Brand marketing promotion: How to learn the product placement of "The Debaters"?

Since its inception, product placement has faced the unavoidable struggle between “spear” and “shield”.

On the one hand, there is the aesthetic demand unique to advertising, on the other hand, there is the desire of investors to promote products, on the one hand, there is the artistic expression of advertising, on the one hand, there is capital and interests, on the one hand, there is the expressive rationality of film and television texts, and on the other hand, there is the instrumental rationality of commodity society.

The emergence of product placement itself is the result of the struggle between the two dimensions of advertising desire and advertising aesthetics. It is the result of the struggle between the audience's ever-increasing aesthetic needs and the utilitarianism of the advertising industry itself. It is a product caught in the cracks.

Rather than saying that the birth of product placement heralds the awakening of advertising aesthetics, it is better to say that it is a product of utilitarianism under the commodity economy. As competition in the advertising industry becomes increasingly fierce and consumers' aesthetic demands for advertising gradually increase, advertisers find that traditional advertising has become difficult to win the hearts of consumers.

At this time, various fancy advertisements came into being, and product placement is one of them.

Early product placement was known for its “silent and subtle” effect, brushing through consumers’ hearts like a spring rain, subtly arousing their desire to buy.

The earliest product placement was the canned spinach in the animated film "Popeye", which tied the protagonist's image to the sponsor's canned spinach brand. Once Popeye the Sailor eats the canned spinach, he will become extremely strong. “The best thing about meeting the President of the United States is that you can drink as much Pengquan soda as you want.” This sentence from Forrest Gump in “Forrest Gump” has made Pengquan soda a best-seller for many years.

However, with the growing desire of investors and the huge profits brought by product placement, "product placement" began to become a kind of "intrusive" advertising.

The unique advantages of product placement, such as "subtle influence" and "silent influence", have been completely lost, and have been replaced by the awkwardness of forced product placement. "Intrusive" advertising has loudly entered TV dramas, variety shows, movies, and our entertainment lives, polluting the pure land of consumers' leisure and entertainment.

The placement of RIO cocktail in the TV series “Fall in Love with You” is a good example. In the TV series, RIO cocktails have become a must-have drink for the protagonists' leisure and entertainment, dinner parties and even high-end banquets. The line "This life is like this wine, colorful" triggered constant comments from the barrage.

The awkward product placement that can be identified at a glance will not only interrupt the audience's aesthetic experience and reduce the artistic quality of the work itself, but will also cause the audience to be wary of the product and may not necessarily achieve good publicity effects.

Product placement has gone from one extreme to another, with utilitarianism completely overwhelmed by rational expression, causing the advantages of "product placement" itself to be completely lost. But there is one advertiser who has pushed the utilitarianism of product placement to the extreme, completely breaking the delicate balance in product placement.

How to satisfy both the "sponsor" and the "audience god"? Why did the tough product placement not arouse the public's disgust but instead become a classic case of marketing?

The weird advertisements in "The Debaters" will tell us the answer.

1. “Soft” advertising must be “hard” to the end

If traditional product placement relies on the "deception" of advertising, then the awkward product placement is the most "affected" advertising.

The awkward product placement does not give people room to avoid the advertisements like the traditional advertisements, nor is it like the traditional product placement that “moistens things silently”, “comes quietly” and “goes quietly” without leaving any trace.

The awkward product placement has greatly destroyed the audience's aesthetic experience when appreciating literary and artistic works, but it is unwilling to tear off the last veil. It is obviously an advertisement, but they refuse to claim that they are an advertisement. They are unwilling to stand in front of the stage and compete head-on with other advertisers. They try to hide behind film and television works and "shine" and win in an alternative way.

Such advertisements not only interfere with the audience's appreciation of literary and artistic works, but also stimulate the audience's rebellious psychology.

The product placement in "The Debaters" seizes on the audience's rebellious psychology, and simply tears off the last layer of the product placement veil, making the "soft" advertisement truly "hard".

When advertising, you need to say it openly. Even “affected” and hard-line product placement can become “sincere”.

The wonderful thing about human nature is that if you cleverly cover up what you have done, even if you have to, it will trigger a series of speculations. But if you speak out openly, people will sympathize with your difficulties.

There is no advertisement more "hard" than the "soft" advertisement of "The Debaters".

The host of the show, Ma Dong, once complained about himself on the show, saying that "The Debaters" is first an advertising program and only secondarily a debate program.

From the sponsor logos scattered throughout the recording site to the sponsor mascots that the camera frequently scans, from the advertising voiceovers that are inserted whenever possible to the subtitles that express gratitude to the "sponsor". "The Debaters" makes something as boring as advertising become "real" and "sincere".

Guest Alec Su once complained, "Are the advertisements on your show so hard?"

Ma Dong would also joke before the commercials in the show: "When you become famous, you'll have a lot of gossip. When the show is popular, there will be a lot of commercials. Now let's start the commercial time." This made the audience laugh continuously. Even after finishing an advertisement, Ma Dong would openly smile and say, "Okay, I've made all the money again." Coupled with the special effects of money coming in in post-production, advertising becomes an interesting thing.

The "soft" advertisement and the "hard" advertising not only please the sponsors, but also gain the understanding of the audience because of its open and frank attitude. It is even more loved by the audience because of its "sincere" and "natural" expression.

The success of product placement in "The Debaters" is due to its grasp of this subtle aspect of human nature. "Sincerity" is the master key to social interaction and can also be a winning strategy for product placement.

