Brand Placement Effectiveness on TV Series Moderated by Identification with Characters

Brand placement has become an emerging marketing tactic considering its approach to persuading a broader audience in a more natural way without openly coming across as an advertisement directly targeted to them. This paper describes how brand placement can be an effective strategy by measuring key indicators such as brand placement memory, brand salience, attitude toward the brand, and behavioral intention. By using the SEM method, this study inspects how Indonesian brand placement strategy in an international drama affected Indonesian audiences. Furthermore, we suggest that level of connectedness between an audience and their identification with character might a significant moderating variable for brand placement’s effectiveness – which was very limited in previous research. The case study for this research is Kopiko’s brand placement strategy for the popular Korean drama “Vincenzo”, with 606 audiences surveyed as respondents. The result concludes that brand placement exposure positively affected the audience’s brand placement memory, brand attitude, and behavioral intention – but did not affect brand salience. We also find that the more they identify with the character, the stronger the impact. Finally, this study provides insights for marketers to make the most out of this marketing strategy, both effectively and efficiently.