Originally published June 15 2005
Product placement supplants traditional ads for tech companies
by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, NaturalNews Editor
Wired News describes the "organic" techniques employed by tech advertising companies, integrating new gadgets into story-lines instead of using intrusive ads.
Tech product placement is going into overdrive, with several prime-time shows basing plot lines around hip gadgets and gizmos.
And soon, thanks to interactive "object-tracking" technology, consumers may be able to buy featured products with a click of the remote.
As consumers turn away from traditional advertising, tech marketers are picking up the slack by weaving lots of gadgets into the fabric of TV shows and movies.
"Nobody watches traditional commercials anymore," said Richard Rizzuto, senior partner and CEO of New York City-based RPR Marketing Solutions."In five years, it's going to be 90 percent branded entertainment and 10 percent traditional advertising."
RSA Security has woven its SecurID security-authentication system into several movie and TV plots, starting with the 2001 Ryan Philippe film Antitrust.
"The trend in the last five years is to integrate brands in a more organic way," said Mark Owens, managing director of Ketchum Entertainment Marketing, a branch of the Ketchum PR agency specializing in branded entertainment.
New object-tracking technology allows viewers to click an item in the shot of a TV show -- say, the cool cell phone at the lead character's ear -- and find more information about the product or even buy it with the remote control.
After all, a lead character using a tech product can be an onscreen demo for an attentive audience.
Jeff Greenfield, executive vice president at 1st Approach, a Dover, New Hampshire-based marketing firm, has been shopping Black & Decker's new AutoTape product to TV writers.
Greenfield noted that gadget makers are now sending piles of products to writers and producers to infiltrate their psyches during the all-important brainstorming sessions that determine plot lines for the new TV seasons.
For example, a mobile-phone manufacturer might negotiate script changes to highlight its brand better.
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