ABSTRACT
Wulan Maulida Pratiwi. 2024. Communication Studies Program, Faculty of
Communication Sciences, University of Putra Indonesia. Audience Perception of
Brand Placement in the Transformers Film Series from the Perspective of the
Elaboration Likelihood Model. Advisory Committee: Destiana Husnul
Chotimah, M.I. Kom., and Dr. Astri Dwi Andriani, M.I. Kom.
Brand placement has become a prominent strategy within Integrated Marketing
Communication (IMC) to address consumer resistance to conventional advertising.
The Transformers film series was selected for this study due to its success in
integrating brand placement with the film's narrative content. This research aims
to explore audience perceptions of brand placement in the Transformers film series
through the lens of the Elaboration Likelihood Model. The study employs a
qualitative descriptive method with a case study approach involving students from
Universitas Putra Indonesia, where data were collected through systematic film
analysis and semi-structured interviews. The findings reveal that brand placement
in the Transformers series leverages strong visual and narrative impacts to capture
audience attention. In relation to this, the audience demonstrates high brand
awareness, with prominence, frequency of appearance, and brand familiarity
playing significant roles in their cognitive responses. Brand placements were also
perceived as relevant to the film's theme and effective in enhancing realism,
particularly through the alignment between automotive products and robot
characters. Overall, the brand placement in these films received positive
evaluations from the audience. From the perspective of the Elaboration Likelihood
Model, it was found that the audience exhibited varying levels of elaboration in
processing the brand placements, depending on their motivation and ability to
process the information.
Keywords: Brand placement, audience perception, Transformers, Elaboration