Discussion: Retroactive Product Placement

Dancehall

Just saw this on The Colbert Report

Was it there or was it Mirriad? Retroactive product placement.

Quote:

That’s the premise behind product placement, which is a very old idea. Now Mirriad is trying to update the concept, by digitizing it, and creating a marketplace that lets advertisers and content owners make deals on the fly.

That means that in theory, if Coke wanted to insert some cans into reruns of “NCIS,” it could cut a deal with CBS, using a Web dashboard, and you’d never know that Mark Harmon was guzzling something else the first time around.

Mirriad isn’t the first company to layer digital images onto video — if you’ve watched sports on TV over the last decade, you’ve seen it all the time, from the first-down markers on NFL games to the rotating billboards behind home plate in baseball games. But the London-based company wants to make this a really big, automated ad business.

So far they’ve raised more than $7 million over the last few years. Now they’re trying to increase their visibility in the media world. This might help: They’ve brought on Roger Faxon, a man who used to run of the world’s biggest music labels, as chairman and an investor.

Faxon ran EMI Music Group for five years before Universal Music swallowed it up last year. Lots of people have expected Faxon to take on another big music job, but for now he is keeping his options open. At Mirriad, he’ll work with founder and CEO Mark Popkiewicz, but his formal title is “non-executive chairman,” so I get the sense that one of his chief jobs will be as ambassador/door-opener.

Mirriad site / News Article

I never gave product placement much thought, but I think this is so creepy and just, I know an author had to have something like this in a dystopian novel written last century.

And this has been going on for years.

Dancehall

I feel like a conspiracy theorist thinking the next step a few years down the road will be classic/older movies only being available with the Mirriad ads inserted (as things get re-released, available officially for streaming, digitally enhanced, etc. there are a lot of opportunities.)

buckingfastard

This is so cool but i get you point about advertisements being inserted into classics
I can imagine watching old videos of nina simone paying a piano and suddenly yamaha appears on the piano

It is amazing and saddening at the same time . Even though this is huge leap from what has been done in the field of marketing but also this platform will only be exploited by big brands instead of promoting a good message

It's good to see such healthy discussion topics on ATRL
And in ATRL lingo "get that promo ellie "

:P

Save-Me-Oprah

This has been going on for a few years now...

I don't really see anything wrong with it as long as it's (as conventional product placement should be,) done so that it fits within the storyline and doesn't seem out of place.

I mean it's not like they're inserting completely different scenes in - they're just using CGI to put a label on a can, or put a book on a shelf in the background, or change a company logo somewhere. As far as editing classics goes, it isn't really an issue, again, as long as it fits with the period of the film - if the original actress was drinking a can of Coke and they want to edit in a can of Pepsi, they should use the Pepsi labeling from that era, not modern labels.

How I Met Your Mother from 4 years ago:

Dancehall

@buckingfastard Yeah, it's brilliant stuff. Like changing products by nation just makes sense.

But on that same page, cars that are just dropped in. That just seems cheap and no one would ever question it.

buckingfastard

I can see britney doing this with her perfume line in every video

Goosey

Creepy and horrible, any advertising execs involved with this stuff should hop out a 40th floor window.

Dancehall

I googled to see other examples from How I Met Your Mother.

Those were done by SeamBi. Mirriad>

Save-Me-Oprah

Quote:

Originally posted by Dancehall Queen

But on that same page, cars that are just dropped in. That just seems cheap and no one would ever question it.

Product placement with cars is a slippery slope as far as fitting it in with the plot is concerned. If they're just sitting parked on the side of the street it works fine I suppose, as you'd see that anywhere in real life.

One problematic example that springs to my mind is the Hyundai Tucson that the characters drive in The Walking Dead. It doesn't fit because:

a) All the other vehicles in the show are dirty, old, damaged, and constantly break down. In Hyundai's contract, it specifically states that the Tucson can never be pictured onscreen as broken down, excessively dirty, or damaged, nor can it be seen onscreen being used to drive over zombies. It's lasted through 4 seasons and is still shiny as ever.

b) The apocalypse was said to have started in 2010, yet the Hyundai is a 2013 model. Apparently the characters don't realize that if they're looking for civilization, all they gotta do is find the nearest Hyundai factory because those gals are still churning out vehicles 3 years later.

It just doesn't lend to realism.

Save-Me-Oprah

Quote:

Originally posted by Goosey

Creepy and horrible, any advertising execs involved with this stuff should hop out a 40th floor window.

Why do people find this creepy? It's just a logo

You'd be surprised to see how much CGI is involved in even the most basic of TV shows.

buckingfastard

Quote:

Originally posted by Goosey

Creepy and horrible, any advertising execs involved with this stuff should hop out a 40th floor window.

No sis that is not required

But on a serious note Save Me Oprah is right if the advertisement is realist than it is accepted and believable but tbh no one notices them .I mean i have heard people talking about subconscious mind and all but does these things work ?

I mean if i am watching robin scrabaskdjsuy I'll watch her no the background

Do we have stats on the success rates of such advertisement

Bad teacher TANKED btw :-P