New Products. New Places.

I can remember watching countless shows where the iconic Pepsi can was in the hands of the characters or the numerous times fun and happy families ordered a piping hot, cheesy Pizza Hut pizza loaded with delicious toppings, but lately product placement in television and movies does not jump out in that obnoxious way as it used it.

Better, more clever writing, perhaps... Maybe it is just that we are all so used to consumerism that it has become white noise to us but the fact is, product placement is still there and in all actuality, it is stronger and (according to companies) more important than ever.

With the popularity of DVR and On Demand, people are fast-forwarding through commercials. Companies are not getting the guaranteed airtime and audience they used to be able to count on and are seeking new ways to get their brands name out there.

A new innovative way to incorporate products is beginning to show up in syndicated episodes of popular television shows. The company SeamBI (Seamless Brand Integration) has developed a way to digitally alter new products and brands into old episodes of television shows. The way the content is added does not change or disrupt the show, it only adds the placement where it seems fit. For example, in rerun episodes of the popular show How I Met Your Mother, flat screen TVs and outdoor movie posters were added to select scenes promoting upcoming movies. Once they are put in, the content can be changed to current movies or products.

Another company that is thinking outside of the box to get their brands name to consumer's is Cascadian Farm. In 2010, they were the first company to partner up with Farmville, the online game sensation to produce the first "branded crops". In four days 310 million Cascadian Farm Organic Blueberry crops were digitally planted in the online game with more than 1 million people purchasing the digital crop.

With companies finding new innovative ways to incorporate advertising in media the FCC has begun to revisit the product placement rules, especially pertaining to children's television. Studies how that, as savvy as kids are today, in most cases, they are unaware of the advertising directly aimed at them.

But then again, with creative enough writing, adults may not even know when they're being solicited to, after all how badly did you want a Pizza Hut pizza after reading the opening to this post?