When Tom Cruise speeds off in a BMW in Mission: Impossible or struts across the screen in Risky Business wearing Ray-Bans, it’s an example of product placement.
Also known as embedded marketing or branded content integration, this marketing strategy merges advertising with entertainment across TV, streaming, video games, and music videos. Brands poured around $33 billion into these on-screen cameos in 2024, and that figure is expected to grow through 2028, thanks to a rise in binge-worthy streaming and influencer content.
For businesses, product placement is an effective way to build brand awareness in a natural way within content your audience already enjoys. Ahead, you’ll learn how to get started with best practices and examples.
What is product placement?
Product placement is where you pay to include your product in entertainment or editorial content, so it’s woven into the scene.
Think of Walter White in Breaking Bad. As his power and wealth grow, he trades up to a Chrysler 300, an unmistakable marker of his new status. Because Chrysler is woven into the storyline, whenever the car appears on screen, it feels organic and far less intrusive or salesy than a traditional ad.
Paid product placements are aimed at specific target audiences within the commercial retail market. Hence, how The Price Is Right showcases household appliances during a daytime slot favored by at-home shoppers.
Common channels for product placement are:
- Film and scripted/unscripted TV
- Streaming originals and web series
- Video games and esports broadcasts
- Music videos and podcasts
- Social-media posts and UGC
- Livestreams
Done well, product placement lets brands piggyback on the admiration of popular media and stay top of mind for their audience.
How does product placement work?
Traditionally, product placement was negotiated directly between entertainment companies and brands. The studio would send out a person to source brands and products for its art department. The deal would outline where, for how long, and how a brand would appear.
Today, the process is largely unchanged, but studios now compete with streamers, game publishers, and influencers. And brands are more proactive in finding partners to work with. Depending on the agreement, the brand might pay in cash or arrange a barter, trading a loaner and cross-promotion instead.
Once filming or content creation begins, the prop master (or influencer, etc.) makes the item visible or digitally inserts it in post-production. A cameo prop in an indie film can cost up to $50,000, whereas placement in a blockbuster like Skyfall can reach eight figures.
Traditional product placement types
- TV and movie placement. In film and television, product placement puts brands directly on-screen. Prominent characters may be seen using a particular product or service, even if it’s never called out by name. The TV show 30 Rock turned product placement into a joke by turning the model on its head—explicitly naming the real products they advertised, and hawking fake products through traditional, “subtler” means of product placement (Sabor de Soledad chips, anyone?).
- Verbal placement. A subtler form of integrated marketing involves paying a well-known figure to talk about a product or service during the course of an interview, or even while out in public. During the Super Bowl’s annual media week, many retired athletes cruise along “radio row” giving media interviews and plugging products during their on-air conversations.
- Retail floor placement. Perhaps the oldest form of product placement—one that predates film, video games, and social media—is where companies pay for prime space in retail stores. In the grocery industry, large brands negotiate product integration deals that guarantee shelf space at eye level as part of their merchandising strategy.
Digital and virtual product placement
- Video game placement. Marketers can pay for virtual product placement inside games, and with today’s rich storylines and advanced digital tools, branded items appear much as they do in films.
- Livestreaming placement. As platforms such as Twitch and YouTube Live keep growing, brands can now slot products into a creator’s set or overlay them on-screen in real time.
- AR integration. Advances in AR let advertisers drop a virtual sneaker on a viewer’s coffee table or a branded coffee cup in their selfie cam. Using first-party data, brands can create personalized shopping experiences that connect with and drive sales through AR technology.
- Social media placement. Brands can pay a social media personality to promote their business. For example, a lifestyle influencer might shoot a video at a boutique hotel or film a makeup tutorial featuring a sponsor’s product.
Benefits of product placement for businesses
As a small business owner, you stand to benefit from a reasonably priced product placement deal. It can boost your brand’s popularity and, if you’re in ecommerce, drive traffic to your online store.
Brand recognition and audience engagement
Product placements don’t feel like ads, yet they can be even more effective. When you’re watching a show or movie, and you recognize a logo or product, your brain’s pattern-matching kicks in and delivers a dopamine hit because you spotted something you know.
A viewer will start transferring some of the character’s traits to the brand. A cool hero that drives a Ducati? Ducati is automatically cool now, and the memory is filed away, which is why product placement has high recall scores.
A MNTN Research analysis found recall rises from 32% for a standard 30-second TV ad to 53% when the product is used on-screen and up to 81% when it’s both mentioned and used.
Cost-effectiveness for small businesses
For smaller brands fighting for shrinking attention spans, high recall and purchase intent is the fastest way to new sales. Product placement beats out traditional media on various fronts, like social media advertising with influencers and virtual placements.
