The effectiveness of brand placements in the movies: Levels of placements, explicit and implicit memory, and brand-choice behavior - Yang & Roskos-Ewoldsen (2007) - Article

What is brand placement?

Brand placement can be defined as the paid inclusion of branded products or brand identifiers, through audio and/or visual means, within mass media programming. It is mostly used to familiarize people with brands and motivate them to buy the products. Brand placement is perceived as an effective mechanism for reaching audiences and can be seen in for example movies, primetime TV programs, video games, and novels. The role of brand placement has shifted from being a background prop to being an intrinsic part of the movie.

What are the advantages of brand placement?

• It overcomes the problem of zapping. People are unlikely to change the channel or leave the room when a brand appears in a movie, whereas in a commercial it is very likely that they do.
• It involves an implicit endorsement by the celebrity that is using the brand, which may have a slight influence on people´s attitude towards the brand.
• It has a longer life span than normal advertisements.
• Audiences like brand placements, because they improve the realism of the movies and TV series.
• It allows advertisers to target very specific audiences, as the characteristics of the public that views the movie are well understood.

What does research say about the effectiveness of brand placement?

Generally research has shown that memory is improved for a brand that is placed within a movie, compared with the same brand that is not placed within a movie. However, some of the results varied, and researchers also started looking at the factors that moderate the effect of brand placement on brand memory.

What is the difference between high plot placement and low plot placement?

High plot placement refers to the brand placement that plays a major role in the story line or contributes to a character. Low plot placement refers to background placement. The recognition rate for products with high plot visual placement is higher than recognition for products of low plot visual placement.

What is a situation model?

What viewers do cognitively with brand placement depends among other things on the implications of the information for comprehending the movie. Comprehension involves the construction of situation models. A situation model is a dynamic mental representation of a specific story or episode that has specific temporal and spatial constraints.

What is the landscape model?

The landscape model is a specific model of how situation models are constructed during comprehension. It focuses on how the audience processes the different levels of brand placement. Greater levels of semantic activation of a particular concept result in greater explicit memory for that concept. It assumes that not all the information that is activated in memory is activated at the same level. Because of limited attentional resources, information that is central to the scene is activated at the highest level. Concepts that are necessary for the scene to make sense (such as enablers) are at the next level of activation. Then follow other objects that are visually salient (such as objects used by the character, but not central to the story), and finally other information within the scene and background information. The greater the activation of the brand while viewing the movie, the greater the likelihood that it will be part of the situation model and will be remembered.

What is the importance of implicit memory?

Most previous research has used explicit measures of memory, such as recall or recognition. Explicit memory happens when people intentionally and consciously try to remember. Implicit memory effects occur without intentional conscious recollection. Brands are often part of the background in a scene and do not receive the same level of processing as brands in the foreground. Research has indicated that implicit memory seems to survive longer than explicit memory and may influence purchase decisions.

What does the current research conclude about the landscape model?

• Participants recognized the brand more when the brand was used by the main character or when the brand was integral to the story, more so than when the brand was featured in the background. There was however no difference in recognition memory between where the brand was used by the character and the condition in which it was related to the unfolding of the story.
• The mere presence of the brand in the movie improved participants´ implicit memory for the products. Implicit memory is not influenced by how the memory items are originally processed, unlike explicit memory that is driven by semantic processing. It shows that explicit and implicit measures of memory are sensitive to different influences of brand placements on memory.
• Participants who saw the target brand in the movie were more likely to choose that brand compared to the participants who did not see the brand in the movie. The levels of brand placements within the movie did not influence participants´ implicit choice behavior. Brand placement influenced the choice behavior also after controlling for participants´ brand evaluation.
• If the purpose of brand placement is to gain recognition of the brand, the best method is to have the brand be used by the main character or play a role in the unfolding story. Placing the brand in the movie is adequate for increasing viewers´ familiarity with the brand, regardless of the level of placement.