How to mix brand placements in television programmes to maximise effectiveness

This research, based on 20 brand placement campaigns for 17 brands in 11 Belgian entertainment shows, uses the mixture modelling technique to identify the optimal mix of brand placement types in a programme It determines the ideal proportions of prop placements (branded products that are put on display during the programme, without active interaction between the product and a person), interactive placements (placements that entail interaction between a branded product and a person), and look-and-feel placements (branding elements that are visually incorporated in the scenery of the programme) to maximise brand attitude and brand recall. Controlling for programme connectedness, brand attitude is maximised when all brand placements in a programme are interactive. The optimal mix for brand recall is more diverse, and changes for consumers with different viewing frequencies. For light viewers, 39% interactive and 61% prop placements should be used. For consumers with high viewing frequency, a relatively larger proportion should be allocated to interactive placements (44%)