The Effectiveness of Product Placements - Literature review
THE EFFECTIVENESS OF PRODUCT PLACEMENTS
Introduction
The area of product placement has been an interest for three reasons. To begin with, product placement has gained the curiousness and great amount of interest from researchers and practitioners alike (Gupta & Lord, 1998; Reijmersdal, Neijens, and Smith,2006; Babin and Carder,1996). Secondly, there seems to be a great shift in the behavior of customers from watching a lot of television and being exposed to adverts and brands through mainstream media toward viewing less television and using programmed recording devices such as TiVO to automatically skip adverts and commercials (Roehm, Roehm & Boone, 2004). Thus product and brand marketers are constantly exploring new ways to communicate theirs brands to the audience. Lastly throughout the literature review, the “correct way” to measure the effectiveness of product placement that has caused researchers and practitioners to debate on the subject for decades, will be looked at. The aim of this literature review is to analyze the relevant bodies of work in order to grasp an understanding of the concept of product placement from an academic point of view and how this technique of advertising is used to influence the audience/consumer. It will explore gaps in the current works of literature that will help in the experiment for a project in the future on product placement in video games.
Product Placement
In order to fully grasp the effectiveness of product placement it is essential know what the term ‘product placement’ means exactly and identify the segments that classify the various methods of product placement.
In the early research and reviews of product placement, it is considerably argued that although product placement is the most commonly used term, brand placement would be more appropriate (Karrh,1998). Karrh also states that it is the brand that is being placed (e.g. Omega) and not a product (e.g. watches) that is placed. In accordance to his argument it is believed that the watches are products and not a category of products and that it is brands, which are placed, and not a specific branded product. This underlying argument has not been touched upon in recent literature on the subject but it seems to make just as much sense to put forth an argument that it is a product and not a brand that is placed in the scene. Thus it is hard to figure out which argument is most adequate and it would be more constructive if the differences in the two descriptions were interchangeable. Throughout this literature review it is essential that the term ‘product placement’ will be used because first, branded products are what the audience/public refer to as “products” and secondly the term ‘brand placement’ would create an unnecessary gap between the intent of this review and the readers interpretation.
Placement versus Sponsorship
In many research areas many different words are commonly used to describe similar concepts and in this case it is product placement and sponsorship. In his paper Balasubramaniam, defines product placement as “ a paid product message aimed at influencing movie and television viewers via unobtrusive and planned entry of a brand product into the movie or television program” (Balasubramaniam, 1994). Despite it being a viable description it does have a couple of problems with it. Schneider in his paper comments on the work of Balasubramanian by stating that it is limited to only specific media mediums and that video games, music videos and novels are not mentioned which will not float in this age of the media (Schneider, 2005). He also adds that it bound to cases where there is an exchange of payment for the placement of a product and no consideration is given to cases where organizations make non-financial deals for the sole purpose of promoting their products (Schneider, 2005). Karrh also addressed the issues in Balasubramaniams definition of product placement. He suggests whether product placements can always be considered as unobtrusive and that “ brand placements is better defined as the paid inclusion of branded product or brand identifiers, through audio or visual means, within mass media programming” (Karrh, 1998). Here again, Karrh’s definition is made on the assumption that there is always a payment involved in the placement of a product. Many times payment can be also made in the form of agreeing on marketing campaigns that beneficial for both parties (Schneider, 2005).
Meenaghan defines sponsorship as “the provision of assistance, either financial or in kind, to an activity by a commercial organization for the purpose of achieving commercial objectives” (Meenaghan, 1983). In accordance to this definition, Schneider suggests that is fails to observe the advantages that the organization gains in return for its sponsorship (Schneider, 2005). One example is that during the FIFA World cup in 2006, the beer Budweiser was the only beer that was allowed to be sold in a five hundred meter radius around the football pitches. This advantage was the result of a dealt that was struck between FIFA and Budweiser during the time (Boyes, 2006). Andrews defines sponsorship as “ a relationship between a sponsor and a property, in which the sponsor pays a cash or in-kind fee in return for access to the exploitable commercial potential associated with the property” (Andrews,2006). In accordance to this definition, Andrews has made sure to incorporate both aspects of a sponsorship, which are the result for the organization being sponsored, and the benefit for the sponsor. An analysis on the comparison of the definition of brand placement in relation to sponsorship suggests that product placement in video games is more of brand placement rather than sponsorship.
Even though there is a significant rise in the interest on the subject of product placement, not much is established on the way product placement is gauged and influences the audience/customer. Silberer in his paper on video games states that research shows “not much is known on how players respond to these persuasion attempts” (Silberer, 2006).
Secunda and Nebenzahl were the first to publish their work on the consumers view of product placement (Nebenzahl & Secunda, 1993). Their study states that in the United States of America, participants in a survey from the age of 18 – 40 preferred product placements over the conventional commercial advertising on screen. Gupta, Gould, Nebenzahl and Secunda found a commonality in those who disapproved of the method, for ethical reasoning. Gupta and Gould added to this by suggesting that products such as cigarettes, guns and to a certain level even alcohol were considered controversial and less acceptable to be placed on screen (Gupta & Gould, 1997). Their research also found that it was more likely for women to see these products as a negative as compared to men (Gupta & Gould, 1997). This is quite significant in the gaming industry as most popular award winning games consist of characters that use various weapons to fight. Placing brands of weapons in these spaces many a time turns out to have a negative attitude towards the placement, making it a bad idea (Lehu,2007). The question that lies with the above literature is whether it does in fact matter what the audience claims to think of these product placements. It could also play out in a manner that many customers claim that they disapprove of the method of product placement whilst they still buy products that are regularly and fashionably placed in movies, in reality.
