domingo, junho 05, 2005: Tech product placement is going into overdrive

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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. The net, video games and ad-skipping DVRs are forcing marketers to focus more attention on "branded entertainment."

Movies like Sony Pictures' Hitch, starring Will Smith, gave prominent placement to several Sony products, as well as the popular BlackBerry e-mail device. The plots of high-energy shows like CBS' CSI franchise, and Fox's 24 and Alias, often hinge on technology. The first season of 24, in fact, made novel use of competing computer platforms to denote the goodies and the villains.
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"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. "It makes the story ring true."

Soon, product placement could merge with e-commerce itself. 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.

"The key is making it something the consumer really wants," said Scott Newnam, CEO of GoldPocket Interactive, which has been pitching its object-tracking technology to cable operators, who are keen to put their digital set-top boxes to interactive uses.

"It's about not making it intrusive," he said. "So far, the focus groups are terrific."

Newnam predicts that object tracking will be widely available to TV viewers by the end of 2006.

"All the technology is there," he said. "It just needs to be deployed."

The technology sector, whose products are often more difficult to explain in 30 seconds, may be especially suited to product placements that are integrated into story lines. After all, a lead character using a tech product can be an onscreen demo for an attentive audience.
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Marketers are also being careful not to go too far. "If it's not a true character in the story, people will see it for what it is," said Mark Hughes, CEO of Swarthmore, Pennsylvania-based Buzzmarketing.
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Wired News: Gadget Promos Creep Into TV Shows

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