And Microsoft? Nobody ever uses the phrase “Bing it!”, so stop trying to make that happen.
2. Only use product placements where they make sense. Should characters of Men of A Certain Age, when they are working in a Chevrolet dealership, talk about Chevy cars? Certainly? Can the ad men of Mad Men talk about the benefits of a product, within the context of discussing ad ideas? Absolutely. But beyond that, you're going to be stretching it.
3. Ground the product placement within your characters. We ultimately have to believe that whatever character is hocking your product, would actually be excited about said product. To have your character to suddenly rant about your product throws people off. I would, for instance, believe that Phil Dunphy really wants that iPad:
But Kevin Malone being excited about that paper shredder? That's a far more difficult pill to swallow.
4. If your show is a comedy, make the product placement funny, or better yet, make fun of the fact that you are doing a product placement. This is quite simple, really. Nothing will make your product placement stick out more than for it to be tonally different than the rest of the show. Name dropping doesn't work in comedies. Jokes, however, do.
5. Showing the product is fine; lingering on it is inexcusable. Name brand products exist in the real world. This is why (for me at least) having name brand products in the background of any given scene. However, when you make a lingering shot of the product itself, or have object positioned so that we can see the whole label (i.e. unnaturally) then it destroys any chances of realism.
3. Ground the product placement within your characters. We ultimately have to believe that whatever character is hocking your product, would actually be excited about said product. To have your character to suddenly rant about your product throws people off. I would, for instance, believe that Phil Dunphy really wants that iPad:
But Kevin Malone being excited about that paper shredder? That's a far more difficult pill to swallow.
4. If your show is a comedy, make the product placement funny, or better yet, make fun of the fact that you are doing a product placement. This is quite simple, really. Nothing will make your product placement stick out more than for it to be tonally different than the rest of the show. Name dropping doesn't work in comedies. Jokes, however, do.
5. Showing the product is fine; lingering on it is inexcusable. Name brand products exist in the real world. This is why (for me at least) having name brand products in the background of any given scene. However, when you make a lingering shot of the product itself, or have object positioned so that we can see the whole label (i.e. unnaturally) then it destroys any chances of realism.
I mean, that's just terrible.
6. Putting your characters in commercials that air outside of the show itself is no better. In fact, most of the time it's even worse.
Well, unless they're this:
6. Putting your characters in commercials that air outside of the show itself is no better. In fact, most of the time it's even worse.
Well, unless they're this:
That "Bing it!" clip is just terrible television.
ReplyDeleteI agree, I have never heard anyone say "Bing it"... in fact, I did have to Google Bing when I first heard someone say they got something from Bing for a project...
ReplyDeleteI also think that sometimes product placement is unintentionally memorable, for example when they use Dell computers and blur out the little circle in the back of a lap top that is obviously covering up the Dell logo, it automatically makes me think "dude, she's got a Dell".
I tend to notice computer cover-up with Macs, where they either put a sticker over the logo or (worse yet) have a white square as opposed to the apple. I would find it more realistic (and thus less distracting) if they would just use actual Macs.
ReplyDelete