In-Film Placements of Product Brands in Hindi Films: Practices and Preferences

In India, in-film placements have gained attention from film production houses and companies but not much information is available about the audience preferences regarding this form of communication. A survey of 280 young adults for their preferences towards in-film placements and the execution styles was conducted. A content analysis of 30 Hindi box-office hit movies to examine the in-film placements was performed. The audience preferences were compared with the actual practice of placements and the execution styles employed. Significant differences between audience preferences and actual practice were found for movie genre and mode of placements. The study also investigated the differences in preferences for placements across gender. The number of placements per film and the product category of the brand placed were found to differ significantly. Last, implications and directions for future research are also provided. INTRODUCTION In the last decade Indian Hindi film industry (Bollywood) has started embracing the practice of in-film placements similar to its counterpart Hollywood. Brands like Cocacola, Mc Donalds, Benzer and Emami are some of the early adopters of this practice in Indian films (Duraiswamy and Gupta, 2001). But very little information is available about the practice of product placements in Bollywood and the audience preferences for the same (Panda, 2004; Nelson et al., 2005; Nelson and Devanathan, 2006; and Gokhale, 20 1 0) . In traditional forms of communication like advertising external variables like media characteristics and execution styles affect the consumer reactions towards the product (Preston, 1982; and Liu, 1986). Thus execution style of in-film placements could have the potential of influencing the consumer. This study attempts to examine the difference between the actual practice and the audience preference for in-film placements execution in Hindi movies. BOLLYWOOD Every year Bollywood films are produced in a variety of genre like social/romance, comedy, thriller, etc. Films contribute nearly 16% to the entertainment and media revenue pie (PWC Report, 2010). Bollywood films not only have domestic but also fairly lager number of overseas audience. In 2009 the box-office revenue collection for overseas was 8 billion' and for domestic 70 billion'. Incorporating brand placements in films could help to recover at least 15% of the publicity cost of the film (Chakraborty, 2010). One such example was the film Dostana released in 2008 which recovered 35% of its marketing spends through brand placements (Bhandari, 2008) . The cost of placement could range from 2.5 to 7.5 million' depending on the level of integration, exposure time and the star value (Moneylife, 2010). The main drawback of placements in films was that success of placements was dependent on the success of the film. As observed over a decade in India hardly 20%, of the films were successful at the box office with very few becoming super hits (Kumar and Vilayati, 2002). STUDY OBJECTIVES Since late 1990s the practice of in-film placements had become a regular and an accepted form of brand communication in India (Agarwal, 2007). Though usage of placements had increased over the years not much is known about the audience reaction towards them. Results of past studies had shown that the practice of placements was not very scientific and it was dependent on the power equation between the film producer, director and the brand sponsor (Karrh et al, 2003). Consumers have shown liking and preference with respect to what, where and how they would prefer to see placements. Thus, the objectives of this study were specified as: (1) to examine audience preferences for placements in Hindi films. Preferences with respect to frequency, nature and type of placements were sought. (2) to compare practices and audience preferences for placements in Hindi films. This study though exploratory in nature would provide direction for future use of this form of communication, to movie production houses as well as brand managers. …