In-film advertising, a profitable option

WITH THE advent of the new millennium, the marketers and advertisers have found a new form of publicising their product and creating more visibility for their brands. This is cinema or films. The growing competition between products and brands in the Indian market has led the marketers to find more ways of reaching the customers and Indian cinema has become not only an innovative but also, an effective option.
Due to the rise in the clutter of multitudinous brands, people have shortened attention spans. Here, in-film advertising is a boon, as it breaks through this clutter. In fact, the best way to deliver the message is to catch the customer off-guard, when their rational defences are down. The best way to do so, is to use the emotional gate rather than the rational gate. The rational gate scrutinises the advantages, benefits, features and seeks value for money; the emotional gate is all about trust, love, identification and belief and in India, the films operate at the emotional level of an individual.

However, films are a different medium and one bad placement can do more damage than 10 good placements. Artistic integrity is crucial for successful brand placements and the utility of the product has to be woven properly into the script. The placement should be a natural fit and shouldn't be unnatural.

Depending on the content of the film and its story line, a sketch of the profile of expected viewers of the film can be prepared and then those brands could be approached that could appeal to the targeted viewers. This will then be followed by a 360 degrees marketing plan, for cross-promotions during the various stages of a film's release. Apart form publicity, a major monetary benefit is involved in an in-film advertising.

One of the best examples is that of the recent film “Fashion” which had six prestigious brand placements - clothing brands Kimaya and Reebok, Lenovo laptop, Sunsilk shampoo, Cellucom and LG Electronics. The production team earned Rs 8.5 crores from in-film advertisement alone, out of its total investment of 22 crores.

Advertising agencies have realised that product placements in films with film industry's stars, bring the brands instant visibility and it is much cheaper than hiring individual stars to endorse them. The Van Huesen Ghajini collection is a great example for the same. The way Van Huesen advertisements promoted Ghajini, not only benefited the brand but, the personal image of Aamir Khan enhanced the trust for the brand. In the film, Aamir's character was of a business tycoon, which added to the brand Van Huesen, depicting success.

The strategy of placing some selected brands in films, gives them an additional marketing push, even though the stars featuring them may not be directly endorsing these brands.

There are other advantages of in-film advertising. One gets stars to represent their brands, at a fraction of the costs. Moreover, films transcend geography, class and culture barriers, giving an opportunity for national and even international level branding. It also facilitates a clutter-free environment. Most importantly, films cannot be surfed, zipped or muted, unlike TV and internet. The advertisement catches people in a receptive mood and can be target specific.

Another example of weaving the product with the script was seen in the film Ghajini. Here, an unsaid competitive branding was carried out by BMW, the high end car manufacturer against its rival Mercedes. This was done by placing a BMW car ahead of three other Mercedes car in the film. Aamir Khan's character rides in the car, while his employees ride in the Mercedes cars behind him.

Earlier attempts at such advertising include, Subhash Ghai's film Yaadein, which gave screen space to brands like the mouth freshener Paas Paas and Coca-Cola. Amitabh Bachchan's Virrudh similarly showcased Nerolac Paints and Western Union Money Transfer.

Hritik Roshan's Koi Mil Gaya and its sequel Krrish similarly had product placements of Eros Jewellery, Avon Cycle and Bournvita. John Abraham's Goal showed a lot of Reebok merchandise and a Chevrolet car showed up in Saif Ali Khan's Ta Ra Rum Pum. Akshay Kumar's back to the roots tearjerker Namaste London had Spykar denims while, Maybelline's cosmetics were in focus for Shah Rukh Khan's Om Shanti Om.

In film advertising has not only gripped the Indian cinema but even Hollywood has leveraged brands such as BMW, Jaguar, Ford, Ray Ban eyewear, Starbucks coffee, AOL, AT&T etc. Thus, the high cost of conventional media, accompanied by the growing clutter, has made in-film advertising an exciting and viable opportunity for advertiser.