Chapter 12

Sponsorship, Product Placements, and Branded

Entertainment

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1. Explain the popularity of event sponsorship as a means of brand promotion.

2. Summarize the uses and appeal of product placements.

3. Describe benefits and challenges of connecting with entertainment properties to build a brand.

4. Discuss challenges presented by the ever-increasing variety of communication and branding tools.

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Event Sponsorship

• 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 dollars because of large audiences and the ease of overlapping the event’s participants with the marketer’s target audience.

• Marketers use media impressions to gauge the effectiveness of marketing dollars spent on event sponsorships.

• Building the Brand: Sponsorship can help build brand familiarity and can promote brand loyalty by connecting a brand with powerful emotional experiences.

• Audience Characteristics: In most instances, allows a marketer to reach a well-defined target audience. • Leveraging: Events can also facilitate face-to-face contacts with key customers, and they present

opportunities to distribute product samples, sell premiums, and conduct consumer surveys.

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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.

• Product placement media include:• Television• Movies• Video games

• Like any other brand promotion tactic, product placements offer the most value when they are connected to other elements of the promotional plan.

• One common use of the placement is to help create excitement for the launch of a new product.• Implicit celebrity endorsements and authenticity are key issues to consider when judging placement

opportunities.

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Branded Entertainment

• Brand builders want to connect with consumers, and to do so, they are connecting with the entertainment business.

• Madison and Vine refers to two renowned avenues representing the worlds of advertising (New York) and entertainment (Hollywood).

• While not everyone can afford a NASCAR sponsorship, in many ways NASCAR sets the standard for celebrating brands in an entertaining setting. Research shows that NASCAR fans:

• are unusually loyal to the brands that sponsor cars• have no problem with the logo cluttering of cars and drivers• are three times more likely to purchase products promoted by their favorite NASCAR

driver, compared to the fans of all other sports/ sporting celebrities

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Branded Entertainment, Continued

• Branded entertainment can exist in conjunction with developing or existing entertainment properties, or marketers can create their own opportunities. Many marketers, such as BMW and Unilever, are developing their own entertainment properties to feature their brands.

• Challenges to product placement and branded entertainment include:

• oversaturation

• conflict with entertainment media

• unpredictability

• need for full disclosure

• High-quality placements are most likely to result from great collaboration among marketers, agents, producers, and writers.

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Coordinating IMC Efforts

• 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 critical for breaking through the clutter of the modern marketing environment.

• The functional specialists required for working in the various media have their own biases and subgoals, which can get in the way of integration.

• Uncertainty about accountability for integrating the overall campaign makes it unlikely that a well-integrated campaign will be created.

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