The Proposal - Product Placement

Its kind of hard to tell, but it is a Starbucks cup!

I was sitting down for a lovely evening with the fellas and we figured we would get in touch with our feminine sides and watch the Proposal starring Sandra Bullock and Ryan Reynolds. In one of the opening scenes Sandra Bullock has to fire one of her employees and while doing so she is holding a Starbucks cup waving it in the face of the camera. It is a blatant product placement because the cup is obviously empty or it would've been spilling all over the place. While watching it all I could look at was the cup and wasnt looking at the movie. It was cool to see product placement firsthand.

Managing Products

Managing a product line is crucial part of the marketing process because it enables companies to establish marketing plans, change them, mediate the amount of money being spent and analyze the effectiveness of a plan. It is easy for us as consumers to just sit back and see things as they come but in all reality a lot of work goes into each commercial we see or each marketing strategy we notice. There are many different types of branding like retro branding, national branding, private-label brands, generic brands and many others. One of the first steps in the marketing strategy and management processes is determining which type of branding a product falls under. One of the best marketing schemes right now in my opinion is the new Old Spice commercials. They have determined what type of branding they are, which is a national brand, that appeals to all males in the country. Because of this realization they then made their commercials, packaging and product all appeal to the average male. The following commercial outlines their new line of deodorants...



This commercial explains a new set of scents that appeals to the 'real men' in America, and I think it does an effective job of capturing our attention and showing an entertaining ad.

Creating a Product Line

A product line is when producers expand upon one individual product and release different products that compliment it or compete with it. This gives companies the possibility to dominate a market and control a market segment. When we look at different products today almost every company has come out with some sort of product line. In class we talked about Pyramid Brewery releasing a different line of beers with similar advertisement and packaging as well as Old spice releasing a wide array of different deodorants.

One example i can think of that truly represents the importance of a product line is something that most car companies do. They offer a a product line of cars, featuring trucks, suv's, coupes, and hybrids, different but similar products that help them gain a portion of the market. As these products reach there maturity peak they will see their highest number of sales and as they begin to decline the companies will develop a new design and new features for their next set of products.

Creating New Products

New products are announced everyday, but only few actually make a large impact on everyday society. One particular product that I noticed that was revolutionary and has seemed to stick in the market is the Dyson Vacuum Cleaner. It took a different approach to the normal vacuum market, introduced a new idea and product and managed to influence the market and become a household item.



This vacuum is a continuous innovation that has led to a newer improved specialty product. It is not something that we will see in every home, but in many cases we will.