... Product Placement Goahead- The Future?

So this week some senior media men have welcomed the governments plans to relax the rules on product placement on TV.


They think it will increase joint working between advertisers and programme makers. Although a cash explosion isn’t expected to manifest straight away, analysts have predicted that allowing product placement on UK TV could see an extra £100 million in revenue coming into the UK ad market and that could mean "millions" in extra revenue for broadcasters.


New rules would make the practice of product placement more transparent and consistent…. Obviously we have product placement on our TVs already, in the form of imported programming and films, but this allows a more level playing field for the UK programme makers and media owners to compete with their counterparts overseas.


I remember being asked, in my many graduate advertising application forms, what I thought the future of advertising was, and my answer always included product placement. That, combined with the new technology offered with iphones, and games consoles with new interfaces like the Wii.


Just imagine, the future you, sitting watching a programme like Hollyoaks. You see a character wearing a teeshirt that you really like, or there’s a flat with an amazing sofa featured. Instead of wondering painfully where they bought those products, what if you could select them with your remote (maybe in a Wii–type-controller-way) and click them to view more info, and even buy them? It would be like the ultimate lazy shopping experience- and would be so easy for brands to profit.. all they would have to do is get their products onto cool shows, aimed at their ideal audiences, and let the inquisitive nature of the consumer do the job for them. Impulse buys would soar, and the companies behind the products and placement duty would make a fortune.


So is this the future of advertising? Or just the future of convenient shopping? Or is there a way to combine the 2 even further, with a wealth of product information, competitions, games, social media etc sitting behind the product on screen, waiting to be selected and engage with the viewer? Who knows!


I’m pretty sure though, that relaxing the rules on product placement will do wonders for the product’s manufacturers… just not sure where the humble ad agency will end up as a result… I reckon I’ll have a wee discussion with my iris mentor, a man with a wealth of years of knowledge, and find out what he thinks! (perfect!)