Etienne Bressoud

The Product Well Placed

ABSTRACT The relative impact of placement and audience characteristics on product placement recall is assessed with survey data from 3,532 individuals who viewed a DVD movie rental the previous day. Eleven American movies were selected and the executional characteristics of 88 placements therein were coded. Viewing the movie on a large screen emerged as the most important factor on recall: in addition to its main effect, it increases the positive impact of visual characteristics of the placement. Another key finding is the detrimental effect of multiple simultaneous placements: not only do they reduce placement recall, they eliminate the otherwise positive impact of a placements level of plot integration and auditory mention.

Recall of Brand Placement in Movies: Interactions between Prominence and Plot Connection in Real Conditions of Exposure

A product placement can be characterized by its prominence and its plot connection. This research scrutinizes the interaction between these two elements in the context of the consumer perceptual process. The results of a survey based on 32,662 exposures to brand placements in DVD movies showed that prominent and plot connected placements lead to better brand recall (spontaneous day-after recall) than prominent placements that are not plot connected, and that the latter leads to better brand recall than plot connected placements that are not prominent. The brands appearing in non prominent and non plot connected placements are the worst recalled.