Product placement, the practice of placing brand-name items as props in, e.g. movies, television shows, or music videos as a form of advertising, is now growing more rapidly on web-user applications.  An interesting example of this viral trend can be seen through Dr. Pepper’s sponsorship of a music video made by YouTube star Tay Zonday.  His videos are shared widely on the web, and his song “Cherry Chocolate Rain” is no exception.  In what viewers believe to be another one Zonday’s videos, they eventually see bottles of Cherry Dr. Pepper spraying all over the characters of the music video. 

This trend of advertising virally via You Tube is a growing trend, especially since it costs virtually nothing compared to the thousands of dollars they would have to spend for a 30-second commercial that would air on prime-time. 

This year Spring Nextel is the newest advertiser to hop onto the bandwagon.  The company is offering money to people who show a new Samsung phone into a home video and post the results onto You Tube.  The grand prize entry will win $10,000.

Genesis Velarde, Traffic Coordinator

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