The Effect Product Placement in Television Series has on Millennial’s Brand Perception and Buying Behavior.

Abstract

This was a small scale dissertation investigating the effect product placement in television series has on millennial’s brand perception and buying behaviour. Product placement allows brands to expose their products to the consumer in a more natural and realistic setting, making the chances of a positive brand perception much higher. Simply, it is an advertising technique that subtly promotes a brands product offering in television series. The objective was to gain insights into the effectiveness of product placement by reviewing and exploring previous studies on product placement, in order to identify factors that are considered to effect brand equity. The research employed a qualitative approach where 36 questionnaires were conducted and 1 focus group. Stimuli were provided with video clips from two popular television series, namely Friends and Modern Family, for participants to watch and answer the questions that followed. It was hypothesised audio product placement would achieve the highest results with viewers having more distractions while watching television such as being on their phone. The findings revealed that duo product placement (both audio and visual together) resulted in higher brand awareness and a positive attitude towards product placement. Familiar brands, especially in the context of South Africa, generated greater attention among viewers, thus positively influenced brand equity. Associations and attitudes were positively influenced with the leveraging of actors interacting with the brand, and the strong relationship between the actor and consumer influenced brand attachment. Even though the research was small-scale and the findings cannot be generalised, it provides insights for brands a step in the right direction towards effective product placement, generating brand equity.