Video games
Nelson conducted a survey on American college students and published one of the first papers on the customer attitude towards product placement in digital video games (Nelson, 2002). The result of his questionnaire suggested that the customers were on an average had a positive approach towards the placement of products in video games. The incorporation of real brands in-game gave a sense of reality to the gamer (Nelson, 2002). On the other hand it also does matter on the genre of the game and where and when the placement of the product does occur in the game. Many players preferred not to have placements as it would crumble the notion of the fantasy world, which is also one of the key reasons why most customers do indulge in video games (Nelson, 2002). Nelson also provides a hypothesis by stating that most of the participants, who were against brand placement as an advertising method, were also against any other form of advertising (Nelson,2002). In relation to his theory, Molesworth with made a similar study consisted of interviewing five focus groups. Like Nelson, he too found that most of the participants being interviewed have a positive approach to brand placement as it helped the makers of the game financially and similarly induced a sense of reality (Molesworth, 2005). One concern that rose among the participants was that many a time games creators would develop games with a high potential of brand placement and be only driven with that purpose, distracting them from the purpose of the simulation itself (Molesworth, 2005). Comparing placements in movies to placements in video games, it seems that customers are more inclined to being acceptable towards placements in video games due to the fact that video games are still not as realistic as movies and the quality of the game depends on the level of realism (Molesworth,2005). Even with this, no studies thus far have confirmed that products that are deemed controversial are less acceptable in video games in relation to movies (Molesworth, 2005).
The Effectiveness
Many dispute the importance of the attitude of the consumer towards product placement since it is a concept that works inconspicuously. For example, even though many consumers claim that they indulge in or buy brands or products that are placed in movies, it still does not guarantee or prove that they actually do so (Gould, 2000). In comparison to this, Hyder found that often customers were influenced by advertising that they claim to never have been exposed to (Hyder, 2006).
Memory
The key concept to comprehending the influence that product placement has on on its consumers or gamers is the memory system as it has a major impact on buying and consuming decisions (Ambler & Vakratsas, 1999). According to Schacter and Ochsner, many practitioners saw the memory system as the only system that stored information first in a short term area and later transferred to a long term storage area (Schacter & Oschner, 1993). Many observations down the line indicated the presence of more than one memory system. In his research, Schacter observed patients who were diagnosed with various kinds of damage to the brain. He also chose patients who rated well in the IQ tests but on the other hand had a hard time displaying emotions and feeling and had trouble making day to day decisions in their private world (Schacter, 1996). At the same time he had patients who suffered from amnesia and had trouble recalling simple things, such as names or places (Schacter, 1996). His results concluded by stating two differnet memory systems, namely explicit and implicit memory (Schacter, 1985). Explicit memory is when memory is stored and it is done so in the sense that the individual is aware they are using it making it intentional and out of choice. Implicit memory is used without the intention or knowledge of the individual nor do they know where the particular piece of knowledge comes from (Schacter, 1996)
Measuring Effectiveness
The effectiveness can be defined in many ways in relation to motive and goal od the product placement. Law and Braun state that not much is known about the effectiveness of product placement or how it can be measured (Law & Braun, 2000). Researchers like Nelson suggest that using memory systems such as recall and recognition are justified since the increasing awareness of a brand is one of the key goals of a marketing campaign (Nelson, 2002). Other researchers and practitioners claim that different brands or products can be placed in different scenes and making it effective in several ways (Law & Braun, 2004). They also state that recall is a good measurement when the consumer is very much involved in the buying decision whereas implied memory tests are more effective when the decision is spontaneous (Law & Braun, 2004). Thus, since the result depending on the over all goal of the placement it is hard to stick to one form of measurement of effectiveness. Having just one viewpoint to the subject would negate the work done on methods such as “Recognition, Recall, Attitude change and Observed Brand Preferance” (Law & Braun, 2004).
Recognition
Babin and Carder were the first to publish studies on the evaluation on the effectiveness of product placement in movies. Their studies were conducted on whether the audience was able to successfully recognize the brands that were placed in two separate movies, specifically Rocky 3 and Rocky 5 (Babin & Carder, 1996). Their studies concluded by stating that the audience was able to identify the brands placed and also recognize the brands that were not present. Along with this they suggested that the audience was able to recognize the brands that were placed later in the movie in comparison to ones that were placed earlier (Babin & Carder, 1996). This indicates that the effectiveness of a product placement is not only limited to factors like being central or subtle (Law & Braun, 1996). It is interesting to compare this notion to that of product placement is video games as most of the time placements occur only later in story line of the video game. For instance in racing games such as ‘Burnout’ or Need for Speed, the ‘A’ grade supercars (Lamborghini, Ferrari, Ford GT) only appear after the player has passed through certain levels. Putting Babin and Carders theory in to perspective in relation to the video game, it suggest that obtaining the super cars after several hours of game time is more effective than having them placed earlier in the game, giving the gamer a sense of accomplishment and in turn having more of an impact on the memory (Lehu, 2007). Russell, who claims that it was more likely for brands to be recognized if they were meaningful, carried out another study on the subject of recognition in relation to product placement and also that brand placements were more impactful when used only in the form of audio (Russell, 2002). This contradicts the theories of recall put forth by Vollmers who found a higher recall of product placement visually in comparison to audio (Vollmers, 1994). Whereas Gupta and Lord have a commonality with Russell, stating that there is a higher recall when brands are placed via audio (Gupta & Lord, 2002).
