Product Integration and Placement Testing 

Wisely, these brands now see consumers as audiences who connect with brands through storytelling rather than forced messaging.

In fact, global spending in this area was expected to top $23 billion in 2021, about a 14% increase over 2020, according to research featured in The Conversation, “The science of product placements – and why some work better than others.”

Since so many consumers today use second screens, pay to opt-out or fast-forward to avoid viewing ads, smart product integrations and placements can sneak by these roadblocks to enable target audiences to experience their brands.

However, not all product integrations/placements work, so measuring the effectiveness of this content must be precise.  

That is exactly why one of the largest retailers in the world uses ABX to measure the effectiveness of its product integrations/placements.  This retailer initially measured this content only in the U.S., but the insights were so powerful, it now uses ABX to measure  product integration/placement globally.

How it Works:

• ABX evaluates Product Integration/Placement using the same methodology as measuring the effectiveness of TV, radio, online, print, out-of-home ads around the world.
• The communication incorporating the product integration/placement is evaluated by respondents randomly selected from a stratified probability sample via the internet.
• Standard ABX KPIs are evaluated such as: brand recognition/recall, key message communication, call-to-action, reputation, likeability and other integration-specific metrics such as familiarity of the show containing the integration.
• Product integration/placement results can be directly compared to one another to determine which constructs are most effective as well as other media types usually showing high ROI from product integration/placement efforts. 
  
  

Fun Fact:

Product placement originated around the time that soap operas began to emerge on TV ¹ and radio².  In fact, Soap Operas were named as such due to the prolific sponsorship of the shows by Procter and Gamble, Colgate-Palmolive and Lever Brothers, those of which manufacturer soap products. These companies advertised their products in a highly effective way through the sponsorship and creation of popular shows, which allowed their products to become household names.

¹7 Genius Examples of Product Placement in TV & Cinema

²Bowles, Kate (2000). Soap opera: no end of story, ever. In: Turner, Graeme; Cunningham, Stuart. The Australian TV Book, Allen & Unwin, St. Leonards.