INTRODUCTION:

Product placement is a marketing strategy which includes a product and brand name of a firm in motion pictures with a point of drawing the attention of the viewers. It is an indirect form of advertising where in the company has to pay a fee as an end result of getting their product displayed in movies. Vast majority of researchers have found that product placement in movies is an effective tool in getting people to purchase or buy products.Marketers today are burning through a great many dollars for product placements in movies after the colossal success linked to the dropping of Reese's pieces confections to lead the alien out of the forested areas in the movie: ET: The Extra- Terrestrial(Pokrywczynski, 2005).Amid 2013,it was evident from the movie Man of steel, that companies were investing around 160 million dollars for product placement. Man of Steel was likewise marked as the movie with most promotional partner’s ever.In the latest decade, Indian film Industry has started getting a handle on the act of in-film situations like its partner Hollywood (Kureshi and Sood, 2012).

A case of this was Coca Cola's accentuation on item position in Bollywood.The Indian Film Industry witnessed upliftment of product placement during the early 1990s, wherein advancement of Indian economy opened the film Industry to multinational organizations and outside ventures. On the other hand, product placements would also help the films to recover at least 15% of its production cost. One such example is Dostanareleased in 2008 which recovered almost 35% of its production costs through product placement. The primary motivation as to why marketers are interested in product placement is because it has an immense impact on the Indian consumers. Nowadays, consumer are eager for new brand learning and are requesting new, less obvious and more entertaining representations of brand advertising. This has given the chance for more calculated depiction of branded goods not only in the background of particular scenes but also within the foreground of storylines.Advertising through movies is very different from traditional form of promoting products where purchasers can dismiss marked messages by changing the station and not scrutinizing the commercials, motion pictures give a hostage group of onlookers who have no real way to maintain a strategic distance from these messages unless they leave the theater (Sen, 2010).Most of the Researchers have found that brand placements helps brand create a positive connection with the consumer. In the meantime, researchers have also mentioned that though product placement have become an indispensable piece of product marketing, it has proven hard to assess whether they influence consumer attitude, brand awareness or brand purchase.Each purchaser contact point through an assortment of communication including brand placements go about as an incite and adds to the brand picture and makes the brand instantly open in the memory (Delorme and Nowak, 1997). Therefore, comprehension of buyer slant is a basic antecedent to number of choices like promoting, product design, estimating the price, etc.(Currim and Sarin, 1984).

OBJECTIVES:

The present study makes an endeavor to understand and analyze the viability of utilizing product placement in bollywood movies as a rising promoting medium in the present worldwide showcasing condition.

REVIEW OF LITERATURE:

(DeLorme and Reid, 1999)Gives phenomenological comprehension of how brand props are deciphered inside regular lived involvement of movie audience. The findings reveal that in any case age or film going recurrence, the witnesses were dynamic participants in the viewing experience and activity deciphered brands encountered in movies. (Nelson and Deshpande, 2013) Provides a Content analysis of films since economic liberalization (1991, 1996, and 20012006, 2010).Consequences of the examination reveals that Indians are certain about the practice yet generally prefers local over foreign product placements.Uses secondary information and gives an entire comprehension about the adequacy of product placement in movies as a medium for promoting.

(Kaur,2014) Speaks about the ampleness of brand situations in movies.The results show that brand acknowledgment scores are most raised for products that are both significantly conspicuous and unequivocally plot related, though mark demeanor is best when brands are immovably connected with the plot, yet put less detectably.

(Dens, Pelsmacker, Wouters, and Pumawirawan, 2012)Explorers purchaser mentalities towards prominent product placements and the principal actor utilizing the brand in the film or communicate program. The results reasoned that if advertisers and promoters consider product placement as a coordinated showcasing correspondence vehicle, they must request that their brands are put conspicuously in a film and communicate projects to guarantee most extreme introduction and more prominent mindfulness among buyers. The outcomes likewise give helpful understanding to media organizers in the matter of product placement is successful when the foremost performing artist utilizes it.

(Waldt, Nunes, and Storebel, 2008) analyzes the impacts of repetition of branded product placements in TV and movies, contrasting those that are subtle and those that are more obvious. Findings recommend that the sort of placement and redundancy interact to affect brand-and placement-related judgments.(Homer, 2009)Shows about how the product placement attitudes have to a great extent been evaluated using college students or moderately small samples. Findings uncover that the state of mind and practices varies with the adjustment in demographic characteristics including income, sexual orientation and ethnicity.

(Mekemson and Glantz, 2002)Depict the development of the relationship between tobacco industry and the entertainment industry. This exploration was simply in light of secondary information and concluded that tobacco industry comprehended the value of placing and encouraging tobacco use in movies and how to do it. While the industry claims to have ended this practice because smoking in movies increased throughout the 1990s and remained a general medical issue. (Myer, Song, and Kyoungnam, 2015)This paper aims to investigate the relationship between product placements and the evaluation of media programming by purchasers. The findings reveal that product placements have a significant positive effect on customer appraisals, yet when utilized as a part of abundance, the impact ends up plainly negative. The author likewise specifies that there is a critical connection between the nature of the film and the number of placements, with the end goal that customers of independent movies are substantially less liable to view product placements positively. (Pokrywczynski, 2005)Tests four existing movies with the product placements and demonstrates the pattern of enhanced subjective impacts in more involving more movie scenes.