Recall
Using recall as a source of measurement of the effectiveness of product placement by researchers did not provide constructive results (Lehu, 2007). Vollmer and Chartier in their respective research found high recall of brands placed in two separate movies (Vollmers, 1994) (Chartier, 2000). In comparison to this, as stated by Gupta and Lord, “Sabherwal and Griffin found only marginally higher levels of recall in their study, in which some participants saw a movie where a restaurant’s name was mentioned, whereas other saw the exact same movie, but where the sentence which included the name had been replaced by silence” (Gupta & Lord, 1998). This does suggest that the audio placements do not necessarily have the impact in terms of recall as placements carried out visually. With a wide angles look at the work on the subject, it does not necessarily stand true. Blaxton and Roediger explain that cognitive psychology states that modality does not have much of an impact on the explicit memory experiments (Blaxton & Roediger, 1987). Law and Braun suggest that a brand that is placed visually and is mentioned at the same time is more central and more effective in comparison to Sabherwal’s suggestion of brand placement having a slight edge when placed in the form of audio in contrast to visually (Gupta & Lord, 1998). Law and Braun suggest that it is essential that the placement be as relatable and central to the plot in order to gain high recall (Law & Braun, 2004). Similarly Gupta and Lord published a paper on their research using two movies, ‘Project X’ and ‘Big’. The paper demonstrates that Pepsi, being a prominent placement in the movie Big resulted in a higher recall as compared to the subtle placement of the same in Project X (Gupta & Lord, 1998). Relating the same to video games, the concept of the placement revolving around the plot is more complex as compared to movies. Billboards in video games can at times be more central to the plot than others. The bonus feature that sets video games apart from movies is that the consumer can interact with these placements, which makes all placements central to the plot. As mentioned earlier, the product placements can be some sort of achievement in the video game that drives the gamer and keeps him motivated in accomplishing levels.
Lehu states “research papers on video games have only looked at centrality in terms of size or placement of billboards making it questionable whether such grouping is most appropriate for this media” (Lehu, 2007).
Thus it is evident that modality is of high importance when it comes to effectiveness irrespective of using recognition or recall. At the same time it is essential to make choice on which of these two techniques of measurements is to be used, as it will help decide whether a visual placement is better or an auditory one. It is argued that it does depend on the on the goal of the organization whether recognition or recall should be used and that it is more likely that a visual medium will be more effective if the over all aim of the organization is to adhere to a subtle product placement (Law & Braun, 2004).
Attitude Change
Although researchers have approached the subject and have shown that brands that are communicated using the conventional methods of television commercial advertising do have a high potential of changing consumer attitude ( Shrum & O’Guinn, 1997). Although there is very little literature on whether product placements have an influence on consumers to any extent. As mentioned earlier, Russell was one of the few to have explored this field and he claimed that exploiting memory scores did not always result in the change of consumer attitude at the most optimal level (Russell, 2002). To this he adds by stating that recognition of the product placement is at its peak when using the auditory medium, whereas the change in attitude towards brands is more evident when placed visually (Russell, 2002). Thus when relating this to video games, it is quite constrained and does challenge the useful measurements that are based on implicit memory in regard to, if the goal is to change the attitude of the consumer towards the product/brand (Lehu, 2007).
Observed brand preference
Many researchers such as Law an Braun state that measuring the effectiveness of product placements through methods relating to memory are not necessarily the best approach (Law & Braun, 2000). Their statement does hold value as it has been seen that the methods of recall or recognition do not always help in predicting the influence product placement has on its consumers/audience (Law & Braun, 2000). Researchers such as Heckler and Shapiro conducted a study in which they used electronic articles and placed adverts next to it (Heckler & Shapiro, 1997). The study was constructed so that little or no attention was paid to the adverts and split their participants into two groups. One group was exposed to the adverts and the second was not. The result concluded that the amount of recognition did not differ amongst the two groups (Heckler & Shapiro, 1997). Shapiro after the experiment, setup up a buying service and made the participants from both set groups list down products that they would indulge in buying (Shapiro, 1997). The result stated that more participants wrote down products that they had been exposed to as compared to the group that wasn’t exposed to at all, thus implying that the measurement of memory directly is not always the best approach (Shapiro, 1997). In contrast to Law and Braun, Shapiro suggests that the methods such as recognition and recall do not qualify to measuring the more subtle effects of product placement (Shapiro, 1997). Law and Braun put forth a study to identify the effectiveness of product placements in television shows (Law & Braun, 2000). They tried to find a comparison of their experiment on brand choice with the results of a recognition and recall test by using two separate episodes from the hit television show, Seinfeld (Law & Braun, 2000). The results of comparing the two tests showed that the concept of centrality has a distinguished effect on the memory tests, where as it did not have an impact on the brand choice of the consumers (Law & Braun, 2000). They also come to the conclusion that their results are in line with the memory theories, which generally state that, the result of similar memory tests do not necessarily be related to one of the implicit choice (Law & Braun, 2000).
Law and Braun’s findings could have a major impact on video games research on the subject as most studies have applied such memory tests and not observed brand preference (Twist, 2004).
Lewis and Auty conducted a renowned experiment on a group of children from England on the subject of observed brand preference. (Lewis & Auty,2004). They used clips from the movie Home Alone as the base of their experiment and split the children into two groups. One group was shown a clip with a can of Pepsi spilling by the lead charcter and the second group was exposed to a similar clip but with a non-branded product was consumed (Lewis & Auty, 2004). The children were then called in for an interview and were offered a choice at the table in the form of a ‘free drink’, Pepsi or Coca Cola. Lewis and Auty noted their brand choice and came to conclusion where the result also varied if the children had watched the movie before. They concluded by suggesting that significantly more children who had watched the clip and watched the movie before chose Pepsi as their preferred drink at the interview as compared to the group that was not exposed to the product placement in the video clip but have seen the movie before (Lewis & Auty, 2004). This not only proves that brand observation does work in the favour of product placements but also there more of an impact if there is repeat exposure of the product in more scenes than one (Lewis & Auty,2004). Relating Lewis and Auty’s hypothesis to video games seems fair as one spends a lot more time playing a video game in comparison to a movie, which normally averages to an hour and a half. Thus in video games, repeat exposure of a brand placement has a lot of potential making product placements in video games a more effective medium in comparison to movies (Lehu, 2007).
