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CHAPTER 12
Sponsorship, Product Placements, and
Branded Entertainment
PPT 12-1
KEY TERMS
Madison & Vine
Chaos Scenario
event sponsorship
media impressions
leveraging
product placement
authenticity
branded entertainment
SUMMARY
PPT 12-2
LO1 Explain the popularity of event sponsorship as a means of brand promotion.
The list of companies sponsoring events grows with each passing year, and the events
include a wide variety of activities. Of these activities, sports attract the most sponsorship
LO2 Summarize the uses and appeal of product placements.
Product placements have surged in popularity, and there are many reasons to believe that
marketers will continue to commit more resources to this activity. Like any other brand
promotion tactic, product placements offer the most value when they are connected to
LO3 Describe benefits and challenges of connecting with entertainment properties
to build a brand.
Brand builders want to connect with consumers, and to do so, they are connecting with
the entertainment business. While not everyone can afford a NASCAR sponsorship, in
Chapter 12: Sponsorship, Product Placements, and Branded Entertainment ❖ 2
LO4 Discuss challenges presented by the ever-increasing variety of
communication and branding tools.
The tremendous variety of media options represents a monumental challenge for a
marketer wishing to speak to customers with a single voice. Achieving this single voice is
CHAPTER OUTLINE
INTRODUCTORY SCENARIO: When Promotion Was a Huge Relief
The Charmin Restrooms example at the start of this chapter is an excellent way to
introduce students to the breadth, creativity, and power of promotional tools beyond
advertising. P&G used midtown Manhattan to showcase the Charmin brand over the
holiday season in New York. The promotion had everything: lots of brand visibility and
giveaways. The power of promotion in this scenario relates to the following points:
• It exemplifies the creative ways marketers are using various promotional tools
to create meaningful connections to consumers.
• It reminds us that the unconventional is becoming conventional, and that
traditional mass media are no longer enough to provide impact for a brand.
Therefore, marketers turn to creative ways of providing consumers with unique
experiences with brands.
• Often IMC efforts are directed at hard-to-reach niche markets, particularly in
Chapter 12: Sponsorship, Product Placements, and Branded Entertainment ❖ 3
Meet Me at Madison & Vine
At various points throughout the text, we have raised the very important issue of the
blending of brand promotion and entertainment referred to as “Madison & Vine.” The
summary here is:
• Brand promotion and entertainment are converging though social
networking, video games, and events.
• The erosion of the effectiveness of mass media—particularly broadcast
media—has fueled the convergence.
• An expansion of options has provided more opportunities for brand visibility.
• Some are predicting a mass exodus from traditional media referred to as the
Chaos Scenario:
o Dollars will leave traditional media because audience fragmentation
and ad avoidance have eroded their effectiveness.
o Reduced funds from ads will compromise programming on broadcast
media.
o Compromised programming will reduce audience size, leading to
more ad erosion.
o Billions of dollars will flow to alternative IMC techniques.
• Events, product placements, and branded entertainment offer exciting ways to
build brands in the market.
I. Event Sponsorship
PPT 12-3, 12-4
Many marketers use event sponsorship to get closer to their customers. Event sponsorship
provides opportunities to tie in the additional tools of sales promotions and public
relations.
• Event sponsorship involves a marketer providing financial support to help
fund an event like a rock concert or golf tournament. In return, that marketer
acquires the rights to display a brand name, logo, or promotional message on-
site at the event.
• In 2006, expenditures on event marketing were about $32 billion, for which
the advertiser received sponsor billing. Another $13 billion was spent for
events that existed on their own but the sponsor received recognition.
A. Who Sponsors Events?
Chapter 12: Sponsorship, Product Placements, and Branded Entertainment ❖ 4
• The focus of the event—like a popular recording artist or highly popular
event—can result in a positive “halo” effect for the brand. The consumer says,
“I like this (performer) event, and this brand supports what I like.”
