• EN
Tìm kiếm

[Podcast] The Impacts of Product Placement in Music Videos on Brand Attitudes of Young Internet Users in Ho Chi Minh City

8 October, 2024

Keywords: Product Placement, music videos, brand attitudes

By sponsoring to appear in artists’ music videos, brands will be able to carry out PR campaigns for their products/brands. Related to this topic, the author group from University of Economics Ho Chi Minh City (UEH) conducted a research project on “The Impact of Product Placement in Music Videos on Brand Attitudes of Young Internet Users in Ho Chi Minh City”, proposing some solutions to improve the brand image.

Product Placement in Music Videos

Product Placement (product placement in movies, product positioning, embedded advertising) is a product created through the integration of advertising and entertainment. Product Placement is also known as product brand placement, in-program sponsorship, branded entertainment or product integration. In Product Placement, the participating audience is exposed to brands and products in the natural course of a film, television program or content medium. Product Placement in mass media provides potential customers and showcases brand consumption in their natural environment.

A music video is a short film that incorporates a song for artistic or commercial purposes.

Product Placement in music videos is a form of marketing that cleverly integrates products and brands into music videos to reach target audiences and create desired changes in them.

Product Placement is used as a way to increase realism, with the focus on the audience’s receptivity to real brands. Today, American marketers and their agency partners have become more sophisticated in their strategic planning and tactical execution of product placements. Product placement efforts are increasingly integrated into broader entertainment marketing efforts and are handled by agencies that are also experienced with endorsements, celebrity sponsorships, and related branded content production. At the same time, their product placement opportunities extend not only across a range of entertainment properties, from film and television production to music and digital content, but also across a range of Integrated Marketing Communications (IMC) opportunities that extend from product placement to integration across digital platforms, listed as YouTube, Snapchat and so on and entertainment or celebrity events.

The goals of implementing Product Placement are as follows:

Prominent audience exposure, visibility, attention, and interest: In the context of in-game advertising, for a low-interaction product, prominent brand placement leads to higher brand recall than subtle brand placement. However, for a high-interaction product, subtle placement leads to higher brand recall than prominent brand placement. Furthermore, the results indicate that for a low-interaction product, subtle brand placement leads to more favorable brand attitudes than prominent brand placement. For a high-interaction product, prominent brand placement leads to more favorable brand attitudes than subtle ones.

Increased brand awareness: The study found that consumers are more likely to recognize and to pay attention to a brand if it is not disconnected from the conveyed storyline/content. Consumer brand awareness was higher in the paid brand placement condition compared to the unpaid brand placement condition or the control condition. Brand attitudes increased in both the paid and unpaid brand naming conditions, compared to the control condition.

Increased consumer memory and product or brand recall: Product Placement increases consumer recall and the recall is maximized after three exposures.

Creating immediate recognition of the product/brand in the media and at the point of purchase: While placement prominence leads to increased recognition, if the placement is too long or too prominent, viewers may become skeptical, interpret the commercial intent of the placement, challenge it, and develop negative attitudes or behaviors.

Desired change in consumer attitudes or overall evaluation of the brand: Gen Y’s beliefs regarding product placement will influence their attitudes, and a negative belief will result in a negative attitude.

Change in audience behavior and purchase intentions: Consumers are increasingly likely to purchase a product after seeing it in a movie or TV show.

Brand Attitudes of Young Internet Users

Brand attitudes are the perceptions, evaluations or feelings of customers regarding the image of a brand, influencing the decision to purchase and consume products and services of that brand.

Factors affecting the brand attitudes of young internet users today include: The relationship between the artist element in the music video; The relationship between the product message element in the music video; The relationship between the visual level element (The prominence of the brand embedded in the music video, the level of relevance to the video content, the frequency/time of appearance); The relationship between the form element embedded in the music videos.

Factors affecting the brand attitudes of young people towards the use of Product Placement

The research results of the UEH group of authors illustrate that the message element has the strongest impact on the brand attitudes of young people. The remaining factors, in order from high to low according to the level of impact, are Visual level > Artist > Integration form. Therefore, marketers and brands need to pay attention to considering the level of impact of the factors when building a Product Placement strategy to achieve the highest efficiency.

For the Artist factor: Has a positive impact on the brand attitude of young people. However, this factor is supported by smaller factors listed as personal preference, artist prestige or the correlation of the artist with the brand image.

For the Message factor: Extensive research has added the difference in receiving messages in both positive and negative aspects between target groups listed as students and working people.

For the Visual level factor: When appearing with continuous frequency, it will cause a negative reaction, emotional interruption and feeling that the situation is unreasonable when the brand intentionally appears too directly or too many times.

For the factor of Integration Form: The study expanded, adding the form of integrated integration, integrated use instead of focusing only on two popular forms: image integration and audio integration. And the current trend shows that the integrated integration form tends to be on par with the form of image integration.

Policy implications and solutions to improve brand image

First, strictly manage advertising in music videos: Producers and music video publishers can establish a clear set of rules on the use of advertising in videos, including the use of advertising artists. This rule should provide guidance on the number of advertisements allowed, the duration and the way of integration to ensure balance and avoid over-commercialization of music. In addition, apply strict censorship measures before releasing music videos to ensure that the advertising content is not negative, violating cultural and ethical values ​​in the community.

Second, develop a mechanism to assess the suitability of advertising: Advertising management organizations and management agencies listed as the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism can promote the development of a mechanism to assess the suitability of advertising embedded in music videos. This mechanism can assess factors listed as suitability to music content, cultural values, ethical violations and impact on the audience. Violating brands can be handled or banned from using advertising artists in music videos.

Finally, strengthen education and awareness for the audience: Organize educational campaigns and create awareness for the audience concerning the importance of protecting cultural values, ethics and music quality. Educate the audience the role of advertising in influencing music content.

The full-text research article The Impact of Product Placement in Music Videos on Brand Attitudes of Young Internet Users in Ho Chi Minh City can be accessed HERE.

Authors: Nguyen The Hung, Dinh Tien Minh, Bui Ha Vy – University of Economics Ho Chi Minh City.

This article is part of the series of articles spreading research and applied knowledge from UEH with the message “Research Contribution For All”. UEH respectfully invites readers to read the next UEH Research Insights issue.

News, photos: The Author, UEH Department of Marketing and Communication