You watched E.T. eat Reese's Pieces. Will Smith listened to his JVC stereo, drove a futuristic Audi and fought for the good of man in I, Robot. Spam jumped into the spotlight in Kill Bill Vol. 2. And don't forget the countless times a Starbucks cup has appeared in both television shows and movies.
The new blockbuster Shark Tale touts its non-product placement. Names such as Coral Cola, Old Wavy, Gup and Kruppy Kreme pop up, some familiar takes on Dreamworks' Shrek 2 characters like Olde Knavery and Gap Queen.
Product placement is big business. And it's getting even bigger.
Video games are the new breed of product placement and the possibilities for advertisers are virtually endless. Not only can advertisers find the game's characters actually using their products but they can also update their in-game ads at any time and offer game updates through their Web sites.
People are starting to turn to video games more than television. Video game sales topped box office sales last year with $10.7 billion. That number is expected to increase to $16.9 billion by 2008. Nielsen ratings show 12-percent of young males in the 18-34 demographic turned away from TV, with 20-percent of them playing more video games. More number crunching shows in-game advertising will increase from $200 million to $1 billion by 2008.
The trend shows men and women both are increasing their video game play. Advertisers are taking notice and making the leap into this growing method to reach customers.