Advertainment is a term used to reflect the intertwining relationships between advertising and entertainment. Typically it refers to media that combines various forms of entertainment (television, movies, songs, etc.) with elements of advertising to promote products or brands. An example would be product placement in a film. The word is a portmanteau of advertising and entertainment .
Marketers' approach to using entertainment content to promote their products dates back to the use of branded products in early motion pictures. It represented a cooperative venture between a filmmaker and a company in which on-screen exposure of a product, off-screen endorsement by an actor, or a combination of those were traded for paid advertising and unpaid promotions by the company. Often products were offered for use in films in return for publicity stills for use in companies’ advertising. The first film to win an Academy Award for Best Picture, "Wings" (1927), featured a prominent placement of Hershey's candy. [1]
Companies commonly sponsored radio programs, and sometimes even helped write them to include product pitches, as with Ovaltine flavored milk supplement and the "Little Orphan Annie" radio show. [2] early television programs sometimes included branding in the name of the programs, such as “The Colgate Comedy Hour”, "Texaco Star Theatre" or even "Camel News Caravan". Advertiser-sponsored programming began to fall from favor with quiz-show scandals of the late 1950s, which involved sponsors. [3] This gave rise to commercial breaks and produced 60-second or 30-second ads.
A transcendent instance of product placement, one aspect of advertainment, involved the 1982 hit movie E.T. the Extra Terrestrial. The Mars candy company rejected an offer to feature M&M's in the Steven Spielberg blockbuster. Hershey (the sponsor involved in the "Wings" promotion 55 years before) provided Reese's Pieces, and its product's sales dramatically increased, perhaps as much as 300%. [4] Other companies attempted to replicate Hershey's brand-placement success to increase awareness of their brands and generate sales. [5] FedEx gained exceptional brand placement in the 2000 Tom Hanks film "Castaway," and in an unusual arrangement paid nothing for the exposure. The plot involves a fatal crash of FedEx planes, and the company agreed to that negative exposure in return for significant brand presence, even provided filming locations at its package sorting hubs in Memphis, Los Angeles and Moscow, as well as airplanes, trucks, uniforms and logistical support. [6] The increasing popularity of the usage of integrated advertising in films has further grown in recent years as a way to remain present in consumers' minds despite new technology that enables consumers' to largely avoid traditional commercials. Consumers have the ability to avoid such messaging through the commercial skipping feature applied in some Digital Video Recorders (DVR) or simply by switching channels. This has fueled an exponential growth of advertainment in recent years. [7] A Microsoft Surface placement on the television show NCIS, shows use of the tablet, for instance.
A growing venue for advertainment is video games, sometimes called "advergaming", where product placement and partnerships may take a more dynamic role, according to researchers. The variables of gaming within ongoing competition may make players more perceptive or active in the face of advertainment. [8] Advergaming examples include billboards advertising for (and product placement of) Bawls energy drink in Fallout: Brotherhood of Steel, and billboards for Adidas sportswear in FIFA International Soccer. Gamers' attitudes about in-game promotions vary greatly from tolerant to highly resistant. [8]
Global branded entertainment revenues reached a record $73.27 billion in 2014, according to media analysts PQ Media. [9] A consequence of the increased popularity of advertainment is the boom of a specialized product placement industry. [10] Product placement has become an institutionalized industry, as evidenced by the creation of professional associations, such as the Entertainment Resource Marketing Association and Branded Content Marketing Association. The professional associations are relatively new and consist of different types of agencies that range in type and size. These agencies also vary in the ways in which companies and studios deal with product placement. [5]
The production side
In an advertainment contractual arrangement including product placement, scripts are often sent to producers of television programs, movies or music who are required to use brands in their scenes. Product placements such as these often are bundled with traditional ads and online ads. Some writers and directors object to such arrangements, fearing the plot will seem contrived or lack interest for audiences. [11] In 2005, television writers protested during advertising week demanding more input and profit with and from product placement deals. [5]
The agency side
Advertising agencies act as "middlemen" between the production and client sides, arranging contracts. Agencies have argued that advertainment is now needed because television viewers today are skipping commercials entirely with digital video recorders. [12]
Advertising executives say successful advertainment depends on the successful integration of a product within entertainment that audiences actually want to watch. [13] Redbull's collaboration on a record-breaking space jump from 127,900 feet is cited within the advertising industry as an example of advertainment within compelling content. [13]
In the beginning of advertainment, it was much easier to close on placement deals because they were considered “value-added propositions” and most importantly were free. In today's world, successful advertainment is more elaborate and requires more extensive work and planning as well as experts in the promotion, advertainment, entertainment and communication industries, ad agency executives say. [12]
Advertainment can have other roles in society. It can be used to communicate messages of social welfare, such as carrying safe-sex messages to developing nations through radio dramas. [14] This type of advertainment is known as edutainment.
