Embedded marketing has a variety of avenues. For example, it can be implemented through mentions, placing your product as part of a scene or a background in a show.
Here is a scenario: As a marketing manager, you place your beverage in a popular drama series and the agreement is that your product should be consumed by the starring character.
What notion does this strategy create? Your brand will appear in most episodes, as the main character appears frequently in the show. Your brand’s consumers will also relate your product with the character from that particular TV show. And even those who only watched the show, but did not consume your brand, are possibly going to consume your product.
media update’s Nakedi Phala takes you through e.tv’s way of promoting, advertising and selling brands through embedded marketing.
Reason #1: e.tv’s method of cross-promotional brand integration
Brand integration improves the narrative of a story. e.TV (E Media Holdings) does this by incorporating its sister stations, such as eNCA, Y.FM and Cape Town Film Studios into their own content.
An example of this is the station placing some radio station personalities in one of its musical drama series,
Rhythm City. Every now and then in the show, the featured
YFM presenter will mention the station without distorting the storyline.
Here are a couple of advantages of brand integration:
- It’s simple to introduce a new product. For example, if YFM has a new presenter, it will integrate him or her on a few episodes to give the new presenter exposure. In return, the presenter will gain popularity and this can boost listenership on YFM.
- It lessens competitiveness in the market. A radio station like YFM does have competitors, but when it is engaged in embedded marketing campaigns, it’s bound to strengthen its brand.
- It also increases consumer loyalty. Since both YFM and Rhythm City’s target audiences are the youth, who have similar values, the marketing relationship has the possibility of sharing consumer loyalty, resulting in each brand expanding its own audiences through brand incorporation.
Brand incorporation has the potential to bring your brand great results, even though the platform or TV programme is not in any way connected to your brand. However, your brand has to be sold to the
right people, and you have to conduct research to find a programme that relates to your product.
Reason #2: e.tv’s way of placing food and beverage brands
To normalise and add realistic elements to a storyline, actors have to eat and drink. Currently, on
Rhythm City, Lucky Star Pilchards is being promoted. In the drama series, a lady that owns a home-run tuckshop has posters and stands in front of her tuckshop, so whenever someone is at the spaza to buy bread, airtime or sweets, the viewers at home will see the Lucky Star branded signs.
Lucky Star has also set up its own fast food restaurant as part of
Rhythm City’s set-up, where it sells food with pilchards. This not only advertises the product in the show but teaches the viewers and consumers at home that there are many ways to prepare their product with a combination of other food brands.
After a number of episodes, Lucky Star runs a competition where a loyal viewer can win.
Reason #3: e.tvs embedded advertising tactics
Product placement is one of the main features of an embedded marketing campaign. But to what extent does e.tv to promote a particular product? On one of its popular soap operas,
Scandal! it has a unique way of advertising products or services without disrupting its programme. It does this by creating artificial billboards for particular brands. It has previously done this for Star Maize Meal.
Through transitions from one scene to another, the station will show the outdoors and focus on the billboard for a certain period of time. To achieve the desired results, you need to place your ad at the peak time of the soap opera. This will deliver good results.
An example of a peak time is just before a climax scene — at this point, viewers at home are glued to their screens, which means that you will catch their undivided attention.
TV is still one of the most popular media sources, and it’s still a good marketing platform for brands to place, advertise and run competitions. But just remember: You need to pick the
right channel or TV programme, because its audience needs to relate to your brand!
Which other embedded marketing campaign tactics do you know of? Let us know in the comments section below.
Now that you’ve learnt how e.tv stays ahead with its embedded advertising techniques, here’s How to do your brand’s marketing, 947 style.
*Image courtesy of e.tv*Video courtesy of e.tv