B. Choosing an Event
• Marketers look for opportunities where there is significant overlap between
the event participants and the brand’s target market.
C. Assessing Results
Critics argue that the impact of event sponsorships is hard to determine and driven
by the ego of the CEO. But John Hancock carefully estimated that their college
football bowl sponsorship yielded the equivalent of $5.1 million in advertising
exposure for a $1.6 million fee.
1. Media Impressions. Nielsen Media has developed the Sponsorship Scorecard
impressions to compare sponsorships with traditional advertising.
2. Brand Loyalty. When marketers connect their brand with the feelings
associated with an event, they expect to build brand loyalty. Measurement of
brand loyalty is quantitative and qualitative:
• The quantitative measurements determine the number of people in the
target market who are exposed to the brand at the event.
• The qualitative measures include exit surveys and other interviews that
explore attendees’ experience of the event, knowledge of the sponsor’s
involvement, and attitudes toward the brand.
3. Audience Characteristics. Marketers should measure event participation to
ensure that events are actually reaching the intended target audience.
D. Leveraging the Sponsorship
• Leveraging is any collateral communication that reinforces the link between
the brand and the event: word-of-mouth, publicity, news coverage, etc.
Chapter 12: Sponsorship, Product Placements, and Branded Entertainment ❖ 5
• Event participation is a way to leverage public relations efforts, creating an
integrated campaign.
• See Exhibit 12.2 on page 252 for guidelines for selecting the right events and
maximizing their benefits for the brand.
II. Product Placements
PPT 12-5, 12-6
Product placement is the practice of placing any branded product into the content and
execution of any entertainment product.
A. Product Placement Media
Working collaboratively, agents, marketers, producers, and writers find ways to
incorporate the marketer’s brand as part of a show. The show can be of any kind—
including movies, short films on the Internet, and reality TV. Wherever and whenever
people are being entertained, there is an opportunity for branded entertainment.
1. Television
Television viewers have grown accustomed to product placements:
• On Time Warner’s WB network, a shiny orange Volkswagen Beetle
2. Movies
• Automakers have frequently featured cars in films, such as the James
3. Video Games
• Over 100 million U.S. households have gaming capability.
• Forty percent of gamers are in the highly sought-after 18–34 age cohort.
• Game placements could reach $1 billion by 2010.
Chapter 12: Sponsorship, Product Placements, and Branded Entertainment ❖ 6
• Billboards and virtual products are the most common technique.
• Examples include LG, Coke, Radio Shack, and the U.S. Army.
B. Requirements for Success
• Placements have greatest value when integrated with other IMC techniques
running simultaneously.
• Celebrity connection with placement is critical for effectiveness.
• The key to success is authenticity—the quality of being perceived as genuine
and natural.
C. Measuring Success
The collective wisdom seems to be that calculating media impressions for placements
III. Branded Entertainment
PPT 12-7, 12-8, 12-9, 12-10
Branded entertainment entails the development and support of any entertainment
property (e.g., a sporting event, TV show, theme park, short film, movie, or video game)
where the primary objective is to feature one’s brand in an effort to impress and connect
with consumers in a unique and compelling way.
NASCAR is the premier example of branded entertainment.
Challenges of Product Placement and Branded Entertainment
A. Obstacles Ahead
The surge of these techniques relates to reaching the unreachable segments. But
several complicating and countervailing forces could hinder the flow of marketing
dollars into these options:
• Oversaturation would annoy consumers.
• Finding channels can be a much more unpredictable process than placing
advertisements in media.
• Marketers and entertainment providers can have trouble working together and
agreeing on priorities.
• Consumer advocacy groups like Commercial Alert argue that product (brand)
placements are really just paid advertising, and consumers should be informed
of such.
• Attitudes and regulations vary from country to country.
Chapter 12: Sponsorship, Product Placements, and Branded Entertainment ❖ 7
B. Collaborating with the Media
In concluding this chapter, a critical point about the media explosion needs to be
reinforced: Marketers have a vast and ever-expanding array of options for
delivering messages to their potential customers.
