Lights, Camera, Actioooon!

I recall that Aga Muhlach-Regine Velasquez flick whose title is so memorable, I can't remember it. What is embedded in my memory, though, is the deluge of product placements. From Unilever to Don Henrico's, practically every second of that movie was a marketer's wet dream and a moviegoer's nightmare.

I'm guessing Unilever shouldered most of the movie's budget. Or, they could've gotten it for free in an x-deal for Regine's 5-year supply of Pond's Moisturizing Cream.

As a marketer, I drooled with envy. Aga turns his head and WHAM! A logo for one of Unilever's brands. If the product is lucky, the star actually gets to interact with the product even though it's a ridiculous scene. It's one of those corporate branding opportunities that come with the regularity of Haley's Comet.

Aga, playing the CEO of Unilever, arrives at work, enters a cubicle and tells a lay-out artist where to position the Lipton logo. I'm sure the Unilever CEO does the same when the moon is in Venus. What's with that tacky wooden name plaque on his desk that suggests the Props Manager scoured the underbelly of Quiapo for such a quaint artifact? Having been in one too many CEO offices - often, as a result of my stupidity - I cannot ever recall one with a golf tee unless I count Jack Galloway's and even his was on the set of Just Shoot Me.

Aga playing a CEO is probably every CEO's dream. To look that way and maintain the neatness of his suit after a grueling 12-hour workday? Now, he DA M-A-A-N-H!

Then, there's the memorable Sunsilk scene where Aga talks to a supervisor while bottles of Sunsilk paraded on a bottling machine right in front of them. I can just imagine the PM counting his bonus. Or, how about Aga and Regine lunching at Don Henrico's? Not only is the brand shown and mentioned but it gets a whooping endorsement from Asia's Songbird as well.

Welcome to Branded Entertainment.

This is an old marketing concept that has taken a new life thanks to shows like The Apprentice. In a nutshell, it's showcasing your brand on a popular show by way of an X-deal (a barter of goods or services) and at very minimal financial pain. At least, the financial pain is still minimal although that could change very soon as more and more marketers discover the brand blessing that is product integration.

I never knew one could rent a corporate jet until The Donald's show. In my world, people only rent DVDs. Valuable screen time on the show certainly upped brand awareness for Marquis Jets and, according to Inc., all Marquis Jets did was provide the jet and personnel. And what a beautiful jet it was. Who can forget Tammy's edgy ad photos and proposed advertising campaign?

I was working for a snack food company once and, one night, I channel-surfed and landed on that Vic Sotto show, Daddy Di Do Du. Irritating show, by the way, but that's not my point here. On the show, they were munching on a bag of chips that happened to be...GASP! My product. I thought I was going to have a coronary from sheer happiness.

I vowed to send over a steady supply of chips to the show every week. In truckloads, I might add. My boss didn't share my enthusiasm. In fact, the whole office was rather...unaffected by it. Here I was thinking I'd won the lottery and everyone was so blase about it. Oh, it happens all the time. EXACTLY! Which is why we should drown them in corn chips.

Now, I understand why the brand remains stale and I predict it will soon die if they don't move with the times. How sad when I really liked their chips. Not to mention, I worked my ass off there.

As PM for a bread company, I often saw my brand and products parading on TV. They shared valuable airtime on shows with ratings any respectable media buyer would kill for. Yet, very few people understood that value. No one got why we should send over our products to the shows gratis.

Everyone seemed to be stuck on such traditional thinking that the only way you can get valuable media mileage for your products is if it goes through the Ad Board. Oh please. How dated.

If you can get your brands on TV without paying for the cost of producing and releasing a 15-seconder, why not use it? Rome was not built in one day and certainly not with just one tool. If it was, there would be no Caesar or Mark Anthony and, then, where will Cleopatra be? HUH?! No connection. I just thought it sounded chi-chi having all 3 historical names in one sentence.

ANYWAY. Where was I? Oh, yeah, branded whatzit...

Inc. cites a New York-based consulting company, iTVX, which has a formula for computing the value of product placements. Frank Zazza, iTVX founder, explains that "the value for product placement on a show can be measured based on how much it would cost to buy ad time in that hour."

The bottom line? It's way cheaper to go this route than buying actual airtime. True, that fact is changing now as evidenced by more TV shows endorsing brands and products. Still, it remains relatively cheap vis-a-vis an actual TVC.

Just make sure that you, the overworked Product Manager, get exposure for your products in the way you like it following the brand direction you've set for it. Otherwise, it will explode in your face and you, my dear, will be...well...unemployed. Ellen Newborne, the Inc. writer who wrote the article, warns that you might not like the way your products are featured, hence, best to be on guard all the time.

Ready For Your Product's Close-Up? is on Inc's October 2004 issue.

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