By Will J-P, F&f family member, film and media studies grad.
Reeling in the brands is something film production companies have been doing to fund the flicks for the best part of 100 years now.
Celebrity Influence
We live in a time where products are advertised by celebrities and influencers in a different way than we are used to. With content creators and influencers doing paid promotions on social media. Not only that, but many are creating their own products and as they already have an existing fan base it makes it easier for them to reach out and appeal to their target market, as they are already in the loop. An example being YouTube group the Sidemen, with a massive 20 million subscribers. Having recently released their new cereal named ‘BEST’ that has sold over 100,00 boxes in the first two weeks after launch. This is not their first venture either as they released their own vodka brand named ‘XIX’ in 2021 and have opened up a fast food chain named ‘Sides’.
An obvious example being YouTubers KSI and Logan Paul and the drink ‘Prime Hydration’. The hype and advertising surrounding it created a massive amount of demand seemingly overnight, with over 1 billion bottles being sold before the end of 2023. Though the numbers were impressive at first, the brand is now tanking to such a point where it has recently been given away at Waterloo Station. This is evidence that while influencer marketing often becomes quickly successful, it rarely has any longevity or enough of an impact.
Brand immortality and association in movies and TV.
Many brands are brought back from the brink or given a massive surge in popularity through the use of product placement. With some becoming famously synonymous like James Bond & Aston Martin.
The practice of product placement is on the rise
Product placement revenue in 2023 was $29.07 billion
US have a 56% share in global product placement revenue
Alcoholic drinks had the most product placement in TV shows and movies in 2023
In terms of 2023 brand placements Apple was at the top of the list, followed by Nike, Dell and Coca Cola
The 2006 Movie ‘Talladega Night’ features the highest product placement frequency of any feature film
Toy Story featured a scene with the iconic Etch-A-Sketch which skyrocketed sales by a massive 4,500%
‘Lost In Translation’ featured the filming of a Suntory Whiskey advert. According to Suntory, the product placement helped bring international recognition to the brand.
We wanted to dig deeper into some of the history and stories surrounding product placement
The earliest examples of product placement before film
Before the introduction of the product placement we know there were already instances of placing brands in pieces of popular media. A classic being ‘Bar aux Folies-Bergere’ painted by Manet in 1882 which featured a bottle of Bass beer.
Another early example being the fact that shipping firms competed to be mentioned in the 1873 book ‘Around The World In 80 Days’.
First take
A sweet introduction to product placement as we know it
The 1927 movie Wings which was the first ever movie to win best picture featured a Hershey’s bar product placement
‘E.T the Extra – Terrestrial’ features one of if not the most famous example of food product placement. The original screenplay had the main character Eliott use sweets in an attempt to lure out E.T and M&Ms were supposed to be used, but Mars declined. Hershey’s Reese’s pieces were instead featured and it payed off resulting in a profit increase of around 65%
These are some of our favourite stories about product placement
1 – The Truman Show
1998
Mock product placements
Even fake brands can have placements. ‘The Truman Show’ is a movie about a man who’s lived his whole life surrounded by actors in a reality show he has no idea he is the star of. The film features multiple instances of product placements. The placements are not subtle and almost resemble an infomercial. While Truman doesn’t notice or shrugs them off the majority of the time, the tipping point that arouses his suspicions is when he’s mid argument with his wife and she does a Mococoa hot chocolate product placement leading him to exclaim “who are you talking to?” and “What the hell does this have to do with anything?”. His reaction is relatable as there are many real life examples of out of place or incongruous product placements and adverts in our mainstream media.
2 – Fight Club
1999
IKEA
The idea of having product placement in a movie with a contempt for capitalism and mindless consumerism is entertaining and ironic. A notable piece of placement is when the narrator shows off his home which is fully furnished and decorated with IKEA products. Not long after his home and possessions are destroyed by a gas explosion. The movie also shows brands being destroyed throughout the movie, like Apple and Lincoln. Even though the movie is a message about the void of consumerism, it doesn’t prevent brands and items that are featured appealing to the audience. The Glasses brand Oliver Peoples, worn by Brad Pitt’s character Tyler Durden, ended up generating around $900,000 from their appearance in the movie.
3 – The Sopranos
Season 3 episode 7
April 8 2001
Tropicana
One instance of product placement in ‘The Sopranos’ is Tropicana, in particular, a scene when Tony Soprano finds his wife Carmela to complain about his orange juice, stating “this says with pulp” she replies “you like it with pulp” he retorts “not this much, I like the one that says some pulp” and in return gets a phone angrily thrown at him. Though the placement is not subtle the delivery is entertaining and could be a genuine interaction between two people. Despite featuring many brands throughout the show’s run, HBO reportedly never accepted cash from its product placements.
