Trend Prediction: Product Placement

As streaming services replace traditional forms of television, people continue to ask what will happen to commercials.  We’ve seen them on Youtube and Hulu, but with the option to skip, this is no way to sustain traditional visual form advertising.

I have seen product placement before (and I did buy the New Coke x Stranger Things collab), but as people become more sensitive to what is being sold to them and more wary of advertisements I believe product placement is becoming more important. 

Once you see it, you can’t help but keep noticing. 

Did you see it on Ted Lasso?

Or on Emily in Paris?

People don’t always get it right . . .

I hope to see this really picking up in the next year or so.  I am excited to watch screenwriters using their characters’ connection to a product to tell us more about that brand. 

The classic example of Elliott leaving a trail of Reese’s Pieces in E.T. allowed kids to connect with the candy so strongly that sales went up between 65% to 85%.  Wouldn’t you want to be as brave and beloved as Elliott?  

It would be on brand for Nike to show us that their sneakers are for the guys like Coach – an average-level athlete and sports fan with great passion.   Maybe KANGOL is highlighting how their berets are unique, spunky, and stylish like Emily.  Peloton commented that Mr. Big may be the correct demographic of a Peloton customer, but that his “lifestyle choices and perhaps even his family history, which often is a significant factor, were the likely cause of his death. Riding his Peloton Bike may have even helped delay his cardiac event,” according to CNN Business. 

While nailing placements presents a new challenge for screenwriters and advertising creatives alike, it is a great way to keep advertising unintrusive to our audiences yet persuasive.