The entertainment and advertising industries are renowned neither for their fidelity nor their long-term commitment. Branded entertainment, or product placement, is usually limited to a one-off lingering logo shot or brief namedrop in a TV episode or music video. However, longer-term affiliations can prove very effective in shaping brand identity, and ensuring patronage from fans of the relevant entertainment vehicle.
Britney Spears x Britney Spears’ fragrances
More than one billion bottles of Britney Spears’ various fragrances have been sold around the world, surely netting her far more cash than her flagging career as a recording artiste and mime extraordinaire.
The main promo tool for Spears’ scents seem to be her music videos; the clip for ‘Circus’, for instance, includes three different bottles. Perplexingly, Circus Fantasy isn’t used in ‘Circus’, but does show up in ‘3’. Radiance, meanwhile, is given its time to spritz in ‘Hold It Against Me’ and ‘Criminal’.
These visuals are basically elaborate perfume adverts that happen to be accompanied by some purchaseable music. Spears – never one to be bothered by accusations of “selling out” – even released a single called ‘Perfume’ last year that, of course, incorporated a bottle of Fantasy into its video. Not that Britney limits herself to perfume – luxury cars, dating sites and jewellery have featured with some prominence in her videography. Product placement in ‘Hold It Against Me’ alone is said to have netted her $500,000.
Gif: crushable.com
American Idol x Coke
Having been on the air since 2002, American Idol is a televisual institution. Coke has remained a sponsor throughout the show’s run, paying $10 million dollars for the privilege in the first season. This figure expanded in subsequent years, peaking around $30 million, but has since contracted below initial spending. This is because the series has shed much of its audience, dropping about four million viewers between seasons 11 and 12.
The money shelled out by Coke gives them exclusive panel pouring rights. It also allows Coke to occasionally muscle its way onstage. As part of its Perfect Harmony campaign, the brand last year ‘crowd-sourced’ a song with Carly Rae Jepson. Fans voted on lyrics, stage effects and costuming, with the result unveiled during the American Idol finale.
Coke isn’t the only brand to hitch itself to a reality franchise; Pepsi spent a couple of seasons aligned with X Factor USA, but the deal, for some reason, didn’t last.
Gif: sometimesithinkimfunny
James Bond x Aston Martin
For high-budget projects, product placement represents an opportunity to recoup production costs. This is certainly the case with the James Bond franchise; Daniel Craig has noted with some reticence that each instalment of the franchise “costs a lot of money to make [and] nearly as much again to promote, so we go where we can.”
Time and again, Aston Martin has been only too happy to foot part of the bill. The Aston Martin DB5 first appeared in 1964’s Goldfinger, and various other models have since been used – some fitted out with rather ridiculous (but brilliant) gadgetry. Lists produced by Top Gear and Drive ranking Bond’s best vehicles both include three Aston Martins in their top tens. The DB5 tops both polls.
Aston Martin is always keen to tout the benefits of the partnership. As well as maintaining an official website dedicated to the affiliation, the brand has repeatedly published content about the Bond alliance in its AM magazine. One feature describes the relationship as “a love affair between a fictional character and a classic British car that’s thrived for over half a century”. In another piece, Bond producer Michael G. Wilson cites it as “one of the great partnerships in film”. “We wouldn’t want [Bond] to drive anything other than an Aston Martin,” he says.
Admittedly, Bond has also driven other cars – most notably BMWs – from time to time. However, Aston Martins have appeared in 11 Bond films – that’s more than any one lead actor, or any other car brand. After Daniel Craig inevitably moves on, Aston Martins will probably continue to be driven.
When producers start searching for a new driver, we’d like to suggest someone who’d fit the role quite well. They’d continue the ‘blond Bond’ precedent that Craig established, they do a reasonable English accent, they’re no stranger to branded entertainment and they know their way around a gun.
John Rowley
John Rowley studies a Bachelor of Arts (Media & Communications) at the University of Sydney. Between eating pistachios, writing, tweeting from @JohnLRowley and watching Girls Aloud videos on YouTube, he doesn’t have time for much else.
This article was originally published on Hijacked.
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