Introduction
The catalyst to this project began from an article, which the Mothers’ Union chief executive Reg Bailey (Fig.1) stated that ‘Society has become increasingly full of sexualised imagery…this has created a wallpaper to children’s lives’, accompanied by my personal interest in consumer influences as a result of brand exposure from different outlets, a fundamental aim of this research project is to learn and understand the importance of brand strategy, as well as the functions of product placement within media as a mechanism within branding and identity.
Brand strategy is important in any type of media; brands can encompass products, services, and more recently, people. Personal branding has become a new age phenomena where consumers now consider their purchases to emphasise on their individualism and ideals. So it has become more fundamental than ever for brands to stand out in order to catch the audiences’ attention.
One of my main objectives of embarking on a Masters course is to better my knowledge on design decisions and its influence on consumers. There is extensive research on product placement and its impact on purchasing influences, but lacks in the study of its impact on children, particularly in the United Kingdom, as her regulator policies forbids targeted advertising towards them; are our instated purchasing decisions also regulated within this nanny state of protectionism?
Research Question
Can product placement have a positive brand exposure towards children?
Aims and objectives
Aims
• Learn the importance of brand strategy within media
• Understand the function of product placement within media
• Question whether the project outcome will affect perceptions in the real-world and contribute towards a better understanding of the inner workings of branding and identity
• Collect a series of media as data collection – material such as television shows, movies, advertisements
• Consult experts in the field of advertising, marketing and branding
• Examine and document the visual language and messaging in the material gathered
• Determine whether the method of information processing can lead to universal application within branding and identity.
Objectives
• Find relevant data sources and establish experts in the field
• Set criteria for media scope
• Develop and apply a method of deconstruction for collecting material using semiotic and visual theories
• Establish a brand related theory from analysis of data
• Report and documents findings, processes, outcomes at every stage of the project
• Investigate if the influence of product placement can affect all age groups
• Based on the research, determine product placement’s effectiveness as a mechanism within branding and identity
• Collect reports and utilise them towards an overall written thesis, as informed by the reflection on the reports.
Audience
• Media watchers – the largest target audience which this project will aim towards, media watchers (or consumers) are the main user group that will be most exposed to the brands displayed
• Marketers and advertisers – the drivers behind-the-scenes of consumer choices, marketers and advertisers can work collaboratively if a gap in the market can be discovered within the media
• Visual researchers – this group of audience have to be constantly informed on the latest trends and hot topics for different age groups, making their knowledge invaluable
Context
Area/field of study
The consumer gives shape to a brand article, largely on the basis of what the ‘brand manufacturer’ offers: a tangible product, advertising. The brand article is much more complex than the tangible product, it is made up of emotions, associations and a fleeting whole that can nonetheless live on for a long time.
(Franzen and Holzhauer, 1987, cited by Franzen and Bouwman, 2001, p.144)
The big world of media is the most important tool for communication in the twenty-first century, and more brands than ever are competing against each other to maximise their marketing methods and brand exposure, but as Franzen and Bouwman rightly defines that
Marketing science considers brands as nothing more than identification means for products and services of suppliers. (Franzen and Bouwman, 2001, xvii)
The general area of study for this project is the promotional tactics used in both fictional and non-fictional media, also known as product placement. First introduced in the 1980s, this can take place in different forms; brands are integrated within, for example, a television show, thus guaranteeing an exposure of a product to its viewers; areas of research within this project will include
• Branding and identity within media
• Advertising techniques
Survey
In the United Kingdom, the Product Placement ban was recently lifted on British television as an attempt to stimulate the economy by allowing advertisers to pay for their products to be integrated into programmes, albeit with restrictions – the ban is still enforced in current affairs and children’s programmes.
The projected position of product placement for children is frowned upon as news sources inform that such placement as children are the most vulnerable to brand exposure in all different types of media. As previous research shows that
children as young as two have already developed preferences for national brands above shop brands, even if the shop brands tasted better. (Hite and Hite, 1995, cited by Franzen and Bouwman, 2001, p.122)
Review
Those around the age of 16-17 begin to develop their own sense of individualism and will begin to choose brands in order to express their ideals, but what of the impact of placement on viewers that are younger? What of the product placement targeted towards adults and its impact on children if they are exposed to such integrated advertising that is of a more mature nature? The media as a whole has become an integral part of our society as a tool for communication, combined with the conspicuous consumption of our society means that marketers have to find ways in advertising that provides ‘information on brands that make long enough of an impression on an individual is stored in the long-term memory’ (Franzen and Bouwman, 2001, p.135).