Placement in Video Games
The fact that a consumer can interact with brands in a game makes it much harder for researchers to evaluate it as the subject is more complex as compared to placements in movies. Many researchers such as Chaney and Lin have explored the effectiveness of product placements in games only using the measurement technique of recall or recognition. Nelson on the other hand published his experiment on the effectiveness of product placements in video games using the same measuring techniques (Nelson, 2002). His experiment revolved around a racing video game, twenty gamers and questionnaires (Nelson, 2002). His results showed that the gamers/participants could recall only forty percent of the brands placed right after the game was played and only fifteen percent after a period of five months (Nelson, 2002). Soon after, Chaney presented a similar experiment and claimed that the results showed that only six percent of the participants recalled the very last brand memorized whereas thirty percent recalled the most memorized brands (Chaney, 2004). This does have less value than Nelson’s experiment, as there was no time gap between the game play and questionnaire for the participants, thus not pushing the limits of the test. Adding to this Nelson states that the physical size of the product placement in the video game did not vary the results of his experiment (Nelson,2002). On the other hand Constantin published his study on how the size of billboards of brands did in fact affect the level of recall (Constantin, 2004). His experiment consisted of participants being exposed to three different third dimensional (3D) environments with the billboards of brands placed within them. After ever environment the participants were presented a questionnaire, which made them list down the brand placements that they could recall (Constanin, 2004). The results showed that participants appeared to be more influenced by the billboards as compared to direct product placements in relation to recall, but in relation to recognition the efficiency of billboards were level with direct product placements in the simulated environments (Constantin, 2004). Constantin’s hypothesis cannot be applied to gamers as the participants where not essentially interactive in the simulated 3D environment which set them apart from regular gamers who go out there in the virtual world and find their way through the game, making them more attentive to detail (Lehu,2007). In addition to this Lehu comments on Constanin’s experiment by stating that the product placements had no relation to the simulated environment making it different to actual game play where the gamer can interact with placement in the form of an achievement or something he or she stumbles upon which are key characteristics of a video game (Lehu, 2007).
Repeat exposure
As stated earlier, the fact that each game is generally played several times with many hours of gameplay gives it a lot of potential for using them for product placements and making them a medium that marketers sort out to frequently (Delaney, 2004). With a standard ten hours of gameplay or more, gamers have the chance to be exposed to several product placements throughout the game over and over again. (Delaney, 2004). Even though no studies have directly showcased how the repeat exposure of brand placements increases the effectiveness of it, some studies have touched upon mere exposure or just brief repeat exposure (Delany, 2004). Berlyne explored in his studies that the results of his experiments on the subject followed an inverted U graph, which states that the effect increased till a certain point and then stabilized, which after leads to a decline (Berlyne, 1990). The graph plays out so, due to two factors, which are habituation and boredom (Nordhielm, 2002). These factors have a major impact on the effectiveness of the repeated exposure to brand placement, which is explained by Anand and Sternthal’s experiment (Anand & Sternthal, 1990). Their study explores the “application to repetition of advertising,” which is named the two-factor theory. (Anand & Sternthal, 1990). Their studies suggests these negative or positive mind sets during the viewing of advertising have a major influence that gets converted on to the brand (Anand & Sternthal, 1990). For example, if the viewer is ‘bored’ during the showcasing of the advert, then his negative thoughts during the advert affects his judgment of the brand itself. On the other hand if the viewer is entertained during the advert, then his feelings towards the brand are positive (Anand & Sternthal, 1990). Although these can be considered only in the case of attitude towards brands and not when measuring via recognition or recall methods (Nordhielm,2002). Another famous model was produced by Bornstein and D’Agostino, known as the “Perceptional Fluency/Misattribution Model”, and this defines simply the “ease with which people can perceive, encode and process the stimulus” (Bornstein & D’Agostino, 1994).
Conclusion
Many researchers have explored the attitude of the audience towards product placement in movies. It is seen that under most conditions the customers have a positive approach towards brand placements and also how separate factors influence a different view on the subject. Along side movies, product placements in video games too generally stir up a positive attitude from the viewpoint of the consumer and a key reason being that these placements give the game a new element and give it a sense of realism. Its interesting to see that there are no studies that involve a variation in the influence when it comes to gender or culture for product placements in video games or a link between the attitude towards brand placements and the buying decisions of gamers. In such a case it would be healthy to say that controversial product placements in video games have a neutral impact on the gamers irrespective of whether they like these placements or not. Also in relation to this one could even raise the question on how essential is the customers point of view on product placements in the eyes of the marketing organizations. Referring to the effectiveness of product placements in the literature, it is seen that there is no one method or best method in measuring the effectiveness as it all depends on the aim of the marketing organizations and what they hope to achieve with their placements. It also in the end depends on the type of decisions the consumers of the organization make. Hence, due to this reason the literature that involved recognition, consumer attitude change, recall and brand preference to gauge the effectiveness of product placements were explored. In relation to this, it was seen that the different types of product placements that appeared to be more effective had a direct correlation to the methods that are used to measure the effectiveness. For example it was seen that visual product placements were more inclined to be effective when using recall to measure in movies, whereas auditory brand placements seemed to have more of an impact in relation to recognition in the same. Even though no studies revealed whether audio and visual placements had an impact in relation to observed brand preference, but at the same time it showed that there was definitely a change in attitude when measured based on the visual medium. When speaking about video games, it seems to have results that vary among the literature present. One study shows that the physicality of the billboards present in the video games itself has an impact on the effectiveness of the product placement when taking into consideration recall, where as another study claims that there is no such relation through its results. The face the only a handful of participants for each study does not seem like a fair number of people to base theories and experiments on as seen in the literature above. Using the method of recall for measuring for a small size of participants would indicate errors and not enough to generalize their results on the masses. As stated above by researchers, games normally have a game time of up to ten to twelve hours or more making the repeated exposure technique perfect for video games which marketing organizations look at as an opportunity. Although, no studies have come up with results on how the effectiveness develops as a function of the time played. Thus it is possible that the gamers/consumers get influenced and the effectiveness increases as the players get exposed to brands repeatedly and on the other hand it could also mean that the effectiveness drops after being exposed to brand placements over and over again as the gamer would get used to the placement and eventually tune it out. This could be harmful as the attitude towards the advert would be affected and in turn having a negative approach to the brand itself. Although certain gaps were explored in the literature review, it would be impossible to address them all. But the one key gap that seems to arise is the fact that there is no constructive study on the product placements in video games that explore how the effectiveness of a product placement enhances as the game is played more and more.
