A study by the Simon Fraser University at the British Columbia University (West Canada) has discovered how quick is our brain in recognizing the brands that we prefer. Just in 150” of seconds it is able to point out the logo and make is feel sensations. The eyelashes’ blink is 4 times slower, just to give you an idea.To point out a brand we don’t like or understand, we need 450” of seconds.And the same proportions when we have to remember a name or a person. This means that many of the biggest discussions by famous media planners, all the world around, during the last 25 years, have been over-passed by the study of such a “simple” encephalogram and a few frames of some videos. If a brand has its own public, it doesn’t matter if the spot lasts 30′ or 5′, it doesn’t make any difference if the billboard is seen by passing by with the car at 65 k/h or 32 k/h and, it doesn’t make any difference if the jacket is present in two and not in four scenes of the movie. Following this study it is more important if we know and like the actor or actress that wears the jacket. The product placement instead is more efficacious if, once our brain has perceived the product in the movie, it is able to recognise it in the window shops.By considering all these results it would be important to reconsider all the promotional investments promoting the emotional visibility and neglecting the time of visibility, maybe planning contemporary and following supporting activities.

The product placement should grow up at the same time with the “Placement Planner”: the professional figure (adviser or agency) that studies any possible occasion for product placement, analyses, evalues and proposes them to his/her clients on the base of their profile, budget and aim. Well the bad news is that in Italy this does not happen as the Placement Planner does not exist. Really the chances to plan placements within shows, serials, movies, clips and videogames both in Italy as well abroad are concrete…it is only managed in quite an uncoordinated way, sometimes just supported by a PR activity or a few more. No structure is able to gather all the placement possibilities to propose them in a well-integrated planning of product placement that can use more productions as well more means. The other evening I was watching the Olympic Games and above all the curling game between Swiss and Danemark. Curling is a new and pleasant sport (a sort of bowling on ice): during the last edition in Turin many people have begun to appreciate this sport quite chic without being snob (as the Polo). Well I noticed two things during that game. The first is that there are quite a good number of updated fans; the other is that in a month there will be the World Men’s Curling Championship here in Italy… in Cortina to be precise. Unfortunately it is too late to think to exploit such an occasion to do some product placements; but if there had been a work of coordination, the organisers would have gathered funds not only through sponsorships but even through this channel. And the Companies would have been pleased….that night moreover, quite a quarter of an hour was dedicated to the make-up of the nice Danish athletes plus an unimprecise number os minutes to explain the technical equipment and more. An event, such as the World Championship, can be coonected to an incredible range of secondary initiatives, promotion activities and more, speaking in terms of placement big “windows” of great interest. I believe there will need time but the product placement will pass through the Planning Planner sooner or later.

In the web site www.emarketer.com a few statistics have been published with the comparison between the social network use, in the last two or three years, and its users generation. This is an important element even for those who employ product placement as it shares quite well its public on the base of age and behaviour. This should involve anybody interested in marketing but in our case even more as the web is one of the most evident and strong attraction for product placement. Still nowadays, lots of Companies have problems when planning how to value at its best any TV or movie passage, as in all Europe there are enough legal gaps about product placement: until a few years ago they tried to hinder the placement on the base of a very restrictive interpretation of the laws and not to promote it. On the contrary, once you have got a placement you can do lots of interesting things/actions. One, for example, is to analyse th statistics here above to study your chances of visibility within the social networks more similar to your marketing strategies and brand profile.

After 26 years, Hollywood has thought to do a remake of the well-loved “Footloose”, about the way to rebel and modernize of a group of young people in a very little American province town, still all cowboys and Calvinist sermons. The Paramount has called Chace Crawford for the role of Kevin Bacon, after the giving up of Zac Efron (maybe worried by the unavoidable comparison with the big actor). To Crawford’s side the nice Hulianne Hough, country singer famous to the big public for her double victory at the American edition of “Dancing with the Stars”.