4 – The Sopranos/American Psycho
Rolex
Tony Soprano is one of television’s most popular anti heroes. Even with the violent nature of the show and its characters, Rolex allowed James Gandolfini who portrayed Tony Soprano during the show’s 8 year run to wear the iconic Yellow gold ROLEX Day-Date. Despite not agreeing to Christian Bale wearing the two tone ROLEX Date-Just when he played Patrick Bateman in the 2000 movie ‘American Psycho’. But the brand was frequently mentioned in the 1991 book.
5 – Hawaii Five O
Season 2 episode 14
16 January 2012
Subway
‘Hawaii Five O’ is a show known for on the nose product placement, but the most blatant of them all is the placement for Subway in season 2 episode 14. The interaction is long, taking around a minute feeling less like a quick and subtle placement and more like an ad break. The character Kamekona explains, “the best thing about it, is that they make it any way you want” before talking about all the different, tasty flavour combinations, and that he ordered five because “it was a good deal” overall the only thing achieved is an awkward exchange with a forced product placement.
6 – Stranger Things
2016 – Onward
Coke
Being featured in one of the most watched Netflix shows of all time is a great opportunity for any brand. The most featured of them all being Coca Cola, which had the largest amount of brand placement throughout the series with $3.4 million of product value, followed by Sony and Reebok at around $2.4 million. Many other brands are also shown throughout the 4 series but are tweaked to be period accurate with the 1980s setting, with brands like Eggos waffles, Burger King and KFC. The final episode in season 4 featured 35 different brands and made over $7.3 million in placement value. Over the span of 4 seasons ‘Stranger Things’ has a combined brand placement of over $27 million.
7 – Bond and product placement
Bond has had some big brand deals, but the biggest of them all is Heineken with the US division paying a reported 45 million for it to be featured in the 2012 movie ‘Skyfall’. It has also been featured or advertised in some way in each of Daniel Craig’s Bond movies,the featured beverage was alcohol free despite James Bond being known for his iconic shaken not stirred martini, making the promotion feel jarring and out of character.
How Times Change
Before The introduction of Omega Seamaster in 1995, the Rolex Submariner was the watch of choice for James Bond. The iconic 6538 reference is usually referred to as the “James Bond ” by enthusiasts and is a big collectors piece. Rolex was then briefly replaced by Seiko, which then switched to the Omega, being first featured in 1995s ‘Goldeneye’ starring Piers Brosnan. BMW also put forward $3 million dollars so they could include the Z3 Roadster in the movie, and as a result ended up generating $240 million in pre-orders, despite the car not having been released to the general public yet. The Omega partnership led to a surge in sales, with the watches featuring in all 5 of Daniel Craig’s Bond movies. Omega also has a page dedicated to all of the models worn by Craig and released limited edition models in order to market the movies and to appeal to watch collectors and franchise fans alike.
8 – The effect of actors
Certain A list Actors and celebrities have the ability to bring attention to the brands they use, either by having a great sense of style or playing influential and engaging roles.
Tom Cruise is an A list actor who has starred in many major roles, this allows the brands featured to be elevated to a certain point.
Risky Business
In the 1983 comedy ‘Risky Business’ Cruise wears a pair of Ray Ban Wayfarers resulting in Ray Ban selling around 360,000 pairs of Wayfarer sunglasses compared to only 18,000 just 2 years earlier. This caused a revival of the Wayfarer model which was close to being discontinued.
Top Gun & Top Gun Maverick
In 1986 Tom Cruise yet again wore the Ray Ban brand leading to a boom in popularity and a 40% sales increase, with the brand gaining a reputation for being cool and stylish. Budweiser beer is also featured frequently in ‘Top Gun’ & ‘Top Gun Maverick’, with the 1986 movie’s placement being worth around $2.6 million.
The Firm
In the 1993 movie ‘The Firm’ Red Stripe beer is featured multiple times. Sales subsequently increased by more than 50% in the US and led to the brand selling a stake in their brewery for $62 million to Guinness Brewing Worldwide, thanks to its inclusion in the movie.
Conclusion
At this point in time we are constantly exposed to some form of advertising, whether it’s on a billboard or at a bus stop. When you’re scrolling on social media, watching a YouTube video or even opening a browser, chances are that you’ll see some sort of advertisement or paid promotion. Despite the many forms of advertising, product placement in film and TV is at an all time high and is predicted to rise substantially by next year to around $27 billion.