Proper Product Placement - Essay Example

Industry Briefing Paper Contents Introduction 3 Critical analysis 4 Case studies and practitioner comments 5 Key issues 7 Conclusions and recommendations 9 References 10 Appendices 12 Introduction The topic chosen for this industry briefing paper is product placement. Here in this paper Bio-gloss is a shampoo and hair care brand that wants to place its products properly in the market. The target customers of the brand are stylish teenage girls. The organization is trying to encourage young girls to include their hair care products in the daily routines of young girls. Product placement is emerging as an important marketing strategy because it is crucial to relate the utmost importance to the ambiance and environment within which the product is displayed. Modern market is highly competitive in nature. Each and every competitor is competing very hard. Managers around the world are facing lots of issues regarding placing their products in the market. Proper product placement gives significant competitive advantages to any company. In this paper, a detailed discussion will be done about the different factors related with product placement. It will be a step by step discussion. The paper will include critical analysis about product placement, review of related literature, key issues. At the end of the paper suitable recommendation and conclusion will be given. In the appendix, examples of two case studies will be given. Reflective analysis also will be done. This paper will help the Marketing Director of Bio-gloss to place their hair care products in the market. It will act as a clear guideline for the company to attract the attentions of young, fun loving girls. This paper will help the company to stand out of the competitions and will enable to place their products uniquely. Critical analysis In this section of the study different product placements theory will be discussed in the context of Bio-gloss. Theories will be discussed are Buying Association Theory, Brand Association Theory and Brand Salience and Recall. According to buying association theory, buyer’s decision making process related with hair care products of Bio-gloss will start as soon as young girls are exposed to the products. The process will start with the customers having an indirect awareness or weak associations with the products of Bio-gloss. In this stage with the help of proper product placement the organization must turn the attentions of their targeted customers towards them. It is very important for the company to develop brand name, familiarity with the different products of Bio-gloss. It is also important for the company to influence the purchasing behaviours of targeted customers. How one targeted customer of Bio-gloss is being exposed to the different products of the company will influence the buying behaviour of the customers. Bio-gloss should use all of its products as the triggering stimuli to the customers and this will decide whether the targeted customers will get attracted towards the products or not. It will have direct impact on the decision making processes of young girls. Brand association theory tells that, it is significant for the company to place their products in a suitable way with real life context. If familiarity of the brand is increased by the individual brand associations then consumers will feel that their objectives and company’s objective are converging to a certain point (Yakup, Mücahit, and Reyhan, 2011). Targeted customers of Bio-gloss are young teen age girls. It is obvious that those targeted customers will have very less disposable incomes. So, pricing strategy of the company should be suitable and it must be well within the reach of the customers. If pricing is suitable then customers will feel significant brand associations with the products of the company. Targeted customers of the company are young and stylish. Different stylish designs in the packaging of hair care products will attract customers and they will be able to relate themselves with different hair care products of the company. Once customers will be able to relate themselves with the brand, then automatically brand association will get increased. The organization can increase the brand association by advertising their products in different T.V. shows. In this case the organization must select those T.V. shows which are grabbing maximum attentions of young girls (Mackay, Ewing, Newton and Windisch, 2009). Increased brand association of customers is very important for the company as far as their product placement is concerned. Brand salience and recall theory is also imperative as far as product placement of Bio-gloss is concerned (Punja and Moonb, 2002). Brand Salience is the level to which brand Bio-gloss has thought about or considered when a consumer is in a buying mode. The company has to place their product in such a way that brand salience will be high (Hoyer, Macinnis and Dasgupta, 2008). High level brand recall is significantly essential for Bio-gloss to place their products in a better way. It provides top of the mind brand recognition to the products of the company. Case studies and practitioner comments Product placement case study of Xbox will be discussed in the appendix. According to KARRH, McKEE and PARDUN (2004), product placement can be defined as paid product information created for influencing T. V. audiences with different innovations. Product placement is a very old concept and the importance of the concept was felt during the 1980’s. Over the years different organizations have focused towards this concept significantly. Organizations across the world have chosen different suitable ways for placing their products according to the characteristics of their products. Authors also say that product placement is central for influencing buying behaviour of customers. They