Promote to entertain

Popular marketing strategy, advertisers and agencies are pondering how to handle problems that could potentially slow what, until now, has been robust growth.

Branded entertainment involves embedding advertising inside the content of television and radio programmes and movies by placing products in important scenes or making brands intrinsic elements of plot lines.

The goal of such ploys, on display in TV series like “American Idol” and “The Apprentice”, is to regain the attention of consumers who can avoid advertising by using digital video recorders, satellite radio and digital juke boxes.

In the last week alone, there was word of deals in branded entertainment from Energizer, Home Depot, McDonald’s and Volkswagen. Home Depot had one on NBC, and one on a Spanish network, Telemundo.

Read the article: www.economictimes.indiatimes.com