Research Firms Tackle Ways To Measure Placement

This winter, the valets on hot show Las Vegas will be parking Toyotas. During the summer, in an orgy of marketing partnering, Larry Joe Campbell, star of ABC’S According to Jim and Ballpark Franks spokesperson “Frank” in spots by Omnicom Group’s TBWA\Chiat\Day, did an eight-minute skit on Jimmy Kimmel Live! as part of a product-integration deal cut by Publicis Groupe’s Starcom Entertainment.

But to what effect?

Ratings don’t determine the success—or lack of it—of product integration, where “it’s more about the impact than the eyeballs,” said Fran Kennesh, senior partner, director of strategic planning at WPP Group’s Mediaedge:cia, who authored the agency’s 2003 Value of Product Placement global research study.

Now that product placement has invaded every conceivable sector of entertainment (film, videogames and all manner of TV, including cartoons), measuring the effectiveness of what the Mediaedge:cia study estimated was a $3 billion marketing expense in the U.S.