...that Joseph Jaffe is the smartest person in the world (respondents included family members, friends, and other people who would say anything for $10)
Segue to Mindshare's new study on product placement (as reported in MediaPost) which concludes that consumers are ok with product placement. In fact, 80% of Americans have a positive view towards this kind of advertising.
It's great that media companies invest in and commission these kinds of research studies, but one has to question that from which it came...
Let's assume the methodology is squeaky clean, air and water tight (kind of like Nielsen), here's what we have to work with:
- "Eighty percent of Americans have a positive view toward this powerful new form of advertising" - it's new which might explain the fact that there hasn't been an outright rebellion yet. I'd like to see the same results in a few months or a year or two (the 12% you'll see in the next point has doubled from the same study conducted a year ago
- 67% of Americans acknowledged noticing more product placement of late (you think?)
- 1/3 admitted to "being responsive" to product placement...in fact, over 70% of adults 18-49 somehow were able to indicate that they were more likely to respond to product placement by trying a product or visiting a store
- "it depends on how its done" is the disclaimer from 46% of consumers, where 37% said "it's generally ok with me" and 12% said "I do not like it at all"
That last point doesn't exactly leave me feeling all warm and fuzzy about how positive this all is for marketers. There are still way too many variables in play here:
- calculating ROI/measurement
- tying in a "reason to believe" i.e. proof points which go beyond the "choose me I'm there" value proposition currently on the table. In fact when it comes to working harder for a brand (differentiation, positioning, persuasion) the 30-second spot destroys product placement, don't you agree???
- strategically/smartly matching/matchmaking brand with programming. This is why B/E boutiques have sprouted up and although they are choc full of "experts" who do this for a living, they're also equally likely to take the money (and run with it...)
- the inevitability of the low-road/what happens with the rest of the me-too marketers settle in. Right now, the consumers polled above might be infatuated, but soon there's going to be a whole lot of rabbits being cooked on the gas burner...that's all I'm saying.
jJ
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