Today we read that
Land Rover has become a digital publisher and the obvious question is, why? The
answer is that it can ensure that their product is in the reader’s eyes and is aligned
with the work, or to put it another way it cheap advertising.
Laptop manufactures
love to see the backs of their devices in a film or on TV with their logo
sometimes glowing for all to see. Sometimes product placement can be more subtle
and may just be a packet of a brand of Corn Fakes sitting perfectly positioned
on a shelf and in shot. We wrote many years ago about 'Cathy’s Book' which was
altered to remove a specific lipstick and colour and changed to promote Proctor
and Gamble’s ‘Cover Girl’ range. Years earlier Fay Weldon was paid by Bulgari
to write Bulgari into ‘The Bulgari
Collection.’ Product placement is a real way to get your product infront of an
audience in a subliminal way.
So when is naming a specific
product in a book now innocent and when does it involve money and is product
placement?
Land Rover have taken
it a stage further with William Boyd’s “The Vanishing Game,” with key words
that can launch video of Land Rover vehicles in action. Having been in a
Land Rover on a constructed track and being driven up and down 45% rises with
horizontal as well as vertical slopes the cars are amazing. Now by clicking on
words such as ‘river,’ or ‘mountain,’ the reader will see footage of the car
crossing a rugged waterway or traversing a mountain slope. Readers’ comments on
their driving experience are also embedded.
All Boyd had to do to
get the money was to write one of their vehicles into the storyline. Land Rover
believe that by respecting the artist’s freedom this is more of a commission, than
product placement or sponsorship. Well forget the reader, who pays for it and
their views, it’s all obviously alright then!
So as author advances
continue to be under pressure and net receipts continue to bite, will authors and
their agents start to redefine some rights and will we see advertising, product
placement rights being withheld? Will publishers now be knocking on the doors
of every FMCG company offering lucrative deals to get their products placed in
bestsellers or even to get the marketing expense fully covered? Will other car
manufactures follow and will Jeremy Clarkson’s next book be published by
Porche, or Bill Bryson’s next journey be by Tripadvisor, or Bob the builder be
by JCB, or the Good Cook Book be by MacDonalds?
Related Articles:
Brave New World October 2008 ; Product Placement or Product Search?
Original article from Digiday :
1 comment:
"Corn Fakes" is perfectly apt! Interesting article.
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