Structuring Product Placement Deals: Mitigating Risks to the Brand, Regulatory Compliance

Product placement is a tool to increase brand awareness. Reese's Pieces in E.T.; Ray-Bans in Risky Business; Heineken in Skyfall; Manolo Blahnik shoes in Sex and the City. These are all examples of brands whose owners made a monetary payment or negotiated another form of payment, as in Hershey's placement of its candy products.

Regardless of the form of payment, brand owners, film and television studios and networks, music producers, and artists should carefully negotiate product placement deals and carefully consider the potential risks to the brand when placing products in a film, television show, music video, and especially with social media and influencers. Among the issues to address during negotiations are exclusivity, scope of rights, creative control and approvals, and morals clauses and termination rights.

Further, brand owners should carefully consider the potential risks to the brand when placing products in a film, television show, music video, with a social media influencer, and more. Does the brand have any recourse if its product has been placed without its approval?

Listen as our authoritative panel discusses critical provisions to address when negotiating product placement deals. The panel will also examine the risks involved with product placement that could potentially damage a brand, and the steps that can be taken during negotiations and after the deal is done to mitigate those risks. The panel will address the issues that may arise in the context of social media as well as compliance with the FTC Endorsement Guidelines.

1. Risks to a brand in product placement
2. Crucial provisions
   1. Exclusivity
   2. Scope of rights
   3. Creative control and approvals
   4. Termination rights
   5. Others
3. Risk mitigation during negotiations and after the deal is completed
4. Social media issues
5. FTC Endorsement Guidelines compliance

The panel will review these and other priority issues:

• What are the principal provisions to include when negotiating a product placement deal?
• What steps can counsel take to ensure the brand is protected in a product placement deal?
• What are the regulatory concerns for counsel to brand owners when products are placed in different forms of entertainment?