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Introduction
The area of product placement has been an interest for three reasons. To begin with, product placement has gained the curiousness and great amount of interest from researchers and practitioners alike (Gupta & Lord, 1998; Reijmersdal, Neijens, and Smith,2006; Babin and Carder,1996). Secondly, there seems to be a great shift in the behavior of customers from watching a lot of television and being exposed to adverts and brands through mainstream media toward viewing less television and using programmed recording devices such as TiVO to automatically skip adverts and commercials (Roehm, Roehm & Boone, 2004). Thus product and brand marketers are constantly exploring new ways to communicate theirs brands to the audience. Lastly throughout the literature review, the “correct way” to measure the effectiveness of product placement that has caused researchers and practitioners to debate on the subject for decades, will be looked at. The aim of this literature review is to analyze the relevant bodies of work in order to grasp an understanding of the concept of product placement from an academic point of view and how this technique of advertising is used to influence the audience/consumer. It will explore gaps in the current works of literature that will help in the experiment for a project in the future on product placement in video games.
Product Placement
In order to fully grasp the effectiveness of product placement it is essential know what the term ‘product placement’ means exactly and identify the segments that classify the various methods of product placement.
In the early research and reviews of product placement, it is considerably argued that although product placement is the most commonly used term, brand placement would be more appropriate (Karrh,1998). Karrh also states that it is the brand that is being placed (e.g. Omega) and not a product (e.g. watches) that is placed. In accordance to his argument it is believed that the watches are products and not a category of products and that it is brands, which are placed, and not a specific branded product. This underlying argument has not been touched upon in recent literature on the subject but it seems to make just as much sense to put forth an argument that it is a product and not a brand that is placed in the scene. Thus it is hard to figure out which argument is most adequate and it would be more constructive if the differences in the two descriptions were interchangeable. Throughout this literature review it is essential that the term ‘product placement’ will be used because first, branded products are what the audience/public refer to as “products” and secondly the term ‘brand placement’ would create an unnecessary gap between the intent of this review and the readers interpretation.
Placement versus Sponsorship
In many research areas many different words are commonly used to describe similar concepts and in this case it is product placement and sponsorship. In his paper Balasubramaniam, defines product placement as “ a paid product message aimed at influencing movie and television viewers via unobtrusive and planned entry of a brand product into the movie or television program” (Balasubramaniam, 1994). Despite it being a viable description it does have a couple of problems with it. Schneider in his paper comments on the work of Balasubramanian by stating that it is limited to only specific media mediums and that video games, music videos and novels are not mentioned which will not float in this age of the media (Schneider, 2005). He also adds that it bound to cases where there is an exchange of payment for the placement of a product and no consideration is given to cases where organizations make non-financial deals for the sole purpose of promoting their products (Schneider, 2005). Karrh also addressed the issues in Balasubramaniams definition of product placement. He suggests whether product placements can always be considered as unobtrusive and that “ brand placements is better defined as the paid inclusion of branded product or brand identifiers, through audio or visual means, within mass media programming” (Karrh, 1998). Here again, Karrh’s definition is made on the assumption that there is always a payment involved in the placement of a product. Many times payment can be also made in the form of agreeing on marketing campaigns that beneficial for both parties (Schneider, 2005).
Meenaghan defines sponsorship as “the provision of assistance, either financial or in kind, to an activity by a commercial organization for the purpose of achieving commercial objectives” (Meenaghan, 1983). In accordance to this definition, Schneider suggests that is fails to observe the advantages that the organization gains in return for its sponsorship (Schneider, 2005). One example is that during the FIFA World cup in 2006, the beer Budweiser was the only beer that was allowed to be sold in a five hundred meter radius around the football pitches. This advantage was the result of a dealt that was struck between FIFA and Budweiser during the time (Boyes, 2006). Andrews defines sponsorship as “ a relationship between a sponsor and a property, in which the sponsor pays a cash or in-kind fee in return for access to the exploitable commercial potential associated with the property” (Andrews,2006). In accordance to this definition, Andrews has made sure to incorporate both aspects of a sponsorship, which are the result for the organization being sponsored, and the benefit for the sponsor. An analysis on the comparison of the definition of brand placement in relation to sponsorship suggests that product placement in video games is more of brand placement rather than sponsorship.
Even though there is a significant rise in the interest on the subject of product placement, not much is established on the way product placement is gauged and influences the audience/customer. Silberer in his paper on video games states that research shows “not much is known on how players respond to these persuasion attempts” (Silberer, 2006).
Secunda and Nebenzahl were the first to publish their work on the consumers view of product placement (Nebenzahl & Secunda, 1993). Their study states that in the United States of America, participants in a survey from the age of 18 – 40 preferred product placements over the conventional commercial advertising on screen. Gupta, Gould, Nebenzahl and Secunda found a commonality in those who disapproved of the method, for ethical reasoning. Gupta and Gould added to this by suggesting that products such as cigarettes, guns and to a certain level even alcohol were considered controversial and less acceptable to be placed on screen (Gupta & Gould, 1997). Their research also found that it was more likely for women to see these products as a negative as compared to men (Gupta & Gould, 1997). This is quite significant in the gaming industry as most popular award winning games consist of characters that use various weapons to fight. Placing brands of weapons in these spaces many a time turns out to have a negative attitude towards the placement, making it a bad idea (Lehu,2007). The question that lies with the above literature is whether it does in fact matter what the audience claims to think of these product placements. It could also play out in a manner that many customers claim that they disapprove of the method of product placement whilst they still buy products that are regularly and fashionably placed in movies, in reality.