2. Control your attention

Compared with traditional advertising, product placement is difficult to fully describe product attributes and provide a systematic introduction to the product, but this advertising method has been favored by countless advertisers. The reason is that embedded advertising controls the audience's "attention" and maximizes the communication efficiency.

When watching movies or TV shows, the audience's attention is highly focused, making it easier for them to remember the content of the advertisements subtly.

However, this advertising technique also has drawbacks that are difficult to reconcile. Overly strong product placements will destroy the audience's concentration, while overly weak product placements may weaken the image of the product itself and fail to achieve good publicity effects.

How to strike that delicate balance is a question that advertisers are constantly exploring. The innovation of the "U Can U Bibi" advertisement lies in that it completely breaks the balance, taking into account both the strong product placement techniques and the control of the audience's attention.

The secret lies in clever foreshadowing, unexpected twists and control of the program's positioning.

One of the debate topics in the show “The Debaters” was: Should we destroy or protect the eggs of higher organisms?

In response to this topic, the contestants launched a series of fierce debates, in which the fear of the unknown, the yearning for advanced civilization, the desire for science and technology, and a variety of viewpoints intertwined and collided, performing a drama of the collision between "human nature" and "material nature".

At the end of this serious topic, Ma Dong made a "serious" summary.

"The show is also an unknown egg for the entire team. We don't even know where it will go in each episode, or what the conclusion will be."

"We don't know whether this program will be justified to all our viewers after it airs, whether you will benefit from it, or even whether some of our opinions will be beneficial to you or even cause you some harm."

"But it contains all kinds of possibilities. An egg is laid out, and you accept it. We are happy, but why were we willing to take the risk in the first place?"

Just as the audience was intently waiting for Ma Dong to come up with a wave of "sentimentalism" and the last "value", Ma Dong suddenly changed the subject.

"Because we have very good sponsors! Really, they are the ones who present these possibilities to the audience. Who are they? They are..."

As soon as the words fell, there were waves of laughter. Such an ending is both unexpected and reasonable, humorous and not offensive. The best part is that this "surprise twist" slogan captures the moment when the audience's attention is most focused, and gives an unexpected result when the audience is concentrating on waiting for the next part, giving people a "roller coaster" experience and "absurd" comedy beauty, and leaving an exceptionally deep impression on the audience.

The beauty of such a slogan is that it kills two birds with one stone.

The positioning of "The Debaters" itself is an entertainment program, a program for leisure and relaxation, and a program to "eat with meals". Although serious topics will increase the depth of discussion in the program, they will inevitably lose the role of "happy fruit".

Ma Dong’s final “miracle turn” slogan is not just an advertisement, but also a way to adjust the atmosphere, making the show’s atmosphere relaxed and lively again, and bringing smiles back to the audience’s faces.

3. Thoroughly "entertainment"

Entertainment is one of the biggest psychological motivations for modern people. The pursuit of "pleasure" and the desire for "happiness" are human instincts and a powerful driving force.

"The Debaters" itself is an entertainment program. The beauty of its advertisements lies in the consistency between the advertisement placement and the program's tone, forming an "entertainment" from the program itself to the advertising content, creating an entertainment program from beginning to end.

“When the audience is in a casual state, they are more likely to be attracted by interesting artistic phenomena.”

The "entertainment" of product placement has made the content of the advertisement, like the content of the program, something worth looking forward to, attracting the audience's pursuit and discussion.

The slogans customized by "The Debaters" for advertisers are themselves an entertainment product.

The slogan for Youfan App is "Dress with style and try not to make mistakes", the slogan for Fruit Grain Oat Milk is "International anti-hunger brand, Fruit Grain Oat Milk", and the slogan for Head & Shoulders is

"Nonsense is like dandruff, use Head & Shoulders to get rid of it!" There are also classic voice-over advertisements such as "The vivo phone is so fast that it can make you fly" and "Have a cup of Yaha coffee and have a pleasant chat".

These slogans are concise, clear, novel and interesting. They not only fit the tone and content of the program, but also concisely express the product attributes. More importantly, each slogan itself is like a "crosstalk", which greatly entertains the audience with its clever rhetoric and "absurd" word combinations.

The "entertaining" advertising of "The Debaters" is also reflected in the oral placements, interesting advertising clips and novel situational placements.

In order to strengthen the interaction among guests, the later episodes of "The Debaters" introduced the "mini talk" segment, which enhanced communication with guests through topic discussions. The “mini talk” session is also a good channel for advertising placement.

The warm-up topic for an episode of the second season of "The Debaters" was - how to pick your nose elegantly.

Other hosts and guests shared their unique skills, which made the audience laugh continuously. At this time, Ma Dong’s answer was: "MM chocolate beans (the sponsor of that issue) are just the right size to block the nostrils." "I ate two. I made so much money with each one. I felt so happy!" Suddenly, the laughter overturned the studio.

By cleverly embedding such interesting slogans into the topic of "entertainment", the advertisement becomes completely entertaining, achieving unexpected results. Watching advertisements has also become a way to relax and unwind.

Conclusion:

How to coordinate the artistry and utilitarianism in product placement is a headache for many advertisers. Product placement that is too "explicit" will interrupt the narrative rhythm of the work and cause the audience to be bored. Product placement that is too "implicit" will eliminate the effect of the advertisement itself and cause dissatisfaction among investors.

How to please both the "financial sponsor" and the "customer god" is a good example for us in "U Can U Bibi" If "soft" advertising doesn't work, it's better to use hard "soft" advertising.

Author: Fang Yun

Source: PR Home