October 15, 2001	Monday	Rajab 27, 1422

ALTHOUGH, there has been no research done to evaluate the process, but there is considerable evidence that product placement can benefit the brand enormously.

To acheive maximum impact, the promotional activity of the brand needs to go beyond the conventional means. And for that companies are recognizing that as with other promotional activities, product placement should also be put into promotional practice. It is becoming one of the emergent areas of marketing communications. We can define product placement as the inclusion of, or reference to, a product or service within the programme in return for payment. The product can achieve popular status through its association with some form of media activity, its apparent usage by a character in the film, singer in his video or simply its presence, which makes its acceptable for subsequent use.

Trendy west always is not a giant to slip the product through any means available, which can signal the customer. Now that there is a considerable supply of products for use in films, television and plays from the gigantic companies in west, some of the MNCs here in Pakistan too have started using the reference of product and services within the programme.

If we fetch in an example then we have a lot of singers who in their videos have started accepting the proposals of the companies to feature their products even in a song of 4 to 5 minutes because in our country people love to have some kind of celebrity association and perhaps this holds true for any part of the world as idolaters are found everywhere.

Now films are also being considered by the manufactures though not so frequently to place their product in the scenes where climax attains its height. Either the male protagonist of the film brings product in his usage or the female lead shows its association with her depicted life. Sometimes the songs are being shown when the background portrays the logo of the product enjoying full limelight. But most of the times the product is being shown as needless and there is undue prominence in question. Product receives overt and blatant promotion and its emergence within a particular context gives it irrelevance and peripheral nature with everyday life. This shows that in Pakistan the people involved in product placement should give more way to creativity so that product placement can provide an active and independent demonstration of how the brand fits into people’s lives. sometimes assigned to the main lead are negative and in this case if they are embracing a brand, it might transmit an undesired message.

Very unlikely, in our country even if you want to promote a certain brand of sunglasses, it will not matter if they are being worn on a cold murky day. All the importance goes to the fact of its being shown to the audience for a considerable period of time in association with someone in the eyes of public. The only thing in question happens to be the event of communication even if it’s not effectual and there the consumers start discussions of tongue in cheek and declares the product out of question. The result is being far from expected and the mind sharing forecast goes in a negative direction. The whole personality of the brand is distorted.

Thus far, product placements remain very much a hit and miss business. To avoid all the slapdash, it should be properly planned and all the critical factors should be very carefully considered while giving their brands for placement because it’s a matter of their brand image and a wrong placement can unravel the whole integrity of marketing communications.

The effectiveness emanated by other ways of communications could be completely vanished since the off-putting representation by a wrong placement could be very commanding.