The Best Advertising in Movies

Product placement is basically commercials within the subject of the movie, that is placed to get your attention subliminally or straight out in your face. Your subconscious mind works at a faster pace than your conscious mind and so it can pick things up and feed them right into your brain without you even really having to think about it. Ever gone to a movie and come out having a desire to go to a certain place for lunch or dinner? It could be, that place was shown in the movie or maybe it was discussed.

Anyone who has seen "I am Legend' could not have failed to see and recognize the Mustang at the beginning of the movie, they may have only subliminally realized the other vehicles driven were also Ford vehicles. You may have come out of the movie wanting to at least see one of the upper crust high performance mustangs, or you may have a warm feeling about test driving a Ford Expedition. That was both kinds of advertising for one brand in one movie.

In general, people are getting somewhat shell-shocked by all of the blatant 'in your face' advertising they see on TV, hear on the radio, see posted on street signs and even on people. It's like being around a certain loud noise for a long period; eventually you become desensitized to it. That is what is happening with the general public when it comes to all of the in your face advertising. So the advertisers have to either step it up to be more in your face (like moving advertisements, video screens on signs, buses, trucks designed specifically for it, etc.), or go with the old adage... if you want to be heard.... whisper.

What the advertisers are doing by going to product placement rather than straight out advertising is 'whispering'. They are trying to reach you where you aren't expecting it, so you are open to the suggestion. If the whisper enough during the movie, they will have planted a subconscious thought in your head that they have a good chance of your carrying through on.

Some 'in your face' in the movie advertising works and some doesn't. The 'in your face' advertising of the Mustang at the beginning of I am Legend works because Mustang is a passion car, it is, by nature, an in your face car, so the placement comes naturally to it. You couldn't be as 'in your face' with a product like toothpaste, it would be blatant, frowned on and would generally work well as advertising against your product.

So basically, as a rule of thumb, the first decision when advertising by way of product placement, you need to decide if your product is an 'in your face' type product, or something that can best be advertised in the background with clever non invasive placement.