Can the UK handle the ‘US style of marketing’?

Product placement will be allowed in the UK in 2011, and with many new rules and regulations around the medium, marketers may be reluctant to take advantage of this “US style of marketing”.

The Wall Street Journal calls product placement the “US style of marketing”. It also points out that product placement was born in Europe back in the 1890s when films were financed by brands. Somewhere down the line the form of advertising was banned, but now the European Union has relaxed the rules and we’re set for explosion of advertising – some of us may not even be able to tell.

The EU has changed the laws and now editorial and advertising are allowed to be mixed. The catch is, the two must be distinct from one another and programmes must disclose whether or not they are ‘advertising’ anything.

While keen to allow commercial broadcasters access to a new source of revenue, the EU authorities want to ensure viewers know when they are being sold to.

Of course, the rules also forbid tobacco advertising within shows and ban product placement of any kind in children’s programs, documentaries and news programs.

Last month, broadcasting regulator Ofcom published a set of proposed rules banning the placement of alcohol, junk food and gambling services.

While the new revenue will aid some broadcasters, (adding an estimated extra £30 million a year to the bottom line) many have remained cautious about product placement because of its vast restrictions and viewer unpopularity.

Product placement won’t start being used in the UK until next year, but Spanish and French broadcasters have already started implementing this ‘US style marketing’.

But why now?

With more and more viewers watching TV via the internet and on-demand services, advertising revenues for broadcasters have plummeted as most of us fast forward our way through our favourite prime time shows.

I for one often pause the show I am watching for the first ten minutes which then allows me to fast forward through almost every ad break.

Product placement is almost essential, and don’t under-estimate it – it can make a program look more real. No one was really buying that fake beer brand in Corrie which made everything else look, well, fake.

When viewers can associate real life products with real life situations and believable characters, it will allow them to build more of a relationship and an emotional connection with brands.

The challenge for advertisers however, is to not put their brands in the wrong hands. Target market will be more important than ever in product placement as will image.