A New Conceptual Framework for Understanding and Doing Brand Placement: Applicable to Televised Drama on a Cross Cultural Approach
Authors
Özbay, BurcuAdvisors
Duffett, MarkWaller, Rhian
Charles, Alec
Hart, Chris
Publication Date
2023-05
Metadata
Show full item recordAbstract
Product placement, which can also be referred to as “brand integration” or “brand placement”, is perceived as an “alternative” method to traditional advertising among practitioners and scholars due to its significant advantages over traditional advertising e.g., the hidden nature of it. This multifaceted practice of product placement, which can be found in various platforms and forms, is an under-researched phenomenon outside the United States. Although it attracts considerable attention from academics, further research is needed, as the majority of studies in existence tend to focus on the United States and take an audience-centred approach to the practice. Furthermore, the research area of existing research tends to revolve around the practice within movies. In contrast, this cross-cultural research analyses product placement practices from the perspective of form on the screen to gain a more in-depth understanding of brand placement in televised drama / soap operas. It employs a hybrid quantitative and qualitative content analysis and case studies to draw a comparison between contrasting national contexts, Turkish and British, to reveal the international differences in the forms of brand placement and map out all observed forms of product placement. Furthermore, this thesis assesses which forms of product placement are used in well-known successful examples of product placement from the USA. Based on the analysis of product placement practices in the UK, Turkey and the USA, this thesis proposes a conceptual framework that demonstrates successful forms of brand placement, and the differences in practices in the UK, Turkey and the USA. This framework also highlights the forms which are common across all three nations, and thus hypothesises the forms which should be used when developing a placement which can be effective internationally. The data, collected during the content analysis, was from four soap operas: Coronation Street, Emmerdale, Cesur ve Güzel, and İçerde. Twenty-five episodes from each were examined. The findings reveal that there are distinct differences between the placement practices used in the United Kingdom and those used in Turkey. Notably, placements in the Turkish soap operas are much more prominent, appearing more frequently in the foreground of scenes and often feature high levels of plot connection and character interaction, whereas placements in the British soap operas tend to be featured in the background of scenes, typically featuring low levels of plot connection or character interaction. Eight well-known successful examples of product placement within eight different television series from the USA were analysed. All featured high levels of character interaction, plot connection, and prominence. Most also featured verbal cues including characters expressing their opinions about a brand / product. Whilst it could be argued that British culture is more akin to American culture, the practices observed in the Turkish soap operas are closer to those observed in the well-known successful examples, which are all from American television content. Key Words: Advertising, Product Placement, Brand Placement, Turkish Television, British Television, Comparative Content Analysis, Case Studies, and Soap Operas.Citation
Özbay, B. (2023). A new conceptual framework for understanding and doing brand placement: Applicable to televised drama on a cross cultural approach [Unpublished doctoral thesis]. University of Chester.Publisher
University of ChesterType
Thesis or dissertationLanguage
enCollections
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