Video games
Nelson conducted a survey on American college students and published one of the first papers on the customer attitude towards product placement in digital video games (Nelson, 2002). The result of his questionnaire suggested that the customers were on an average had a positive approach towards the placement of products in video games. The incorporation of real brands in-game gave a sense of reality to the gamer (Nelson, 2002). On the other hand it also does matter on the genre of the game and where and when the placement of the product does occur in the game. Many players preferred not to have placements as it would crumble the notion of the fantasy world, which is also one of the key reasons why most customers do indulge in video games (Nelson, 2002). Nelson also provides a hypothesis by stating that most of the participants, who were against brand placement as an advertising method, were also against any other form of advertising (Nelson,2002). In relation to his theory, Molesworth with made a similar study consisted of interviewing five focus groups. Like Nelson, he too found that most of the participants being interviewed have a positive approach to brand placement as it helped the makers of the game financially and similarly induced a sense of reality (Molesworth, 2005). One concern that rose among the participants was that many a time games creators would develop games with a high potential of brand placement and be only driven with that purpose, distracting them from the purpose of the simulation itself (Molesworth, 2005). Comparing placements in movies to placements in video games, it seems that customers are more inclined to being acceptable towards placements in video games due to the fact that video games are still not as realistic as movies and the quality of the game depends on the level of realism (Molesworth,2005). Even with this, no studies thus far have confirmed that products that are deemed controversial are less acceptable in video games in relation to movies (Molesworth, 2005).
The Effectiveness
Many dispute the importance of the attitude of the consumer towards product placement since it is a concept that works inconspicuously. For example, even though many consumers claim that they indulge in or buy brands or products that are placed in movies, it still does not guarantee or prove that they actually do so (Gould, 2000). In comparison to this, Hyder found that often customers were influenced by advertising that they claim to never have been exposed to (Hyder, 2006).
Memory
The key concept to comprehending the influence that product placement has on on its consumers or gamers is the memory system as it has a major impact on buying and consuming decisions (Ambler & Vakratsas, 1999). According to Schacter and Ochsner, many practitioners saw the memory system as the only system that stored information first in a short term area and later transferred to a long term storage area (Schacter & Oschner, 1993). Many observations down the line indicated the presence of more than one memory system. In his research, Schacter observed patients who were diagnosed with various kinds of damage to the brain. He also chose patients who rated well in the IQ tests but on the other hand had a hard time displaying emotions and feeling and had trouble making day to day decisions in their private world (Schacter, 1996). At the same time he had patients who suffered from amnesia and had trouble recalling simple things, such as names or places (Schacter, 1996). His results concluded by stating two differnet memory systems, namely explicit and implicit memory (Schacter, 1985). Explicit memory is when memory is stored and it is done so in the sense that the individual is aware they are using it making it intentional and out of choice. Implicit memory is used without the intention or knowledge of the individual nor do they know where the particular piece of knowledge comes from (Schacter, 1996)
Measuring Effectiveness
The effectiveness can be defined in many ways in relation to motive and goal od the product placement. Law and Braun state that not much is known about the effectiveness of product placement or how it can be measured (Law & Braun, 2000). Researchers like Nelson suggest that using memory systems such as recall and recognition are justified since the increasing awareness of a brand is one of the key goals of a marketing campaign (Nelson, 2002). Other researchers and practitioners claim that different brands or products can be placed in different scenes and making it effective in several ways (Law & Braun, 2004). They also state that recall is a good measurement when the consumer is very much involved in the buying decision whereas implied memory tests are more effective when the decision is spontaneous (Law & Braun, 2004). Thus, since the result depending on the over all goal of the placement it is hard to stick to one form of measurement of effectiveness. Having just one viewpoint to the subject would negate the work done on methods such as “Recognition, Recall, Attitude change and Observed Brand Preferance” (Law & Braun, 2004).
Recognition
Babin and Carder were the first to publish studies on the evaluation on the effectiveness of product placement in movies. Their studies were conducted on whether the audience was able to successfully recognize the brands that were placed in two separate movies, specifically Rocky 3 and Rocky 5 (Babin & Carder, 1996). Their studies concluded by stating that the audience was able to identify the brands placed and also recognize the brands that were not present. Along with this they suggested that the audience was able to recognize the brands that were placed later in the movie in comparison to ones that were placed earlier (Babin & Carder, 1996). This indicates that the effectiveness of a product placement is not only limited to factors like being central or subtle (Law & Braun, 1996). It is interesting to compare this notion to that of product placement is video games as most of the time placements occur only later in story line of the video game. For instance in racing games such as ‘Burnout’ or Need for Speed, the ‘A’ grade supercars (Lamborghini, Ferrari, Ford GT) only appear after the player has passed through certain levels. Putting Babin and Carders theory in to perspective in relation to the video game, it suggest that obtaining the super cars after several hours of game time is more effective than having them placed earlier in the game, giving the gamer a sense of accomplishment and in turn having more of an impact on the memory (Lehu, 2007). Russell, who claims that it was more likely for brands to be recognized if they were meaningful, carried out another study on the subject of recognition in relation to product placement and also that brand placements were more impactful when used only in the form of audio (Russell, 2002). This contradicts the theories of recall put forth by Vollmers who found a higher recall of product placement visually in comparison to audio (Vollmers, 1994). Whereas Gupta and Lord have a commonality with Russell, stating that there is a higher recall when brands are placed via audio (Gupta & Lord, 2002).
Recall
Using recall as a source of measurement of the effectiveness of product placement by researchers did not provide constructive results (Lehu, 2007). Vollmer and Chartier in their respective research found high recall of brands placed in two separate movies (Vollmers, 1994) (Chartier, 2000). In comparison to this, as stated by Gupta and Lord, “Sabherwal and Griffin found only marginally higher levels of recall in their study, in which some participants saw a movie where a restaurant’s name was mentioned, whereas other saw the exact same movie, but where the sentence which included the name had been replaced by silence” (Gupta & Lord, 1998). This does suggest that the audio placements do not necessarily have the impact in terms of recall as placements carried out visually. With a wide angles look at the work on the subject, it does not necessarily stand true. Blaxton and Roediger explain that cognitive psychology states that modality does not have much of an impact on the explicit memory experiments (Blaxton & Roediger, 1987). Law and Braun suggest that a brand that is placed visually and is mentioned at the same time is more central and more effective in comparison to Sabherwal’s suggestion of brand placement having a slight edge when placed in the form of audio in contrast to visually (Gupta & Lord, 1998). Law and Braun suggest that it is essential that the placement be as relatable and central to the plot in order to gain high recall (Law & Braun, 2004). Similarly Gupta and Lord published a paper on their research using two movies, ‘Project X’ and ‘Big’. The paper demonstrates that Pepsi, being a prominent placement in the movie Big resulted in a higher recall as compared to the subtle placement of the same in Project X (Gupta & Lord, 1998). Relating the same to video games, the concept of the placement revolving around the plot is more complex as compared to movies. Billboards in video games can at times be more central to the plot than others. The bonus feature that sets video games apart from movies is that the consumer can interact with these placements, which makes all placements central to the plot. As mentioned earlier, the product placements can be some sort of achievement in the video game that drives the gamer and keeps him motivated in accomplishing levels.
