Product Placement vs Tv Advertisement
An Explorative Study of Testing the Effectiveness of Product Placement Compared to 30-Second Commercials
Kristin Blondé and Irene Roozen
Kristin Blondé: Irene Roozen:
Kristin.Blonde@vlekho.wenk.be Irene.Roozen@vlekho.wenk.be
tel:+32-2-221.12.59 tel:+32-2-221.12.96
Vlekho-Business School 336 Rue Royal 1030 Brussels Belgium
1
An Explorative Study of Testing the Effectiveness of Product Placement Compared to 30-Second Commercials
Abstract
The main objective of this paper is to compare the effectiveness of subtle and prominent product placements with the effectiveness of 30-second commercials for the same brands. Two experimental groups were exposed to TV- drama series and 30-second TV commercials in the break of the TV-series. The brands of the prominent- and subtle product placements which were used in the TV soap series in the first experimental group were used as 30-second commercials in the second experimental group and vice versa. The variables to measure the effectiveness of communication were analysed in terms of brand recall and brand recognition. The most important research result is that product placements are found to be more effective than 30-second commercials.
Introduction
The “re-invention” of product placement has gained new urgency because consumers increasingly have the technical power to avoid commercial messages on TV. Consumers are exponentially overwhelmed by commercials, consequently irritated by them (Fennis and Bakker, 2001; Aacker and Bruzzone1985) and trying to avoid them (Woltman Elpers et al., 2003). Consumers were already using frequently the remote control in order to switch away (zapping) from TV commercials. With the introduction of PVRs such TiVo, Replay TV and so on, consumers can not only fast-forward through recorded programs but can now also easily skip with a PVR’s auto-skip button. So the blame of avoiding commercials (zapping, zipping, skipping) seems now to fall on digital video recorders and
Kristin Blondé and Irene Roozen
Kristin Blondé: Irene Roozen:
Kristin.Blonde@vlekho.wenk.be Irene.Roozen@vlekho.wenk.be
tel:+32-2-221.12.59 tel:+32-2-221.12.96
Vlekho-Business School 336 Rue Royal 1030 Brussels Belgium
1
An Explorative Study of Testing the Effectiveness of Product Placement Compared to 30-Second Commercials
Abstract
The main objective of this paper is to compare the effectiveness of subtle and prominent product placements with the effectiveness of 30-second commercials for the same brands. Two experimental groups were exposed to TV- drama series and 30-second TV commercials in the break of the TV-series. The brands of the prominent- and subtle product placements which were used in the TV soap series in the first experimental group were used as 30-second commercials in the second experimental group and vice versa. The variables to measure the effectiveness of communication were analysed in terms of brand recall and brand recognition. The most important research result is that product placements are found to be more effective than 30-second commercials.
Introduction
The “re-invention” of product placement has gained new urgency because consumers increasingly have the technical power to avoid commercial messages on TV. Consumers are exponentially overwhelmed by commercials, consequently irritated by them (Fennis and Bakker, 2001; Aacker and Bruzzone1985) and trying to avoid them (Woltman Elpers et al., 2003). Consumers were already using frequently the remote control in order to switch away (zapping) from TV commercials. With the introduction of PVRs such TiVo, Replay TV and so on, consumers can not only fast-forward through recorded programs but can now also easily skip with a PVR’s auto-skip button. So the blame of avoiding commercials (zapping, zipping, skipping) seems now to fall on digital video recorders and