YouGov’s latest whitepaper, Product Placement Plotted, found net placement value (YouGov’s proxy for return on investment, or ROI) averaged to $412,000 for a standard placement, offering a 38% higher return than standard TV spots. The average TikTok creator with 1,000 to 100,000 followers charges between $25 and $125 per post, far below the $47 cost per mille (CPM) for a 30-second TV spot.
Authenticity and trust-building
Consumers see placements as part of the story, not a sales pitch. That’s why they trust the brands that appear on screen. In BENlabs’ 2023 survey, 63% of US consumers reported positive emotions after seeing a placed brand, and 47% said they enjoy spotting their favorite products on screen.
That trust translates into sales. Edelman’s 2024 Brand & Politics report shows that when consumers fully trust a brand, they are 63% more likely to purchase, and 55% stay loyal even after a mistake.
Drawbacks of product placement
High costs
Securing a slot in A-list content can drain an entire quarterly marketing budget. A single integration in a prime-time network drama can run you up to $1 million.
Streaming or virtual placements aren’t always a bargain either. Inclusion can easily cost six figures, and there’s no guarantee it’ll be a success. From a cost perspective alone, product placement with an influencer or content creator is the most affordable option for smaller businesses.
Limited creative control
The final cut sits with the director or showrunner. Scenes can be trimmed, logos moved, or storylines rewritten in editing without your approval.
The infamous stray coffee cup that appeared in Game of Thrones’ final season is an example of how a cameo can spin out of control—and that one was an accident. Yet, it turned into a meme that marketers never anticipated. Brands have to weigh exposure against the risk of mis-framing or vanishing in the final cut.
Regulatory restrictions
Rules differ depending on the country. But in the United States, the FTC governs influencer promotions, and the FCC governs broadcast TV and radio.
The FTC requires that paid promotions are “clear and conspicuous” when a person is endorsing a brand or making claims that could influence a purchase. For example, an Olipop can in a movie scene is not an endorsement. A TikTok creator raving about Olipop is and would need to present a paid promotion label.
The FCC states that broadcasters must announce if their program’s content was aired in exchange for money, services, or valuable consideration. However, these regulations don’t apply to feature films shown in theatres.
3 product placement best practices
Not all product placement campaigns, however, are equal. The best respect their audience and avoid overbearing ad messaging. To reach your customers without being overt, embrace these three product placement guidelines.
Offer transparent disclosure to viewers
Respect viewers’ intelligence. If you’re working with an influencer to showcase your products, label the collaboration as a paid promotion. If using social media, link to your brand’s handles. There’s no shame in the fact that this is an advertisement.
Build disclosure into the brief if you’re working with creators. Require #ad or “Paid partnership with your brand” in the first three lines of a social media post. Tag your brand in the handle and add a discount code to tie sales back to the creator.
Pursue relevance to a storyline or plot
If your product appears in a movie, television show, or video game, make sure it fits organically in the story. Look at FedEx in Cast Away: Tom Hanks plays a FedEx employee whose responsible actions cast the brand in a positive light, and the placement even helps drive the plot forward.
If you’re partnering with a big film, send the designer or prop master usage notes to consider. Offer different sizes or colorways so the team can pick what best fits the scene. You can also ask to see the script pages related to your products to review how your product is portrayed.
Provide integration that enhances the viewing experience
As a marketer, you want viewers to welcome mentions of your product. In other words, seeing your product should make a viewing experience better, not worse. For example, the online video game Fortnite lets players outfit avatars with branded products like Nike Air Jordans. Nike gets brand exposure, and players enjoy sporting the latest gear in-game.
Choose media outlets where your product naturally solves a problem or adds realism. These organic touches serve the story better and give the audience genuine value..
Product placement trends
Virtual and AR product placement
Brands can now drop signage, packaging, or 3D objects into finished productions with virtual product placement (VPP). In 2024, a CPG campaign measured by iSpot showed VPP lifting average transaction value by 51% and earned a 5:1 ROI compared with matched-market controls.
AR overlays take this step further by putting products in the viewers hands. Snapchat reports users generated 4.5 trillion Lens views in the past year, and its AR attention study found 80% of people interact with branded AR lenses for at least two seconds, four times the benchmark for the standard mobile display ad.
Data-driven personalized placements
The next step for this market is one-to-one product placement, where AI swaps ads based on a viewer’s profile or viewing context. Virtual product-placement tools like Mirriad can now insert billboards, labels, or even clothing into finished footage without reshooting.
However, Digiday reports that agencies are divided on these tools. Some find the flexibility and quick turnaround promising, while others are cautious about the cost and concerned virtual props will feel fake and force awkward disclosures.
Examples of successful product placement campaigns
Product placement has driven measurable growth for small businesses and ecommerce brands:
Batsheva
Shopify merchant Batsheva found success getting celebrities, musicians, and influencers into its custom-crafted dresses. It also had success placing its clothing in films. This has helped the company build brand prestige with existing clients, while introducing the brand to new legions of potential customers.
