Tag Archives: Product placement

by | Thursday, July 13, 2023 · 7:10 am

The Barbie Brand Goes Big

In my modest opinion as a marketer, nobody does branding better than ‘Barbie’ from Mattel It takes toys and keeps them relevant over decades. Case in point: Barbie dolls. While Barbie has had some ups-and-downs over the years, she is still a powerful brand icon. And this summer she gets her own movie!

The iconic doll has been a staple in American kids’ lives since the 1950s and it shows no sign of slowing down anytime soon. Barbie is now 64 years old (but doesn’t look a day over 19) and she has finely honed her marketing skills over the years.

This summer’s Barbie movie has more than 100 Barbie merchandise collaborations including an Airbnb stay at the Malibu Dream House (hosted by Ken). Other merchandise includes:

  • Barbie-themed Xbox Series S
  • Barbie roller skates from Impala
  • Barbie ice cream at Cold Stone Creamery
  • Pink-colored clothing at Gap
  • Hot Wheels Barbie Corvette
  • Barbie sneakers from Superga
  • Barbie pool floats at Target and Amazon
  • And much more…

The movie is a strong play from Mattel to increase growth by making Barbie a trending, pop culture sensation. To expand the potential sales, Mattel has partnered with other companies for even more pink Barbie-0branded products. Some agreements pay Mattel a flat licensing fee; others may be giving Mattel a percentage of the sales.

Think pink!

 Group Activities and Discussion Questions:

  1. Poll students: Who has played with a Barbie doll in their youth – or now?
  2. Why did Mattel want a Barbie movie?
  3. Discuss the four primary marketing strategies: market penetration, market development, product development, and diversification.
  4. Which strategy is being used for this product? Why?
  5. Divide students into teams. Have each team select one of the four different strategies and explain why that strategy could be used to market Barbie.
  6. Show the movie clip: https://www.barbie-themovie.net/
  7. View the Malibu beach house rental: https://news.airbnb.com/barbies-malibu-dreamhouse-is-back-on-airbnb-but-this-time-kens-hosting/
  8. Show Mattel’s Barbie website: https://shop.mattel.com/pages/barbie
  9. Optional: Have students search for Barbie-branded merchandise and collaborators.

Source: Lieber, C. (29 June 2023). The summer of ‘Barbie’ has only just begun. Wall Street Journal; Vega, N. (29 June 2023). ‘Barbie’ roller skates, Hot Wheels and dog toys: Brands are going all in on merch for summer’s hottest movie. CNBC.

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by | Friday, December 30, 2022 · 7:29 am

When Celebrity Endorsements Go Bad: Adidas and Kanye West

Brands and marketers love to use celebrities to help endorse companies’ brands and products. Consumers think that if a product is good enough for someone famous that they respect, then it’s good enough for us as well. Using a celebrity’s image in advertising campaigns helps to promote products and raise its awareness. Marketers hope that the positive response to a celebrity will be passed on to the products or brands. 

There are advantages to this approach. Celebrity endorsements help consumers remember advertisements and makes a brand more memorable than a brand that lacks a celebrity. But it doesn’t always work; it can backfire on both the brand and the celebrity when things go astray. Since by their very nature, celebrities are often in the news, and are monitored constantly, a celebrity who takes an unpopular stand risks damaging his or her image, as well as the brand. Scandals can immediately provoke a negative consumer perception and harm the brand.

Celebrity endorsements can be a great boon to brands, linking brands tightly to the fortunes of the celebrity. We can think of many great partnerships and athletes and celebrities, but there have also been some notable failures.

A recent celebrity endorsement upset is the dissolution of the partnership between rapper and designer Kanye West and Adidas a result of antisemitic remarks made by West (Adidas manufacturers West’s Yeezy shoe line). The two have been in business together since 2016. The Yeezy partnership is estimated to account for 8% of Adidas’ annual sales.

While there are many news reports available about what happened and the timeline of the Adidas decision, the entire case is really about power of celebrity endorsements.

What is your opinion?

Group Activities and Discussion Questions:

  1. Discuss the effects of celebrity endorsements on brands.
  2. In teams, have students list both positive and negative celebrity endorsement deals.
  3. Show the 2016 announcement of the Adidas/Kanye partnership: https://www.adidas-group.com/en/media/news-archive/press-releases/2016/adidas-and-kanye-west-make-history-transformative-new-partnershi/
  4. A GMA video about the recent breakup can be viewed at: https://youtu.be/MFUH_A3mApg
  5. Poll students about their opinions about the situation.
  6. What should Adidas do to recover from the situation?

Source: Safdar, K. and Pacheco, I. (27 November 2022). Adidas top executives discussed risk of staff’s ‘direct exposure’ to Kanye West years ago. Wall Street Journal.

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by | Thursday, April 22, 2021 · 7:39 am

Subway Wins Big on Product Placement

If a brand wants to get a customer’s attention, marketers know that there is no substitute for showing the customer how a product fits into real lives in the real world. And to show a lot of prospective consumers this at one time, brands need to show them the product on a large scale such as in a television show or a movie. This can be globally, not just in the U.S.

Take Subway’s experience in South Korea. South Korea prevents TV stations from inserting commercial breaks into programs. This limitation has caused many companies to get very creative in how they showcase their wares. As a result, Subway has placed its products, stores, and logos in at least 17 different shows. And, when the shows eventually get released on Netflix, millions more viewers will see Subway product placements.

A U.S. show, Cobra Kai, began on YouTube but moved to Netflix distribution last summer. The product placements in that show reached consumers who don’t usually watch network TV, but will stream shows, where advertising is either scarce or expensive. Top product placements on Cobra Kai were Coors, Mercedes Benz, and Dell.

Product placement has grown to more than $10 billion a year in the U.S. as brands search for new ways to reach consumers. Streaming is now estimated to account for nearly 25% of total TV viewing. While there are times that the product is very noticeable (such as BMW cars in James Bond movies), there are many times when products are used subtly (but still get our attention).Companies that are able to get their products shown on the big screen – or even a small screen – bring their products to the attention of millions of viewers, all of whom have opted-in to watching a show or movie.

What products catch your eye?

Group Activities and Discussion Questions:

  1. Discuss product placement as a promotional tactic.
  2. Show BEN website: https://ben.productplacement.com/
  3. Ask students to name their three TV shows and/or movies that they recently viewed.
  4. Next, ask them to name at least three products that they can recall seeing in the show. Were those products there by accident?
  5. Show a video clip of one of the TV shows or movies. Most clips can easily be found on www.hulu.com, www.youtube.com, and other sites.
  6. Divide students into teams. Have each team choose two products they would like to have placed in a TV show.
  7. How would these products be incorporated? What is the desired result?

Source:  AdWeek; Media Daily News; New York Times

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