Ajita Shashidhar

Mumbai , July 14

If a Bollywood blockbuster has a scene showing Shahrukh Khan drinking water and an advertiser such as Pepsi finds a brand fit in that particular scene, the glass of water can be replaced with a can of Pepsi even after the scene is shot.

This is possible with a digital and virtual product placement service launched by a product placement valuation company called Media e2e, which specialises in post-production product placements.

The company has tied up with Spanish digital animation company, 3-D Media International, which specialises in digital and virtual placements.

Mr Atul Phadnis, Chief Evangelist, Media e2e, said: "Digital and virtual placements powers new opportunities for brands to be placed in a film or television show even after it is shot."

In talks with broadcasters

The company is already in talks with a number of broadcasters and film production houses for this service. "In fact, we have tied up with a broadcaster that wants to insert new brands in those shows where no brands existed, as well as digitally correct placements."

Apart from digital placements, the company is also engaged in placement planning, for which it is encouraging companies to share their storyboards so that the value and quality of the placement can be assessed at the storyboard stage itself.

"Since we are already into placement valuation and quality assessment, we also wanted to contribute to placement planning. The better the quality of placements, its valuation automatically goes up."

Mr Phadnis said that the business of product placements is beginning to hot up in India.

Broadcasters are beginning to look at it as a serious revenue generation model and not just as a value-add to advertisers. "Even advertisers are becoming serious about product placements," he said.

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