Yo peepz!
I suppose you remember the time in high school, I sure do! Back in the days I did not have the knowledge that I have nowadays (joh!) In fact I was not eager to study and obtain the knowledge teachers tried to teach me. I am glad things have changed (for me) <you cannot stand still in a world changing so rapidly>
You think.. ‘Why she starts babbling about her youth?’ Well, in the year of 2004 I was sixteen and in this year a study performed by tns-nipo stated that we were exposed to an average of 3000 advertisements a day! I am trying to remember the amount of advertisements in these days, on the streets, television, radio, Internet and magazines. Honestly, through the haze of brand names, products, commercials, tunes, posters and other ads of the last years I find it hard to remember. But what I DO know is that we are flooded with advertisements anno 2011.
For the past decade companies have tried to stand out by thinking of creative new ways to bring their product to their audience and create brand awareness. Because of the overload of advertisement it is hard to be the one that is remembered. Since last summer I am part of the ‘Acquisitie commissie’, a group of people that tries to sell advertising space for our student association (Plato). We have noticed that it’s hard to just sell half a page for an ad in our magazine, on posters or flyers for activities. Companies want more, they want to see something out of it and now we are looking for different ways to ‘catch them’. Banners on our site, even Facebook, Twitter and a Hyves page.
The competition for awareness starts in advertising. Companies try to attract by making their ads distinctive. # Contrastive, strong and intensive colors. # size (think of the huge billboards in city centers) # new, controversial and unexpected # use what’s on the mind of us nowadays.
Next to these obvious ads, companies start using subtle advertisement. ‘Hidden messages’ that we do not see, but DO notice. For example in the cinema, just before the brake, they flash you the text ‘hungry? Eat popcorn. Research explored that when we are actually hungry, this type of indirect advertising effects us in such a way that we for example buy popcorn instead of ‘our own choice’.
Next to these obvious ads, companies start using subtle advertisement. ‘Hidden messages’ that we do not see, but DO notice. For example in the cinema, just before the brake, they flash you the text ‘hungry? Eat popcorn. Research explored that when we are actually hungry, this type of indirect advertising effects us in such a way that we for example buy popcorn instead of ‘our own choice’.
When Media and Marketing actually come together
Branded entertainment is a form entertainment whereby a brand has the opportunity to communicate its image to its target audience in an original way. <creating positive links between the brand and the program> A form of branded entertainment are product placements. For the ones who are addicted to our own Dutch television soup GTST: Try counting the number of products placed on the set this evening. Companies actually pay a numerous amount of money to have their products shown or used (even more expensive) in popular shows. I hate GTST but even I know that Pringles and Douwe Egberts are brands shown regularly in the show. A more familiar and older form of branded entertainment is sponsoring, we all know what Red Bull is sponsoring, what Malboro used to sponsor and what’s on the shirt of our own national soccer team!
Branded entertainment is hard to ignore, the idea behind it is that people are more involved and therefore there is more influence. But there is also unnoticed influence which people can’t correct.
Product Placements and Sponsoring are quite simple forms. Nowadays, more and more brands integrate with entertainment or even create their own shows and games. It’s billion dollar business.
Try to find the product placements in this clip of Lady Gaga – Bad romance. She is the perfect example of an artist who adapts to the need for brands to stand out. When I implemented her video into this post, already 348,890,479 people saw this clip! Hope you'll understand that this type of advertising is effective and therefore is booming!
