One of our TV producers came to me this week saying he needs $20,000 for a special effect she wants to use in the season finale of the show. We can’t afford to give her that, so do we tell her now and risk losing viewers and this producer or do we let her accept product placement in the show to pay for it? Why or why not?
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Leave it in the producer’s hands. While I personally dislike the practice of product placement (I find it garish and distracting), it’s the creative call of the producer. Let them know now so they can decide if they want to pursue advertisers for product placement, or if they want to go about performing rewrites to make the special effects less necessary.
JRN F101 — Wyman — Summer Week 5, Discussion 3 of 4
Do we have a current policy on product placement in our shows? If so, we should adhere to that policy or readdress it. If we have no policy and are only now addressing this question then it should be posed to management and staff involved. What is the nature of the show? Is it entertainment or news? If entertainment and the product placement is a form of accepted advertisement then I see no reason why we shouldn’t involve product placement. If the show is news or the legitimacy of the show content could be questioned if product placement is used then I think we should not use product placement. Regardless, the situation should be discussed openly and honestly with the producer.
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As Executive Producer, I believe the best course of action for the show would be to tell her that product placement will be used to fund the $20,000 short-fall for the special effect. Product placement is now pervasive across many platforms of media, such as internet, games, films and television. Our show requires an enhanced product placement plan to defer the increasing cost of production. Depending on what company wants to advertise their product on our prime-time show it’s very likely that we would be able to receive more than the $20,000. I will schedule a meeting with our advertising agency of record to identify potential clients that would be interested in a product placement in our upcoming season finale in two months’ time. Two weeks prior to the airing we will promote the season finale with a teaser of the special effect. In addition, it is an investment to include the special effect because it has the potential to make the show even more popular with existing viewers, and hopefully bring in new viewers. With viewership increasing so will the interest of advertising companies to pay more to have advertisements on our show to reach their target audiences.
I would vouch for product placement. While sometimes it’s annoying and over obvious, it will bring us a lot of money. The special effect she wants to use, being 20,000 dollars, should well be worth it! I hope we go over the idea with her so we know our money is being put to good use. When we can create relationships with other companies, this will make us bigger. Also, people will recognize certain brands they love in our productions, and would therefore be more interested in us. If our goal is to become better known, and increase the value of our creations with special effects, the product placement is a good idea. I remember when the TV show Kyle XY came out. It was my favorite instantly. I always waited for the next episode to come out every week. The first thing I noticed before the show came on was “Brought to you by Sour Patch Kids”. The announcement was proceeded by one of their commercials. I never liked Sour Patch Kids, but I loved the show so much I bought them because it reminded me of the show. At this time, I was a kid, so maybe I was more susceptible to the coercing of advertisements. In any case, it worked! Now when I see Sour Patch Kids, it still brings a smile to my face. Our product placement will give us more viewers and more money. Why not?
We should allow product placement in the show in order to pay for something that will keep our viewers interested in our show, and hopefully continue on for further seasons. Product placement has become more and more popular within shows as it’s not as ‘obvious’ as it used to be. It can now just be a matter of any time someone is drinking a Coca-Cola soda, they make sure that the label is always facing the direction of whichever camera is shooting, or that when someone goes to get onto a computer, there’s a brief close up of the brand or symbol on the computer, and then the actors go about what they were doing. If using product placement will allow us the budget for this season finale special effect, as well as extra money for future shows if we continue to use product placement, then we will go ahead and authorize the use of product placement.
I think product placement is a good idea too. It doesn’t have to be as obvious as it used to – in fact I have also seen improvements. I am sure even that we will be able to make more than we need for this one project. That can increase our future growth opportunities.
Well here is my question to this question, is it better now or never, late or sorry? well see I believe that only hindsight is 20/20 and no one knows what the future holds. so in that thought process I would say give them the money, but then again for a company doing that multiple times on bad ideas hoping for one to pan out can cost them billions, so in this case I would have to say pole the audience, maybe pay a small advertising company a little money for they can take the risk and not your company, let them do the leg work and spend the time analyzing your idea and putting them towards small test groups and if they see a positive outlook then go ahead and spend the money, but until then I think that without the positive data to back that money , the answer in my opinion would be , No, but again I might be the glass half empty not half full kind of guy and maybe be shooting myself in my foot, but what the heck this is just a question, for in reality if I truly had all the right answer I would be in advertising, but yet here I am working on a degree completely the opposite.