Lehu states “research papers on video games have only looked at centrality in terms of size or placement of billboards making it questionable whether such grouping is most appropriate for this media” (Lehu, 2007).
Thus it is evident that modality is of high importance when it comes to effectiveness irrespective of using recognition or recall. At the same time it is essential to make choice on which of these two techniques of measurements is to be used, as it will help decide whether a visual placement is better or an auditory one. It is argued that it does depend on the on the goal of the organization whether recognition or recall should be used and that it is more likely that a visual medium will be more effective if the over all aim of the organization is to adhere to a subtle product placement (Law & Braun, 2004).
Attitude Change
Although researchers have approached the subject and have shown that brands that are communicated using the conventional methods of television commercial advertising do have a high potential of changing consumer attitude ( Shrum & O’Guinn, 1997). Although there is very little literature on whether product placements have an influence on consumers to any extent. As mentioned earlier, Russell was one of the few to have explored this field and he claimed that exploiting memory scores did not always result in the change of consumer attitude at the most optimal level (Russell, 2002). To this he adds by stating that recognition of the product placement is at its peak when using the auditory medium, whereas the change in attitude towards brands is more evident when placed visually (Russell, 2002). Thus when relating this to video games, it is quite constrained and does challenge the useful measurements that are based on implicit memory in regard to, if the goal is to change the attitude of the consumer towards the product/brand (Lehu, 2007).
Observed brand preference
Many researchers such as Law an Braun state that measuring the effectiveness of product placements through methods relating to memory are not necessarily the best approach (Law & Braun, 2000). Their statement does hold value as it has been seen that the methods of recall or recognition do not always help in predicting the influence product placement has on its consumers/audience (Law & Braun, 2000). Researchers such as Heckler and Shapiro conducted a study in which they used electronic articles and placed adverts next to it (Heckler & Shapiro, 1997). The study was constructed so that little or no attention was paid to the adverts and split their participants into two groups. One group was exposed to the adverts and the second was not. The result concluded that the amount of recognition did not differ amongst the two groups (Heckler & Shapiro, 1997). Shapiro after the experiment, setup up a buying service and made the participants from both set groups list down products that they would indulge in buying (Shapiro, 1997). The result stated that more participants wrote down products that they had been exposed to as compared to the group that wasn’t exposed to at all, thus implying that the measurement of memory directly is not always the best approach (Shapiro, 1997). In contrast to Law and Braun, Shapiro suggests that the methods such as recognition and recall do not qualify to measuring the more subtle effects of product placement (Shapiro, 1997). Law and Braun put forth a study to identify the effectiveness of product placements in television shows (Law & Braun, 2000). They tried to find a comparison of their experiment on brand choice with the results of a recognition and recall test by using two separate episodes from the hit television show, Seinfeld (Law & Braun, 2000). The results of comparing the two tests showed that the concept of centrality has a distinguished effect on the memory tests, where as it did not have an impact on the brand choice of the consumers (Law & Braun, 2000). They also come to the conclusion that their results are in line with the memory theories, which generally state that, the result of similar memory tests do not necessarily be related to one of the implicit choice (Law & Braun, 2000).
Law and Braun’s findings could have a major impact on video games research on the subject as most studies have applied such memory tests and not observed brand preference (Twist, 2004).
Lewis and Auty conducted a renowned experiment on a group of children from England on the subject of observed brand preference. (Lewis & Auty,2004). They used clips from the movie Home Alone as the base of their experiment and split the children into two groups. One group was shown a clip with a can of Pepsi spilling by the lead charcter and the second group was exposed to a similar clip but with a non-branded product was consumed (Lewis & Auty, 2004). The children were then called in for an interview and were offered a choice at the table in the form of a ‘free drink’, Pepsi or Coca Cola. Lewis and Auty noted their brand choice and came to conclusion where the result also varied if the children had watched the movie before. They concluded by suggesting that significantly more children who had watched the clip and watched the movie before chose Pepsi as their preferred drink at the interview as compared to the group that was not exposed to the product placement in the video clip but have seen the movie before (Lewis & Auty, 2004). This not only proves that brand observation does work in the favour of product placements but also there more of an impact if there is repeat exposure of the product in more scenes than one (Lewis & Auty,2004). Relating Lewis and Auty’s hypothesis to video games seems fair as one spends a lot more time playing a video game in comparison to a movie, which normally averages to an hour and a half. Thus in video games, repeat exposure of a brand placement has a lot of potential making product placements in video games a more effective medium in comparison to movies (Lehu, 2007).