Zillow
As The New York Times recently reported, the property listing website Zillow has become a buzzword by integrating itself into movies and TV shows.
For instance, in the Netflix series Never Have I Ever, a character says, “I Zillowed his house. Do you want to know what his Zestimate was?” These proprietary terms are thrown around like everyday shorthand. They make the Zillow brand seem synonymous with real estate listings, building awareness and brand prestige.
Weinsanto
Netflix’s Emily in Paris dressed actress Philippine Leroy-Beaulieu (Sylvie) in a lace gown from Weinsanto’s AW 21 collection. Founder Victor Weinsanto told Vogue Business the dress “sold out instantly,” generating enough revenue to buy new machinery. Two seasons on, that single SKU still accounts for 15% of the label’s turnover and continues to drive customer acquisition.
immi
Kevin Lee and Kevin Chanthasiriphan launched immi to reimagine the Taiwanese and Thai ramen they grew up with using modern-diet ingredients. They mailed hundreds of ramen samples to creators, inviting them to join the Ram Fam and earn commission on sales.
To scale, immi used Shopify Collabs’ Gifting feature plus Tiers to distribute affiliate links and discount codes. The tool also streamlined creator applications, commission tracking, and payouts. The marketing campaign earned immi:
- 432 ambassadors.
- $200,000+ in affiliate sales.
- 4,400+ orders fulfilled through referrals.
Measuring product placement effectiveness
A brief cameo can cost real money—on YouTube or anywhere else—so you’ll want hard numbers to show it was worth the spend. Track a mix of marketing KPIs to measure performance and ROI:
- Reach and impressions. How many people viewed the content, and how often did your brand appear on-screen?
- Brand recall. The percentage of viewers who remember your brand afterward, split into unaided (open-ended) and aided (prompted) recall. Nielsen research shows branded content can hit 81% recall, well above standard TV averages.
- Search volume spikes. Look for increases in search on Google for your brand name or visits to your visit after placement airs.
- Trackable sales. Attribute orders via UTM links or discount codes to prove ROI for paid partnership.
Because product placement can be a black box, create a baseline before the placement goes live. Measure site sessions, search volume, and social mentions, then compare post-launch numbers to quantify the lift.
Product placement FAQ
What does product placement mean?
Product placement is the intentional insertion of products or services into non-advertising content. Think movies, TV shows, video games, radio segments, and social media posts. When done well, the product blends into the story, so viewers don’t immediately register it as an ad; it reaches them more subtly than traditional advertising.
Is product placement legal?
Yes, product placement is legal, and many brands pay handsomely to have their products featured in popular media. Legal issues typically arise only when a production portrays a brand negatively—making it look defective, unsafe, or otherwise undesirable—without its permission, which could invite libel or defamation claims.
What are the four types of product placement?
Four popular forms of product placement include film and TV placement where a product is shown on screen; social media placement where a creator features the product in a post; video game placement where the product appears inside gameplay; and retail store placement where the product is positioned on prominent shelves or end caps to catch the shopper’s eye.
What is the purpose of product placement?
Product placement is a form of advertising that avoids overt sales pitches. By weaving the product naturally into the content—a scene, social post, or video game—marketers simply raise brand awareness and demonstrate real-world use. While it may not trigger instant sales, it builds long-term brand equity and nudges viewers farther down the marketing funnel.
How much does product placement cost for small businesses?
Costs range widely. You might pay nothing if you simply loan props to an indie film or micro-influencer. Creator partnerships often run $100–$500, while a visible prop in a mid-tier streaming series can reach $50,000. Securing a spot in a major feature film, however, typically climbs into the millions.
How can I get started with product placement?
Begin by listing shows, podcasts, films, or creators whose audiences match your target customers. Reach out with either a barter offer (loaned product or cross-promotion) or a cash offer, and include a clear brief explaining how and where the item should appear on-screen. Finally, lock down the paperwork—contracts, clearances, and FTC/FCC disclosure requirements—before cameras roll.
What is an example of product placement?
Paris fashion label Weinsanto placed a lace dress in Emily in Paris. The piece sold out almost instantly and still accounts for roughly 15% of the brand’s turnover, giving its young designer global visibility on a modest marketing budget.
Is product placement paid for?
Mostly, yes. Brands typically pay cash, provide free products, or both in exchange for on-screen exposure. Fees vary with the production’s scale, talent, target audience, and distribution platform.
Why is product placement important?
Product placement matters because it reaches audiences inside content they already enjoy, without interrupting the experience. By blending naturally into the story, your brand gains positive associations, sidesteps ad fatigue, and helps viewers remember it—often sparking excitement and word-of-mouth that traditional ads can’t match.