I think we should tell the producer to accept product placements to cover the additional cost of the special effects. I don’t think it worth running the risk of losing audience members or the producer over this. I don’t think product placements distract the viewer from the show. In fact, I think they are usually so well placed that most people don’t even realize that is what they are. I think we would have a more upset viewing audience if we don’t have the special effects they are used to seeing than if we have a few, well placed, product ads in our finale.
It sounds like product placement is the best option for this scenario and hopefully the placement can be done without seeming like it sticks out of place. This show sounds like it has a good following so it is important to keep our producer and fans happy. Special effects can be great additions to shows and if this producer usually has good special effect ideas we should try to make it happen.
I don’t see the harm in injecting product placement into our production if it will increase the effect of the vision and our viewer base. If we do accept the proposal, I want enough authority on the matter to have it blend seamlessly into the show, not overtake it. We are not creating a 30 minute or 60 minute or whatever length production that owes its existence to a company’s product. If in negotiation the advertising company can’t come to terms with that, then we will not run the special effect for the season finale. That way, we get a better show and the company gets product exposure from our viewer base. If we can create a synergistic relationship then we will all win in this matter.
I don’t think we’d be losing much by having product placement. Especially instead of simply spending the $20,000 with no potential benefits. Product placement is everywhere, television, games, movies, almost any media platform. The fact is product placement can be done very well or very poorly, we need to make sure we adhere to the former. We need to choose wisely and work to seamlessly integrate it into our programming. I strongly suggest we use product placement, we may even have an opportunity for profit.
Many more opportunities can come from product placement. This may even create a revenue for our different departments. A brand we will have to provide space to may become a repeat customer as they will love the way in which we highlight their company and may choose us for their main source of exposure.
If she can effectively weave product placement into the show without it ruining the integrity for our station and our audience, what is the harm? I also have to question the show and perhaps the producer herself though if for a season finale she needs to spend $20,000 — what has the budget been for the rest of the show? Where has our other funding gone? What product placement specifically are we dealing with and will there be repercussions from our executives, stockholders, other advertisers we deal with (you can’t tell me with a fully funded show that there is zero advertising being used already). Really this just brings about more questions than I have actual answers for.
If it will truly risk the potential future viewers to our show than it is a necessity. We are trying to produce the best shows so we can to attract the most viewers. If giving her $20,000 in order to accomplish her mission as a producer then we need to do all we can in order to do so. She will have to either except the product placement to pay for it, or discover a new innovative way of creating the same result but with less of a cost. Money seems to be used as an easy fix it, or way out of sticky situations. Once it is viewed as a mechanism to get something it becomes very hard to look past it. Our producer has to think back to elementary levels of entertainment and methods in order to accomplish her end result. If she is unable to find an alternative method of producing the same effect without money than she will have to accept working with product placement.
I think that product placement would be a better way to go. This allows the viewers to continue to be interested and not bored. I do agree with a previous comment about asking what they pay for other effects. If $20,000 is a normal amount to pay for special effects then I think that is no big deal, but if that money is much more than they would spend on other effects, then I think we should sit down and really calculate out the cause and effect of both. But I do believe that product placement would be smart because we would be advancing with society and with the mass media to get the best possible profit we can.
I think we should allow the product placement if it can be something that is tasteful and inconspicuous that doesn’t distract from what we are trying to do with the show. Something like a Coke can on a table or a bartender handing a patron a Budwieser is easy to pull off and places the product but doesn’t draw a lot of attention. If the producer can’t come up with a way to do something of this caliber, then we nix the whole thing. But I do think we give her the opportunity to do it. She’ll also be responsible for coming up with an alternative way to give the finale some pizazz if she is unable to meet our standards for the product placement.