of the plot and overall cinematography: effectively, a feature-length advertisement loosely strung together by a narrative.
Sometimes referred to as โembedded marketingโ, product placement is highly valuable to both entertainment studios and product manufacturers: playing off of the psychology of the average consumer.
Less aggressive, cleverly embedded product placements of branded goods can create a narrative of a particular product is more appealing, desirable and cool: think of the Nike Air MAGs found in Back to the Future – the name alone conjures images of grey and blue self-lacing footwear, for multiple generations. Clever product placement can transform a middling brand into a global icon nearly overnight.
How Does Product Placement Work?
Manufacturers know that product placement can be a positive marketing tool that creates positive associations with their brand and an overall stronger connection with it. Clever product placement does not even have to include a product name or logo, merely a familiar brand colour or silhouette – such is the strength of a brandโs identity.
With the advent of smartphones and anywhere-access internet, many individuals have developed what is known as ad blindness, effectively the ability to filter our peripheral advertisements. With that in mind, product placement ads may be more favourable for brands in light of more and more people disregarding regular television in favour of on-demand streaming services.
Where Does Product Placement Feature?
There are a number of common avenues where selective product placement may occur to trigger a response in the consumer, including:
Media
The typical we all think of when we think of embedded marketing: commonly the visual presence of a brand logo or product within a scene of a movie or series. This may be overtly or subliminally, however, the brain will often pick up on such cues subconsciously.
Some product placements may outwardly and expressively promote products, such as the aforementioned Transformers franchise; whereas others, such as the James Bond series of films and Terminator 2: Judgment Day may be far more subtle with their artistic nods towards product marketing, without necessarily hiding the fact.
The reason manufacturing brands will invest so much capital into embedding product placements into movies is twofold: brand recognition and increased sales/profits. The very same companies will, of course, allocate their own advertising budgets to producing for-television commercials; however, product placement can ease the artistic burden of such companies by advertising their products but in a less focused manner.
Social Media
If you frequent social media platforms, you may notice that some content creators and โinfluencersโ have started collaborating with brands and running advertising campaigns and sponsorships with increased frequency.
Brands know the importance and significance of social media engagement, particularly with the younger demographic and the content creators they look up to.
Being relatively inexpensive for brands, plucking YouTube stars with consistent engagement figures for the chance to collaborate with a brand for a paid promotion clearly has a positive effect on brand recognition and profitability.
The ability to review engagement, conversion and click-through rates on an ad-hoc, real-time basis can be far more advantageous than advertising during an evening soap opera, particularly in relation to cost and how easy such media is to share amongst peers – whether for the intended reasons or not.
Retail Environments
So, most people will be aware that in both media and social media, product placement exists and is most often deliberately so. However, did you know that this also applies to brick-and-mortar retail stores?
Brands will bid on shelf and aisle space to be featured more prominently than their competitors and be associated more with positive thoughts and connotations.
Retail placement and the psychology behind the concept aims to influence the behaviour of customers throughout the duration of their in-store stay: this data is then used to revise planograms, making shop organisation even more efficient and commercially suggestive. For example, it is highly beneficial to store essential items – such as milk, pasta and bread – nearer to the back of the store as they are more fast-moving, therefore increasing the likelihood of customers viewing more exciting, higher-value items on the way to the bread aisle.
Retail Product Placement – In Depth
How many times have you gone to a shop for the basic essentials, yet decided to pick up some cheese, toiletries that are running low or similar on the way to the checkout?
The simple notion of synthetically creating the longest journey for the most basic of items causes the average shopper to take in the view on the way to the item of necessity. Brands will fight and bid for the shelf and aisle spaces in between shop floor hotspots to secure sales, brand recognition and increased profitability.
Companies will not only bid for shelf space for their own brand but also limit the shelf space and passive brand presence of industry competitors.
Shelf Space for Newer Brands
It will, undoubtedly, be more difficult for fledgling brands to compete for premium shelf space amongst bigger, more well-recognised brands. New product failure is a real probability for brands that are just starting out in the mainstream market, with customers often feeling more comfortable parting their money for products they know and are comfortable with.
Slotting Fees
Effectively, a slotting fee is a payment a company will pay to a retailer to feature their products on store shelves. Such fees do not usually include any additional promotions or in-store advertising, as retailers know they can charge extra for these privileges.
The Psychology Behind Retail Product Placement
The adage of time-is-money applies equally to shelf space in retail stores: fast-moving consumer goods (FMCGs) need to do just that – move fast. As many items in retail stores and supermarkets are perishable, they have relatively short shelf lives: increasing the likelihood of them contributing to waste if they are not sold quickly enough.
Marketplace retail experts are generally in agreement that intelligently and carefully planned merchandising of products can be favourable to your brand recognition and profitability. Here are some examples:
- Journey to the essentials – as mentioned previously, creating distance between the entrance and essentials increases the window of opportunity for impulse buys
- Complementary products paired – match products and aisles close to products commonly associated with them. For example, the bread aisle next to the jams and spreads or the adult beverages next to the soft drink mixers. Not only does this increase the probability of impulse buys, but also decreases the probability that a customer will forget something
- Eye-level – how many times have you looked upwards towards the architectural design of roofs or ornate detail of pavements? Possibly, not many. This is a similar phenomenon in retail environments: convenience is key. Customers are more likely to purchase goods that are around eye level than those that are too high or uncomfortably low
- Eyes on the prize – place luxury items nearer to the store entrance, this entices the customer upon entering the store, whilst giving themselves enough time to mull over whether they wish to make a purchase and convenience themselves it is definitely not an impulse buy
How Can Product Placement Help Your Business Flourish?
Careful in-store product planning and visual merchandising can transform the fortunes of a brand: from treading water to flying off the shelves. Sometimes, a product fails not because it is bad or the product image is unfavourable, merely because the product has not been seen, therefore people are unaware of its existence.
Negotiating with retailers for more premium shelf space and working in partnership with visual merchandising experts, can give your brand maximum exposure or make your shop floor more agile and profitable.
Working with a visual merchandising company can ensure that your business is up-to-date with emerging trends, whilst formulating both long and short-term commercial strategies. Providing retail industry experts who deliver cost-effective, practical, real-world solutions to your merchandising objectives will be transformative to your commercial operations and we have successfully assisted the growth and market presence of brands via the implementation of innovative, consistently POS and product placement strategies.
If you wish to consult a visual merchandising specialist, please give ADP Distribution a call today. With real-time tracking and consultation by your dedicated account manager, all merchandising strategies implemented will be tailored to you and your business.
