Digital Product Placement

Posted on Monday, March 6, 2006 by MegaZone

I spotted this here, Marathon Ventures. One of their offerings is “Digital Brand Integration” – aka digital product placement. Check out the slide show.

I knew it was just a matter of time until this kind of thing started to spread. Especially with the rise of the DVR and TiVo reducing the effectiveness of the 30-second spot. I’ve been saying for years that we’ll see a rise in product placement. The technology has been there for a while – think of sporting events where there are ads on the field, or court. These days those ads are often not really there, they’re digitally added to the image, often so seamlessly you don’t notice. Over the field, but under the players – and that’s in real-time. Working with pre-recorded content they can do a lot more to blend the inserted product into the image. The geek in me is impressed by the technology, but at a gut level this makes me profoundly uneasy. Seeing is believing – and you’ll believe what they want you to.

About MegaZone

MegaZone is the Editor of Gizmo Lovers and the chief contributor. He's been online since 1989 and active in several generations of 'social media' - mailing lists, USENet groups, web forums, and since 2003, blogging.    MegaZone has a presence on several social platforms: Google+ / Facebook / Twitter / LinkedIn / LiveJournal / Web.    You can also follow Gizmo Lovers on other sites: Blog / Google+ / Facebook / Twitter.
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  • anonymous

    Ads are everywhere and will only get worse. We skip commercials, they’ll put more in the shows. We skip trailers, the items go in the films. We go to the gym and they hang Jeep banners and standees. Over the last few months “commercial free” XM has started inserting more commercials on the comedy channel. I’ve been TiVo-ing a PBS show something about Simple Living only to discover PBS is now overrun with ads. Sucks…! And yes I do recognize the irony that my web page is a billboard. ;) -DZ

  • ceallachdon

    If this is an advertisement for their product, I am less than impressed. Every single example in their little slideshow failed the “Is this a Photoshop?” shadow alignment test.