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By Simon Fuller. Brands looking to immerse themselves in entertainment will no doubt be cautiously optimistic as regulator Ofcom enters the final stages of revising the broadcasting code to allow product placement in UK TV. Final consultations are taking place, and are set close in September, so it looks like brands will be able to pay for their products to show up in programming by end-2010.
Though it has been commonplace in the film industry for years, product placement has been kept off small screens in the UK. However, the previous government got the ball rolling in its finals weeks of power by introducing legislation allowing Ofcom to relax the rules.
And while there are still limits – alcohol and high-salt-content products, for example, are on a list of products which can’t be shown, and certain types of programming, such as children’s television, won’t feature any product placement – it looks like marketers will get a TV fillip.
“Brands can definitely benefit from product placement,” says Steve Read, md of brand integration service Brandirector. “Electronic brands, car brands… can do well. Placement in film has been an open market from day one. [For example] in Independence Day, an Apple computer saves the world, literally. In I, Robot, the Hyundai cars in that are futuristic – it’s a great corporate statement [and] says Hyundai will still be making cars in 100 years time.”
But PP’s use to both brands and the TV industry – which stands to gain crucial funding – relies on how the regulator handles the revised rules.
“There’s a degree of unreality at Ofcom, a hangover from the last government,” says Read. “They’re saying they’ll have an open market but they’re acting like it’s a dangerous thing. They’re saying paid integration can’t have ‘undue prominence’. This ‘undue prominence’ is subjective. Nobody will do [PP] if the rules are too strict – it would be like a racing car that’s built to go at 5 mph. So ‘undue prominence’ is a sticking point.”
And there are also those who are worried that product placement could prove a disaster for television, leading to a decline in programme quality as brands scramble to get their logos on the screen at any cost.
“The key is that the placement is done intelligently by both sides,” says Read. “As an agency, the last thing we want is horridly overt product placement that looks out of keeping with the flow of the programme.
“The best form is where the product is seamlessly slotted into the action, where it would look wrong if the product wasn’t there,” says Read. “It’s horrible if it’s bolted on, and at the start, this will probably happen a few times, as hot heads will do a bit extra for money – it will lead to some really excruciating moments. But if you dilute the quality of the programme, then people won’t watch.”