The Footloose 2011 edition will be dominated by the urban music and important coreographies, guaranteed by a very huge budget (25 millions of dollars). The beginning of the shooting has not been decided yet, but it will be after the middle of March for sure. Among the most needed products there are young and modern clothing, music and everyday teenager life products.

Harvey has been the greatest movie of all times. Sorry for “Apolcalypse” and the Odyssey, “The Godfather” or “Modern Time” but the imaginary rabbit, 3-meter high, friend to James Stewart at theatre before, on the set after embodies the real meaning of the movie and underlines its potentialities more than anybody else…..with no special effects (Avatar) or structured dialogues (Big Kahuna). Everything is already present in the viewer’s fantasy that has to be free from surreal projects, done exactlyfor him… and just for him.
Now Steven Spielberg, great visionary, has seriously decided to propose his new interpretation of such an historical landmark of Hollywood cinema. The choice of Tom Hanks for the role of Elwood P.Dowd had appeared almost for granted as much as his giving up. For ever he has always given up any comparison with James Stewart. So here the choice of Robert Downing Jr, that could be the winning solution though even a replacement. His acting, often enriched by unpredictable madness could give the character new and interesting shadings never experienced by the great James Stewart, who worked above all on the level of ingenuousness, freshness and cordiality. For this Elwood P.Dowd could get a new life. The shooting timeline is on its definition way. From the point of view of product placement the chances are lots and any brand could and should stand as a candidate…

 Since time the Tv formats for teenagers are a sort of mix (or “crossover”)between music and light comedy, with a little bit of action, good feelings , humour and comics.The first examples get back to the 60s when the serial “The Monkees” (a sort of stupid Beatles clone) allowed the band to sell more than the real “Fab Four” that they imitated.In the 70s other formulas like the glossy “Partridge Family”, inspired to the true story of Cowllins Family that a few years before had obtained quite a good success in the USA. Even in this case, the record sell-out was quite a good success, in fact both in 2001 and 2005 there were a few rieditions. Again in that years, David Soul, the famous “Hutch” in “Starsky and Hutch” in one episode played the guitar. At the same time his LP was played around and reached the first place in the most important music top tens….. and it was not the last time. In the 80s there was the musical “Fame”, in the 90s the R&B (“Will the Prince of Bell Air”, above all). In the last few years there have been quite two phenomenons: High School Music (the updated version of “Fame”) and the nice Hannah Montana, a sort of mp3 version of Happy Days.

However the most interesting among the recent productions is “The Jonas” by Walt Disney (like most of all appeared in the last 10 years): the daily life of three brothers that are even a famous rock band. Here the success is due to different factors: good music (they have got the Grammy nomination and won the American Music Award) and good TV production, a rhythm and photography style that makes it nice and pleasant. A manic attention is given to the characters’ look (almost a feature of Disney productions), thanks to the supporting role of their costume designer.
There are good chances of visibility for musical instruments, furniture, home accessories (their flat is quite a mixture of design and news of any kind), electronic products and PC, and any kind of objects fit for young, sharp, clever and self-confident teenagers.

Very soon the shootings for the new season will begin and the chance to get placement for all the creative and unknown Italian brands is really huge.

In 2009 Lady Gaga was proclaimed the artist of the year. Innovation, provocation, intuition and long-view have made of Lady Gaga a rich, famous and appreciated artist. The 2010 has begun much better with an incredible mediatic appearance. Still at the end of 2009 she has begun to gather prizes (Stylemaker Award) to do her best at the “People’s Choiche Awards” thus opening, a few hours ago, the Grammy Awards with Elton John. This eclectic artist is really interesting as she has considered product placement as an essential resource both for “fund recruirement” as well “look scouting”. Thus the video “Bad Romance” for example, has officially confirmed 8 product placements with brands such as “Nemiroff” Vodka, “HP”, “Nintendo “Wii”, Burberry, Safari glasses, etc.

Even if the musical videos have always been a way to promote brands and products through product placement, at least in Europe this opportunity is still nowadays undervalued. On the contrary it is an unexpensive, “well targeted” mean, quick in terms of results and easy to realise. And the big/medium Companies that one year ago believed in this great outsider of the Show Biz today can well enjoy themselves.