• Procter & Gamble really started doing branded entertainment in the 1920s on
the radio with the Crisco Cooking Talks show, a 15-minute show that featured
recipes using Crisco.
• Now P&G is still in the branded entertainment business with widespread
involvement in the America’s Next Top Model show.
IV. Coordinating IMC Efforts
PPT 12-11
The keys to success for any IMC campaign are choosing the right set of options to engage
a target segment and then coordinating the placement of messages to ensure coherent and
timely communication.
Many factors work against coordination:
• As advertising has become more complex, organizations often become reliant
on functional specialists. Specialists, by definition, focus on their specialty
and can lose sight of what others in the organization are doing.
• Internal competition for budget dollars often leads to rivalries and animosities
that work against coordination.
• Coordination is also complicated because few ad agencies have all of the
internal skills necessary to fulfill clients’ demands for integrated marketing
communications.
• Remind students of discussions of IMC in previous chapters: The objective
underlying this coordination is to achieve a synergistic effect. Individual
media can work in isolation, but marketers get more from their promotional
dollars if various media build on one another and work together.
• The chapters that follow highlight that ever more highly effective promotion
options are available, adding more layers of complexity to the IMC
coordination challenge.
SOLUTIONS TO REVIEW QUESTIONS
1. Read the opening section of this chapter, and briefly describe the Charmin Restrooms
promotion. In what ways do the Charmin Restrooms exemplify the brave new world of
integrated marketing communication (IMC)?
Chapter 12: Sponsorship, Product Placements, and Branded Entertainment ❖ 8
December 31. The squeaky-clean bathrooms came complete with running water,
Pampers changing tables, Safeguard soap—and the response was overwhelming. An
2. What changes in brand promotion are predicted by Bob Garfield’s Chaos Scenario?
How likely does this scenario sound to you?
Ad Age critic Bob Garfield first published the “Chaos Scenario” in 2005, predicting a
3. What trends and developments have been causing the television viewing audience to
become fragmented? How might this fragmentation contribute to marketers’ growing use
of event sponsorship and branded entertainment?
In today’s world, people have an ever-expanding set of options to fill their leisure
4. Search through your closets, drawers, or cupboards, and find a premium or memento
that you acquired at a sponsored event. Does this memento bring back fond memories?
Would you consider yourself loyal to the brand that sponsored this event? If not, why?
Chapter 12: Sponsorship, Product Placements, and Branded Entertainment ❖ 9
related to the idea of an event-based memento. Ask them to share with the class what
the memento was and describe how they acquired the item. This form of storytelling
should help other students appreciate just how much emotionality can be derived
5. What lessons can Prilosec’s sponsorship of the World Bunco Association offer
regarding the things a marketer should look for in judging sponsorship opportunities?
In partnering with the World Bunco Association, the makers of heartburn medication
6. Why have video games attracted so much interest recently as a venue for product
placements? What makes this venue even more appealing for marketers as games and
game players move to the Internet?
Product placements in video games have helped marketers reach a vast, but in many
7. What is the role for celebrities in the business of product placement and branded
entertainment? Describe a scene from a TV show or movie that illustrates the best way to
involve a celebrity as part of a product placement.
The effects of product placement and branded entertainment can be difficult to
Chapter 12: Sponsorship, Product Placements, and Branded Entertainment ❖ 10
8. Why is NASCAR a good affiliation for the Tide brand?
They might not seem like an obvious match, but NASCAR and the Tide brand have
9. Using BMW as the example, explain the difference between product placements and
branded entertainment.
The key distinction between product placements and branded entertainment is that in
10. Explain the need for functional specialists in developing IMC campaigns. Who are
these specialists, and what skills do they offer? What problems do they create for the
achievement of integrated marketing communication?
