PRODUCT PLACEMENT CAN TRULY BOOST THE BRAND

Broadcasters and marketers are offering more and more opportunities for creative brand integration into their formats. This brings a range of benefits for all parties involved, as shown by the research.

We are used to surprises on television—but no one expected a premiere like this: at the start of the eleventh season of the TV competition show The Masked Singer on ProSieben and Joyn at the end of 2024, the show featured a very unusual mask for the first time in its history—a Playmobil pirate. But this wasn’t just another creative costume for which the format is famous. It was a successful example of what modern product placement can look like. The mask was part of an extensive placement campaign for Playmobil, carried out by Seven.One AdFactory, aimed at boosting brand awareness for the toy manufacturer. The singer wearing the pirate mask made it all the way to the finals—and the advertising concept won the audience’s hearts: “A well-sung song and an amazing mask,” one social media user wrote. “The best performance of the entire season,” added another.

Convincing supporting research

Product placement works. The numbers make that clear. For example, Samsung’s involvement in the successful German soap opera Gute Zeiten, schlechte Zeiten brought particularly “good times” for the brand: over the course of four episodes, the Samsung Galaxy Flip phone and Smart Watch 6 were promoted through product placement arranged by the specialised agency Particibrand. To enhance the visibility of these two new products, detailed cut-in shots were also used. The presentation was complemented by two virtual posters integrated into the series. An accompanying study by Ad Alliance analysed how well the promotion was received by viewers, as well as the campaign’s impact on key dimensions of advertising effectiveness. The result? Nearly 70% of respondents remembered seeing at least one of the ads before, with 31% recalling all three. Recall values were especially high for the product placement (52%), but the detailed cut-in shots (40%) and virtual posters (37%) also performed well above the benchmark for advertising specials in accompanying studies (33%). Users gave top marks for creativity and execution, with the virtual poster achieving one of the two highest ratings (82%), followed by product placement (78%).



Langnese’s innovative placement in a special edition of the jungle reality show Ich bin ein Star, holt mich hier raus, featuring legends—i.e., well-known former contestants—took place during the “final dinner” and had a significant impact: brand ad recall was 124% higher compared to other brands that appeared only in traditional ad breaks within the same format. In the current season of the reality show, the broadcaster once again demonstrated not only how creative product placement can be, but also how effective it can be when used in the right context: twelve hungry celebrities diving into a treasure chest full of funny-frisch chips—that’s pure brand awareness. The chip brand had already been a successful advertising partner in the jungle back in 2022, when it was featured as a reward during the treasure hunt segment. Ad recall for funny-frisch was 182% higher than that of brands advertising in standard commercial breaks.

New trend? Virtual placement!

Advertising that doesn’t feel like advertising is more in demand than ever before—and the possibilities keep growing. One increasingly used trend is virtual placement, including the use of artificial intelligence. Brands are integrated into content additionally, for example, in the form of posters, as seen in the TV show Gute Zeiten, schlechte Zeiten. The advantage for advertisers is greater flexibility and adaptability, as well as shorter turnaround times.

One thing is absolutely certain: product placement benefits not only brands but also viewers, who are otherwise overwhelmed by the sheer volume of advertising messages. When a brand fits the content, when product placement is strategically incorporated into the campaign planning from an early stage, and when the product blends into the programme smoothly and naturally, it becomes a form of advertising that adds value for the audience—without being disruptive. Quite the opposite, as demonstrated by the example from The Masked Singer. In that case, the Playmobil brand achieved much more than simply not disrupting the experience—it created real emotions on a grand television stage.

Source: screenforce.de