Adam Sandler and Jennifer Aniston have begun to shoot “Pretend Wife”, a comedy set between Beverly Hills and the Hawaii, maybe inspired by Bridget Asher’s novel. The plot however is not exactly the same you can read in the web where Jennifer Aniston pretends to be the wife or worst a cheat. The synopsys starts with a Danny Macabbee (Adam Sandler) humiliated at his wedding when his future wife admits to have cheated him taking advantage of his generosity and richness. Of course that day he doesn’t get married, but from that moment on the next 15 years he realises the potentialities of a wedding ring pretending a nonexistent wife. Everything gets incredible until his meeting with Palmer (Jennifer Aniston) he gets in love with. The movie will be out for Saint Valentine, while here for spring. The chances of product placements for Italian products are incredible. More than half of the movie is set along the streets and shops of Beverly Hills where the two actors get in and out with small and big packages, buying clothes, accessories and any kind of luxury goods. In particular the production is looking for:

bags
shoes
beauty products
drinks and beverages
Cars and off-road vehicles
Summer clothes
Golf equipment

“When in Rome” (we already talked about it) is out in the American theaters; its a Disney comedy that at the beginning had to go out last summer then at Christmas. At the end, it has been postponed again until now to avoid the overcrowding of new productions and the sinking of such a nice project. It’s quite a magic and romantic story, set between Rome and New York performed by quite good actors (except the great Danny Devito), as Kristen Bell e Josh Duhamell. The actors are handsome but not sexy, good but without a great personality, thus allowing the story to remain the most important element, as in all Disney movies. The inevitable stereotypes about Italy and the Italians are present without being so original. The result is however a nice and quite funny product, a sort of frappé between “My fat and big Greek Wedding” and “Mary Poppins”. Italy and its products are once again among the favourite subjects in Hollywood and the Italian Companies have begun to be aware of. The Jada brand, by Bisol Family, is present in a very remarkable way; a relationship with Disney means to get along a large and straight path that can take everywhere…even to Rome.

Last Thursday the big Clear Channel Radio officially opened a new platform of advertising strategy, able to broadcast the spots in the best way. The idea is not completely new, they admitted to have copied it from Google, that has been using the method for years. In fact when you put a word to look for, on your right a few ads appear, connected to the word itself for sense or logic (for ex. if you write “house”, there appear some real estate agencies). Google, on its hand, had copied the idea from the “right key” by Microsoft that helps you to get other possible functions in that moment. The logic of the process is winning and it’s the same employed by product placement. When planning projects within movies or TV serials (as well as Videogames or music Videos), it is necessary to trace a profile of the best testimonial, comparing its affinities to the available productions and only after this it is possible to decide if the placement is worthwhile or not. At least this should be the right way…and this is what Clear Channel has done, clearly in competition with the product placement. Happily this is possible only for the radio that until now has not been object of product placement for different reasons, both technical as well legal. The project that has been studied and tested for a year , has been applied by Clear Channel to the new album by AC/DC. On the 91 stations when some rock songs were played, at the end or after 30 seconds maximum, the spot about their CD was broadcasted. The results of such a strategy were incredible: only in the first week 784.000 copies of the CD have been sold. It is the second best result of 2009 in the USA. This means that to approach a product to its ideal contest, even in a very reduced temporal place, is the winning idea. And this is exactly what product placement does every day.

 For sure there is a format well developed in the TV entertainment world, the wine and food one.There is the serial by the young international creative chef (Jamie Oliver); the Tv report in the week-end with chefs, sommelliers and famous critics (Vissani, Luca Maroni ecc.), the semiprofessional and deepening one (New Work by Laura Ravaioli) and those for people who have few time but lots of passion (Nigella Express).  Even on the radio there are wine and food programmes (Decanter) or weekly appointments with interesting proposals for the week-end always connected to food. The web, especially, is full of sites about the good table, or video portals with huge amounts of channels for cooking class and degustation, more or less interesting from a quality point of view. For different reasons none of them have ever approached the product placement. The professional productions maybe considering this like a conflict of interest, the minor and independent ones not so interested in the Companies that have potentially proposed themselves. On this base, the project “Five stars Pans”, nominee at the “7 plots for 7 brands” competition presents something new as it has been thought eaxctly for the web and the product placement. Let’s thing about a video on demand, divided into subjects, very short and easy for anybody through the web. The set could be any real or creative location and the placement declinations will go from furniture to kitchenware to wine and food products .