The proliferation of media options creates the need for specialists who are able to
manage those varied media platforms for integrated campaigns. A marketer might use
Chapter 12: Sponsorship, Product Placements, and Branded Entertainment ❖ 11
SOLUTIONS TO EXPERIENTIAL EXERCISES
1. Product placement is the practice of embedding a branded product into the content of
an entertainment vehicle, whether a television show, film, or print article. A classic
example was the prominent appearance of Reese’s Pieces in the movie E.T. the Extra-
Terrestrial. For this exercise, select a favorite brand, and identify placement
opportunities for it in popular television series, movies, or video games. List three ways
the brand could be placed naturally, and explain why you think this product placement
would be an appropriate and effective marketing tool for the brand.
2. Event sponsorship is becoming increasingly important to advertisers as the
effectiveness of traditional media is eroded due to audience fragmentation. Select an
example of event sponsorship at your school, and describe the relationship between the
marketer and the event. What role does the marketer perform during the event? Why
would a company consider the event an effective method to reach its target audience?
Students should find an array of examples close to campus, including sponsored
3. Video game maker Incredible Technologies Inc. has steadily expanded its corporate
partnerships and product placements in its most popular game, the pub-based, Web-
connected golfing game Golden Tee Live. Players can purchase Top-Flite virtual golfing
equipment, and as they work through the course, they spot Coca-Cola vending machines,
billboards, and even groundhogs that pop up on the screen guzzling from a Coke can.
Working in small groups, brainstorm other possible product placement opportunities
for the game, and identify how these placements could be incorporated. Your answers
should address specifically how the unique characteristics of a video game, particularly
one with a Web-linked console, support the product placement suggestions.
Chapter 12: Sponsorship, Product Placements, and Branded Entertainment ❖ 12
© 2011 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a
publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.
Video games present marketers and brand managers with a vast new realm of
4. Working in the same teams, create a branded-entertainment proposal for the coffee
giant Starbucks. Your proposal should identify a specific target audience and describe in
detail a proposed storyline for a short film, television series, or other entertainment
product that would effectively promote the brand and capture the attention of the
targeted market segment.
Students should display their creative brainstorming skills with this exercise. But they
also should be able to link their proposals back to the basic elements of branded
POWERPOINT PRESENTATIONS
Use the Instructor PowerPoint files to pace your instruction and provide class notes on
key ideas and themes. Each presentation provides a slide-by-slide coordination with the
chapter’s learning outcomes, definitions, and visuals. Encourage students to use the
accompanying Student PowerPoint presentation to align and reinforce classroom
instruction with studying outside of the classroom.
VIDEOS
To view the two videos for this chapter, go to the PROMO book companion website,
www.cengage.com/login.
(*) Indicates the correct answer in the multiple-choice video questions.
Chapter 12: Sponsorship, Product Placements, and Branded Entertainment ❖ 13
Cannes Film Festival: King of Cannes
1. The Stella Artois “King of Cannes” involves the Artois sponsorship of what event?
2. Describe the elements of the Stella Artois “King of Cannes” promotion as described in
the video. What is the plot? What will consumers win if they are successful?
3. The Stella Artois “King of Cannes” promotion as described in the video uses what
social media approach to connect its sponsorship with consumers?
d. Skyrock
4. The Stella Artois “King of Cannes” promotion as described in the video invites
consumers to do which of the following?
d. Enjoy the “Cannes” of beers
5. The Stella Artois “King of Cannes” promotion as described in the video would best be
described as:
a. Product placement
BMW: Augmented reality
1. The focus of the BMW “Augmented Reality” video is:
a. A sponsorship of the Indianapolis 500
2. The slogan for the BMW “Augmented Reality” video is:
Chapter 12: Sponsorship, Product Placements, and Branded Entertainment ❖ 14
3. What tactics does the BMW “Augmented Reality” video use in its promotion? What
are the goals of such tactics? Use specific examples from the video.
5. The BMW “Augmented Reality” video is aimed at promoting which vehicle?
