Product Placement in Indie Movies
Product Placement in Indie Movies
Product placement in indie movies is growing. Too bad larger brands and corporate giants rarely use indie movies to show their products.
Studio budget movies are plugging every type of brand and product possible with impunity. Indie movie makers are usually not able to show well-known brands at all.
Brands are missing out on a thriving indie movie scene that is using digital distribution to connect with viewers worldwide. Studios are cutting back on how many movies they release.
At the true indie movie level more and more movies are being distributed for viewers that want fresh content outside of big budget entertainment.
Brands that have real foresight are becoming more open minded to the world of indie movies with an increasingly growing audience.
Indie movie makers in turn are seeing the potential to help add some money to their production budgets by seeking out product placement arrangements with smaller brands that are aggressively growing.
I will not kid you. The chances of a true indie movie getting a product placement with a large brand are slim. Most huge brands have narrow-minded people that are only used to dealing with studios.
But there are many new brands open to product placement in indie movies. It will take time to reach out to smaller brands that fit the story you are telling.
Indie movie makers are used to rejection across the board, so getting the typical thanks but no thanks from 50 brands to find a few that say yes is worth it.
The way to increase your odds on successful product placement is to only contact brands that fit your movie storyline.
Quick examples are if you are filming about skateboarding contact new brands of boards and clothing that need publicity or a movie on fly fishing you contact a smaller company making fly fishing lures, but most important products should blend seamless into your movie.
Studio budget movies the more you look at them are like commercials. There are scenes with lines written for the sole purpose of plugging Doritos or (insert any big brand here you have seen plugged with shameless effort to hide that fact).
I do feel product placement is a good thing, but also feel indie movies have the luxury of being more subtle in how they do it. There is more creative freedom not to shove it down movie viewer’s throats.
Some big Hollywood movies have scenes where an A-List actor looks unnatural and the product placement plug so blatant it takes away from the entertainment value for viewers.
If your indie movie needs a cash infusion for the budget or even if you want to do a fair exchange of cross-promotion for product placement go for it.
There are brands that would love to be shown in an indie movie. Brands with visibility get sales. There are many brands that cannot afford the huge costs studios charge to be shown in movies, but the indie movie scene is much more flexible.
Digital distribution is making indie movies a much more affordable alternative to traditional product placement deals with big studios.
It is opening a door for up and coming brands to a worldwide movie viewing audience that was not available before. It has leveled the playing field for new brands to take older established brands.
The new wave of brands are understanding the value of product placement in indie movies. The “fat cats” are fed and purring with their deals with studio budget entertainment.
It is funny to see when a TV show has to blur out a brand logo. If brands did not want to be seen why have a logo on your product or a brand at all?
Newer brands are embracing exposure from indie movies and viral videos online. It is cool to see a marketing revolution of sorts. Commercial ad spot money for networks has been on the decline.
Viewers are going other places for their entertainment, especially indie movies made outside of Hollywood. Brands that connect with indie movie makers for product placement are ahead of the game.
This is indie filmmaker Sid Kali typing FADE OUT