A PLUG BY ANY OTHER NAME... contd.

Whereas in traditional ad formats and decades old media-buying techniques have worked wonders in conventional markets, product placement is itself a niche that we need to look at more closely. I don't even think that we should restrict ourselves to movies when we think about it. Like all marketing solutions, there is nothing revolutionary about it --it's just how we use it. We have always had logos of tyre manufacturers and engine lubricants plastered on racing cars. Trouble is we always called it 'sponsorship', writing exclusivity into the contract.

But what if we threw exclusivity out of the window, and as in the movies, invited everyone in? As in life, why shouldn't a guy in a Porsche Boxter be allowed to follow a gal in a Mazda Miata? Look at how they run the Olympics. The official truck is allowed to be in the same village as the official sedan. There is an official bottled water, and an official soft drink. I'm no fan of the over commercialization of the games, but nor am I in favour of it being bought over by the Nike corporation either. In the laissez faire world, Atlanta does not belong to Coca-Cola. Reebok shouldn't be the only footprint on the planet, and the Calvin Klein shouldn't be tattooed on the brain of every high-school kid. Don't get me wrong. I'm not advocating that Coca-Cola turn a blind eye to a Pepsi blimp at a music show sponsored by the real thing, but what if TV commentators at a Pepsi-sponsored cricket match sipped ice cold Cokes? Note the subtle difference that product placement introduces. Flying a blimp over the actual arena where the event takes place is an infringement of 'air space', so to speak. But if the TV coverage is not sponsored by the same sponsor of the cricket match, then the air time is not 'owned' by anyone. A creative use of product placement could have Ranjan Madugalle --who, at the time of going to press, works for neither soft drink marketer--could be allowed to sip a Coke for much less than the cost of a 30-second commercial. It's legal, decent, honest and not half as irritating as having to watch the same commercial at the end of every over.

But it's in the movies that product placement is still earning its reputation, gingerly getting into TV programming. Outdated Federal Communications Commission (FCC) laws preclude the technique being used on the tube. The reason? The FCC law bans the use of brand name packaged products being mentioned or shown on regulated broadcast programs. It's funny how the FCC doesn't seem to have any problem with the formats where this actually happens, lock stock and barrel. I'm talking of blatant, uninspired, product-infested pseudo-programming that pretends to be editorial, in the format that we all know as 'infomercials'. But the FCC chooses to look the other way, dismissing it as advertising.

THERE' S ALWAYS A LOOPHOLE
Trust the Network TV advertisers to find their way around it. Some time ago in this column, I referred the inventive way in which CBS had Elizabeth Taylor woven into 2 hours of prime time programming, appearing in different sitcoms, searching for her 'Black Pearls'. As a launch of her perfume bearing the same name, this was a new dimension to name dropping. Likewise, ABC gave product placement a field day when it had its script for the series "Thirty Something" approved around the yuppie cast's conspicuous consumption. When such creative means are not available, advertisers turn to Cable TV, that escapes FCC regulation on these matters. And so, in 1993, a product placement of Evian bottled water on the X-Files, netted16.3 million impressions on its first run, and another 8.1 million impressions on a re-run that same year. And that was just one of the shows the up market H2O was on. Evian's total impressions for 1996 was a whopping 650 million. It may be an inexact science, yet in terms of cost per thousand and target media, this beats conventional advertising to a pulp. But that does not mean that it could ever replace conventional electronic advertising. The radio jingle, the absolutely positively irritating car salesman, and the amusing, memorable character of something like the recent 'Got Milk?' ads, are almost indestructible. Conventional advertising has its place, but it would be a rotten day when movies accept commercial breaks, rather than product placement in movies. (Imagine the horror of being interrupted in the middle of the shower scene in 'Schindler's List' for a commercial by Anton PVC pipes?). In that case, product placement is an arguably good alternative. Because of the durable nature of movies, an advertiser would find it a great long-term investment.

Whereas a conventional media buy, once use up, is gone forever, buy a placement in the right movie, and you've got your unlimited exposure with nothing more to pay, ever. Think about the 'Reese's Pieces' chocolates or the Coors beer on Spielberg's movie 'E.T.' Who objects to those? If I were to tape a movie for you off air, complete with the commercial breaks, unless you're a creative director of an ad agency who watches commercials with your finger on the pause button, you'll fast forward through the ads, right? But you probably won't be upset when Tommy Lee Jones in 'Batman Forever' secures the steering column of a helicopter with an auto anti-theft device called 'The Club', and parachutes out of it. Needless to say, The Club sales are soaring. The beauty of it is that it's integral to the storyline --something that commercials find hard to be. Oh, and did I mention that The Club sales are soaring?

I'm not sure how acceptable this may be to Sinhala and Tamil movie makers, but the next time you pop a 'Jurassic Park' into the VCR, ignore Richard Attenborough for a moment and look out for the Jeep and the Ford Explorer. I could ruin your appreciation of movies by going on about the Mercedes (in 'Lost World'), the PowerBooks (in 'Mission Impossible'), and the ubiquitous Ray Bans that have turned up again this Summer (in 'Men in Black'), but I'll agree to put a stop to this name dropping on one condition. That's if you'll allow me to edit this last line with my Parker ball-point pen that's either in the pocket of my Levi's jacket, or beside my Motorola mouse pad, right here next to my Macintosh Performa computer.