Executive Summary

MMI Product Placement (MMI), Inc. has an opportunity to represent Greyhound Canada as they look for cost effective ways to reposition their brand which they feel has become stale and are currently. Phil Hart, President of MMI, feels they are close to making a deal with Greyhound, but needs to alleviate Greyhound’s anxiety about product placement reaching the target market.

Greyhound is considering the use of product placement and has approached MMI Product Placement, Inc. for a proposal. Paul Dillon, Marketing Director for Greyhound, has concerns about measuring the effectiveness of product placement and needs reassurance that product placement will give Greyhound added exposure to the target market, which are …show more content…

Silent films incorporated PP as early as 1919 (MirriAD. January 17, 2012). The PP market in Canada consists of smaller “mom and pop” operations such as MMI whose founders have had experience in the entertainment industry. Some larger advertising agencies are now creating their own PP divisions either from organic growth or from acquisitions of smaller speciality firms.

The market for PP is expected to grow into the future. In 2005, there was a total of US$2.21 billion spent globally with an additional US$3.78 billion of cash-equivalents and in-kind deals. A bit closer to home, the US spent US$1.42 billion of which US$941 was spent on television. It is forecasted that PP would be present in 75% of prime time TV in 2010. A new release of a James Bond movie reported that one-third of the funding for the movie ($45 million) came from PP deals (Wyeth, Wyndham. May 2011). Product Placement market is relatively small compared to the $50 billion spent of television advertising in North America.

Greyhound’s market is the transportation industry. There are several ways for customers to get from place to place including air, automobile, train and bus. Travel by bus is less expensive and has service to more locations. Greyhound connects large cities to smaller centers including remote parts of the country. The only other way for customers to get to these remote places is to use a car or a bus.

Segment Analysis

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