I am a big fan of Tim Burton movies and so I decided to watch Dark Shadows (very interesting). In the movie, I couldn’t help but notice all the product placement.
Below is a quick clip featuring the Mcdonald’s golden arches:
Below is the Shell Station shown throughout the movie:
Shell Station in Dark Shadows
I would classify product placement as more of an aspect of advertising then PR (most is paid for people!), but I can’t help but be interested in how it works and what effects there are.
You see products everywhere and how exactly does product placement work? I came up with a few different ways to be successful in product placement. Think less neon arches in Dark Shadows and more Adidas tag on Johnny Depp’s head wrap in Pirates of the Caribbean.
Is this even real?!
1. Integrate your product into the plot. This is a less obvious way to do product placement. If your product sticks out too much, viewers may start focusing on it and it may distract them from the movie–and then people like me might write a whole blog post about it. If your product really takes away from the movie or show, this can have a negative effect because you wants to be distracted from the plot?!
2. Don’t be obvious. This could be an extension of the aforementioned guideline, but be sly about it! No one wants to be bombarded with bad product placement like this one:
3. Be creative and stand out. Look for other venues to place your product. Video games, music videos, etc are great places that are not as “crowded” of a place to promote your product. To be creative, find something that matches a different perspective of your product.
Overall, Dark Shadows was a good movie and I do believe that the placement of McDonald’s was for humor. What are your guidelines for product placements? What makes a good and bad placement?
If you want to check out some good product placements check out this list of top product placements in 2011:
2011. Results found via Nielsen.
Also, doesn’t the witch Angelique look a lot like Emily Maynard?! Interesting.
Duly Noted, Barnabas Collins, McDonalds, AND Shell.
DulyNotedPR 