According to a 2024 report, nearly two-thirds of surveyed viewers said they take actions to avoid ads on free video platforms such as YouTube, and more than half said they do the same on live streaming platforms. So what is a marketer to do when large portions of their potential audience are literally spending money to avoid them?
Do what advertisers always do: Go where the attention is.
Authentic, emotional storytelling is the most important marketing device
Increasingly, consumers are asking for authenticity from brands, and they want relevancy and personalization from ads.
“Ad-avoidant audiences are much more receptive to storytelling than direct selling,” said Travis Peters, CEO of global product placement agency EightPM.
“They value moments that add authenticity, realism or emotional resonance to the content—consumers tend to be turned off by overt, forced or irrelevant placements that disrupt immersion.”
For example, when a young Tom Cruise peeked over the frame of a pair of Ray-Ban Wayfarers on the poster for “Risky Business,” it wasn’t because the brand had paid for the placement, it was because it fit Cruise’s teen heartthrob character. The fact that the brand’s sales jumped 50% after the movie came out was pure earned media.
When a production team nails the character’s look, home or personality, it resonates—and audiences remember and gravitate toward it. “Productions need real brands to build character personas and to tell their stories, meaning brands don’t have to pay fees to be included,” Peters said. “At EightPM, we focus on earned moments that feel authentic and non-disruptive—the key is for brands to fit naturally within the story and add value rather than feeling intrusive.”
Because of this, TV and movies offer a unique space for products to exist organically. Good product placement—such as Eggo Waffles in Netflix’s teen thriller “Stranger Things”—allows brands to integrate into narratives. It creates deeper emotional connections, enhances brand recall and gives fans a touchpoint with which to connect with their favorite character.
This is especially important to those ad-avoidant viewers. “People don’t fast-forward through their favorite shows just because there’s a brand in it,” Peters said. “As long as it’s a fun, engaging part of the story, they will watch and enjoy it.”
Peters and his team work behind the scenes, reading scripts and discussing how to best place various client products so that they feel intrinsic to the plot. One especially memorable placement from 2024 occurred during the much-hyped final season of Larry David’s “Curb Your Enthusiasm.”
“There’s a scene where Larry gifts someone a Theragun, and then turns around and uses it on his own groin injury,” he said. “It’s hilarious, and we worked with the creators to help tell the story collaboratively.”
The placement worked especially well because Larry’s character hurt himself playing golf in a previous episode, and commandeering a gift for his own personal use is fully within his character’s personality. “When we talk about authentic, emotional storytelling and how we want brands to enhance the narrative without overshadowing it—this was a perfect example of that in action,” Peters said.
Social and long-form media are blurring together for the better
Increasingly, the Venn diagram of people who consume social media (at an average of more than two hours per day) and long-form media (an average of nearly three hours a day) is a circle.
“Globally, consumers spend their days engaging with social platforms and their evenings watching longer-form content on streaming services,” Peters said.
“Yet, many brands invest heavily in social media teams and budgets while leaving long-form, streamable content entirely untouched, meaning they miss out on significant opportunities.”
Marcus Krzastek, president of VaynerMedia’s social marketing collective The Sasha Group, said that the challenge for brands is finding a way do something interesting that adds value and learning how to talk about topics that are relevant to both the brand and the audience in a way that will actually capture someone’s attention when they’re scrolling through their social feed.
“Our core philosophy is that no one’s going to pay attention to anything you do unless you give them a reason to,” Krzastek said, adding that their baseline assumption is that everyone is ad avoidant.
Because of this, long-form platforms like Netflix and Max are introducing more social engagement features, bridging the gap between traditional entertainment and social interactivity. The sheer viewer numbers demonstrate the enduring importance of narrative shows, but if viewers are also going to check their phones while watching TV, why not encourage them to interact with the prescribed cinematic universe?
Free does not mean cheap or unearned
For companies looking to do authentic storytelling rather than rote product placement, Peters says both earned social and long-form content are sustained brand awareness plays rather than immediate ROI drivers. And while success is often measured in CPM viewership metrics, he says cultural impact is another key gauge of exposure.
“Apple famously does not pay for product placements, but brands do not need to be as universal as Apple to get free access,” he said. One brand that EightPM works with, the probiotic soda company Olipop, recently ranked as a top beverage in BrandTrack.pro’s 2024 Product Placement Report of brands that capitalized on “both visual and verbal mentions.” Olipop came in at number 12, far above much larger brands like Starbucks, Lipton or Folgers.
“I’d rather be in content that people choose to watch than interrupting the content they choose to watch,” said Steven Vigilante, Olipop’s director of strategic partnerships.
According to Peters, streaming services have created far more opportunities for branded moments than traditional linear TV, and because of this, his agency purposefully focuses on major projects on leading streaming platforms and rarely works with linear TV. And while he says clients will often request high-visibility scenes in high-profile projects that they personally watch and enjoy, that’s not a guarantee that the earned media will feel authentic. “The real value lies in consistent brand moments across a wide range of projects,” he said. “Frequency is far more impactful than creating overt, one-off brand visibility.”
And, in terms of the bottom line, “successful placements allow brands to participate in engaging, high-production-value scenes in TV and movies without bearing the costs of talent, locations or directors,” Peters said, making these placements a cost-effective way to associate with premium content.
Brands that can successfully leverage these tools and focus on emotional storytelling will thrive as commerce and entertainment continue to converge. “There’s a real art to making good advertising that doesn’t feel like an ad,” Krzastek said. “It still needs to be strategic and move the needle for the business, but hitting that sweet spot is super important.”
Source: adage.com