Placement in Video Games
The fact that a consumer can interact with brands in a game makes it much harder for researchers to evaluate it as the subject is more complex as compared to placements in movies. Many researchers such as Chaney and Lin have explored the effectiveness of product placements in games only using the measurement technique of recall or recognition. Nelson on the other hand published his experiment on the effectiveness of product placements in video games using the same measuring techniques (Nelson, 2002). His experiment revolved around a racing video game, twenty gamers and questionnaires (Nelson, 2002). His results showed that the gamers/participants could recall only forty percent of the brands placed right after the game was played and only fifteen percent after a period of five months (Nelson, 2002). Soon after, Chaney presented a similar experiment and claimed that the results showed that only six percent of the participants recalled the very last brand memorized whereas thirty percent recalled the most memorized brands (Chaney, 2004). This does have less value than Nelson’s experiment, as there was no time gap between the game play and questionnaire for the participants, thus not pushing the limits of the test. Adding to this Nelson states that the physical size of the product placement in the video game did not vary the results of his experiment (Nelson,2002). On the other hand Constantin published his study on how the size of billboards of brands did in fact affect the level of recall (Constantin, 2004). His experiment consisted of participants being exposed to three different third dimensional (3D) environments with the billboards of brands placed within them. After ever environment the participants were presented a questionnaire, which made them list down the brand placements that they could recall (Constanin, 2004). The results showed that participants appeared to be more influenced by the billboards as compared to direct product placements in relation to recall, but in relation to recognition the efficiency of billboards were level with direct product placements in the simulated environments (Constantin, 2004). Constantin’s hypothesis cannot be applied to gamers as the participants where not essentially interactive in the simulated 3D environment which set them apart from regular gamers who go out there in the virtual world and find their way through the game, making them more attentive to detail (Lehu,2007). In addition to this Lehu comments on Constanin’s experiment by stating that the product placements had no relation to the simulated environment making it different to actual game play where the gamer can interact with placement in the form of an achievement or something he or she stumbles upon which are key characteristics of a video game (Lehu, 2007).
Repeat exposure
As stated earlier, the fact that each game is generally played several times with many hours of gameplay gives it a lot of potential for using them for product placements and making them a medium that marketers sort out to frequently (Delaney, 2004). With a standard ten hours of gameplay or more, gamers have the chance to be exposed to several product placements throughout the game over and over again. (Delaney, 2004). Even though no studies have directly showcased how the repeat exposure of brand placements increases the effectiveness of it, some studies have touched upon mere exposure or just brief repeat exposure (Delany, 2004). Berlyne explored in his studies that the results of his experiments on the subject followed an inverted U graph, which states that the effect increased till a certain point and then stabilized, which after leads to a decline (Berlyne, 1990). The graph plays out so, due to two factors, which are habituation and boredom (Nordhielm, 2002). These factors have a major impact on the effectiveness of the repeated exposure to brand placement, which is explained by Anand and Sternthal’s experiment (Anand & Sternthal, 1990). Their study explores the “application to repetition of advertising,” which is named the two-factor theory. (Anand & Sternthal, 1990). Their studies suggests these negative or positive mind sets during the viewing of advertising have a major influence that gets converted on to the brand (Anand & Sternthal, 1990). For example, if the viewer is ‘bored’ during the showcasing of the advert, then his negative thoughts during the advert affects his judgment of the brand itself. On the other hand if the viewer is entertained during the advert, then his feelings towards the brand are positive (Anand & Sternthal, 1990). Although these can be considered only in the case of attitude towards brands and not when measuring via recognition or recall methods (Nordhielm,2002). Another famous model was produced by Bornstein and D’Agostino, known as the “Perceptional Fluency/Misattribution Model”, and this defines simply the “ease with which people can perceive, encode and process the stimulus” (Bornstein & D’Agostino, 1994).
Conclusion
Many researchers have explored the attitude of the audience towards product placement in movies. It is seen that under most conditions the customers have a positive approach towards brand placements and also how separate factors influence a different view on the subject. Along side movies, product placements in video games too generally stir up a positive attitude from the viewpoint of the consumer and a key reason being that these placements give the game a new element and give it a sense of realism. Its interesting to see that there are no studies that involve a variation in the influence when it comes to gender or culture for product placements in video games or a link between the attitude towards brand placements and the buying decisions of gamers. In such a case it would be healthy to say that controversial product placements in video games have a neutral impact on the gamers irrespective of whether they like these placements or not. Also in relation to this one could even raise the question on how essential is the customers point of view on product placements in the eyes of the marketing organizations. Referring to the effectiveness of product placements in the literature, it is seen that there is no one method or best method in measuring the effectiveness as it all depends on the aim of the marketing organizations and what they hope to achieve with their placements. It also in the end depends on the type of decisions the consumers of the organization make. Hence, due to this reason the literature that involved recognition, consumer attitude change, recall and brand preference to gauge the effectiveness of product placements were explored. In relation to this, it was seen that the different types of product placements that appeared to be more effective had a direct correlation to the methods that are used to measure the effectiveness. For example it was seen that visual product placements were more inclined to be effective when using recall to measure in movies, whereas auditory brand placements seemed to have more of an impact in relation to recognition in the same. Even though no studies revealed whether audio and visual placements had an impact in relation to observed brand preference, but at the same time it showed that there was definitely a change in attitude when measured based on the visual medium. When speaking about video games, it seems to have results that vary among the literature present. One study shows that the physicality of the billboards present in the video games itself has an impact on the effectiveness of the product placement when taking into consideration recall, where as another study claims that there is no such relation through its results. The face the only a handful of participants for each study does not seem like a fair number of people to base theories and experiments on as seen in the literature above. Using the method of recall for measuring for a small size of participants would indicate errors and not enough to generalize their results on the masses. As stated above by researchers, games normally have a game time of up to ten to twelve hours or more making the repeated exposure technique perfect for video games which marketing organizations look at as an opportunity. Although, no studies have come up with results on how the effectiveness develops as a function of the time played. Thus it is possible that the gamers/consumers get influenced and the effectiveness increases as the players get exposed to brands repeatedly and on the other hand it could also mean that the effectiveness drops after being exposed to brand placements over and over again as the gamer would get used to the placement and eventually tune it out. This could be harmful as the attitude towards the advert would be affected and in turn having a negative approach to the brand itself. Although certain gaps were explored in the literature review, it would be impossible to address them all. But the one key gap that seems to arise is the fact that there is no constructive study on the product placements in video games that explore how the effectiveness of a product placement enhances as the game is played more and more.
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