There are few recent regulations surrounding advertainment. [5] However, there are sponsorship disclosure laws that can be loosely applied from the Radio Act of 1927, where radio broadcasters were required to identify the sponsors of their programs. There are additional regulations in Section 317 of the 1934 Communications Act, [15] where broadcasters are required to disclose any “service or other valuable consideration” that is “directly or indirectly paid, or promised to or charged or accepted by” those producing the program, unless the consideration was offered free of charge. The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has also ruled that on-screen disclosure “should be” in the end credits, but this is rarely enforced. [5] The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has regulations surrounding deceptive advertising, but they also state that advertainment does not make ‘objective claims’ about a product, so the rules do not apply. Some consumer groups have advocated for stronger regulation, however no new regulations have been passed.
Consumer Perspective
Advertainment has been compared to subliminal messaging in advertising. Consumer advocacy groups argue that advertainment is deceptive in part because it can be so subtle that sometimes consumers do not even recognize the fact they have just viewed a commercial. The dangers to consumers are tangible, critics argue, and consumers require added sophistication to address them. "Deceptive marketing harms consumers’ health, welfare and financial resources, reduces people's privacy and self-esteem, and ultimately undermines trust in society. Individual consumers must try to protect themselves from marketers’ misleading communications by acquiring personal marketplace deception-protection skills that go beyond reliance on legal or regulatory protections," wrote the authors of "Deception In The Marketplace: The Psychology of Deceptive Persuasion and Consumer Self-Protection." [16] Where children are concerned, many parents believe the idea of explicit advertainment is unfair because the target audience is perceived as vulnerable and unable to make informed decisions on their own. Despite this, the FTC has ruled that children are no different than adults in perception, and advertainment in children's programming does not violate any regulations. [17] Parents have been increasingly vocal about advertainment in children's movies and programs, arguing that children do not have the understanding that adults do regarding the product that their favorite star is using. [18] A proposed solution is for advertisers or producers of children's programming to openly state when a show contains embedded advertisement, much like a ratings system. Transparency seems to be the underlying issue regarding both ethical and legal aspects of advertainment; the broadly accepted solution to the ethical dilemma is overwhelmingly disclosure of embedded advertainment to viewers.
Advertiser Perspective
With the increase in DVR use and on-demand services like Hulu and Netflix, many advertisers believe advertainment is their only option as viewers fast forward through previously recorded commercials. [12] A well-placed product during a heavily watched television program can bring as much if not more advertising dollars and may be the only way to reach customers if commercials are skipped. The field of advertainment is risky, however, with consumer attitudes about it varying greatly. [8]
Advertising is the practice and techniques employed to bring attention to a product or service. Advertising aims to put a product or service in the spotlight in hopes of drawing it attention from consumers. It is typically used to promote a specific good or service, but there are wide range of uses, the most common being the commercial advertisement.
A television advertisement is a span of television programming produced and paid for by an organization. It conveys a message promoting, and aiming to market, a product, service or idea. Advertisers and marketers may refer to television commercials as TVCs.
Product placement, also known as embedded marketing, is a marketing technique where references to specific brands or products are incorporated into another work, such as a film or television program, with specific promotional intent. Much of this is done by loaning products, especially when expensive items, such as vehicles, are involved. In 2021, the agreements between brand owners and films and television programs were worth more than US$20 billion.
Advertising in video games is the integration of advertising into video games to promote products, organizations, or viewpoints.
Direct response television (DRTV) is any television advertising that asks consumers to respond directly to the company — usually either by calling a toll-free telephone number, sending an SMS message, or by visiting a web site. This is a form of direct response marketing.
Advertising management is a planned managerial process designed to oversee and control the various advertising activities involved in a program to communicate with a firm's target market and which is ultimately designed to influence the consumer's purchase decisions. Advertising is just one element in a company's promotional mix and as such, must be integrated with the overall marketing communications program. Advertising is, however, the most expensive of all the promotional elements and therefore must be managed with care and accountability. Advertising management process also helps in defining the outline of the media campaign and in deciding which type of advertising would be used before the launch of a product.
An advertising campaign is a series of advertisement messages that share a single idea and theme which make up an integrated marketing communication (IMC). An IMC is a platform in which a group of people can group their ideas, beliefs, and concepts into one large media base. Advertising campaigns utilize diverse media channels over a particular time frame and target identified audiences.
