•You will hear part of an interview between head of Leo Burnett Entertainment an

F: What kind of finances can film producers expect by associating with brands?
M：Right now,  companies are willing to pay amounts  ranging  between  ＄120,000  and＄1,200,000 for placing their brands in films, but it depends on the budget of the film. Big-budget films with big stars can expect more. The size of this advertising is expected to grow nearly 100 percent in the next two to five years as more and more companies get attracted to this kind of advertising.
F: What are the advantages of in-film advertising to producers and advertisers?
M：Advertisers are able to get big stars at a fraction of the costs they would normally shell out for an exclusive tie-up.  Films are not subject to surfing, zipping or muting (unlike in TV and other media). Films appeal to emotions and scenes in films catch people off-guard unlike an advertisement, which catches the audience in a cold-evaluating   mood.    Films   transcend geography, class and cultural barriers and catch people in a receptive mood.  And films are target-specific.
F: How can films and brands connect?
M: A film-viewer has a short attention span. The best way to deliver the message is to catch the viewer off-guard when his rational defence is down. Appealing to viewers’ emotions is better than appealing to their rational thought. The rational gate examines the advantages, benefits and features, and seeks value for money; the emotional  gate  is  all  about  trust,  love, identification and belief. Films operate at the emotional level. Placing a product in a film is catching the viewer at an emotional level when he can connect with the brand. There can be synergies between brands and films.  The successful integration of product placement within the film’s storyline has a long history- the first example being the yellow Rajdhoot bike used in Raj Kapoor’s Bobby. Hollywood also leveraged brands such as BMW (Bond movies), Jaguar, Ford, Ray Ban (Tom Cruise  in  Risky  Business  and  Mission Impossible), Starbucks coffee, AOL and AT &T.
F：Song-and-dance sequences invariably feature an ad in the background but most people don’t recall such scenes in detail.  What is the advantage of the advertisement then? M: It is true that ads have to be carefully placed in a film and one had placement can do more damage than  10  good  placements.  Artistic integrity  is  crucial  for  successful  brand placements and the operation has to be woven into  the  script.  Sometimes,  unreasonable clients demand more footage although research has shown that a two-minute clip can effectively deliver a message in a credible manner. The placement should be woven into the fabric of the film and shouldn’t be contrived and unnatural.
F: Do such placements result in tangible benefits to the products advertised?
M: In the recently placed ad for Castrol engine oil in film Chalte Chalte, the makers of the engine have reported tangibly increased sales of the oil after the film’s release. The product seems to have connected on an emotional level with truck fleet  drivers  and  owners.  Ray  Ban  also benefited by its association with film Men in Black.