PRODUCT PLACEMENT IN BOLLWOOD MOVIES:

In spite of the fact that India received a Hollywood-style studio system as early as the 1920s, Product placementdeveloped considerably later in the 1990s. Note that the earliest reference of a brand placement comes in the 1940 classic “ChaltiKaanaamGadi” (The Moving Car) with the brand Coca-Cola (Panda, 2004). The early instances of product placement in bollywood movies include the 1967 film, "An Evening in Paris" where actress Sharmila Tagore was seen tasting gently from a 200 ml container of Coke, battling to ensure the logo was visible.The Rajdoot motorbike from Enfield Motors was propelled inthe movie “Bobby” (1973), Featuring Rishi Kapoor and Dimple Kapadia.It was in 1990s that Bollywood saw the improvement of enormous standard movies with contemporary subjects, designer clothes, exotic locations and elaborate sets – the ideal elements for product placement. The song and dance routines in Hindi films play a special role in product placement. An example of this can be found in the box-office hit “KuchKuchHotaHai” (1998). An aggregate of 144 product placement are included in the film, which is an enthusiastic romantic tale set against a college background. The story of the film demonstrates the relationship between three college students and gives the ideal setting for advancing youth brands. The film is packed with mold brands like Polo Sport, GAP, Speedo and others that target youth, similar to Pepsi and Nescafe. However, the first recognized product placement in Bollywood was that of “Coca-Cola” in the movie ‘Taal’ in the year 1999. Thereafter, Indian movie producers, advertisers and corporate began to show enthusiasm in the publicizing procedure. They started to use it as a part of their integrated marketing communication strategy and accounted for 10-12% of their total marketing plan (Patel and Patel, 2015).

Modern product placement in Bollywood started with the 2001 film, “Yaadein”. The film fizzled in the cinema world however was gainful in view of product placements. However, these placements were so evident and in some cases so ridiculous that many have called “Yaadein” a three-hour business. In one scene the hero is called upon to sing at his girl's wedding where he grabs a container of Coke and actually sings a tribute to it. In yet another feeling stuffed scene, the hero's better half is indicated passing on in a doctor's facility bed. The specialists have disclosed to her that she has just a couple of minutes to live, in the midst of this, she by one means or another figures out how to hand over a set of keys dangling on a Coke key chain! The executive of the film, SubhashGhai, earned $730,000 from product placements in “Yaadein”. In addition to Coca Cola other highlighted brands included Hero cycles and Pass-Pass mints. Product placement in“Yaadein”was considered the most noticeably bad of its kind ever, yet it is frequently the best recalled. With“Yaadein”, movie producers started to understand the business capability of product placements (Sen, 2010).

It was from 2002 that filmmakers began to perceive product placement in movies as a technique for business publicizing. One such example was the movie “Baghban (The Gardener)” which was released in 2003 wherein Ravi Chopra, the director of the movie conceded that the total benefit from associating with brands was in the scope of $800,000 per film (Sen, 2010). Brands like ICICI Bank, Ford Ikon, Archies welcome card, Tide and Tata Tea likewise were set in this movie. In 2005, “Don (Kingpin)” released in 2006, promoted Louis Philippe, Motorola etc. Also,“Dhoom2” which was released in 2006 promoted Coke, Disney channel. It was from 2008 that product placement made both buzz and effect while being economical. One such instance was the film Bodyguard(2011) which earned a huge record of more than 3 million US dollars at its first day of screening.Other cases of latest product placements were Royal Enfield in the movie Bhaag Milkha Bhaag (2013) and the placement of BMW bikes in Dhoom-3,(2012) Mahindra Scooters in 3 idiots,(2009) Castrol in Tara Rum Pum, (2007)Tide in Chupke(2006).The movie Krrish 3(2013) had various scenes where the set appeared to be jumbled with excessively numerous brands without a moment's delay and Bang-Bang(2014) saw an overdose of Pizza hovel advertisement. Sun silk in the movie 2 States (2014) showed a decent case of latest product placement where the product is very well integrated in the background (Desimartini Editorial Team).

DRAWBACKS OF PRODUCT PLACEMNET IN MOVIES AS A VIABLE PROMOTING MEDIUM:

Most of the advertisers today, find it very difficult to predict the demand and life of the product as it on depends on the story of the movie. If the movie is a success at the box office, then the perceivability is all the more however, if the movie flops, then the whole exercise is worthless as there is no visibility of the brand or the product. Additionally, there are also issues regarding the pricing of product placement as the charges relay upon the expected audience for the movie which is hard to identify. Therefore, the fundamental weaknesses of product placement in movies are that it can be: diverting, meddlesome furthermore, deceptive. There ought to be a watchful arranging done to stay away from the risks to utilize this medium successfully.

CONCLUSION:

Product placement has withstood the trial of time by ceaselessly showing its capacities to advertisers. The once danger to advertisers has turned into a feasible setting, giving new methodologies to deal with the customers. This will prosper as publicists and sellers will benefit from the correct stimulation property with the correct cross-promoting programs. Product placement in Indian movies is likewise very old. Brands and prevalent Indian cinema have adjusted broadly, and the pattern of in-film advertising is making progress as both producers and advertisers see long haul benefits. To sum it up, the examinations recommends that this methodology can be produced into as an extremely viable instrument for promoting the products if product placement are arranged in an imaginative, creative and charming way.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT:

The authors are grateful to the authorities of Christ University, Bangalore for the facilities.

CONFLICT OF INTEREST:

The authors declare no conflict of interest

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Received on 17.12.2017 Modified on 28.01.2018

Asian Journal of Management. 2018; 9(1):591-594.

DOI: 10.5958/2321-5763.2018.00093.8

*Corresponding Author E-mail: almeida@christuniversity.in

KEYWORDS: Product placement, Bollywood movies, marketing strategy, viability, medium

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