Product Placement refers to the targeted integration of a brand or branded products within editorial entertainment formats. Depending on the object to be placed, a distinction can be made between different types of placement, e.g. personality placement, location placement and topic placement.

Important: This is not to be confused with providing celebrity personalities with product in order to solidify a brand’s presence in the media and public awareness -> see brand ambassador.

There is no one single “right” definition for branded entertainment. This is mostly due to the complexity of the term. Our suggestion for a definition:

Branded entertainment is an overarching term for a variety of marketing activities that are grounded in a strategy to emotionalize brands by connecting them with entertainment. Three main features are:

1. Close collaborations with partners from the entertainment industry (media, events, organizations, persons, etc.)
2. Product and brand integration within storylines/creating connections between the brand, its product and an entertainment property
3. Use of elements from the entertainment property in creating communication measures and PR stories for the brand

However, when you are referring to concrete media offerings, the term branded content is more appropriate.

In comparison to branded entertainment, the term branded content has the advantage of referring directly to media offerings. At the same time it remains neutral in meaning and encompasses both entertainment as well as informational content. In general one should differentiate between two overarching categories of branded content, each of which demands a specific type of approach:

1. Branded content integrated within a program: This is characterized by the integration of branded products within the storyline of a film or appearing as a topic within a show. Creative control of the branded content remains in the hands of the directors/producers, but it becomes hard to imagine the media offering or at least a part of it without the brand’s contribution. One example is the integration of the media brand Who Wants to be a Millionaire? in the film Slumdog Millionaire.
2. Branded content that imitates independent programming: These are media offerings created by marketers in the style of editorial media content, e.g. short films such as Mercedes-Benz’s Drive and Seek.

Webisodes are short video-series that are only released online, they are generally only three to fifteen minutes in length. Webisodes can be broken down into three basic categories:

1. Original Content: These are independent web-series that are specially developed for the web. There are a number of platforms for web-series distribution, one of the more relevant ones is www.machinima.com.
2. Spin-Off: In this case webisodes air extra content that was made for an already existing television show. The webisodes might, for example, provide more background story about a show’s characters. Spin-off webisodes are used for promotion purposes and should strengthen audience ties to a show while simultaneously offering interesting brand integration opportunities.
3. Branded Content: A brand manufacturer is responsible for creating this type of webisode. The aim is to engage target groups via interesting content. A good example of this is Ikea’s Easy to Assemble series, which is already in its third season.

An appisode is essentially the same thing, however (additional) distribution occurs via a specific application created for mobile devices (e.g. iPhone, iPad).

In a stricter sense, the term in-game advertising refers to the use of traditional communication measures that are implemented in the virtual world of computer, online and video games. In-game advertising may take the form of advertising banners or posters.

Besides the strategic utilization of advertising space within games, games that are linked to the internet allow you to choose the dynamic integration of certain campaign elements, which can have specified time periods and territories. Specialized media agencies are typically responsible for booking such advertising content.

Important: In contrast to this, product placement in electronic games requires the brand to be integrated within the storyline, this sort of integration depends upon close collaborations with the game’s developers and requires a high degree of gaming knowledge. This is exactly one of our areas of specialization.

The term co-promotion, when used in connection with entertainment, refers to a brand’s marketing and PR measures that are used to advertise not just the brand itself, but also the media offerings with which it wants to be associated.

The basis for a co-promotion may be an existing product placement in the respective media offering, this is however not a requirement.

At the same time, the marketing and PR measures carried out by the media producer naturally benefit the brand manufacturer since they raises relevant project awareness. Persons who search for information about the new James Bond film will inevitably learn what car he drives and what watch he wears.

The Interstate Broadcasting Agreement sets out regulations governing broadcasting (television and radio) across all of Germany’s sixteen federal states.

The most relevant guidelines form a marketing industry perspective are those regulations that specifically address advertising. These regulations stipulate exactly for how long, how often and when advertisements can be aired and what form they can take. Product placement has been subject to specific regulations since the latest set of amendments were agreed upon on April 1, 2010. Should the Interstate Broadcasting Agreement apply to one of your projects, we will be happy to provide you with more details.

Brand ambassadors can be utilized in different ways, the following are two common ways of incorporating the use of ambassadors into your brand’s strategy:

1. The simplest variation is to employ celebrity placements by furnishing celebrities with product. This ensures that these products will be associated with the celebrity when they appear in lifestyle coverage and blog coverage about the celebrity. Such collaborations are typically non-binding and do not define the output on the part of the celebrity. The potential PR impact can make this a worthwhile investment, since there are rarely any expenses other than production costs.
2. However, when a celebrity works more closely with a brand in representative capacity, they lend their image and credibility to the brand. Both parties agree to provide certain services which are cemented contractually. This often involves a fee in addition to product provision. This type of ambassador relationship makes sense for brands that want to concentrate on a specific topic or raise media awareness for a particular event.

The term testimonials applies to when celebrities are employed in traditional marketing campaigns (ads or TV spots).

Such an engagement does not require there to be an link between the celebrity as a testimonial and their role as a brand ambassador – both collaborative forms can exist independent of one another, but they also serve well as complementary engagements.