In relation to branding, this form of integrated advertising relies on good brand management to which marketers and advertisers utilise to reach as many different user groups as possible in order to increase their brand’s exposure and maximum outlets for generating revenue; academia (Spurlock, cited in Ruggie, 2011) noted in the movie Pom Wonderful Presents: The Greatest Movie Ever Sold that ‘What makes consumers happy isn’t the product itself, but what that product is a conduit to.’
The UK government’s intention on the product placement ban on children’s programmes is due to the idea that children are more susceptible to manipulation than adults; from the collected material from various media sources reveal that marketers have been emphasising on what advertising does best; influencing children’s likes and dislikes by showing this young group of target audience exactly what they want, thereby developing a ‘I’ll have what she’s having’ complex towards product consumption.
The question remains as to whether such brand exposure has to be considered as negative exposure to children; with such great parental, as well as governmental, control over children’s purchasing decisions, what other sources of media are brands influencing children with apart from television?
Research Methodology
From the Unit 2.3 research topics, it was realised that most, if not all research investigated the idea of personal branding from different aspects of culture’s impact of perceptions in society. However, the research topics previously became problematic; the research became too self-referential, a closed circle; certain topics were also too specific in the lack of flexibility to consider the problem on a wider scale.
The complexity in exploring the different media methods that integrate product placement aimed towards children will allow the investigation of the seemingly negative brand exposure, and addressing how brands are accessed can change this.
Primary Research
• Establishing marketing strategies within product placement for different types of media – this sets the catalyst for the project in understanding how brands capture audiences in media
• Investigate the psychology of media influence
• Collate data on consumer purchasing choices
• Conduct interviews with advertising or marketing agencies to collect data on their strategies towards different user groups
Secondary Research
• What is product research?
• Which age group the most exposed to media?
• Which age group uses the most forms of media and technology?
• Collate findings of existing data of previous analysis of product placements
• Establish leaders in the field
• Referring to official / governmental websites and resources to clarify on the extent of the product placement legislation
Methods
The research methodology of this project will be mainly information gathering on different surveys as a collection for qualitative analysis, before undergoing interpretation with typologies and data visualisation techniques on aspects such as how different types of media is product placement integrated into as a starting point to quantitative analysis. Other components towards my methodology is as follows:
• Gather information on product placement as a whole
◦ Different types of media that product placement is now integrated into
• Establish a method of categorisation to create typologies of research gathered
◦ User groups and their media
◦ What products are most exposed to different groups
◦ Determine main user group – this is a crucial step as investigation and experimentations can be narrowed down for further criticism and analysis
• Generate constructed surveys to collect primary data
◦ Will be collated and analysed
◦ Determine what type, or types of media will be the focus of study
• Generate both qualitative and quantitative assessment of material gathered
• Filtering data to study extremes of both heavily integrated media and banned integrated media
• Literary research to extend understanding of main areas of study and analyse any findings on
◦ Brand strategies and theory
◦ Brand theory within media
◦ Advertising techniques
Resources
As previously mentioned, consultations may be conducted with tutors from London College of Communication, whom have experience in the advertising or branding industries, as well as setting up interviews with advertising agencies to gather primary research.
As product placement is a relatively topical issue since the recent lift on product placement within specified media, governmental websites may also be consulted for clarification on the extent of the product placement legislation as a whole.
Evaluation
As this proposal appears to be a research project about design, rather than a practical design problem, the most appropriate method of evaluation would be to employ critical reflection. This topical issue’s relevance is vast in today’s society where we are media and technology reliant; my focus on product placement towards children may face its occasional challenges due to governmental legislation rather than impracticalities.
The methods to evaluate the effectiveness of subject material will be reviewed by peers as well as tutors, which will then be reported in my milestone reports, which, currently, could take the form of a research blog. The research blog will be made public, thereby maximising sources for feedback from the public or amongst a wider research community.
Output
With applied research, the outcome will explore product placement and brand exposure towards children. I am specifying a written thesis as the outcome, as this project seems much more likely to be a critical discussion of product placement’s impact on children’s brand preferences. Producing a written output will still provide opportunities to acquire more technical and visual skills as part of the investigation, particularly in the form of a visual summary. With the context provided and research question outlined, I envisage the process of investigation will be broken down into a series of sub-projects in order to analyse different aspects of product placement and its influence on those exposed to such.
Any designed analysis produced for this project will involve a form of typographic and information design in order to present research findings, analysis and conclusions, and potential outcomes will be supported by an edited visual summary, as well as a research blog in addition to the final outcome.
Bibliography
Franzen, G and Bouwman, M. (2001) The Mental World of Brands – Mind, memory and brand success. Oxfordshire: World Advertising Research Center
