COMMUNICATIVE IDENTITIES AND BRAND PLACEMENT

Abstract

Brands are facing pressure as never before and the challenge of creating and newlinemanaging brand equity is becoming progressively more intense. Changing media newlinehabits, the challenges of brand communication in a proliferated media environment, newlineconsumer reactance to intrusive ads and clutter make the process of strategic response newlineincreasingly difficult. Advertisers and agencies are under pressure to find alternative newlineways to beat clutter and make their brands stand out and be heard. It is in this context newlineof managing brand pressures arising out of market, media, competition and costs to newlineachieve better brand recall and attitude Brand Placement (BP) in Movies is studied. newlinePrevious studies have not covered the effectiveness of verbal mention with celebrity newlineassociation in congruence in the intervening segments namely gender and salience. newlineThis study aims to fill this gap, as the interactive brand inclusions were found to be newlinegrowing in movies with celebrity association. The study draws upon the theories newlinerelating to clutter-celebrity- BP effectiveness. newlineThe study included two Brand Placements per situation, in four situations, (verbal newlinemention being common) namely superstar in high congruence, superstar in low newlinecongruence, actor in high congruence and actor in low congruence. The movie newlineclippings were shown to the target audience (198 University students from Mumbai newlineand Chennai) and the recorded responses in the questionnaire were analysed. newlineThe research found that Brand Placement is effective for Recall and Attitude. The newlineresearch highlighted that brands associated with actors in high congruence had a newlinebetter outcome than brands associated with superstars. The finding that superstars newlinemay not be as effective as actors, with regard to impact on brand recall and newline attitude , has a far reaching significance, since it is contrary to common belief. newline