Yesterday the new “Up in the Air” went out in the Italian cinemas and already got 6 nominations for Golden Globe. A good and nice movie by Jason Reitman and George Clooney well demonstrates his great direction and interpretation as it happened in “Burn after reading” by Cohen Brothers. A few days before Christmas the most important American movie journalist (Brook Barnes) wrote an article between fun and polemic about the massive product placement of which American Airlines and Hilton Hotels had got profit. The story is in fact about a man that spends most of his time and life between hotels and airports, going around the USA dismissing the employeers that their managers have not the courage to do. A few days after the coming out of the movie the two big Companies had underlined that for that presence no money was paid for. And such declaration provoked again the journalist who, in another article, wrote that this was just half of the truth. After the going out of the movie in the USA, both around American Airlines as well Hilton Hotels there were lots of promotional events, parties and much more with the intention to profit for such a great placement. It is important to underline that such a marketing operation had got very good results in such a difficult economic moment. As usual, the Americans have clapped in front of this third revelation obtaine by both the Companies.

As in other cases, the ways to be present with ones’ own brands are different. Considering the format of the event, the realities more interested can be those about products and brands of higher level that have the capacity and structure to develop supporting actions (before and after), with the aim to value at the best this operation beside real outsiders.

Nice place, nice event, nice products: the “rule of number three” has been respected.

 In Italy for some reasons people have not talked about it yet, but during these days the shooting of a new reality quite curious will begin, “Basketball Wives” (on line on VH1 since March the 15^th). Realised and produced by Shaunie O’Neal (Shaquille’s wife) before their separation, she has never thought to cancel her Show because such an unpleasant event in her private life, on the contrary the most ex-famous NBA wife has just changed a few details. Thus, instead of following the troubled life of the Basketball Wives, you could follow the daylife of fiancèes and ex-wives. In the cast there are Jennifer Williams (Eric Williams’ wife), Evelyn Lozada (ex-fiancèe of Antoine Walker), Mesha O’Neal (Jermaine O’Neal’s wife), Royce Reed, Faith Rain and Shaunie O’Neal. They drive luxurious cars, live in the most prestigious houses, wear the most expensive clothes, they represent the American dream. They are always looking for news, creativity, trends and anything else to show for first just to be recognised as trendsetters…. and lots of Italian Companies should profit of this incredible occasion with product placement actions.

 For years the new Realities have changed format and public. In Europe it is true that a few quite old titles still exist but the road towards the new generation of Shows has been opened somewhere else. Donald Trump, for example, after the great success (even in Europe) of “The apprentice” is realising a new project that will begin its shooting by the end of the month. The title is “ DONALD J. TRUMP’S FABULOUS WORLD OF GOLF” and it is about an exclusive golf tournament where Hollywood actors, singers and musicians, politicians, top managers and businessmen, several VIPs are taking part. With the typical American mentality, these characters should try to win and at the same time do two other things: Business & Charity. Business: it is quite known that on a golf field it is possible to make more affairs than during a board of directors.You can swear that Donald Trump will try his best to promote partnerships between movie producers and musicians for example, or between athletes and sponsors and so on, thus stimolating a sort of “brain storming” between one putt and the other (everything on line and under the eyes of millions of people). Then there is the other aspect, socially worthier and technically more innovative, charity. The cachet of the players and the final prize is fact will be given on charity. This is not the “Intelligent” TV but by sure the “interesting” one. And interesting it could be for that fashion Italian Company that will wear the coolest VIPs of the planet with its clothes, jewels or accessories. From now on this can be possible.