Coke Leads Push to Place Products in Movies, TV
by Scott Leith
The Atlanta Journal and Constitution, October 29, 2000

At one time, it seemed positively unusual to spot real products in the movies.

But along came 1982's "E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial" and an accidental star: Reese's Pieces candy.

That watershed event helped turn product placement into a business. Today, placement is so commonplace that companies like Atlanta-based United Parcel Service hire help to get their products on-screen. Another local giant, Coca- Cola Co., this year even paid enough money to plug its products throughout a teen-oriented show.

The question is how well placement works, especially in an age when much of the audience is downright cynical about advertising.

"Consumers generally are much more marketing-savvy these days," said Denise DeLorme, an advertising professor at the University of Central Florida who studies product placement.

Despite the longtime prevalence of product placement, many industry observers are curious to see what happens now that Coke has raised the stakes. The company spent $ 6 million to buy sponsorship of the summer series "Young Americans" on Time Warner's WB Network. Coke is likely to ink a similar deal for summer 2001.

As the world's best-known brand, Coca-Cola is a bellwether in advertising and marketing. Coke's "Young Americans" deal included ads, product placements in the show and a prominent mention in the title. The combination pushed the envelope beyond routine deals.

Reviewers noticed. A writer for the New York Daily News called the opening minutes of one "Young Americans" episode "a slick, thinly disguised commercial." The influential Washington Post critic Tom Shales said Coke's product placement was "ludicrously conspicuous."

Coke shrugs off the criticism. "We feel good about our sponsorship of 'Young Americans' and certainly are looking at scripts for next year," said Karen Gough, Coca-Cola's vice president of marketing solutions.

Michael Kamins, a marketing professor at the University of Southern California, is one of a handful of academics who've studied product placement. He doesn't think it works very well, despite a few notable cases such as "E. T." and Reese's Pieces.

"It seems to work initially," Kamins said, but the impact "filters away" over a short period.

Companies are nonetheless willing to pay for the privilege. BMW bought its way into three James Bond films. In the next Bond movie, 007 will drive an Aston Martin, as he did before BMW came along. That's because Aston Martin's new owner, Ford Motor Co., bought the rights for the high-profile product placement.

What viewers probably don't realize is that many placements are free. Reese's Pieces made it into "E.T." at no charge after Mars Inc. declined to let producers use M&Ms candies.

In most cases, businesses donate the use of a product in exchange for screen time. There's even an industry that specializes in it.

"It is much more of a business now than it ever was," said Barbara Maultsby, vice president at UPP Entertainment Marketing in Burbank, Calif., an agency that reviews scripts and seeks placements for United Parcel Service, BellSouth and many others.

DeLorme, who did her dissertation at the University of Georgia on product placement, said the practice seems to work if done with subtlety. "A lot of the 'success' of a placement is that it's naturalistic," she said, such as a character drinking a Coke as part of normal behavior.

DeLorme has also found that viewers generally like seeing real products in movies. "It adds realism."

Gough said Coke has studied placement, largely via exit polling at movies. " We have gotten very positive feedback," she said. That was one factor behind Coke's support of "Young Americans."

Coke was disappointed that "Young Americans" ranked among the summer's lowest-rated shows, however. "We were looking for a stronger performance," Gough said. Nonetheless, Coke might buy title sponsorship to another show on WB. Coke is also in talks about a similar venture with another network, Gough said.

Most companies are content with more modest efforts.

UPS, for example, has been an active product-placer for the past two years. The company has two trucks in Southern California that are available for movies and television, said Ken Sternad, vice president of public relations.

"We do it to drive home certain messages," Sternad said, citing global delivery among them. "We'd much rather have them say they've got a package from London instead of from Macon."

UPS has been happy with its exposure. There's a UPS driver in the new " Charlie's Angels" movie, for example, and UPS has had prominent appearances in movies that include "EdTV" and "George of the Jungle."

Atlanta-based Home Depot often gets calls to use its stores as background scenery. "Usually we OK it," said spokeswoman Marsha Ferguson, but the company doesn't actively seek exposure.

Delta Air Lines generally doesn't approve of placement. "For us, there's not a lot of gain there," said spokeswoman Tracey Bowen. "We often get requests, but we really don't accept."

One recent exception: The airline allowed producers to shoot part of NBC's " West Wing" in a Delta terminal. "It's a hit show, and obviously that helps," Bowen said. She added producers can't use Delta's image without permission.

One potential problem with placement is unpredictability. One scene in the pilot of "Young Americans" had to be reshot because a Pepsi machine was in the background, Gough said.

Few companies would want their image used in a movie about mass murder. That's where placement agencies come in. "We say no for a lot of our clients," Maultsby said. The goal is finding placements that are "positive and appropriate" via script reviews.

While product placement may have mixed results, it's not likely to go away. Gough said Coke will continue placement as a way of building the brand.

But she notes that many Coke appearances are pure luck, such as when a refrigerator was stocked with Coke in "E.T." "We get so much that just occurs naturally," she said.