Why Brands Need A Product Placement Agency

Chelsea Collins | October 2, 2019 at 9:00 AM

While We Like To Think It’s Obvious…

We understand that it might not be so obvious. Many brands think that they’re equipped to manage a product placement program in-house. They think it’s just a matter of giving someone free stuff. What could be so hard about it?

To that we say… uhhh a lot! There is so much that happens behind the scenes for product placement to be a success, and having expert guidance increases those chances significantly. In this blog, Hollywood Branded shares some insight into why brands need a product placement agency in order to get the best on screen exposure possible.

The Amount Of Opportunities We Receive

Occasionally we hear from potential clients that shows already reach out to them so why do they need us? This question always makes us smile and has multiple answers. The first is that while you may get an inquiring email once or twice a month from a new production, we get those emails at minimum once or twice an hour.

And no, they’re not all Ocean’s 8. Some of them are productions that we know will never see the light of day, but we’re equipped to vet them. We know the right questions to ask to ensure that the film or TV show we’re working with is worthy of your brand’s participation. We’re also equipped to leverage different levels of exposure expectations relative to the quality of the production.

In addition to fielding incoming requests from productions, Hollywood Branded is subscribed to tons of production databases which keep us up to date with the hottest productions coming down the pipeline. They provide things like cast updates the minute they’re announced and specific shoot dates so we know the best time to reach out.

We also have contacts in this industry that we’ve worked with for not just years, but decades. This is an industry where production members go from one production straight to the next, so while that film is wrapping up, that prop master is already talking to us about the needs of his next project.

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And remember, as much as we love you, you’re not our only client, and that is a GOOD thing. We cannot count the times that a producer has reached out to us for one of our clients in particular and it’s given us the opportunity to pitch our other brands – pitches that the producer is happy to entertain because ultimately the more cool stuff they bring the Director, the better they look!

Managing The Opportunities Your Brand Receives

Yes, there might be some great productions that will reach out to your marketing team directly. And yes, your marketing team is perfectly capable of shipping out the specific product that production requested. But, then what? Is your team following up to get the expensive equipment back after filming has wrapped? Is your team asking for behind the scenes images? Is your team reading through the script to see if a deeper opportunity for your brand exists? Is your team reaching out to the promotions team at the studio to see if you can leverage this potential placement in a cool, unique co-promotional campaign? Is your team watching the entire series of the show waiting for your brand to pop up, and when it does, clipping the content and creating social media verbiage so you can share the sighting with your customers?

Spoiler alert… our agency is doing all of it! It’s never just, “Oh yea I think we gave that show something a couple months ago.” We’re having in depth conversations with the production teams. We’re understanding the context with which your brand will be used, and we’re exploring additional opportunities that exist.

We're working with the production to determine if there are any promotional extensions between the brand and the production. Knowing the general release date of the production, we work with both the brand and the film to see if there are any co-promotional activities that might align with both parties. These are things like co-promotional social posts, sponsoring the premiere party, hosting one of the actors at your store location(s). There are so many different opportunities that come with this world, and the earlier into production we have those conversations, the bigger the outcome. This is one of our strong suits. We know who to talk to, and we know the opportunities that exist.

Additionally, we’re actually WATCHING the show once product has been sent. This may seem like an obvious follow up, but we cannot tell you how many brands take the annoying step of shipping the product, but not the fun step of watching to see if it actually got air time. Additionally, once the product has been spotted, our team is not only turning that placement into content for your brand to repurpose on social media, but we’re also providing your team with Nielson-approved analytics to determine the monetary value of that placement relative to the current ad rates on that network.

Mistakes We’ve Made

We’ve been in business for well over a decade now, and while it’s not necessarily something you expect to hear from an agency wanting your business, we have made mistakes. We’ve taken prop masters at their word without a written contract. We’ve taken a risk on a production that really did turn out to be a dud. We’ve missed out on a co-promotional opportunity because we didn’t follow up with the production team to confirm how strong of a placement the brand had received.

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But… these are things we only let happen once, and they are things that quickly become learning lessons for each employee here. So when you’re working with us, your brand is getting that expertise. You can rest assured that we’ve seen everything under the sun at this point, and we know exactly what to look for, what to avoid, and what to push harder on.

It's Really A No-Brainer

This industry is relentless, but the rewards are worth it. There are so many emails, phone conversations, trips to FedEx, etc. that go into a single placement. We ensure that you’re getting the most out of what the entertainment industry has to offer, and we make sure that you’re doing it right.

Interested in learning more about the Product Placement landscape? We've got you more than covered there! Check out some more articles below:

Curious to see what it costs to save your team from all the product placement stress? Click below for more on our pricing. Come on, we know you wanna...