Product Placement Deals in Books

Internation Herald Tribune: Near the end of an early galley of “Cathy’s Book: If Found Call (650) 266-8233,” a young adult novel that will be published in September, the spunky eponymous heroine talks about wearing a “killer coat of Clinique #11 ‘Black Violet’ lipstick.” But in the final edition of the book, that reference has been changed to “a killer coat of Lipslicks in ‘Daring.’ ”
As it turns out, Lipslicks is a line of lip gloss made by Cover Girl, which has signed an unusual marketing partnership with Running Press, the unit of Perseus Books Group that is publishing the novel.
By now, television and movie viewers have become used to this kind of thing: when they see sneakers or cars on a show or in a film, they generally assume that these appearances have been paid for by the companies that make the brands.
But product placement in books is still relatively rare. The use of even the subtlest of sales pitches, particularly in a book aimed at adolescents, could raise questions about the vulnerability of the readers.
From a marketing perspective, said Michael Watras, chief executive of Straightline International, a New York strategic branding agency, “it’s a great concept.”
Product Placement Deals Make Leap From Film to Books [International Herald Tribune]