also added that product placement is a critical part for strong brand association. According to authors Xbox has been able to come up with innovative ways of placing their products. They also said that the organization has rightly identified that their innovative products should be placed in innovative ways. Author also commented that the organization has faced some issues related with their product placements. They also told that partnership with Sky was successful and proper for Xbox. Efficiency of product placement is also important for an organization to improve their performances. According to author, it gives significant competitive advantages to the organization to sustain in the competitive market. Product placement has enabled the organization to increase the brand image of the company. It has created huge viewer base for the organization. Authors also pointed out that financial performance of the company also has improved significantly (KARRH, McKEE and PARDUN, 2004). Product placement Case Study of Heinz EZ Squeeze bottle will be discussed in the Appendix. According to Drive (2005), implementing an effective marketing strategy is one of the essential requirements for a product to become successful in the marketplace. He also said that different organizations may choose to place their products in different ways but main objective is to grab customer’s attention in the market place. It may be design of the products, fashion and convenient packaging and bottling of products and attractive colours of the products. Author has stated that Heinz catch up has placed their product very suitably. He also said that the new shape of the bottle has been able to attract the attentions of customers. He conveyed that the effect of this kind of product placement will be psychological where customers will be able to relate themselves with the brand as the new shape was designed for customer’s convenience. He also commented that new shape of the bottle has been able to eliminate monotonous image of the brand from the minds of the customers. A new look of the bottle has been able to refresh the minds of customers. He stated that this kind of product placement strategies is very suitable for changing buying behaviours of consumers. It also helps the organization to create a unique image in the minds of customers. This kind of strategy helps the organization to stand out of competitions (Drive, 2005). Key issues In this section of the study different issues that Bio-gloss might face in their product placement strategies will be discussed. Product placement has significant importance for promoting different products. But in case of product placement Bio-gloss faces certain problems. All those issues can be great barriers for the company to place their products properly in the market. Product placement requires significant investments from the side of the company (Keillor, 2007). The organization may face great challenges in terms investments. Advertising is a prominent communication mix. The organization may face difficulties in advertising their products. It may not communicate the messages through their advertising. It can be miss-designed by the organization. The organization can face problems in terms of discounts and promotions. It will be very difficult for the organization to predict their future business performances. It can be a serious issue for the company. Lots of investments of the company are at stake. It is very hard for the organization that how their hair care products are going to fare in the market, in simple what will be the ROI for the company out of this investment. Here for Bio-gloss targeted customers are young girls aged between 12-17 years (Strack, Werth and Deutsch, 2006). In this age group, consumer’s buying behaviours are generally fickle. It will be difficult for the organization to understand and read the buying behaviours of customers and implement proper product placement according to that. Consumer’s buying behaviours are ever-changing and it will be very difficult for the organization to sense the pulse of changing buying patterns of the targeted customers. Maintaining secrecy about the product placement strategies may be a serious problem for the company. In this highly competitive world competitors are using significant marketing intelligence tools to gather different information about their competitors. There may be a fear of strategy imitation from the other competitors in the industry. It is often being noticed that customers always do not welcome changes. Product placement strategy taken by Bio-gloss can bring some changes. Those changes may not go well with customers. In that case it may be counterproductive for the company. Product placement needs considerable employee support. The organization may face serious issues in terms of skilled employees who have to place the products in the market (Carrigan and Attalla, 2005). If employees are not properly trained for handling the situation then it will have adverse effect on the whole process. It can be a disaster for Bio-gloss. Anticipation of proper timing can be an issue for the organization. It may be difficult for the organization to choose right time for their product placement. If at that point of time any superior competitor is placing their products in the market then obviously consumer focus will be pre occupied with that brand (Cowleya & Barronb, 2008). In this scenario product placement of Bio-gloss may go unnoticed by the consumers. All these issues are very serious barriers for the company to place their products in the market. Conclusions and recommendations Modern business world is ever-changing. Change is the only constant thing in this world. The management of the organization need to be more proactive in terms of their business strategies. They need to seek for very detailed information about the industry in