Wedding the plug to the program - will television say I Do?

It's been a done thing in the west but, as with quite a few other innovations in the media, Indian television is just about waking up to the thought of plugging brands in television programs in a big way. But that it has been chewing over for quite some time and so far things haven't made even a whimpering start leave alone a bang.

In the age of clutter and poor recall, can a brand afford to wait in the sidelines for its 20 seconds of fame? Advertising did try to jump out of the well - there are instances to support that - but is it showing? If yes, where? If not, why? Apparently, either the concept is a non starter or, possibly, it is happening but away from the media glare. Then again, there are layers beneath the first coat.

Indiantelevision.com looks at the germane issues intrinsic to the Indian scenario, how this latest concept has gone down with the media, and where it is headed.

Learning the ropes

The concept of in-program placement on television is slowly gaining flavour with the Indian media but the Indian market is still in an embryonic phase - the rules are being set along the way by trial and error. All the same, the core rules of the game are pretty simple - like they always are. In television, as in films, brand placement is a function of a very fundamental question: What's the big idea?

Show me the money, honey

It is always about the money and big money is all about the big idea.

A big idea can command up to 100 per cent premium over regular ad rates applicable to commercial breaks. Given that in-program placement is largely a creative process, there are no rate cards. Compensation is mutually agreed between the parties to reflect the levels of creativity involved. Principally, there are two factors in play that decide how remunerative the placement is - the involvement of the brand in the TV show and the ratings that the program commands. A brand that is actively talked about or visually positioned by the actors commands better rates than a wall paper positioning. To view the various levels of placements, Click here.

Check out the mega cheque on KBC

Big ideas seen on television in the recent and not so recent past have been the positioning of ICICI Bank in Kaun Banega Crorepati (KBC). There were cheques to be signed by one bank or the other and ICICI, perhaps, found the right opportunity at the right time. That's a big idea and as bright as it gets.

"The subtler the placement, the better," says Starcom MD Ravi Kiran, adding that the challenge lies in not allowing the placement to get over commercialised. Citing the example of the Britannia Quiz Contest, Kiran says for several years the programme was effective as a brand vehicle without actually forcing itself on to viewers. For the last some months however, the brand seems to have 'got desperate' with more in your face product appearances on the show.

Star India Sr VP contact & communication Deepak Sehgal reminds us of the Hyundai placement in Josh - where the lead protagonists were shown driving Hyundai Sonata and Hyundai Terracan. Clearly, in this case again, it was symbiotic - the show needed cars and Hyundai provided the goods though in a cashless deal.

Also, in more recent memory stands out Cadbury Dairy Milk's (CDM) in-series plug across five serials on Star Plus on New Year's Eve. The CDM pack was projected as a new year's gift idea with Mrinal Kulkarni of Sonpari and Smriti Irani (Tulsi) of Kyunki Saas... being shown gifting CDM packs on the occasion. The brand notched a 10-25 second exposure per serial across all the Star Plus series'. Kodak moment on Jeena Isi Ka Naam Hai hosted by Farouque Shaikh is another one on television that got noticed. The show currently has a bottom line freeze frame for Bagpiper - Yaaron ka yaar, which comes up when two friends are brought together on the show after a long time.

As far as intrusive and not so subtle placements are concerned, the film and television industry has learnt its lessons well. Subhash Ghai would agree.

What's in the deal?

Recent times have seen a slew of in-film product placement in India and much has been said about it. But placement in television is intrinsically different from that in films because the two mediums not only behave differently, they also operate on different wavelengths.

Offering one side of the argument, Broadmind Entertainment business director Navin Shah says that movies, as against television, offer greater scope for value additions. The product that is placed in films is high on reachability. First the product gets exposure in theatres, then through DVDs (home video) and at a later date it may gain a wider access when it is aired on satellite television.

That is why, in television, there is no point in doing a one-off placement as all it gets is flitting attention, says Shah cautiously. It makes sense if the brand placement runs through, say, 52 episodes. Then it registers well, he clarifies. Of course, the idea has to be sustainable.

But then, television offers a relatively more 'controllable' medium than films, counters Shah. Placing brands in a certain television programme allows the advertiser to know who he is targeting whereas in films the brand reaches relevant and non relevant target audiences and the returns are difficult to allocate.

Apart from providing a fine focused audience to the advertiser, television also provides a cheaper option to the client. Since the deals are by and large a two-way negotiation between the channel and the advertiser, if brand positioning in one programme does not work out, the client can be accommodated by the channel in another programme. So, the relationship between the channel and the advertiser is not a one off deal as in films. It is an accommodating long term arrangement, Shah rationalises.

In fact, apparently, all the parties to the deal come out winners. The advertising client gets to tap the specific consumer clusters associated with the TV show in a focused, streamlined effort and the channel is in it for the revenue that the in-program plug generates.

Shouldn't then programs be flooded with product plugs.

