How product placement works

In this blog, I describe how product placement works. To do this, I use Dr. Max Sutherland’s (an author and registered psychologist) paper that is published in 1981 about the subtle power of agenda setting. Agenda setting is an explanation for the working of product placement. It’s a theory that the mass-news media has a large influence. Nevertheless, the media don’t tell us what to think, only what to think about.

A key part of brand development is making a brand more recognizable and that’s what product placement does. So, the job of marketeers consists of getting a higher rank on “the mental agenda”. We can conclude with the words that product placement is a powerful and progressively popular "new" marketing tool.

Product placement works effectively. Two examples; when Clark Gable doesn’t wear an undershirt in “It Happened One Night,” (1934) sales of undershirts decreased with 40%. Secondly, Ray-Ban knew an increase for its Predator 2 sunglasses after the movie Man in Black was launched.

http://www.sutherlandsurvey.com/Columns_Papers/Why%20Product%20Placement%20Works_Feb05.pdf

Sophie Leyn