Product Placement in the Norwegian Market - Is product placement a valid tool for marketers in Norway?

Abstract

Product placement has been experiencing a surge of popularity the past 15 years, often explained by the drop of interest in commercials. Especially in the U.S. it has grown to become a billion dollar industry. However, in Norway it does not experience the same degree of popularity, despite becoming a legal marketing tool in 2013. This paper sets out to see what effects product placement has on the Norwegian people, with Norwegian brands. Cultural differences between continents and even countries highlight the need for a study focused outside the American culture. Contrary to earlier research on the subject, we chose to focus on purchase intention, and how it may change due to the influence from product placement. We also included attitudes, and tested the proposed relationship between the two subjects. In addition, we tried to see how it measures up against the traditional commercial. Through an experiment performed on a representable sample of the population, we discovered that product placement can indeed have a positive effect on the purchase intention of Norwegian consumers. In the right setting it can increase purchase intention without necessarily affecting attitudes. At the same time, our results showed that there is a danger of producing a negative effect on both attitudes and purchase intention. In addition, product placement exhibits a larger, more positive effect in terms of influencing Norwegian consumers than commercials. Due to this, we are suggesting an increased usage of product placement, especially when introducing weaker brands to the market.