Product placement — the act of embedding a branded object into a movie or television show in order to market said brand — is arguably one of the most familiar forms of advertising there is. A classic example is the tongue-in-cheek scene in the 1992 comedy Wayne’s World, when Wayne pulls out a slice of pizza from a strategically placed Pizza Hut box as his friend Garth kicks back, covered head to toe in Reebok gear. More recent instances include the prominently displayed Cheetos bag in Lizzo’s Good as Hell music video, or the clearly labeled Coca-Cola can Eleven telepathically crushes in Stranger Things.
Here to put a new spin on this time-honored marketing technique is Ryff, a Los Angeles-based tech startup that uses AI to place virtual branded objects in any scene of a movie, TV show or commercial as if it is a natural part of the environment (even if the media is live).
Perhaps the most important aspect of Ryff’s technology is that it can add realistic, 3D-animated objects into a scene after that scene has already been filmed, giving both advertisers and the content’s creators more flexibility than the analog approach. With Ryff, advertisers can tailor messages directly to specific consumers and build out individual campaigns. And, if that campaign isn’t working, creators can use the technology again to switch out a product with something else.
Today, the company has more than 10,000 hours of available content for brands, and it plans to expand its library even more with the $11.7 million in fresh funding it just raised. The round was led by Audent Global Asset Management, and will be used to build and launch Spheera, a new direct-to-consumer platform where brands will be able to go and find out what people are watching and build campaigns accordingly using Ryff.
“Ryff uses tip of the spear AI and visual computing together with the latest advances in GPU technology from NVIDIA to deliver real-time digital brand integration,” founder and CEO Roy Taylor said in a recent LinkedIn post. “We believe that this is the future of advertising.”
He added in a statement that he believes Ryff has the potential to be a multibillion business.
Paul Feinstein, a managing partner and chief investment officer at Audent, agreed and said in a statement that Ryff’s technology has the potential to “dramatically disrupt the product placement paradigm” going forward.
“Ryff seamlessly integrates products into scenes, not just television and motion pictures, but anything digital,” Feinstein told VentureBeat. “I believe that’s where advertising is going.”
