The Good, The Bad & The Ugly of Product Placement

Watch any movie or series these days and you are bound to come across a brand or a product featured in a scene. This isn’t new, for decades the “Big, and Small Screen” has had an active relationship with products and brands.

Producers always require props to fill in a scene and will make concessions for products. Then there are the times that a brand wants to achieve market penetration, in these cases, for the limelight their products or services receive, they offer compensations to the cost of production.

Occasionally, brands go the distance and commission a show in order to promote their goods. The many cartoons of the 80’s and 90’s are a good example of this. Transformers, He-Man, She-Ra and G.I. Joe would not have been a part of our childhood if not for the toy lines they were promoting.

Let’s look at some of the most memorable scenes with product placements. A mix of where they worked out well, and a few cases, not so well.

[1] Breakfast at Tiffany’s (1961)

Tiffany & Co. / Ray-Ban

This classic American rom-com follows the life of Holly Golightly (Audrey Hepburn) as a Manhattan socialite. The movie opens with the starlet staring into the storefront of Tiffany & Co., Fifth Avenue.

Audrey Hepburn as impish as ever with her Tiffany eye mask.

To this day, Ms. Audrey’s character has lent an undeniable sense of class and style to the brand. Her portrayal helped position the brand as a “must have” for young, independent, women. Most Tiffany & Co. outlets still have framed scenes from the movie adorning their walls.

[2] Back to the Future 1 & 2 (1985,1989)

Mattel / Nike / Pepsi / Texaco

Robert Zemeckis takes the audience on a wild ride in this classic time travellers tale. Marty McFly drives into the past & the future in a modified DMC DeLorean. The iconic car takes centre stage with its gull wing doors setting the stage for a boatload of product placement. This is probably the first show that inspired a brand to create an actual product based on a movie prop.

I’m still keeping my hopes up for the Hoverboard.

The self-lacing Nike shoes, were a concept the producers created together with the brand for the show. It would take almost thirty years before the actual product became a reality. Another iconic item was the hover boards by Mattel.

Some other notable scenes with brands would be the holographic advertising by Pepsi, the Pizza Hut dehydrated pizza, and the many futuristic Texaco ( Caltex) Stations.

[3] The Matrix (1999)

Nokia

The Wachowski Brothers ( now Sisters) gave us a mind bending swirl of action and adventure in their dystopian tale of Artificial Intelligence versus Man.

The show contrasted heavily between its version of the real apocalyptic world and the stylised 90’s virtual world. In the latter Keanu Reeves as Neo leads a band of hackers to infiltrate and free trapped humans.

The phone’s automatic slide function was added to the movie prop.

Decked out in black trench coats, patent leather and iconic shades, a new badass cool was born. Amidst all this, the Nokia 8110 held its own as it slid open to deliver plot twists and steal the scene. The placement made the phone so popular that it was revived and entered the market again in 2018.

[4] Top Gun (1986)

Ray-Ban

Talking about shades, there are only a handful of movies that are remembered for the glasses the stars wore. Top Gun was definetly one of them. Tom Cruise as Lieutenant Pete “Maverick” Mitchell exudes a defiant sense of suave as the top flight trainee at Topgun, the Naval Fighter Weapons School. Throughout the movie Tom Cruise sports the signature Ray-Ban Aviator Sunglasses.

Before its big screen appearance, this range of shades had limited exposure to the mass market and was worn mainly by service personal. [i] Bausch & Lomb, then owners of the brand, almost doubled their sales with the launch of the movie.

[5] Transformers : Age of Extinction (2014)

Hasbro / Yili / Apple / C.C. Bank

The Transformers series of movies are a Mecca for product placements. The Autobot and Decepticon characters originate from the Hasbro Transformers toy line. Then, you have the GM line of vehicles that play a significant part in the film as the robots in disguise.

I’m doing it for the money. I’m doing it for the money.

Add to it the scene where Stanley Tucci as Joshua Joyce a sinister, billionaire inventor, turns new Transformer tech into a Beats by Dre Pill. Later, an alien warship crashes into a Bud Light truck and the protagonist of the film played by Mark Wahlberg pauses to chug a bottle of Bud Light beer from the wreckage.

My favourite worst, is the scene where Stanley Tucci running for his life, stops and opens a refrigerator on the roof to grab a drink of Yili Milk.

I’m doing it for the money. I’m doing it for the money.

And then there is the outrageous, the moment Mark takes out a China Construction Bank card and withdraws money from an ATM in the Texas desert.

These placements clearly distract from the story and at times make no sense at all. However, the target audience — mainland China, loved it. These scenes received front page coverage in leading prints in China, with the brands applauding the coverage they received.

[6] Better Call Saul (2015)

Cinnabon / Drambuie / Dewar’s

I have to say, the best piece of product placement has to go to this show. This Vince Gilligan spin off to his cult classic Breaking Bad unfurls the origins of Jimmy McGill aka. Saul Goodman (Bob Odenkirk). The series begins with a Neo-Noire segment that takes place in a Cinnabon store.

The montage elevates the creation of Cinnabons to an art. It manages to add a sense of drama and suspense as we see the titular character in a juxtaposed situation.

The scene even manages to slip in another two product placements, Dewar’s White Label and Drambuie.

Cinnabon also ran a cross promotion with their outlets to further drive the collaboration. I dare you to watch this scene, and not feel like chomping down on a Cinnabon.

The next time you sit down to watch your favourite show, be on the look out for any products and services you come across. Drop a comment or suggestion to the list above and contact me if you would like to know how your brand could benefit from Embedded Marketing. vernon.david@me.com

[1] https://itunes.apple.com/us/movie/breakfast-at-tiffanys/id208560505

[2] https://itunes.apple.com/us/movie-collection/back-to-the-future-trilogy/id585537914

[3] https://itunes.apple.com/us/movie/the-matrix/id271469518

[4] https://itunes.apple.com/us/movie/top-gun/id291577463

[i] http://www.luxottica.com/sites/luxottica.com/files/ray-ban_history_en.pdf

[5] https://itunes.apple.com/us/movie/transformers-age-of-extinction/id887735929

[6] https://itunes.apple.com/us/tv-season/better-call-saul-season-1/id941931470