More to the pie than meets the eye?

Well! In-television brand placement may look like a tempting pie but there's more to the pie than meets the eye.

Sehgal gives the low down on the ground reality. "With so many people watching Star Plus programs every evening, an in-program placement definitely has more exposure vis-à-vis the commercial breaks where viewers start surfing. But the concept has not worked the way it was envisaged simply because there is no template," he rues.

Khulja Sim Sim fails to open doors

Khulja Sim Sim, for instance, was an excellent platform for brand placement but bigger clients like auto manufacturers were reluctant to place their products as prizes, Sehgal clarifies. They preferred to stick to the commercial breaks. The not-so-regular advertising clients like Hi Design were the ones that came up with gift hampers and such. "We were then giving out prizes on our own," he says.

The show was woven around product placement and so much effort and undue time had gone into it but it fell out because there were no set parameters. Neither the advertiser nor the channel knows how to value the placement. As of now, it is a very nascent situation and we are not working on any in-program placements, says Sehgal.

Production houses too, reiterate a similar perspective. While most would like to get onto the bandwagon, they too want a structured format for in-serial placements - a scenario that has still not come to pass. Besides, for the production house, there is another twist to this whole story. Ideally, the initiative to plant a brand in a TV show could stem from any of the parties involved - the advertiser, the producer or the broadcaster. However, since the producers are required to adhere to the broadcaster's programming code, it is ultimately the channel that can take a final call on incorporating in-serial plugs.

Reflecting on the scenario from the creative standpoint, SAB TV president - sales and marketing - Kanta Advani says, "The problem is mostly that the creative people in the channel and on the advertising client's side may not find it very acceptable." The advertising client may have its own blueprint for plugging a product and the channel's creative guys may not want to compromise with the script. So it may be a difficult proposition, she adds. However, she is optimistic that the industry will come around to it. It is high time it does, she says.

Regulations ka funda

While in India, as in the more structured markets like the US, the chase is for subtlety, in European countries such as Belgium, Austria, Germany, France and the UK, in-program brand placement is actually illegal for that very reason. The rationale here is that consumers cannot be tricked into receiving commercial information when they are least expecting it, informs TAM Media Research V-P Atul Phadnis.

Even in the US, veiled commercial pitches are being projected as an affront to basic honesty. On 30 September 2003, Portland based organisation Commercial Alert called on the Federal Communications Commission and the Federal Trade Commission to investigate current TV advertising practices regarding embedded advertising. The organisation asked the FCC to look into restoring some honesty and fair dealing in the presentation of these ads by requiring disclosure that the ads are, in fact, ads.

Indian television is not bound by any such regulations - for now. Nonetheless, similar reservations about the issue have been aired by some sections of the media community. As Madison India CEO Punitha Arumugam puts it, "Some channels and producers feel that television programming is primarily meant to entertain and that space should not be shared by advertising brands."

"What has kept this concept from taking off in a big way in India is that producers are cautious as many believe that programming sanctity, like editorial sanctity, may get compromised," she adds.

The stance that the industry adopts on this issue would come into the picture once the concept itself starts making some headway.

So, where is the party headed?

The concept may not have exactly taken off in a big way, but then, in a market that is not so mature in terms of systems and processes, teething troubles are to be expected.

Bowling out the Kkklutter!

What is increasingly becoming clear is that with the clutter in the traditional advertising space increasing by the day, advertisers are being forced to look at different and innovative ways of pitching their products. And, in-program brand placement could well be a means to wrench some leg room in the otherwise congested space. As Phadnis puts it, "To keep the effectiveness of advertising from fading out, ads are jumping out of the advertising space onto the programming space."

In fact, even as we talk about brand placement in television programs, a watershed initiative on television is all set to give a new meaning to the whole concept of brand placement on television. Called advertising funded programming (AFP), this first of its kind programming initiative does not leverage brands in the series.

Instead, it weaves the series around the brands or rather the fictitious characters associated with brands. Though we are not spilling the beans yet, it can be said that there are two main protagonists in the landmark series - one is a character from a hit movie and the other represents a well known confectionery brand. We know from reliable sources that the series in question targets audience clusters across the board and is slated to be released in the coming three to six months as a half-hour weekly in the prime time slot.

All said, the Indian television industry is just about starting to talk about these concepts and so far initiatives have come in jerks and fits. Some have worked, some have not. In any case, there is no machinery to measure the impact of such placement. For any initiative to succeed, it would require set norms and structured processes if the concept has to achieve concrete results in terms of impact and returns on investment.

Television, as a medium, has come a long way since the simple days of phir miltein hain break ke baad. But it is still very much in a state of flux, with new concepts in programming content and pitching brands causing a stir more than once in a while. Things are set to evolve further as newer broadcasting and addressability platforms such as direct to home (DTH) and conditional access (CAS) come into their own.

The party has just begun and it is no doubt going to be long one.