Interactive advertising uses online or offline interactive media to communicate with consumers and to promote products, brands, services, and public service announcements, corporate or political groups.
A fictional brand is a non-existing brand used in artistic or entertainment productions, such as paintings, books, comics, movies, TV serials, and music. The fictional brand may be designed to imitate, satirize or differentiate itself from a real corporate brand. Such a device may be required where real corporations are unwilling to license their brand names for use in the fictional work, particularly where the work holds the product in a negative light.
An advergame is a form of advertising in video games, in which the video game is developed by or in close collaboration with a corporate entity for purposes of advertising a brand-name product. While other video games may use in-game advertising, an advergame is differentiated by the Interactive Advertising Bureau as a "game specifically designed around [the] product or service being advertised". An advergame is considered a type of advertainment.
Fast food advertising promotes fast food products and utilizes numerous aspects to reach out to the public.
In-game advertising (IGA) is advertising in electronic games. IGA differs from advergames, which refers to games specifically made to advertise a product. The IGA industry is large and growing.
John H. Dowd Jr., "Jack", (1922–2004) was a Hershey Chocolate Company brand manager who negotiated the marketing agreement that placed Reese's Pieces in Steven Spielberg's E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial. He later worked as an advertising executive,
In marketing, branded content is content produced by an advertiser or content whose creation was funded by an advertiser. In contrast to content marketing and product placement, branded content is designed to build awareness for a brand by associating it with content that shares its values. The content does not necessarily need to be a promotion for the brand, although it may still include product placement.
"Youth Marketing" is a term used in the marketing and advertising industry to describe activities to communicate with young people, typically in the age range of 11 to 35. More specifically, there is teen marketing, targeting people age 11 to 17, college marketing, targeting college-age consumers, typically ages 18 to 24, and young adult marketing, targeting ages 25 to 34.
Advertising is a form of selling a product to a certain audience in which communication is intended to persuade an audience to purchase products, ideals or services regardless of whether they want or need them. While advertising can be seen as a way to inform the audience about a certain product or idea it also comes with a cost because the sellers have to find a way to show the seller interest in their product. It is not without social costs. Unsolicited commercial email and other forms of spam have become so prevalent that they are a major nuisance to internet users, as well as being a financial burden on internet service providers. Advertising increasingly invades public spaces, such as schools, which some critics argue is a form of child exploitation. Advertising frequently uses psychological pressure on the intended consumer, which may be harmful. As a result of these criticisms, the advertising industry has seen low approval rates in surveys and negative cultural portrayals.
The United States food and beverage industry has increased the amount of advertising that intensively and aggressively targets children through multiple channels. Food marketers know that the youth consumers have equal if not more spending power than adults, they hold purchasing influence, and have the potential to be lifelong consumers. The advertisements for products predominantly high in sugar and fat have increased and have had an effect on the major health epidemic in the US of Childhood obesity, and as such are inconsistent with national dietary recommendations. Food advertisements have moved from the television into the classroom. Marketing companies are exploring new creative techniques to reach their target audience, young children, through promotions, contests, and incentive programs. As a result, the US has progressively been placing regulations on how much advertising is allowed during children's programming.
Native advertising, also called sponsored content, is a type of advertising that matches the form and function of the platform upon which it appears. In many cases it functions like an advertorial, and manifests as a video, article or editorial. The word native refers to this coherence of the content with the other media that appear on the platform.
Advertisements in schools is a controversial issue that is debated in the United States. Naming rights of sports stadiums and fields, sponsorship of sports teams, placement of signage, vending machine product selection and placement, and free products that children can take home or keep at school are all prominent forms of advertisements in schools.
Predatory advertising, or predatory marketing, can be largely understood as the practice of manipulating vulnerable persons or populations into unfavorable market transactions through the undisclosed exploitation of these vulnerabilities. The vulnerabilities of persons/populations can be hard to determine, especially as they are contextually dependent and may not exist across all circumstances. Commonly exploited vulnerabilities include physical, emotional, social, cognitive, and financial characteristics. Predatory marketing campaigns may also rely on false or misleading messaging to coerce individuals into asymmetrical transactions. The history of the practice has existed as long as general advertising, but particularly egregious forms have accompanied the explosive rise of information technology. Massive data analytics industries have allowed marketers to access previously sparse and inaccessible personal information, leveraging and optimizing it through the use of savvy algorithms. Some common examples today include for-profit college industries, "fringe" financial institutions, political micro-targeting, and elder/child exploitation. Many legal actions have been taken at different levels of government to mitigate the practice, with various levels of success.