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| Accountability & Experience in Product Placement | |||||||
NMG publishes third Position Paper on “Commercialisation of Product Placement - Measurement”In our second position paper published in January 2006, NMG concluded:“The commercial value estimates, mentioned in the Consultative document, are based on a combination of US experience and UK TV sponsorship market development. The real commercial driver for growth will be the realisation that both “free prop supply“ and “paid-for“ Product Placement can generate ROI and offer transparency, when compared with existing media performance. Brand owners need to broaden their parameters away from traditional 30-second spot ads towards alternative marketing activities. Advertisers that treat Product Placement as PR’s poor relation by allocating little or no budget, or by not challenging their existing agencies on accountability and placement results, are going to lose out to the competition”. This paper seeks to progress the discussion of the “value” of the paid-for product placement market by introducing measured UK data. NMG seeks to move the topic away from attempts to measure by comparison, which we consider a misleading proposition, especially when actual data is to hand. Product Placement Measurement NMG has been measuring product appearances since the late 1980s and attributing media values utilising its Tracker™ system. NMG believes that this source of verifiable data provides a unique insight into the future value of the paid for product placement market. It should be noted that NMG’s Tracker™ measures all brand appearances, whether they be via free prop supply routes, featuring brands chosen and purchased by the production, or via serendipity. Whilst such data is the mainstay of NMG’s performance criteria with its retained clients, it would appear that no other party in the current debate is able to measure brand appearances within television. NMG’s Value Platform Product placement by definition has to rest naturally within the content of the TV programme. NMG does not accept the validity of commercial worth estimates, which are based on sponsorship branding outside of programme content, nor extrapolation of American paid for placement, based on the US domestic market. NMG’s value platform starts with a much simpler premise: What brand categories does the average viewer see during the course of, say, a year’s television viewing? This simple measurement already encompasses the existing controls determined by the undue prominence guidelines, creative decisions and advertising controls. Yet, to our surprise no interested party appears to have measured this data, nor indeed requested it from NMG. Furthermore, the ‘NMG measurement’ also helps direct debate on the semantics of imagined placements. There seems little point in the media running scare stories “will we see x character in y soap holding z brand up to the camera every week?” if, during, say, 2005, that brand category simply did not appear. Agencies are falling over themselves to have an opinion about product placement and express it to their clients. Raw data should fuel their recommendations. If, as a client, my brand has zero visibility on TV, and my direct competitor has the lion’s share of the recorded appearances – I would want my agency to be driving forward with a product placement strategy. NMG’s First Public Data Overleaf we show NMG’s Brand Category Share of Voice chart based on monitoring all programmes on UK terrestrial TV that currently use the “free prop supply ” methodology to obtain props. These include all soaps, drama, sitcom and reality television programmes. News items, sports, cash game shows and documentary style formats have not been counted, as opportune appearances cannot be controlled. In future Position Papers NMG will present, discuss and explain the further breakdown of the sectors within these principal categories.
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NMG’s analytical viewing of television helps strategic interpretation of this chart. For example, NMG can breakdown the alcoholic beverages share of voice, by reference to:
And for a Director?
Conclusion In this Position Paper NMG simply seeks to introduce the premise that product placement is accountable - and confirms that NMG already measures it. As well as being able to measure placements, we can also give them a valuation, which will be explained in the next paper. From measurement can come control. If we take 2005 as a clear base year during which no paid for placement took place, and the OfCom debate had not started, then this can provide our control mechanism. If, hypothetically, Confectionery appearances increased from 2005’s 9% to 20% in 2008, then commercial influences may be overriding creative control, and further enquiries are needed. | ||
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