which the organization is operating. Day by day importance of product placement is increasing and it has become an integral part of the marketing communication. As young girls are the targeted customers of the company so, their buying behaviours have to be observed very closely. It may introduce an expert committee for placing their products properly in the market. The organization can take the help of different online media for placing their products in the market. It may be an expensive process but as long the process is yielding profits for the company it should continue with it. In the process of products placement the organization should maintain ethical business practices. Integrity and transparency must not be compromised at any adverse situation. The organization should think for long term business perspective and it should not cannibalize any of its own products. The organization must abide by different legal rules and regulations in their business strategies. Competition in the industry is cut throat the company has to develop itself to manage fierce competitions in the industry. References Cowleya, E. & Barronb, C. 2008. When Product Placement Goes Wrong: The Effects of Program Liking and Placement Prominence. Journal of Advertising. Vol. 37. (1). Drive, W. S. 2005. Marketing Theory and Applications. Jouranl of American Marketing Association. Vol. 16. (1). Hoyer, W. D., Macinnis, D. J. and Dasgupta, P. 2008. Consumer Behaviour, 2008 Edition. New Delhi: Dreamtech Press. KARRH, A. J., McKEE, B. K. and PARDUN, J. P. 2004. Practitioners Evolving Views on Product Placement Effectiveness. Journal of Advertising Research. Vol. 43. (2). Keillor, D. B. 2007. Marketing in the 21st Century. New York: Greenwood Publishing Group. Mackay, T., Ewing, M., Newton, F. and Windisch, L. 2009. The effect of product placement in computer games on brand attitude and recall. International Journal of Advertising. Vol. 28. (3). Punja, G. and Moonb, J. 2002. Positioning options for achieving brand association: a psychological categorization framework. Journal of Business Research. Vol. 55. (4). Strack, F., Werth, L. and Deutsch, R. 2006. Reflective and Impulsive Determinants of Consumer Behavior. Journal of Consumer Psychology. Vol. 16. (3). Yakup, D., Mücahit, C. and Reyhan, O. 2011. The Impact of Cultural Factors on the Consumer Buying Behaviors Examined through An Empirical Study. International Journal of Business and Social Science. Vol. 2. (5). Carrigan, M. and Attalla, A. 2005. The myth of the ethical consumer - do ethics matter in purchase behaviour?. Journal of Consumer Marketing. Vol. 18. (7). Appendices Heinz Ketchup is working with an American company named as International Promotion. The organization is coming up with a new bottle. The shape of the bottle is different than traditional ketchup bottles. Heinz wants to promote it through T.V. advertisements and into films. The product placement company considered it very successful. It gave the company CPM rate of $0.02. Through this product placement strategy the organization is trying to show their brand as more useful, consumer friendly and very suitable for daily household purposes. To place Heinz’s product International Promotion has chosen a specific episode. It is totally different move from the side of the company. Xbox has been able to realize that innovative product like their products need innovative product placement. Traditional product placements are no longer suitable with their innovative brand image. It inked a product placement deal with Sky. The deal was pretty successful as Kinetic 2 was the game which performed very well. The organization grew by 47%. The deal was mediated by their media agency UM. The initial investment paid back suitably. UM and Xbox won a T.V. award in 2012. It helped the organization to gain competitive advantage in the market. Source 1: Talks about the importance of proper product placement. It states that improper product placement is counterproductive. The journal is very much credible and it has significant relevance with the topic. Source 2: It states that product placement theories are integral parts of marketing theory and applications. This journal was utterly helpful to prepare this paper. Source 3: This book talks about the consumer behaviours and its effects on product placement. Information from this book has significantly contributed this paper. It has significant importance in designing the paper. Source 4: This journal has helped immensely to go through different previous works related with this topic. It has given me a serious platform to write this essay. Source 5: This book has immense contribution in the creation of this paper. The source has enlightened about the changing facts of marketing. The source is genuine and very relevant with the essay. Source 6: This source has brought about the concept of brand recall and its relationship with product placement. The source was credible and has significant relevance in the essay. Source 7: The source talks about product positioning and brand association and its impact on human psychology. This journal has great relevance with the paper. It has superior contributions in this paper. Source 8: This source is stating that how the consumers generally behave during their purchases. This journal has given lots of credible information regarding consumer behaviours and their psychology. Source 9: This journal has indicated different important determinants of consumer buying behaviours and their relationship with product placement. The source was credible enough to write this paper. Source 10: This source talks about different cultural factors that have significant impacts on consumer buying behaviours and also talks about how products are generally being placed in the market according to that. It is a very relevant source in the context of this paper. Read More